Taiwan was affected by an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in early 2003. A questionnaire survey was conducted to determine (1) the perceptions of risk of SARS infection in nurses; (2) the proportion of nurses considering leaving their job; and (3) work as well as non-work factors related to nurses' consideration of leaving their job because of the SARS outbreak. Nearly three quarters (71.9%) of the participants believed they were 'at great risk of exposure to SARS', 49.9% felt'an (...) increase in workload', and 32.4% thought that people avoided them because of their job; 7.6% of the nurses not only considered that they should not care for SARS patients but were looking for another job or considering resignation. The main predictors of nurses' consideration of leaving their job were shorter tenure, increased work stress, perceived risk of fatality from SARS, and affected social relationships. The findings are important in view of potential impending threats of pandemics such as avian influenza. (shrink)

In consideration of that the correlation between any two assets of the asset pool is always stochastic in the actual market and that collateralized debt obligation pricing models under nonhomogeneous assumptions have no semianalytic solutions, we designed a numerical algorithm based on randomized quasi-Monte Carlo simulation method for CDO pricing with stochastic correlations under nonhomogeneous assumptions and took Gaussian factor copula model as an example to conduct experiments. The simulation results of RQMC and Monte Carlo method were compared from the (...) perspective of variance changes. The results showed that this numerical algorithm was feasible, efficient, and stable for CDO pricing with stochastic correlation under nonhomogeneous assumptions. This numerical algorithm is expected to be extended to other factor Copula models for CDO pricing with stochastic correlations under nonhomogeneous assumptions. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: What Is Technology? Explicit Knowledge and Tacit Knowledge References and Further Reading.

Resumo: Kong-Zi Jia Yu é um livro que registrou muitas conversas e pensamentos de Confúcio e seus discípulos, tornando-se uma fonte indispensável para explorar a cultura e as ideias tradicionais chinesas. Em particular, as ideias de governança apresentadas no livro ainda são altamente relevantes, hoje. Os pensamentos orientados para as pessoas eram o núcleo da sabedoria da governança, a arte da realeza paradigmática e os cortesãos virtuosos eram uma parte sensata da governança, e as ideias da penologia asseguravam ainda mais (...) suas operações robustas. Na nova era, novas ideias como “colocar as pessoas como prioridade máxima”, os pensamentos de Xi Jinping sobre a construção de equipes de quadros e o governo da China pelo estado de direito foram propostos sucessivamente como conversões criativas e desenvolvimento inovador da cultura chinesa, que foi levado adiante, ao longo de milhares de anos. Herdar e promover esses “genes” culturais, apurar a sua essência ideológica, são de grande valor referencial para o cultivo do panorama político atual, enriquecendo a conotação da construção da equipe de quadros, na nova era, aderindo ao Estado de Direito e dando ideias para a formulação das atuais políticas de governança rural. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: What Is Technology Management/Management of Technology (MOT)? Significance of Technology Management New Endeavors in Management of Technology References and Further Reading.

This chapter contains sections titled: References and Further Reading.

: Filial piety is a core value in ancient Chinese culture, and it still exerts significant influence on the attitudes, behavior and daily life of Chinese people today. At present, China is facing an increasingly aging population and the concern how to properly care for the elderly. Through the vertical review of filial piety in China’s history, two constant elements, namely support and respect, stands out among China’s traditions. There is an argument that addressing the contemporary elderly care problem requires (...) the adequate support from two perspectives, material support from families and societies for the aged and spiritual caring for them. It is further argued that any approaches aimed at addressing contemporary elderly care issue should take into consideration the actual social and culture conditions in China, including the cultural traditions of filial piety. Resumo: A piedade filial era um valor central na cultura chinesa antiga, e ainda exerce influência significativa nas atitudes, comportamento e vida cotidiana do povo chinês. Atualmente, a China está enfrentando uma população cada vez mais envelhecida e as preocupações associadas a como cuidar adequadamente dos idosos do país. Através da revisão vertical da piedade filial, ao longo da história da China, para este trabalho, dois elementos constantes emergiram nas tradições, a saber, apoio e respeito. Argumenta-se que a abordagem do problema contemporâneo do cuidado ao idoso exigirá a incorporação adequada de ambas as dimensões, ou seja, fornecer não apenas apoio material ao idoso, na família e na sociedade, mas também prover seu cuidado espiritual. Argumenta-se ainda que quaisquer abordagens destinadas a tratar da questão devem ser baseadas nas condições sociais e culturais reais, na China, incluindo e passando além das tradições culturais de piedade filial. (shrink)

