An iterative learning robust fault-tolerant control algorithm is proposed for a class of uncertain discrete systems with repeated action with nonlinear and actuator faults. First, by defining an actuator fault coefficient matrix, we convert the iterative learning control system into an equivalent unknown nonlinear repetitive process model. Then, based on the mixed Lyapunov function approach, we describe the stability of the nonlinear repetitive mechanism on time and trial indices and have appropriate conditions for the repeated control system’s stability in terms (...) of linear matrix inequality theory. Through LMI techniques, we have obtained satisfactory results and controller stability, and robustness against fault tolerance is also discussed in detail. Finally, the simulation results of the output tracking control of the two exemplary models verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. (shrink)

Obviously, “To know” is different to “be informed”. For “to know”, we have a motivation to reach certain proposition we thought is meaningful to us; however, for “be informed”, we just passively receive propositions or we gain certain propositions without much deliberation in which these propositions may be useful to us. The proposition “Wang collected 19 wins in both MLB 2006 and 2007” seems information but not knowledge to us, in the sense that we just be given this proposition and (...) we exploited it to entertain our friends around us. However, in the case of I am a sport agent; “Wang collected 19 wins in both MLB 2006 and 2007” is surely knowledge but not just information for me, in the sense that I have a motivation to reach this proposition to do my work best. I “know” thatWang collected 19 and “inform” the team to consider his contribution to the New York Yankee. The Yankee of course “knows” Wang’s performance, I the sport agent “inform” the Yankee the fact of 19 just push the Yankee to reconsider this information seriously or tell them the significance of this information. What I want to tell them or remind them is what we said knowledge, not just information. Knowledge then has more elements than information does in our daily usage. It is less direct that there exists a distinction between the proposition of knowledge and that of information. The content of the two may be totally the same, the difference of the two may be vague; but the distinction of the two is necessary, at least they have different meanings in our daily usage. I think the epistemic reliabilism or externalism is not capable to bring out that point. The result leads to reliabilism any proposition that is just the information be qualified as the knowledge. But we think intuitively that the value of knowledge is more than the value of information, therefore, we need a better account of the knowledge which we are favorable. (shrink)

On 19 October 2013, the Chinese government issued the Opinions on Further Regulation on Party and Political Leaders and Cadres Working Part-Time in Enterprises, also known as the 18th Decree, to regulate government officials’ employment with businesses. The 18th Decree is widely perceived as having had a significant impact on the use of independent directors with political backgrounds by firms, given the prevalence of this business practice. This paper examines the market reaction to the 18th Decree to ascertain the value (...) effect of political connections in China. We note a negative relationship between the political connections of independent directors and market reaction. We also note that the negative relationship between political connections and market reaction is moderated by ownership type and state of regional development. Specifically, we find that the negative relationship holds only for private firms in less developed regions. These results support our prediction that political connections add value to Chinese firms and that the value effect of political connection is contingent on institutional factors. (shrink)

Background Ethical dilemmas that arise in the clinical setting often require the collaboration of multiple disciplines to be resolved. However, medical and nursing curricula do not prioritize communication among disciplines regarding this issue. A common teaching strategy, problem-based learning, could be used to enhance communication among disciplines. Therefore, a university in southern Taiwan developed an interprofessional ethics education program based on problem-based learning strategies. This study described tutors’ experience teaching in this program. Aim To explore the phenomenon of teaching and (...) learning in interprofessional ethics education for medical and nursing students from the perspectives of tutors. Design Phenomenological qualitative research. Methods Medical and nursing students completed a 6-week interprofessional ethics education program moderated by either physician or nurse tutors. At the conclusion of the ethics education program, all 14 tutors were invited to participate in focus group interviews. Among them, six tutors (three nursing tutors and three physician tutors) participated in additional individual interviews. All of the contents from the focus group interviews and individual interviews were recorded and transcribed. Using the phenomenological approach, the phenomenon of teaching and learning in interprofessional ethics education were generated. Ethical consideration The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board. Findings Three themes emerged from the tutors' teaching perspectives, including the instructor’s motivation to teach, the use of narrative case scenarios, and the emphasis on improving interprofessional ethics communication. Discussion Problem-based learning creates an interprofessional communication platform in interprofessional ethics education. The phenomenon of value convergence between tutors and students, between different students’ professions, and between different students’ professional maturities is observed. Conclusion Problem-based learning is an effective teaching strategy for creating a communication platform for interprofessional ethics education. Ethic curriculum should emphasize motivating instructor, use narrative case scenarios, and focus on interprofessional communication. (shrink)

