This work proposes a hybrid heuristic algorithm to solve the bus rapid transit intelligent scheduling problem, which is a combination of the genetic algorithm, simulated annealing algorithm, and fitness scaling method. The simulated annealing algorithm can increase the local search ability of the genetic algorithm, so as to accelerate its convergence speed. Fitness scaling can reduce the differences between individuals in the early stage of the algorithm, to prevent the genetic algorithm from falling into a local optimum through increasing the (...) diversity of the population. It can also increase the selection probability of outstanding individuals, and speed up the convergence at the late stage of the algorithm, by increasing the differences between individuals. Using real operational data of BRT Line 1 in a city of Zhejiang province, the new scheduling scheme can be obtained through algorithm simulation. The passengers’ total waiting time in a single way will be reduced by 40 h on average under the same operating cost compared with the original schedule scheme in a day. (shrink)

Ethically challenging situations routinely arise in the course of illness and healthcare. However, very few studies have surveyed patients and family members about their experiences with ethically challenging situations. To address this gap in the literature, we surveyed patients and family members at three hospitals. We conducted a content analysis of their responses to open-ended questions about their most memorable experience with an ethical concern for them or their family member. Participants described 219 unique ethical experiences that spanned many of (...) the prevailing themes of bioethics, including the patient-physician relationship, end-of-life care, decision-making capacity, healthcare costs, and genetic testing. Participants focused on relational issues in the course of experiencing illness and receiving medical care and concerns regarding the patient-physician encounters. Many concerns arose outside of a healthcare setting. These data indicate areas for improvement for healthcare providers but some concerns may be better addressed outside of the traditional healthcare setting. (shrink)

In this article, we contribute to sociological literatures on morality, professional and institutional contexts, and morally stigmatized ‘dirty work’ by emphasizing and exploring how they mutually inform one another in lawyers’ work activities. Drawing on interview data with 58 practitioners in the commercial legal industry in Singapore, we analyze how they experience professional and institutional constraints on the expressions of morality in their work. Our findings illustrate how a dominant managerial and economic focus maintains and reproduces a constrained form of (...) morality, limited to instrumental, utilitarian and commercial ends, and subordinated to lucrative client and firm interests. We discuss our findings in terms of the need to research and reform professions in ways that support more rounded and unconstrained moral reflexivity and autonomy in how work is undertaken and valued. This in turn has implications for how organizations and professions might achieve alternative moral institutional orders, and for legal work to avoid the moral and social taints of dirty work. (shrink)

Every Berman’s variety \ which is the subvariety of Ockham algebras defined by the equation \ and \) determines a finitary substitution invariant consequence relation \. A sequent system \ is introduced as an axiomatization of the consequence relation \. The system \ is characterized by a single finite frame \ under the frame semantics given for the formal language. By the duality between frames and algebras, \ can be viewed as a \-valued logic as it is characterized by a (...) distributive lattice of \ elements with a unary operator. Moreover, a structural-rule-free, cut-free and terminating sequent system \ is established for \. The Craig interpolation property of \ is shown proof-theoretically utilizing \. (shrink)

This article sets out to undertake a thorough, point-by-point examination of the theory postulated by Campbell (2007), in which an attempt is made to specify the conditions under which corporations may or may not act in socially responsible ways. In order to ensure the overall reliability of our study, and to attempt to provide a new understanding of, and greater insights into, whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) is affected by financial and institutional variables, we empirically investigate a total of 520 (...) financial firms in 34 countries, between the years 2003 and 2005. Our empirical findings are: (i) finns with larger size are more CSR minded, and the financial performance and CSR are not related; (ii) finns would actually act in more socially responsible ways to enhance their competitive advantages when the market competitiveness is more intense; (iii) financial firms in countries with stronger levels of legal enforcement tend to engage in more CSR activities; however, interestingly and rather strikingly, those finns in countries with stronger shareholder rights tend to engage in less CSR activities; and (iv) self-regulation within the financial industry has a significantly positive effect on CSR, with firms being found to act in more socially responsible ways in those countries which have more cooperative employer-employee relations, higher quality management schools, and a better macroeconomic environment. (shrink)

