BackgroundSubjective cognitive decline, non-amnestic mild cognitive impairment, and amnestic mild cognitive impairment are regarded to be at high risk of converting to Alzheimer’s disease. Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations can reflect functional deterioration while diffusion tensor imaging is capable of detecting white matter integrity. Our study aimed to investigate the structural and functional alterations to further reveal convergence and divergence among SCD, naMCI, and aMCI and how these contribute to cognitive deterioration.MethodsWe analyzed ALFF under slow-4 and slow-5 bands and white matter (...) fiber integrity among normal controls, SCD, naMCI, and aMCI groups. Correlation analyses were further utilized among paired DTI alteration, ALFF deterioration, and cognitive decline.ResultsFor ALFF calculation, ascended ALFF values were detected in the lingual gyrus and superior frontal gyrus within SCD and naMCI patients, respectively. Descended ALFF values were presented mainly in the LING, SFG, middle frontal gyrus, and precuneus in aMCI patients compared to CN, SCD, and naMCI groups. For DTI analyses, white matter alterations were detected within the uncinate fasciculus in aMCI patients and within the superior longitudinal fasciculus in naMCI patients. SCD patients presented alterations in both fasciculi. Correlation analyses revealed that the majority of these structural and functional alterations were associated with complicated cognitive decline. Besides, UF alterations were correlated with ALFF deterioration in the SFG within aMCI patients.ConclusionsSCD shares structurally and functionally deteriorative characteristics with aMCI and naMCI, and tends to convert to either of them. Furthermore, abnormalities in white matter fibers may be the structural basis of abnormal brain activation in preclinical AD stages. Combined together, it suggests that structural and functional integration may characterize the preclinical AD progression. (shrink)

This study provides a general overview of contemporary business ethics research of the last 10 years (1997-2006) and discusses potential future research directions in business ethics based on the overview. Using citation and co-citation analysis, this study examined the citation data of journal articles, books, and other publications collected in the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), wherein key research themes in business ethics studies in 1997—2006 and correlations between these themes were explored. The results show that major research themes in (...) business ethics have shifted in the last decade from research on ethical decision making and on the relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate performance to research on stakeholder theory in business ethics and on the relationship between consumer behavior and corporate social responsibility. The results of this study help map the invisible network of knowledge production in business ethics research and provide important insights on future business ethics research. (shrink)

How did human vocalizations come to acquire meaning in the evolution of our species? Charles Darwin proposed that language and music originated from a common emotional signal system based on the imitation and modification of sounds in nature. This protolanguage is thought to have diverged into two separate systems, with speech prioritizing referential functionality and music prioritizing emotional functionality. However, there has never been an attempt to empirically evaluate the hypothesis that a single communication system can split into two functionally (...) distinct systems that are characterized by music- and languagelike properties. Here, we demonstrate that when referential and emotional functions are introduced into an artificial communication system, that system will diverge into vocalization forms with speech- and music-like properties, respectively. Participants heard novel vocalizations as part of a learning task. Half referred to physical entities and half functioned to communicate emotional states. Participants then reproduced each sound with the defined communicative intention in mind. Each recorded vocalization was used as the input for another participant in a serial reproduction paradigm, and this procedure was iterated to create 15 chains of five participants each. Referential vocalizations were rated as more speech-like, whereas emotional vocalizations were rated as more music-like, and this association was observed cross-culturally. In addition, a stable separation of the acoustic profiles of referential and emotional vocalizations emerged, with some attributes diverging immediately and others diverging gradually across iterations. The findings align with Darwin’s hypothesis and provide insight into the roles of biological and cultural evolution in the divergence of language and music. (shrink)

Ethical dilemmas are inescapable components of business negotiations. It is thus important for negotiators to understand the differences in what is ethically appropriate and what is not. This study explores the cross-cultural differences in business ethics between Canada and China by examining the perceived appropriateness of five categories of ethically questionable strategies often used in business negotiations. The results show that the Chinese are more likely to consider it appropriate to use ethically inappropriate negotiation strategies, but the impact of cultural (...) values on ethically inappropriate negotiation strategies is much stronger in Canada than in China when negotiators choose to use these strategies. In addition, there are more gender differences in Canada, where men are more likely to consider it appropriate to use ethically questionable strategies in all five categories than women; while in China no gender differences are found in the perceived appropriateness of using these strategies in all but one category. Implications are also discussed along with potential future research directions. (shrink)