Greenway is a kind of corridors in the city that takes natural elements as the main constituent foundation and connects open spaces with functions such as leisure and recreation. The assessment of the built greenway is a review of the past construction experiences, and it is also a supplement and improvement to the future greenway planning concept system, which has important academic and application value. This study will explore how greenway design factors influenced the local cyclists’ perception of the landscape (...) using on-site questionnaire and photo rating method. The results indicated that greenways with continuous cycling paths, high security awareness, open landscapes, and rich human activities evoke positive perceptions. Among the visual elements, natural elements such as plants and sky are more favorable than artificial elements. The research results show that the formation of greenway cyclists’ landscape imagery is affected by visual perception elements, which suggests that special consideration should be given to the laws of cyclists’ mental perception when designing greenways. (shrink)

Citizenship, such as corporate citizenship and organizational citizenship, has been an important issue in business management for decades. This study proposes a research model from the perspectives of social identity and resource allocation, by examining the influence of corporate citizenship on organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). In the model, OCBs are positively influenced by perceived legal citizenship and perceived ethical citizenship, while negatively influenced by perceived discretionary citizenship. Empirical testing using a survey of personnel from 18 large firms confirms most of (...) our hypothesized effects. Theoretical and managerial implications of our findings are discussed. (shrink)

No apology, I imagine, is necessary for the appearance of this translation\nof Marx's "Misere de la Philosophic" On the contrary it is strange\nthat it should not have been published in England before, anu that\nthe translation of his monumental work, the "Capital," tardy as that\nwas, should have yet been made before that of a work which was originally\npublished some twenty years before "Capital" first appeared.\n\n\nIt may be that the translators and editors of the latter work were\nof opinion that in view of (...) the comprehensiveness of "Capital," a\npublication of an English edition of the "Misere de la Philosophic"\nwould be a work of supererogation. Or it may be that they thought\na book so distinctly French—as the "Capital" may be said to be distinctly\nEnglish—and which was, further, exclusively a criticism of a work\nof Proudhon's little known in England—would have slight interest\nfor English readers. On the other hand, the groundwork of the theories\nso fully elaborated in "Capital," apart from its exhaustive analysis\nof the capitalist system of production and distribution, will be\nfound in "Misere." In addition, there are several subjects—notably\nthat of rent—dealt with in this volume which are barely touched upon\nin the single book of " Capital " which has been translated into\nEnglish.\n\n\nMarx's criticism of Proudhon's theory that " the time which is necessary\nto create a commodity indicates exactly its degree of utility," so\nthat " the things of which the production costs the least time are\nthe things which are the most immediately useful," has been matched\nby H. M. Hyndman's crushing refutation of the theory of Final Utility.\nThe subject of rent, too, has been fully dealt with by the latter\nin the same book, " The Economics of Socialism," published, as the\nauthor says, in the hope of furnishing " the rapidly-increasing number\nof students of sociology with a concise and readable statement of\nthe main theories of the scientific school of political economy founded\nby Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels." Neither of these facts, however,\nnecessarily detracts from the value of this older work of Marx's.\nOn the question of rent, after reviewing the Ricardian theory and\nthe many objections which present themselves to that theory, Hyndman\nsays: " It seems, therefore, that a wider definition of the rent\nof land under capitalism is needed than that given by Ricardo, and\nthe following is suggested: — Rent of land is that portion of the\ntotal net revenue which is paid to the landlord for the use of plots\nof land after the average profit on the capital embarked in developing\nsuch land has been deducted." On the question of confiscating rent\nhe says it " would not affect the position of the working portion\nof the community unless the money so obtained were devoted to giving\nthem more amusement, to providing them with better surroundings and\nthe like. ... In fact, the attack upon competitive rents is merely\na capitalist attack. That class sees a considerable income going\noff to a set of people who take no part in the direct exploitation\nof labor; and its representatives are naturally anxious to stop this\nleakage, as they consider it, and to reduce their own taxation for\npublic purposes by appropriating rent to the service of the State.\nThat is all very well for them."\n\n\nOn this point Marx says: " We can understand such economists as Mill,\nCherbulliez, Hilditch and others, demanding that rent should be handed\nover to the State to be used for the remission of taxation. That\nis only the frank expression of the hate which the industrial capitalist\nfeels for the landed proprietor, who appears to him as a useless\nincumbrance, a superfluity in the otherwise harmonious whole of bourgeois\nproduction."\n\n\n" Rent," says Marx, " results from the social relations in which exploitation\nis carried on. It cannot result from the nature, more or less fixed,\nmore or less durable, of land. Rent proceeds from society and not\nfrom the soil."\n\n\nThe criticism of Proudhon's appreciation of gold and silver as the\nfirst manifestation of this theory of " constituted value" should\nbe interesting reading to those admirers of the French Anarchist\nwho yet profess their profound detestation of money and its function.\nSo, too, should his declaration against strikes and combinations\nof workmen. In this we see once more how extremes meet. This declaration\nof Proudhon's would not be out of place in the organ of the Liberty\nand Property Defence League.\n\n\nIn this matter of trade union combination, Marx was scarcely accurate\nin his perception of its development. He clearly did not foresee\nthat the great English trade unions would become fossilised, as it\nwere; and that instead of being a revolutionary force they would\nbecome a reactionary mass, opposing the progress of the mere proletarian\noutside their ranks, as they have done. With the spread of Socialist\nideas among them, however, their exclusive character is being modified,\nand they may even yet take that place in the revolutionary working-class\nmovement which Marx anticipated they would occupy. Given this change\nof attitude, the development must inevitably be along the lines he\npredicted. We are seeing "in face of constantly united capital, the\nmaintenance of the association [becoming] more important and necessary\nfor them than the maintenance of wages," and, further, that the combinations\nof capital are forcing the trade unions to that point where "association\ntakes a political character."\n\n\nIt is scarcely necessary to point out that in this work, written in\n1847, some words have a meaning quite other than that which they\nbear to-day. Thus, for instance, the words "Socialists" and "Socialism,"\nwhere they occur, refer to the utopians—who formulated theories of\na social system independent of the industrial evolution— and to these\ntheories themselves.\n\n\nIn most cases the numerous quotations have been verified and reproduced\nin the original. In some instances, however, they are summaries rather\nthan quotations, and appear ^is translated.\n\n\nA translation jn* necessarily an imperfect presentation of the thoughts,\nideas, and conclusions of the author. In this work I have endeavored\nto adhere as closely as possible to the form and letter, as well\nas the spirit of the original, and to this the indulgent reader is\nasked to ascribe such faults of language as would otherwise merit\nhis censure. (shrink)

