Here we review concepts related to an ensemble description of G-protein-coupled receptors. The ensemble is characterized by both inactive and active states, whose equilibrium populations and exchange rates depend sensitively on ligand, environment, and allosteric factors. This review focuses on the adenosine A2 receptor, a prototypical class A GPCR. 19F Nuclear Magnetic Resonance studies show that apo A2AR is characterized by a broad ensemble of conformers, spanning inactive to active states, and resembling states defined earlier for rhodopsin. In keeping with (...) ideas associated with a conformational selection mechanism, addition of agonist serves to allosterically restrict the overall degrees of freedom at the G protein binding interface and bias both states and functional dynamics to facilitate G protein binding and subsequent activation. While the ligand does not necessarily “induce” activation, it does bias sampling of states, increase the cooperativity of the activation process and thus, the lifetimes of functional activation intermediates, while restricting conformational dynamics to that needed for activation. GPCRs represent a ubiquitous class of transmembrane receptors, responsible for cell signaling and cell homeostasis. Their activation gives rise to conformational changes that allow the receptor to engage downstream partners. Activation can be thought of in terms of a free energy landscape associated with distinct conformers, responsible for the process. Here, the action of ligands is seen to alter this landscape by enabling transitions between key intermediates. (shrink)

Collected works of Dge-lugs-pa scholar predominantly on doctrines, commentary on Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośa, study on Abhisamayālaṅkāra of Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāparāmitā, Buddhist logic, philosophy, rituals, etc.

v. 1. Qian Sugeladi zhe xue yan jiu, Sugeladi ji qi zhe xue si xiang -- v. 2. Si, shi, shi.

本书运用逻辑学原理重新审视《易经》的本质,通过对《易经》作者的思维形式和思维逻辑的分析把握,揭示《易经》所反映的思想内容。.

In Power and Moral Education in China, Wangbei Ye examines China’s recent initiation of school-based curriculum development in moral education as a means to analyze the power redistribution brought about by China’s economic reform. Though there is a great deal of scholarship dealing with moral education in China, the role of power has never been systematically discussed in relation to this topic.

Selected works of author's on critical analysis on different concepts of Buddhist doctrines and philosophy.

In this article, we examine the empirical association between firm value and CSR engagement for firms in sinful industries, such as tobacco, gambling, and alcohol, as well as industries involved with emerging environmental, social, or ethical issues, i.e., weapon, oil, cement, and biotech. We develop and test three hypotheses, the window-dressing hypothesis, the value-enhancement hypothesis, and the value-irrelevance hypothesis. Using an extesive US sample from 1995 to 2009, we find that CSR engagement of firms in controversial industries positively affects firm (...) value after controlling for various firm characteristics. To address the potential endogeneity problem, we further estimate a system of equations and change regression and continue to find a positive relation between CSR engagement and firm value. Our findings support the value-enhancement hypothesis and are consistent with the premise that the top management of US firms in controversial industries, in general, considers social responsibility important even though their products are harmful to human being, society, or environment. (shrink)

Clustering plays an important role in data mining, pattern recognition, and machine learning. Single-valued neutrosophic sets are useful means to describe and handle indeterminate and inconsistent information that fuzzy sets and intuitionistic fuzzy sets cannot describe and deal with. To cluster the data represented by single-valued neutrosophic information, this article proposes single-valued neutrosophic clustering methods based on similarity measures between SVNSs. First, we define a generalized distance measure between SVNSs and propose two distance-based similarity measures of SVNSs. Then, we present (...) a clustering algorithm based on the similarity measures of SVNSs to cluster single-valued neutrosophic data. Finally, an illustrative example is given to demonstrate the application and effectiveness of the developed clustering methods. (shrink)

A robust adaptive fuzzy nonlinear controller based on dynamic surface and integral sliding mode control strategy is proposed to realize trajectory tracking for a class of quadrotor UAVs. In this study, the composite factors including parametric uncertainties and external disturbances are added to controller design, which make it more realistic. The quadrotor model is divided into two subsystems of attitude and position that make the control design become feasible. The main contributions of the proposed ADSISMC strategy are as follows: The (...) combination of dynamic surface and integral sliding mode makes the system always in sliding stage by finding the appropriate initial position compared with the common sliding mode, and the complexity of explosion in backstepping method is eliminated. By introducing the fuzzy system, the unknown functions and uncertainties can be approximated which significantly improves the robustness and the tracking performance. The switching control strategy is utilized to compensate for the errors between estimated and ideal inputs; the tracking performance of the whole system has been significantly improved. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed control method. (shrink)

本书包括:中西文化之“会通和合”;写在《中国审美意识的探讨》出版之际;学者的使命;“诗言志”小注等内容。.

