Physics Professor Lands Top Acoustical Society of America Award

Likun Zhang awarded R. Bruce Lindsay Award for early-career acoustics wor

Current Issues

Cosmic explosions are observed in many astrophysical environments. They range in scale from hydromagnetic instabilities in the terrestrial magnetotail and solar ``nanoflares'' to cosmological gamma ray bursts, supernovae and the protracted intervals of nuclear activity that produce the giant quasars and radio galaxies. There are many parallels in the analyses of the explosion sites that are highlighted at this workshop, specifically stellar coronae, accretion disks, supernovae and compact objects. In this introductory talk, some general issues are discussed and some more specific questions relating to the individual sites are raised.Comment: To appear in Cosmic Explosions: Proc. 10th Maryland Conference on Astrophysics. Ed. S. Holt and W. Zhang AI

‘A Special Zone for Confucianism’? Theses of the Academician Zhang Xianglong on Traditional Chinese Culture”

This article introduces the work of the academician Zhang Xianglong (b. 1949), focussing on his idea of establishing a “special zone for Confucianism” in China. Zhang argues that special protection is needed for Confucian traditions which he perceives as the leading culture of China. Confucian culture should find its way out of the museum, says Zhang. He also refers to the political concept of “one country, two systems” that was implemented when Hongkong was restored to Chinese rule. Zhang applies this to his idea of a “special zone for Confucianism”, suggesting that this political concept could be extended to “one country, three systems”. In my view Zhang is developing new, creative ideas for possible experimental fields dealing with Confucianism in the context of the People’s Republic of China. In the end it is my argument that it would be helpful to conduct in-depth research on the possible role of Confucianism in today’s China. Ta članek predstavlja delo akademika Zhang Xianglong (r. 1949) in se osredotoča na njegovo idejo o ustanovitvi »posebne cone za konfucianizma« na Kitajskem. Zhang trdi, da je potrebna posebna zaščita za konfucijansko tradicijo, za katero meni, da je vodilna kultura Kitajske. Konfucijska kultura bi po njegovem morala najti svojo pot iz muzeja. Sklicuje se tudi na politični koncept »ena država, dva sistema«, ki se je izvajal, ko je bila obnovljena kitajska nadvlada Hongkongu. Zhang to povezuje s svojo idejo o »posebni coni za konfucianizem« in predlaga, da bi se ta politični koncept razširil na »ena država, trije sistemi«. Po mojem mnenju Zhang razvija nove, ustvarjalne ideje za morebitna poskusna področja, ki se ukvarjajo s konfucianizmom v okviru Ljudske republike Kitajske. Tako je moj argument, da bi bilo koristno, da se naredi poglobljena raziskava o morebitni vlogi konfucianizma v današnji Kitajski.