Citizenship, such as corporate citizenship and organizational citizenship, has been an important issue in business management for decades. This study proposes a research model from the perspectives of social identity and resource allocation, by examining the influence of corporate citizenship on organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). In the model, OCBs are positively influenced by perceived legal citizenship and perceived ethical citizenship, while negatively influenced by perceived discretionary citizenship. Empirical testing using a survey of personnel from 18 large firms confirms most of (...) our hypothesized effects. Theoretical and managerial implications of our findings are discussed. (shrink)

Drawing on propositions from the signaling theory and expectancy theory, this study hypothesizes that the perceived corporate citizenship of job seekers positively affects a firm’s attractiveness and career success expectation. This study’s proposed research hypotheses are empirically tested using a survey of graduating MBA students seeking a job. The empirical findings show that a firm’s corporate citizenship provides a competitive advantage in attracting job seekers and fostering optimistic career success expectation. Such findings substantially complement the growing literature arguing that corporate (...) citizenship brings firms competitive advantages without solid evidence from the perspective of recruitment and human resources. Finally, managerial implications and limitations of this study are also discussed. (shrink)

This study explored the relations between the social support network of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder, perceived social support, and their subjective wellbeing. The participants were mothers of children with ASD in Shanghai. Their social support network structure was explored via the nomination method. Perceived social support was measured using the Revised Social Provisions Scale for Autism, and the mothers’ subjective wellbeing was assessed using the Index of Wellbeing, Index of General Affect. A significant correlation was observed between (...) the subjective wellbeing of mothers of children with ASD and perceived social support. Meanwhile, perceived social support was significantly correlated with the effectiveness of overall social support. Finally, perceived social support was also significantly correlated with the network size of social support. Moreover, the effectiveness of social support was significantly associated with the network size of social support and was highly significantly associated with the degree of intimacy of social support. Furthermore, the network size of instrumental support has a significant influence on all perceived social support subdimensions. Overall, social support effectiveness plays an important role in the social support network mechanism on perceived social support and subjective wellbeing in China. (shrink)

Corporate citizenship represents various organizational activities and status related to the organization's societal and stakeholder obligations. This study develops five different dimensions of corporate citizenship and examines the relationship between the five dimensions and purchase intention by including two key mediators. In the proposed model of this study, purchase intention is indirectly affected by economic, legal, ethical, general philanthropic, and strategic philanthropic citizenship via the mediation of corporate identification and brand trust. Empirical testing using a survey of 353 consumers from (...) various industries confirms most of our hypothesized effects. Last, managerial implications for corporate leaders and limitations of our findings are discussed in depth. (shrink)

This article aims to analyze the factors influencing the adoption of green practices in Chinese logistics industry. The determinant factors are composed of technological, organizational, and environmental dimensions. A questionnaire survey on the green practice adoption of Chinese logistics companies was conducted, and 322 samples were analyzed. Research results reveal that relative advantage and compatibility of green practices, organizational support, quality of human resources, regulatory pressure, and governmental support have significantly positive influences on the adoption of green practices for Chinese (...) logistics companies. Environmental uncertainty and green practice's complexity have significantly negative influences on green practice adoption. However, the influence of customer pressure is not significant for Chinese logistics companies. This article also suggests implications and opportunities for future research. (shrink)

