The objective of this article is to create an understanding of how the UN sustainable development goals can be used to steer stakeholder engagement for transformative change, meeting global challenges, and navigate a new business-societal practice driven by a values-based business model. The article is a conceptual study with case studies of the role that the SDGs play in multi-stakeholder dialog via the kind of sustainable business-societal practice that takes corporate social responsibility to the next level, where it is embedded (...) in a values-based business model, creating a new meaning to effect real business-societal transformation. Multi-stakeholder dialog implies interactive and communicative engagement with the full range of stakeholders in order to create value for all, employing a societal perspective and using the value network as a basis for effective decision-making. We explain our methodological approach by presenting multi-stakeholder dialog in practice, in the form of multiple case studies. These empirical settings consisted of two values-driven privately owned companies with a strong reporting mechanism and a clear transformation agenda based on the SDG challenges: IKEA and Löfbergs. The empirical study provides the basis for our proposed model. This article makes an original contribution to the study of the use of SDGs in management and service research. It investigates steering and navigating processes in specific contexts in order to determine what should be subject to legal enforcement and what comprises moral and/or ethical value, particularly at the societal level. (shrink)

Evidence suggests divergent thinking is the cognitive basis of creative thoughts. Neuroimaging literature using resting-state functional connectivity has revealed network reorganizations during divergent thinking. Recent studies have revealed the changes of network organizations when performing creativity tasks, but such brain reconfigurations may be prolonged after task and be modulated by the trait of creativity. To investigate the dynamic reconfiguration, 40 young participants were recruited to perform consecutive Alternative Uses Tasks for divergent thinking and two resting-state scans were used for mapping (...) the brain reorganizations after AUT. We split participants into high- and low-creative groups based on creative achievement questionnaire and targeted on reconfigurations of the two brain networks: default-mode network and the network seeded at the left inferior frontal gyrus because the between-group difference of AUT-induced brain activation located at the left IFG. The changes of post-AUT RSFCs indicated the prolonged effect of divergent thinking. More specifically, the alterations of RSFCIFG−AG and RSFCIFG−IPL in the high-creative group had positive relationship with their AUT performances, but not found in the low-creative group. Furthermore, the RSFC changes of DMN did not present significant relationships with AUT performances. The findings not only confirmed the possibility of brain dynamic reconfiguration following divergent thinking, but also suggested the distinct IFGN reconfiguration between individuals with different creativity levels. (shrink)

The consistent tanh expansion method is successfully applied to the coupled integrable dispersionless system. A nonauto-Bäcklund transformation theorem includes two fields f and v 1 is obtained by using the CTE method. One obtains the consistent condition in the nonauto-BT theorem by means of the relation between the fields f and v 1. The CID system possesses the CTE solvability property by some detailed analysis. Many interactions between one soliton and multiple resonant solitons, and between one soliton and cnoidal waves (...) are generated by using the nonauto-BT theorem. The types of bright and gray two front waves are shown by some figures. In the meanwhile, the nonlocal symmetry is obtained by the truncated Painlevé method and the Möbious invariant form. The initial value problem and an auto-BT are constructed by the localization procedure. (shrink)

All of the world's religions refer to death in some way. Everyone is somewhat familiar with stories about where we go or what happens to us after death. From an early age, we have all heard stories of heaven or hell or some other version of paradise. Many of us believed such stories, and a great number of us still do. When considering that such stories manage to persist in modern times, an age of science and logic, we can be (...) sure that death is an issue to which humans attach great importance. In a sense, the idea of an afterlife can be a great source of comfort to those whose death is imminent, as well as to their loved ones. Those who have led especially difficult lives can look forward to a more pleasant world, while those who have enjoyed happiness and abundance have the chance to experience more good fortune. To those left behind, the idea of an afterlife presents the chance to meet a loved one again. We may not be conscious of it, but such hopes and expectations stay with us throughout our lives. If such an afterlife does exist, then there is no reason to avoid or fear death. Moreover, if we believe that another life awaits us, then we would believe that we are only separated from our loved ones temporarily before being reunited with them later on. (shrink)

