Sino-Latin American space cooperation: A smart move

Sino-Latin American space cooperation has grown in the past several years, contributing to debates over China’s rising influence in the region. Much of what has been written about this phenomenon is overly simplistic and denotes a lack of understanding of the interplay between the domestic and the international when decisions of international cooperation are taken. This paper argues that calculations of both domestic and international interest are important in Sino-Latin space relationships, with the former of particular importance to Latin American countries. It explores these interests as demonstrated in the cooperative programs of four Latin American countries. It concludes that, while the US relationship is not a major factor in their decisions to cooperate or not with China, the USA could benefit from a greater understanding of this phenomenon to expand its relationships with the emerging space nations of the region to its benefit.     

中美高校国防教育法制建设比较

国防教育法律法规是各国高校进行国防教育的依据和基础,简要阐述美国和中国有关高校国防教育法制建设概况,并进行比较。通过比较,中国与美国在国防教育相关法律建设中既有共同点,又在立法目的、法制制定、法律内容、依法施教、宣传力度上存在差异,为此,提出加强和改进国防教育的三点建议。     

An empirical model for the variation of rain drop size distribution with rain rate at a few locations in southern India

A Joss–Waldvogel impact type disdrometer was installed at four different locations in the Indian peninsula during various periods from 2001 till date. The data are analysed to study the nature of rain drop size distribution (DSD) in this region. Out of the three well known distributions that describe DSD, namely, the Marshall–Palmer, Gamma and Lognormal, it has been found that Lognormal distribution fits the DSD in this region better than the other ones. Lognormal distributions for different rain rates were then derived by fitting the lognormal function to the data using a curve fitting software. Then the variation of fit parameters with rain rate was evaluated. Incorporating these variations, into the Lognormal distribution, an empirical equation that describes the DSD in this region for different rain rates was derived. Then this equation was tested with sample data from each of these stations. The data used for validation were not used for fitting lognormal equation to derive the fit parameters. The correlation between the DSD measured and derived using the empirical model was found to be quite good (0.9) except in some cases where the coefficient dropped to 0.75. The empirical model can be updated when more data are available.     

美国医疗保障体制改革评析

美国医疗保障体制处于不断改革之中。克林顿政府试图推动的改革方案的核心是引入社会保险的要素，建立一个雇主缴费型的强制性医疗计划，从而实现全民医疗保障覆盖。该方案由于受到社会各界的普遍反对而被国会否决。小布什政府主张从推广健康储蓄账户、引入联合健康计划、改革医疗责任事故相关法律制度和采用新信息技术来改革美国的医疗保障体制。其医疗改革方案注重通过制度创新来降低医疗保险费用和减少医疗费用的浪费。但改革的最终结果，尚取决于医疗储蓄账户的运行效果及其规模、病人能否具有评估医疗服务质量的能力以及改革方案能否真正、有效地控制费用上涨这几个问题的真正解决。     

太阳周期活动对低高度内辐射带高能质子的影响

利用NOAA-15卫星1998年到2011年近13年的高能质子全向通量观测资料, 分析了一个太阳活动周内, 低高度内辐射带高能质子通量的分布变化特性及其物理原因, 比较了观测结果与AP8模型的不同. 研究表明, 低高度内辐射带高能质子通量与太阳活动水平的反相关关系与磁壳参数L值及磁场B值有关; L值越低, B值越大的空间点, 其高能质子通量与太阳活动水平的反向相关性越明显. 高能质子通量随太阳活动水平的变化存在明显滞后现象, L值越高、 B值越小的空间点, 滞后现象就越明显, 滞后严重时可以达到一年左右的时间; 这种滞后现象反映出低高度内辐射带高能质子的源与损失达到平衡是一个中长期过程. 通过与AP8模型计算结果的比较分析可以看出, 利用AP8模型时, 仅考虑地磁场长期变化对质子通量的影响可能会夸大低高度内辐射带局部高能质子通量的增强.      