Finance ethics have drawn increasing attention from both government regulators and academic researchers. This paper addresses the issue of insider trading ethics. Previous studies on insider trading ethics have failed to provide convincing arguments and consistent results. In particular, the arguments against insider trading are based primarily on moral and philosophical grounds and lack empirical rigor. This study intends to establish and examine the relationship between the ethical issue and economic issue of insider trading. We argue that the ethics of (...) insider trading is in essence an economic rather than a moral issue. It is so far not clear to what extent insider trading may increase or decrease shareholders wealth. Until then, we must take care to avoid over-regulating insider trading. (shrink)

Since learners’ academic achievement is the ultimate goal of any system of education, multitudes of studies have been conducted on this variable and its determinants. That is, several scholars have explored the effects of student-related and teacher-related factors on learners’ academic achievement. Notwithstanding, a few researchers have investigated the effects of teachers’ self-efficacy and creativity on learners’ academic achievement. Furthermore, no study has reviewed the role of these teacher-related factors in learners’ achievement. Therefore, the present study seeks to bridge the (...) lacunas by delving into the influence of teachers’ self-efficacy and creativity on English as a Foreign Language learners’ academic achievement. The beneficial effects of self-efficacy beliefs and creative teaching were outlined through the existing evidence. This seems to be illuminative for EFL teachers. Given the positive consequences of teachers’ self-efficacy for students’ achievement, EFL teachers should believe in themselves and their abilities to lead their students to academic success. Additionally, with regard to the positive impact of teachers’ creativity on learners’ achievement, EFL teachers are expected to teach the course content creatively. (shrink)

Although the proliferation of empirical research has documented the association between parental control and school adjustment, findings of this linkage are still inconclusive. Moreover, fewer efforts have been made to address this association in middle school students. Guided by an ecological framework, the current study aimed to integrate the conflicting findings into a coherent body of knowledge, paying particular attention to two research purposes: (a) to examine the association between parental control and three objective indicators of school adjustment (social competence, (...) academic grades, and peer acceptance) and (b) to explore whether this association was moderated by individual characteristics of social identity and grit. A total of 120 Chinese middle school students (42.5% females) aged between 13 and 15 years old were recruited for this study, and research data were gathered from multiple sources. To be specific, students were asked to complete a set of self-report questionnaires concerning parental control, social identity, and grit. Meanwhile, school-related social competence was rated by head teachers; academic grades were obtained from school records; and peer acceptance was assessed by sociometric nominations. The results from hierarchical regression analyses showed that parental control was negatively associated with academic grades. Moreover, when reporting higher levels of social identity, parental control was negatively related to social competence and peer acceptance for those students with lower levels of grit. Our findings suggest that parental control can dampen middle school students’ academic performance, and low levels of grit can magnify the detrimental effect of parental control on social competence and peer acceptance in middle school students who regard themselves as closely connected to social groups. (shrink)

This study tests the hypothesis that the perception of philosophy as a male-oriented discipline contributes to the pronounced gender disparity within the field. To assess the hypothesis, we determined the extent to which individuals view philosophy as masculine, and whether individual differences in this correspond with greater identification with philosophy. We also tested whether identification with philosophy correlated to interest in it. We discovered, first, that the more women view philosophy as masculine, the less they identify with it, and second, (...) that the less women identify with philosophy, the less they want to major in it. Interestingly, this result does not hold for men—their viewing philosophy as masculine does not correspond to their identification with it, nor does it correlate with their likelihood of majoring in it. We also discovered that the typical student does not have a preconceived notion of philosophy as masculine; this suggests that they come to view philosophy as masculine the more they do it, which in turn supports the possibility that teaching the discipline differently may prevent students from conceiving of philosophy as masculine, thus allowing a path to reducing the gender disparity. (shrink)

