Students often face difficulties and experience negative emotions toward second language learning. The affective tutoring system is a next-generation learning approach that can detect the affective status of learning to increase performance. Therefore, for the purposes of this study, an innovative affective mobile language tutoring system was designed to support Japanese language learning. The effects of AMLTS, along with asynchronous discussion, that were intended to improve performance, were examined using a triangulation method. To investigate the effect on emotion, the proposed (...) AMLTS provides a virtual emotion agent that can interact with users and record emotional events, learning assessments, and the results of the interaction into a database. Learning effectiveness evaluations were conducted via two experiments: prototype evaluation and final evaluation. Sixty-three students, all beginners, were invited to use the AMLTS to learn Japanese. The research results show that the proposed AMLTS affective interaction design significantly improves learner engagement and performance. In the emotion feedback analysis and learning process, AMLTS helped students deepen their understanding of the content, enabled them to clearly understand the content, and to engage in peer interaction and experience positive emotions. In the evaluation of system usability, AMLTS reveals good usability for foreign language acquisition. (shrink)

The domestic situation of the past few years shows the practices of employees’ unpaid leave and layoffs and the constant drain on capital, talent, and technologies in hospitality. Owners expect to reduce the losses to as low as possible by saving on human costs. Nevertheless, in face of such a changing environment, hospitality has to accumulate high-quality human capital through systematic investment, sensitive development, and continuous learning and growth to discover competitive advantages through the cultivation of human capital. The pre-service (...) education of new employees could accelerate their familiarity with the operations of the company and their understanding of their job role and duties. More importantly, with good planning, it could make employees feel emphasized with and respected with the result of largely changing their thoughts and working habits. Aiming at supervisors and employees in hospitality in Zhejiang as the research objects, a total of 420 copies of our questionnaire are distributed, and 357 valid copies were retrieved, with a retrieval rate of 85%. According to the results to propose discussions, it is expected to generate systematic and proper education methods for the pre-service education in hospitality, promote the education effectiveness, and promote employees’ capability and organizational performance. (shrink)

This study is intended to create an innovative contextual English learning environment making use of the widely used communication software, LINE ChatBot, based on the Artificial Intelligence Markup Language, in order to improve speaking and listening ability among learners. A total of 73 students were invited to participate in learning activities involving a 4-week English conversation exercise including both speaking and listening. Additionally, in order to explore the influence of competition on language acquisition, we added competition characteristics to the learning (...) activities in the experimental group to enhance learning motivation and learning outcomes. The results showed that with the help of the LINE ChatBot contextual learning environment, the performance of both groups of students was slightly enhanced, but no significant differences were found. Meanwhile, extrinsic motivation in both the experimental and control group was improved if they spoke anonymously. That is, the contextual learning environment based on the LINE ChatBot significantly improved the learners’ English speaking and listening ability. In addition, the results showed that the addition of a competition element effectively enhanced the learners’ intrinsic motivation to learn English on the LINE ChatBot. (shrink)

Tscha Hung was a member of the Vienna Circle who achieved high international academic recognition. He dedicated his entire life to spreading the philosophy of the Circle to China and developed deep insights in his criticisms to that philosophy. Hung was a witness to the encounter of Western and Chinese philosophy in the twentieth century. His debate with Fung You-lan on metaphysics reflects different understandings of the nature of philosophy and metaphysics as well as different perspectives. Hung (...) defended the position of metaphysics in Chinese philosophy in his own way and engaged in a contemporary reconstruction of Chinese philosophy. (shrink)

The article presents a methodological update on the lexical profile of informal spoken English with the emphasis on movies, television programs, and soap operas. The study analyzed Mark Davies’s mega-corpora with data containing approximately 625 million words and employed Paul Nation’s comprehensive and up-to-date British National Corpus/Corpus of Contemporary American English wordlists. Data from the analyses showed that viewers would need a vocabulary knowledge at 3,000 and 5,000 words frequency levels to understand 95 and 98% of the words in scripted (...) dialogs, respectively. Soap operas were found to be less lexically demanding compared to TV programs and movies. Findings are expected to fill in the methodological gaps between vocabulary assessment and vocabulary profiling research. (shrink)

Tu Weiming Tu Weiming is one of the most famous Chinese Confucian thinkers of the 20th and 21st centuries. As a prominent member of the third generation of “New Confucians,” Tu stressed the significance of religiosity within Confucianism. Inspired by his teacher Mou Zongsan as well as his decades of study … Continue reading Tu Weiming →.

