Although social justice is an integral component of medical professionalism, there is little discussion in medical education about how to teach it to future physicians. Using adult learning theory and the work of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, medical educators can teach a socially-conscious professionalism through educational content and teaching strategies. Such teaching can model non-hierarchical relationships to learners, which can translate to their clinical interactions with patients. Freirian teaching can additionally foster professionalism in both teachers and learners by ensuring that (...) they are involved citizens in their local, national and international communities. (shrink)

Background Nurses providing care to patients with end-of-life or terminal illnesses often encounter ethically challenging situations leading to moral distress. However, existing quantitative studies have examined moral distress using instruments that address general clinical situations rather than those specific to end-of-life care. Furthermore, qualitative studies have often been limited to participants from a single unit or those experiencing moral distress-induced circumstances. A comprehensive and integrated understanding of the overarching process of moral distress is vital to discern the unique circumstances surrounding (...) end-of-life care and its consequential impacts. Research objectives To explore the moral distress experiences of nurses who are frequently involved in caring for patients with end-of-life or terminal illnesses and apply it to two existing theories: the model of moral distress and the ecological model. Research design A qualitative descriptive approach was employed. Participants and research context Seven focus group interviews involving 30 nurses were performed. The subsequent transcriptions underwent rigorous content analysis. Ethical considerations We obtained Institutional Review Board approval from a university. Focus group interviews were conducted with nurses who agreed to participate and signed the consent form. Findings The moral distress-inducing factors and nurses’ perceived impact of moral distress were identified and categorized based on moral distress theories and ecological models. A total of 15 categories and 30 subcategories across the following 4 domains were derived: (1) intrapersonal, (2) interpersonal, (3) organizational, and (4) structural factors. Conclusions End-of-life-specific circumstances induced moral distress among nurses, with both negative and positive impacts identified. Effective organizational and policy support is essential to manage conflicts, form a healthy organizational culture, provide training, and prevent unnecessary expenses due to the negative consequences of moral distress. (shrink)

This study assessed the knowledge and perception of human biological materials (HBM) and biorepositories among three study groups in South Korea. The relationship between the knowledge and the perception among different groups was also examined by using factor and regression analyses. In a self-reporting survey of 440 respondents, the expert group was found more likely to be knowledgeable and positively perceived than the others. Four factors emerged: Sale and Consent, Flexible Use, Self-Confidence, and Korean Bioethics and Biosafety Action restriction perception. (...) The results indicate that those who are well aware of the existence of biobanks were more positively inclined to receive the Sale and Consent perception. As a result of the need for high quality HBMs and the use of appropriate sampling procedures for every aspect of the collection and use process, the biorepository community should pay attention to ethical, legal, and policy issues. (shrink)

This study assessed the knowledge and perception of human biological materials (HBM) and biorepositories among three study groups in South Korea. The relationship between the knowledge and the perception among different groups was also examined by using factor and regression analyses. In a self‐reporting survey of 440 respondents, the expert group was found more likely to be knowledgeable and positively perceived than the others. Four factors emerged: Sale and Consent, Flexible Use, Self‐Confidence, and Korean Bioethics and Biosafety Action restriction perception. (...) The results indicate that those who are well aware of the existence of biobanks were more positively inclined to receive the Sale and Consent perception. As a result of the need for high quality HBMs and the use of appropriate sampling procedures for every aspect of the collection and use process, the biorepository community should pay attention to ethical, legal, and policy issues. (shrink)

