SUMMARYThis paper purports to show that important traces of Chinese humanism existed in the Shang long before the founding of the Chou dynasty in 1111 B.C. despite the opinion in vogue which regards superstition as the Shang's style of life and humanism as the dominant theme of the Chou's culture. The discovery of humanism in the Shang enables us not only to endorse once more the continuity of cultures of Shang and Chou, but also to suggest placing the beginning of (...) Chinese humanism and thought at a much earlier date. (shrink)

This article aims at developing a phronesis-oriented philosophical counselling, with a focus on the idea of semantic sentiment. In Section 1, we elucidate the characteristics of phronesis-oriented approach to philosophical counselling and state our reason for adopting this approach. In Section 2, we consider three visions of phronesis-oriented philosophical counselling, i.e., the Socratic vision, the Platonic vision, and the skill-based vision, and argue for the third vision. In Sections 3 and 4, we show how to practice such phronesis-oriented philosophical counselling (...) by introducing, exploring, and applying the idea of semantic sentiment. (shrink)

Can the idea of a minimal proposition be successfully held? I will first formulate what the minimal proposition is in the minimalist’s mind, taking Emma Borg as the representative. What a minimalist seeks for a minimal proposition is the abstract and skeletal core meaning of a sentence, and this faith is founded on the notion of minimal word meaning—an atomic, code-like, conceptual thing. I show that the problem of this notion of minimal proposition lies in the three features, intuitive read-off, (...) invariantness, and truth-evaluability, that Borg ascribes to it. I shall argue, first, that positing a conceptual-like thing as the invariant minimal content of word cannot support the invariantness of the minimal proposition of a sentence, and second, that the skeletal content, as the minimal proposition of a sentence, is a grammatically analyzed product and thus is hardly truth evaluable. According to the analyses, the idea of a minimal proposition with these three features identified by minimalists cannot be maintained. (shrink)

The primary purpose of this study is to link the effects of consumer personality traits on green buying intention via the mediating variable of consumer ethical beliefs so as to extend the context of green buying intentions with consumer ethics literatures. Based on a survey of 545 Taiwanese respondents, consumer personality traits were found to significantly affect consumer ethical beliefs. The results also indicate that some dimensions of consumer ethical beliefs significantly predict consumer intention to buy green products. Generally speaking, (...) this study enhances our knowledge of consumers’ ethical decision-making in the context of green consumption behaviors. Theoretical and managerial implications, limitations, and future research are also provided. (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)

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)

This paper aims at addressing how the question of Chinese female sexuality is questioned and challenged by the Chinese woman writer Geling Yan’s novella“White Snake” (1999). By adopting a similar title to the famous traditional Chinese monster story that narrates a white serpent transformed herself into a pretty lady to pursue and experience human love, Geling Yan’s novella carries the mimicry of the theme by portraying her protagonist as a serpent-embodying woman whose sexual power was deemed abnormal and monstrous. This (...) imprisoned woman as a monstrous other, though sinuously gazed, desired and mocked, her monstrous sexuality, not as the un-human, but as the conflation where the social and cultural anxiety encounters the fear of desire and the difference, is given the chance to be re-initiated, re-directed and unleashed into another heterogeneous state and territory of the unsaid and unnamed behind the traditional cultural prison house. (shrink)

This paper deals with the function of metonymy in A Song of the Sad Coffee Shop (1996), a novel by Taiwan’s woman writer Shao-lin Chu (b. 1966). For my reading of the novel’s narrative, I should like to appropriate a Jakobsonian understanding of metaphoric and metonymic functions. This approach will hopefully help in analyzing the significance of the protagonist’s quest for identification in her trip to Madagascar, in which the juxtaposition of places of similar geographical features works to construct a (...) contiguity between them, and goes on to achieve a rapprochement of mind and body in the practice and process of philosophical cultivation. The protagonist’s trip, as a quest for home and identity, through the metonymic power of identification and localization, finally calls into question the fixity of the concept of home and homeland, the expedition itself turning into a mysterious journey of self-cultivation and home-coming. (shrink)