' Home ' and 'nature' are usually taken as two opposite concepts in relation to human geographical experience. However, drawing on the perspective of geo-phenomenology, this paper argues that the meanings of nature and home overlap to the extent that it is possible to experience nature as home. Moreover, it can be shown from the paradoxically interwoven senses of nature and of home that there is a dynamic process of a to and fro journey between nature and home. Fertile educational (...) implications can be drawn out from the invisible journey: first, the dynamic experience between nature and home elicits a learning about differences; and secondly, the experience of nature as home, which can inspire feelings for nature, implies an ethical dimension of learning to treat nature as carefully as home. (shrink)

Local item dependence is one of the most critical assumption in the Rasch model when it comes to the validity of a test. As the field of vocabulary assessment is calling for more clarity and validity for vocabulary tests, such assumption becomes more important than ever. The article offers a Rasch-based investigation into the issue of LID with the focus on the two popular formats of Vocabulary Levels Tests : multiple-choice and matching. A Listening Vocabulary Levels Test and an Updated (...) Vocabulary Levels Test were given to a single cohort of 311 university students in an English as a Foreign Language context. The analyses of raw score and standardized residuals correlations were conducted. The findings found no relationship between the 4-option, multiple-choice format of the LVLT and item local dependence. However, results from score and standardized residuals correlations analyses showed a strong link between the 3-item-per-cluster, matching format and item local dependence. The study calls for greater attention to the format of future vocabulary tests and support the use of meaning-recall formats in vocabulary testing. (shrink)

Maker education mainly involves “hands-on” as the core concept and combines various educational theories to redefine interactions between learners and teachers in a learning environment. Identification of meaningful “hands-on” behaviors is crucial to evaluate students’ learning performance, although an instructor’s observation of every student is not feasible. However, such observation is possible with the aid of the artificial intelligence image processing technique; the AI learning behavior recognition system can serve as the second eyes of teachers, thus accounting for individual differences. (...) However, in previous studies, learning behavior recognition was applied to the traditional or static classroom. A behavior recognition system for identifying “hands-on” actions in the learning context has still not been developed. Therefore, this study designed a human posture evaluation system, obtained human articulation node information from learning field images, and built a learning behavior recognition model suitable for maker education based on the AI convolutional neural network. A learning behavior model was defined, along with a number of student behavior indexes. Subsequently, the effectiveness of the model and behavior indexes was verified through practical learning activities. The model evaluation results indicated that the proposed model achieved a training accuracy of 0.99 and a model accuracy of 0.83. Thus, the model can be applied to dynamic maker activity learning environments. (shrink)

This paper aims at revealing the various meanings of schools as more than built physical environments from a geographical‐phenomenological (or ‘geo‐phenomenological’) perspective. This paper consists of five sections: the first explicates the meaning of ‘geo‐phenomenology’; the second reveals the meaning of ‘environment’ and a dialectics of strangeness and intimacy through geo‐phenomenological analysis; the third examines the meanings of environment as ‘space’ and ‘place’ and the act of naming as the process of constructing meaning between humans and environment; the fourth section (...) attempts to explore the meaning of conceiving school as a particular environment; and the final is the conclusion. (shrink)

The present study analyzed the vocabulary profile of the News on the Web corpus, which contained 12 billion words from online newspapers and magazines in 20 countries to determine the vocabulary knowledge needed to reasonably understand online newspaper and magazine articles. The results showed that, in general, knowledge of the most frequent 4,000 word families in the British National Corpus/Corpus of Contemporary American English wordlist plus proper nouns, marginal words, transparent compounds and acronyms was necessary to gain 95% coverage for (...) the NOW corpus. However, when it came to the 98% coverage, online newspaper and magazine articles from different countries had relatively distinct lexical demands. In-depth analyses were carried out and the findings offered comprehensive insights into the issue. Implications for teaching and learning were also provided. (shrink)