An incoherent feed‐forward loop (FFL) is one of the most‐frequently observed motifs in biomolecular regulatory networks. It has been thought that the incoherent FFL is designed simply to induce a transient response shaped by a ‘fast activation and delayed inhibition’. We find that the dynamics of various incoherent FFLs can be further classified into two types: time‐dependent biphasic responses and dose‐dependent biphasic responses. Why do the structurally identical incoherent FFLs play such different dynamical roles? Through computational studies, we show that (...) the dynamics of the two types of incoherent FFLs are mutually exclusive. Following from further computational results and experimental observations, we hypothesize that incoherent FFLs have been optimally designed to achieve distinct biological function arising from different cellular contexts. Additional Supporting Information may be found in the online version of the article. BioEssays 30:1204–1211, 2008. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Cellular circuits have positive and negative feedback loops that allow them to respond properly to noisy external stimuli. It is intriguing that such feedback loops exist in many cases in a particular form of coupled positive and negative feedback loops with different time delays. As a result of our mathematical simulations and investigations into various experimental evidences, we found that such coupled feedback circuits can rapidly turn on a reaction to a proper stimulus, robustly maintain its status, and immediately turn (...) off the reaction when the stimulus disappears. In other words, coupled feedback loops enable cellular systems to produce perfect responses to noisy stimuli with respect to signal duration and amplitude. This suggests that coupled positive and negative feedback loops form essential signal transduction motifs in cellular signaling systems. BioEssays 29: 85–90, 2007. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Memory reconsolidation holds great hope for memory modification approaches and clinical treatments of mental disorders associated with maladaptive memories. However, it remains controversial as to whether reconsolidation is a general property of all types of memory. Especially, discrepancies have been reported in research focusing on whether declarative memory undergoes reconsolidation, and whether old memories can be reorganized after retrieval. Here, we discuss how these inconsistent results can be reconciled and what information we need to uncover for the general use of (...) reconsolidation. (shrink)

Green consumers are those who seek to fulfill economic responsibility with their choices of environment-friendly products. Previous research found that it is not easy to identify green consumers by using traditional demographic or psychographic measurements due to the instability of moral attitude and actual behavior. The frontal theta brain waves of 19 right-handed respondents were recorded and analyzed in a choice task between an environment-friendly (green) product and a conventional product. Product information, which was provided to the respondents, included written (...) descriptions as well as the price of each product without visual depiction. Based on the respondents’ choice, they were classified into two groups: green (GR) consumers who chose an environment-friendly product option and non-green (Non-GR) consumers who chose the option of a conventional product. While processing the green product message, we discovered that frontal theta activations were significantly higher among GR consumers than Non-GR consumers. On the contrary, the frontal theta waves of GR consumers were not differentiated from Non-GR consumers while processing the price information. Therefore, theta activations in the frontal area may potentially be a unique neural indicator of GR consumers’ cognitive engagement with environment-friendly product messages. (shrink)

Virtual reality is a rapidly developing technology that simulates the real world. However, for some cybersickness-susceptible people, VR still has an unanswered problem—cybersickness—which becomes the main obstacle for users and content makers. Sensory conflict theory is a widely accepted theory for cybersickness. It proposes that conflict between afferent signals and internal models can cause cybersickness. This study analyzes the brain states that determine cybersickness occurrence and related uncomfortable feelings. Furthermore, we use the electroencephalogram microstates and functional connectivity approach based on (...) the sensory conflict theory. The microstate approach is a time–space analysis method that allows signals to be divided into several temporarily stable states, simultaneously allowing for the exploration of short- and long-range signals. These temporal dynamics can show the disturbances in mental processes associated with neurological and psychiatric conditions of cybersickness. Furthermore, the functional connectivity approach gives us in-depth insight and relationships between the sources related to cybersickness. We recruited 40 males, and they watched a VR video on a curved computer monitor for 10 min to experience cybersickness. We recorded the 5-min resting state EEG and 10-min EEG while watching the VR video. Then, we performed a microstate analysis, focusing on two temporal parameters: mean duration and global explained variance. Finally, we obtained the functional connectivity data using eLoreta and lagged phase synchronization. We discovered five sets of microstates, including four widely reported canonical microstates, during baseline and task conditions. The average duration increased in microstates A and B, which is related to the visual and auditory networks. The GEV and duration decreased in microstate C, whereas those in microstate D increased. Microstate C is related to the default mode network and D to the attention network. The temporal dynamics of the microstate parameters are from cybersickness disturbing the sensory, DMN, and attention networks. In the functional connectivity part, the LPS between the left and right parietal operculum significantly decreased compared with the baseline condition. Furthermore, the connectivity between the right OP and V5 significantly decreased. These results also support the disturbance of the sensory network because a conflict between the visual and vestibular system causes cybersickness. Changes in the microstates and functional connectivity support the sensory conflict theory. These results may provide additional information in understanding brain dynamics during cybersickness. (shrink)

