This paper presents a new method to recognize human activities based on weighted classification for the features extracted by human body. Towards this end, new features depend on weight taken from image or video used in proposed descriptor. Human pose plays an important role in extracted features; then these features are used as the weight input with classifier. We use machine learning during two steps of training and testing images of standard dataset that can be used during benchmarking the system. (...) Unlike previous methods that need size or length of shapes mainly to represent the cues when machine learning is used to recognize human activities, accurate experimental results coming from appropriate segments of the human body proved the worthiness of proposed method. Twelve activities are used in challenging of availability comparison with dataset to demonstrate our method. The results show that we achieved 87.3% in training set, while in testing set, we achieved 94% in terms of precision. (shrink)

When relating genomic data to survival outcomes, there are three main challenges that are the censored survival outcomes, the high-dimensionality of the genomic data, and the non-normality of data. We propose a method to tackle these challenges simultaneously and obtain a robust estimation of detecting significant genes related to survival outcomes based on Accelerated Failure Time model. Specifically, we include a general loss function to the AFT model, adopt model regularization and shrinkage technique, cope with parameters tuning and model selection, (...) and develop an algorithm based on unified Expectation–Maximization approach for easy implementation. Simulation results demonstrate the advantages of the proposed method compared with existing methods when the data has heavy-tailed errors and correlated covariates. Two real case studies on patients are provided to illustrate the application of the proposed method. (shrink)

The authors have retracted this article [1] because they found a fundamental mistake in the methodology that is not correctable at this time. This mistake is found in the methodology and the derivation of the model with Tukey and Huber’s losses. Because of the error, the findings in the article are not reliable. All authors agree to this retraction.

The present two-year longitudinal study aimed to examine the relationship between depression and reasoning ability in adolescents, and further investigated the modulation effect of growth mindset on this relationship. A total of 1,961 and 1,667 Chinese adolescents participated in the study for the first year and second year, respectively. The results showed that T1 depression was negatively correlated with T1 growth mindset, T1 reasoning, and T2 reasoning. Regression analysis revealed that T1 depression and the interaction between T1 depression and T1 (...) growth mindset significantly predicted T1 reasoning. After controlling for gender, age, family socioeconomic status, and T1 reasoning ability, both T1 depression and the interaction between T1 depression and T1 growth mindset still significantly predicted T2 reasoning. The simple slope analysis found that the negative correlation between depression and reasoning in the high growth mindset group was weaker than that of the low growth mindset group in both T1 and T2, suggesting that growth mindset plays a significant moderating role in the relationship between depression and reasoning. In conclusion, depression was negatively correlated with reasoning ability in adolescents, in addition, growth mindset moderated the relationship between depression and reasoning. (shrink)

While some studies suggest cultural differences in visual processing, others do not, possibly because the complexity of their tasks draws upon high-level factors that could obscure such effects. To control for this, we examined cultural differences in visual search for geometric figures, a relatively simple task for which the underlying mechanisms are reasonably well known. We replicated earlier results showing that North Americans had a reliable search asymmetry for line length: Search for long among short lines was faster than vice (...) versa. In contrast, Japanese participants showed no asymmetry. This difference did not appear to be affected by stimulus density. Other kinds of stimuli resulted in other patterns of asymmetry differences, suggesting that these are not due to factors such as analytic/holistic processing but are based instead on the target-detection process. In particular, our results indicate that at least some cultural differences reflect different ways of processing early-level features, possibly in response to environmental factors. (shrink)

The relationship between coping styles and subjective well-being has recently received considerable empirical and theoretical attention in the scientific literature. However, the mechanisms underlying this relationship have primarily remained unclear. The present research aimed to determine whether emotion regulation mediated the relationship between coping styles and subjective well-being. Our hypothesis is based on the integration of theoretical models among 1,247 Chinese college students. The SWB questionnaire, Ways of Coping Questionnaire, and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire were used to correlate SWB, emotion regulation (...) strategies, and coping styles, respectively. The random forest method was applied to predict life satisfaction and estimate the average variable importance to life satisfaction. The results indicated that positive coping can indirectly influence life satisfaction via cognitive reappraisal and indirectly influence expression suppression via positive affect. Negative coping can indirectly influence negative affect via expression suppression. Besides, negative coping was positively associated with both expression suppression and negative affect. Cognitive reappraisal was found to be positively associated with positive affect. The findings indicated that coping style is essential for the SWB of college students. These findings provide insight into how coping styles impact SWB and have implications for developing and assessing emotion regulation-based interventions. (shrink)