This paper deals with the function of metonymy in A Song of the Sad Coffee Shop (1996), a novel by Taiwan’s woman writer Shao-lin Chu (b. 1966). For my reading of the novel’s narrative, I should like to appropriate a Jakobsonian understanding of metaphoric and metonymic functions. This approach will hopefully help in analyzing the significance of the protagonist’s quest for identification in her trip to Madagascar, in which the juxtaposition of places of similar geographical features works to construct a (...) contiguity between them, and goes on to achieve a rapprochement of mind and body in the practice and process of philosophical cultivation. The protagonist’s trip, as a quest for home and identity, through the metonymic power of identification and localization, finally calls into question the fixity of the concept of home and homeland, the expedition itself turning into a mysterious journey of self-cultivation and home-coming. (shrink)

This paper deals with the function of metonymy in A Song of the Sad Coffee Shop (1996), a novel by Taiwan’s woman writer Shao-lin Chu (b. 1966). For my reading of the novel’s narrative, I should like to appropriate a Jakobsonian understanding of metaphoric and metonymic functions. This approach will hopefully help in analyzing the significance of the protagonist’s quest for identification in her trip to Madagascar, in which the juxtaposition of places of similar geographical features works to construct a (...) contiguity between them, and goes on to achieve a rapprochement of mind and body in the practice and process of philosophical cultivation. The protagonist’s trip, as a quest for home and identity, through the metonymic power of identification and localization, finally calls into question the fixity of the concept of home and homeland, the expedition itself turning into a mysterious journey of self-cultivation and home-coming. (shrink)

While consumer motivation to maintain a relationship with a retailer is a function of personal idiosyncratic characteristics, specific perceptions of retailers may play a role in influencing receptivity to relationship maintenance. This study integrates relationship marketing tactics and corporate associates into a model of consumer ethical purchasing behavior that improves the relationship between sellers and buyers. Results show social benefits, special treatment benefits, CSR, and service quality have direct and indirect impact on ethically questionable consumer behaviors in retailing. This study (...) also modifies the consumer ethics scale of Muncy and Vitell for the East Asian market with good reliability and validity in order to measure ethically questionable consumption behaviors in retailing. Finally, some theoretical contribution and practical implications are discussed. (shrink)

Our great teacher and leader Chairman Mao always stressed the study and propagation of materialist dialectics and dedicated himself to the application of materialist dialectics in analyzing problems, directing revolution and, through practical struggle, advancing the dialectics of revolution ceaselessly. In that immortal collection of Marxist-Leninist essays, Selected Works of Mao Tsetung, Volume Five, Chairman Mao provided us with a new chapter of materialist dialectics. Essays of particular interest included in Volume Five are: "On the Policies for Our Work in (...) Tibet — Directive of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China," "In Refutation of ‘Uniformity of Public Opinion,’" "On the Ten Major Relationships," "Speech at the Second Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China," "Talks at a Conference of Secretaries of Provincial, Municipal and Autonomous Region Party Committees," "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People," "Speech at the Chinese Communist Party's National Conference on Propoganda Work," and "A Dialectical Approach to Inner-Party Unity." These essays provide us with important educational materials for learning Chairman Mao's new thought and new conclusions concerning dialectics, and comprise a supremely powerful weapon of thought for carrying through the wise political policies of Chairman Hua and deeply criticizing the "gang of four.". (shrink)

English uses the horizontal spatial metaphors to express time (e.g., the good days ahead of us). Chinese also uses the vertical metaphors (e.g., 'the month above' to mean last month). Do Chinese speakers, then, think about time in a different way than English speakers? Boroditsky [Boroditsky, L. (2001). Does language shape thought? Mandarin and English speakers' conceptions of time. Cognitive Psychology, 43(1), 1-22] claimed that they do, and went on to conclude that 'language is a powerful tool in shaping habitual (...) thought about abstract domains' (such as time). By estimating the frequency of usage, we found that Chinese speakers actually use the horizontal spatial metaphors more often than the vertical metaphors. This offered no logical ground for Boroditsky's claim. We were also unable to replicate her experiments in four different attempts. We conclude that Chinese speakers do not think about time in a different way than English speakers just because Chinese also uses the vertical spatial metaphors to express time. (shrink)