漂移壳追踪方法与内辐射带的长期变化

地磁场的长期变化发迹辐射带结构,如何在当前年代下恰当地使用ＡＥ－８／ＡＰ－８模型,目前国内外对此问题存在着很大的争议。我们在物理分析的基础上给出了当前年代下使用辐射带模型ＡＰ－８的漂移壳追踪方法ＤＳＴＭ（Ｄｒｉｆｔ Ｓｈｅｌｌ Ｔｒａｃｉｎｇ Ｍｅｔｈｏｄ）。计算结果表明地磁场的长期变化对内辐射带的通量分布有着显著的影响。３０－４０年来,南大西洋通量异常区中心向丁和向北发生偏移,高粒子辐射区域的范     

Response of dissolved oxygen and related marine ecological parameters to a tropical cyclone in the South China Sea

It is well known that tropical cyclones can cause upwelling, decrease of sea surface temperature, increase of chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration and enhancement of primary production. But little is known about the response of dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration to a typhoon in the open ocean. This paper investigates the impact of a typhoon on DO concentration and related ecological parameters using in situ and remote sensing data. The in situ data were collected 1 week after the passage of the super-typhoon Nanmadol in the northern South China Sea in 2011. An increase in DO concentration, accompanied by a decrease in water temperature and an increase in salinity and Chl-a concentration, was measured at sampling stations close to the typhoon track. At these stations, maximum DO concentration was found at a depth of around 5 m and maximum Chl-a concentration at depths between 50 and 75 m. The layer of high DO concentration extends from the surface to a depth of 35 m and the concentrations stay almost constant down to this depth. Due to the passage of the typhoon, also a large sea level anomaly (21.6 cm) and a high value of Ekman pumping velocity (4.0 × 10⁻⁴ m s⁻¹) are observed, indicating upwelling phenomenon. At the same time, also intrusion of Kuroshio waters in the form of a loop current into the South China Sea (SCS) was observed. We attribute the increase of DO concentration after the passage of the typhoon to three effects: (1) entrainment of oxygen from the air into the upper water layer and strong vertical mixing of the water body due to the typhoon winds, (2) upwelling of cold nutrient-rich water which stimulates photosynthesis of phytoplankton and thus the generation of oxygen, which also increases the DO concentration due to cold water since the solubility of oxygen increase with decreasing water temperature, and, possibly, (3) transport of DO enriched waters from the Western Pacific to the SCS via the intrusion of Kuroshio waters.     

Space law education in China: Status quo,shortcomings and possible ways out

Space law education has an essential role in the space capacity building of a country because of its importance for human resources development in space law. Comparisons between Canada and China, the European Union and China and the United States of America (USA) and China in space law degree education, course, teaching methodology, institute and practice and communication platform are provided in an attempt to review some issues which exist within the Chinese space law educational system and to seek a better choice for China’s space law education reform. Chinese space law education has achieved noticeable progress over the past two decades. However, it is still limited in comparison to its counterparts in Europe and Northern America. The range of the space law degree education programmes and space-law-related courses is comparatively limited. A gap remains between space law education and practice in China. Chinese space law classes are still dominated by the teacher-centred teaching methodology, although several universities have some new teaching practices. The establishment of seven space law-related research institutes plays an increasingly important role in Chinese space law education, space law and policy research and legal advisory services for the Chinese government and non-governmental sectors. However, these institutes still have a long way to go in comparison with their counterparts in Europe and Northern America. While China has established domestic research platforms for space law communication through international cooperation, it does not provide space law practice platforms for space law education. While international space law does not provide a direct legal foundation for space law education in China, Chinese educational laws can lay a profound legal foundation for Chinese space law education. To promote its national expertise and capacity in space law, based on the three-pillar model and the experiences of its counterparts in North America and Europe, China should adopt a systematic and sustainable regime for its space law education.