Lifestyles are evidence for the influence of systems, cultures and civilisations within various societies. In view of that, all systems of thought aim to maintain certain ways of living in citizens to implement their ideals. Furthermore, if societies do not accept the lifestyles introduced by such systems, their intellectual foundations and values are rejected. In this regard, the Islamic lifestyle does not imply giving up all pleasures and blessings, but it takes on a divine colour to all pleasures. The objective (...) of this study was to investigate the relationship between religious lifestyle and social health among 1000 Muslim teachers working in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, over a period of six months, in 2020-21. Utilising the simple random sampling method, 278 teachers were thus selected as the statistical sample and then completed some questionnaires on Islamic lifestyle and social health. Data analysis was also performed using the structural equation modeling (SEM) in the Linear Structural Relations (LISREL) statistical software package. The results demonstrated a significant positive correlation between Islamic lifestyle and social health (p = 0.58, t = 6.84). CONTRIBUTION: The study results showed the importance of Islamic lifestyle in improving teachers' social health. (shrink)

How a hybrid Confucian-engendered form of governance might solve today’s political problems What might a viable political alternative to liberal democracy look like? In Against Political Equality, Tongdong Bai offers a possibility inspired by Confucian ideas. Bai argues that domestic governance influenced by Confucianism can embrace the liberal aspects of democracy along with the democratic ideas of equal opportunities and governmental accountability to the people. But Confucianism would give more political decision-making power to those with the moral, practical, and intellectual (...) capabilities of caring for the people. While most democratic thinkers still focus on strengthening equality to cure the ills of democracy, the proposed hybrid regime—made up of Confucian-inspired meritocratic characteristics combined with democratic elements and a quasi-liberal system of laws and rights—recognizes that egalitarian qualities sometimes conflict with good governance and the protection of liberties, and defends liberal aspects by restricting democratic ones. Bai applies his views to the international realm by supporting a hierarchical order based on how humane each state is toward its own and other peoples, and on the principle of international interventions whereby humane responsibilities override sovereignty. Exploring the deficiencies posed by many liberal democracies, Against Political Equality presents a novel Confucian-engendered alternative for solving today’s political problems. (shrink)

An accumulating amount of research has documented the harmful effects of abusive supervision on either its victims or third parties (peer abusive supervision). The abusive supervision literature, however, neglects to investigate the spillover effects of abusive supervision through third-party employees’ (i.e., peers’) mistreatment actions toward victims. Drawing on social learning theory, we argue that third parties learn mistreatment behaviors from abusive leaders and then themselves impose peer harassment and peer ostracism on victims, thereby negatively affecting victims’ performance. Further, we posit (...) that, if a victim has a proactive personality, this will weaken these indirect, negative effects. We conducted two studies, both with three-wave longitudinal data, to verify the hypotheses. The results of Study 1 evidence the significant indirect effects of abusive supervision on employee creative performance via both peer harassment and peer ostracism. Contrary to our moderation hypothesis, the analysis shows that victims’ proactive personality strengthens rather than weakens the negative indirect effects of peer harassment. Study 2 generally replicated the results of Study 1 with employee’s objective job performance as outcome. Our research contributes to the abusive supervision literature by highlighting a social learning process of third-party peer mistreatment, suggesting a spillover channel of abusive supervision on the victim’s performance. (shrink)

A growing body of research explores emoji, which are visual symbols in computer mediated communication (CMC). In the 20 years since the first set of emoji was released, research on it has been on the increase, albeit in a variety of directions. We reviewed the extant body of research on emoji and noted the development, usage, function and application of emoji. In this review article, we provide a systematic review of the extant body of work on emoji, reviewing how they (...) have developed, how they are used differently, what functions they have and what research has been conducted on them in different domains. Furthermore, we summarize directions for future research on this topic. (shrink)