False information is always produced after the outbreak of major emergencies. Taking this into consideration, this paper discusses the behavior of multiple parties in relation to false information dissemination after major emergencies. First, a game model is constructed, using relevant knowledge of evolutionary game theory, between three parties: regulatory institutions, opinion leaders, and ordinary Internet users. Second, the model equations are solved, and the evolutionary stability strategies of each game party under different circumstances are analyzed. Third, a numerical simulation is (...) applied to the evolutionary trends under different strategy combinations with varying parameters. The results show that the probability of each game party making ideal decisions is positively correlated with the degree of punishment imposed by regulatory institutions on opinion leaders who release false information, the reward provided by regulatory institutions on opinion leaders who release positive information, the degree of participation and satisfaction gained by Internet users in adopting positive information, the richness of authentic content released by opinion leaders, and the psychological identification of Internet users with opinion leaders. Meanwhile, the probability of each game party making ideal decisions is negatively correlated with investigation and evidence collection costs borne by opinion leaders who release positive information, the additional income for opinion leaders who have false information adopted by Internet users, the costs of Internet users’ time and energy when they adopt information released by opinion leaders, and the costs of independently judging the accuracy of information by Internet users. (shrink)

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) has become a remarkable experimental paradigm of dynamic emotion decision making. In recent years, research has emphasized the “prominent deck B (PDB) phenomenon” among normal (control group) participants, in which they favor “bad” deck B with its high-frequency gain structure—a finding that is incongruent with the original IGT hypothesis concerning foresightedness. Some studies have attributed such performance inconsistencies to cultural differences. In the present review, 86 studies featuring data on individual deck selections were drawn from (...) an initial sample of 958 IGT-related studies published from 1994 to 2017 for further investigation. The PDB phenomenon was found in 67.44% of the studies (58 of 86), and most participants were recorded as having adopted the “gain-stay loss-randomize” strategy to cope with uncertainty. Notably, participants in our sample of studies originated from 16 areas across North America, South America, Europe, Oceania, and Asia, and the findings suggest that the PDB phenomenon may be cross-cultural. (shrink)

T cells, which are derived from hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), are the most important components of adaptive immune system. Based on the expression of αβ and γδ receptors, T cells are mainly divided into αβ and γδ T cells. In the thymus, they share common progenitor cells, while undergoing a series of well‐characterized and different developmental processes. N6‐Methyladenosine (m6A), one of the most abundant modifications in mRNAs, plays critical roles in cell development and maintenance of function. Recently, we have demonstrated (...) that the depletion of m6A demethylase ALKBH5 in lymphocytes specifically induces an expansion of γδ T cells through the regulation of Jag1/Notch2 signaling, but not αβ T cells, indicating a checkpoint role of ALKBH5 and m6A modification in the early development of γδ T cells. Based on previous studies, many key pathway molecules, which exert dominant roles in γδ T cell fate determination, have been identified as the targets regulated by m6A modification. In this review, we mainly summarize the potential regulation between m6A modification and these key signaling molecules in the γδ T cell lineage commitment, to provide new perspectives in the checkpoint of γδ T cell development. (shrink)

This article considers the government, opinion leaders, and Internet users to be a system for correcting false information, and it considers the problem of correcting false information that arises in the aftermath of major emergencies. We use optimal control theory and differential game theory to construct differential game models of decentralized decision-making, centralized decision-making, and subsidized decision-making. The solutions to these models and their numerical simulations show that the government, opinion leaders, and Internet users exercise cost-subsidized decision-making instead of decentralized (...) decision-making. The equilibrium strategies, local optimal benefits, and overall optimal benefits of the system achieve Pareto improvement. Given the goal of maximizing the benefits to the system under centralized decision-making, the equilibrium results are Pareto-optimal. The research here provides a theoretical basis for dealing with the mechanism of correcting false information arising from major emergencies, and our conclusions provide methodological support for the government to effectively deal with such scenarios. (shrink)

