With more and more investors exerting their voices through network forums or social media platforms, the relationships between online investor sentiment and stock movements have drawn more and more attention. In this paper, we crawl stock comments from China’s most popular online stock forum, East Money, and then develop a sentiment classifier using the LSTM method. Using the online investor sentiment of the stock forum, we explore the effect of online investor sentiment on the stock movements of CSI300. The results (...) show that online investor sentiment has a significant positive impact on both stock return and trading volume and remains significant after controlling book-to-market ratio, BETA, and market value. Moreover, investor sentiment has a significant positive impact on order imbalance of big trade, which represents the main flow of money in the market. As a result, investor sentiment has a positive impact on the major fund flows in the market. In other words, an increase in investor sentiment can boost the major money flows in the market to some extent. From a practical point of view, investor sentiment can assist investors to make investment decisions and help the government to regulate the stock market. (shrink)

Customer citizenship behavior has attracted widespread attention from scholars due to its capacity of enabling enterprises to gain competitive advantages of low costs and high efficiency by giving full play to the initiative of customers. Based on the S-O-R Model, we have established the theoretical model to study the influence imposed by social support of online travel platform enterprises on customer citizenship behavior against the backdrop of the sharing economy. This research tests the fitting of the theoretical model and its (...) fundamental hypotheses using 626 samples acquired from the investigation with SPSS26.0 and AMOS25.0. Results indicate that the social support has a positive influence on customer citizenship behavior. Social support could have a positive influence on positive emotions. Social support has no significant negative effect on negative emotions. Positive emotions have a positive influence on customer citizenship behavior. Negative emotions have a negative influence on customer citizenship behavior. Positive emotions play a mediating effect in the positive influence of social support on customer citizenship behavior. Social support could have a positive influence on customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction has a positive influence on customer citizenship behavior. Customer satisfaction plays a mediating effect in the positive effect of social support on customer citizenship behavior. Positive emotions and customer satisfaction play a chain mediating effect in the positive effect of social support on customer citizenship behavior. (shrink)

Many previous studies have documented the detrimental effects of social loafing on others (_inter_personal impacts) at the between-person level. However, social loafing may carry underappreciated _intra_personal functional effects at the within-person level. Our research develops a novel theoretical framework to investigate _when_ and _how_ engaging in social loafing enhances one’s job performance. Drawing on the effort-recovery model and moral cleansing theory, we propose that social loafing may improve subsequent job performance by enhancing recovery and guilt. Specifically, we argue that among (...) employees who experience higher job demands or have higher moral identity, social loafing in the morning enhances their job performance in the afternoon by facilitating recovery or guilt in the morning. Two-wave daily data collected across ten consecutive workdays using the experience sampling method (ESM) supports this model. We discuss how this research identifies a functional basis for social loafing and provides implications for research and practice. (shrink)

Background: Rumination, a tendency to focus on negative self-related thoughts, is a central symptom of depression. Studying the self-related aspect of such symptoms is challenging because of the need to distinguish self effects from the emotional content of task stimuli. This study employed an emotionally neutral self-related paradigm to investigate possible altered self-processing in depression and its link to rumination. Methods: People with major depressive disorder (n = 25) and controls (n = 25) underwent task-based electro-encephalogram recording. We studied late (...) event-related potentials, along with low-frequency oscillatory power. We compared electroencephalogram metrics between groups and correlated them with depressive symptoms and reported rumination. Results: Participants with major depressive disorder displayed a difference in late positive potentials across frontocentral electrodes between self-related and non-self-related conditions. We found no such difference in controls. The magnitude of this difference was positively correlated with depressive symptoms and reported rumination. Participants with major depressive disorder also had elevated theta oscillation power at central electrodes in self-related conditions, a finding that we did not see in controls. Limitations: Patients with major depressive disorder were medicated at the time of the study. The group studied was primarily female, so the observed effects may have been sex-specific. Conclusion: Rumination appears to be linked to altered self-related processing in depression, independent of stimuli-related emotional confounds. This connection between self-related processing and depression may point to a self disorder as a core component of depression. (shrink)