This paper makes the case that environmental education needs to be taken up as a moral education to the extent that we see the connection between harm and destruction in the environment and harm and destruction within human individuals and their relationship, and proceeds to show this connection by introducing the key notion of human alienation and its psychological factors of wounding, dissociation or split, self and other oppression and exploitation, all of which result in compromised moral agency. To this (...) end, the paper further makes the case that we need to replace the culture of alienation with a culture of healing and reclamation of fundamental humanity manifest as compassion and wisdom, and presents an ideal of moral agency that would emerge when all parts and dimensions of one’s being—body–mind–heart–energetics—are aligned, attuned and integrated, having healed from the body–mind split, mind–heart split, body–spirit split and mind–matter split. Concepts and imagery borrowed from Asian philosophies, such as Buddhism and Daoism, are offered as illustrative resources for the project of reclaiming uncompromised moral agency and its manifestation through compassion and wisdom. These concepts include hungry ghosts, bodhicitta, sunyata and wu-wei. (shrink)

This study investigates how board size and occupational background of directors differentially influence social performance in for-profit and non-profit organizations. Using data from California hospitals, we develop a quantitative measure of social performance and provide the following empirical evidence. First, board size is negatively (positively) associated with social performance in for-profit (non-profit) hospitals. Second, the presence of government officials on the board is negatively (positively) related to social performance in for-profit (non-profit) hospitals. Third, representation of physicians on the board is (...) positively associated with social performance in for-profit hospitals, whereas their presence is not significantly related to social performance in non-profit hospitals. Our findings highlight the different effects of governance mechanisms on social performance in for-profit and non-profit organizations. (shrink)

ObjectiveThis study took users of short-form mobile videos as research participants to explore the role of their boredom proneness in mediating the relationship between the use of mobile social media and subjective well-being.MethodsA sample of 656 users was evaluated by the Problematic Mobile Social Media Usage Assessment Questionnaire, General Well-Being Schedule, and Boredom Proneness Scale.ResultsFirstly, significant interactions were found between monthly living expenses and the UMSM of the participants, which were recognized as factors affecting SWB. Secondly, the level of living (...) expenses had little effect on the high-level and low-level groups of the UMSM but imposed a significant impact on the medium-level group. Thirdly, the UMSM showed an influence that could positively predict boredom; both the UMSM and boredom demonstrated a negative predictive effect on SWB.ConclusionThe findings indicate that the inappropriate use of mobile social media negatively affects users’ subjective well-being; boredom partially mediated the relationship between the use of mobile social media and SWB. (shrink)

But what is the message of China's rise as an economic and political power? Tongdong Bai addresses this pressing question by examining the history of political theories and practices from China's past, and showing how it impacts upon the present. Chinese political traditions are often viewed as "authoritarian" (in contrast with "Western" democratic traditions), but the historical reality is much more complex and there is a need to understand the political values shaping China. Bai argues that the debates between China's (...) two main political theories - Confucianism and Legalism - anticipate themes in modern political thought and offer resources for thinking about contemporary political problems. This groundbreaking work offers a insight into the political history and thought of a nation. (shrink)

"Is Traditional Chinese Thought Philosophy?" has been a perennial question ever since the term zhexue 哲學, as a translation of the Western concept of philosophy, was introduced to China via Japan, and it will stay this way for years to come. Two factors make the answering of this question a Sisyphean project. First, a lot of scholars feel that they have to answer this question. The contemporary academic disciplines were defined by Westerners, and the discipline of philosophy was alien to (...) traditional Chinese scholarship. Then, unless the structure of academia is radically redefined, anyone who relies heavily on traditional Chinese materials and wishes to work... (shrink)

Abstract:Zhuangzi's understanding of human nature has not been extensively discussed in the English literature. The Chinese discussions of it, though many, largely tend either to be carried away into the Confucian conventional debate on the moral goodness and badness of human nature or to explain it away by overemphasizing Zhuangzi's stress on the uniqueness of the human individual. In this article, with the intention to pin down what is really meant by human nature in the Zhuangzi, it will first be (...) examined what the word xing connotes for Zhuangzi and then argued that Zhuangzi characterizes human nature in terms of the heart-mind (xin 心), understood both functionally as what animates the body and essentially as a universally significant power that enables the human being to behave in a way similar to the way that the Dao 道 acts in the universe. (shrink)