With the rapid development of Internet technology, sports media consumption is migrating toward streaming. The online streaming of sporting events has become the important way of copyrights holders to engage sports fans, especially young fans. Therefore, it is vital to understanding users' willingness to pay. Given that previous studies of the livestream sports broadcasts online have not dealt with users' payment intention, the originality of this study is that it explore users' motivation by combining information system research with the consumer (...) demand theory. The study aimed to examine the factors that influence users' payment intention to stream online sports by using the extended Technology Acceptance Model. Data from questionnaires completed by 330 Chinese respondents determined how perceived usefulness, ease, enjoyment, and satisfaction, influence users' WTP. Satisfaction positively correlated with users' payment intentions, impacted WTP values, mediated ease of use. The analysis also revealed the necessity for broadcast platforms to improve satisfaction and to increase payment intentions. (shrink)

Study on Tibetan Buddhist logic; includes some poems and essays.

As the final work by Ye Xiushan, one of the most famous philosophers and scholars of philosophy in China, this two-volume set scrutinizes the historical development of both Chinese and Western philosophy, aiming to explore the convergence between the two philosophical traditions. Combining historical examination and argumentation based on philosophical problematics, the author discusses the key figures and schools of thought from both traditions. Far from being a cursory comparison between different philosophical concepts and categories, the author discusses the logical (...) paths and conceptual approaches of the two traditions on the same philosophical issues, thus giving insights into conceptual categories commonly used in both Chinese and Western philosophies. The two volumes illuminate the different core spirits and dilemmas of Western philosophy and Chinese philosophy, encouraging a constructive dialogue between the two and a new transformation of Chinese philosophy in itself. The title will appeal to scholars, students, and general readers interested in philosophical history, comparative philosophy, Chinese philosophy, and Western philosophy ranging over Greek philosophy, German classic philosophy, and contemporary continental philosophy. (shrink)

Does a board with greater gender diversity make better investment decisions? Drawing on Austrian economic cycle theory and work groups theory, we argue that such board openness will help male board members to overcome gender biases, discrimination, and conflicts; integrate different perspectives under the economic cycle and crisis; and foster an environment in which better decisions are made. The results of an empirical study of 14,609 firm-quarter observations from 1,555 listed firms in China between 2007 and 2009 strongly support our (...) arguments. We find that a Chinese board is more likely to accept female directorship during an economic crisis than during an economic prosperity stage. Boards with greater gender diversity are more likely to make tough, counter-cyclical investments to improve firm performance during a crisis. Our study enriches the board decision-making literature by exploring the impacts of board gender diversity on firm performance within the context of an economic crisis. The results of our study also carry significant managerial implications for overcoming gender stereotypes, biases, and prejudices on a board. (shrink)

本书介绍了21条快乐法则, 涉及看淡、转换、进退、知足、糊涂、认同、放松、享受、随喜等.

This volume brings together the latest research on the semantics of nouns in a variety of familiar and less well-documented languages. It offers detailed analyses of individual nouns across a range of conceptual domains, including 'people', 'places', and 'living things', with each analysis fully grounded in a unified methodological framework.

Current work in language models (LMs) helps us speed up or even skip thinking by accelerating and automating cognitive work. But can LMs help us with critical thinking -- thinking in deeper, more reflective ways which challenge assumptions, clarify ideas, and engineer new concepts? We treat philosophy as a case study in critical thinking, and interview 21 professional philosophers about how they engage in critical thinking and on their experiences with LMs. We find that philosophers do not find LMs to (...) be useful because they lack a sense of selfhood (memory, beliefs, consistency) and initiative (curiosity, proactivity). We propose the selfhood-initiative model for critical thinking tools to characterize this gap. Using the model, we formulate three roles LMs could play as critical thinking tools: the Interlocutor, the Monitor, and the Respondent. We hope that our work inspires LM researchers to further develop LMs as critical thinking tools and philosophers and other 'critical thinkers' to imagine intellectually substantive uses of LMs. (shrink)

