The societal and ethical implications of artificial intelligence (AI) have sparked discussions among academics, policymakers and the public around the world. What has gone unnoticed so far are the likewise vibrant discussions in China. We analyzed a large sample of discussions about AI ethics on two Chinese social media platforms. Findings suggest that participants were diverse, and included scholars, IT industry actors, journalists, and members of the general public. They addressed a broad range of concerns associated with the application of (...) AI in various fields. Some even gave recommendations on how to tackle these issues. We argue that these discussions are a valuable source for understanding the future trajectory of AI development in China as well as implications for global dialogue on AI governance. (shrink)

PurposeThis study aims to examine the mediating role recovery plays in the relationship between resilience and posttraumatic growth among breast cancer patients.MethodsA cross-sectional study design was implemented between January 02, 2021 and April 29, 2021. A total of 789 breast cancer patients from eight hospitals in Liaoning province were selected for participation in this study. These participants completed questionnaires, which included the Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory, EGO Resilience Scale and the Questionnaire about the Process of Recovery. The associated factors of PTG (...) were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression. The proposed relationships among resilience, recovery, and PTG were checked by structural equation modeling analyses.ResultsThe average PTG score of breast cancer patients was 53.00 ± 28.30. PTG was positively correlated with both recovery and PTG.ConclusionBreast cancer patients were found to exhibit a moderate degree of PTG. Resilience was positively associated with PTG and recovery mediated the positive effect of resilience on PTG. Resilience might serve as a crucial protective factor that could explain positive growth in life-threatening illnesses through the mediating path of recovery. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Buddhist Inclusivism: Attitudes Towards Religious OthersTerry C. MuckBuddhist Inclusivism: Attitudes Towards Religious Others. By Kristin Beise Kiblinger. Hants, England: Ashgate, 2005. 145 pp.Kristen Beise Kiblinger, who teaches in the religion department at Thiel College, has written a provocative and imaginative book. It is provocative in that [End Page 168] she appears to be doing buddhology even though she resists calling it that. She says she doesn't want (...) to take the voice of a buddhologian. She does not describe what is as a phenomenologist might or what was as an historian of religion might, or what should be as a buddhologian might. She describes what might be, as a—well, as a participant-philosopher might. She writes as an outsider taking the voice of an insider.Kiblinger chooses as her topic the relationship of Buddhists to people of other religions. She begins by noting that Buddhists themselves have not explicitly addressed this topic in their religious philosophizing, at least not to the extent Christians have. But, she suggests, implicitly they behave as if they do have a favored response to this issue. Citing a wide variety of Buddhist sources across the Buddhist spectrum, she concludes that inclusivism is the most natural position for Buddhists to take vis-à-vis the other religions. She describes that position in some detail, all the while persisting in her refusal to be considered a spokesperson in the insider sense.Kiblinger draws her examples from the way two historical figures related to people of non-Buddhist ideologies and from historical contacts Buddhism as a movement had with other religions or sects. The first historical figure is Siddhartha Gautama himself. The Buddha, Kiblinger notes, was not shy about identifying what made any religion (not just his dhamma) useful—the noble eightfold path. This path is the core of Gautama's dhamma, but it also appears in other religions in other forms. The Buddha put forth the presence of this content as the measure of a religion's usefulness (see the Mahaparinibbana Sutta). And of course the parable of the raft relativizes all religious teachings, making them true only to the extent that they enable humans to "cross the stream" of temporal existence, a common tenet of the inclusivist position in all its forms.Asoka represents a second example of Buddhist inclusivism for Kiblinger. In the seventh and twelfth of his Rock Edicts, Asoka makes clear that all members of all religious traditions are welcome to practice in his kingdom, even though he thinks Buddhism is the best position. He makes clear that both exclusivism and intolerance of other religious ideas are not acceptable positions in his way of looking at the spiritual dimension of the world. Existentially, Asoka's life story is a model of a reformed "exclusivist" finally embracing the all-truth-no-matter-where-you-find-it-is-still-truth position.Not just these giant figures model inclusivism. Buddhism as a movement has consistently, Kiblinger argues, behaved toward other movements as inclusivists would. She uses as a first example the Buddhist attitude toward Vedic sacrifice, the religious practice most liable to be cast aside by the new teaching of Gautama. We see in this example, Kiblinger says, "the technique of significant reinterpretation and new application rather than subordination" (p. 41). She also notes that a technique she calls "reinterpretation by ethicization" that does not throw out Vedic teaching altogether but claims at its root a teaching that was originally Buddhist.Evidence for the inclusivist position can also be found in the way Mahayanists treated Theravadins, or Hinayanists as Kiblinger refers to them. Scholars of Buddhism [End Page 169] have for the most part recognized that the term "hinayana," perhaps best translated as "lesser vehicle," is a pejorative term given to Theravadins by the Mahayanists, the "great vehicle" folks. Kiblinger argues that even though Mahayanists consider their tradition superior (a common trait of all inclusivists, Buddhist or not), they do so with an openness to the value of the way Theravadins approach the problem of enlightenment. Their way may not be the best, but it is a way, and in some contexts it may be an effective way. Mahayanists are able... (shrink)