Recently discovered transcription‐independent features of p53 involve the choice of DNA damage repair pathway after PARylation, and p53's complex formation with phosphoinositide lipids, PI(4,5)P2. PARylation‐mediated rapid accumulation of p53 at DNA damage sites is linked to the recruitment of downstream repair factors and tumor suppression. This links p53's capability to sense damaged DNA in vitro and its relevant functions in cells. Further, PI(4,5)P2 rapidly accumulates at damage sites like p53 and complexes with p53, while it is required for ATR recruitment. (...) These findings help explain how p53 and PI(4,5)P2 maintain genome stability by directing DNA repair pathway choice. Additionally, there is a strong correlation between p53 sequence homology, genome mutation rates as well as lifespans across various mammalian species. Further investigation is required to better understand the connections between genome stability, tumor suppression, longevity and the transcriptional‐independent function of p53. (shrink)

This essay articulates one way to conduct a cultural intervention from the Asia/Pacific region that recognizes the cultural governance of “Other” traffics. I investigate the discursive framework of Charlie Chan and Hawai'i detective fiction to inform the ways in which nation-states police cultural difference and enact geo-cultural homogeneity. I contend that Charlie Chan acts as a narrative of containment by inscribing and transcribing those spaces, times and bodies that would otherwise disrupt the national field of America. In particular, the imaginative (...) geography of Charlie Chan not only affirms the tropical paradise coding of Hawai'i, it attempts to provide disciplinary insights from the perspective of a “native informant”; the figure of Charlie Chan translates and forecloses the discordant rhythms of minority and “native” communities in ways that enable the production of popular television shows such as Hawaii Five-O, Magnum P.I. and Baywatch Hawaii. However,despite this national deployment of Charlie Chan, I want to suggest that Charlie Chan can also be read as a tactic of geopolitical resistance. His figure can assume a parodic and critical stance in the form of a native mis-informant, and by so doing, his character insecures dark bodies, times, spaces of the Orient and the Oceanic. (shrink)

Background: Neurofeedback training has recently been proposed as a valuable technique for cognitive enhancement and psychiatric amelioration. However, effect of NFT of alpha activity on memory is controversial. The current study analyzed previous works in terms of randomized and blinded analyses, training paradigms, and participant characteristics to validate the efficacy of alpha NFT on memory in a healthy population.Objectives: A systematic meta-analysis of studies with randomized controlled trials was performed to explore the effect of alpha NFT on working memory and (...) episodic memory in a healthy population.Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library from January 1, 1999, to November 30, 2019. Previous studies were evaluated with the Cochrane risk of bias. A meta-analysis calculating absolute weighted standardized mean difference using random-effects models was employed. Heterogeneity was estimated using I2 statistics. Funnel plots and Egger's test were performed to evaluate the quality of evidence.Results: Sixteen studies with 217 healthy participants in the control group and 210 participants in the alpha group met the eligibility criteria. Alpha NFT studies with WM measures presented little publication bias, and 5 of 7 domains in the Cochrane RoB exhibited a low risk of bias. The overall effect size from 14 WM studies was 0.56. Six EM studies exhibited an effect size of 0.77.Conclusion: Meta-analysis results suggest that alpha NFT seems to have a positive effect on the WM and EM of healthy participants. Future efforts should focus on the neurophysiological mechanisms of alpha NFT in memory. (shrink)

This book tells about the "History of Zen" in China and Japan. It has altogether 16 chapters. The first eight chapters are about Zen in China and the later eight chapters about Zen in Japan. It is mainly concerned with a detailed account of inheriting lineage and sermons of different Zen schools and sects in China and Japan as well as the specific facts of Chinese monks crossing over to Japan for preaching and Japanese monks coming to China for studying. (...) Chan (Zen) Buddhism first arose in China some fifteen hundred years ago, with Bodhidarma or Daruma being the First Patriarch. It would go on to become the dominant form of Buddhism in China in the late Tang Dynasty, absorbing China's local culture to form a kind of Zen Buddhism with Chinese characteristics. Zen Buddhism has not only exerted considerable influence on Chinese society and culture throughout its history, but has also found its way into Japan and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The lineage charts at the end of the book, collected by the author from different corners of the world, represent an invaluable resource. Further, the works and views on Zen of Western scholars introduced in this book are of great reference value for the Zen world. (shrink)

