In this paper, we prove the correspondence between complete extensions in abstract argumentation and 3-valued stable models in logic programming. This result is in line with earlier work of [6] that identified the correspondence between the grounded extension in abstract argumentation and the well-founded model in logic programming, as well as between the stable extensions in abstract argumentation and the stable models in logic programming.

Background Professional ethics is the regulation and discipline of nurses’ daily nursing work. Nurses often encounter various ethical challenges and problems in their clinical work, but there are few studies on nurses' adherence to professional ethics. Research Aim An analysis of nursing adherence to nursing ethics from the perspective of clinical nurses in the Chinese public health system. Research Design This study adopts the grounded theory approach proposed by Strauss and Corbin. Participants and research context Between July 2021 and January (...) 2022, Clinical nurses were recruited for online video interviews using purposive and theoretical sampling methods in seven hospitals in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanxi, Henan, Guangdong, and Fujian, China. Data analysis was conducted using Strauss and Corbin’s coding approach. Ethical considerations This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Sanming First Hospital (MingYiLun 71/2021) Findings A total of 27 participants were included. A theoretical model of nursing staff adherence to professional ethics was constructed. The main core was adherence to professional ethics and the other cores were (1) causal conditions: professional ethics code, individual conscience; (2) intervening conditions: personal growth, social support system, matching career compensation, prediction of adverse consequences; (3) action strategies: sticking to professional values, self-regulation, flexible response, post-event improvement; and (4) outcomes: self-harmony, reduced medical disputes. Conclusions This study provides an interpretive understanding of why clinical nurses adhere to professional ethics in China and describes the challenges and issues posed by nurses’ use of strategies to cope with ethical adversity. The findings can be used to develop future complex studies. (shrink)

The interpretability of AI is just as important as its performance. In the LegalAI field, there have been efforts to enhance the interpretability of models, but a trade-off between interpretability and prediction accuracy remains inevitable. In this paper, we introduce a novel framework called LK-IB for compulsory measure prediction (CMP), one of the critical tasks in LegalAI. LK-IB leverages Legal Knowledge and combines an Interpretable model and a Black-box model to balance interpretability and prediction performance. Specifically, LK-IB involves three steps: (...) (1) inputting cases into the first module, where first-order logic (FOL) rules are used to make predictions and output them directly if possible; (2) sending cases to the second module if FOL rules are not applicable, where a case distributor categorizes them as either “simple” or “complex“; and (3) sending simple cases to an interpretable model with strong interpretability and complex cases to a black-box model with outstanding performance. Experimental results demonstrate that the LK-IB framework provides more interpretable and accurate predictions than other state-of-the-art models. Given that the majority of cases in LegalAI are simple, the idea of model combination has significant potential for practical applications. (shrink)

BackgroundMedical disputes, medical disturbances, verbal and physical violence against physicians, and burnout have reached epidemic levels. They may negatively impact both physicians and the healthcare system. The experience of medical disputes, medical disturbances, verbal, and physical violence, and burnout and the correlates in physicians working in public hospitals in China needed to be investigated.MethodsA nationwide cross-sectional survey study was conducted between 18 and 31 March 2019. An anonymous online questionnaire was administered. The questionnaire included the 22-item Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services (...) Survey. We also collected data on demographic and job-related factors, as well as physicians’ experiences of medical disputes, medical disturbances, verbal and physical violence from patients and the patients’ family members.FindingsIn total, 22,213 physicians from 144 tertiary public hospitals in all of China’s 31 provinces completed the survey. The overall burnout rate among the surveyed physicians was 31.28%. Moreover, 33.48% of physicians experienced disputes, 20.86% experienced disturbances, 48.52% experienced verbal violence, and 5.84% experienced physical violence in the past 12 months. Factors found to be significantly associated with burnout included younger age, being divorced or widowed, having a lower educational background, working in internal medicine departments, longer working hours per day, working in general hospitals, being in East China, as well as having experienced disputes, disturbances, and physical and verbal violence.InterpretationClose to a third of the Chinese doctors working in the tertiary hospitals reportedly experienced burnout, and the problem is related to the unsafe working environment caused by the worsening doctor-patient relationship. (shrink)