Die Idee des «Gesamtkunstwerks» war schon längst vor Wagner gegenwärtig. In zahlreichen Schriften der deutschen Frühromantiker wird das Auseinandergehen der einzelnen Künste betrachtet, aber ihr Zusammenwirken als Utopie ersehnt. Die Verfasserin versucht, ausgehend von der Stellung der Musik in der Frühromantik, die Möglichkeit im Blick zu behalten, die Sehnsucht nach der Einheit der Künste, die zunächst im literarischen sowie im philosophischen Bereich rein theoretisch, daneben jedoch auch praktisch in der Poesie und Malerei ihren Ausdruck fand, in die musikalische Romantik zu (...) übertragen, sowohl in kompositorischer als auch in wirkungsästhetischer Hinsicht. Dadurch erscheint der Zusammenhang zwischen Musik innerhalb der Idee des «Gesamtkunstwerks» in der Romantik in neuem Licht. (shrink)

Culture has been identified as a significant determinant of ethical attitudes of business managers. This research studies the impact of culture on the ethical attitudes of business managers in India, Korea and the United States using multivariate statistical analysis. Employing Geert Hofstede's cultural typology, this study examines the relationship between his five cultural dimensions (individualism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and long-term orientation) and business managers' ethical attitudes. The study uses primary data collected from 345 business manager participants of Executive (...) MBA programs in selected business schools in India, Korea and the United States using Hofstede's Value Survey Module (94) and an instrument designed by the researchers to measure respondents' ethical attitudes (attitudes toward business ethics in general and toward twelve common questionable practices in particular). Results indicate that national culture has a strong influence on business managers' ethical attitudes. In addition to national culture, respondents' general attitudes toward business ethics are related to their personal integrity; their attitudes toward questionable business practices are related to the external environment and gender, as well as to their personal integrity. A strong relationship exists between cultural dimensions of individualism and power distance and respondents' ethical attitudes toward certain questionable practices. The analysis of the relationship between cultural dimensions of masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation and respondents' ethical attitudes toward questionable practices produced mixed results, likely due to the lack of notable differences in cultural dimension scores among the countries surveyed. (shrink)

The two mythical tales from the Samguk yusa, “Lady Suro” and “Monk Hyet’ong Defeats the Dragon” reveal the little-known evil character of the Korean dragons. The second story presents a particular scene of a confrontation between a hero and a malicious dragon; this story leads us to reflect on the question of the symbolism of evil embodied by the Dragon who has a vengeful character. The dragon symbol and its semantic variations were constructed specifically within the singular Korean context and (...) cannot be limited to Chinese Buddhist heritage. (shrink)

Biomedical research using data from participants’ mobile devices borrows heavily from the ethos of the “citizen science” movement, by delegating data collection and transmission to its volunteer subjects. This engagement gives volunteers the opportunity to feel like partners in the research and retain a reassuring sense of control over their participation. These virtues, in turn, give both grass-roots citizen science initiatives and institutionally sponsored mHealth studies appealing features to flag in recruiting participants from the public. But while grass-roots citizen science (...) projects are often community-based, mHealth research ultimately depends on the individuals who own and use mobile devices. This inflects the ethos of mHealth research towards a celebration of individual autonomy and empowerment, at the expense of its implications for the communities or groups to which its individual participants belong. But the prospects of group harms — and benefits — from mHealth research are as vivid as they are in other forms of data-intensive “precision health” research, and will be important to consider in the design of any studies using this approach. (shrink)

Consecutive constructivism is a moral and political theory which mitigates structural injustice by securing individuals' perception of private morality--that is, inventing procedural devices to make people enhance their moral consciousness--and, at the same time, encourages people to voluntarily concern themselves with procedural justice and public morality. The crucial reason for this position is that a detouring method of not directly dealing with the problem of justice but rather discussing the problem of morals is required to avoid the lucid criticisms of (...) statists that the sovereign ruling states with authority or the world government does not exist. This book suggests a new approach to the problem of global justice, termed here consecutive constructivism. It provides a way of coping with procedural justice at the global level, while also alleviating the problem of structural injustice insofar as it exacerbates procedural injustice. Acknowledging the fact that the discussion of global justice is difficult in a world constituted of lots of sovereign states, it sketches out a political theory which begins with the problem of morals and then consecutively moves on to the matter of justice. The result is a novel normative theory narrowing the gap between Neo-Westphalian and Post-Westphalian traditions. (shrink)