The question of what determines brain laterality for auditory cognitive processing is unresolved. Here, we demonstrate a swap of hemisphere dominance from right to left during semantic interpretation of Chinese lexical tones in native speakers using simultaneously recorded mismatch negativity response and behavioral reaction time during dichotic listening judgment. The mismatch negativity, which is a brain wave response and indexes auditory processing at an early stage, indicated right hemisphere dominance. In contrast, the behavioral reaction time, which reflects auditory processing at (...) a later stage, indicated a right ear listening advantage, or left hemisphere dominance. The observed swap of hemisphere dominance would not occur when the lexical tone was substituted with a meaningless pure tone. This swap reveals dependence of hemisphere labor division initially on acoustic and then on functional cues of auditory inputs in the processing from sound to meaning. (shrink)

Few studies have actually explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in college students, although many studies have suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic poses a great threat to people’s mental health in many cohorts. Furthermore, college students may be a particularly vulnerable cohort that needs more attention and access to psychological services due to the psychological changes involved in the transition to college and the characteristics of college students’ study habits and lifestyle. Therefore, investigating the basic characteristics (...) of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on college freshmen is of great practical importance and has theoretical implications for the identification and provisioning of services to vulnerable cohorts. A total of 5,818 college freshmen completed the College Student Adaptability Inventory. The results suggest that the mean detection rate of the seven dimensions of undergraduate maladjustment to university is 27.13%. Specifically, livelihood self-management adaptability has the highest detection rate, while environmental general evaluation has the lowest detection rate. Moreover, the school adaptation of college freshmen is impacted by gender, number of siblings, and family socioeconomic status. Specifically, students who are female, an only child, and have a lower SES have lower levels of school adaptation. However, the school adaptation of college freshmen is not influenced by minority status or left-behind status. The findings of the present study suggest that the maladaptation of college freshmen has been a common phenomenon in China during the COVID-19 epidemic. Prevention programs may be most helpful if they pay more attention to effective intervention efforts for students who are female, an only child, and have a lower SES. (shrink)

ObjectivesSeveral studies have examined the effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on associative memory (AM) but findings were inconsistent. Here, we aimed to test whether twice-daily rTMS could significantly improve AM.MethodsIn this single-blind, sham-controlled experiment, 40 participants were randomized to receive twice-daily sham or real rTMS sessions for five consecutive days (a total of 16,000 pulses). The stimulation target in left inferior parietal lobule (IPL) exhibiting peak functional connectivity to the left hippocampus was individually defined for each participant. Participants (...) completed both a picture-cued word association task and Stroop test at baseline and 1 day after the final real or sham rTMS session. Effects of twice-daily rTMS on AM and Stroop test performance were compared using two-way repeated measures analysis of variance with main factors Group (real vs. sham) and Time (baseline vs. post-rTMS).ResultsThere was a significant Group × Time interaction effect. AM score was significantly enhanced in the twice-daily real group after rTMS, but this difference could not survive the post hoc analysis after multiple comparison correction. Further, AM improvement in the twice-daily real group was not superior to a previously reported once-daily rTMS group receiving 8,000 pulses. Then, we combined the twice- and once-daily real groups, and found a significant Group × Time interaction effect. Post hoc analysis indicated that the AM score was significantly enhanced in the real group after multiple comparisons correction.ConclusionOur prospective experiment did not show significant rTMS effect on AM, but this effect may become significant if more participants could be recruited as revealed by our retrospective analysis. (shrink)