Aim To synthesize qualitative research on perspectives and understandings of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients, family members, and staff regarding respect and dignity in ICU, in order to explore the connotations and meanings of respect and dignity in ICU. Design A qualitative meta-synthesis. Methods The Chinese and English databases were systematically searched, including PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, Embase, Cochrane Library, CNKI, Wangfang Data, VIP, and CBM from each database’s inception to July 22, 2023. Studies were critically appraised using the (...) Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal Checklist for Qualitative Research. Qualitative data were extracted, summarized, and meta-synthesized. (PROSPERO: CRD42023447218). Results A total of 9 studies from 6 countries were included in the meta-synthesis. Thirty-six main themes and 67 sub-themes were extracted, which were eventually integrated into 9 categories and 4 themes: (1) integrity of humanity; (2) autonomy; (3) equality; (4) environmental support. Conclusion To maintain patient dignity, it is necessary to create an environment of respect within the ICU where healthcare professionals uphold the concept of preserving human integrity and respect patients' autonomy and equality. Healthcare professionals need to value the dignity of ICU patients and treat them as unique individuals during treatment and care. Hospital managers should also strive to create a respectful environment to provide environmental support for dignity care implementation. (shrink)

Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, EarlyView.

E-learning has gained popularity since the outbreak of COVID-19. This study aims to identify gender differences in e-learners' self-efficacy, satisfaction, motivation, attitude, and performance across the world. Through a meta-analysis and systematic review, this study concludes that there are generally no significant gender differences in e-learning outcomes except in a few countries. Females significantly outperformed males in Spain and the UK. In Austria, India, and mixed countries, females hold significantly more positive attitudes toward e-learning than males. In the USA, females (...) present significantly higher self-efficacy than males. Future research into the gender issue in e-learning across the world may adopt cross-disciplinary research methods except for a meta-analysis. (shrink)

Let X, Y be Polish spaces,,. We say A is universal for Γ provided that each x‐section of A is in Γ and each element of Γ occurs as an x‐section of A. An equivalence relation generated by a set is denoted by, where. The following results are shown: If A is a set universal for all nonempty closed subsets of Y, then is a equivalence relation and. If A is a set universal for all countable subsets of Y, then (...) is a equivalence relation, and and ; if, then ; if every set is Lebesgue measurable or has the Baire property, then. for, if every set has the Baire property, and E is any equivalence relation, then. (shrink)

Because of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the traditional didactic teaching method that is practiced in Confucian culture, an Eastern cultural model, is being challenged by multiple alternative teaching modes. In Western cultures, the teaching behavior of teachers is dependent on their ability to influence the temperament of students; in contrast, teachers in Eastern cultures are influenced by changes in external environment. This phenomenon can mainly be explained by the tendency of students in Eastern cultures to adopt a passive learning (...) style because of Confucianism. On the basis of Confucian culture and literature review, we conducted a Chinese-language questionnaire survey of temperament scales and learning motivation, and 724 effective questionnaires were collected and used to explore the relationship between students’ temperament and learning motivation under three teaching modes, namely, online teaching, traditional offline classroom teaching, and online–offline mixed teaching. Conclusions drawn were as follows. In a Chinese Confucian cultural system, the passive learning style of students and its relationship with the surrounding collective culture creates the temperament characteristics of sanguinity and phlegmatism. Influenced by the traditional Confucian values of benevolence and honesty, students with a melancholic temperament do not focus on their learning motivations. Furthermore, changes in external information, to which such students are sensitive, cause them to give up opportunities easily. Similarly, students with a choleric temperament are sensitive and prone to fluctuating emotions, and they tend to be affected by changes in their external environment. Although students have a strong learning motivation under the traditional offline teaching mode, a paradox in individual cognition exists because of differences between Chinese and Western cultures. Therefore, students generally prefer the online–offline mixed teaching mode to the traditional single teaching mode. This study explored factors that influence students’ learning motivation, namely, individual temperament and educational environment, and provides a reference for the future development of post epidemic education. (shrink)

The sentiment of responsibility and serving religion -- Striving in God's cause, invitation and guidance -- Representation: the tongue of conduct -- Ukhuwah: brotherhood -- Altrusim and munificence -- Consultation (istisharah) -- Love, passion, and renewing one's self -- Perseverance and determination.