Previous research has shed light on the detrimental effects of abusive supervision. To extend this area of research, we draw upon conservation of resources theory to propose a causal relationship between abusive supervision and psychological distress, a mediating role of psychological distress on the relationship between abusive supervision and employee silence, and a moderating effect of the supervisor–subordinate relational context on the mediating effect of abusive supervision on silence. Through an experimental study, we found the causal path linking abusive supervision (...) and psychological distress. Results of both the experimental study and a field study provided evidence that psychological distress mediated the relationship between abusive supervision and silence. Lastly, we found support that this mediation effect was contingent upon the relational context in Study 2 but not in Study 1. We discuss implications for theory and practice. (shrink)

Although corporate social responsibility appears to be mutually beneficial for companies and consumers, the modern marketplace has left both parties in vulnerable positions. Consumers are increasingly subjected to incongruent CSR messages such as greenwashing, while companies are trapped in a strategic positioning dilemma with regard to how to most effectively and ethically approach CSR communication. This has led some companies to instead adopt a strategically silent approach, such as greenhushing. To capture this CSR positioning dilemma and test the positioning effects (...) on consumers’ attributions, this study applies attribution theory to conceptualize four distinct CSR positions which reflect varying combinations of congruence or incongruence between a company’s external CSR communication and its actual internal CSR actions. Using an online experiment, the effects of the CSR positions on consumer attributions for intrinsic and extrinsic CSR motivations and purchase intentions were tested across three CSR domains: environmental; labor; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender inclusion. Overall, the findings attest to the significant effect of internal–external congruence-based CSR positioning on how consumers respond to CSR communication. Importantly, the results indicate that discreet positioning is perceived similarly to uniform positioning, while misleading and unethical tactics such as CSR-washing are sure to backfire. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed. (shrink)

In “Extending Research Protections to Tribal Communities,” Saunkeah et. al. argue that sovereignty and solidarity are necessary to extend research protections under the Belmont principles and deriv...

We show that if T is any geometric theory having the NTP2 then the corresponding theories of lovely pairs of models of T and of H‐structures associated to T also have the NTP2. We also prove that if T is strong then the same two expansions of T are also strong.

Public figures’ transgressions attract considerable media attention and public interest. However, little is understood about the impact of celebrity endorsers’ transgressions on associated brands. Drawing on research on moral reasoning, we posit that consumers are not always motivated to separate judgments of performance from judgments of morality or simply excuse a wrongdoer. We propose that consumers also engage in moral coupling, a distinct moral reasoning process which allows consumers to integrate judgments of performance and judgments of morality. In three studies, (...) we demonstrate that moral coupling is prevalent and has unique predictive utilities in explaining consumers’ evaluation of the transgressor. We also show that transgression type has a significant impact on consumers’ choice of moral reasoning strategy. Finally, we demonstrate that consumers’ support for a brand endorsed by a transgressor is a direct function of moral reasoning choice. Findings suggest that public figure’s immoral behavior and its spillover to an extended brand is contingent on consumers’ moral reasoning choices. (shrink)

Purpose The debate about the end-of-life care decision is becoming a serious ethical and legal concern in the Far-Eastern countries of Korea, China and Japan. However, the issues regarding end-of-life care will reflect the cultural background, current medical practices and socioeconomic conditions of the countries, which are different from Western countries and between each other. Understanding the genuine thoughts of patients who are critically ill is the first step in confronting the issues, and a comparative descriptive study of these perspectives (...) was conducted by collaboration between researchers in all three countries. Methods Surveys using self-reporting paper questionnaire forms were conducted from December 2008 to April 2009 in Korea (six hospitals in two regions), China (five hospitals in four regions) and Japan (nine hospitals in one region). The subjects were patients who were critically ill who had been diagnosed as having cancer. A total of 235 participants (Korea, 91; China, 62; Japan, 52) were eventually recruited and statistically analysed. Results Most respondents had sometimes or often thought of their own death, mostly fear of ‘separation from loved ones’. They wanted to hear the news regarding their own condition directly and frankly from the physician. A quarter of them preferred making end-of-life care decisions by themselves, while many respondents favoured a ‘joint decision’ with their family members. The most favoured proxy decision maker was the spouse, followed by the children. Most admitted the necessity of ‘advance directives’ and agreed with artificial ventilation withdrawal in irreversible conditions. The most common reason was ‘artificial prolongation of life is unnecessary’. Most respondents agreed with the concept of active euthanasia; however, significant differences were sometimes observed in the responses according to variables such as patient's country of origin, age, gender and education level. Conclusion Patients in Far-Eastern countries gave various responses regarding end-of-life care decisions. Although familial input is still influential, most patients think of themselves as the major decision maker and accept the necessity of advance directives with Westernization of the society. Artificial ventilation withdrawal and even active euthanasia may be acceptable to them. (shrink)

