This article begins with a review of the literature on the ethics of tax evasion and identifies the three main views that have emerged over the centuries, namely always ethical, sometimes ethical, and never or almost never ethical. It then reports on the results of a survey of HK and U.S. university business students who were asked to express their opinions on the 15 statements covering the three main views. The data are then analyzed to determine which of the three (...) viewpoints is dominant among the sample population. Although it was found that HK scores were significantly different from the U.S. scores, both HK and U.S. respondents were opposed to the view that tax evasion is always or almost always ethical. The strongest arguments justifying tax evasion were in cases where the government was corrupt, the tax system was unfair and unaffordable. The weakest arguments for justifying tax evasion were in cases where there was a selfish motive. The underlying cultural differences are further explored in hope of accounting for differing perceptions of ethics of tax evasion. Policy implications for increasing people’s awareness of ethics on tax evasion are also highlighted. (shrink)

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effectiveness of Digital Content Marketing on a Mixed Reality training platform environment with the consideration of online purchase intention through social media. E-commerce today encounters several common issues that cause customers to have reservations to purchase online. With the absence of physical contact points, customers often perceive more risks when making purchase decisions. Furthermore, online retailers often find it hard to engage customers and develop long-term relationships. In this research, a Structural (...) Equation Model is proposed to examine the efficacy of DCM from both immediate and long-term OPI. The results examine whether adopting DCM on an MR training platform environment through social media brings positive results in OPI. Empirical research was carried out through online questionnaires collected in 2021 and 2022. A total of 374 questionnaires were qualified for data analysis in this study, conducted with IBM SPSS and AMOS. The results imply that DCM is critical to stimulating both immediate and long-term OPI. The immediate OPI is positively affected by increasing perceived value through MR in DCM. Regarding the long-term OPI, increased customer engagement with DCM under MR environment can cultivate brand trust and significantly affect the long-term OPI. (shrink)

Since male CEOs dominate corporate leadership, the literature on top management decision making suffers from an implicit masculine bias. Although research indicates that males and females are biologically and psychologically different, the leadership characteristics of female CEOs are largely unexplored. Two of these characteristics, risk aversion and ethical sensitivity, are tied to key accounting issues, such as conservatism in financial reporting and steadfast opposition to fraud. In this study, we examine the relationship between CEO gender and accounting conservatism, and find (...) a positive association between the two. Consistent with conventional wisdom, this association appears to be stronger in firms with high rather than low litigation and takeover risks. This study contributes to the ethics literature by highlighting the benefits of gender diversity in upholding the integrity of financial reporting. (shrink)

Speech variability facilitates non-tonal language speakers’ lexical tone learning. However, it remains unknown whether tonal language speakers can also benefit from speech variability while learning second language (L2) lexical tones. Researchers also reported that the effectiveness of speech variability was only shown on learning new items. Considering that the first language (L1) and L2 probably share similar tonal categories, the present study hypothesizes that speech variability only promotes the tonal language speakers’ acquisition of L2 tones that are different from the (...) tones in their L1. To test this hypothesis, the present study trained native Mandarin (a tonal language) speakers to learn Cantonese tones with either high variability (HV) or low variability (LV) speech materials, and then compared their learning performance. The results partially supported this hypothesis: only Mandarin subjects’ productions of Cantonese low level and mid level tones benefited from the speech variability. They probably relied on the mental representations in L1 to learn the Cantonese tones that had similar Mandarin counterparts. This learning strategy limited the impact of speech variability. Furthermore, the results also revealed a discrepancy between L2 perception and production. The perception improvement may not necessarily lead to an improvement in production. (shrink)

