Maxwell's role in turning the concept of model into the methodology of modeling

This is a contribution towards a history and philosophy of modeling in its early stages in electromagnetism. In 1873, James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879) hinted at the methodology of modeling at the end of his Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. We focus on Maxwell's impact on physicists who immediately followed him, specifically Oliver Lodge (1851–1940) and George Francis FitzGerald (1851–1901). We begin with the role that the scientific concept of model played in the late nineteenth century, as assessed by Ludwig Boltzmann (1844–1906). We then discuss the role of hypothesis as a methodology, the appeal to (dynamical) illustration, and the way Maxwell applied model and working model in his studies of electromagnetism. We show that for Maxwell these key terms were kept distinct, but Lodge did not maintain these distinctions and, in this regard, FitzGerald followed Lodge. Notwithstanding Lodge's influence, Fitzgerald modified Maxwell's theory based on the mechanical model he designed, thereby implicitly taking the first step towards modeling. This methodology consists in drawing consequences from the (mechanical) model to the (electrodynamic) theory and modifying the latter in light of the functioning of the former. At the core of our argument is the thesis that it was a methodological novelty to move from the concept of model to the methodology of modeling. The introduction of modeling as a new methodology into physics in the late nineteenth century was a major event which deserves proper recognition.     

谈“十四五”生态保护与绿色发展的生态关系

 从“十四五”保护与发展的生态关系角度，探讨了生态保护与绿色发展的十大生态关系，阐述了生态保护和绿色发展中的一系列有关生态关系的生态智慧及生态技术，并对长江、黄河等流域的生态保护和修复提出了相关建议。     

Meet-Cloud for Secure and Accurate Distribution of Negative Messages in Vehicular Ad hoc Network

Keeping Vehicular Ad hoc Network(VANET) from attacks requires secure and efficient distribution of information about bad entities. Negative messages are pieces of information that define the negative attributes of vehicles. By formally defining the negative message, we observe that accuracy is essential for its efficient distribution. We formally define the coverage percentage and accurate coverage percentage to describe the availability and distribution efficiency of negative message. These two metrics can jointly evaluate the performance of a distribution method. To obtain both high coverage percentage and high accurate coverage percentage, we propose meet-cloud, a scheme based on meet-table and cloud computing to securely and accurately distribute negative messages in VANET. A meet-table in a Road Side Unit(RSU) records the vehicles it encounters. All meettables are sent to cloud service to aggregate a global meet-table. The algorithm for distributing and redistributing negative messages are designed. Security analysis shows that meet-cloud is secure against fake and holding on to negative message attacks. Simulations and analysis demonstrate that meet-cloud is secure under denial of service and fake meet-table attacks. The simulation results also justify that meet-cloud outperforms the RSU broadcast and epidemic model.     

A new twist to the No Miracles Argument for the success of science

J. D. Trout has recently developed a new defense of scientific realism, a new version of the No Miracles Argument. I critically evaluate Trout's novel defense of realism. I argue that Trout's argument for scientific realism and the related explanation for the success of science are self-defeating. In the process of arguing against the traditional realist strategies for explaining the success of science, he inadvertently undermines his own argument.     

Little-known and phylogenetically obscure South African estuarine microgastropods (Mollusca: Truncatelloidea) as living animals

Areas of the Knysna estuarine bay in the Western Cape are dominated by three endemic South African truncatelloid microgastropods, temporarily known as ‘Hydrobia’ knysnaensis (Krauss), ‘Assiminea’ capensis (Sowerby) and ‘Assiminea’ globulus Connolly. Although first described 80–170 years ago and present in abundance (up to 100,000 m^?2), they remain surrounded by confusion and still await taxonomic assignment, largely because they appear most atypical members of their groups by virtue of anatomy and/or biogeography and/or habitat. This study contributes in-life perspectives to morphological and phylogenetic analyses known to be on-going. At Knysna, they are syntopic: at least two occurring in >85% and all three in >40% of individual 0.0026 m² samples from their region of dominance. Nevertheless, they tend to greater abundance in divergent microhabitats; ‘A.’ globulus dominating higher tidal levels, and ‘A.’ capensis and ‘Hydrobia’ lower ones; the former especially unvegetated sediment, the latter, if anything, seagrass. Interspecific feeding interactions appear unlikely to be responsible for these patterns, other evidence suggesting that all are maintained below carrying capacity. Field biology of ‘H.’ knysnaensis generally appears equivalent to that of northern-hemisphere intertidal hydrobiids and that of ‘A.’ globulus is typically assimineid, albeit at atypically low shore height. Unlike assimineids, however, ‘A.’ capensis is truly aquatic. The success of these truncatelloids in unusual circumstances may be consequent on the absence from South Africa of other microgastropod groups that fill their niches elsewhere in the southern hemisphere.     

Constructing and evaluating core inflation measures from component‐level inflation data

This paper undertakes a comprehensive examination of 10 measures of core inflation and evaluates which measure produces the best forecast of headline inflation out‐of‐sample. We use the Personal Consumption Expenditure Price Index as our measure of inflation. We use two sets of components (17 and 50) of the Personal Consumption Expenditure Price Index to construct these core inflation measures and evaluate these measures at the three time horizons (6, 12 and 24 months) most relevant for monetary policy decisions. The best measure of core inflation for both sets of components and over all time horizons uses weights based on the first principal component of the disaggregated (component‐level) prices. Interestingly, the results vary by the number of components used; when more components are used the weights based on the persistence of each component is statistically equivalent to the weights generated by the first principal component. However, those forecasts using the persistence of 50 components are statistically worse than those generated using the first principal component of 17 components. The statistical superiority of the principal component method is due to the fact that it extracts (in the first principal component) the common source of variation in the component level prices that accurately describes trend inflation over the next 6–24 months.     

Variations on a theme: Clifford’s parallelism in elliptic space

In 1873, W. K. Clifford introduced a notion of parallelism in the three-dimensional elliptic space that, quite surprisingly, exhibits almost all properties of Euclidean parallelism in ordinary space. The purpose of this paper is to describe the genesis of this notion in Clifford’s works and to provide a historical analysis of its reception in the investigations of F. Klein, L. Bianchi, G. Fubini, and E. Bortolotti. Special emphasis is placed upon the important role that Clifford’s parallelism played in the development of the theory of connections.     

利用SRTM数据修测高山区地貌的探讨

在高海拔区域测制地形图,如青藏高原地区,所获取的遥感影像局部存在着大范围的高山阴影或云雪覆盖,造成立体观测地貌困难的现象,探讨应用SRTM数据对这类特殊区域地貌进行修测补绘。介绍了数据处理的作业过程,并对实验区SRTM与SPOT5影像立体测图成果进行实验对比分析,成果符合要求。     

基于曼哈顿距离构建非参数Q矩阵修正方法

将被试得分、理想反应距离和被试得分异常原理相结合,并加入属性计分下的被试得分特性,开发了用于多级评分情境下属性计分曼哈顿距离法(SA-MD),在不同条件下验证了SA-MD的稳定性和适宜性.通过模拟研究和实证研究表明:(i)从逻辑推导出SA-MD用于多级评分情境下Q矩阵修正更合理;(ii)在多种条件中,SA-MD 均有较优的修正效果,适用范围更广,稳定性更高;(iii)当小样本测验进行Q矩阵修正时,使用SA-MD方法可获得更优的效果.