Ethics is central to leadership because of the impact leaders have on establishing organizational values and engaging followers to accomplish mutual goals. The ethical concerns of leaders may influence ethical decision-making of their followers. This paper attempts to investigate the relationship between leaders and followers on moral judgment, and make a comparison between China and Taiwan on the leader–follower moral judgment relationship. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey on purchasing professionals in China and Taiwan. The development of moral judgment (...) was measured using the defining issues test. Research findings indicate that followers exhibit higher level of moral judgment while their leaders have higher level of moral judgment. A positive moral judgment relationship exists between leaders and followers. The comparative study between China and Taiwan reveals that Chinese purchasing professionals are more easily influenced by their workplace leaders than their Taiwanese counterparts. Power distance would strengthen the leader–follower moral judgment relationship. The present research makes contributions toward the ethics literature by providing empirical insight into the relationship between leader moral judgment and follower moral judgment. This paper also suggests implications and opportunities for future research. (shrink)

Cellular reprogramming can manipulate the identity of cells to generate the desired cell types1– 3. The use of cell intrinsic components, including oocyte cytoplasm and transcription factors, can enforce somatic cell reprogramming to pluripotent stem cells4– 7. By contrast, chemical stimulation by exposure to small molecules offers an alternative approach that can manipulate cell fate in a simple and highly controllable manner8– 10. However, human somatic cells are refractory to chemical stimulation owing to their stable epigenome2,11,12 and reduced plasticity13,14; it (...) is therefore challenging to induce human pluripotent stem cells by chemical reprogramming. Here we demonstrate, by creating an intermediate plastic state, the chemical reprogramming of human somatic cells to human chemically induced pluripotent stem cells that exhibit key features of embryonic stem cells. The whole chemical reprogramming trajectory analysis delineated the induction of the intermediate plastic state at the early stage, during which chemical-induced dedifferentiation occurred, and this process was similar to the dedifferentiation process that occurs in axolotl limb regeneration. Moreover, we identified the JNK pathway as a major barrier to chemical reprogramming, the inhibition of which was indispensable for inducing cell plasticity and a regeneration-like program by suppressing pro-inflammatory pathways. Our chemical approach provides a platform for the generation and application of human pluripotent stem cells in biomedicine. This study lays foundations for developing regenerative therapeutic strategies that use well-defined chemicals to change cell fates in humans. (shrink)

In his article "Marxism and Revisionism," Lenin pointed out that Marxist theory "had to fight at every step in its journey of life." The history of the development of Marxism is one of the struggle against streams of various socialist ideas. Marxism developed in the struggle. In the 1840s Germany was on the eve of a bourgeois democratic revolution. In order to mobilize the proletariat and the broad masses of the people to participate in the impending democratic revolution, the bourgeoisie (...) had first of all to bring the theory of revolution into the workers' movement, combine the theory of revolution with the workers' movement, and found a proletarian revolutionary party on the basis of this combination. However, at that time, not only in France and Britain but also in Germany there were various socialist schools and ideas and "genuine socialism" was one of the influential socialist schools. Up to 1864 the "genuine socialists" vigorously disseminated their philistine viewpoint in the Union of Justice Advocates and hindered the founding of a proletarian revolutionary party. In order to arm the proletariat with the theory of revolution, win over the Union of Justice Advocates to their side, and turn the union into a real proletarian revolutionary party which would be armed with scientific socialism, Marx and Engels put up a firm struggle against various socialist schools which were hostile to scientific socialism, particularly against "genuine socialism," which had great influence in the Union of Justice Advocates, and theoretically smashed the "genuine socialist" school. In this struggle, Marx and Engels exposed the real class nature of the philistine theory, thoroughly refuted its erroneous viewpoints, particularly the "genuine socialist" flapdoodle about "love," smashed this school, and eliminated this school's evil effects on the workers' movement. Today it is still highly pertinent for us to study the writings and letters of Marx and Engels during the struggle. (shrink)

This first wave study of the Covid-19 pandemic investigates why the governments of different countries proceeded to lockdown at different speeds. We draw upon the literature on Corporate Governance Institutions (CGIs) to theorize that governments’ decision-making is undertaken in the light of prevailing beliefs, norms, and rules of the collectivity, as portrayed by the focal country’s CGIs, in their effort to maintain legitimacy. In addition, drawing on motivated cognition we posit that the government’s political ideology moderates this relationship because decision-makers (...) are biased when assessing the impact of lockdown on commerce. Running negative binomial regressions on a sample of 125 countries, we find that the more shareholder-oriented the CGIs, the slower the governmental response in shutting down the economy to protect from the pandemic. Moreover, the main relationship is stronger the more right-leaning the government’s ideology. Our study contributes to the research on corporate governance institutions and political ideology and illustrates how societal and ideological biases affect government decision-making, especially when important decisions about public welfare are taken with little information on hand. (shrink)