IntroductionThe 2019–2020 pandemic COVID-19 has become a global health crisis. While many recent studies on COVID-19 pandemic have focused on disease epidemiology and psychological status of patients, few have explored the multi-facet influential factors or combined perspectives from both the patients and healthcare workers. The purposes of this study were to: analyze the influencing factors of psychological distress of COVID-19 patients; and describe the experience of healthcare workers relieving psychological distress.Materials and MethodsThis study uses a mixed-method cross-sectional design, including a (...) quantitative study and a qualitative study, targeting two populations: COVID-19 patient and health workers, respectively. In the quantitative part, we recruited a convenience sample of patients with COVID-19 from five hospitals in Wuhan, Hubei Province from 10 to 15 April, 2020. Besides, we collected data by using participants’ socio-demographic information sheet, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-10, the Herth Hope Index, the Distress Thermometer, the Revised Chinese Version of Mishel Uncertainty in Illness Scale, and the Chinese Version of Wake Forest Physician Trust Scale. In the qualitative part, the participants were healthcare workers involved in medical aid missions in Hubei Province, China. Meanwhile, we used sampling with convenient and purposive, data collection with a semi-structured online video interview, and text transcription with Colaizzi’s phenomenological method.ResultsThe results reveal that 25.7% of patients reported higher level of psychological distress. After controlling the sociodemographic variables, only severity of COVID-19 and uncertainty in illness shown significant effect on psychological distress in the regression model. The experience of healthcare workers emerged five themes: Particularly needed psychological care, Manifestation of negative emotion, Manifestation of proactive adaptation, Strategies relieving psychological distress, and gains of healthcare workers after delivering effective psychological care.ConclusionThe 25.7% of patients with COVID-19 still suffered from psychological distress, which should receive timely attention from healthcare workers. And the severity of the disease and disease uncertainty have a significant impact on distress. It is critical to train the healthcare workers on detecting the different manifestation of psychological distress, offering timely disease related information, and applying communication strategies. (shrink)

The spatial organization of the genome is intimately linked to its biological function, yet our understanding of higher order genomic structure is coarse, fragmented and incomplete. In the nucleus of eukaryotic cells, interphase chromosomes occupy distinct.

The purpose of this study was to develop a Physician's Spiritual Well-Being Scale (PSpWBS). The significance of a physician's spiritual well-being was explored through in-depth interviews with and qualitative data collection from focus groups. Based on the results of qualitative analysis and related literature, the PSpWBS consisting of 25 questions was established. Reliability and validity tests were performed on 177 subjects. Four domains of the PSpWBS were devised: physician's characteristics; medical practice challenges; response to changes; and overall well-being. The explainable (...) total variance was 65.65%. Cronbach α was 0.864 when the internal consistency of the whole scale was calculated. Factor analysis showed that the internal consistency Cronbach α value for each factor was between 0.625 and 0.794 and the split-half reliability was 0.865. The scale has satisfactory reliability and validity and could serve as the basis for assessment of the spiritual well-being of a physician. (shrink)

It is shown that there exists a low2 Harrington non-splitting base-that is, a low2 computably enumerable (c.e.) degree a such that for any c.e. degrees x, y, if $0' = x \vee y$ , then either $0' = x \vee a$ or $0' = y \vee a$ . Contrary to prior expectations, the standard Harrington non-splitting construction is incompatible with the $low_{2}-ness$ requirements to be satisfied, and the proof given involves new techniques with potentially wider application.