In this paper, the nonsmooth compound transmission control protocol with the gentle random early detection system with the state-dependent round-trip delay is investigated in detail. Uniqueness of the positive equilibrium is proved firstly. Then, the closed approximate periodic solutions in this state-dependent delayed nonsmooth compound TCP with the GRED model are obtained by employing the harmonic balance and alternating frequency/time domain method. Then, we compare the results generated by numerical simulations with those of the closed approximate expressions obtained by HB-AFT. (...) It indicates that HB-AFT is simple, correct, and powerful for state-dependent delayed nonsmooth dynamical systems. Finally, we find the complicated dynamic: chaos. It is a grazing chaos with a hybrid property, i.e., where usually w oscillates at a very low frequency and q oscillates at a very high frequency. And, the route to chaos is a very rare route, i.e., the instantaneous and local transition of stable equilibrium to chaos. So, to the end of stability and good performance, we should adjust the parameters carefully to avoid the periodic and chaotic oscillations. (shrink)

Unfortunately, only after online first article publication, it was noticed that the first four sentences in footnote two were incorrect.

In an effort at ethical reform, Taiwan recently revised the Hospice Palliative Care Law authorising family members or physicians to make surrogate decisions to discontinue life-sustaining treatment if an incompetent terminally ill patient did not express their wishes while still competent. In particular, Article 7 of the new law authorises the palliative care team, namely the physicians, to act as sole decision-makers on behalf of the incompetent terminally ill patient's best interests if no family member is available. However, the law (...) fails to provide guidance as to what constitutes the patient's best interests or what specific procedures the treating physicians should follow, and so has raised constitutional concerns. It may be difficult to translate ethical reform into law but it is not impossible if essential requirements are carefully followed. First, there must be substantial nexus between the purpose of the statute and the measures provided under the statute. Second, advocates need to convince the public that futility or waste has amounted to a public health emergency so as to justify lower procedural requirements. Third, a remedy or compensation should be available if the surrogate decisions have not been appropriately made. Fourth, minimum procedural safeguards are necessary even though the statute is intended to reduce the procedural burdens of making surrogate decisions on behalf of incompetent patients who lack family members and did not express their wishes while still competent. (shrink)

In this paper, we analyze how citizens evaluate their president, especially focusing on why voters lower their evaluations at an individual-level perspective. We assert that citizens raise their evaluations of a new president when their expectations are met and lower their opinions when his or her performance disappoints them. Furthermore, the evaluations of the president are not only affected by a government's economic and diplomatic performance, but are also influenced by individual awareness of salient political issues, the contents of the (...) news, and their own perceived influence on politics. We test the theoretical hypotheses using Taiwan's Election and Democratization Study panel survey data. The statistical results support our theoretical hypotheses and show that when President Ma's performance did not meet respondents media exposure and political efficacy are significantly associated with the change in their opinions of Ma. (shrink)

Historically, Chinese educational philosophy has been dominated by Confucianism and, since 1949, by Marxism. However, rapid industrialization, ideological demands, and loyalty to traditions have now led to a situation where various Western philosophies have been adopted into vocational education in hopes of moving the country forward without challenging the status quo too vigorously. The result is that China presently has no clear philosophical foundation that can help the country make solid decisions on how vocational education shall contribute to economic growth (...) and social improvements. Awareness of one's philosophy, however, is important for vocational educators so that they can make well-founded decisions about their teaching. The authors hope that by presenting an overview of which philosophies have been adopted in the past and the influence they have had on practitioners and policymakers, scholars can engage in a debate on which vocational education philosophy can help train China's workforce most effectively and support continued economic growth. (shrink)

Many natural computational problems have input consisting of two or more parts, one of which may be considered a parameter. For example, there are many problems for which the input consists of a graph and a positive integer. A number of results are presented concerning parameterized problems that can be solved in complexity classes below P, given a single word of advice for each parameter value. Different ways in which the word of advice can be employed are considered, and it (...) is shown that the class FPT of tractable parameterized problems has interesting and natural internal structure. (shrink)