Who is right? In Risk and Rationality, Kristin Shrader-Frechette argues that neither charges of irresponsible endangerment nor countercharges of scientific illiteracy frame the issues properly.

Verification and validation of numerical models of natural systems is impossible. This is because natural systems are never closed and because model results are always nonunique. Models can be confirmed by the demonstration of agreement between observation and prediction, but confirmation is inherently partial. Complete confirmation is logically precluded by the fallacy of affirming the consequent and by incomplete access to natural phenomena. Models can only be evaluated in relative terms, and their predictive value is always open to question. The (...) primary value of models is heuristic. (shrink)

jild 1. ʻIbādāt -- jild 2. ʻĀdāt -- jild 3. Muhlikāt -- jild 4. Munjīyāt.

Hrushovski originated the study of “flat” stable structures in constructing a new strongly minimal set and a stable 0-categorical pseudoplane. We exhibit a set of axioms which for collections of finite structure with dimension function δ give rise to stable generic models. In addition to the Hrushovski examples, this formalization includes Baldwin's almost strongly minimal non-Desarguesian projective plane and several others. We develop the new case where finite sets may have infinite closures with respect to the dimension function δ. In (...) particular, the generic structure need not be ω-saturated and so the argument for stability is significantly more complicated. We further show that these structures are “flat” and do not interpret a group. (shrink)

In this pilot study, deliberate practice and competence-based assessment were incorporated into a first-year graduate course on professional issues and ethics. Students responded to challenging simulations of basic ethical situations in therapy before and after the course. Aspects of deliberate practice were incorporated into the course. Student self-report ratings and independent performance ratings blind to timing found improvements in students’ ability to manage basic ethical situations in practice. Pilot evidence suggests competence-based assessment and training have potential use for training students (...) preparing to engage in their first therapy practicum experiences. Additional controlled studies are needed to examine the benefits of competence-based assessment and training. (shrink)

This study conducted a cross-sectional investigation of facial appearance dissatisfaction between patients before undergoing orthognathic surgery and a non-surgical sample to evaluate the potential influencing factors of facial appearance dissatisfaction. A sample of 354 participants completed a set of questionnaires concerning facial appearance dissatisfaction, interpersonal pressure, media pressure, and fear of negative appearance evaluation (112 patients, 242 controls). The patients reported higher facial appearance dissatisfaction, more media pressure, more interpersonal pressure, and a greater fear of negative appearance evaluation among others (...) than the control group. Moreover, regression analyses identified interpersonal pressure and fear of negative appearance evaluation as the main influencing factors on facial appearance dissatisfaction whether in the orthognathic patients or in the control groups. The associations between the perceptions of interpersonal pressure, fear of negative appearance evaluation, and facial appearance dissatisfaction support the possible utility of strengthening social experiences and psychological intervention in preventing and treating these appearance-concerns, especially for the orthognathic patients. (shrink)

This paper examines the effect of corporate social responsibility on the number of bond covenants. We find that a high CSR score has a negative association with the number of bond covenants. Moreover, our results are more pronounced for firms with a high bid-ask spread and high agency costs. Our analysis highlights the effect of the good stakeholder relationship on the bond contracts.