An account of how the mathematical sciences turn the mind away from becoming and towards being. There are four main conclusions. 1. The study of numbers, when treated independently of the other sciences, uses a particular conception of the nature of numbers to detach the mind from the influence of perceptible objects. 2. The study of ratios and proportions, explicitly the core of Plato's harmonics, is fundamental also to plane and solid geometry and astronomy. 3. Ratios and proportion form the (...) basis for the synoptic vision of all the mathematical sciences. This vision is an essential preparation for dialectic because it makes mathematicians become aware of the limitations of the mathematics they have been engaged in but it also shows them how they can begin to overcome those limitations. 4. The main purpose of the study of numbers, treated finally in relation to the other sciences, is to calculate ratios. (shrink)

This study examines values and value types as well as scores in levels of moral reasoning for␣students enrolled in a business program. These two factors are measured using the Schwartz Personal Values␣Questionnaire and the Defining Issues Test 2. No statistically significant differences in levels of moral␣reasoning, rankings of values, and value types could be attributed to gender. However, eight significant correlations between value types and levels of moral reasoning provide evidence that a systematic relationship exists. The relationships are not only (...) internally consistent but also consistent with the model of values based on motivational goals (Schwartz S. H. and K. Boenke: 2004, Journal of Research in Personality , 38 230–255). (shrink)

Insanity is identified with irrationality, while rationality is considered to be the mark of sanity. Yet we want to say that rationality could be the cause of insanity. We can see a subtle kind of insanity inherent in an institution believed to be highly rational. Rationality in an ideological belief also turns into rational insanity when the ideology itself works for the interest of the advantaged as a tool of deception. We believe in the rationality of open communication. We believe (...) that information technology has given us the most rational means for open communication. The Internet revolution or Internet democracy is expected to become the most rational means for the institutional goal of democracy. However the rationality of Internet communication has demonstrated a serious tendency to cause Internet insanity. We have been proud of being 'rational animals'. But now we are concerned because 'rational animal' could mean 'rational but animal-like' or 'rational but impulsive', which in turn could mean 'rational but violent' or 'rational but mad and insane'. Perhaps it is time for us to think seriously about the possibility of mass insanity through rational insanity, and seek the way beyond such rational insanity. (shrink)

Hawking, in his book, A Brief History of Time, concludes with a conditional remark: If we find a complete theory to explain the physical world, then we will come to understand God’s mind. With Goedel in mind, we can raise questions about the completeness of our scientific understanding and the nature of our understanding with regard to God’s mind. We need to ask about the higher order of our understanding when we move to knowing God’s mind. We go onto develop (...) these problems with Nietzsche’s thoughts on the death of God, and the emergence of super human intelligences. Then, we come to Buddha, a logical genius, to see how the Buddhistic enlightenment exemplifies the super human intelligence, as well as the higher order understanding in our knowledge of God’s mind. (shrink)

This study investigated the perception of Mandarin tonal alternations in disyllabic words. In Mandarin, a low-dipping Tone3 is converted to a high-rising Tone2 when followed by another Tone3, known as third tone sandhi. Although previous studies showed statistically significant differences in F0 between a high-rising Sandhi-Tone3 and a Tone2, native Mandarin listeners failed to correctly categorize these two tones in perception tasks. The current study utilized the visual-world paradigm in eye-tracking to further examine whether acoustic details in lexical tone aid (...) lexical access in Mandarin. Results showed that Mandarin listeners tend to process Tone2 as Tone2 whereas they tend to first process Sandhi-T3 as both Tone3 and Tone2, then later detect the acoustic differences between the two tones revealed by the sandhi context, and finally activate the target word during lexical access. The eye-tracking results suggest that subtle acoustic details of F0 may facilitate lexical access in automatic fashion in a tone language. (shrink)

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English. 世界衛生組織(WHO)在歷經自1976年伊波拉病毒病(EbolaHemorrhagicFever, 伊波拉出血熱)爆發以來，處理疫情爆發當中出現的種種倫理問題之後，於2016年出版“Guidance for Managing Ethical Issues in Infectious Disease Outbreaks”（中文暫譯：《傳染病爆發處理倫理議題之指引》）一書，其中整理出「正義、行善、效益、尊重自主、自由、團結、互惠」等七項倫理原則，於今面對新冠肺炎（COVID-19）的疫情上，各國防疫 政策，亦可作為應對。作為一名當代墨者，本文即以此為基礎，由醫療的角度，結合國內情況，企欲在墨學義理內作一生命倫理的反思，並試圖對後疫情時代給予具體作為之建議。 In response to various ethical problems that emerged after the 1976 Ebola hemorrhagic fever epidemic, WHO published the book Guidance for Managing Ethical Issues in Infectious Disease Outbreaks in 2016. The content of the book was organized around seven ethical principles, namely, justice, beneficence, benefit, respect for autonomy, freedom, reciprocity, and unity. These seven ethical principles can be used as (...) a framework for countries to develop policies for coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing from contemporary Mohism, this paper reflects on the situation in Taiwan through the lens of these seven ethical principles. It aims to arrive at a Mohist understanding of bioethics and proposes concrete actions for the post-epidemic era. (shrink)