Les rencontres avec les travaux d'Anne-Françoise Schmid que présente cet ouvrage, mettent la philosophie générique au coeur des pratiques contemporaines des sciences, ouvrant ainsi une nouvelle voie pour la création épistémologique. Comment produire une description non disciplinaire des sciences? Qu'est-ce qui permet aux sciences d'être conceptives? - De quoi a-t-on besoin pour une science sans exclusions? Quels sont les nouveaux opérateurs de rigueur des sciences contemporaines? Les travaux d'Anne-Françoise Schmid montrent que les objets contemporains des sciences ne se prêtent pas (...) à des définitions standard, et que les convergences de perspectives disciplinaires ne permettent pas non plus d'assurer un point de vue théorique unifié, mais seulement des trajectoires particulières et multiples. Il n'y a pas d'objet sans rapport à l'objet. Ce rapport n'est pas simplement une mise en contexte, elle met en jeu l'intime et l'intention des chercheurs. Les disciplines cachent cet aspect. Sa philosophie travaille à la mise en lumière des opérations qui permettent l'ouverture d'un espace générique : c'est-à-dire un espace qui ne dépend pas d'une seule discipline et qui est condition d'une nouvelle mise en relation des concepts d'humain et de sciences. Les contributions de cet ouvrage mettent en évidence des nouvelles logiques de découpage, de réarticulation et d'invention de concepts dans une grande diversité de champs disciplinaires. Ce livre offre une entrée dans un espace générique. Le générique permet de voir ainsi ce que l'on ne voit pas avec l'épistémologie classique."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Environmental ethics can be cultivated in China and other Asian countries based on Chinese philosophical perspectives. Two major Chinese philosophies relevant to the issues of environmental ethics—Confucianism and Taoism—suggest certain approaches to developing environmental ethics. These approaches can complement each other in developing a Chinese or East Asian theory of environmental ethics. Drawing on these perspectives, China’s Wolong National Nature Reserve can face the challenge of protecting its pandas while developing the local economy. By adopting a set of strategies with (...) elements from both Confucianism and Taoism, Wolong has fared well in both protecting pandas and promoting environmental ethics. This case has implications for both managerial researchers and practitioners. (shrink)

Objectives The objectives of the study are to understand the current practice of informed consent in medical research in public hospitals in Shanghai, and to share our views with other countries, especially developing countries. Methods In the study, 145 consent forms (CFs) of the selected research projects in eight public hospitals with ethics committees in Shanghai were audited, and the principle investigators (PIs) of these research projects and 40 student subjects who had participated in clinical drug tests were surveyed by (...) questionnaires. Results The CFs of medical researches in public hospitals with ethics committees in Shanghai were generally acceptable. However, there were some defects in the CFs. Although most of the surveyed PIs had correct recognition of informed consent, some processes of informed consent were not in accordance with generally accepted requirements. A large number of the PIs considered the greatest difficulty with informal consent was lack of correct recognition of subjects or legally authorised representatives on medical research. Discussion Informed consent in medical research should consider the research ethics, the background of potential subjects, the local resources and culture of medical research. In addition, special protection is needed for student subjects in informed consent as well as efforts for building and restoring the public's trust in biomedical research. Conclusion The informed consent in Shanghai's public hospitals with ethics committees was generally acceptable and the achievement of adequate informed consent is influenced by many factors. (shrink)

Etienne Balibar, Olivier Bloch, Jean-Claude Bourdin, Isabelle Garo, Alain Gigandet, Pascale Gillot, Annie Ibrahim, Irène Pereira et André Tosel se penchent dans cet ouvrage sur les problèmes et les perpectives induites par le matérialisme althusserien. " Jamais un coup de dés n'abolira le hasard ". Althusser fait un bref commentaire de cette célèbre sentence mallarméenne dans un texte de 1982 - Le courant souterrain du matérialisme de la rencontre. II y conclut que l'histoire n'est que la révocation permanente du (...) fait accompli par le "fait à accomplir" sans qu'on sache à l'avance ni jamais, ni où, ni comment. Affaire de jeu de dés à jeter sur la table vide... Ainsi est déterminée une position en philosophie et en politique, assiette inédite qui en appelle à l'aléatoire et se donne comme un " chantier " ouvert à nos explorations. De fait, les catégories du sujet, de l'aliénation, de la dialectique, de l'idéologie, sont bradées ou ébranlées au profit du processus hasardeux et de la vicissitude des formes. Pourtant, ni le primat de la lutte des classes ni la thèse de la matérialité objective du monde ne sont sacrifiés au nouvel horizon de la conjoncture. Il se peut qu'il y ait deux voies du matérialisme, aussi légitimes l'une que l'autre - matérialisme de la nécessité et matérialisme de la rencontre. Gageons que ce dernier puisse faire que les éléments vivants d'un ensemble politique"s'accrochent " entre eux et au tout de telle sorte que ce qui est vrai en théorie le soit aussi en pratique. (shrink)