In response to numerous recent cases involving materially misstated financial information arising from fraudulent financial reporting, companies, auditors, and academics have increased their focus on strengthening internal controls as a means of deterring such unethical behaviors. However, prior research suggests that stronger controls may actually exacerbate the very opportunistic behavior the controls are intended to curb. The current study investigates whether the efficacy of an implemented control is conditioned on not only the strength of the control, but also on how (...) the firm frames the purpose for implementing the control. A monitoring purpose frames controls as reducing managers’ opportunities to engage in self-interested behavior, while a coordinating purpose frames controls as facilitating coordination between the firm and its managers. We posit that the efficacy of stronger controls to reduce unethical fraudulent reporting depends on the control frame. Using an experiment, this study investigates the interactive effect of control strength and control frame on managers’ fraudulent reporting decisions. As predicted, our results show that when controls are framed for monitoring purposes, stronger controls result in less fraudulent reporting than weaker controls. Conversely, when controls are framed for coordinating purposes, stronger controls result in more fraudulent reporting than weaker controls. Our results suggest that an inconsistency between the firm’s choice of the control strength and the control frame reduces the efficacy of the implemented control to curb unethical reporting behaviors. Furthermore, supplemental analysis shows that managers’ rationalization helps explain the interactive effect of control strength and communicated control purpose on fraudulent reporting. (shrink)

Background Performance evaluation is vital for IRB operations. As the number of IRBs and their responsibilities in reviewing and supervising clinical research grow in China, there is a significant need to evaluate their performances. To date, little research has examined IRB performance within China. The aim of this study was to ascertain the perspectives and experiences of IRB employees and researchers to understand the current status of IRBs; compare collected results with those of other countries; and identify shortcomings to improve (...) IRB performance. Methods This study was conducted in China from October 2020 to September 2021, using an online survey with the IRB-researcher assessment tool-Chinese version. Results 757 respondents were included in the analysis and classified into IRB employees, researchers, or those who are both IRB employees and researchers. Overall, the score for an ideal IRB was significantly higher than that of an actual IRB. Compared to the US National Validation study, Chinese participants and American participants both agree and differ in their perspectives on the most and least important ideal items. Conclusion This investigation provides a benchmark of the perceived performance of actual IRBs in China. IRBs in China can be precisely adjusted by targeting identified areas of weakness to improve their performances. (shrink)

In the process of China’s rapid development, the society has higher and higher requirements for educational reform. Different from other basic disciplines, design emphasizes practicality, which requires that in the process of design education reform, more attention should be paid to the stimulation of students’ subjective initiative and the improvement of students’ ability to solve problems in the face of setbacks. This paper methodically expounds on a more scientific manner of curriculum reform fit for China’s educational system, based on positive (...) psychology and consideration of grit. It performs research and analysis on the design education curriculum reform on the basis of positive psychology through field research, logical analysis, and other research methodologies. Designing education curriculum reform based on positive psychology orientation is more feasible than standard education curriculum reform and the role of grit in taking part in the educational curriculum reform oriented to positive psychology is considerably higher than that in the conventional educational curriculum reform, according to experimental study. (shrink)

BackgroundUsing an effective method for evaluating Institutional Review Board (IRB) performance is essential for ensuring an IRB’s effectiveness, efficiency, and compliance with applicable human research standards and organizational policies. Currently, no empirical research has yet been published in China evaluating IRB performance measures by the use of a standardized tool. This study was therefore conducted to develop a Chinese version of the IRB Researcher Assessment Tool (IRB-RAT), assess the psychometric properties of the Chinese version (IRB-RAT-CV), and validate the tool for (...) use in China.MethodsIn this cultural adaptation, cross-sectional validation study, the IRB-RAT-CV was developed through a back-translation process and then distributed to 587 IRB staff members and researchers in medical institutions and schools in Hunan Province that review biomedical and social-behavioral research. Data from the 470 valid questionnaires collected from participants was used to evaluate the reliability, content validity, and construct validity of the IRB-RAT-CV.ResultsParticipants’ ratings of their ideal and actual IRB as measured by the IRB-RAT-CV achieved Cronbach's alpha 0.989 and 0.992, Spearman-Brown coefficient 0.964 and 0.968, and item-total correlation values ranging from 0.631 to 0.886 and 0.743 to 0.910, respectively.ConclusionThe IRB-RAT-CV is a linguistically and culturally applicable tool for assessing the quality of IRBs in China. (shrink)