Artificial Intelligence -powered products have started to permeate various spheres of our lives. One of the most controversial of such products is the sex robot, an application of the AI-integrated robotic technology in the domain of human sexual gratification. The aim of this research is to understand the general public’s receptiveness towards this controversial new invention. Drawing upon the social intuitionist model, we find that the fear of AI, emblematic of the broader anxiety of technology’s encroachment on the human sphere, (...) shapes the public’s receptiveness to sex robots. Perceived substitutability of sex robots for human-to-human sexual interactions mediates this relationship. Religiosity is found to moderate this mediated relationship. Our findings are first established with a cross-sectional study. A “big data” field study further validates them. The present research is one of the first empirical studies to examine the underlying psychology of the public’s receptiveness to sex robots. By doing so, we aim to provide relevant government and industry bodies with a better understanding of this important topic for more informed policy making, and to raise awareness of the significant social and ethical implications should sex robots become widely accepted and adopted. (shrink)

Modern technology (Technik, la technique) has constituted the gears on which the wheels of the modern world keep turning. The later Heidegger devotes sustained reflection to this unprecedented phenomenon in human history. It is notable that, compared with other figures from twentieth-century continental philosophy, Heidegger has served as the most frequent reference point in current philosophy of technology (Technikphilosophie). This field of philosophy came into being after the so-called empirical turn of “Science and Technology Studies.” While relevant scholars focus mainly (...) on “Die Frage nach der Technik” of 1953, “Das Ge-stell” of 1949,1 and some other texts written in that period,2 the time span of Heidegger’s .. (shrink)

We argue that all general concepts are family resemblance concepts. These include concepts introduced by ostension, such as colour. Concepts of colour and of each of the specific colours are family resemblance concepts because similarities concerning an open-ended range of colour or of appearance features crop up and disappear. After discussing the notion of “same colour” and Wittgenstein's use of the phrase “our colours”, we suggest family resemblance concepts in one tradition can often be extended to family resemblance concepts in (...) another tradition, illustrated by Wittgenstein's use of the words Spiel and “game”. (shrink)

The tendency of customers’ preference to their local brands over the foreign ones is known as the consumer ethnocentrism, and it is one of the important issues in international marketing. This study aims at identifying the behavioral and neural correlates of Consumer Ethnocentrism in the field of brand preference by using Event-Related Potential (ERP). We sampled subjects from two ethnic groups, the Chinese ethnic group and the sub-Sahara black Africans group from the Zhejiang University. The subjects faced two sequential stimuli, (...) S1 followed by S2. The S1 consisted of 40 pictures of 20 Chinese and 20 Africans black peoples wearing traditional clothes, and S2 consisted of 40 fake brand-logos which were divided randomly into two groups of 20 each. The subjects were informed that the people in the S1 purchased and recommended the products with the brand-logos presented in S2, and the subjects were asked to rate their preference degree toward these logos. The brand-logos were called the “in-group recommended logos” if the recommender in S1 were the same race as the subjects, otherwise, the “out-group recommended logos”.The results revealed that the race of the brand-logo recommender highly impacted the Chinese subjects’ preference for the brand-logos. The N200 component elicited by in-group recommended logos were significantly lower than those elicited by out-group recommended logos. Besides, there was evidence that being familiar with foreign cultures reduces consumer ethnocentrism. The African subjects were familiar with Chinese people and adopted Chinese culture, as a result, they did not differ in showing preferences between in-group and out-group recommended logos. (shrink)

We present a dynamic approach to Peirce’s original construal of abductive logic as a logic of conjecture making, and provide a new decidable, contraction-free and cut-free proof system for the dynamic logic of abductive inferences with neighborhood semantics. Our formulation of the dynamic logic of abduction follows the philosophical and scientific track that led Peirce to his late, post-1903 characterization of abductive conclusions as investigands, namely invitations to investigate propositions conjectured at the level of pre-beliefs.

The Philosophical Forum, Volume 52, Issue 1, Page 65-78, Spring 2021.