On connaît peu la pensée chinoise contemporaine. Annie Boisclair s'intéresse ici tout particulièrement au philosophe Mou Zongsan (1909-1995) au parcours singulier. D'origine modeste, il quitte le milieu rural de Shandong pour aller étudier à l'université de Pékin en 1929. Juste avant la prise du pouvoir par les communistes en 1949, Mou fuit à Taïwan puis, plus tard, à Hong Kong. Il enseignera dans diverses universités et les turbulences sociales et politiques de la Chine seront intimement liées à l'approfondissement de (...) sa connaissance de la tradition intellectuelle chinoise qu'il mettra en relation avec les courants philosophiques occidentaux. C'est le dialogue entre les deux traditions et leur fécondation mutuelle que Annie Boisclair fait apparaître en suivant la pensée du philosophe. De tous les penseurs de ce courant, peu ont eu autant d'influence que Mou Zongsan. Mou supposait que les Chinois subiraient une perte d'identité culturelle s'ils ne valorisaient que le savoir étranger et, en même temps, que la civilisation chinoise ne survivrait pas à un enfermement sur elle-même. La pensée de Mou intégrait déjà plusieurs traditions fondamentales chinoises comme le confucianisme, le taoïsme et le bouddhisme, il était donc naturel d'y inclure des courants de philosophie occidentale. Rarement traduit en français, l'auteure propose en annexe de l'ouvrage quelques pages du philosophe. (shrink)

BackgroundTurnover intention, an employee’s intention to voluntarily leave their jobs, affects workforce sustainability. However, scarce data are available about turnover intention and its associated factors among psychiatrists in China, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The current research was designed to address this gap.MethodsAn anonymous, nationwide online survey was disseminated to psychiatrists in 41 psychiatric hospitals in China. We collected demographic data, job-related information, and participants’ turnover intention in the next 12 months.ResultsIn total, 3,973 psychiatrists completed the survey. The sample was (...) predominantly female and married, and nearly three-fourths had children. More than one-third had a master’s or doctoral degree in addition to their medical degree. The overall level of job satisfaction was moderate. The rate of turnover intention was 22.0% and was comparable in males and females. Psychiatrists who had participated in the frontline work of COVID-19 were more likely to report an intention to leave their current job. Multiple regression analyses suggested that turnover intention was significantly associated with having insomnia, longer working hours, and more working days per week.ConclusionDuring the pandemic period, approximately one-fifth of psychiatrists in China reported turnover intention. Factors associated with turnover intention included high job-related burdens, low job satisfaction, participation in the frontline work against COVID-19, and insomnia. To improve psychiatric workforce sustainability, policymakers and hospital administrators need to be aware of this potential challenge and address the concerns of psychiatrists in China. (shrink)

Mark Coeckelbergh (Int J Soc Robot 1:217–221, 2009) argues that robot ethics should investigate what interaction with robots can do to humans rather than focusing on the robot’s moral status. We should ask what robots do to our sociality and whether human–robot interaction can contribute to the human good and human flourishing. This paper extends Coeckelbergh’s call and investigate what it means to live with disembodied AI-powered agents. We address the following question: Can the human–AI interaction contribute to our moral (...) development? We present an empirically informed philosophical analysis of how the AI personal assistant Siri changes its users’ way of life, based on the responses obtained from 20 semi-directive individual interviews with Siri users. We identify changes in the users’ social interaction associated with the adoption of Siri. These changes include: (1) the indirect effect of reducing opportunities of human interaction, (2) the second-order effect of diminished expectations toward each other in a community, and (3) the acquired preference to obtain hassle-free interaction with Siri over human interaction. We examine them in relation to concerns that are voiced in the current debates over the rise of AI, namely the suspicion that humans could become overly reliant on AI (Danaher 2019) and the worry that social AI could impede on moral development (Fröding and Peterson, Ethics Inf Technol 23:207–214, 2012; Li, Ethics Inf Technol 23:543–550, 2021). We analyze the ethical costs that come from these changes in light of virtue ethics and address potential objections along the way. We end by offering directions for thinking about how to live with AI personal assistant while preserving favorable conditions for moral development. (shrink)