Despite accumulated evidence from previous studies that green creativity is highly emphasized in various industries, limited research has been conducted in the context of public sectors. Drawing on the dynamic componential model of creativity and innovation in organizations, this paper aims to propose and sequentially test the relationship between green training and employees’ green creativity through green values and green intrinsic motivation. Based on the data collected in Chinese public sectors at two different time points, the results indicate that green (...) training is positively related to green creativity. Moreover, this relationship is sequentially mediated by green values and green intrinsic motivation. The results in our study advance the emergent literature on green human resource management in the public sector for the practical applications of training and creativity in terms of green management. (shrink)

透過莊子的人生哲學，引領我們進入「逍遙遊」的世界，在混亂無章的社會中，找回悠然自處的生活之道。 講到莊子，第一印象往往只是他輕鬆幽默的形象嗎？ 你知道莊子其實： 表達立場時，雖然輕描淡寫，卻讓人難以招架。 批評仁義，是因為對於仁義有更高的理想。 乍看消極遁世，實際上處處表達入世的關懷。 跟著老莊思想大家陳鼓應教授，深入了解莊子思想的精隨！ 「庖丁解牛」、「莊周夢蝶」、「螳螂捕蟬，黃雀在後」都是出自《莊子》的著名典故，而莊子與惠施在橋上那場「你不是我，怎麼知道我不曉得魚的快樂？」的精彩辯論，也是我們耳熟能詳的故事。在這些莊子寓言裡面，不僅 潛藏莊子對於人生、天地萬物的哲學思維，更是現代人面對忙碌、壓抑的社會，一帖解放人心的良方。 作者陳鼓應為研究老莊思想的大家，透過流暢的文字，結合自身的時代與人生感悟，深入淺出地剖析莊子哲學的精髓。在第一部分「莊子淺說」，介紹莊子的生活態度、生死觀與處世思想，談論莊子如何化除現實中的紛擾，追求 身心的自由。如同莊子「蝴蝶夢」中將人轉化為翩翩起舞的蝴蝶，比喻人類內心的自由，不受外在世界的束縛。相對於現代文學家卡夫卡（F. Kafka）《變形記》中的大甲蟲，象徵現代人的時間壓迫、空間囚禁與外界疏離感，讓我們能更深一層體會莊子的蝴蝶夢所代表的意涵。 第二部分「莊子思想散步」則彙整了作者自上世紀九○年代以來， 在兩岸三地發表有關莊子思想演講的內容，觸及莊子的審美意蘊、藝術心境等層面。其中更收錄了作者陳鼓應，與德國漢學家沃爾法特（Gunter Wohlfart）談到他們各自接觸莊子的人生經驗，以及透過莊子、老子的道家思想，表達他們對於將來的期許。其中談到莊子提倡破除自我中心的思想，正是現今自私自利的人類社會需要深切反省的課題。 一個人生活的體驗愈多，愈能欣賞莊子思想視野的寬廣、精神空間的開闊及其對人生的審美意境；一個人社會閱歷愈深，愈能領會莊子的「逍遙遊」實乃「寄沉痛於悠閒」，而其思想生命的底層，則未始不潛藏著深厚的憤激之情 。 ──陳鼓應.

Due in large part to the trends towards economic globalization, English has become the most widely disseminated and ubiquitous international language. The purpose of the study was to investigate what Taiwan?s EFL teachers at the elementary level believe about the policy of English as a compulsory subject and how they perceive the benefits and obstacles of the policy?s implementation. Ten elementary English teachers in Tainan City and its suburban areas participated in this study. Data were collected through teachers? interviews, classroom (...) observation and document analysis. Results found that all ten teachers agreed with the policy for English as a compulsory subject at the elementary level. They observed both positive and negative sides of this top?down policy. Classroom observation and interview data revealed that EFL teachers had to plan their English classes with the constraints on a large class of students with mixed levels of proficiency, limited teaching hours and resources. Parents? expectations of and attitudes towards English learning also became an obstacle. (shrink)

本书通过冯友兰的朋友、学生、亲属、同乡的回忆,真实而生动地记述了冯先生不同历史时期的学思、生存状态、社会角色和逸闻趣事等,展示了一位文化大师丰富的精神世界和曲折的生命历程。.