The formation and research of Constructivism theory is another understanding in developing educational psychology. Many problems exist in English vocabulary teaching and learning, which are too common to be noticed, negatively and implicitly impacting Students’ English Vocabulary Memorization. In order to solve these problems, this work studies college Students’ EVM from the perspective of Constructivism. Firstly, the literature review and observation method understand the Students’ EVM performance and teaching behavior. Secondly, it analyzes the current situation, problems, and reasons for Students’ (...) poor EVM abilities. Finally, combined with relevant theories, a college Students’ EVM-oriented teaching model is proposed, whose effectiveness is verified by teaching experiments. The experiment recruits100 freshmen, including 60 boys and 40 girls, and lasts half a semester. The average score of the final exam in the experimental group is more than 90, which is better than that in the control group. Then, the SPSS21.0 is used in the independent-samples t-test, finding no significant difference. Thus, the experimental group’s comprehensive English Proficiency Level has not been negatively affected. The proposed teaching model can improve Students’ EVM efficiency and consolidate their memory. The proposal has important guiding significance for stimulating Students’ interest in English vocabulary learning and the quality of vocabulary teaching. (shrink)

The unprecedented public panic caused by COVID-19 will affect the recovery of tourism, especially the theme parks, which are generally crowded due to high visitor volume. The purpose of this study is to discuss the effect of the COVID-19 on the theme park industry. This study aims to predict recommendation intentions of theme park visitors by exploring the complicated mechanism derived from the fear of COVID-19. This study uses a quantitative research method, and SPSS 20.0 and AMOS 22.0 were used (...) for data analysis. An online survey was conducted with 420 Chinese respondents who visited Shanghai Disneyland after its reopening. The study explored the relationship between Fear of COVID-19, perceived risk, participation, service experience, and revisit intention. Results indicated the perceived risk of theme park visitors will not directly ruin their recommendation intention. Visitors’ fear of COVID-19 enhanced their perceived risk, reduced their desire for active participation and impaired their service experience, which consequently affected their recommendation intention. We provide theoretical and managerial implications. (shrink)

This problem in its essence is extremely delicate, socially sensitive and extraordinary in the broad context of those democratic processes taking place in Ukraine, those transformations that are inherent in all spheres of life of the Ukrainian society, incl. and its religious realm.

Ukrainian society and its state are in a stage of transition, in search of the optimal path and prospects of their development, by all the parameters of their present life. This period is characterized by complex, qualitative and quantitative measurements, of the transformations inherent in all spheres of social life.

First of all, I consider it necessary to note that the full value of freedom of existence of religious organizations operating in the territory of our country, the realization of their tasks, goals depends first of all on the effective mechanism of their legal support and legal guarantees. It is clear that the legal norms fixed in the legislation of Ukraine, which relate to the sphere of freedom of religion, concern only the plane of realization of freedom of conscience - (...) freedom of religious expression both at the individual and the collective levels. This is an extremely pressing issue that needs scientific reflection. (shrink)

The problem of freedom of conscience is an important component of the subject field of Ukrainian religious studies, both in the historical and contemporary context of its development. In view of the complex, all-encompassing transformation processes that have taken place in our country for eleven years of its independent existence and continue today, it has been and remains relevant and socially demanded in theoretical and practical terms.

It is noteworthy that today, both in Europe and throughout the geolithic space, problems related to religion, in particular in their confessional expression, have come to the fore again. They are actualized not only in the context of the globalization processes and their consequences that the world is experiencing, but also of the serious challenges that the international community faces and which are to some extent generated by a religious factor, in particular its Islamic variety.