Sosyal bilimsel yaklaşımlar önemli ölçüde kültürel ayrımlara ve varsayımlara, kültürel ayrımlar ise örtük bir zaman tasavvuruna bağlıdır. Kültürün bir bileşeni olan zaman, gerçekliğin toplumsal ve tarihsel inşası sürecine dahildir. Toplumsal/tarihsel gerçekliğin incelenmesi adeta toplumun kurumsallaşmış unsurlarından biri olan zamanın da incelenmesini gerekli kılar. Kültürelci yaklaşımlarda zaman konusu bilhassa tarihselcilik ve eleştirisi bağlamında ele alınmaktadır. Tarihselciliği eleştiren ve buna alternatif teşkil eden yaklaşımlar da zaman tasavvuru ve bunun seçilen yönteme etkisi bakımından tarihselciliğin bazı ön kabullerini paylaşmaktadır. Bu alternatifler modernist sosyal bilimlerin (...) zaman algısına yönelik esaslı bir sorgulamadan uzaktır. Postmodernist sosyal bilimlerdeki mekân vurgusu ise ötekini ortak bir insanlık zamanının dışında konumlandırmaya dönük modernist varsayımın izlerini taşımaktadır. Bu çalışma zaman tasavvurunun sosyal bilimsel yönteme yansımalarına ve kültürel taksonominin zamanla ilişkisine dair eleştirel/anlayıcı bir perspektif sunmak ve yöntembilim tartışmalarında eksik kalan bu boyuta katkı sağlamak amacındadır. (shrink)

L’écoute d’un couple en crise qui demande à être aidé montre fréquemment que la dégradation de leur communication affective et sexuelle a débuté à la naissance d’un enfant, pas nécessairement le premier. Quelques exemples témoignent à quel point de multiples remaniements psychiques s’opèrent au sein du couple, lorsqu’une femme devient mère : retour de l’enfant en soi, réactivation des conflits œdipiens. Et, comme le souligne Winnicott, n’y aurait-il pas en chaque homme et en chaque femme la représentation d’une femme/mère toute-puissante (...) et dominatrice, source d’angoisses multiples? Cette peur de la femme, qu’il faut donc à tout prix dominer, semble évidente lorsqu’on écoute les représentations que les adolescents se font de l’autre sexe. Les auteurs proposent quelques repères théoriques afin de comprendre ces angoisses et aider les couples à les reconnaître pour mieux les gérer. (shrink)

Ce commentaire analyse les enjeux éthiques soulevés par la circulaire 03-01-42-07 qui prescrit l’application d’une majoration tarifaire de 200 % à toute personne non affiliée à la RAMQ (assurance maladie publique) pour des soins délivrés dans un établissement du réseau de la santé et des services sociaux. Cette règle tarifaire s’applique aussi bien aux personnes qui ne résident pas au Québec (touristes) qu’à celles qui y habitent sans couverture d’assurance santé. En ayant pour hypothèse qu’elle vise à protéger le réseau (...) de santé du phénomène de tourisme médical, ce commentaire en démontre l’aspect inéquitable et injuste lorsqu’elle s’applique à des personnes qui résident au Québec. (shrink)

The accurate positioning of target is an important link in robot technology. Based on machine learning algorithm, this study firstly analyzed the location positioning principle of binocular vision of robot, then extracted features of the target using speeded-up robust features (SURF) method, positioned the location using Back Propagation Neural Networks (BPNN) method, and tested the method through experiments. The experimental results showed that the feature extraction of SURF method was fast, about 0.2 s, and was less affected by noise. It (...) was found from the positioning results that the output position of the BPNN method was basically consistent with the actual position, and errors in X, Y and Z directions were very small, which could meet the positioning needs of the robot. The experimental results verify the effectiveness of machine learning method and provide some theoretical support for its further promotion and application in practice. (shrink)