Several theories, both ancient and recent, suggest that having the time to contemplate a decision should increase moral awareness and the likelihood of ethical choices. Our findings indicated just the opposite: greater time for deliberation led to less ethical decisions. Post-hoc analyses and a followup experiment suggested that decision makers act as if their previous choices have created or lost moral credentials: after an ethical first choice, people acted significantly less ethically in their subsequent choice but after an unethical first (...) choice, people acted significantly more ethically in their subsequent choice. These findings provide the basis for a model of compensatory ethics. (shrink)

Corporate debt default risk poses significant challenges in the business world, requiring a multifaceted approach for effective mitigation. This study, grounded in an ethical decision-making framework, investigates the influence of Confucian culture on shaping ethical corporate culture and managers’ moral capacity and its subsequent impact on corporate debt default risk. Our findings indicate that companies deeply influenced by Confucian culture tend to exhibit lower debt default risks. Specifically, companies that embrace Confucian values demonstrate an enhanced ethical corporate culture and heightened (...) individual moral capacity. These factors play crucial roles in the ethical decision-making process, thereby reducing the likelihood of engaging in risky financial behaviors. Further analysis reveals that the inhibitory effect of Confucian culture on debt default risk is particularly pronounced in enterprises operating within regions characterized by poor integrity environments and weak product market competition. This inhibitory effect can lead to a reduction in the cost of corporate debt financing and the risk of stock price crashes. Overall, this study contributes to the understanding of the interplay between culture, business ethics, and corporate risk management. (shrink)

Cytoskeletal proteins provide the structural foundation that allows cells to exist in a highly organized manner. Recent evidence suggests that certain cytoskeletal proteins not only maintain structural integrity, but might also be associated with signal transduction and suppression of tumorigenesis. Since the time of the discovery of tensin, a fair amount of data has been gathered which supports the notion that tensin is one such protein possessing these characteristics. In this review, we discuss recent studies that: (1) elucidate a role (...) for tensin in maintenance of cellular structure and signal transduction; (2) implicate tensin as the anchor for actin filaments at the focal adhesion; (3) describe the phosphorylation of tensin; (4) describe potential targets for its Src homology region 2 domain; (5) describe the association between tensin and the nuclear protein p130; and (6) demonstrate that increased tensin expression in a cell line appears to reduce its transformation potential. (shrink)

ObjectiveNumerous studies have demonstrated that religious belief is associated with prosocial behavior. However, how do they maintain cooperation in societies with a predominating atheist population, such as China? Different primings and a quasi-experiment are used to examine the link between communist authority and prosocial behaviors among college students in China.Materials and methodsIn Study 1, the subjects’ communist authority in the university lab was primed by a communist-authority video. In Study 2, we compared the priming effects of communist authority and religion (...) on prosocial intention. Study 3 investigated the priming effect of communist authority on prosocial behaviors by employing a scrambled sentence task in the university lab. A quasi-experiment was conducted in Study 4.ResultsResults showed that communist-authority, a reminder of secular authorities, increased prosociality among college students. And empathy moderated the relationship between secular authorities and prosociality in Study 3 and Study 4.DiscussionCommunist authority, a secular authority prime, has a positive effect on promoting prosocial behaviors. These results provided a feasible yet novel way to reveal the mechanism of the relationship between secular authorities and prosociality in China. (shrink)

It has recently been argued that a sensitivity theory of knowledge cannot account for intuitively appealing instances of higher-order knowledge. In this paper, we argue that it can once careful attention is paid to the methods or processes by which we typically form higher-order beliefs. We base our argument on what we take to be a well-motivated and commonsensical view on how higher-order knowledge is typically acquired, and we show how higher-order knowledge is possible in a sensitivity theory once this (...) view is adopted. (shrink)