Green finance plays a crucial bridge as an intermediary between finance and the environment, facilitating resource allocation. The disclosure of environmental information (EID) is vital for promoting sustainable economic development. This study utilizes panel data covering the period from 2012 to 2019, focusing on Chinese companies listed in high-polluting industries. The findings demonstrate that green finance policies have a significant positive impact on EID, while increased managerial power has a detrimental effect. However, green finance policies can mitigate the negative consequences (...) arising from moral hazard and adverse selection resulting from managerial power. They enhance the quality of EID by restricting long-term loan resources for polluting entities. The heterogeneity test reveals that the effectiveness of green finance policies in promoting EID varies across different regions of China. In non-state-owned companies, green finance policies are more effective in constraining managerial power. The moderating effect of green finance on managerial power is weakened by improvements in internal control. Green financing can offset the adverse impact of managerial power on EID when debt levels are high. Our research plays a crucial role in advancing micro-academic studies in the field of green finance. By strengthening internal controls for corporate managers and promoting EID policies, we provide essential support and guidance to decision-makers. (shrink)

The hippocampus is known to be comprised of several subfields, but the developmental trajectories of these subfields are under debate. In this study, we analyzed magnetic resonance imaging data from a cross-sectional sample using an automated segmentation tool to delineate the development of the hippocampal subregions from 6 to 26 years of age. We also examined whether gender and hemispheric differences influence the development of these subregions. For the whole hippocampus, the trajectory of development was observed to be an inverse-u. (...) A significant increase in volume with age was found for most of the subregions, except for the L/R-parasubiculum, L/R-fimbria, and L-HATA. Gender-related differences were also found in the development of most subregions, especially for the hippocampal tail, CA1, molecular layer HP, GC-DG, CA3, and CA4, which showed a consistent increase in females and an early increase followed by a decrease in males. A comparison of the average volumes showed that the right whole hippocampus was significantly larger, along with the R-presubiculum, R-hippocampal-fissure, L/R-CA1, and L/R-molecular layer HP in males in comparison to females. Additionally, the average volume of the right hemisphere was shown to be significantly larger for the hippocampal tail, CA1, molecular layer HP, GC-DG, CA3, and CA4. However, for the presubiculum, parasubiculum, and fimbria, the left side was shown to be larger. In conclusion, the hippocampal subregions appear to develop in various ways from childhood to adulthood, with both gender and hemispheric differences affecting their development. (shrink)

This paper investigates whether local religious beliefs have a significant impact on the practice of earnings management. We extend the existing literature on the role of firm characteristics in mitigating earnings management by showing that local religious beliefs significantly impact the practice of earnings management. Specifically, exploring firms located in the U.S. counties that vary from 2000 through 2010, we document the negative relationship between religiosity and earnings management using multivariate regression analysis. Our results show that firms in counties with (...) strong religious social norms are less likely to engage in earnings management. Furthermore, we attempt to mitigate endogeneity concerns by employing a modified Difference-Differences model and Propensity score matching methods. We find that the negative effects of religion on earnings management still hold. Overall, these findings emphasize the empirical relevance of the association between the local social norms and earnings manipulations. (shrink)

Anxious major depressive disorder is a common subtype of major depressive disorder; however, its unique neural mechanism is not well-understood currently. Using multimodal MRI data, this study examined common and specific alterations of amygdala subregions between patients with and without anxiety. No alterations were observed in the gray matter volume or intra-region functional integration in either patient group. Compared with the controls, both patient groups showed decreased functional connectivity between the left superficial amygdala and the left putamen, and between the (...) right superficial amygdala and the bilateral anterior cingulate cortex and medial orbitofrontal cortex, while only patients with anxiety exhibited decreased activity in the bilateral laterobasal and superficial amygdala. Moreover, the decreased activity correlated negatively with the Hamilton depression scale scores in the patients with anxiety. These findings provided insights into the pathophysiologic processes of anxious major depressive disorder and may help to develop new and effective treatment programs. (shrink)