In this new collection of previously unpublished papers, Daoism is a philosophy, and it is presented not exclusively as a religion but as a practical way of life related to all aspects of human beings and the natural environment. Since its origins in China thousands of years ago, Daoism has meant harmony with nature and other human beings. Its principles may be applied successfully by those with any or no religion who seek a world of greater understanding, harmony, and peace. (...) Addressed to a broad audience ranging from newcomers to seasoned professionals, this book introduces the concepts of Dao, Daoism, and its pioneering philosophers (e.g., Laozi, Zhuangzi, and Liezi). The book describes the importance of Dao and Daoist ideas for scientists, humanists, and practitioners while offering practical steps and guidance for our lives today. Like the familiar taiji (also known as tai chi) symbol associated with Daoism, this book is divided into two complementary sections. The first explores how Dao and Daoist ideas are related to science, humanities, and the arts. The second part focuses on Daoist practices and applications. The essays, written by experts in their fields of study, address a number of topics, including the Dao of sciences (e.g., statistics) and arts, similarities between natural Dao and Darwin's evolutionary science, and Daoist contribution to sciences and technology. Other subjects include the growing interest in Daoist ideas in the West, Daoist cognitive science and the yin-yang dialectical mind, Daoism's relationship to peace psychology and ecology psychology (via self-observation and self-understanding), and Zhuangzhou's aesthetic view on the naturalness of things (i.e., the most beautiful entities are those that are naturally created by the Dao). In addition to these theoretical explorations, the book offers abundant practical applications of Daoist ideas to our lives and work. Practical guidance is offered in applying Daoist principles to physical and mental health, meditation and dantian cultivation, classroom learning, and diversity management. Clear-cut directions offer insight into applying Daoist ideas to leadership training, clinical therapy, and administration. The book provides readers with the universal applicability of Daoist principles and the benefit of living in harmony with nature, Dao, and others. This book is unique in its appeal to a wide range of readers. On the one hand, it provides an introduction for those with minimal knowledge of Daoism. On the other hand, sophisticated Daoist scholars, researchers, or practitioners may also be enriched and enlightened by its presentation of recent research findings, scholarly discussions, and hands-on applications. Years in the making, this book project represents a milestone of achievement for its writers and editors. Nova Science Publishers is pleased to offer readers this long-overdue compendium of Daoist wisdom, from basic information to tools for transformation in the 21st century. Happy reading! (shrink)

The article discusses the challenge of Indecent Theology to Latin American liberation theology and feminist theology in unmasking their implicit support for the binary, heterosexual norms of society. Althaus-Reid argues that theology is a sexual act, and provides rich metaphors and language for a vibrant sexual political theology. Her work undresses conventional Christian symbols by queering the intersection of theology, sexuality, and politics.

This edited volume showcases theological reflections on the Hong Kong protests by scholars and activists from different national and cultural background. It discusses the meaning of crucifixion, atonement, the suffering Messiah, justice, the demonic, and the roles of the Church in a time of global unrest and social ferment and protest.