This study explores the research paradigms of contemporary business ethics research in 2001–2008. With citation data from the top two business ethics journals included in the Social Sciences Citation Index, this study conducts citation and co-citation analysis to identify the most important publications, scholars, and research themes in the business ethics area and then maps the intellectual structure of business ethics studies between 2001 and 2008. The results show that current business ethics studies cluster around four major research themes, including (...) morality and social contract theory, ethical decision making, corporate social responsibility, and stakeholder theory. This study helps profile the invisible network of knowledge production in business ethics and provides important insights on current research paradigms of business ethics studies. (shrink)

Truth-telling for terminally ill patients is a challenging ethical and social issue for Chinese health care professionals. However, despite the existence of ethical and moral standards for nurses, they frequently encounter moral dilemmas when making decisions about truth-telling to patients with end-stage diseases in China. This article aims to provide ethical strategies for clinical nurses in China regarding truth-telling decisions for terminally ill patients on the basis of their individual autonomy. This article first presents a common case scenario in China (...) and then critically discusses ethical issues related to ethical principles and philosophical theories. The aim is to provide the much needed strategy for truth-telling for nurses who are terminally ill rather than to focus on attitudes toward disclosure. This article focuses on nursing morality, ethics, norms, and philosophy in health care and discusses countermeasures taken by nurses in truth-telling decision-making in combination with Chinese Confucian culture. The analysis identifies key ethical strategies tailored to Chinese nurses’ practices, emphasizing individual autonomy, cultural sensitivity, and family dynamics in truth-telling decisions. The complexity of end-of-life illness requires Chinese nurses to strengthen the communication training needed to deliver bad news, as well as critical and autonomous thinking and good communication skills when implementing patient- and family-centered care, to achieve true delivery of bad news, thereby increasing patient autonomy and promoting more successful collaboration among patients, families, and providers. To improve the quality of care. Chinese nurses should integrate ethical principles with Confucian values to enhance patient-centered communication, respecting autonomy while adapting to cultural nuances in end-of-life care. (shrink)

In this paper we, an epistemologist and a machine learning scientist, argue that we need to pursue a novel area of philosophical research in AI – the ethics of belief for AI. Here we take the ethics of belief to refer to a field at the intersection of epistemology and ethics concerned with possible moral, practical, and other non-truth-related dimensions of belief. In this paper we will primarily be concerned with the normative question within the ethics of belief regarding what (...) agents – both human and artificial – ought to believe, rather than with questions concerning whether beliefs meet certain evaluative standards such as being true, being justified, constituting knowledge, etc. We suggest four topics in extant work in the ethics of (human) belief that can be applied to an ethics of AI belief: doxastic wronging by AI (morally wronging someone in virtue of beliefs held about them); morally owed beliefs (beliefs that agents are morally obligated to hold); pragmatic and moral encroachment (cases where the practical or moral features of a belief is relevant to its epistemic status, and in our case specifically to whether an agent ought to hold the belief); and moral responsibility for AI beliefs. We also indicate two relatively nascent areas of philosophical research that haven’t yet been generally recognized as ethics of AI belief research, but that do fall within this field of research in virtue of investigating various moral and practical dimensions of belief: the epistemic and ethical decolonization of AI; and epistemic injustice in AI. (shrink)

While the extant Tibetan biographies of Atiśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna (982–1054) are abundant, most of the datable ones were completed three hundred years after Atiśa’s death. However, two Tangut manuscripts offer early biographical accounts of Atiśa as they were written in the Tangut State (1038–1227). Centering around Atiśa’s life at Vikramaśīla and his journey to Tibet, the narratives within the Tangut texts both resonate with and diverge from the more conventional accounts found in sources like the Extensive Biography (Rnam thar rgyas pa) (...) and the Well-Known Biography (Rnam thar yongs grags). As a result, these Tangut sources emerge as invaluable resources for studying the biographical tradition of Atiśa, as well as the dissemination of his life story in the unique context of the Tangut State during the rise of Tibetan Buddhism therein. This article introduces and translates two Tangut biographical accounts along with relevant Tibetan textual materials. Its aim is not only to present these new sources but also to utilize them to examine the development of Atiśa’s biographical tradition. Furthermore, it demonstrates how Tibetan and Tangut studies can be methodologically integrated. (shrink)

A contraction-free and cut-free sequent calculus \ for semi-De Morgan algebras, and a structural-rule-free and single-succedent sequent calculus \ for De Morgan algebras are developed. The cut rule is admissible in both sequent calculi. Both calculi enjoy the decidability and Craig interpolation. The sequent calculi are applied to prove some embedding theorems: \ is embedded into \ via Gödel–Gentzen translation. \ is embedded into a sequent calculus for classical propositional logic. \ is embedded into the sequent calculus \ for intuitionistic (...) propositional logic. (shrink)

