Word order variation in Mandarin Chinese results in two constructions consisting of a noun phrase, a cluster of a demonstrative and a classifier, and a relative clause : the OMN with the RC+DM+NP order and the IMN with DM+RC+NP order. This study used corpus data to show correlational patterns of constructional choices. Specifically, OMN is associated with new and inanimate NPs serving the grammatical role of object in the relative clause that serves the discourse function of identification. By contrast, for (...) IMN, the head NP tends to carry given information, tends to be an animate entity, tends to serve the grammatical role of subject in the relative clause, and tends to have an RC that serves the discourse function of characterization. We suggest that the usage patterns can be interpreted in terms of the cognitive and communicative principles of relevance. (shrink)

This paper proposes a notion of ambiguity aversion and characterizes it in the context of biseparable preferences, which include many popular ambiguity models in the literature. The defined properties suggest that ambiguity aversion is characterized by the properties of its capacity. This formalizes a sharp distinction between ambiguity and risk aversion, where risk aversion is characterized by the properties of its utility index and its probability weighting function.

This paper provides a model of belief representation in which ambiguity and unambiguity are endogenously distinguished in a purely subjective setting where objects of choices are, as usual, maps from states to consequences. Specifically, I first extend the maxmin expected utility theory and get a representation of beliefs such that the probabilistic beliefs over each ambiguous event are represented by a non-degenerate interval, while the ones over each unambiguous event are represented by a number. I then consider a class of (...) the biseparable preferences. Two representation results are achieved and can be used to identify the unambiguity in the context of the biseparable preferences. Finally a subjective definition of ambiguity is suggested. It provides a choice theoretic foundation for the Knightian distinction between ambiguity and unambiguity. (shrink)

In response to emergencies, it is critical to investigate how to deliver emergency supplies efficiently and securely to disaster-affected areas and people. There is no doubt that blood is deemed one of the vital relief supplies, and ensuring smooth blood delivery may substantially alleviate subsequent impacts caused by the disaster. Taking red blood cell products as the research object, this work proposes a four-echelon blood supply chain model. Specifically, it includes blood donors, blood donation houses, blood centres, and hospitals. Furthermore, (...) numerical analysis is provided to test the feasibility of blood collection and distribution schemes and conduct sensitivity analysis to test the impacts of the relevant parameters, distance between blood donors and blood facilities, and times of blood donation) on the scheme. This research provides some scientific and reasonable support for decision makers and managerial implications for emergency departments and contributes to the study of emergent blood supply chain. (shrink)

Engineering failure investigations seek to reconstruct the actual causes of major engineering failures. The investigators need to establish the existence of certain past events and the actual causal relationships that these events bear to the failures in question. In this paper, I examine one method for reconstructing the actual causes of failure events, which I call "feature dependence". The basic idea of feature dependence is that some features of an event are informative about the features of its causes; therefore, the (...) investigators can use the features of a known failure event to reconstruct details of its causes. I make explicit the structure of feature dependence and the evidential basis of its key premises, and show how feature dependence works in the investigation of the American Airlines Flight 191 accident. (shrink)

Noted logician and philosopher addresses various forms of mathematical logic, discussing both theoretical underpinnings and practical applications. After historical survey, lucid treatment of set theory, model theory, recursion theory and constructivism and proof theory. Place of problems in development of theories of logic, logic’s relationship to computer science, more. Suitable for readers at many levels of mathematical sophistication. 3 appendixes. Bibliography. 1981 edition.

Wang Hui asks what it means for China to be modern and for modernity to be Chinese. Is there a rupture between tradition and modernity in China? How has Confucian thought evolved? Did China become modern in the Middle Ages? A deep intellectual history, The Rise of Modern Chinese Thought revises our senses of both modernity and Chinese philosophy.

本书共十章，内容包括：文学与文学理论；文学观念；文学特性；文学媒介；文学文本；文学品质；文学创作；文学阅读；文学批评等。.

本書採取史論結合的研究方法，堅持邏輯與歷史統一的原則，從儒學發展史的角度及易學哲學的高度，提煉出陳法哲學思想研究的若干重要命題，並以此為基礎展開系統研究；同時注重研究的學理性，緊密貼近陳法思想的本原， 既深入挖掘陳法哲學思想豐富的內涵，又充分展現其獨特個性色彩。本書使陳法哲學思想的原貌得以完整呈現，為系統研究中國易學和儒學發展史，為進一步深入研究貴州地方思想文化，提供有益參考和借鑒。.

Too often Buddhism has been subjected to the Procrustean box of western thought, whereby it is stretched to fit fixed categories or had essential aspects lopped off to accommodate vastly different cultural norms and aims. After several generations of scholarly discussion in English-speaking communities, it is time to move to the next hermeneutical stage. Buddhist philosophy must be liberated from the confines of a quasi-religious stereotype and judged on its own merits. Hence this work will approach Chinese Buddhism as a (...) philosophical tradition in its own right, not as an historical after-thought nor as an occasion for comparative discussions that assume the west alone sets the standards for or is the origin of philosophy and its methodologies. Viewed within their own context, Chinese Buddhist philosophers have much to contribute to a wide range of philosophical concerns, including metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of religion, even though Western divisions of philosophy may not exhaust the rich contents of Chinese Buddhist Philosophy. (shrink)