Regulators have recently relaxed some provisions of the Global Research Analyst Settlement of 2003 and associated reforms, which arose from charges that conflicts of interest within investment banks had induced the issuance of fraudulent or otherwise misleading analyst research reports. We examine the effectiveness of the Global Settlement in reducing the systematic optimism observed in stock recommendations of analysts whose employer is a merger and acquisition advisor for the covered firm, by comparing the optimism exhibited in stock recommendations issued by (...) these analysts and by unaffiliated analysts before and after the Global Settlement. To control for the impact on analyst optimism of other time varying factors, our sample includes cases from the US and from other countries in which the Global Settlement had no direct impact. We argue that if the Global Settlement was effective, there should be a reduction in the relative optimism of affiliated analysts following this reform, and that reduction in the relative optimism should be greater for affiliated US analysts, than for affiliated analysts from non-US countries. When optimism is measured over a 180-day period surrounding the M&A announcement, we find a significantly greater reduction in US affiliated analysts’ optimism than occurs outside the US. However, evidence regarding analysts’ optimism in the 90-day period prior to the announcement of an M&A deal is mixed. (shrink)

Background The Patient Right to Autonomy Act (PRAA), implemented in Taiwan in 2019, enables the creation of advance decisions (AD) through advance care planning (ACP). This legal framework allows for the withholding and withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment (LST) or artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) in situations like irreversible coma, vegetative state, severe dementia, or unbearable pain. This study aims to investigate preferences for LST or ANH across various clinical conditions, variations in participant preferences, and factors influencing these preferences among urban (...) residents. Methods Employing a survey of legally structured AD documents and convenience sampling for data collection, individuals were enlisted from Taipei City Hospital, serving as the primary trial and demonstration facility for ACP in Taiwan since the commencement of the PRAA in its inaugural year. The study examined ADs and ACP consultation records, documenting gender, age, welfare entitlement, disease conditions, family caregiving experience, location of ACP consultation, participation of second-degree relatives, and the intention to participate in ACP. Results Data from 2337 participants were extracted from electronic records. There was high consistency in the willingness to refuse LST and ANH, with significant differences noted between terminal diseases and extremely severe dementia. Additionally, ANH was widely accepted as a time-limited treatment, and there was a prevalent trend of authorizing a health care agent (HCA) to make decisions on behalf of participants. Gender differences were observed, with females more inclined to decline LST and ANH, while males tended towards accepting full or time-limited treatment. Age also played a role, with younger participants more open to treatment and authorizing HCA, and older participants more prone to refusal. Conclusion Diverse preferences in LST and ANH were shaped by the public’s current understanding of different clinical states, gender, age, and cultural factors. Our study reveals nuanced end-of-life preferences, evolving ADs, and socio-demographic influences. Further research could explore evolving preferences over time and healthcare professionals’ perspectives on LST and ANH decisions for neurological patients.. (shrink)

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

The integration of machine learning algorithms into the legal recommendation system marks a burgeoning area of research, with a particular focus on enhancing the accuracy and efficiency of judicial decision-making processes. The application of Bayesian Network (BN) emerges as a potent tool in this context, promising to address the inherent complexities and unique nuances of legal texts and individual case subtleties. However, the challenge of achieving high accuracy in BN parameter learning, especially under conditions of limited data, remains a significant (...) hurdle. This study proposes an Enhanced Maximum Parameter Learning (EMPL) algorithm, tailored for BN parameter optimization in scenarios characterized by small sample sizes. The EMPL algorithm, innovatively incorporating the Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique (SMOTE), begins with the formulation of inequality constraints derived from domain expertise. It establishes a minimal dataset threshold necessary for effective parameter learning. Through the introduction of an index weighting factor function that dynamically adjusts according to the sample size, the algorithm facilitates the derivation of refined BN parameters. The core innovation of the EMPL algorithm lies in its use of an exponentially weighted factor function, designed to be responsive to variations in sample size, and its capacity to expand the parameter space using SMOTE to align with qualitative constraints from expert insights. This approach enables the integration of data-derived parameters with those obtained through expert experience in an exponentially weighted manner, culminating in the optimization of BN parameters. Comparative analysis reveals that the EMPL algorithm achieves superior learning accuracy over traditional Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) and qualitative maximum a posteriori (QMAP) approach, particularly in contexts of sparse data. Furthermore, it demonstrates enhanced performance relative to variable weight learning algorithms, underscoring its potential to significantly improve decision-making processes in the legal domain through advanced BN parameter learning. (shrink)

Clinical ethics consultations (CECs) play an important role in resolving ethical issues in clinical practice worldwide. The government has encouraged the development of CECs in China to address the ethical challenges arising in prenatal diagnosis. So far, the current state and challenges facing CEC remain understudied. This study aimed to explore the perspectives of employees on ethics committees for prenatal diagnosis in 13 medical institutions in Hunan Province, China. Twenty-eight employees participated in interviews. Our qualitative approach employed content analysis to (...) identify major themes in interviewees’ responses, which covered the composition and vision of their prenatal diagnosis ethics committee, as well as the challenges they faced. The results show that CEC in China is in an exploratory stage, with models for CEC composition, and workflow varying significantly. Therefore, we propose the future direction of efforts to improve CECs, including improving CEC working mechanisms and operating procedures, strengthening ethical training for healthcare workers and ethics committee employees, and developing more specific ethical guidance based on the accumulated experiences of ethics committee employees in the early development of CEC for prenatal diagnosis. (shrink)

