本书运用历史与逻辑相统一的辩证方法,对中西美学的社会渊源及历史走向进行了微观的分析和宏观的把握,试图在动态的比较中发现中西美学不同的民族特色和人类美学的共同规律。.

In 2018-2019, at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, we developed and piloted a narrative-based health systems science intervention for patients living with HIV and medical students in which medical students co-wrote patients’ life narratives for inclusion in the electronic health record. The pilot study aimed to assess the acceptability of the “life narrative protocol” from multiple stakeholder positions and characterize participants’ experiences of the clinical and pedagogical implications of the LNP. Students were recruited from (...) KSOM. Patients and staff were recruited from the Maternal, Child, and Adolescent/Adult Center for Infectious Disease and Virology at Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center. Ten patients, seventeen students, and ten MCA staff participated in the pilot study. Qualitative methods were used to gather data from students’, patients’, and staff’s perspectives. Three themes emerged from the thematic analysis: patients’ life narratives conveyed their unique life experiences and voices; the protocol could result in wide-ranging effects on HIV care; the LNP enabled students to contribute value to patients’ healthcare. Across groups, participants considered the LNP an acceptable intervention. The LNP, its limitations, and implications for HIV care, narrative medicine, and health information technology are presented. (shrink)

Man's interpretations of natural phenomena change and develop gradually in accordance with his knowledge of them and the accumulation of scientific data about them. In studying a subject, it is very important to understand the history of the development of the subject and the general state of theoretical thinking on the subject. By so doing, we can embrace the experience and knowledge secured by scholars in the past and broaden our vision in order to avoid tortuous paths. The author of (...) this article will review biological theories and the history of their development as the beginning of our study of the histories of natural science and philosophy. (shrink)

Why do some democracies self-destruct? Using the collapse of democracy in ancient Athens and the Weimar Republic, as well as the uncertain fate of democratic rule in the United States and China today as illustrative examples, Mark Chou examines the conditions and characteristics of democracy that make it prone to self-destruct. In drawing out the political lessons from these past collapses, he explains how a democracy can, simply by being democratic, sow the seeds of its own destruction.

Inspired by Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, many East Asian ethical leaders have aspired to emulate seemingly unattainable sages and buddhas throughout history. This aspiration challenges the common psychological view that significant gaps between role models and actual selves might hinder emulation motivation. It also differs from Western findings, which suggest that ethical leadership often emerges from emulating attainable exemplars like immediate supervisors or mentors. To decipher this intriguing emulation behavior in East Asia, this study employed a multiple-case approach involving 25 (...) ethical leaders from Taiwan. Results indicate that these ethical leaders formulate three approaches to sustain emulation motivation for seemingly unattainable exemplars. First, they draw on East Asian philosophies to address demotivating factors such as ego threats and goal unattainability. Second, they embrace the cultural values of the Sinosphere, amplifying motivators like self-betterment, altruism, and life purpose. Lastly, they capitalize on the collective tendency of their culture to assimilate positive environmental influences, including societal norms and social support. These findings elucidate how and why many East Asian ethical leaders sustain buddha/sage emulation: The cultural resources of the Sinosphere nurture effective psychological strategies, underpinned by universal psychological mechanisms that suggest wider applicability across various societies. (shrink)

The search for new ideas often frustratingly cycles back to old ones, a phenomenon known as fixation. Recent research has shown ways to kick‐start finding new uses for familiar objects, a prototypical creativity task: wandering in the mind or the world or working on a messy desk. Those techniques seem to succeed by helping break fixation, but do not guide the search for new ideas. The perspective‐taking or human‐centric or empathic mindset championed by many in HCI and in design firms (...) does provide a search strategy. We compared the mind‐wandering mindset to a perspective‐taking mindset, the latter priming thinking of ways that people in different roles (gardener, artist, etc.) might use the objects. In two studies, the Perspective‐Taking mindset yielded more ideas and more original ideas than Mind‐Wandering, which did not differ from a No‐Mindset control. Original ideas came late, rewarding persistence. The perspective‐taking mindset is productive for problem‐solving, forecasting, and social interactions as well as innovation. (shrink)