Online interactions have become major channels for people to obtain and disseminate information during the new normal of COVID-19, which can also be a primary platform for rumor propagation. There are many complex psychological reasons for spreading rumors, but previous studies have not fully analyzed this problem from the perspective of the interaction between official institutions and influential users. The purpose of this study is to determine optimal strategies for official institutions considering the impact of two different influential user types (...) by designing two game-theoretic models, namely “Rumor Clarification and Interaction Model” and “Rumor Verification and Interaction Model,” which can, respectively decide whether to clarify and when to clarify. The results of this article show that clarification strategies can be decided according to the characteristics of rumors and the influential user’s reactions. Meanwhile, publishing verified information prevents trolls’ “loophole advantages” and prevents reputed personalities from spreading false information due to the vague authenticity of rumors. Results also show that the verification strategy is limited by cost, period, and verification index. (shrink)

Due to the excellent approximation ability, the neural networks based control method is used to achieve adaptive consensus of the fractional-order uncertain nonlinear multiagent systems with external disturbance. The unknown nonlinear term and the external disturbance term in the systems are compensated by using the radial basis function neural networks method, a corresponding fractional-order adaption law is designed to approach the ideal neural network weight matrix of the unknown nonlinear terms, and a control law is designed eventually. According to the (...) designed Lyapunov candidate function and the fractional theory, the systems stability is proved, and the adaptive consensus can be guaranteed by using the designed control law. Finally, two simulations are shown to illustrate the validity of the obtained results. (shrink)

This dissertation is an attempt to defend two founders of quantum theories, Niels Bohr and Wolfgang Pauli, against various anti-realist readings. These readings claim that Bohr's and Pauli's interpretations of quantum mechanics are based on a denial of the reality of the external world, and that their debates with Albert Einstein are over realism. But I argue that the differences between their views and Einstein's are neither about the reality of the external world, nor about the reality of theoretical entities (...) in general. Rather, the differences are about the reality of this or that particular theoretical entity and the viability of this or that particular idea of physics. Although in 1972 Clifford Hooker gave an adequate and then-comprehensive discussion of Bohr's ideas countering anti-realist readings, his work has been forgotten by a new generation of interpreters such as Arthur Fine and Mara Beller who read anti-realism into Bohr's ideas. One aim of this dissertation is to revive Hooker's defense of Bohr and to counter such misreadings. ;A second contribution this dissertation makes consists in an elaboration of Pauli's views. Pauli wrote extensively on many philosophical issues, and made important contributions to the debates between Einstein, Bohr and himself. However, his views are unfairly ignored by most philosophers of quantum mechanics, and when considered, are at best quickly dismissed as anti-realist. In my dissertation, I discuss Pauli's rich ideas on physics and philosophy and show that Pauli is not an anti-realist. In particular, Bohr's and Pauli's views on a problem introduced in a paper by Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen are discussed in detail. The close examination of Bohr's and Pauli's views also shows that there are significant differences between them, suggesting the inadequacy of the generic term "the Copenhagen school," often used to refer indiscriminately to their views. Through my studies of Bohr's and Pauli's ideas, I hope to show the inadequacy of using metaphysical doctrines such as realism and anti-realism to gain either a full understanding of general problems in physics, or an understanding of the ideas of these working physicists in particular. (shrink)

This paper describes a theoretical framework of ecological phase transitions for modeling tree-grass dynamics and analyzing the shifts or phase transitions from one vegetation structure to another in the southern Texas landscape. This framework implements the integration of percolation theory, fractal geometry and phase transition theory as a method for modeling the spatial patterns of tree-grass dynamics, and nonlinear Markov non-equilibrium thermodynamic stability theory as a method for characterizing temporal tree-grass dynamics and phase transition. An historical sequence of aerial photographs (...) at a Prosopis - thornscrub savanna parkland site in southern Texas was used to determine the parameters of the models. The preliminary analytical result accords well with current understanding and field survey of vegetation dynamics in the southern Texas landscape. The potential of such approaches and other relevant theories such as self-organized criticality and synergetics to vegetation dynamics is also discussed. (shrink)