Como forma de cuestionamiento social e ideológico, la modalidad parricida y alegórica se ha consolidado como una estética paradigmática en la narrativa contemporánea del Cono Sur. Caracterizadas por diversas posiciones identitarias, estas propuestas literarias dificultan la construcción de un lenguaje común. Bajo este contexto, el presente artículo realiza una revisión exhaustiva de las obras de autores como Andrés Neuman, Mauricio Electorat, Alejandra Costamagna, Lina Meruane y Patricio Pron, quienes exploran la reparación de los vínculos intersubjetivos. Como obra representativa de la (...) tendencia, Poeta chileno de Alejandro Zambra crea un denominador común y articula un espacio de consenso donde distintos sujetos se comunican poética y afectivamente. Con base en las tesis de teóricos como Jean-Luc Nancy, Laclau, Mouffe y Merleau-Ponty, se demuestra cómo esta novela configura una comunidad heterogénea y desbordada que encuentra sentidos universales a partir de las particularidades, lo que auspicia un consenso diferencial entre los sujetos a pesar de sus discrepancias. La relación entre el padrastro y el hijastro proyecta una mirada afectiva y empática hacia el Otro, al hallar lo trascendental en las experiencias fragmentarias, lo cual perpetúa la búsqueda de un sentido sólido en la posmodernidad. (shrink)

Frequent occurrences of academic misconduct have become a significant obstacle to scientific progress, necessitating collaborative governance from multiple stakeholders to achieve effective mitigation. However, as pivotal institution in national innovation and the governance of academic misconduct, universities often neglect the issue of academic misconduct in promoting innovation. To elucidate the potential damage that neglecting research integrity governance may inflict on university innovation, this study utilized retraction and innovation data from Chinese Double First-Class Initiative universities between 2007 and 2017 to systematically (...) explore the impact, mechanism, and economic consequences of academic misconduct exposure on university innovation output. Our findings indicate that exposure to academic misconduct significantly reduces the innovation output levels of the involved universities, with research reputation being the primary mechanism driving this effect. The economic consequence analysis reveals that innovation stakeholders strategically adjust their behavior based on the research integrity status of universities. Such adjustments lead to a shift in research funding and innovation collaboration structures in a manner detrimental to long-term innovation, thereby causing economic losses to the universities’ innovation. Moreover, the negative impact of academic misconduct on university innovation output is more pronounced in STEM disciplines, comprehensive universities, and high-impact journal exposure events, and it intensifies with the prolongation of exposure lag time. Overall, this study enriches the theoretical framework of factors influencing university innovation output, clearly identifying the crucial role of research reputation in promoting university innovation. It provides theoretical basis and practical impetus for universities to proactively strengthen research integrity governance. (shrink)

This study utilized a combination of questionnaires and computational modeling to investigate age-related differences in moral judgments and the underlying cognitive mechanisms among the Chinese population. Study 1 employed the Oxford Utilitarianism Scale to investigate impartial beneficence and instrumental harm across different age groups. Results indicated that older adults scored significantly higher than younger adults on both dimensions even after controlling for level of education and gender. Study 2 utilized the CNI (consequences, norms, inaction) model to gain a more nuanced (...) understanding of age differences in moral judgments. Findings indicated that older adults exhibited less sensitivity to moral norms when forming moral judgments. This implies that older individuals psychologically lean toward utilitarianism and are less influenced by prevailing norms in their moral decision-making. (shrink)