The present study examined the behavioral effects of the first-person possessive pronoun. In each trial, a noun was presented to participants after visual presentation of a possessive pronoun “wo de” or “ta de” , which formed ownership. Half participants were assigned to contextual encoding condition in which they were required to judge whether they liked the item expressed by a noun from the first or third-person perspective. The rest were assigned to perceptual encoding condition in which they were asked to (...) judge what color the noun was. A subsequent recall test was performed. The results showed that there were significant memory and response advantages for nouns in “my” ownership under both conditions. The results were discussed with reference to self-specificity and other effects in the current study. (shrink)

The communicative interactions of very young children almost always involve language, gesture and directed gaze. In this study, ninety-six children were asked to determine the location of a hidden toy by understanding a communicative act that contained none of these familiar means. A light-and-sound mechanism placed behind the hiding place and illuminated by a centrally placed switch was used to indicate the location of the toy. After a communicative training session, an experimenter pressed the switch either deliberately or accidentally, and (...) with or without ostension. In no condition did she orient towards the hiding place. When the switch was pressed intentionally, children used the light-and-sound cue to find the toy – and tended to do so even in the absence of ostensive eye contact. When the experimenter pressed the switch accidentally, children searched randomly – demonstrating that they were tracking her communicative intent, and not merely choosing on the basis of salience. The absence of an effect of ostension contradicts research that ostension helps children to interpret the communicative intentions underlying unfamiliar signs. We explain this by concluding that while it may play a role in establishing a communicative interaction, it is not necessary for sustaining one; and that even with a highly novel communicative act – involving none of the means of communication on which children typically rely – three-year-olds can comprehend the communicative intentions behind an intentionally produced act. (shrink)

Amphibian metamorphosis is a post‐embryonic process that systematically transforms different tissues in a tadpole. Thyroid hormone plays a causative role in this complex process by inducing a cascade of gene regulation. While natural metamorphosis does not occur until endogenous thyroid hormone has been synthesized, tadpoles are competent to respond to exogenous thyroid hormone shortly after hatching. In addition, even though the metamorphic transitions of individual organs are all controlled by thyroid hormone, each occurs at distinct developmental stages. Recent molecular studies (...) suggest that this competence of premetamorphic tadpoles to respond to the hormone and the developmental stage‐dependent regulation of tissue‐specific transformations are determined in part by the levels of thyroid hormone receptors and the concentrations of cellular free thyroid hormone. In addition, at least two genes, encoding a cytosolic thyroid hormone binding protein and a 5‐deiodinase, respectively, are likely to be critical players in regulating cellular free thyroid hormone concentrations. This review discusses how all of these molecuar components coordinate to induce amphibian metamorphosis in a correct spatial and temporal manner. These studies provde us with general clues as to how and why tissues become competent to respond to hormonal signals. (shrink)

Within the grand river of China's contemporary thought, a tributary of neo-Confucianism has emerged alongside the mainstreams of science, democracy, and socialist thought. To start with, there was Liang Shuming, who bucked the current during the time of the New Cultural Movement. At the time, he wrote the book Dongxi wenhua ji qi zhexue . In so doing, he affirmed the cultural value of Confucianist thinking in modern society. Following in Liang's footsteps, Zhang Junmai, Feng Youlan, He Lin, Xiong Shili, (...) and others also wrote treatises and offered teachings that had the effect of reforming Confucianism by injecting it with new content, and striving to make it more responsive to the needs of contemporary society. In this way, neo-Confucianism has slowly become a noticeable intellectual current. Since the liberation of the mainland of China, the theory of neo-Confucianism has been further enriched and developed to a certain extent through the efforts of a number of scholars in Hong Kong and Taiwan, such as Tang Junyi, Mou Zongsan, Xu Fuguan, and Qian Mu. In the sixty-odd years since the 1920s, the neo-Confucianist thinkers have published more than a hundred volumes on the subject, and have created a plethora of systems of philosophy and theories, each carrying its own characteristics. Today, neo-Confucianism has become one of the major schools of philosophy in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and has also had a considerable impact in the United States. We can no longer ignore its existence; indeed, the resurrection of Confucianism, at one time considered unlikely to succeed, appears to have become a reality. (shrink)

