Taming theory with thought experiments: Understanding and scientific progress

I claim that one way thought experiments contribute to scientific progress is by increasing scientific understanding. Understanding does not have a currently accepted characterization in the philosophical literature, but I argue that we already have ways to test for it. For instance, current pedagogical practice often requires that students demonstrate being in either or both of the following two states: 1) Having grasped the meaning of some relevant theory, concept, law or model, 2) Being able to apply that theory, concept, law or model fruitfully to new instances. Three thought experiments are presented which have been important historically in helping us pass these tests, and two others that cause us to fail. Then I use this operationalization of understanding to clarify the relationships between scientific thought experiments, the understanding they produce, and the progress they enable. I conclude that while no specific instance of understanding (thus conceived) is necessary for scientific progress, understanding in general is.     

Packaging Radium,Selling Science: Boxes,Bottles and Other Mundane Things in the World of Science

This article discusses the intersection of science and culture in the marketplace and explores the ways in which radium quack and medicinal products were packaged and labelled in the early twentieth century US. Although there is an interesting growing body of literature by art historians on package design, historians of science and medicine have paid little to no attention to the ways scientific and medical objects that were turned into commodities were packaged and commercialized. Thinking about packages not as mere containers but as multifunctional tools adds to historical accounts of science as a sociocultural enterprise and reminds us that science has always been part of consumer culture. This paper suggests that far from being receptacles that preserve their content and facilitate their transportation, bottles and boxes that contained radium products functioned as commercial and epistemic devices. It was the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act that enforced such functions. Packages worked as commercial devices in the sense that they were used to boost sales. In addition, ‘epistemic’ points to the fact that the package is an artefact that ascribes meaning to and shapes its content while at the same time working as a device for distinguishing between patent and orthodox medicines.     

土-箱基-框架结构动力相互作用体系试验研究

通过对1/2大比例模型的试验与仿真分析,研究了结构-箱基础-土体系的动力反应.将实测基频结果与基于刚性地基的仿真分析结果对比,发现实测结果小于有限元结果;但将实测基频结果与考虑相互作用的仿真分析结果对比,发现实测结果与仿真分析结果吻合,这说明土-箱基础-结构相互作用改变了结构体系的动力特性,使结构体系的自振周期延长,同时也验证了仿真分析的有效性.     

我国电影生命周期模型及实证分析

对我国电影市场的影片生命周期进行了分析,建立了考虑季节性因素和其他影响因素的Gamma需求模型,并结合计量模型中的变截距面板数据模型与普通多元回归模型应用于研究电影观众人数及其衰减情况.估计结果显示:建立的模型能够较准确地反映我国电影市场观众人数.的变化规律.此外,针对我国电影市场,量化研究了影星的票房号召力、续集、投资规模等因素对观众人数的影响情况,为电影决策者制定策略以及预测新上映影片的观众需求做指导与借鉴.实证结果显示:考虑档期因素的必要性,并且发现较多的观众会导致影片观众人数的下降显得更快些,大制作和小制作电影的观众衰减速度相差很小,模拟支持研究结论的合理性.     

钻孔施工对孔侧箱涵的影响及测斜结果分析

分析了钻孔施工对孔壁土体和地下箱涵不利影响的几点原因,介绍了测斜监测在钻孔施工中的使用,以此监测地下箱涵的安全性,以及通过分析监测成果,提出了道路施工中对地下管线不利影响有参考价值的结论。     

意识形态批评分析——以《阿甘正传》为例

意识形态批评产生于20世纪60年代,是最重要也是最具活力的电影批评理论,对于揭示由大众文化所负载的新主流意识形态的建构过程,保持着现实的活力。影视文学的意识形态批评受益于路易·皮埃尔·阿尔都塞的意识形态国家机器理论。《阿甘正传》这部既在美国国内又在世界上引起轰动的影片正好是进行意识形态批评的恰当文本。从意识形态批评理论的角度对《阿甘正传》进行分析,可知该影片反映了两种意识形态,一是种族问题及和解;二是性别、文化间的冲突与和解。     

锅炉防焦箱鼓包原因的分析

本文对一起锅炉的防焦箱鼓包事故进行了原因分析,同时提出了一些的建议与改进措施。     

箱基、框架和地基土空间共同工作的变分模型

采用空间子结构法将上部框架结构凝聚为一个“超级”空间单元，按照抗弯刚度等效的原则，将箱基代换为分别支承在有限分层弹性地基和文克尔地基上的弹性平板，再利用能量变分原理建立框架、土体和箱基三者空间共同工作的数学模型。该模型明确地显示了三者的受力关系，合理地体现了三者共同工作的三维效应，同时，由于引入凝聚技术，比一般的空间分析方法显著节省计算工作量。     

箱型箱装配焊接过程中的扭转判据及其应用

建立了装配焊接过程箱型梁的扭转判据.并应用判据阐明箱型梁扭转变形的基本性质,建立箱型梁扭转矫正量计算的通用方法.     

箱型梁薄膜力剪滞效应分析

将箱型梁分解成薄板结构,应用简单的强度与材料关系,导出箱型梁的薄膜方程.根据微积分关系,得到了箱梁各板考虑剪滞效应的纵、横向薄膜力和薄膜剪力的计算公式,探讨了悬臂箱梁薄膜力剪滞效应随梁的跨宽比、宽高比以及荷载形式等因素变化的影响.本文所述的公式简单,可供工程设计中快速估算出箱型梁的剪滞效应.