ObjectiveTo survey the prevalence of burnout in a national sample of endocrinologists in China and to examine its correlates, with a special focus on gender differences.MethodsAn anonymous online survey was conducted among endocrinologists in 31 provincial government-owned “People’s Hospitals” of each province in mainland China. Demographic and work-related factors were collected from participants. The Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey was used to assess burnout, including emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment.ResultsA total of 711 endocrinologists completed the survey. Burnout was (...) reported by 32.8% of the participants. There were no significant gender differences in the overall prevalence of burnout or EE, DP, and PA. A multi-level linear regression revealed: In male participants, PA was significantly associated with age, DP was inversely associated with age, EE was significantly associated with shorter sleep duration, and longer work hours. In females, PA was significantly associated with age, EE and DP were both significantly associated with shorter sleep duration. EE and DP were also associated with work hours.ConclusionNearly one-third of endocrinologists in China experienced burnout. Although there were no significant gender differences in the prevalence of overall burnout or EE, DP, and PA scores, male and female participants differed in factors associated with EE, DP, and PA. Interventions need to be tailored to target different aspects in male and female endocrinologists and target different subgroups. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Artworks of realism have been the chief target continuously employed by critics to perpetuate a traditional view of art as mere imitation. In this article, I argue for a way to understand artworks of realism based on a suspension of the classical distinction between mimesis and poiesis. By examining the perception model and the poiesis of mechanically reproduced art, I argue that contrary to the traditional view, an artwork of realism does not represent what is ordinarily called “reality” by (...) imitating it; in what may seem a representation of the world an artwork of realism actually creates something from scratch, making neither an ontological claim to become and to replace the object in question nor an artistic claim to copy after the object; and despite its apparent achievement of resembling the objects in the world, an artwork of realism should be judged by itself as well as by itself as embodiment of conditions of seeing and of encountering, inhabiting, and interpreting the visible at a certain historical juncture. (shrink)

Analysis of sites of newly integrated DNA in cellular genomes is important to several fields, but methods for analyzing and visualizing these datasets are still under development. Here, we describe tools for data analysis and visualization that take as input integration site data from our INSPIIRED pipeline. Paired-end sequencing allows inference of the numbers of transduced cells as well as the distributions of integration sites in target genomes. We present interactive heatmaps that allow comparison of distributions of integration sites to (...) genomic features and that support numerous user-defined statistical tests. To summarize integration site data from human gene therapy samples, we developed a reproducible report format that catalogs sample population structure, longitudinal dynamics, and integration frequency near cancer-associated genes. We also introduce a novel summary statistic, the UC50, which provides a single number summarizing possible clonal expansion. Using these tools, we characterize ongoing longitudinal characterization of a patient from the first trial to treat severe combined immunodeficiency-X1, showing successful reconstitution for 15 years accompanied by persistence of a cell clone with an integration site near the cancer-associated gene CCND2. Software is available at https://github.com/BushmanLab/INSPIIRED. (shrink)

This paper examines the impact of China’s new environmental protection law on green innovation. Using a large sample of Chinese prefecture-level cities for the 2010–2016 period and the difference-in-differences methodology, we provide strong evidence that the new environmental protection law promotes green innovation. This finding is robust to a battery of sensitivity tests. The micromechanism analysis shows that the new environmental protection law can promote green innovation by imposing stricter financial constraints on enterprises in high-pollution industries and increasing their incentives (...) for green innovation to meet green credit requirements. Further, we find that the impact of the new environmental protection law on green innovation is more prominent in prefecture-level cities with a lower level of banking competition and for prefecture-level cities with stronger intellectual property protection. Overall, these findings suggest that the new environmental protection law has played an important role in promoting green innovation in China. To improve the effect of the new environmental protection law on green innovation, the government can consider lowering banking competition and strengthening intellectual property protection. (shrink)

The Featurally Underspecified Lexicon theory predicts that [coronal] is the language universal default place of articulation for phonemes. This assumption has been consistently supported with adult behavioral and event-related potential data; however, this underspecification claim has not been tested in developmental populations. The purpose of this study was to determine whether children demonstrate [coronal] underspecification patterns similar to those of adults. Two English consonants differing in place of articulation, [labial] /b/ and [coronal] /d/, were presented to 24 children characterized by (...) either a typically developing phonological system or a phonological disorder. Two syllables, /bɑ/ and /dɑ/, were presented in an ERP oddball paradigm where both syllables served as the standard and deviant stimulus in opposite stimulus sets. Underspecification was examined with three analyses: traditional mean amplitude measurements, cluster-based permutation tests, and single-trial general linear model analyses of single-subject data. Contrary to previous adult findings, children with PD demonstrated a large positive mismatch response to /bɑ/ while the children with TD exhibited a negative mismatch response ; significant group differences were not observed in the /dɑ/ responses. Moreover, the /bɑ/ deviant ERP response was significantly larger in the TD children than in the children with PD. At the single-subject level, more children demonstrated mismatch responses to /dɑ/ than to /bɑ/, though some children had a /bɑ/ mismatch response and no /dɑ/ mismatch response. While both groups of children demonstrated similar responses to the underspecified /dɑ/, their neural responses to the more specified /bɑ/ varied. These findings are interpreted within a proposed developmental model of phonological underspecification, wherein children with PD are functioning at a developmentally less mature stage of phonological acquisition than their same-aged TD peers. Thus, phonological underspecification is a phenomenon that likely develops over time with experience and exposure to language. (shrink)