Given that women CEOs are usually more risk averse, engage less in opportunistic behavior, and provide higher quality earnings than men CEOs, we argue that firms with women CEOs are likely to face lower operational and information risk and thus enjoy cheaper external funds. Using a large sample of Chinese A-share listed firms operating from 2006 to 2012, we find consistent evidence that Chinese banks tend to impose lower loan costs on firms with women CEOs compared to firms with men (...) CEOs. This effect is more pronounced for non-state-owned enterprises than for state-owned enterprises, for firms without political connections than for firms with political connections, and during non-crisis periods. We do not find any significant effects for firms with women chairpersons, CFOs, or directors. (shrink)

Mencius, a prominent Confucian philosopher in the Warring States period of ancient China, is well-known for his argumentative skills, including his refutational skills used to maintain his own standpoints. This paper attempts to reveal how Mencius refuted his opponents argumentatively and strategically on the issue of human nature. To this end, the pragma-dialectical approach to argumentation is adopted to first reconstruct Mencius’s argumentative discourse on human nature according to the four stages in critical discussion—the confrontation, opening, argumentation and concluding stages. (...) Under the ancient Chinese historical and cultural context, Mencius’s argumentative discourse about human nature was developed in three critical discussions, between Mencius the protagonist, and his explicit interlocutors and implicit adversaries who held different views on human nature—the antagonists. The discussions were undertaken around three single mixed differences of opinion concerning three propositions, with resolution of the first difference of opinion serving as a starting point of the second, and the resolution of the second as a starting point of the third. Then based on the reconstruction, the paper elaborates the refutational strategies that Mencius employed in various stages, such as dissociation, reductio ad absurdum based on refutational analogy, and conciliation. It further points out that the employment of these strategies is strategic maneuvering undertaken by Mencius in an attempt to realize both dialectical and rhetorical aims. (shrink)

This study aims to disclose how the magnetic resonance imaging neuroimaging approach has been applied in education studies, and what kind of learning themes has been investigated in the reviewed MRI neuroimaging research. Based on the keywords “brain or neuroimaging or neuroscience” and “MRI or diffusion tensor imaging or white matter or gray matter or resting-state,” a total of 25 papers were selected from the subject areas “Educational Psychology” and “Education and Educational Research” from the Web of Science and Scopus (...) from 2000 to 2019. Content analysis showed that MRI neuroimaging and learning were studied under the following three major topics and nine subtopics: cognitive function, science education, and brain development. As for the type of MRI neuroimaging research, the most frequently used approaches were functional MRI, followed by structural MRI and DTI, although the choice of approach was often motivated by the specific research question. Research development trends show that the neural plasticity theme has become more prominent recently. This study concludes that in educational research, the MRI neuroimaging approach provides objective and empirical evidence to connect learning processes, outcomes, and brain mechanisms. (shrink)

Leukoaraiosis is a common imaging marker of cerebral small vessel disease. In recent years, with the continuous advances in brain imaging technology, the detection rate of leukoaraiosis is higher and its clinical subtypes are gradually gaining attention. Although leukoaraiosis has long been considered an incidental finding with no therapeutic necessity, there is now growing evidence linking it to, among other things, cognitive impairment and a high risk of death after stroke. Due to different research methods, some of the findings are (...) inconsistent and even contradictory. Therefore, a comprehensive and in-depth study of risk factors for leukoaraiosis is of great clinical significance. In this review, we summarize the literature on leukoaraiosis in recent years with the aim of elucidating the disease in terms of various aspects. (shrink)

BackgroundInstitutions, funding agencies and publishers are placing increasing emphasis on good research data management (RDM). RDM lapses in medical science can result in questionable data and cause the public’s confidence in the scientific community to crumble. A fledgling medical school in a young university in Singapore has mandated every funded research project to have a data management plan (DMP). However, researchers’ adherence to their DMPs was unknown until the school embarked on routine data auditing. We hypothesize that research data auditing (...) improves RDM awareness, compliance and reception in the school.MethodsWe conducted surveys with research PIs and researchers before and after data auditing to evaluate differences in self-reported RDM awareness, compliance and reception. As it is mandatory to deposit research data in a central data repository system in the school, we tracked data deposition by each laboratory from 2 weeks before to 3 months after data auditing as a marker of actual RDM compliance.ResultsResearch data auditing had an overall positive effect on self-reported RDM awareness, compliance and reception for both research PIs and researchers. Research PIs agreed more that RDM was important to scientific reproducibility, were more aware of proper RDM, had higher RDM strength in their laboratories and were more compliant with the DMP. Both research PIs and researchers believed data auditing helped them to be more compliant with data deposition in the repository. However, data auditing had no significant impact on laboratories’ data deposition rates over time, which could be due to the short sampling period.ConclusionsResearch PIs and researchers generally felt that data auditing was effective in improving RDM practices. It helped to evaluate their RDM practices objectively, propose corrective actions for RDM lapses and spread awareness of the university’s data management policies. Our findings corroborated other studies in medical research, geosciences, engineering and ethics that data auditing promotes good RDM practices. Hence, we recommend research institutions worldwide to adopt data auditing as a tool to reinforce research integrity. (shrink)