This study explores the transhuman from an East Asian perspective. In terms of cognitive science, mathematics, and theology, we define the transhuman system as characterized by transcendence, extension by compactification, and samtaegeuk. Compactification is conceptualized here in mathematical terms, as adding one or more elements so that a system becomes more complete—as one might join both ends of a line, and thereby create a circle. We assert that the East Asian transhuman could be defined as a three-point compactification: as an (...) extension of biophysical objects and events such as robots, cyborgs, and environments ; as an extension of culture, science, and art ; and as an extension of the interaction between the human and Cosmic Absolute such as in religions. Such a notion of the Transhuman might be associated with God, but any description of God, the Absolute Infinite, will apply to something less than God. (shrink)

The structure of the deep artificial neural network is similar to the structure of the biological neural network, which can be well applied to the 3D visual image recognition of aerobics movements. A lot of results have been achieved by applying deep neural networks to the 3D visual image recognition of aerobics movements, but there are still many problems to be overcome. After analyzing the expression characteristics of the convolutional neural network model for the three-dimensional visual image characteristics of aerobics, (...) this paper builds a convolutional neural network model. The model is improved on the basis of the traditional model and unifies the process of aerobics 3D visual image segmentation, target feature extraction, and target recognition. The convolutional neural network and the deep neural network based on autoencoder are designed and applied to aerobics action 3D visual image test set for recognition and comparison. We improve the accuracy of network recognition by adjusting the configuration parameters in the network model. The experimental results show that compared with other simple models, the model based on the improved AdaBoost algorithm can improve the final result significantly when the accuracy of each model is average. Therefore, the method can improve the recognition accuracy when multiple neural network models with general accuracy are obtained, thereby avoiding the complicated parameter adjustment process to obtain a single optimal network model. (shrink)

In the present paper we shall see that the different ways of understanding mind between Confucianism and Enlightenment in the 18th century. In this study each of these two different traditions is regarded as the East Asian context of mind study or as the Western European context of mind study. This idea comes from a kind of constructivism and constructive realism. The former, which comes from ideas of Lev Vygotsky, stresses that human mind is constructed on its cultural context. The (...) latter insisted by Fridriech Wallner approves that every truth constructed on its cultural context can be an absolute truth depending on its cultural context. Due to these two viewpoints, we can see that the truth about human mind is not singular but plural and it should be an important theme of discussionhow to communicate between different understandings of mind and cultural context. Therefore three steps to approach the difference between Asian and European should be discussed in the following way: first, I will explain Confucian ways of understanding mind. It is Confucian cultural context as a social being that used to be the basis of cultural construction of East Asian’s mind. There were three types of Confucianism in 18th century Korea; second I will explain Western European way of understanding mind and the philosophy of Enlightenment as the basic context of cultural construction of mind; and third, I will conclude by comparing these two different ways of understanding mind and mind construction and by looking for a feasible way to communicate and understand each other. (shrink)

With a growing corporate interest in pursuing public goods, numerous firms today endeavor to practice corporate social responsibility. Utilizing a multilevel structural equation modeling approach, we investigated the topic of employees' pro-environmental behavior, contributing to the growing literature on “green” issues in the workplace. We incorporated self-determination theory to examine how individuals' perceptions regarding their corporate environmental policies reflected in firm-level green psychological climate influence their environment-specific self-regulation, and whether support of autonomy, relatedness, and competence psychological needs moderates this relationship. (...) The relationship between environment-specific self-regulation and employees' engagement in pro-environmental behavior was also further explained. Analysis of the data from 649 employees working in 37 major South Korean companies revealed that firm-level green psychological climate is positively related to employees' environment-specific self-regulation and that environment-specific self-regulation is also positively related to their pro-environmental behavior. Moreover, while we found that the positive association between firm-level green psychological climate and employees' environment-specific self-regulation was stronger when they had a higher level of relatedness need satisfaction, interactions between firm-level green psychological climate with autonomy and competence need satisfaction did not demonstrate any significant effects. Theoretical and practical contributions together with suggestions for related future research are discussed as well. (shrink)