This article examines the neo-Confucian response to the question, “How to achieve the state of oneness,” as put forth by Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao. While both philosophers achieve this state through internal affectivity, their interpretations diverge significantly. Cheng Yi views internal affectivity as an inherent goodness that emanates from the pre-manifested mind but warns against emotional instability and desires. He thus rejects the notion of “teaching benevolence through perception.” (yijue xunren) and instead emphasizing the primacy of the unmanifested mind (...) in attaining oneness. Conversely, Cheng Hao stresses the inward perception of bodily sensations and supports “teaching benevolence through perception.” He argues that through sensory arousal and the transformation of vital energy, the mind and body can achieve harmony, thereby embodying the benevolence present in “heaven, earth, and all things.” This divergence in their approaches to oneness reflects their differing responses to Buddhism and contrasting views on human nature. (shrink)

Leitkonzepte wie Nachhaltigkeit bedürfen, sollen sie erfahrbar werden, der konkreten Umsetzung. Nachhaltiges Denken in Form von Gedankenentwürfen muss demnach in nachhaltiges Handeln in Form entsprechender Initiativen überführt werden. Dabei geht nachhaltiges Denken weit über Unternehmensgrenzen hinaus und ragt in alle gesellschaftlichen Systeme hinein. Eine besonders wichtige "Keimzelle" des komplementären nachhaltigen Denkens und Handelns sind die Kommunen. Sie sind zum einen als Handlungseinheiten klein genug, um Nachhaltigkeit mit konkreten Initiativen ein Gesicht zu geben. Zum anderen sind sie aber auch groß genug, (...) um Nachhaltigkeit in einen übergeordneten Zusammenhang zu stellen und entsprechende Aktivitäten zu koordinieren und zu fördern. Mit dem inhaltlichen Fokuspunkt Wirtschaft und dem kommunalen Fokuspunkt Hannover wird mit diesem Werk ein konkreter und praxisnaher Forschungsbereich näher beleuchtet. Die kombinierte Forschungs- und Praxisperspektive des Werkes wurde ausgewählt, um sowohl den theoretischen Diskussionsstand widerzuspiegeln und mit dem integrativen Ansatz anzureichern als auch exemplarisch den praxisnahen Anwendungs- und Ausprägungsstand abzubilden. Das Buch richtet sich an Experten*innen im Bereich Kommunales Management aber auch an Wissenschaftler*innen und Studierende in Studiengängen zum Thema Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement und Regionale Entwicklung. Der Inhalt Konzeptionelle Grundlagenbeiträge Schnittstelle Kommune - Wirtschaft: Triebfeder für lokale und regionale Nachhaltigkeit Referenzbeispiele für (integriertes) kommunales Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement Die Herausgeber*innen Prof. Dr. Kristin Butzer-Strothmann ist Professorin für Allgemeine BWL, insbesondere Marketing und Empirische Sozialforschung an der Leibniz-Fachhochschule in Hannover. Prof. Dr. Friedel Ahlers ist Professor für Allgemeine BWL, insbesondere Unternehmensführung und Personalwirtschaft an der Leibniz-Fachhochschule in Hannover. (shrink)

Cell membranes experience frequent stretching and poking: from cytoskeletal elements, from osmotic imbalances, from fusion and budding of vesicles, and from forces from the outside. Are the ensuing changes in membrane tension localized near the site of perturbation, or do these changes propagate rapidly through the membrane to distant parts of the cell, perhaps as a mechanical mechanism of long‐range signaling? Literature statements on the timescale for membrane tension to equilibrate across a cell vary by a factor of ≈106. This (...) study reviews and discusses how apparently contradictory findings on tension propagation in cells can be evaluated in the context of 2D hydrodynamics and poroelasticity. Localization of tension in the cell membrane is likely critical in governing how membrane forces gate ion channels, set the subcellular distribution of vesicle fusion, and regulate the dynamics of cytoskeletal growth. Furthermore, in this study, it is proposed that cells can actively regulate the degree to which membrane tension propagates by modulating the density and arrangement of immobile transmembrane proteins. Also see the video abstract here https://youtu.be/T6K7AIAqqBs. (shrink)