With the growing amount of clinical research, regulations and research ethics are becoming more stringent. This trend introduces a need for quality assurance measures for ensuring adherence to research ethics and human research protection beyond Institutional Review Board approval. Audits, one of the most effective tools for assessing quality assurance, are measures used to evaluate Good Clinical Practice and protocol compliance in clinical research. However, they are laborious, time consuming, and require expertise. Therefore, we developed a simple auditing process and (...) evaluated its feasibility and effectiveness. The screening audit was developed using a routine audit checklist based on the Severance Hospital’s Human Research Protection Program policies and procedures. The measure includes 20 questions, and results are summarized in five categories of audit findings. We analyzed 462 studies that were reviewed by the Severance Hospital Human Research Protection Center between 2013 and 2017. We retrospectively analyzed research characteristics, reply rate, audit findings, associated factors and post-screening audit compliance, etc. Investigator reply rates gradually increased, except for the first year. The studies were graded as “critical,” “major,” “minor,” and “not a finding”, based on findings and number of deficiencies. The auditors’ decisions showed fair agreement with weighted kappa values of 0.316, 0.339, and 0.373. Low-risk level studies, single center studies, and non-phase clinical research showed more prevalent frequencies of being “major” or “critical”. Inappropriateness of documents, failure to obtain informed consent, inappropriateness of informed consent process, and failure to protect participants’ personal information were associated with higher audit grade. We were able to observe critical GCP violations in the routine internal audit results of post-screening audit compliance checks in “non-responding” and “critical” studies upon applying the screening audit. Our screening audit is a simple and effective way to assess overall GCP compliance by institutions and to ensure medical ethics. The tool also provides useful selection criteria for conducting routine audits. (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)

This book, formed as a series of essays in honour of Professor Carl Baudenbacher, addresses the very art of judicial reasoning, and features contributions from many of the foremost current or former national, supranational, or international judges. This unique volume is intended first and foremost for legal scholars, but its approachable style makes it readily accessible for students and for those with a general interest in the application of the law and justice in today's multi-layered world. The collection of essays (...) is rather more philosophical and reflective as opposed to doctrinal. Each contribution focuses on the nature and operation of justice, the independence of the judiciary, and on judicial style primarily from the perspective of the judges themselves. The book provides perspectives on what it means to be accountable and independent as a judge, the role of language and languages in the quest for justice, while other contributions acquaint readers with the some of the structures of courts themselves, or indeed question for whom judgments are written. Each chapter has been written by a presiding judge, or head of an institution and the book is divided into three parts: - Part I Art and Method - Part II Justice and the Judiciary - Part III Reasoning and Language(s). (shrink)

In families, mothers and fathers may hold the same or different levels of theories of intelligence. This congruence and discrepancy may influence parental involvement in children’s education. The current study examined how both parents’ theories of intelligence and the direction and degree of the discrepancy of parents’ intelligence theories influence maternal and paternal involvement separately. We measured 1,694 matched pairs of parents’ theories of intelligence and educational involvement, and examined the relationships using linear regressions and polynomial regressions with response surface (...) analysis. The results showed that 1) the mother’s intelligence theory positively related to both paternal involvement and maternal involvement, but the father’s intelligence theory only positively related to paternal involvement; 2) when the parents’ theories of intelligence reached congruence, the parents’ theories of intelligence are positively related to both maternal and paternal involvement; 3) when the parents’ theories of intelligence have discrepancy, the maternal involvement is higher while the mother’s intelligence theory’s level is more incremental than father’s; and 4) when the parents’ theories of intelligence have discrepancy, more discrepancy of parents’ theories of intelligence is related to more paternal involvement. This study revealed the significance of mother’s role in education, highlighted the importance of parents’ congruence and discrepancies in beliefs, examined how parents’ beliefs impact their own behavior and their couple’s behavior. (shrink)

In the traditional case, the uncertainty of the ambient temperature measured by the experiential distributed sensor is considered. In this paper, a model based on the moving least square method in the fusion algorithm is proposed to study the optimal monitoring point of the sensor in the greenhouse and determine the most suitable installation position of the sensor in the greenhouse to improve the control effect of the temperature control device of the system. MATLAB simulation software is used to simulate (...) each working condition of the greenhouse. Temperature data measured at 15 locations in the greenhouse were used to evaluate all possible combinations of monitoring locations and to estimate the optimal location for indoor temperature sensors. Compared with the traditional method, the error is reduced to 0.373, and the data are more accurate. (shrink)

本书分为理论探索、个案解读、研究生审美文化论坛三部分。收录的文章有:《文艺美学新形态——审美文化研究及其人文品位》、《略谈当代审美文化的“审美”内涵》、《论审美活动的学术定位——从“社会个体生成论”看 美学的研究对象》、《论审美抽象》等。.