Students often face challenges while learning computer programming because programming languages’ logic and visual presentations differ from human thought processes. If the course content does not closely match learners’ skill level, the learner cannot follow the learning process, resulting in frustration, low learning motivation, or abandonment. This research proposes a web programming learning recommendation system to provide students with personalized guidance and step-by-step learning planning. The system contains front-end and back-end web development instructions. It can create personalized learning paths to (...) help learners achieve a sense of accomplishment. The system can help learners build self-confidence and improve learning effectiveness. In study 1, the recommendation system was developed based on the personal data and feedback of 41 professional web design engineers. The system uses C4.5 decision tree methods to develop a programming learning recommendation model to provide appropriate learning recommendations and establish personalized learning paths. The test group included 13 beginner programmers. After 4 weeks’ programming instructions in front-end and back-end web development, the learners were interviewed to understand their preferences and learning effectiveness. The results show that the effectiveness of the recommendation system is acceptable. In study 2, online real-time feedback and adaptive instruction platform is developed, which is different from the past adaptive curriculums mainly using the Internet platform and only the submitted assignments to determine the newly recommended learning process for students. The study found that the students’ learning performance in the adaptive instruction group is better than those in the fixed instruction group. (shrink)

At times making the right life-choices can feel like an overwhelming pressure. In this delightful book, a wise Master leads a young pupil on a journey through China, dispensing wisdom & sound advice at every turn. The pupil gains experience of life's ups & downs, & eventually achieves fulfillment. Chao-Hsiu Chen's reflective account is a pleasure to read. You will quickly associate with the lessons for life learned by the pupil, & enjoy the glimpses of everyday rural China revealed (...) along the way. This beautiful & inspirational book is illustrated throughout with Chen's sublime ink paintings, which perfectly complement her text. Translated from the Chinese. (shrink)

In this study, we used the framework of institutional anomie theory The future of anomie theory, Northeastern University Press, Boston, 1997) to examine the relationship between supervisors’ ethics and their personal value orientation, including achievement and pecuniary materialism. We further investigated whether these individual-level associations were moderated by societal factors consisting of income inequality, government efficiency, foreign competition, and technological advancement. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze data of 16,464 supervisors from 42 nations obtained from the 2010–2014 wave of (...) the World Values Survey. Results showed that strong achievement value orientation was positively related to willingness to justify ethically suspect behaviors; government efficiency and technological advancement, respectively, had negative and positive moderating effects on this relationship. On the other hand, foreign competition had a positive moderating effect on the association between pecuniary materialism and ethicality. (shrink)

We proposed a model to examine the relationship among different types of weight-related stigmas and their relationship to quality of life. We recruited 430 dyads of elementary school children [mean age = 10.07 years; nboy = 241 ; noverweight = 138 ] and their parents. Parents completed QoL instruments about their children assessing generic QoL and weight-related QoL. Children completed QoL instruments assessing generic QoL and weight-related QoL and stigma scales assessing experienced weight stigma, weight-related self-stigma, and perceived weight stigma. (...) Experienced weight stigma was significantly associated with perceived weight stigma, and in turn, perceived weight stigma was significantly associated with weight-related self-stigma. However, experienced weight stigma was not directly associated with weight-related self-stigma. In addition, experienced stigma was negatively associated with both child-rated and parent-rated QoL. Perceived weight stigma was associated only with parent-rated weight-related QoL but not child-rated QoL. Self-stigma was associated with child-rated QoL but not parent-rated QoL. Moreover, perceived weight stigma and weight-related self-stigma were significant mediators in the association between body weight and children's QoL; experienced weight stigma was not a significant mediator. The study findings can be used to inform healthcare providers about the relationship among different types of stigmas and their influence on child-rated and parent-rated QoL and help them develop interventions to address the global trend of overweight/obesity in youth and pediatric populations. (shrink)