From the popularity of flipped teaching in United States primary and high schools, it is thought that students have more learning control to adjust to the learning progress and are assisted in problem solving and learning guidance during class period. It is believed that flipped teaching could prompt underachieving learners’ active learning and thereby enhance learning effectiveness. A total of 386 high school students in Chungli, Taiwan, were part of an experimental study and the research results are summarized below: Students (...) who participated in the flipped teaching models demonstrated better comprehension levels with the teaching content due to this change in learning style and attitude, which in turn, enhanced learning effectiveness. To eliminate poor language performance of underachieving students, it is necessary to lay solid foundations to gradually enhance language learning effectiveness regarding this particular group of students. Films suitable for students’ individual ability could be combined with new language learned in the unit to genuinely assist underachieving learners’ language learning effectiveness. For students who care about their performance, a “system of play” style grouping should be determined in order to enable the tracking of group performance and term performance. According to the results, further developments regarding active learning ability, boosts in learning interests, enhanced learning effectiveness, and the prompting of creativity resulting in a shift from passive learner to active learner have been proposed. (shrink)

According to the spreading hypothesis of object-based attention, a subliminal cue that can successfully capture attention to a location within an object should also cause attention to spread throughout the whole cued object and lead to the same-object advantage. Instead, we propose that a subliminal cue favors shifts of attention between objects and strengthens the between-object link, which is coded primarily within the dorsal pathway that governs the visual guidance of action. By adopting the two-rectangle method and using an effective (...) subliminal cue to compare with the classic suprathreshold cue, we found a different result pattern with suprathreshold cues than with subliminal cues. The suprathreshold cue replicated the conventional location and object effects, whereas a subliminal cue led to a different-object advantage with a facilitatory location effect and a same-object advantage with an inhibitory location effect. These results support our consciousness-dependent shifting hypothesis but not the spreading hypothesis. (shrink)

Several features of the yeast mitochondrial genome, including high mutation rate, dynamic genomic structure, small effective population size, and dispensability for cellular viability, make it a promising candidate for generating hybrid incompatibility and driving speciation. Cytonuclear incompatibility, a specific type of Dobzhansky‐Muller genetic incompatibility caused by improper interactions between mitochondrial and nuclear genomes, has previously been observed in a variety of organisms, yet its role in speciation remains obscure. Recent studies in Saccharomyces yeast species provide a new insight, with experimental (...) evidence that cytonuclear incompatibility and DNA sequence divergence are both causes of the reproductive isolation of different yeast species. Interestingly, these two mechanisms seem to be perfectly complementary to each other in terms of their effects and evolutionary trajectories. Direct molecular analyses of the incompatible genes in yeasts have started to shed light on the evolutionary forces driving speciation. Editor's suggested further reading in BioEssaysThe cytoplasmic structure hypothesis for ribosome assembly, vertical inheritance, and phylogeny AbstractMitochondrial bioenergetics as a major motive force of speciation Abstract. (shrink)

The unified theory of dose and effect, as indicated by the median-effect equation for single and multiple entities and for the first and higher order kinetic/dynamic, has been established by T.C. Chou and it is based on the physical/chemical principle of the massaction law (J. Theor. Biol. 59: 253-276, 1976 (質量作用中效定理) and Pharmacological Rev. 58: 621-681, 2006) (普世中效指數定理). The theory was developed by the principle of mathematical induction and deduction (數學演繹歸納法). Rearrangements of the median-effect equation lead to Michaelis-Menten, Hill, (...) Scatchard, and Henderson-Hasselbalch equations. The “median” serves as the universal reference point and the “common link” for the relationship of all entities and is also the “harmonic mean” of kinetic dissociation constants. Over 300 mechanism-specific equations have been derived and published using the mathematical induction-deduction process. These equations can be deduced into several general equations, including the median-mediated whole/part equation, combination index theorem, isobologram equation, and polygonogram. It is proven that “dose” and “effect” are interchangeable, thus, “substance” and “function” are interchangeable, which leads to “the unity theory” (劑效、心物、知行一元論) in quantitative mathematical philosophy (數學的定量哲學) in functional context. Therefore, a general theory centered on the “median” and based on equilibrium dynamics has evolved. In other words: [「中」的宇宙觀： 以「中」爲基凖的動力學生態平衡]. Based on the median-effect equation of the mass-action law, the fundamental claim is that we can draw “a specific cure” for only two data points, if they are determined accurately. This claim has far reaching consequences since it defies the general held belief that two points can dray only a straight line. Remarkably, the unity theory (一元論) providesscientific/mathematical interpretation in equations and in graphics of Chinese ancient philosophy, including Fu-Si Ba Gua (伏羲八卦), Dao’s Harmony (和諧), the Confucian doctrine of the mean (儒家中庸之道), Chou Dun-Yi’s (周敦頤, 1017-1073) From Wu-ji to Tai-ji and Taiji Tu Sho (無極而太極及太極圖說). The moderntopological analysis for trinity yields an exact correspondence to the Ba-Gua, which was introduced over 4,000 years ago. Furthermore, the median-centered algorithm, promotes modern ecological content (生態學) in the equilibral dynamic state of harmony. It is concluded that Western science and Eastern philosophy are directly linked and complementary to each other. Since the truth in mathematical quantitative philosophy (數學的定量哲學) has no boundaries, East and West philosophies can flourish together for the common goal and ideal in science and in humanity (世界大同). (shrink)