In behavioral research, exploring bivariate relationships between variables X and Y based on the concept of probability-of-superiority (PS) has received increasing attention. Unlike the conventional, linear-based bivariate relationship (e.g., Pearson's correlation), PS defines that X and Y can be related based on their likelihood—e.g., a student who is above mean in SAT has 63% likelihood of achieving an above-mean college GPA. Despite its increasing attention, the concept of PS is restricted to a simple bivariate scenario ( X - Y pair), (...) which hinders the development and application of PS in popular multivariate modeling such as structural equation modeling (SEM). Therefore, this study addresses an empirical-based simulation study that explores the potential of detecting PS-based relationship in SEM, called PS-SEM. The simulation results showed that the proposed PS-SEM method can detect and identify PS-based when data follow PS-based relationships, thereby providing a useful method for researchers to explore PS-based SEM in their studies. Conclusions, implications, and future directions based on the findings are also discussed. (shrink)

This chapter discusses the Huayan Buddhism of Li Tongxuan. At the core of his Buddhism is the claim that sentient beings are equipped with exactly the same qualities as the Buddha. In his analysis of the 80-fascicle version of the Huayan Jing, Li claims that Huayan teaching is a subitist teaching that proposes the awakening in this lifetime. In this context, unlike “orthodox” Huayan thinkers, Li claims that the chapter “Entering the Realm of Reality” is the core of the Huayan (...) Jing and that Sudhana’s pilgrimage in this chapter demonstrates the importance of practice as opposed to theorization.I address these issues by examining Li’s concept of time, which I identify as “non-temporality.” In the first section, I discuss non-temporality in connection with the Buddhist themes of existence and non-existence and Li’s doctrinal classification. In the second, I address Li’s discussion of nature-arising and subitism. In the third, I discuss Li’s comparative interpretation of Sudhana in the Huayan Jing and the Dragon Girl in the Lotus Sūtra. I conclude with a consideration of the ontological and existential implications of Li’s Huayan phenomenology. (shrink)

Lachlan observed that any nonzero d.c.e. degree bounds a nonzero c.e. degree. In this paper, we study the c.e. predecessors of d.c.e. degrees, and prove that given a nonzero d.c.e. degree , there is a c.e. degree below and a high d.c.e. degree such that bounds all the c.e. degrees below . This result gives a unified approach to some seemingly unrelated results. In particular, it has the following two known theorems as corollaries: there is a low c.e. degree isolating (...) a high d.c.e. degree [S. Ishmukhametov, G. Wu, Isolation and the high/low hierarchy, Arch. Math. Logic 41 259–266]; there is a high d.c.e. degree bounding no minimal pairs [C.T. Chong, A. Li, Y. Yang, The existence of high nonbounding degrees in the difference hierarchy, Ann. Pure Appl. Logic 138 31–51]. (shrink)

Es evidente que el progreso científico-tecnológico, el bienestar de las sociedades industrializadas y el deterioro del medio ambiente se encuentran profundamente relacionadas. Al minarse las bases de los ciudadanos, la preocupación social por lo ambiental se ha manifestado como una institución social de ese vínculo con la naturaleza demandando una nueva educación que incluya la reflexión y modificación de su relación material con el mundo.

Since their derivation, human embryonic stem (hES) cells have been used for a variety of applications including developmental biology, pathology, chemical biology, genomics, and proteomics. However, their most important potential application is the generation of cells and tissues, which can be used for cell‐based therapies. One of the main drawbacks of hES cell culture is that they are particularly sensitive to dissociation, which is required for passaging, expansion, cryopreservation, and other applications. Recently, it has been discovered that an inhibitor of (...) Rho kinase (ROCKi; Y‐27632) increases the survival rate of dissociated, single hES cells. This breakthrough has allowed new methods in hES cell culture to be developed, with the promise of increasing hES cell numbers into the realm of clinical relevance. In our studies demonstrating that ROCKi dramatically increases hES cell cryopreservation efficiency, we have observed that ROCKi treatment does not decrease hES cell's susceptibility to apoptosis. Rather, we hypothesize that ROCKi treatment desensitizes single hES cells to their environment reducing the odds that individual cells will undergo anoikis. (shrink)