In this article, the author shares her reflection on the evolution of Ada María Isasi-Díaz’s work, and Mujerista Theology, through the story of Isasi-Díaz own life story. Her complex story, filled with struggle, illustrates the embeddedness of Mujerista Theology in the social fabric and lives of Hispanas and Latinas. The article explores the difficulty of an intellectual seeking to release the voices of grassroots women, even in her own community, and also the cross-cultural possibilities of understanding the language and theology (...) of one cultural group from within another, specifically, the author’s own Chinese context. (shrink)

Storytelling is a mode of communication in human interaction and is pervasive in everyday life. Storytelling in marketing is also a managerial application as a marketing strategy. Researchers of consumer psychology and marketing have devoted great efforts to developing theories and conducting empirical studies on this approach. However, in addition to narrative theories, many researchers are mainly concerned about the effect of telling a good brand story and its applications, such as advertising design and presentation. However, for those products that (...) usually lack branding, such as agricultural products, knowledge remains scarce about the relative impact of storytelling in marketing. Few researchers have explicitly developed a valid tool for measuring the effect of storytelling in marketing. To aid storytelling research in consumer psychology, this article conceptualized a construct of the effectiveness of storytelling in agricultural marketing and developed a measure with further validation. This scale consisted of 13 items with four subscales: narrative processing, affect, brand attitude, and purchase intention. The findings of this study strongly supported a structural model with strong order among the four dimensions and good model fit. A discussion of the results and the theoretical and practical implications for consumer psychology and marketing practice are also addressed. (shrink)

This essay is an attempt to look at economics from a Christian perspective in this time of crisis. This exploration is of great personal interest to me because I am a Christian and an economist. During my entire adult life, I have been trying to connect these two parts of who I am: my Christian faith and my vocation in economics. In the beginning of my career I focused more on the dialectic tension between economics and faith. As I have (...) grown older I have moved more towards a synthesis of economics and faith. (shrink)

Information and communication technology has a great impact on contemporary society and people’s lives. Especially with the pervasive access to rapidly developing technology, the impact of ICT on society and human values, the norms of ICT use, and the ethical issues derived from them are beyond the past ethical framework and deserve more research attention. The purpose of this study was to explore the key factors that influence the decision-making behaviors of information professionals when they are faced with information ethics (...) issues. The study adopted the analytic hierarchical process method to develop the evaluation framework and criteria for information professional ethics and employed the professional fields of library and information science and information technology as examples to compare whether information professionals in different fields make different judgments on the aforementioned decision-making criteria. The results of the study validated the professional information ethics hierarchy and criteria and contributed to the field of information ethics research by providing information on the aspects that need attention in the cultivation of professionals in different fields. (shrink)

To solve the problem that traditional trajectory prediction methods cannot meet the requirements of high-precision, multi-dimensional and real-time prediction, a 4D trajectory prediction model based on the backpropagation (BP) neural network was studied. First, the hierarchical clustering algorithm and the k-means clustering algorithm were adopted to analyze the total flight time. Then, cubic spline interpolation was used to interpolate the flight position to extract the main trajectory feature. The 4D trajectory prediction model was based on the BP neural network. It (...) was trained by Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast trajectory from Qingdao to Beijing and used to predict the flight trajectory at future moments. In this paper, the model is evaluated by the common measurement index such as maximum absolute error, mean absolute error and root mean square error. It also gives an analysis and comparison of the predicted over-point time, the predicted over-point altitude, the actual over-point time and the actual over-point altitude. The results indicate that the predicted 4D trajectory is close to the real flight data, and the time error at the crossing point is no more than 1 min and the altitude error at the crossing point is no more than 50 m, which is of high accuracy. (shrink)

It is not uncommon for business institutions to position themselves as stakeholder-caring companies or organizations. However, there is little research on conceptualizing stakeholder-caring as a component of brand image. Through a theoretical lens of brand-consumer interactions, this paper introduces a new construct—stakeholder-caring image—and proposes a model that examines stakeholder-caring’s antecedents (integrity and courtesy) and its consequence (customer satisfaction). The two antecedents—integrity and courtesy—capture intrinsic and extrinsic aspects of brand-consumer interaction practice, respectively, while the consequence (customer satisfaction) is one important behavioral (...) outcome in marketing. The proposed model was tested with Hong Kong customers (n = 296) via a systematic survey. The data were analyzed using LISREL. Several measurement and structural models were constructed to test the proposed hypotheses. The findings reveal that the effect of integrity on customer satisfaction is mediated by a stakeholder-caring image. However, contrary to the conventional wisdom, we surprisingly find that courtesy is not effective to build a stakeholder-caring image. Managerially, this research offers guidance on how to develop stakeholder-caring image and subsequently increase customer satisfaction. In addition, we discuss the nuanced distinction between a stakeholder-caring image and related brand constructs, such as “sincerity” in Aaker’s (1997) brand personality framework. (shrink)