If the uncanny is something one cannot quite come to terms with in the first place, can the uncanny really be represented? There is clearly in the act itselfsomething quite against the grain of referentiality. What in other words is the point of saying that which cannot very well be said in explicit terms? And how do we account for an increase in modern times of efforts to perform what at first look seems infeasible? It also remains to be seen (...) how the Chinese uncanny is represented with the help of a seemingly inane rhetorical tour de force in which the uncanny is confirmed as being historically true despite everything else in the story that points in the opposite direction. (shrink)

Democracy and tragedy captured a delicate poise in ancient Athens. While many today perceive democracy as a finite, unquestionable and almost procedural form of governance that glorifies equality and liberty for their own sake, the Athenians saw it as so much more. Beyond the burgeoning equality and liberty, which were but fronts for a deeper goal, finitude, unimpeachability and procedural norms were constantly contradicted by boundlessness, subversion and disarray. In such a world, where certainty and immortality were luxuries beyond the (...) reach of humankind, tragedy gave comfort and inspired greatness. Before the disciplinary segregation and the delimiting of the poetic and artistic, tragic art dramatized the paradox of existence in a most political manner. The purpose of this paper is to explicitly highlight the crucial links that existed between democracy and tragedy during their formative years in ancient Athens. What was it about democracy that necessarily incited and depended upon the ascendency of tragedy during the time of the Athenian city-state? And why and how did a peculiar institution such as Athenian tragedy play so central a role in the democratic polis of Athens? (shrink)

Opaqueness of pp collisions is evaluated at three CERN-ISR energies. Comparisons with predictions of the factorizable eikonal models and the scaling hypothesis are made. It appears that results are in favor of the factorizable models.

ExcerptIntroduction When Hans J. Morgenthau—one of the key architects of twentieth-century international relations1—first penned Scientific Man vs. Power Politics, it was his scorn of modern science, or “dogmatic scientism,” that spoke the loudest. But with the publication of Politics Among Nations only several years later, this scorn had seemingly vanished. Focused on an altogether different enterprise, Morgenthau now set about to “present a theory of international politics.”2 What captivated him most in this endeavor was reality—something that he contended was dictated (...) by certain objective laws—and the creation of “a rational theory that reflects, however imperfectly and…. (shrink)

The computational complexity of finding a shortest path in a two-dimensional domain is studied in the Turing machine-based computational model and in the discrete complexity theory. This problem is studied with respect to two formulations of polynomial-time computable two-dimensional domains: domains with polynomialtime computable boundaries, and polynomial-time recognizable domains with polynomial-time computable distance functions. It is proved that the shortest path problem has the polynomial-space upper bound for domains of both type and type ; and it has a polynomial-space lower (...) bound for the domains of type , and has a #P lower bound for the domains of type. (shrink)

We have shown that FEF lesion-induced extinction could be compensated for by changing the relative temporal onsets of two targets presented on either side of the midline. Monkeys were trained to make saccades to either of two identical visual stimuli presented with various stimulus onset asynchronies (SOA). In intact animals the targets were chosen with equal probability when they appeared simultaneously. After unilateral FEF lesions an SOA of 67–116 msec had to be introduced, with the contralesional target appearing first, to (...) obtain equal probability choice. With a smaller target separation, averaging saccades occurred with highest frequency at similar SOAs. Our findings suggest that neglect may be attributable to more time being required in the damaged hemisphere for converting sensory information into motor responses. (shrink)