The compatibility between Western democracy and other cultures, and the desirability of democracy, are two important problems in democratic theory. Following an insight from John Rawls’s later philosophy, and using some key passages in Mencius, I will show the compatibility between a ‘thin’ version of liberal democracy and Confucianism. Moreover, elaborating on Mencius’s ideas of the responsibility of government for the physical and moral well-being of the people, the respectability of the government and the ruling elite, and the competence-based limited (...) political participation, I shall explore the Mencian criticisms of some ‘thick’ democratic ideas. Through the discussion in this paper, I hope to show the relevance of Confucianism to contemporary political philosophy and society. (shrink)

BackgroundMental stress and imbalance of its two neural stress systems, the autonomic nervous system and the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, are associated with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome and erectile dysfunction. However, the comprehensive analyses of psychological stress and stress systems are under-investigated, particularly in CP/CPPS patients complicated by lower urinary tract symptoms and ED.Materials and methodsParticipants were 95 patients in CP/CPPS+ED group, 290 patients in CP/CPPS group, 124 patients in ED group and 52 healthy men in control group. The National Institutes (...) of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index, the International Index of Erectile Function-5 and the International Prostate Symptom Score were used for assessing the disease severity of CP/CPPS, LUTS and ED. Psychometric self-report questionnaires including the Beck Anxiety Inventory, Perceived Stress Scale, Type A Personality Test and Symptom Checklist 90 were completed for distress from physical symptoms. Twenty-five subjects per group were randomly selected for further investigating the changes of the HPA axis and ANS. Saliva samples were taken on 3 consecutive days at 8 specific times with strict reference to time of morning awakening for evaluation of free cortisol. Heart rate variability as marker of the ANS was measured using 24 h electrocardiography, and time-and frequency-domain variables were analyzed.ResultsThe BAI and SCL-90 scores were significantly higher in the CP/CPPS+ED, CP/CPPS and ED groups compared with the control group. The PSS scores of both groups with ED were significantly higher than the control group. Compared with the CP/CPPS group, the differences of PSS, SCL-90 and TAPT scores were statistically significant in CP/CPPS+ED patients. The IPSS scores were shown to have significantly positive correlations with BAI, PSS and SCL-90 in the CP/CPPS patients. However, in all subjects, the IIEF-5 scores were shown to have significantly negative correlations with BAI, PSS, SCL-90 and quality of life score in NIH-CPSI. Cortisol awakening response parameters and diurnal cortisol levels did not significantly vary between the four groups. Time-dependent parameters of HRV also did not differ significantly across groups. In the frequency domain analysis, low frequency was significantly lower in ED patients when compared with CP/CPPS+ED patients and healthy controls, high frequency power was significantly higher in healthy controls compared to patients with ED, CP/CPPS and CP/CPPS+ED, and the CP/CPPS+ED group had significantly higher LF/HF ratio than the control group.ConclusionCP/CPPS and ED patients score exceedingly high on most psychosocial variables. The symptom scores of LUTS and ED positively correlate with the severity of psychological stress. Our findings also suggest that the ANS sympathovagal imbalance is associated with ED and LUTS in CP/CPPS, whereas HPA axis activity is not. (shrink)

Journal of Philosophy of Education, EarlyView.