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)

In recent years, somatosensory interaction technology, represented by Microsoft’s Kinect hardware platform, has been widely used in various fields, such as entertainment, education, and medicine. Kinect technology can easily capture and record behavioral data, which provides new opportunities for behavioral and psychological correlation analysis research. In this paper, an automatic decision-style recognition method is proposed. Experiments involving 240 subjects were conducted to obtain face data and individual decision-making style score. The face data was obtained using the Kinect camera, and the (...) decision-style score were obtained via a questionnaire. To realize automatic recognition of an individual decision-making style, machine learning was employed to establish the mapping relationship between the face data and a scaled evaluation of the decision-making style score. This study adopts a variety of classical machine learning algorithms, including Linear regression, Support vector machine regression, Ridge regression, and Bayesian ridge regression. The experimental results show that the linear regression model returns the best results. The correlation coefficient between the linear regression model evaluation results and the scale evaluation results was 0.6, which represents a medium and higher correlation. The results verify the feasibility of automatic decision-making style recognition method based on facial analysis. (shrink)

Several functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have demonstrated abnormalities in static intra- and interhemispheric functional connectivity among diverse brain regions in patients with major depressive disorder. However, the dynamic changes in intra- and interhemispheric functional connectivity patterns in patients with MDD remain unclear. Fifty-eight first-episode, drug-naive patients with MDD and 48 age-, sex-, and education level-matched healthy controls underwent resting-state fMRI. Whole-brain functional connectivity, analyzed using the functional connectivity density approach, was decomposed into ipsilateral and contralateral functional connectivity. We computed (...) the intra- and interhemispheric dynamic FCD using a sliding window analysis to capture the dynamic patterns of functional connectivity. The temporal variability in functional connectivity was quantified as the variance of the dFCD over time. In addition, intra- and interhemispheric static FCD patterns were calculated. Associations between the dFCD variance and sFCD in abnormal brain regions and the severity of depressive symptoms were analyzed. Compared to HCs, patients with MDD showed lower interhemispheric dFCD variability in the inferior/middle frontal gyrus and decreased sFCD in the medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate cortex and posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus in both intra- and interhemispheric comparisons. No significant correlations were found between any abnormal dFCD variance or sFCD at the intra- and interhemispheric levels and the severity of depressive symptoms. Our results suggest intra- and interhemispheric functional connectivity alterations in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and default mode network regions involved in cognition, execution and emotion. Furthermore, our study emphasizes the essential role of altered interhemispheric communication dynamics in the DLPFC in patients with MDD. These findings contribute to our understanding of the pathophysiology of MDD. (shrink)

With the continuous progress and penetration of automated data collection technology, enterprises and organizations are facing the problem of information overload. The demand for expertise in data mining and analysis is increasing. Self-efficacy is a pivotal construct that is significantly related to willingness and ability to perform a particular task. Thus, the objective of this study is to develop an instrument for assessing self-efficacy in data mining and analysis. An initial measurement list was developed based on the skills and abilities (...) about executing data mining and analysis, and expert recommendations. A useful sample of 103 university students completed the online survey questionnaire. A 19-item four-factor model was extracted by exploratory factor analysis. Using the partial least squares-structural equation modeling technique, the model was cross-examined. The instrument showed satisfactory reliability and validity. The proposed instrument will be of value to researchers and practitioners in evaluating an individual’s abilities and readiness in executing data mining and analysis. (shrink)

Voluntary work behavior refers to spontaneous workplace behaviors that extend beyond role norms, including extra-role behaviors that benefit the organization and negative behaviors that may harm the organization. This study examined the relationship between self-control and VWB and the mediating role of job satisfaction. A total of 1,101 full-time employees from China completed a battery of self-report measures online. The results show that self-control positively predicts employees' OCB and negatively predicts employees' CWB. Moreover, job satisfaction significantly mediates the relationship between (...) self-control and OCB/CWB. The results confirm that employees with high self-control are more public-spirited, which previous studies have described as being “highly committed” or “less harmful”. This finding closely relates to the observation that employees with high self-control tend to have more satisfying work outcomes or higher workplace status than those with low self-control. (shrink)