Several authors have characterized a striking phenomenon of perceptual learning in visual discrimination tasks. This learning process is selective for the stimulus characteristics and location in the visual field. Since the human visual system exploits symmetry for object recognition we were interested in exploring how it learns to use preattentive symmetry cues for discriminating simple, meaningless, forms. In this study, similar to previous studies of perceptual learning, we asked whether the effects of practice acquired in the discrimination of pairs of (...) shape with a specific orientation of the symmetry axis would transfer to the discrimination of shapes with different orientation of symmetry axis, or to shapes presented in different areas of the visual field. We found that there was no learning transfer between forms with very different axes of symmetry (90° apart). Interestingly, however, we found a transfer of learning effect to horizontally oriented symmetry axis from a condition with an axis of symmetry differing by 45°. Also it appears that some subjects took a longer time to learn than the typical fast learning paradigm would predict. Data showed that when observers practice discrimination of meaningless symmetric forms, consistent improvement in the performance occurs. This improvement is lasting over days, and it tends to be specific for the area of the visual field trained. We will discuss results from some of the observers whose learning was not fast, but who actually improved with more practice and with large time intervals (1 day) between training sessions. (shrink)

This research aims at exploring the underlying mechanisms how consumers respond to statistical and narrative health claims when they evaluate food products. Moreover, personality traits and product-related information are also incorporated to discuss their effects on the relationship between message types and consumers’ food product evaluation. The results indicate that statistical health claims are more persuasive than narrative health claims. In addition, the results show that individuals’ health knowledge, NFC moderate the relationship between message types and product evaluation. It argues (...) that individuals with limited health knowledge evaluate food product more favorably when statistical health claims are used, while individuals with more health knowledge evaluate food product more favorably when narrative health claims are used. Moreover, it reveals that individuals with high NFC evaluate food product more favorably when statistical health claims are used, while individuals with low NFC evaluate food product more favorably when narrative health claims are used. (shrink)

In 2014, SAGE Publications retracted 60 articles authored by Taiwanese researchers due to suspected peer-review fraud. This scandal led to the resignation of the Minister of Education at the time since he coauthored several retracted works. Issues regarding the lack of transparent decision-making processes regarding authorship were further disclosed. Motivated by the scandal, we believe that this is one of the first empirical studies of questionable authorship practices in East Asian academia; we investigate Taiwanese researchers’ perceptions of QAPs. To meet (...) this purpose, a self-reported survey was developed. Four hundred and three local researchers, including research faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and Ph.D. students, participated in the survey. Four major findings resulted. First, the underlying causes of Taiwanese doctoral students’ engagement in QAPs were attributable to their desire to achieve particular academic-related successes and their feeling of reciprocal obligation to support other researchers. Second, the underlying motives for Taiwanese research associates’ engagement in QAPs were attributable to their attempts to achieve particular career successes and of the desire to consolidate their professional networks. Third, the participants generally agreed that QAPs had a long history among local academics but were rarely reported. Fourth, participants’ backgrounds had significant effects on their responses regarding particular authorship issues; however, their gender did not have a significant effect. QAPs are a critical issue in Taiwanese academia; therefore, we discussed the implications of the current findings including subsequent instruction and future research. (shrink)

This study examined the impact of birth order on religious behaviors among college students raised by two highly religious Mormon parents. It is argued that individuals raised in the same religious family might not be equally religious due to some differential childhood experiences based on their birth-order ranking. Self-administered questionnaires were completed by undergraduate students taking classes at a state university in Utah. Results of a multivariate analysis, based on participants coming from highly religious Mormon families, indicated that earlier-borns showed (...) a higher Mormon religiosity than later-borns. (shrink)

In this paper, have two parts: the first is the critical part, in this section I will critically pointed out that the reductionism of the research project in the face of ideas and language to explain the dualism of the plight of the game, only to avoid paying with phenomenology price. Followed by the construction of the part, I will be back "perspective of dualism," the anthropological roots, and this "perspective dualism" itself does not exclude a unified view of natural (...) evolution. On the "spirit of the decision situation of the brain" and "the spirit of stylized brain," the complex interactions between the images is a philosophical reflection of the results, rather than the results of natural science knowledge itself. I represent a non-scientific or a "soft" the naturalistic point of view and attempt to obtain a between Kant and Darwin compatible views. This article mainly has two parts: First is the critique part, I will criticize in this part and it will be pointed out that when the reductional research plan will face the dualism's difficult situation of the explanation viewpoint and the language game, it tries only to avoid to pay the price of epiphenomenon. Next constructs the construction part, I will recall the anthropological root of "the perspective dualism", because this "the perspective dualism" itself has not certainly repelled the unified viewpoint of the natural theory of evolution. About the complex interactive image between "cerebrum" and "spirit" is one philosophical reflexive achievement, but is not the natural sciences knowledge itself achievement. I represent one kind of non-science or "soft" naturalism viewpoint and try obtaining the compatible opinion between Kant and Darwin. (shrink)