This paper provides an ethical analysis of the controversy that arose from the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing research involving human embryos that was conducted by a research team in Guangzhou, China, in 2015. It is argued that the researchers involved did not overstep ethical boundaries. This was confirmed to be the case in an international meeting of experts that was convened following the controversy. It is further argued that the controversy highlights the tension between two fundamentally different policies on developing genome (...) editing technology – one proactionary and the other precautionary. This paper argues for a third approach, based on the policy of “crossing the river by probing stones”. Such an approach is consistent with current international recommendations to prioritise basic and pre-clinical research, and to allow the application of genome editing technology to somatic human cells. However, the application of the technology in germline genetic modification for human reproduction or enhancement for medical purposes should not be allowed at present. This is because the attending risks are not well understood and could be excessive or extraordinary, with little or no prospect of benefit. In addition, this paper calls for norms and regulations to be developed for genetically modifying non-human living things. [End Page 307] Finally, the paper concludes with a letter that was sent by the author to the New York Times, setting out China’s fundamental stance on genetic modification involving humans and human derivatives. (shrink)

The authors argue that in preventing and controlling the pandemic of Covid‐19, we should have taken an offensive or proactive strategy rather than a defensive or reactionary one because the former type of approach can bring about more health benefits and fewer harms than can the latter. The offensive or proactive approach consists of two parts: The first part is to preemptively establish a barrier between a novel virus and humans in order to prevent the spillover of the virus into (...) humans, and the second part is that, when a spillover fails to be prevented, we should take public interventions, such as contact tracing, social distancing, and quarantine and isolation, as early as when there are several dozens or one hundred or more cases that manifest symptoms with an unknown etiology in order to prevent an epidemic that is still limited to relatively small groups from developing into an outbreak. (shrink)

This article consists of four parts. In the first part it briefly describes the history of body‐to‐head transplantation (BHT) and the surgical plan proposed by Drs. Sergio Canavero and Ren Xiaoping on a human subject. In the second part it argues that the BHT procedure that they propose is scientifically invalid and technically infeasible so therefore would end in failure. In the third part it argues that the present conceivable procedure of BHT cannot be ethically justified because it would bring (...) great harm to the human subject, it is uncertain who would be the possible beneficiary, and valid informed consent cannot be obtained. In the fourth part it argues that the action of performing the procedure of BHT might violate China’s current criminal and civil laws. The conclusion that follows from the arguments above is that BHT should be prohibited now and also in the near future. However, this conclusion does not preclude scientists, neurosurgeons and bioethicists doing research into scientific, technical, surgical and ethical issues raised by BHT. (shrink)

This is a review of the literature in the philosophy of medicine published in China from 1930 to 1980. The topics dealt with include the relationship between medicine and philosophy, the basic concepts of medicine, etiology and causality, the bearing of psychology on physiology and pathology, epistemology in diagnostics, methodology of medical sciences, philosophical and methological problems in traditional Chinese medicine, philosophical problems in health policy, and medical ethics.

I feel very honoured to be able to attend this international conference entitled 'Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge: 20 Years After' dedicated to the memory of Imre Lakatos. I am grateful to Prof. Kostas Gavroglou, Secretary of the Organizing Committee, for his invitation. Today I want to use this chance to give a brief account of the dissemination of Lakatos's doctrines in China. Although Lakatos was already famous in Western academic circles of philosophy of science as early as the (...) 1960s because of his distinguished contributions to both the philosophy of mathematics and the philosophy of science, yet his doctrines began their dissemination in China only after the beginning of the 1980s.1 In 1979, when I worked in the Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), I started Ziran Kexue Zhexue Wenti Congkan (Journal for Philosophical Problems in Natural Sciences), and held the post of editor-in-chief. The second issue of 1980 (appearing on June 25, 1980) published the following papers by Lakatos. (1) 'The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes' (translated passages by Qui Renzong, read and revised by Fan Dainian from Philosophical Papers, Vol. 1, Cambridge University Press, 1978, pp. 47-52,68-72). (2) 'A Renaissance of Empiricism in the Recent Philosophy of Mathematics?' (Translated by Lin Xiashui, read and revised by Qiu Renzong from British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 27, pp. 201-23, 1976) The second part of this paper was published in the third issue of the same journal (appearing on September 25, 1976). These are probably the first translations of Lakatos' papers to appear in China. (shrink)

本书共收录了丘汉平在《法学杂志》和《东方杂志》等刊物公开发表的法学论文36篇,涉及领域有法理学、法史学、宪法学、民商法学、罗马法、华侨问题等。.

Tennis players have more physical training content, and the training items are complex. For athletes, training programs that adapt to their individual characteristics should be formulated according to their physical characteristics. The current development of big data has brought about changes in thinking, management, and business models. The combination of complex systems and big data can also make breakthroughs in the sports field. Based on this, this article proposes a tennis player training schedule intelligent formulation system based on complex system (...) big data. First of all, this article adopts the literature data method, comparative analysis method, experimental analysis method, etc., in-depth study of the concepts of big data, complex system, and the physical structure characteristics of tennis sports. This paper designs an intelligent system for making tennis players’ training schedule, which collects, transforms, and integrates tennis training data through the characteristics of big data. Then, the dynamic time regulation of tennis is performed through a complex system, and finally, the experimental system is analyzed. This article mainly analyzes the comparison of physical indicators between the experimental group and the control group before and after the experiment, the evaluation indicators of sports events, the strength training effects of tennis events, and the analysis of shoulder joint tests. There is no significant difference between the experimental group and the control group in the items before the experiment, P > 0.05, which suggests that the physical fitness of the two groups of athletes is similar; in the posttest data, the experimental group and the control group have significant differences, P < 0.05, indicating an effect from the experiment. In particular, in fan running, forward and backward strokes, and the serve, the scores of the experimental group were higher than those of the control group, indicating that the use of the formulated training system demonstrated significant results. (shrink)

