Sufficient Reason and Reason Enough

I offer an analysis of the Principle of Sufficient Reason and its relevancy for the scientific endeavour. I submit that the world is not, and cannot be, rational—only some brained beings are. The Principle of Sufficient Reason is not a necessary truth nor a physical law. It is just a guiding metanomological hypothesis justified a posteriori by its success in helping us to unveil the mechanisms that operate in Nature.     

Semi-global stabilization via homogeneous output feedback for a class of nonlinear time-delay systems

The semi-global stabilization problem for a class of nonlinear systems with state time-delay is addressed in this paper. By using Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional method and homogeneous domination approach, a homogeneous observer and an output feedback controller with a scaling gain are designed. Then the scaling gain is adjusted such that the closed-loop system is semi-global asymptotically stable. A numerical example is presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the obtained results in this paper.     

Attentional negativity bias moderated by positive mood arousal

Automatically allocation of more attention to negative stimuli is called emotional negativity bias. An event-related potentials (ERPs) experiment investigated whether or not this bias was altered by positive mood arousal. The results suggested that the attention bias towards negative stimuli was attenuated when positive information was accessible.     

交通工程成本控制与管理的研究

交通工程施工企业合理制定加强成本控制的方案和措施,建立和完善成本控制体系,提高成本控制的有效性,抓好招标、施工、竣工验收阶段的各环节,完善成本控制核算制度,努力降低成本,才能提高企业的效益.     

美汉草（Meehania fargesii Levl）生物量分配分析

调查阔叶红松林林下早春开花植物美汉草(Meehania fargesii Levl)各个器官生物量分配变化情况.结果表明:在整个生长季节中,美汉草各器官生物量总体上呈现先增加后减少的趋势,5月初~7月初,根生长速率先快后慢,茎叶生长速率先慢后快,7月中旬以后各器官生物量逐渐减少;美汉草有性生殖的生殖分配占总生物量的比例较小(4%~6%);根冠比在5~6月不断上升,6~7月迅速下降,7月以后保持稳定;根和茎叶生物量分别与总生物量呈显著的线性正相关关系.分析显示:为了适应阔叶红松林林下的光照变化,在林分郁闭前,能量主要分配给地下部分;林分郁闭后,茎叶生长占主导.美汉草主要以营养繁殖为主,第2年的地下根状茎来自第1年地上茎的繁殖方式及生物量分配策略,可能是美汉草成为林下优势草本的重要原因.     

Teeming stream protection using an argon shroud during casting of steel ingots

Two kinds of argon shroud protection devices with two different basic structures were designed and investigated. Industrial experiments and numerical simulations were used to examine the protection effect, and the mechanism of air entrapment during the casting of steel ingots was analyzed. The influence of the structure of the argon shroud protection device on the protection effect was investigated. An argon shroud protection device mounted to the nozzle holder on the bottom of the ladle does not provide a good protection effect because air can easily flow into the teeming system and cause reoxidation of molten steel during teeming. By contrast, an argon shroud protection device seated on the top of the central trumpet provides an excellent protection effect, where air has little chance of flowing into the teeming system during casting. The feasibilities of the argon shroud protection devices are discussed.     

《特种建筑材料》双语教学的探索与实践

就《特种建筑材料》采用双语教学的教材、课件、教学形式、作业、考试等问题进行了探讨,并对《特种建筑材料》开展双语教学一年多来的成效进行了分析,希望对其他课程的双语教学开设有一定借鉴作用。     

H型钢多道次粗轧工艺过程的数值分析

为了分析现有型钢轧制工艺的合理性,必须综合考虑轧件的微观组织演化、轧制力等多方面因素.为此,文中提出了针对H型钢多道次轧制过程的综合数值分析流程,通过热模拟实验和金相观测,建立轧件材料的高温屈服应力模型及奥氏体再结晶预报模型,并构建基于网格重构的多道次仿真分析方法.对某11道次H型钢多道次粗轧过程的仿真计算表明:轧制力的计算结果和现场实测数据吻合较好,现有多道次粗轧工艺对轧件腹板的晶粒细化作用较为明显.     

Research on catalysis of sodium-metallochlorophylls in Ni/MH battery

The effects of sodium-metallochlorophylls including sodium-iron chlorophyllin, sodium-copper chlorophyllin and sodium-magnesium chlorophyllin on performance of Ni/MH battery were investigated. The results show that sodium-iron chlorophyllin can effectively activate the gases produced during charge in Ni/MH battery, therefore reducing the reduction potential of oxygen and the oxidation potential of hydrogen, and the increased speed of inner pressure of battery is decreased significantly. With the aid of DMol3 software, the activation process of oxygen and hydrogen by sodiummetallochlorophylls was simulated and analyzed. It was found that the catalysis behavior is in agreement with the experimental results, and the activation process also gets a reasonable explanation from the calculated results.     

Competing Definitions of Information Versus Entropy in Physics

As was mentioned by Nicolas Lori in his (Found Sci, 2010) commentary, the definition of Information in Physics is something about which not all authors agreed. According to physicists like me Information decreases when Entropy increases (so entropy would be a negative measure of information), while many physicists, seemingly the majority of them, are convinced of the contrary (even in the camp of Quantum Information Theoreticians). In this reply I reproduce, and make more precise, some of my arguments, that appeared here and there in my (2010) paper, in order to clarify the presentation of my personal point of view on the subject.