PurposeThe primary angle-closure glaucoma is an irreversible blinding eye disease in the world. Previous neuroimaging studies demonstrated that PACG patients were associated with cerebral changes. However, the effect of optic atrophy on local and remote brain functional connectivity in PACG patients remains unknown.Materials and MethodsIn total, 23 patients with PACG and 23 well-matched Health Controls were enrolled in our study and underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning. The regional homogeneity method and functional connectivity method were used to evaluate the (...) local and remote brain functional connectivity. Moreover, support vector machine method was applied to constructing PACG classification model.ResultsCompared with the HC, PACG patients showed increased ReHo values in right cerebellum _8, left CER_4-5, and right CER_8. In contrast, PACG patients showed decreased ReHo values in the bilateral lingual gyrus /calcarine /superior occipital gyrus and right postcentral gyrus. The ReHo value exhibited an accuracy of 91.30% and area under curve of 0.95 for distinguishing the PACG patients from HC.ConclusionOur study demonstrated that the PACG patients showed abnormal ReHo value in the cerebellum, visual cortex, and supplementary motor area, which might be reflect the neurological mechanisms underlying vision loss and eye pain in PACG patients. Moreover, the ReHo values can be used as a useful biomarker for distinguishing the PACG patients from HCs. (shrink)

Apoptosis proteins play an essential role in regulating a balance between cell proliferation and death. The successful prediction of subcellular localization of apoptosis proteins directly from primary sequence is much benefited to understand programmed cell death and drug discovery. In this paper, by use of Chou’s pseudo amino acid composition , a total of 317 apoptosis proteins are predicted by support vector machine . The jackknife cross-validation is applied to test predictive capability of proposed method. The predictive results show that (...) overall prediction accuracy is 91.1% which is higher than previous methods. Furthermore, another dataset containing 98 apoptosis proteins is examined by proposed method. The overall predicted successful rate is 92.9%. (shrink)

By inferences from fossil records and circumstantial evidences, it is now generally postulated that angiosperms have a much longer history than hitherto believed and that they have already existed probably in Jurassic time. Studies in vascular tissues and reproductive, structures have negated the possibility of originating angiosperms from various gymnosperm groups. Chronologically, this derivation will be also an impossibility.From a consideration of various aspects in the life history of angiosperms, a hypothesis is here presented postulating that protangiosperms originated in an (...) aquatic or subaquatic environment from an algal ancestry. The enclosure of ovules in the ovary is interpretated as a means of protection necessitated for the transmigration from an aquatic to an aerial habitat for the developing reproductive parts in the bud underwater. Trimery is suggested as a primitive condition, one that affords maximum efficiency in carrying out the purpose under the conditions.In the life history of angiosperms, the endosperm is of great significance in phylogeny. From morphological, physiological, cytological as well as genetical considerations, the endosperm should be regarded as of equal status with the gametophytic and sporophytic generations. There is no comparable structure in the gymnosperm groups and the ferns and “fern-allies”, while more or less similar conditions are present in the thallophytes. In the long life histories of many red algae, however, there is an especially notable resemblance to angiosperms, with certain details approaching the unique and characteristic features of the endosperms.Land plants are presumably all evolved from aquatic ancestors but instead of the usual concept of a monophyletic origin and lineal development of all vascular plants, a more plausible suggestion is the multiple and recurrent derivation of such plants from various algal ancestral groups. The angiosperms probably represent one of such major lines that originated more or less directly from a thallophytic ancestry. (shrink)

Cet article s’intéresse au couple à distance dans le contexte de l’expatriation. La réflexion porte sur les effets des séparations et des retrouvailles à travers la distance géographique, qui met progressivement en évidence l’étrangeté de soi et de l’autre dans les liens de couple. L’étrangeté peut s’éprouver de façon plus ou moins accentuée selon la culture du pays d’expatriation. La rencontre avec un couple dont les entretiens se sont déroulés en chinois illustre ces enjeux et interroge la position du clinicien (...) dans sa double position dans le transfert et le contretransfert. L’article montre par ailleurs en quoi le virtuel à travers la tablette peut devenir un espace de jeu et de créativité au sens de Winnicott et entretenir l’illusion de la non-séparation. Il peut devenir un espace de besoin, qui peut faire barrage à une désillusion nécessaire et repousser les véritables retrouvailles du couple. (shrink)