BackgroundPsychological resilience may reduce the impact of psychological distress to some extent. We aimed to investigate the mental health status of the public during the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 and explore the level and related factors of anxiety and depression.MethodsFrom February 8 to March 9, 2020, 3,180 public completed the Zung’s Self-Rating Anxiety Scale for anxiety, Zung’s Self-Rating Depression Scale for depression, the Connor–Davidson resilience scale for psychological resilience, and the Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire for the attitudes and coping (...) styles.ResultsThe number of people with depressive symptoms was 1,303. The number of people with anxiety symptoms was 1,184. The depressed group and anxiety group had less education, more unmarried and younger age, as well as had significant different in SDS total score, SAS total score, CD-RISC total score, and SCSQ score. The binary logistic regression showed that female, strength, and the subscales of active coping style in SCSQ remained protective factors and passive coping style and higher SAS score were risk factors for depression. Optimism in CD-RISC was a protective factor, and passive coping styles and higher SDS score were risk factors for anxiety.LimitationsThis study adopted a cross-sectional design and used self-report questionnaires.ConclusionThe mental health of the public, especially females, the younger and less educational populations, and unmarried individuals, should be given more attention. Individuals with high level of mental resilience and active coping styles would have lower levels of anxiety and depression during the outbreak of COVID-19. (shrink)

ObjectiveThe impact of the mindfulness-based stress reduction program on psychological outcomes and quality of life in lung cancer patients remains unclear. This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the MBSR program on psychological states and QoL in lung cancer patients.MethodsEligible studies published before November 2021 were systematically searched from PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang databases. The risk of bias in eligible studies was assessed using the Cochrane tool. Psychological variables and QoL were evaluated (...) as outcomes. We used the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation system to grade the levels of evidence. Statistical analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.4 and STATA 14.0.ResultsA total of 17 studies involving 1,680 patients were included for meta-analysis eventually. MBSR program significantly relieved cancer-related fatigue and negative psychological states, enhanced positive psychological states, and improved quality of sleep. Evidence on MBSR programs' overall treatment effect for QoL revealed a trend toward statistical significance.ConclusionBased on our findings, the MBSR program shows positive effects on psychological states in lung cancer patients. This approach should be recommended as a part of the rehabilitation program for lung cancer patients.Systematic Review Registrationhttps://archive.org/details/osf-registrations-mwvbq-v1, identifier: 10.17605/OSF.IO/MWVBQ. (shrink)

Two kinds of probability expressions, verbal and numerical, have been used to characterize the uncertainty that people face. However, the question of whether verbal and numerical probabilities are cognitively processed in a similar manner remains unresolved. From a levels-of-processing perspective, verbal and numerical probabilities may be processed differently during early sensory processing but similarly in later semantic-associated operations. This event-related potential (ERP) study investigated the neural processing of verbal and numerical probabilities in risky choices. The results showed that verbal probability (...) and numerical probability elicited different N1 amplitudes but that verbal and numerical probabilities elicited similar N2 and P3 waveforms in response to different levels of probability (high to low). These results were consistent with a level-of-processing framework and suggest some internal consistency between the cognitive processing of verbal and numerical probabilities in risky choices. Our findings shed light on possible mechanism underlying probability expression and may provide the neural evidence to support the translation of verbal to numerical probabilities (or vice versa). (shrink)

Due to the epidemic, many offline educational institutions and even schools have begun to seek new teaching methods, and online teaching has become an important teaching method in this situation. Online teaching refers to the teaching mode in which teachers teach online through the Internet and students learn in online classrooms. Online teaching can reduce crowd contact between students and prevent the spread of the epidemic. However, due to the virtual nature of the Internet and the immaturity of the online (...) teaching system, the current online teaching method cannot be accepted by the majority of teachers and students. Therefore, this paper conducts a satisfaction survey on the psychological acceptance ability of students under the online teaching organization of English majors, aiming to understand the actual psychological burden brought by online teaching to students. The content of the questionnaire includes students' satisfaction with courses and teaching, satisfaction with teacher-student interaction, satisfaction with platforms and resources, satisfaction with teaching performance, and overall satisfaction. The survey results show that students' satisfaction with courses is generally above 4 points, while their satisfaction with teaching is generally lower, ranging from 3.65 to 3.94 points. Students' satisfaction with teacher-student interaction is not very high, around 3.75. Students' satisfaction with the teaching platform is higher than that of teachers, with a score of 4.05 or more. In terms of students' satisfaction with teaching performance, male students' satisfaction is above 4.45 points, while female students' satisfaction is 4.35 points. For overall satisfaction, male students scored above 4.45, while female students scored 4.35. Since the satisfaction in all aspects is higher than 3 points, it can be seen that most English majors are quite satisfied with the online teaching. (shrink)