BackgroundResearchers worry that patients in early-phase research experience unrealistic optimism about benefits and risks of participation. The standard measure of unrealistic optimism is the Comparative Risk/Benefit Assessment questionnaire, which asks people to estimate their chances of an outcome relative to others in similar situations. Such a comparative framework may not be a natural way for research participants to think about their chances.ObjectiveTo examine how people interpret questions measuring unrealistic optimism and how their interpretations are associated with their responses.MethodsUsing an early-phase (...) cancer trial vignette, we administered the CRBA to 297 adults from the general public. They estimated their comparative chances of risk and benefit, then provided rationales for their estimates.ResultsFor both CRBA benefit and risk questions, about 50% of respondents chose 0, and 50% chose a non-0 response. Respondents’ rationales for their estimates showed that overall only about 40%–44% gave comparative rationales, indicating that they interpreted the CRBA as intended. 68.7% of respondents who gave the ‘correct’ 0 rating gave comparative rationales, whereas only 11.6% of respondents who gave non-0 ratings did so. A similar trend was seen for chances of risk.ConclusionResearch participants may not understand comparative benefit and risk questions as intended; attributions of unrealistic optimism may require additional evidence that the respondents’ estimates are intended to be comparative. (shrink)

Our paper is intended to follow the streams of thought along Chinese classicism that fostered hostility towards literary culture and merged into Han Feizi's work, by mid-3rd Century BC. On the one hand, Confucian tradition was prone to an elitist and anti-democratic approach to government, and set a precedent for mistrust in the use of eloquence and bookish culture. On the other, Taoism developed a theoretical contempt towards intellectualism, material culture, and scientific and technical progress, going as far as to (...) fancy unlettered utopias. On the basis of sheer utility and functionality, the Legalist school, whose latest link is represented by Han Feizi, would be receptive to both streams and take mistrust in traditional literary culture to its height. Assimilation of these ideas by Qin Shihuang, the First Emperor, led to implementation of anti-literary radicalism by banning any freedom of speech and, ultimately, by burning books and erudites. Mutatis mutandis, we suggest that a connection may be drawn between that historical process and today's Neoliberal hostility towards the Humanities. (shrink)

Presents the life and social ethics of the great Chinese sage.

Packed with ideas designed to help children learn to sing, this booklet offers criteria for selecting songs, strategies to bring out the best in children's voices, and suggestions for games, ideas, and resources.

A vehicle-commodity matching problem is presented for service providers to reduce the cost of the logistics system. The vehicle classification model is built as a Gaussian mixture model, and the expectation-maximization algorithm is designed to solve the parameter estimation of GMM. A nonlinear mixed-integer programming model is constructed to minimize the total cost of VCMP. The matching process between vehicle and commodity is realized by GMM-EM, as a preprocessing of the solution. The design of the vehicle-commodity matching platform for VCMP (...) is designed to reduce and eliminate the information asymmetry between supply and demand so that the order allocation can work at the right time and the right place and use the optimal solution of vehicle-commodity matching. Furthermore, the numerical experiment of an e-commerce supply chain proves that a hybrid evolutionary algorithm is superior to the traditional method, which provides a decision-making reference for e-commerce VCMP. (shrink)

This paper proposes an account of natural analogy in scientific theorizing via Mary Hesse’s original understanding of analogical reasoning. Starting with discussing Hesse’s examples and her symbolic scheme, I argue that the traditional distinction between the type of formal analogy and the type of material analogy should be abandoned. All analogies in theorizing, that are both formal and material, contain a set of pretheoretic associations and a theoretic structure between two analogues. I thus provide a new interpretation of Hesse’s symbolic (...) scheme to reveal the pretheoretical and the structural dimensions of analogy and further illustrate the account of natural analogy by applying it to the history of the construction of Coulomb’s law, which is traditionally seen as a typical case of formal analogy, arguing that pretheoretic associations as well as a theoretic structure play a necessary role in this case. In the final part of this paper, I argue that the account of natural analogy is preferable to Dedre Gentner’s structural mapping theory. (shrink)

