Newtonianism and the enthusiasm of Enlightenment

The career of John Jackson (1686-1763), Arian theologian and controversialist, provides a key to unlocking the early reception and quick collapse of a Newtonian natural apologetic originally developed by Samuel Clarke. The importance of friendship and discipleship in eighteenth-century intellectual enquiry is emphasised, and the links between Newton and his followers are traced alongside those of a group of Cambridge Lockeans, led by Jackson’s direct contemporary Daniel Waterland, who proved instrumental in the initial dismantling of Clarke’s brand of Newtonian apologetic. The controversial context of this engagement is shown to have been largely provided by the religiously compromising rise of freethinking, and Tindal’s Christianity as old as the creation (1731) signalled the dangers to proponents of natural religion as an adjunct of Christian apologetic in such a heated atmosphere. Religious division of the sort that resulted paradoxically played into the hands of the freethinkers in the anticlerical atmosphere of the 1730s, and accusations were exchanged between Newtonians and Lockeans accordingly. The dynamic of England’s Enlightenment experience is, then, a complicated one, and, as the career and writings of Jackson and William Whiston demonstrate, it was one which absorbed as well as repudiated ‘enthusiasm’.     

从科学史观点试谈奇门遁甲（续完）：1997—10—03在西北大学的讲演

就最早出现在东晋葛洪的《抱朴子内篇》的遁甲和８世纪最早的有关奇门遁甲的文献记载进行讨论。述及北宋司天台采用奇门遁甲,下至有明一代奇门遁甲成为官方采用三式中的一种秘传术数的过程。示范奇门遁甲的布局方法,并举例解释它在气象学、军事和人事各方面的应用。认为传统中国从来没有科学这个名词,欧洲在文艺复兴时代以前也没有这个名词,可是认识和克服大自然这个理念应该早已存在,这就是所谓科学的前身。又认为奇门遁甲是传统中国理念中的科学,后来在欧洲科学与巫术、哲学、宗教等分手,可是奇门遁甲没有脱离它和人事、巫术等的关系。     

Effect of 723-1723-1723-1on ethanol withdrawal in mice

Summary ⁹ (10 mg/kg, i.p.) administered to mice immediately after withdrawal from a 3-day exposure to ethanol vapor was found to intensify withdrawal reactions. No effect was seen when ⁹ was administered chronically during the exposure to ethanol.     

Analysis of carbon isotopes in airborne carbonate and implications for aeolian sources

Methods were developed to determine the mass ratios of carbon isotopes in trace amounts of aerosol carbonate. A Finnigan MAT 252 mass spectrometer fitted with an on-line Kiel device was to determine the ^13C/^12C ratio in CO2 produced from the carbonate. A study using these methods was conducted to characterize the carbonate carbon isotopes in aerosol samples collected in Xi‘an on dusty and normal days during March and April 2002. Results of the study demonstrate that insights into the origin of the dust can be deduced from its isotopic composition. That is, the δ^13C ofcarbonate for dust storm samples ranged from -1.4‰ to -4.2‰, and this is consistent with sandy materials in dust source regions upwind. In contrast, for non-dusty days δ^13C ranged from -7.5% to -9.3‰, which is more similar to fine particles emitted from local surface soils. Comparisons of dust storm aerosols with surface soils from source regions and with aerosol samples collected downwind indicate that the δ^13C values did not change appreciably during longrange transport. Therefore, carbon isotopes have the potential for distinguishing among source materials, and this approach provides a powerful new tool for identifying dust provenance.     

Synthesis of the 3D porous carbon-manganese oxide (3D-C@MnO) nanocomposite and its supercapacitor behavior study

A 3D porous carbon-manganese oxide ([email protected]) nanocomposite is successfully synthesized via a thermal plasma deposition method. The chemical bonds and compositions, phase structures, surface morphologies, etc. of as-obtained [email protected] nanocomposite were characterized by the various equipment, such as X-ray diffractometer, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and electron microscopes. The electrochemical performances of the [email protected] nanocomposite electrode showed a specific capacitance of 780 F g^?1 at a current density of 2 A g^?1 and a capacitance retention rate of 99% after 5000 charge-discharge cycles at a high current density of 10 A g^?1. These excellent capacitive performances may be attributed to the encapsulation of MnO nanoparticles by porous carbon sheets in the [email protected] MnO nanocomposite structure. It is believed that the carbon-encapsulated MnO nanoparticles can be protected from a volume deformation during the charge adsorption/desorption cycle and can be electrically improved by the encapsulated carbon sheets, resulting in better overall capacitive performance. In addition, this study also demonstrates the practical applicability by assembling a supercapacitor using the as-obtained [email protected] nanocomposite to glow a light emitting diode.     

一种围数为八的低密度校验码校验矩阵设计

提出了一种低密度校验（IDPC）码的规则校验矩阵设计算法．首先设计3个不同的子矩阵,每个子矩阵通过对单位矩阵进行不同的移位运算后组合生成,然后将这3个子矩阵组合生成所需要的低密度校验矩阵,最后利用文中提到的短环检验算法搜索出使得生成的校验矩阵四环数、六环数均为零的移位算子．用该校验矩阵所对应的生成矩阵对随机信息进行编码,AWGN信道下的仿真结果表明,具有逼近MacKay随机码的误码率性能．     

A dynamic early East Antarctic Ice Sheet suggested by ice-covered fjord landscapes

The first Cenozoic ice sheets initiated in Antarctica from the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains and other highlands as a result of rapid global cooling ～34 million years ago. In the subsequent 20 million years, at a time of declining atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and an evolving Antarctic circumpolar current, sedimentary sequence interpretation and numerical modelling suggest that cyclical periods of ice-sheet expansion to the continental margin, followed by retreat to the subglacial highlands, occurred up to thirty times. These fluctuations were paced by orbital changes and were a major influence on global sea levels. Ice-sheet models show that the nature of such oscillations is critically dependent on the pattern and extent of Antarctic topographic lowlands. Here we show that the basal topography of the Aurora Subglacial Basin of East Antarctica, at present overlain by 2-4.5?km of ice, is characterized by a series of well-defined topographic channels within a mountain block landscape. The identification of this fjord landscape, based on new data from ice-penetrating radar, provides an improved understanding of the topography of the Aurora Subglacial Basin and its surroundings, and reveals a complex surface sculpted by a succession of ice-sheet configurations substantially different from today's. At different stages during its fluctuations, the edge of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet lay pinned along the margins of the Aurora Subglacial Basin, the upland boundaries of which are currently above sea level and the deepest parts of which are more than 1?km below sea level. Although the timing of the channel incision remains uncertain, our results suggest that the fjord landscape was carved by at least two iceflow regimes of different scales and directions, each of which would have over-deepened existing topographic depressions, reversing valley floor slopes.