Several features of the yeast mitochondrial genome, including high mutation rate, dynamic genomic structure, small effective population size, and dispensability for cellular viability, make it a promising candidate for generating hybrid incompatibility and driving speciation. Cytonuclear incompatibility, a specific type of Dobzhansky‐Muller genetic incompatibility caused by improper interactions between mitochondrial and nuclear genomes, has previously been observed in a variety of organisms, yet its role in speciation remains obscure. Recent studies in Saccharomyces yeast species provide a new insight, with experimental (...) evidence that cytonuclear incompatibility and DNA sequence divergence are both causes of the reproductive isolation of different yeast species. Interestingly, these two mechanisms seem to be perfectly complementary to each other in terms of their effects and evolutionary trajectories. Direct molecular analyses of the incompatible genes in yeasts have started to shed light on the evolutionary forces driving speciation. Editor's suggested further reading in BioEssaysThe cytoplasmic structure hypothesis for ribosome assembly, vertical inheritance, and phylogeny AbstractMitochondrial bioenergetics as a major motive force of speciation Abstract. (shrink)

Violence has been linked to the co-occurrence of cognitive dysfunction and altered activations in several brain regions. Empirical evidence demonstrated the benefits of acute exercise on motor inhibition and error detection and their neuronal processing. However, whether such effects also hold for the population with violent behaviors remains unknown. This study examined the effects of acute aerobic exercise on inhibitory control and error monitoring among violent offenders. Fifteen male violent offenders were counterbalanced into experimental protocols, which comprised a 30-min moderately (...) aerobic exercise [60% heart rate reserve] and a 30-min reading control session. After each session, participants performed an emotional stop signal task while event-related potentials were recorded simultaneously. Results showed insignificant changes in ERPs components [i.e., N2, P3, error-related negativity, and error-positivity amplitudes] and the behavioral performance in go condition, stop accuracy, and post-error adjustments by exercise. However, the current study demonstrated that the acute exercise facilitated stop signal reaction time when compared to the control session regardless of emotional conditions. This is the first research to exhibit the improvements in inhibitory performance by acute exercise for violent offenders. Most importantly, this effect was independent of affective settings, expanding the existing knowledge of the influences of acute exercise on cognition. Our findings implicate the perspective of acute exercise for clinical and correctional practices. (shrink)

Globalization and informatization are reshaping human life and social behaviors. The purpose is to explore the worldwide strategies to cultivate international talents with a global vision. As a global language with the largest population, English, and especially its learning effect, have always been the major concerns of scholars and educators. This work innovatively studies the combination of immersion-based English teaching with virtual reality technology. Then, based on the experimental design mode, 106 students from a Chinese school were selected for a (...) quasi-experimental study for 16 weeks. The collected data were analyzed by computer statistical software, and hypotheses are verified. The results showed that there is a significantly positive correlation between VR and immersion-based language teaching. There is a significantly positive correlation between immersion-based language teaching and academic achievement, and VR is positively correlated with learning outcome. Compared with other state-of-art research methods, this work modifies the students’ oral test through the analysis and comparison with the system database, and the students’ learning effect is greatly improved. Finally, some suggestions are put forward according to the research results to provide an experimental reference for English teachers and future linguistics teaching. (shrink)

Japanese rank among the least likely to intervene to help a stranger in a non-emergency situation while Americans rank among the most likely. Across four studies, we demonstrate that Japanese are less likely to offer help to strangers because their decisions rely more heavily on the assessment of the needs of others. Accordingly, when there is uncertainty about the need for help, Japanese are less likely to intervene than Americans because without an understanding of the needs of recipient, the impact (...) of intervention may also be harmful. When the situation is unambiguous, Japanese and Americans are equally likely to help. This divergence in readiness to help strangers elaborates the understanding of why people in Japanese contexts are more likely than those in United States contexts to attend to the situation and to avoid uncertain situations. It also illuminates cultural differences in models of agency—implicit understandings of when and why a person should act to aid another. (shrink)