In association with the development of intermittent renewable energy generation, dynamic multiobjective dispatch faces more challenges for power system operation due to significant REG uncertainty. To tackle the problems, a day-ahead, optimal dispatch problem incorporating energy storage is formulated and solved based on a robust multiobjective optimization method. In the proposed model, dynamic multistage ES and generator dispatch patterns are optimized to reduce the cost and emissions. Specifically, strong constraints of the charging/discharging behaviors of the ES in the space-time domain (...) are considered to prolong its lifetime. Additionally, an adaptive robust model based on minimax multiobjective optimization is formulated to find optimal dispatch solutions adapted to uncertain REG changes. Moreover, an effective optimization algorithm, namely, the hybrid multiobjective Particle Swarm Optimization and Teaching Learning Based Optimization, is employed to seek an optimal Pareto front of the proposed dispatch model. This approach has been tested on power system integrated with wind power and ES. Numerical results reveal that the robust multiobjective dispatch model successfully meets the demands of obtaining solutions when wind power uncertainty is considered. Meanwhile, the comparison results demonstrate the competitive performance of the PSO-TLBO method in solving the proposed dispatch problems. (shrink)

DNA extraction, playing an irreplaceable role in molecular biology as it is an essential step prior to various downstream biological analyses. Thus, the accuracy and reliability of downstream research outcomes depend largely on upstream DNA extraction methodology. However, with the advancement of downstream DNA detection techniques, the development of corresponding DNA extraction methods is lagging behind. The most innovative DNA extraction techniques are silica‐ or magnetic‐based. Recent studies have demonstrated that plant fiber‐based adsorbents (PF‐BAs) have stronger DNA capturing ability than (...) classic materials. Moreover, magnetic ionic liquid (MIL)‐based DNA extraction has gathered attention lately, and extrachromosomal circular DNA (eccDNA), cell‐free DNA (cfDNA), and microbial community DNA are current research hotspots. These require specific extraction methods, along with constant improvements in the way they are used. This review discusses the significance as well as the direction of innovation of DNA extraction methods to try to provide valuable references including current status and trends for DNA extraction. (shrink)

Gott denken: Diese Aufgabe zielt in die Mitte der Philosophie – und eben dieser Aufgabe widmet sich dieses Buch: einem Kompendium der europäischen Religionsphilosophie und ihrer wichtigsten Fragestellungen unter historischen wie systematischen Aspekten. Am Beginn des Bandes findet sich der hier erstmals veröffentlichte Habilitationsvortrag des bedeutenden deutschen Religionsphilosophen Richard Schaeffler – dem dieses Buch gewidmet ist – über Anselm von Canterbury und seinen Widersacher Gaunilo von Marmoutiers. Schaeffler geht der Frage nach, die vor und nach Anselm der Philosophie keine Ruhe (...) gelassen hat: Können wir in unserem Denken zu einer Vergewisserung des Daseins Gottes finden? Wie ein roter Faden zieht sich das Ringen mit dieser Ungewissheit, ob und wie im Denken eine Vergewisserung Gottes möglich ist, durch die Geschichte der europäischen Philosophie. Eben das ist die Leitfrage auch dieses Buches: Welche Bedeutung hat Gott für unser Denken und in unserem Denken? Ist das möglich: zu denken, ohne Gott zu denken? Der InhaltDie Kontroverse zwischen Anselm von Canterbury und Gaunilo von Marmoutiers: zur Frage nach der Vertretbarkeit des Daseins Gottes im Denken • Geschichtliche Bezüge • Gott erkennen und erfahren? • Gott: effabile et ineffabile – sagbar und doch unsagbar • Zur programmatischen Idee einer rationalen Theologie • Etsi Deus daretur – aut non daretur Die HerausgeberChristoph Böhr ist Professor für Philosophie an der Hochschule Heiligenkreuz/Wien. Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz ist Professorin em. für Religionsphilosophie an der TU Dresden sowie Vorstand des Europäischen Instituts für Philosophie und Religion an der Hochschule Heiligenkreuz/Wien. (shrink)