Neural markers, such as the mismatch negativity, have been used to examine the phonological underspecification of English feature contrasts using the Featurally Underspecified Lexicon model. However, neural indices have not been examined within the approximant phoneme class, even though there is evidence suggesting processing asymmetries between liquid and glide phonemes. The goal of this study was to determine whether glide phonemes elicit electrophysiological asymmetries related to [consonantal] underspecification when contrasted with liquid phonemes in adult English speakers. Specifically, /ɹɑ/ is categorized (...) as [+consonantal] while /wɑ/ is not specified [i.e., ]. Following the FUL framework, if /w/ is less specified than /ɹ/, the former phoneme should elicit a larger MMN response than the latter phoneme. Fifteen English-speaking adults were presented with two syllables, /ɹɑ/ and /wɑ/, in an event-related potential oddball paradigm in which both syllables served as the standard and deviant stimulus in opposite stimulus sets. Three types of analyses were used: traditional mean amplitude measurements; cluster-based permutation analyses; and event-related spectral perturbation analyses. The less specified /wɑ/ elicited a large MMN, while a much smaller MMN was elicited by the more specified /ɹɑ/. In the standard and deviant ERP waveforms, /wɑ/ elicited a significantly larger negative response than did /ɹɑ/. Theta activity elicited by /ɹɑ/ was significantly greater than that elicited by /wɑ/ in the 100–300 ms time window. Also, low gamma activation was significantly lower for /ɹɑ/ vs. /wɑ/ deviants over the left hemisphere, as compared to the right, in the 100–150 ms window. These outcomes suggest that the [consonantal] feature follows the underspecification predictions of FUL previously tested with the place of articulation and voicing features. Thus, this study provides new evidence for phonological underspecification. Moreover, as neural oscillation patterns have not previously been discussed in the underspecification literature, the ERSP analyses identified potential new indices of phonological underspecification. (shrink)

Given the colexification of perception and cognition, Georgakopoulos et al. (2022. Universal and macro-areal patterns in the lexicon: A case-study in the perception-cognition domain. Linguistic Typology 26(2). 439–487) claim that uncontrolled experience rather than controlled activity has a direct linkage to cognition. To test whether this is a universal tendency, this study conducts a contrastive behavioral profile analysis of two basic vision verbs in Mandarin: kàn, a controlled activity verb, and jiàn, an uncontrolled experience verb. The results show that (i) (...) both kàn and jiàn colexify visual activity and cognitive senses; (ii) kàn is able to express a wider range of cognitive meanings, i.e., know, understand, and think, whereas jiàn only extends into know; and (iii) visual and cognitive meanings have more proximal relationships in the colexification pattern of kàn than that of jiàn. The study confirms the universality of the colexification between vision and cognition while providing counterexamples to the above-mentioned large data-based findings. Accordingly, a dichotomy of controlled activity versus uncontrolled experience is proposed for the colexification of vision and cognition in cognitive typology. (shrink)

ObjectivesWomen who underwent chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer used both adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies but had low implementation levels. The present study explores the qualitative experience of coping strategies for women with MBC undergoing CT in Beijing.MethodsA hermeneutic phenomenological approach was employed on twenty Chinese MBC women undergoing CT. These interviews were transcribed verbatim, coded using thematic analysis, and analyzed using NVivo 11.ResultsThree themes are highlighted: Maintaining hope; Spiritual growth, and Self-perceived support resources.ConclusionThe present study results have led to (...) a greater understanding of the tremendous impact of CT on MBC women’s lives. This research provides insight into the scope of maintaining hope. Spiritual growth and self-perceived support resources were crucial factors to coping strategies among MBC women to improve their quality of life.Clinical RelevanceBy attaining the adaptive coping strategies and further understanding about Chinese MBC women, health care professionals are encouraged to appraise MBC women’s specific problems and adopt effective interventions to improve MBC women’s psychosocial wellbeing. (shrink)

There is increasing interest in the role played by testosterone in economic decision-making and social cognition. However, despite the growing body of findings in this field of research, no empirical study to date has tested whether testosterone modulates decision-making when an asymmetrically dominated decoy option is introduced in a choice set. Within a choice set that comprises two options, an asymmetrically dominated decoy option is a third option that, when introduced in the choice set, is much worse than one of (...) the existing options, but comparable to the other existing option. Introduction of a decoy option leads to a preference toward the dominating option (i.e., decoy effect). Healthy male participants (n = 63) received a single-dose of 150 mg testosterone gel in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, between-subjects design. At 180 min post-administration, participants took part in a decision-making task to elicit decoy effect. Results showed that participants in the testosterone group made less consistent choices and more target choices (i.e., decoy effect) than participants in the placebo group. These findings are interpreted in light of the dual-process theory and are in line with existing evidence suggesting that testosterone promotes more intuitive and automatic judgments in human decision-making. (shrink)