Knowledge sharing is the major driving force to maintain enterprises’ competitiveness. This study extends the current knowledge-sharing research by considering knowledge sharing as comprising four types: automatic response, rational reflection, ridiculed reflection, and deprived reflection, based on Kahneman’s types of system thinking. Drawing on the motivation-action-outcome model, this study explored how individuals’ intrinsic motivation can guide the action of knowledge sharing and reflect the outcome of creative self-efficacy in intelligent transportation jobs. By snowball sampling in intelligent transportation companies, a total (...) of 232 effective questionnaires were collected, and confirmatory factor analysis with structural equation modeling was performed. The research results showed that: intrinsic motivation was positively related to the four types of knowledge sharing tendencies; automatic response was not significantly related to creative self-efficacy; rational reflection was positively associated with creative self-efficacy; but ridiculed and deprived reflection were negatively related to creative self-efficacy. These results can be applied to encourage employees to practice rational reflection in knowledge sharing to enhance their creative self-efficacy in intelligent transportation jobs. (shrink)

This paper seeks to bypass assumptions that researchers in critical algorithmic studies and urban studies find it difficult to study algorithmic systems due to their black-boxed nature. In addition, it seeks to work against the assumption that advocating for transparency in algorithms is, therefore, the key for achieving an enhanced understanding of the role of algorithmic technologies on modern life. Drawing on applied assemblage thinking via the concept of the urban assemblage, I demonstrate how the notion of urban assemblage can (...) work as an alternative way to explore the distributed and potential dimensions of what has been termed as Urban AI phenomena. Rather than seeing Urban AI phenomena as black-boxed, unknown and opaque, the notion of urban assemblage locates such entities within the wider contests of the city: urban places, communities and politics, where human-algorithmic relationships gather and disperse. In addition, this approach focuses on the potentialities of Urban AI phenomena—how algorithmic systems can operate differently through different aspects of the city—which can be seen to manifest new forms of resistance, collective actions and democracy. I use a case study of an algorithmic system designed to facilitate digital democracy—vTaiwan—to exemplify how assemblage methodology foregrounds the role of cities as spaces and places for exploring the democratic possibilities of algorithmic systems. This paper concludes with discussion of how the assemblage methodology contributes to serve as a bridge between critical algorithm studies and recent studies of platform urbanism. (shrink)

Online learning has received extensive attention in the field of education in the recent decade, especially after COVID-19 swept the globe in 2020. Online learning satisfaction has become the focal point of the research, since it is of vital significance to enhance online learning efficiency. This paper reviews the research on OLS from the dimensions of online learners, online instructors, online platforms and online instructional design to have a clear picture of factors affecting OLS. Based on the review of previous (...) studies, this mini review presents the prospect of future research on OLS and believes that breakthroughs on OLS research can be achieved by innovating research methods, expanding research subjects, and enriching research topics. OLS is a complicated dynamic system influenced by a diversity of factors, and it is worth more in-depth research by scholars and educators in future. (shrink)

In service marketing, AI assistants and self-service technology have become popular. As a result, it is critical to enrich the understanding of whether consumers react differently in the artificial intelligence service context in comparison with the human service context. This study examines the effect of assistant type on consumers’ decision-making. Through three experiments, this research finds that variety seeking will be higher when consumers are making decision in AI service environment. Furthermore, we tested uncertainty as the underlying mechanism. Moreover, we (...) demonstrated that this pattern is moderated by situational involvement. Specifically, in consumption contexts of high involvement, the consumers are less likely to seek variety, and in consumption contexts of low involvement, they prefer more variety. This research offers service providers new insights by revealing how, why, and when the interaction of AI technology influences consumers’ decision-making in service marketing. (shrink)

Birgivî Mehmet Efendi, ca. 1522-1573; Muslim scholar; biography; religious and political views.