Teacher emotion has become an important issue in English language teaching as it is a crucial construct in understanding teachers' responses to institutional policies. The study explored teachers' emotion labor and its impact on teachers' pedagogical decision-making in English for Specific Purposes teaching in a university of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China. Drawing on a poststructural perspective, the study examined data from two rounds of semi-structured interviews, policy documents and teaching artifacts. The analysis of data revealed that the major emotion (...) labor facing the participants revolved around students' disengagement in class. Teachers experienced mixed feelings of anticipation, disappointment, anger, and empathy toward students and distanced themselves from institutional feeling rules enforcing objective assessment of students' performance and punishing students for lack of engagement in class. The study found that teacher emotion labor served as the site for their pedagogical modifications. ESP teachers' beliefs in the importance of attending to students' needs become a powerful discourse in supporting teachers to strategically subvert institutional feeling rules and critically reflect on the dysfunctions of curriculum, orienting teachers' agentic actions in modifying pedagogical practices. We thus underscore this empowering discourse as the bridge to connect teachers' policy negotiation and their actual classroom practices. We also highlight teachers' pedagogical decision-making as a process of the interactions of teacher emotion, teachers' reflexive practices, and power relations. The study ended by suggesting more longitudinal research where teachers' beliefs as previously appropriated discourses could be examined comprehensively as they were both the construct of emotion labor and the potential subverting power in supporting teachers' pedagogical decision-making in policy negotiation. (shrink)

This study aims to apply self-congruity theory to examine the relationship between self-congruity of tourists and their perceived image of a gambling destination. This study employs the Euclidean distance model and extends Malhotra's pars of adjectives with five new items about gambling motives. A face-to-face questionnaire survey was used, and a total of 152 samples were collected from tourists in Macau. The results show that the actual self-image of tourists is more related to their perception of Macau image. For actual (...) congruence, tourists exhibit a greater tendency to match the informal, liberal, and emotional image of Macau. For ideal congruence, they have a tendency to match the contemporary, organized, and pleasant image of Macau. This study makes up for the deficiency of self-congruity theory in tourism research. This study helps tourism departments to develop appropriate strategies to promote gambling tourism and disseminate relevant information that can bring gambling destinations closer to tourists. (shrink)

Consumers mainly acquire information through social learning in online shopping environment, and social presence as a media attribute generated by real-time interactions in live streaming commerce is more conducive for consumers’ social learning. Therefore, it is worth investigating the roles of social presence and social learning on consumers’ purchase intention in the strong interactive environment. Based on social cognitive theory framework and drawing on social presence theory and social learning theory, this study investigates the relationships among social presence, social learning (...) process, and PI. Social presence is operationalized into social presence of others and social presence of interactions, whereas social learning process contains external interaction process [exploitative learning and exploratory learning ] and internal psychological process [cognitive appraisal and affective appraisal AAP)]. The results from a survey of 372 consumers of live streaming commerce indicate that SPO and SPI positively affect ETL and ERL and then contribute significantly to the building of CAP and AAP, which can lead to PI. The findings also provide guidance for brand managers and retailers in building more effective interactive atmosphere and promoting consumers’ positive attitude toward brands in live streaming marketing. (shrink)

Embodied cognition theory posits that concept representations inherently rely on sensorimotor experiences that accompany their acquisitions. This is well established through concrete concepts. However, it is debatable whether representations of abstract concepts are based on sensorimotor representations. This study investigated the causal role of associated motor experiences that accompany concept acquisition in the involvement of the motor system in the abstract verb processing. Through two experiments, we examined the action–sentence compatibility effect, in the test phase after an increase in motor (...) features during the learning phase for abstract verbs with low motor features or novel words with no conceptual features at all. After associated motor experiences were added in the word learning phase, action–sentence compatibility effect was found in the semantic processing tasks during the test phase for abstract verbs and novel words. This was lacking in the word font color judgment task requiring no semantic processing. Coupled with our previous study, these findings suggest that motor features formed during word learning could causally affect embodiment in the motor system for abstract verbs, and reactivation of motor experiences in abstract verb processing depends on a given task’s demands. Our study supports the view that conceptual representations, even abstract concepts, can be grounded in sensorimotor experiences. (shrink)