This paper proposes a new robotic fish which avoids the complex mechanical structure and reduces the model complexity comparing to the existing bioinspired robotic fish, giving rise to a semibiomimetic robotic fish. The generalized Lagrange equation is adopted to establish the dynamic model of the robotic fish. The controllability of the system is analyzed, upon which a trajectory tracking control algorithm is designed by using the feedback linearization technique. The simulation results show that the dynamic model adopted in this paper (...) can achieve better control performance. (shrink)

With the rapid development of China's economy in recent decades, and the decentralization of the country's economic regulation and legal support, private financing has developed rapidly due to its simple, flexible and unique advantages. Some SMEs can solve it to some extent through private financing. The company's own financing issues have also helped the local financial market's effectiveness. Based on the “Yantai Private Financing Interest Rate Index,” this paper constructs a private financial risk index model from three perspectives of interest (...) rate risk, scale risk and credit risk, and conducts a case simulation analysis of the private financing risk index. The characteristic indicators of the early warning system are screened from the macro, micro and stability dimensions, and subjective and objective adjustment coefficients are set for each indicator from both subjective and objective perspectives. This article takes the Yantai Index as the representative of China's private financing interest rate index. Based on the term structure of Yantai's private lending rate, this paper studies its response to macroeconomic shocks and analyzes the information value it contains. And use the private financing interest rate index to build a financial risk monitoring model. Through the system transformation model, the article finds that there is a significant asymmetry in the response of private lending to macroeconomic shocks. When private lending rates are higher, inflation has a greater effect on interest rates; when private lending rates are lower, monetary policy has a stronger regulatory effect on private lending rates. In the data processing, the principal component analysis method and the Bayesian vector autoregressive model were established. Through the study of this article, it is concluded that the interest rate decreases with the increase of the term, and the risk comparison is performed for the 1-month period, 3-month period, June period, 1-year period, and more than 1-year. The risks in the previous period are greater, and the risks in the March and June periods are relatively small. This model can be used to calculate the comprehensive evaluation value and its fluctuation in the historical risk market and historical equilibrium market, so as to determine the risk range of the comprehensive evaluation value. Thus, the early warning system is verified to be feasible. (shrink)

With the rapid economic growth and increased national income year by year, individuals and families have an increasingly greater demand for financial products. Banks’ sales of financial products have become a new economic profit growth point for major banks. Based on consumers’ psychological perception, the influencing factors of consumers’ behavior in purchasing bank financial products are studied. The influencing factor model path of consumer purchase behavior is constructed to find out the factors affecting consumers’ purchase of bank financial products and (...) formulate appropriate promotion strategies according to the influencing factors. Through the research methods of literature analysis, small-scale in-depth interview, questionnaire surveys, and statistical analysis, this exploration selects four variables: independent variable, mediator, control variable, and dependent variable. They are influencing factors of purchasing bank financial products, consumers’ willingness to buy bank financial products, consumers’ personal characteristics and consumers’ behavior of purchasing bank financial products. Meanwhile, based on 196 valid questionnaires, regression analysis is carried out through a regression model. The results show that the three influencing factors of consumers’ purchase of bank financial products–perceived convenience, risk value of bank financial products, and satisfaction with the purchase communication process significantly impact consumers’ purchase of bank financial products. They can put forward specific promotion suggestions for banks. This exploration aims to study the optimization of bank financial product promotion strategy from the perspective of consumer psychological perception to provide a reference for subsequent related research. (shrink)