To systematically understand and study Herbart's educational reform, and at the same time scientifically and reasonably design the intervention strategy of educational practice, are two core issues facing the current educational reform and development. The purpose of this study is to clarify Herbart's educational thought, overcome the deviation and error in understanding it, and provide theoretical guidance and support for educational practice. From the perspectives of history, sociology and pedagogy, the paper explores the historical background of educational practice and its (...) theoretical development, and combines three stages of the formation and evolution of educational social experiments from the perspective of epistemology. Firstly, the theory of children's morality is regarded as the interactive bridge between practical philosophy and moral education practice. Secondly, the dynamic relationship between philosophy of knowledge and practice of intellectual education is explored through empirical theory. Finally, the paper analyzes the interaction between aesthetic philosophy and aesthetic education practice based on children's interests. The study of the dynamic construction process of Herbart pedagogy is conducive to clarifying Herbart's educational thought and provide a new perspective to the current generation. Due to the complexity and diversity of educational practice, research may have certain limitations and challenges in applying Herbart's theory to specific educational practice. Future research needs to strengthen the exploration of educational practices, especially in the era of intelligence, to adapt to changing educational needs and technological advances. (shrink)

At the peak of the Statesman’s myth of the reversed cosmos, the Eleatic Stranger asks after the conditions for human happiness. This paper suggests that philosophy and therewith human happiness is possible only in the age of Zeus, the age characterized by both the withdrawal of the gods and human neediness. The myth clarifies the inadequacy of the dialogue’s previous conception of the human being as a herd animal by illuminating what is missing from it: the erotic dimension of the (...) human soul. (shrink)

Co-speech gestures are closely connected to speech, but little attention has been paid to the associations between gesture and L2 speech performance. This study explored the associations between four types of co-speech gestures and the meaning, form, and discourse dimensions of L2 speech performance. Gesture and speech data were collected by asking 61 lower-intermediate English learners whose first language is Chinese to retell a cartoon clip. Results showed that all the four types of co-speech gestures had positive associations with meaning (...) and discourse L2 speech measures but no association with form-related speech measures, except the positive association between metaphorics and the percentage of error-free clauses. The findings suggest that co-speech gestures may have a tighter connection with meaning construction in producing L2 speech. (shrink)

From the tape-recording of naturally occurring Chinese psychotherapy sessions, this article explores how repeated occurrences of resistance are managed in the course of interactional sequences and the participants’ actions within these sequences. By employing the methods of conversation analysis, we discuss the main discursive strategies employed by the clients to express their resistance and investigate how the therapist manages this. We find that clients show their resistance to the therapist’s questions in four ways: keeping silence, providing minimal response, making non-answer (...) responses, and being over-talkative. Persistent asking is the main technique we identify in the data for the therapist to manage the resistance; in the meantime, asking questions in a stepwise way, making requests after facing resistance to questions, active retreating and reformulating of the client’s words are employed as subsidiary techniques. The successful management of resistance leads to a smooth sequential development of the psychotherapy, while inappropriate strategies might result in a halt or even breakdown of the therapeutic work. In psychotherapy, resistance is a result of the shared interaction between client and therapist. It is such a complex issue that, in order to understand and manage it, we also take into consideration the broader social and cultural context in which it occurs. (shrink)

Objective: To investigate the relationship between psychological empowerment, psychological capital, job involvement, and the retention intention of kindergarten teachers in mainland China and the internal mechanism of action.Methods: A total of 554 kindergarten teachers were investigated by scales for psychological empowerment, psychological capital, job involvement, and retention intention.Results: Psychological empowerment was positively correlated with psychological capital and job involvement. Psychological capital was positively correlated with job involvement. Psychological empowerment, psychological capital, and job involvement were significantly and positively correlated with retention (...) intention. Psychological empowerment influences kindergarten teachers' retention intention mainly through three indirect effects: the single intermediary effects of psychological capital and job involvement and the chain intermediary effect of psychological capital → job involvement.Conclusion: Psychological empowerment can not only indirectly predict the retention intention of kindergarten teachers through the single intermediary effects of psychological capital and job involvement, but also indirectly predict the retention intention of kindergarten teachers through the chain intermediary effect of psychological capital and job involvement. (shrink)