A new theory of the neuropsychological underpinnings of phenomenal consciousness, “asynchronous introspection theory,” is proposed that emphasizes asynchrony between different neurocognitive processes. We provide a detailed explanation of how a mind might arrive at a cognitive structure isomorphic to the cognitive structure that would emerge from experiential qualia. The theory suggests that a temporal illusion is created because of the mismatch between the real physical timeline and the neurally constructed timeline composed inside a person’s brain. This temporal illusion leads to (...) the origination of a thought that one has had a certain experience wherein the thought and the feeling seem synchronous to the person but, in fact, are not. This leads to the thought, “I had a feeling.” The theory is elaborated via a metaphorical “robot supervisor model” and is shown to explain many current problems of phenomenal consciousness. (shrink)

Yan Xin Life Science Technology-Optimized Caloric Restriction (YXLST-CR) is a unique food abstinence, which suppresses appetite and sensation of hunger while maintaining physiological homeostasis. The authors review the first clinical case study on YXLST-CR, or YXLST-bigu, a 15-day, 24-hour observation in 1987 on a 21-year-old female undergoing YXLST-bigu for several months. The participant took no food or water and conducted normal physical activities. The daily records of body weight, temperature, pulse rate, blood pressure, and daily urine test results showed no (...) abnormalities. Homeostasis was maintained during YXLST-CR. The authors also report serum leptin levels in a group of individuals undergoing YXLST-CR and a control group before and after a 24-hour water-only period. The leptin level prior to the observation for the YXLST-CR group was lower than that for the control group and remained unchanged during the observation, suggesting the possibilities of an established metabolic adaptation. (shrink)

Understanding the neural basis of schizophrenia (SZ) is important for shedding light on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying this mental disorder. Structural and functional alterations in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), hippocampus, and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) have been implicated in the neurobiology of SZ. However, the effective connectivity among them in SZ remains unclear. The current study investigated how neuronal pathways involving these regions were affected in first-episode SZ using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Forty-nine patients (...) with a first-episode of psychosis and diagnosis of SZ—according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision—were studied. Fifty healthy controls (HCs) were included for comparison. All subjects underwent resting state fMRI. We used spectral dynamic causal modeling (DCM) to estimate directed connections among the bilateral ACC, DLPFC, hippocampus, and MPFC. We characterized the differences using Bayesian parameter averaging (BPA) in addition to classical inference (t-test). In addition to common effective connectivity in these two groups, HCs displayed widespread significant connections predominantly involved in ACC not detected in SZ patients, but SZ showed few connections. Based on BPA results, SZ patients exhibited anterior cingulate cortico-prefrontal-hippocampal hyperconnectivity, as well as ACC-related and hippocampal-dorsolateral prefrontal-medial prefrontal hypoconnectivity. In summary, spectral DCM revealed the pattern of effective connectivity involving ACC in patients with first-episode SZ. This study provides a potential link between SZ and dysfunction of ACC, creating an ideal situation to associate mechanisms behind SZ with aberrant connectivity among these cognition and emotion-related regions. (shrink)

This article investigates stakeholder expectations associated with corporate environmental disclosure. Several articles have studied the effect that stakeholder pressure has on environmental disclosing strategies. In this article, we extend previous research to an examination of the influence of external, internal, and intermediary stakeholder groups or constituencies in turn to clarify the demands of multiple stakeholders as to firms' disclosure of sufficient and adequate environmental information. The sample comprised Taiwanese firms listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Our results show that the (...) level of environmental disclosure is significantly affected by stakeholder groups' demands. External stake-holder groups, such as the government, debtors, and consumers, exert a strong influence over management intentions regarding the extent of environmental disclosure. Internal stakeholder groups, such as shareholders and employees, impose additional pressures on firms to disclose environmental information. As for intermediate stakeholder groups, environmental protection organizations, and accounting firms, these can greatly influence managerial choices regarding their environmental disclosure strategies. (shrink)