The auditory gaze cueing effect (auditory-GCE) is a faster response to auditory targets at an eye-gaze cue location than at a non-cue location. Previous research has found that auditory-GCE can be influenced by the integration of both gaze direction and emotion conveyed through facial expressions. However, it is unclear whether the emotional information of auditory targets can be cross-modally integrated with gaze direction to affect auditory-GCE. Here, we set neutral faces with different gaze directions as cues and three emotional sounds (...) (fearful, happy, and neutral) as targets to investigate how the emotion of sound target modulates the auditory-GCE. Moreover, we conducted a controlled experiment using arrow cues. The results show that the emotional content of sound targets influences the auditory-GCE but only for those induced by facial cues. Specifically, fearful sounds elicit a significantly larger auditory-GCE compared to happy and neutral sounds, indicating that the emotional content of auditory targets plays a modulating role in the auditory-GCE. Furthermore, this modulation appears to occur only at a higher level of social meaning, involving the integration of emotional information from a sound with social gaze direction, rather than at a lower level, which involves the integration of direction and auditory emotion. (shrink)

Jung Chang [Zhang Rong], the author of Wild Swans, comes from an entirely different generation than Wu Ningkun. The "offspring of a high-ranking cadre," she was born and grew up under the red flag. While Wu Ningkun was languishing in a "cowshed" [place in one's own work unit where one was usually kept in solitary confinement and made to write out confessions of so-called crimes during the Cultural Revolution—Trans.] and accused of being a "devil and demon," 14-year-old Jung Chang came (...) from her native Chengdu to Beijing—the "center of world revolution"—as a Red Guard, to be reviewed by the Great Leader. As the Cultural Revolution grew in ferocity, her father was accused of being a counterrevolutionary for having supported Tao Zhu and was sent to a mountainous area to be reformed through labor. And so, Jung Chang lost the privileged life she had led and began her "travails." She was first sent to work in a rural production brigade, and then to serve as a barefoot doctor in a Tibetan village at the foot of the Himalayas. (shrink)

Volume 19, Issue 10, October 2019, Page 103-105.

Nie Jing-Bao, Behind the silence: Chinese voices on abortion, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005, reviewed by Shi Xianduan and Margaret P. Battin.

Separated decision-making for maintenance and spare ordering is unrealistic in the industry, so this paper aims to optimize them together. A joint policy of inspection-based preventive maintenance and spare ordering considering two modes of spare ordering, namely, a regular order and an emergency order, is proposed for single-unit systems using a three-stage failure process. If the system is recognized to be in the minor defective stage, the original inspection interval is shortened and a regular order is placed. However, replacement is (...) undertaken preventively or correctively if the severe defective stage is identified or a failure occurs. Depending on the system state and the state of the regular ordered spare when replacement is needed, all possible scenarios are considered to construct optimization model I. The decision variables are the optimal inspection interval and the times of shortening the original inspection interval. Additionally, model II on the basis of an assumption that the spare is always ordered at time 0 is also developed. The results from a numerical example illustrated the applicability and the effectiveness of model I compared to model II, and the irregular inspection policy is validated to be cost-saving compared to the regular inspection policy. (shrink)

This paper presents a narrative study on the professional identity development of a Chinese preservice EFL teacher, examining her experiences before, during, and after the teaching practicum. The data for this research were gathered through in-depth interviews, documents, and observations. By offering a comprehensive narrative of Yang’s practicum journey, this study sheds light on the evolving nature of professional identity among Chinese preservice EFL teachers. Through the framework of teacher socialization, the findings reveal distinct phases in Yang’s professional identity. Yang’s (...) stories highlight the dynamic and evolving process of professional identity development, characterized by continuous negotiation, adjustment, and reflection at each stage of the practicum. Additionally, this paper offers practical recommendations for educational institutions, placement schools, and preservice teachers. By integrating these findings, future teacher education programs can better prepare aspiring educators to navigate the complexities of professional identity development, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of EFL teacher training in China. (shrink)

Mou Zongsan 牟宗三 contends that Confucianism is an ethics of autonomy. It is maintained that Mou’s version of ethics of autonomy differs from Kant’s in that Mou comprehends subjectivity differently than Kant in such a way that he, unlike Kant, locates the ethical a priori in moral feelings instead of reason. This paper will explore Mou’s metaphysical grounding of morality to show that Kant’s notions of autonomy and subjectivity undergo more radical modifications in Mou’s contention.

Arabic language; linguistics; studying and teaching.

bakhsh-i 1. Shāmil-i imtiyaz-i akhlāq-i Qurʼān va sharḥ-i mawz̤ūʻāt-i akhlāqī -- bakhsh-i 2. Shāmil-i tamām-i āyat-i akhlāqī-i Qurʼān.