The Monographs produced by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) apply rigorous procedures for the scientific review and evaluation of carcinogenic hazards by independent experts. The Preamble to the IARC Monographs, which outlines these procedures, was updated in 2019, following recommendations of a 2018 expert Advisory Group. This article presents the key features of the updated Preamble, a major milestone that will enable IARC to take advantage of recent scientific and procedural advances made during the 12 years since (...) the last Preamble amendments. The updated Preamble formalizes important developments already being pioneered in the Monographs Programme. These developments were taken forward in a clarified and strengthened process for identifying, reviewing, evaluating and integrating evidence to identify causes of human cancer. The advancements adopted include strengthening of systematic review methodologies; greater emphasis on mechanistic evidence, based on key characteristics of carcinogens; greater consideration of quality and informativeness in the critical evaluation of epidemiological studies, including their exposure assessment methods; improved harmonization of evaluation criteria for the different evidence streams; and a single-step process of integrating evidence on cancer in humans, cancer in experimental animals and mechanisms for reaching overall evaluations. In all, the updated Preamble underpins a stronger and more transparent method for the identification of carcinogenic hazards, the essential first step in cancer prevention. (shrink)

in press, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.

With the concept of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) gaining traction worldwide, firms are becoming increasingly transparent about their ESG practices to enhance their legitimacy. This study draws on signaling theory, stakeholder theory, and opportunism theory, and uses panel data from Chinese A-share listed firms from 2009 to 2022. It identifies a U-shaped relationship between ESG performance and stock price crash risk, indicating that the increase in ESG performance decreases stock price crash risk, but after reaching a threshold value, it (...) increases the risk. Green innovation moderates this U-shaped relationship, reinforcing its effects. Meanwhile, earnings management plays a mediating role in this U-shaped relationship. Heterogeneity analyses reveal that the U-shaped relationship is significant in polluting industries, firms without the duality of chairperson and CEO, firms with high analyst coverage, and those under high market competition. The moderating effect of green innovation is particularly significant in firms with poor external legal environments and firms with positive management tone. Our findings provide novel insights and recommendations for policymakers, managers, and stakeholders to develop effective ESG policies. (shrink)

Product innovation integrates technology, knowledge, management practices, and market innovation, making it essential to gain a competitive advantage. Effective management of dynamic knowledge, which is the foundation of and driving force for product innovation, is a powerful tool that allows a firm to successfully innovate, adapt to environmental changes, and improve its competitiveness. In the “nanosecond age,” unlearning and learning in an organization is crucial to a firm’s ability to promptly update its organizational knowledge and maintain innovation vitality. Based on (...) the dynamic knowledge management perspective, this study integrates and constructs a theoretical model with environmental dynamism as the moderating variable, discusses the impact of organizational unlearning on product innovation performance, and empirically analyzes 208 valid questionnaires in the Yangtze River Delta using the multiple regression method. The results show that organizational unlearning shares a positive relationship with dynamic capabilities and product innovation performance. Dynamic capability is positively related to product innovation performance and has a partial mediating effect on the relationship between organizational unlearning and product innovation performance. Environmental dynamism shares a positive moderating effect on the relationship between organizational unlearning and product innovation performance. This study deepens the existing research on the factors that influence product innovation performance, which may help firms improve their dynamic knowledge management and product innovation performance. (shrink)

As an effective cognitive and behavioral strategy, coping helps to overcome negative events. Although coping and its effects have been widely studied in psychology, little is known about the combination of entrepreneurs’ coping and its connection with firms’ innovation ambidexterity. To fill these gaps, in this study, the authors collected 106 samples through two serial-wave surveys of the Bohai Economic Rim in China and tested the theoretical hypotheses using polynomial regression with response surface analysis. The results showed that alignment coping (...) combination enhanced innovation ambidexterity by reshaping an entrepreneur’s cognitive structure. Misalignment coping combination was found to enhance innovation ambidexterity by eliciting an entrepreneur’s different types of information processing systems. This study contributes to the literatures of coping, innovation ambidexterity, and upper echelons theory from the entrepreneurial cognition approach. (shrink)