中国文化领域里有一条《道》。它由来已久,无不贯通,是中国传统文化的理路,构成中华民族精神的脉络。中国哲学的独到精神有二,亦是这《道》之精髓:以《人》为本——中国哲学有独特的人文历史传统,在总体上呈现无 神论倾向。以《和》为本——中国哲学强调综合思维,总结《共生》规律,灾质是一种和谐之《道》。另外,中国哲学在表述上遵循非逻辑化特征,具有诗化特色和无穷魅力。.

The present study will introduce us into a new world of Chinese imagology in the 18th century in France. Different from the negative side of the “sinophobes” such as Montesquieu and François Melon, Sade built a universe of a perfect China in which all crimes were justified. Nevertheless, as a libertine, his point of view was also different from the famous “sinophiles”, La Mothe Le Vayer, Pierre Bayle, Leibniz or Voltaire, for example. China as imagined by Sade was full of (...) infanticide, murder and incest. The pictorial description he uses was largely drawn from the Jesuit literature of that time and some famous travelers’ “relation”, time of the famous theological quarrels about the ritual, easily interested Sade. But, was Sade faithful to these sources or not? Could a libertine moralize about public denunciation? By this foreign image as a mirror, what did he want to explain, taking China as an example, for his own culture? We will give the answers in this article. (shrink)

Phraseology is a treasury of language. It is the fruit, which was born in the result of a long process of the practical use of the language. Phraseologisms give the speech power, persuasiveness, brilliance and imagery. They enliven the language and make it more emotional. In this article, we focus on the negative psycho-emotional state of a person. The negative psycho-emotional state of a person is emotion and feelings that are formed in the result of the negative mood of a (...) person and related to the dissatisfaction with vital needs. The authors of the article identified 5 phraseological subgroups that characterize the negative psycho-emotional state of a person: anger ; disgust, hatred; terror ; anxiety, agitation; sadness, melancholy. (shrink)

In this paper, a generalized -dimensional Calogero–Bogoyavlenskii–Schiff equation is considered. Based on the Hirota bilinear method, three kinds of exact solutions, soliton solution, breather solutions, and lump solutions, are obtained. Breathers can be obtained by choosing suitable parameters on the 2-soliton solution, and lump solutions are constructed via the long wave limit method. Figures are given out to reveal the dynamic characteristics on the presented solutions. Results obtained in this work may be conducive to understanding the propagation of localized waves.

The global consequence relation of a normal modal logic \ is formulated as a global sequent calculus which extends the local sequent theory of \ with global sequent rules. All global sequent calculi of normal modal logics admits global cut elimination. This property is utilized to show that decidability is preserved from the local to global sequent theories of any normal modal logic over \. The preservation of Craig interpolation property from local to global sequent theories of any normal modal (...) logic is shown by proof-theoretic method. (shrink)

This study examines the relationship between the board attributes and the corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance of listed Chinese technology firms. It also examines the relationship between firms' CSR performance and financial performance. The sample consists of data on 1,585 listed technology firms from the 2011 to 2021 period. The CSR metrics in the form of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores are analysed using ordinary least squares and fixed-effects regression models. We find that board independence is the strongest driver (...) of CSR performance. Board gender composition and board size have a significant negative effect on CSR performance. Furthermore, managerial overconfidence positively mediates the relationship between CSR and corporate financial performance. This study fills a gap in social sustainability research by applying an ESG perspective to the Chinese technology industry. (shrink)

从公元前624年(周襄王二十八年)起,至公元1945年止,中外著名哲学家和思想家的生卒年,著作和学术活动年代,确有记载的都尽量收入本年表,与哲学有关的历史事件与哲学邻近的其他学科的重大发现和重要思想家 及其著作也予收入。.

从公元前624年(周襄王二十八年)起,至公元1945年止,中外著名哲学家和思想家的生卒年,著作和学术活动年代,确有记载的都尽量收入本年表,与哲学有关的历史事件与哲学邻近的其他学科的重大发现和重要思想家 及其著作也予收入。.