Clustering plays an important role in data mining, pattern recognition, and machine learning. Then, single-valued neutrosophic sets are a useful means to describe and handle indeterminate and inconsistent information, which fuzzy sets and intuitionistic fuzzy sets cannot describe and deal with. To cluster the data represented by single-value neutrosophic information, the article proposes a single-valued neutrosophic minimum spanning tree clustering algorithm. Firstly, we defined a generalized distance measure between SVNSs. Then, we present an SVNMST clustering algorithm for clustering single-value neutrosophic (...) data based on the generalized distance measure of SVNSs. Finally, two illustrative examples are given to demonstrate the application and effectiveness of the developed approach. (shrink)

The public reason project recommends that basic public matters should be decided by public reasons alone, so that citizens’ plural non-public or private reasons will not endanger the unity of the society’s public reason, which is responsible for the stability of the basic structure of society. PRP employs the strategy of insulation and accords priority to public reasons over private reasons. This much is normative or prescriptive, but for PRP to be a tenable and genuinely authoritative normative scheme, it should (...) also incorporate reliable means to win citizens’ firm allegiance to its mandates, which forms the 3rd major strategy of PRP. While much effort has been devoted to investigating the first two strategies of PRP, the third is relatively neglected. But this should not be the case, as the third strategy is also a constitutive part of PRP and it has profound implications for the other two strategies. This dissertation thus sets out to make up on this, by taking John Rawls’s particular approach to PRP as an example, which exhibits the most complete picture of PRP. I ask, in a nutshell, how are PRP’s prospects? More specifically, I scrutinize the attainability of the ideal of public reason, in which citizens heartily uphold or even endorse the spirit of public reason, just as depicted in Rawls’s ideal of well-ordered pluralistic society. To reliably measure the prospects/feasibility of a certain ideal, some rigorous metric is indispensable. For this we can, very intuitively, measure the all-purpose resources for bringing about the ideal: based on comparison between the amount of resources available and the amount required/expected by the ideal, we can decide if the ideal is attainable or not. Few philosophers have thought about the prospects of their moral/social/political ideals along this line. Fortunately, Rawls provides a well-defined interface between ideal and reality in his approach to PRP, so we can still carry out the comparison. This interface is the conception of a well-ordered society, which consists primarily of the conception of the person/citizen as rational and reasonable and the conception of the society as the framework of social cooperation. As these conceptions contain elements informed both by the ideal and by reality, their inner coherence provides crucial clue for deciding the prospects of the ideal as a whole. The major part of this dissertation is devoted to the investigation of these two conceptions, respectively in the domestic and the global settings. The focus is on whether reality can meet the requirements laid down by the ideal of public reason. Specifically, with regard to the conception of the person/citizen, I examine whether a citizen can develop firm allegiance to public reason either by living a well-ordered society or by deliberating on the congruence between her private reasons and the society’s public reason. With regard to the conception of the society, I examine whether the ethos of reciprocity can be elicited and sustained by citizens’ viewing themselves as civic friends with each other and by recognizing the great value of actively participating in social/public life with others. After extending PRP into the global setting a similar investigation is carried out, focusing on the conception of the people and that of the Society of Peoples. With regard to the conception of the people, I examine whether a liberal people can develop and maintain a moral disposition that effectively uphold GPR and whether a non-liberal but decent people can be attracted to the liberal way. With regard to the conception of the Society of Peoples, I examine whether the ethos of reciprocity can be elicited and sustained by peoples’ mutual affinity and, relatedly, whether the thesis of democratic peace can be sustained within the global circumstances of justice. On all these fronts, the prospects of the ideal are severely undermined by the weakness in our moral capacity as well as by the deep connection between public reason and private reasons. As a result, the prospects of public reason are much less secure than commonly assumed. (shrink)

Authoritarian regimes rely on fiscal resources to build patronage networks. And so it is with China. Budget making is usually dominated by government leaders. However, some local governments in recent years have invited ordinary people to review budgets and even to determine parts of budgets. Why would local leaders make themselves accountable to their constituencies in an authoritarian setting? Why would local governments in China tie their own hands? Using detailed description of a township government, this article argues that fiscal (...) affluence based on land is an important factor for local governments in launching fiscal reform. Richer areas have become more fiscally accountable by opening up new discussion and encouraging citizen participation. (shrink)

本书将佛学中一些大师们重点强调的智慧闪光点重新编创,内容包括:活一天就要有一天的意义、感情上的事不可太执着、该出手时便出手、生在红尘中便忙人间事等。.

Name der Zeitschrift: Semiotica Jahrgang: 2017 Heft: 216 Seiten: 451-477.