Normal 0 0 2 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:????; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Amis, one of the Austronesian languages, is spoken by the largest indigenous minority on the island of Taiwan. The population is estimated to be 140,000. The Amis language is spoken mainly in Hualien and Taitung, the eastern part of Taiwan. In 1990s, a Japanese linguist Tsuchida (1989) provided a set of categorization for the Amis language: 1. Sakizaya dialect 2. Northern dialect (Nansi Amis) 3. TavaLong-Vataan dialect 4. Central dialect (Coastal and other Soukuzun Amis) 5. Southern Amis (Puyuma Amis and Hanchan Amis) From the categorization above, Sakizaya belonged to a subcategory of Amis. At the same time, this categorization also reflected that from the “Takobowan Incident” in 1878 the exiled Sakizaya, in order to escape the ethnic cleansing by Qing government, living among the Amis, were simply a subgroup of the larger ethnic group, and so Sakizaya were classified as Amis from then on. The Sakizaya, as a distinct ethnic group, officially did not exist. However, not only historical materials show the term Sakizaya were known to the Spanish and to the Dutch East India Company during the 17th century (Hsu, Liao and Wu, 2001), but also the language data collected in this paper show there are differences between Sakizaya and Amis. (Both Nansi Amis and Sakizaya are spoken mainly in northern Hualien. This paper will further make examples of the phonological, morphological and syntactic differences between Sakizaya and Nansi Amis.) However, it is still difficult to define whether Sakizaya is not a dialect of Amis, but a language. In January of 2007, Sakizaya was officially recognized as Taiwan’s 13 th Indigenous Group in Taiwan and one of the most important claims used by the Sakizaya elite s in the process of ethnic reconstruction was the language. It seems to me that this ethnic reconstruction is motivated rather by the current Taiwan political environment than the ethnic group itself. It follows that it may occur that the language has been only an instrument to achieve political ends, but - no matter whether true or not - a much more in-depth study is still necessary to determine the status of the language and its relation to other languages, such as Amis, to make a final judgment on the whole process of ethnic reconstruction – Sakizaya case. (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)

Interactions with teachers and peers are critical for children’s social, behavioral, and academic development in the classroom context. However, these two types of interpersonal interactions in the classroom are usually pursued via separate lines of inquiries. The current study bridges these two areas of research to examine the way in which teachers influence child-perceived peer social support and peer victimization for 2,678 children within 183 classrooms in preschool through grade three. Two levels of teacher influence are considered, namely teacher-child closeness (...) and conflict relationships at the child-level, and teacher management of interpersonal interactions at the classroom-level. Results of multilevel regression models showed that teacher-child closeness was associated with the growth of child-perceived peer social support from fall to spring, whereas teacher-child conflict and teachers’ behavior management practices were associated with the change in child-perceived peer victimization across the academic year. These associations were unique and above and beyond the influence of children’s actual peer social interactions, including reciprocal friendships and the collective classroom reputation of peer victimization. Collectively, findings highlight the multi-faceted teacher roles in shaping children’s perceptions of their peer social experiences during the earliest years of schooling. (shrink)

Many scholars have suggested the relationship between corporate social performance and its ability to attract a large number of high-quality job applicants, because previous literature indicates that employees with strong social awareness help create a high-performance organization. For that reason, an important issue for successful business recruitment is how to boost the pursuit intention of job seekers. This study discusses such issue by proposing a model based on signaling theory and cognitive dissonance theory. In the proposed model of this study, (...) the positive relationships between four dimensions of corporate social performance and job pursuit intention are hypothetically moderated by socio-environmental consciousness. The proposed hypotheses of this research were empirically tested using the data from graduating students seeking a job. The empirical findings of this study complement previous literature by discussing how corporate social performance benefits business firms from a perspective of strengthened human resources and recruitment. Finally, managerial implications for business managers based on the findings herein are provided. (shrink)