With the development of distributed networks, the remote controllability of the distributed energy objects and the vulnerability of user-side information security protection measures make distributed energy objects extremely vulnerable to malicious control by attackers. Hence, the large-scale loads may produce abnormal operation performance, such as load casting/dropping synchronously or frequent and synchronous casting and dropping, and hence, it can threaten the security and stable operation of the distribution networks. First, we analyze the security threats faced by industrial controllable load, civil (...) controllable load, and the gains and losses of attacks on the distribution networks. Considering the factors of cyber attacks, we propose a control model and cyber attack model in active distribution networks. And, three types of attacks that the target suffered are defined on the basis of “on” and “off” modes for control. Then, the controllable load was maliciously controlled as the research object, and a suitable scenario is selected. The impact of malicious control of the controllable load on the power supply reliability and power quality of the distribution networks are simulated and analyzed, and risk consequences for different types of attacks are provided. (shrink)

As an emerging language variant, practitioners have extensively used Internet slang in advertising and other communication activities. However, its unique characteristics that differ from standard language have yet to be explored. Drawing upon interdisciplinary theories on schema and communication styles, this research makes the first attempt to conceptualize and measure these characteristics by introducing a new multi-dimensional construct, “Internet slang style,” in the marketing context. It develops and validates a new scale to measure Internet slang style along the dimensions of (...) amiability, overtness, candor, and harshness through a series of in-depth interviews, two surveys, and one experiment with consumers. In addition, this research investigates the impact of Internet slang styles on brand personality and brand attitude. The results indicate that different Internet slang style dimensions positively correspond to different brand personality dimensions but exert no influence on brand attitude. Practically, the scale provides an easy-to-use instrument to evaluate Internet slang styles from a consumer perspective to help companies appropriately employ Internet slang in marketing communication activities. (shrink)

Reading comprehension is never considered a simple task in linguists’ views as it requires a full set of linguistic knowledge, such as word decoding, understanding syntactic and morphological structures, and deriving proper meanings from these structures in a given context. Bearing the simple view of reading, the primary goal of this study is to explore whether the split presentation of Chinese splittable compounds influences the recognition of the compounds in second language (L2) Chinese reading comprehension, and how the reading skills, (...) i.e., word decoding and linguistic comprehension, cooperate to complete this reading comprehension task. Splittable compounds (SCs) in Chinese are typically verbs composed of two constituents with limited separability. The separable property of SCs and their vague morpho-syntactic status are supposed to cause difficulties for L2 Chinese learners in recognizing the compounds. Especially for those whose native language manifests lexical integrity, the split presentation of the compounds may invite the L2 Chinese readers to process them with a mechanism different from that for their non-split forms. To the best of our knowledge, the efforts on investigating this issue are insufficient. In this study, 27 Spanish speaking L2 Chinese learners were invited to complete tasks including reading and interpreting 6 selected SCs in the split and non-split forms, rating their familiarities with each SC and reporting the syntactic category of the SCs based on their existing linguistic knowledge. The results, showed that the split presentation of SCs did cause challenges for L2 Chinese learners in recognizing the compounds in the reading process, regardless of their Chinese proficiencies. The L2 Chinese participants performed significantly worse in recognizing split SCs in salient Verb-Object structures than recognizing those in unsalient Verb-Object structures. These findings underscore the importance of linguistic comprehension in L2 Chinese in-text word reading comprehension and suggest words as the basic processing units. (shrink)

The attitudes and the self?efficacy that characterize learners relative to the Internet have been identified as important factors that affect learners? motivation, interests and performance in Internet?based learning environments. Meanwhile, learners? perceptions of the Internet may shape learners? attitudes and online behaviours. This study investigates university students? attitudes and self?efficacy towards the Internet, and explores the role that university students? perceptions of the Internet may play in their Internet attitudes and self?efficacy. The results indicate that university students demonstrate positive attitudes (...) and adequate Internet self?efficacy and that these students are more inclined to view the Internet as a functional tool?a functional technology. Gender differences exist in university students? attitudes towards, and perceptions of, the Internet; that is, male students demonstrate Internet attitudes that are more positive than those of their female peers. Furthermore, students who perceive the Internet as a leisure tool (e.g. as a tour or a toy) show more positive attitudes and communicative self?efficacy than students who use the Internet as a functional technology. Educators and researchers need to be aware of these differences and to take them into consideration in their instruction. Lastly, this study serves as a starting?point for research that more broadly explores learners? perceptions of the Internet. (shrink)