This thesis argues that Metaphysics ZH$\Theta$--the crux of Aristotle's metaphysics--are not, as the tradition takes it for granted, a unity which hosts a consistent doctrine of substance; rather they contain two distinct approaches to substance. I call them respectively the formal approach and the synthetical approach. They present two kinds of hylomorphism, with Z17 as a demarcation. ;The formal approach takes form or essence as a separate substance from matter and the composite and demonstrates that form is the primary substance (...) over them. In this approach Aristotle views form or essence to be an essential property of an individual material substance. The locus of this approach is mainly in Z3-16 which host two conflict schemes for avoiding Plato's Third Man Argument. One is in Z7-9 which claims that form as primary should be toionde and not separate, and the other is in the program outlined in Z3 which rejects the notion of the Categories that primary substance is primary subject and proposes that it should be tode ti and separate. Each of these two schemes has internal difficulty. The former's claim that substance is universal is criticised in Z13, and the latter's claim that substance is particular is in conflict with the universality of knowledge. Thus the formal approach is an aporematic investigation into the ontological status of form on the basis of the dichotomy of tode ti-toionde. ;The synthetical approach associates the matter/form relation with the potentiality/actuality relation. Form and matter become relative conceptions, and are not separated from each other in definition. In this approach, Aristotle views form or essence to be the formal cause or the unifying principle which makes the material substance a unity rather than a heap. The locus of this approach is Z17 and H$\Theta$. ;The formal approach leads to the science of being qua being , and the synthetical approach leads to theology . Since two approaches are distinct, Aristotle's two notions of first philosophy cannot be reconciled. (shrink)

This study presents an evolutionary game to model interactions among stakeholders with potential conflicts, including the operational enterprise of incineration plant, the local government, and the residents nearby. System dynamics is used to simulate the change of strategic actions corresponding to the three players, in order to seek for the evolutionary stability strategies. A numerical case is proposed to demonstrate the game theory application, in which the impacts of governmental incentive and punishment on the player’s actions are investigated. The results (...) indicated that administrative penalty is effective not only in motivating the enterprises to upgrade treatment facilities for ensuring environmental quality but also in helping the local government and residents to approach dominant strategies. Policy implications are given based on the results to lay out a foundation for the alleviation of the conflicts. (shrink)

This paper affords a Lotmanian cultural semiotic analysis of the inner workings of ritual embodying the mechanism of cultural memory. In this intersectional study, we propose treating ritual as an integral semiotic system in which the community follows a prescribed collective process to create religious or social meanings and to regulate the mechanism of cultural memory through concrete symbols in the forms of behavior, speech, gestures, objects, spatial structures, and so on. Three semiotic properties of ritual in relation to cultural (...) memory are identified, namely, continuity, concreteness, and integrity, which are jointly responsible for the efficacy of ritual in cultural memory making, or to be specific, in the preservation, retrieval, and even reproduction of cultural memory. With these properties, ritual helps construct and maintain socio-cultural order and group identity in the community, by repeating itself and thus creating a sense of continuity through the preservation and retrieval of cultural memory. The key components in ritual are its diverse and polysemous symbols, which are seldom confined to a specific context, although they are indeed subject to the dominant symbol and the dominant meaning in a ritual when necessary. With an extraordinary degree of autonomy and not bound to any fixed context, ritual symbols can enter a ritual situation as its components but retain the freedom of leaving the ritual context at any time, like an unchained “spectator,” and permeating multiple contexts as self-contained units. It is precisely through these transferrable ritual symbols that the fragments of cultural memory are randomly dispersed in the semiosphere and carried to unexpected socio-cultural contexts, bridging the past, the present, and the future and creating new cultural memory. (shrink)

This study deals with the conceptual pair of ‘Erscheinung/Ding an sich’ (appearance/thing-in-itself) in Kant's philosophy and tries to reinterpret it. Previous interpretations have neglected the metaphysical critical intention of the three themes in Kant's critical philosophy: epistemology, doctrine of ideas and practical philosophy. This book discusses the perspective of metaphysical criticism in the context of six ways of using the faculties of thought (understanding and reason or practical reason) and their relation to the conceptual pair. After that, the author elucidates (...) the general meanings of this conceptual pair in connection with Kant's chemical method. (shrink)