The current COVID-19 pandemic and the previous SARS/MERS outbreaks of 2003 and 2012 have resulted in a series of major global public health crises. We argue that in the interest of developing effective and safe vaccines and drugs and to better understand coronaviruses and associated disease mechenisms it is necessary to integrate the large and exponentially growing body of heterogeneous coronavirus data. Ontologies play an important role in standard-based knowledge and data representation, integration, sharing, and analysis. Accordingly, we initiated the (...) development of the community-based Coronavirus Infectious Disease Ontology in early 2020. -/- As an Open Biomedical Ontology (OBO) library ontology, CIDO is open source and interoperable with other existing OBO ontologies. CIDO is aligned with the Basic Formal Ontology and Viral Infectious Disease Ontology. CIDO has imported terms from over 30 OBO ontologies. For example, CIDO imports all SARS-CoV-2 protein terms from the Protein Ontology, COVID-19-related phenotype terms from the Human Phenotype Ontology, and over 100 COVID-19 terms for vaccines (both authorized and in clinical trial) from the Vaccine Ontology. CIDO systematically represents variants of SARS-CoV-2 viruses and over 300 amino acid substitutions therein, along with over 300 diagnostic kits and methods. CIDO also describes hundreds of host-coronavirus protein-protein interactions (PPIs) and the drugs that target proteins in these PPIs. CIDO has been used to model COVID-19 related phenomena in areas such as epidemiology. The scope of CIDO was evaluated by visual analysis supported by a summarization network method. CIDO has been used in various applications such as term standardization, inference, natural language processing (NLP) and clinical data integration. We have applied the amino acid variant knowledge present in CIDO to analyze differences between SARS-CoV-2 Delta and Omicron variants. CIDO's integrative host-coronavirus PPIs and drug-target knowledge has also been used to support drug repurposing for COVID-19 treatment. -/- CIDO represents entities and relations in the domain of coronavirus diseases with a special focus on COVID-19. It supports shared knowledge representation, data and metadata standardization and integration, and has been used in a range of applications. (shrink)

PurposeTo study the changes in functional connections between the left and right hemispheres of patients with high myopia and healthy controls by resting functional magnetic resonance imaging based on voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity. To study the changes in resting-state functional connectivity between the left and right hemispheres of patients with HM and healthy controls at rest by using resting functional magnetic resonance imaging based on voxel-mirror homotopy connectivity.Patients and MethodsA total of 89 patients with HM and 59 HCs were collected and (...) matched according to gender, age, and education level. The VMHC method was used to evaluate the changes in rsFC between cerebral hemispheres, and a correlation analysis was carried out to understand the differences in brain functional activities between the patients with HM and the HCs.ResultsCompared with the HCs, the VMHC values of the putamen and fusiform in the HM group were significantly lower.ConclusionThis study preliminarily confirmed the destruction of interhemispheric functional connection in some brain regions of the patients with HM and provided effective information for clarifying the neural mechanism of patients with HM. (shrink)

Current COVID-19 pandemic and previous SARS/MERS outbreaks have caused a series of major crises to global public health. We must integrate the large and exponentially growing amount of heterogeneous coronavirus data to better understand coronaviruses and associated disease mechanisms, in the interest of developing effective and safe vaccines and drugs. Ontologies have emerged to play an important role in standard knowledge and data representation, integration, sharing, and analysis. We have initiated the development of the community-based Coronavirus Infectious Disease Ontology (CIDO). (...) As an Open Biomedical Ontology (OBO) library ontology, CIDO is an open source and interoperable with other existing OBO ontologies. In this article, the general architecture and the design patterns of the CIDO are introduced, CIDO representation of coronaviruses, phenotypes, anti-coronavirus drugs and medical devices (e.g. ventilators) are illustrated, and an application of CIDO implemented to identify repurposable drug candidates for effective and safe COVID-19 treatment is presented. (shrink)

This study proposes a research model based on social identity theory, which examines the moderating role of organizational trust on the relationship between corporate citizenship and organizational commitment. In the model, organizational commitment is positively influenced by organizational trust and four dimensions of perceived corporate citizenship, including economic, legal, ethical and discretionary citizenship. The model paths are hypothesized to be moderated by organizational trust. Empirical testing using a survey of personnel from 12 large firms confirms most of our hypothesized effects. (...) Theoretical and managerial implications of our findings are discussed. (shrink)

This study proposes a research model based on social identity theory, which examines the moderating role of organizational trust on the relationship between corporate citizenship and organizational commitment. In the model, organizational commitment is positively influenced by organizational trust and four dimensions of perceived corporate citizenship, including economic, legal, ethical and discretionary citizenship. The model paths are hypothesized to be moderated by organizational trust. Empirical testing using a survey of personnel from 12 large firms confirms most of our hypothesized effects. (...) Theoretical and managerial implications of our findings are discussed. (shrink)

While a corporate ethics program is expected to reduce employees’ unethical behavior, understanding the effects of the ethics program elements on reducing the unethical behavior is a crucial issue. This study aims to explore how a corporate ethics program with multiple control elements, including punishment, monitoring, internal reporting, code of ethics, ethics support service and ethics training, influence employees’ threat appraisal process, coping appraisal process and unethical behavior at workplaces. The data to verify proposed research hypotheses were collected by administering (...) questionnaire survey on four autonomous government organizations in Bangladesh. Research findings show that only punishment and monitoring have significantly negative relationships with unethical behavior. Monitoring and internal reporting have significantly positive relationships with threat appraisal. The code of ethics, ethics support service and ethics training are associated positively with coping appraisal. The mediation results reveal that coping appraisal mediates the relationship between ethics program elements and unethical behavior; but the mediation effects of threat appraisal are not significant. This study provides valuable insights into how a corporate ethics program with multiple control elements reduces employees’ unethical behavior as well as how employees’ threat and coping appraisal processes are related to the corporate ethics program and unethical behavior in organizations. (shrink)