BackgroundThe number of students enrolled in higher education in China accounts for more than one-fifth of the world, and universities, as a community of faculty, staff and scholars, currently do not have a scale that specifically assesses the well-being of the population in the environment of Chinese universities. However, the University of Pittsburgh has developed a comprehensive well-being scale, referred to as the Pitt Wellness Scale, specifically to measure people’s well-being in a university environment.AimsInvestigate the psychometric properties of the Pitt (...) Wellness Scale in Chinese university environmental samples.MethodsThe original scale was culturally adapted and modified through expert consultation, a random sample of 1870 current faculty, staff, and students were selected for the questionnaire survey. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used to investigate the potential factor structure of the Chinese Revision of the Pitt Wellness Scale and to measure its reliability and validity. Finally, the factors that affect people’s well-being in the Chinese university environment were explored.ResultsThe Chinese Revision of the Pitt Wellness Scale retained 30 items, and the EFA supports a five-factor structure, which differed from the results of the original scale, and the CFA results showed that the model fitted well. The discriminant validity of the modified Chinese scale was excellent. The overall Omega coefficient of the scale was 0.958, and the reliability of the retest after 4 weeks was 0.821.ConclusionThe Chinese Revision of the Pitt Wellness Scale possesses satisfactory psychometric properties, and it can be considered an instrument for assessing personal well-being in Chinese university environment. (shrink)

Organizational sustainability in the form of environmental management and sustainable production is becoming more important for small and medium-sized enterprises throughout the world. This research evaluates the factors affecting the understanding of the CEO's and managers' intention to adopt practices of green supply chain management and clean innovation technology in the manufacturing SMEs of Pakistan. This empirical research identifies key determinants influencing the adoption of GSCM practices. Using structural equation modeling, we selected a sample size of 350 different manufacturing firms (...) in Pakistan. The results of the study revealed that six factors, namely, environmental, government, organization, suppliers, market, and operational factors, significantly influence the intention to adopt GSCM and positively impact sustainable production. The study's findings reveal that market and operational factors are highly significant for adopting GSCM practices at a p-value of 0.05. Environmental and organizational factors are equally significant to adopt GSCM practices at a p-value of 0.10. This research also analyzed CIT as a moderator between environmental, government, organization, customer, supplier, economic, market, and operational factors in the context of Pakistan. Hypotheses H9a, H9b, H9f, and H9g were validated and support the use of CIT to boost enterprise production and consumption. The research findings would help policymakers understand how to implement GSCM practices and guide enterprises to implement GSCM and CIT practices for enhancing enterprise performance and environmental sustainability. (shrink)

Proactive personality is a key determinant of entrepreneurial intention. Few studies have explored the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relationship. This study investigates the association between proactive personality and entrepreneurial intention and examines the mediating role of perceived entrepreneurial support and the moderating role of gender. Using a cross-sectional design, 1,515 senior students from Chinese private colleges were recruited using random cluster sampling. They completed a battery of self-reported online questionnaires on proactive personality, perceived entrepreneurial support, and entrepreneurial intention. (...) The results revealed that perceived entrepreneurial support mediates the association between proactive personality and entrepreneurial intention. Moderated mediation analysis indicated that the relationship between proactive personality and perceived entrepreneurial support and that between perceived entrepreneurial support and entrepreneurial intention are moderated by gender. Specifically, the positive association between proactive personality and entrepreneurial intention was stronger in male students, and the positive association between perceived entrepreneurial support and entrepreneurial intention was stronger in female students. This study contributes to the understanding of how proactive personality predicts entrepreneurial intention in Chinese private college students and bears implications for higher education institutions and policymakers that entrepreneurship promotion agenda should focus on improving perceived entrepreneurial support and considering the gender of students. (shrink)