The study reported here, building on the research methods of Conversation Analysis, Politeness Theory, and Relevance Theory, attempts to examine the distribution of Mandarin qishi and shishishang across two different discourse modes in formal speech settings: formal lectures and TV panel news discussions. The results indicate that qishi is prevalent in TV panel news discussion data, which fall into the interactional mode, whereas shishishang is more prevalent in formal speech data, which fall into the transactional mode. The study shows that (...) in interaction, qishi is addressee-oriented and signals alignment or divergence, whereas shishishang is message-oriented and asserts a proposition with a tone of certainty. In addition, the study suggests that although the literal meanings of qishi and shishishang, which are concerned with factuality, are seemingly unrelated to emotive expressivity, they offer a rhetorical strategy for expressing the speaker’s attitudinal position, and can both serve to indicate the speaker’s epistemic inference. (shrink)

The relationships between age and the life-supporting treatments use, and between gender and the life-supporting treatments use are still controversial. Using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation as an example of life-supporting treatments, the objectives of this study were: to examine the relationship between age and the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use; to examine the relationship between age and the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use; and to deliberate the ethical and societal implications of age and gender disparities in the initiation of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. This (...) is a population-based, retrospective cohort study. Taiwan’s extracorporeal membrane oxygenation cases from 2000 to 2010 were collected. The annual incidence rate of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use adjusting for both age and gender distribution for each year from 2000 to 2010 was derived using the population of 2000 as the reference population. The trend of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use was examined using time-series linear regression analysis. We conducted joinpoint regression for estimating the trend change of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use. The trends of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use both for different gender groups, and for different age groups have been significantly increasing over time. Men were more likely to be supported by extracorporeal membrane oxygenation than women. Women’s perspectives toward life and death, and women’s perception of well-being may be associated with the phenomenon. In addition, the patients at the age of 65 or older were more likely to be supported by extracorporeal membrane oxygenation than those younger than 65. Family autonomy/family-determination, and the Confucian tradition of filial piety and respecting elders may account for this phenomenon. This study showed gender and age disparities in the initiation of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use in Taiwan, which may be accounted for by the cultural and societal values in Taiwan. For a healthcare professional who deals with patients’/family members’ medical decision-making to initiate life-supporting treatments, he/she should be sensitive not only to the legality, but also the societal and ethical issues involved. (shrink)

The apolipoprotein E gene plays an important role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease , and amyloid plaque comprised mostly of the amyloid-beta peptide ) is one of the major hallmarks of AD. However, the relationship between these two important molecules is poorly understood. We examined how A treatment affects APOE expression in cultured cells and tested the role of the transcription factor NF-B in APOE gene regulation. To delineate NF-B's role, we have characterized a 1098 nucleotide segment containing the (...) 5'-flanking region of the human APOE gene . Sequence analysis of this region suggests the presence of two potential NF-B elements. To demonstrate promoter activity, the region was cloned upstream of a promoterless luciferase gene. This segment was able to drive expression of luciferase in transient transfections of human fetal glial cells. Promoter activity was stimulated twofold by A treatment. Pretreatment with double-stranded DNA decoy oligonucleotides against NF-B reduced A stimulation. Deletion and mutagenetic analyses demonstrated that the distal NF-B element was functional and showed a strong DNA-protein complex band in gel shift analysis, similar to that from control NF-B consensus element. An anti-inflammatory and anti-NF-B drug, sodium salicylate, significantly blocked A-induced APOE promoter function. Our data provide evidence that upregulation of APOE by A in astroglial cells is mediated by an NF-B-element present in the 5'-flanking region of the APOE gene. (shrink)

In the context of “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality,” companies are responsible for actively reducing carbon emissions and achieving a balance among economic, environmental, and social benefits. From a non-economic perspective, this study chose a sample of 9872 A-share manufacturing companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2010 to 2019. This study used the fixed-effect model to explore the mechanism of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its three sub-dimensions (shareholder rights, employee rights, and social contribution) on corporate (...) carbon performance. This study also examined the mediating mechanism of government subsidy and the moderating effects of internationalization and corporate governance as internal and external factors. The results show that: (1) CSR can significantly improve corporate carbon performance, and government subsidies play a partial intermediary role. (2) CSR significantly promotes carbon performance for firms with lower internationalization levels and higher corporate governance levels. (3) Heterogeneous conditions such as CSR disclosure willingness, CSR report quality, and corporate attributes have different impacts on corporate carbon performance. These findings can help government agencies formulate policies to promote CSR and restrain corporate carbon emissions. Corporate managers can also fulfill CSR and improve carbon performance through government subsidies, internationalization, and corporate governance. (shrink)