In order to improve the efficiency of the English translation, machine translation is gradually and widely used. This study briefly introduces the neural network algorithm for speech recognition. Long short-term memory (LSTM), instead of traditional recurrent neural network (RNN), was used as the encoding algorithm for the encoder, and RNN as the decoding algorithm for the decoder. Then, simulation experiments were carried out on the machine translation algorithm, and it was compared with two other machine translation algorithms. The results showed (...) that the back-propagation (BP) neural network had a lower word error rate and spent less recognition time than artificial recognition in recognizing the speech; the LSTM–RNN algorithm had a lower word error rate than BP–RNN and RNN–RNN algorithms in recognizing the test samples. In the actual speech translation test, as the length of speech increased, the LSTM–RNN algorithm had the least changes in the translation score and word error rate, and it had the highest translation score and the lowest word error rate under the same speech length. (shrink)

The generation of isometric force at the hand can be mediated by activating a few motor modules. Stroke induces alterations in motor modules underlying steady-state isometric force generation in the human upper extremity. However, how the altered motor modules impact task performance remains unclear as stroke survivors develop and converge to the three-dimensional target force. Thus, we tested whether stroke-specific motor modules would be activated from the onset of force generation and also examined how alterations in motor modules would induce (...) changes in force representation. During 3D isometric force development, electromyographic signals were recorded from eight major elbow and shoulder muscles in the paretic arm of 10 chronic hemispheric stroke survivors and both arms of six age-matched control participants. A non-negative matrix factorization algorithm identified motor modules in four different time windows: three “exploratory” force ramping phases and the stable force match phase. Motor module similarity and between-force coupling were examined by calculating the scalar product and Pearson correlation across the phases. To investigate the association between the end-point force representation and the activation of the motor modules, principal component analysis and multivariate multiple linear regression analyses were applied. In addition, the force components regressed on the activation profiles of motor modules were utilized to model the feasible force direction. Both stroke and control groups developed exploratory isometric forces with a non-linear relationship between EMG and force. During the force matching, only the stroke group showed abnormal between-force coupling in medial-lateral and backward-forward and medial-lateral and downward-upward directions. In each group, the same motor modules, including the abnormal deltoid module in stroke survivors, were expressed from the beginning of force development instead of emerging during the force exploration. The PCA and the multivariate multiple linear regression analyses showed that alterations in motor modules were associated with abnormal between-force coupling and limited feasible force direction after stroke. Overall, these results suggest that alterations in intermuscular coordination contribute to the abnormal end-point force control under isometric conditions in the UE after stroke. (shrink)

BackgroundTo investigate the factors related to approval after review by an Institutional Review Board, the structure equation model was used to analyze the latent variables ‘investigators’, ‘vulnerability’ and ‘review process’ for 221 proposals submitted to our IRB.MethodsThe vulnerability factor included vulnerable cases, and studies that involved drug tests and genetic analyses. The principal investigator factor included the license level of the PI and whether they belonged to our institution. The review factor included administration time, total review time, and revision frequency. (...) The revision frequency and total review time influenced the efficiency of review.ResultsThe latent variable of reviewing was the most important factor mediating the PIs and vulnerability to IRB review approval. The local PIs moderated with genetic study and revision frequency had an impact on the review process and mediated non-approval.ConclusionsBetter guidance of the investigators and reviewers might improve the efficiency with which IRBs function. (shrink)

Since Plato, western philosophy has had an uneasy relationship with the sea. The sea has always acted as the unspoken that threatens to breaks up the laborious definitions attained by philosophical achievements. Of all the thinkers who grapple with the maritime latency of philosophy and the openness inherent to thinking, Nietzsche is perhaps the most outspoken about the force of the sea for the birth of a new philosophy. Throughout his works, Nietzsche has consistently commended: “Aboard the ships, ye philosophers!” (...) Nowhere has Nietzsche pursued the philosophical potency of the maritime so forcefully as in Thus Spoke Zarathustra. In this essay, I aim to show how the sea is pivotal to the thinking of eternal recurrence and how Zarathustra comes to embody the maritime and becomes a khoratic site of hospitality and transfiguration – for the birth of new historical values and for the condition of possibility of the value of values. (shrink)