Neuromarketing is an emerging research field for prospective businesses on consumer’s preference. Consumer’s preference prediction based on electroencephalography can reliably predict likes or dislikes of a product. However, the current EEG prediction and classification accuracy have yet to reach ideal level. In addition, it is still unclear how different brain region information and different features such as power spectral density, brain asymmetry, differential entropy, and Hjorth parameters affect the prediction accuracy. Our study shows that by taking footwear products as an (...) example, the recognition accuracy of product likes or dislikes reaches 94.22%. Compared with other brain regions, the features of the frontal and occipital brain region obtained a higher prediction accuracy, but the fusion of the features of the whole brain region could improve the prediction accuracy of likes or dislikes even further. Future work would be done to correlate the EEG-based like or dislike prediction results with product sales and self-reports. (shrink)

BackgroundThe Chinese version of the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Beijing version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment are the most commonly used scales to screen for Alzheimer’s disease among Chinese patients; however, their consistency varies according to populations and languages. Equivalent conversion of MMSE-C and MoCA-BJ scores is important for meta-analysis.Materials and methodsMMSE-C and MoCA-BJ scoring were performed on the enrolled patients with AD. Consistency analysis of MMSE-C and MoCA-BJ scores of patients in the conversion groups was performed. The circle-arc (...) method was used to convert the MMSE-C scores of the conversion groups into MoCA-BJ scores, and the conversion formula was generated. The MMSE-C data of the verification group was converted to MoCA-BJ according to the formula, and the consistency analysis of the original MoCA-BJ of the verification group and the converted MoCA-BJ was performed to verify the conversion model.ResultsThe results of the consistency analysis of MMSE-C and MoCA-BJ in group A showed that the correlation coefficients of the total group, high education years subgroup, medium education years subgroup, and low education years subgroup were 0.905, 0.874, 0.949, and 0.874, respectively, with high consistency and statistical significance. After applying the circle-arc method for equivalent conversion, the consistency analysis results of the original and the converted MoCA-BJ of the patients in group B of the total group, high education years subgroup, medium education years subgroup, and low education years subgroup were 0.891, 0.894, 0.781, 0.909, respectively, with high consistency and statistical significance.ConclusionWe established and validated a model of MMSE-C and MoCA-BJ score conversion for Chinese patients with AD using the circle-arc method. This model could be useful for multi-centers clinical trials and meta-analysis. (shrink)

Phasic activity of dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area or substantia nigra compacta has been suggested to encode reward-prediction error signal for reinforcement learning. Recent studies have shown that the lateral habenula neurons exhibit a similar response, but for nonrewarding or punishment signals. Hence, the transient signaling role of LHb neurons is opposite that of DA neurons and also that of several other brain nuclei such as the border region of the globus pallidus internal segment and the rostral medial (...) tegmentum. Previous theoretical models have investigated the neural circuit mechanism underlying reward-based phasic activity of DA neurons, but the feasibility of a larger neural circuit model to account for the observed reward-based phasic activity in other brain nuclei such as the LHb has yet to be shown. Here, we propose a large-scale neural circuit model and show that parallel excitatory and inhibitory pathways underlie the learned neural responses across multiple brain regions. Specifically, the model can account for the phasic neural activity observed in the GPb, LHb, RMTg, and VTA/SNc. Based on sensitivity analysis, the model is found to be robust against changes in the overall neural connectivity strength. The model also predicts that striosomes play a key role in the phasic activity of VTA/SNc and LHb neurons by encoding previous and expected rewards. Taken together, our model identifies the important role of parallel neural circuit pathways in accounting for phasic activity across multiple brain areas during reward and punishment processing. (shrink)

This study aims to explore the relationship between physical exercise, self-control, physical exercise atmosphere, and mobile phone addiction tendency among Chinese university students. Through the quota sampling, 1,433 students complied with the requirements were surveyed from 10 universities in China. PE, SC, PEA, and MPAT were assessed using standard scales. For data analysis, common method deviation test, mean number, standard deviation, correlation analysis and structural equation model analysis were carried out in turn. The results showed PE and MPAT were negatively (...) related. The interaction item PEA and SC could significantly positively predict the tendency of MPAT. In the high PEA group, SC had a significant negative predictive effect on the tendency of MPAT ; However, in the low PEA group, the negative predictive effect was stronger. The present study shows that PE significantly negatively predicted the tendency of MPAT, and SC played a complete mediating role in the relationship between PE and MPAT; The second half of the indirect effect of PE and MPAT was regulated by the PEA. The PEA will enhance the influence of SC on MPAT, but the high PEA will increase the level of MPAT of individuals at a very high level of SC. (shrink)