An incline S is a commutative semiring where r+1=1 for any r \in S . We note that the ideal lattice of an S-semimodule is naturally an S-semimodule and so is its congruence lattice when S is transitive. We prove that the categories of complete S-semimodules, together with dual functor, internal hom and tensor product, is a ⋆-autonomous category. We define the locally and globally maximal congruences which are related to Birkhoff subdirect product decomposition. We show that the categories of (...) S-semimodules, algebraic S-semimodules and topological S-semimodules are equivalent. Finally, we get a sheaf representation of any S-semimodule. (shrink)

In this paper, we propose an understanding of philosophy of education as cultural and intercultural work and philosophers of education as cultural and intercultural workers. In our view, the discipline of philosophy of education in North America is currently suffering from measures of insularity and singularity. It is vital that we justly and respectfully engage with and expand our knowledge and understanding of sets of conceptual and life-practice resources, and honor and learn from diverse histories, cultures, and traditions. Such honoring (...) provides responsive conditions for our coming together in and across differences in order that we may productively and creatively address and overturn grammars of violence, destruction, and dis-ease in these complexly troubled times. Committing ourselves to deconstructing historical and contemporary beliefs, values, and practices that are compromising human and planetary flourishing, we undertake responsibilities to go cross-cultural and intercultural. (shrink)

What does living well look like in the Anthropocene? Despite our brief tenure on planet Earth, we have reached an epoch--the Anthropocene--that is characterized by our species' uncanny ability to spoil our own nest. In the face of this somber reality of ecological degradation, The Book of Ecological Virtues asks the all-important question, "What does living well look like in the Anthropocene?" It is vitally important that we turn towards the cultivation of ecovirtues, a new set of values by which (...) to live, if there is to be hope for us and other species to continue. These essays inspire readers not just to ponder but to embody and live the ideals of these timeless ecological virtues. (shrink)

本书从中医角度,对中国文化中一系列原理性的图画进行了征引申说,使读者从宏观上把握中医思维。内容涉及:无极、太极、阴阳、三才、四象、五行、六合、七政、八卦等。.

AbstractWe show that social capital has a strong mitigating effect on financial adviser misconduct in the United States. Moreover, advisers who have committed misconduct are also more likely to relocate to counties with a relatively lower level of social capital than that of his previously residing county. These findings provide support for both the deterrence and displacement effects of social capital on financial adviser misconduct, and are robust to tests that address potential endogeneity concerns. Our results shed new light on (...) social capital as an informal governing and monitoring mechanism against individual unethical behavior. (shrink)

Service process optimization is conducive to the innovation of enterprise services, but the poor logic design of multiple touchpoints can easily lead to problems in the service process, such as scattered layouts and repeated paths. Aiming at the promotion of service innovation and user experience, this paper takes the optimization of a single service touchpoint as the prerequisite and proposes a service process optimization method based on service touchpoint association and the design structure matrix. The association of service touchpoints is (...) categorized into two types, namely, noncoupled and coupled association. The DSM is used to describe the two types of association between service touchpoints, and the matrix operation is used for modular identification and layering of the two kinds of association. Finally, through the above steps, the problematic service process was replanned. By using the service process optimization of a new retail convenience store as an example, the service process is divided into 6 relatively independent modules, and the order of module execution is arranged. Moreover, the optimal service process of the convenience store system is determined, and the method is verified to be feasible. Through optimization both from single service touchpoint and service process modularization, the study provides a reference for process optimization of the complex service system. (shrink)

本书内容包括:导言、生态学,生态思想和道教生态思想、道教生态思想的原生性、道教生态宇宙观等。.

本书所收录的文章、讲话稿、演讲录等,是作者参与和谐文化建设和保护民间文化遗产工作的生动记录,也有一部分是上世纪80年代以来的零散文章、讲话稿.

We examine the relationship between social insurance contributions and earnings management for publicly listed firms in China. Our empirical results show that the social insurance contributions burden significantly reduces the degree of earnings management by reducing the level of free cash flow. Additionally, the negative relation between social insurance contributions burden and earnings management is more pronounced when the internal and external social insurance pressures are high and when the firms are large non-state-owned enterprises. We also discuss the heterogeneity among (...) firms for different financing constraints, external financing environment, regional marketization, and internal and external corporate governance. Finally, we further find that under the dual collecting system, although the social security administration is a better collecting agency, the local tax bureau acting with full responsibility is more effective than the collecting system. (shrink)