In this paper, we draw on insights from theories in the management and corporate governance literature to develop a theoretical model that makes explicit the links between a firm’s corporate social responsibility related board attributes, its board CSR strategy, and its environmental and social performance. We then test the model using structural equation modeling approach. We find that the greater the CSR orientation of the board, the more proactive and comprehensive the firm’s CSR strategy, and the higher its environmental and (...) social performance. Moreover, we find this link to be endogenous and self-reinforcing, with superior CSR performers tending to further strengthen their board CSR orientation. This result while positive is also suggestive of the widening of the gap between the leads and laggards in CSR. Therefore, the question arises as to how ‘leaders’ are using their superior CSR competencies seen by many scholars as a source of corporate competitive advantage. Stakeholders of corporations therefore need to be cognizant of this aspect of CSR when evaluating a firm’s CSR activities. Policy makers also need to be cognizant of these concerns when designing regulation in this field. (shrink)

This paper investigates how social trust affects stock price synchronicity using a large sample of listed firms in China. We propose and provide evidence that social trust has a significantly positive impact on the amount of firm-specific information capitalized into stock prices. Further analyses indicate that firms located in regions of high social trust tend to have a smaller stock price crash risk and are less likely to engage in opportunistic behaviors than those in low-trust regions. Moreover, the positive role (...) of trust in increasing firm-specific return variations and discouraging corporate misbehaviors is more pronounced for SOEs than Non-SOEs. Evidence from 2SLS regressions supports a causal impact of social trust on stock price synchronicity. (shrink)

The definitions of yu 宇 and zhou 宙 in the “Gengsang Chu 庚桑楚” chapter of the Zhuangzi have been cited as the earliest definitions of space and time in the Chinese philosophical tradition. However, careful analysis of chosen modern translations reveals that the definitions entail rather obscure relationships between the Dao and space and time. I argue that the obscurity is not inherent in the text, but arises from the practice of rendering yu and zhou as the conceptual counterparts of (...) space and time or related concepts. Instead, I propose that we leave the terms untranslated. This practice would not only forestall interpretive difficulties concerning the Dao’s relations to space and time, but it would also preserve the Zhuangzist yu and zhou as two distinctive, ontic notions that indicate the Dao’s indeterminate modes of existence, a unique feature of the Zhuangzi. (shrink)

In China, investors generally make decisions depending on the intonation of executive announcements. A total of 20,328 observations are sampled from the Chinese equity market between 2005 and 2019. We perform principal component analysis to produce monthly sentiment indices and calculate the weighted average of the value over the fiscal year to measure the degree of investor sentiment. The results of the empirical analysis reveal that: there is a significant positive correlation between market-level investor sentiment and executive tone, stock price (...) and trading-volume pressures on executives, and firm-level investor expectation and gambling tendency positively moderate the relationship between investor sentiment and executive tone, executive optimism does not mediate the association between investor sentiment and executive tone, and manipulated and real intonations are non-homogeneous tactics adopted by rational managers to cater to changes in investor sentiment. These findings indicate that executives' intonations are both an extension of firms' current and past performances and managers' decision-making based on sentiments and behaviors of irrational investors, which are consistent with the Catering Theory. In addition, rational executives tend to adopt various intonation tactics to respond to investor sentiment to avoid declines in stock prices and trading volumes. (shrink)

ObjectivesTo simulate hemodynamic changes after extraluminal compression in pulsatile tinnitus patients with a prominent transverse-sigmoid sinus junction.MethodsOne patient-specific case was reconstructed based on computed tomography venography images of a PT patient. The compression degree served as a new index in this study. Cases with 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90% of the compression degree of the control subject were constructed. Steady-state computational fluid dynamics were assessed. The wall pressure distribution, wall maximum pressure and flow pattern of (...) the PTSJ were calculated to evaluate hemodynamic differences among all cases.ResultsWith increasing compression, the wall pressure at the compression point and downstream of the PTSJ decreased but increased upstream. When the compression degree exceeded 70%, the upstream pressure increased significantly. Above 50% compression, the blood flow pattern downstream of the sigmoid sinus tended to spiral, especially after 80% compression. Beyond 60% compression, the blood flow pattern under the compression axis became more medial.ConclusionMechanical compression of PTSJ changes wall pressure and blood flow patterns. The degree of compression should be carefully observed to avoid possible complications or reoccurrence. (shrink)

The question of whether a system of criminal punishment is just, in terms of morality, can be approached from many angles. More than ten points relating to the retention or abolition of the death penalty have been raised in the dispute in the West over whether the death penalty is justifiable. In my view, it is unnecessary to address this number of issues, not simply because of space limitations that would make it difficult to deal with them in sufficient depth, (...) but also because such trivial lines of reasoning can only weaken the main argument and divert us from the topic of the justifiable grounds of punishment. I shall therefore follow an established framework--the justifiable grounds of punishment--in considering the moral integrity of the death penalty from the dual perspectives of retribution and utility within the traditional theory of punishment. (shrink)