Based on the heterogeneous multiscale method, this paper presents a finite volume method to solve multiscale convection-diffusion-reaction problem. The paper constructs an algorithm of the optimal order convergence rate in H1-norm under periodic medias.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Introduction to Benjamin I. Schwartz' "China and Contemporary Millenarianism—Something New under the Sun"Lin Yu-shengIn the spring of 1998, my colleague Mike Clover, a historian of the ancient West and an admirer of Benjamin I. Schwartz' The World of Thought in Ancient China, invited Professor Schwartz to participate, with Heiko Oberman, J. C. Heesterman, and Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch, among others, in a conference he had been organizing on "Eurasia and Africa (...) during the Last Thousand Years." The essay that follows—the last piece of scholarly writing by Ben Schwartz, finished thirty-seven days before his passing—was read by me on his behalf at the conference, held on October 11 and 12, 1999, in Madison.From my telephone conversations with Ben in the summer of 1999, I learned that while he intended to work on a paper for the conference to be titled "The Idea of Unilinear Evolution and the Destinies of China," his attention was very much drawn to the fact of the onset in America of unbridled consumerism and materialism, whose characteristic of feeding on themselves with ever increasing intensity and widespread impact seemed to indicate to him the rise of a profoundly disturbing new phenomenon in this world. When I visited with Ben and Bunny (Mrs. Schwartz) in Cambridge on October 2 and 3, Ben was in the midst of writing an essay on what he would call the "new technological-economic millenarianism" or "materialistic apocalypticism." He said that he preferred to have me read this essay, which he would finish before the conference, rather than the one he originally intended to write. Since the conference was meant to take note of the significance of the passage of time from a world-historical perspective, the reflections by a thinker as deeply serious and searching as Ben Schwartz at the juncture of the end of the second millennium and the beginning of the third on the implications of an entirely new worldwide phenomenon as he perceived it—though having little direct bearing on China's past—would of course be most welcome at the conference.Ben's health deteriorated almost immediately after he had completed the essay on Friday, October 8, and he died on November 14, 1999. We now know from hindsight that Ben had probably felt that he might soon leave us, but he summoned enough energy not to let this happen before his completion of the essay, partly due to his sense of responsibility to deliver what he had promised and partly, and more importantly, because of the imperative he felt to issue, in the spirit of the old prophets, as his parting words, a grave warning to his fellow human beings.The essay is discursive, with many important points implied through nuance rather than formally argued. We can hardly expect more, given the physical condition of its author at the time of its writing. Although this does not, in my opinion, diminish its importance, it does demand close reading from its readers. The following is my brief attempt at this task, for whatever it may be worth. [End Page 189]To begin with, that Ben chooses to use religious language (which is related to "ultimate concerns")—words like "millenarianism" or "apocalypticism," which are ordinarily reserved for depicting the rare and drastic deliverance of humankind from "the vast burden of human suffering and despair"—as a means to explore metaphorically the nature and implications of the new consumerism and materialism is indicative of how serious he has perceived the onset of the phenomenon under consideration to be.To the extent that consumerism and materialism promise to their true believers "a totally new way of neutralizing the age-old causes of human suffering" (italics mine) through their "total attention on every aspect of human life from the techno-economic side," it is legitimate to speak of them as "materialistic apocalypticism," in that they transcend all tensions and agonies in life and elevate the true believers to a state of salvation. However, in its exclusive concern with "unalloyed, unreflective contentment" and pleasure in the self without any regard for the ethical consequences of techno-economic progress, it is a new materialism very different from... (shrink)

Moral ‘saints and heroes’ are generally considered to be admirable, moral exemplars worthy of emulation. J. O. Urmson characterizes them as morally laudable agents who perform supererogatory actions. This characterization, combined with relevant empirical evidence, presents a paradox in which supererogatory acts appear to become, not optional, but obligatory for moral saints and heroes. This is termed the ‘agent–observer disparity’. Drawing on Bernard Williams’ ideas, the concepts of practical necessity and moral incapacity, which are expressive of and grounded in one’s (...) character, are utilized to account for moral saints and heroes’ subjective morality and illuminate their exceptional strength of character. In response to misgivings regarding the imitability of moral saints and heroes and the attainability of their excellences of character, this study suggests that the considerable gap between the characteristics of extreme exemplars and ordinary individuals can provide ordinary individuals with the freedom to consider the moral perspectives of these exemplars that evoke wonder without the exemplars’ actions becoming a threat to ordinary people’s self-concept. The earnest aspiration to reach the moral ideals of moral saints and heroes can move ordinary individuals and trigger an aretaic impulse to act more virtuously without causing stress. It is concluded that moral saints and heroes as extreme exemplars complement the influence of ordinary ‘close-by’ moral mentors and both are key in exemplar-based character education. (shrink)