Business Ethics, the Environment &Responsibility, Volume 33, Issue 3, Page 287-307, July 2024.

COVID-19 often manifests with different outcomes in different patients, highlighting the complexity of the host-pathogen interactions involved in manifestations of the disease at the molecular and cellular levels. In this paper, we propose a set of postulates and a framework for systematically understanding complex molecular host-pathogen interaction networks. Specifically, we first propose four host-pathogen interaction (HPI) postulates as the basis for understanding molecular and cellular host-pathogen interactions and their relations to disease outcomes. These four postulates cover the evolutionary dispositions involved (...) in HPIs, the dynamic nature of HPI outcomes, roles that HPI components may occupy leading to such outcomes, and HPI checkpoints that are critical for specific disease outcomes. Based on these postulates, an HPI Postulate and Ontology (HPIPO) framework is proposed to apply interoperable ontologies to systematically model and represent various granular details and knowledge within the scope of the HPI postulates, in a way that will support AI-ready data standardization, sharing, integration, and analysis. As a demonstration, the HPI postulates and the HPIPO framework were applied to study COVID-19 with the Coronavirus Infectious Disease Ontology (CIDO), leading to a novel approach to rational design of drug/vaccine cocktails aimed at interrupting processes occurring at critical host-coronavirus interaction checkpoints. Furthermore, the host-coronavirus protein-protein interactions (PPIs) relevant to COVID-19 were predicted and evaluated based on prior knowledge of curated PPIs and domain-domain interactions, and how such studies can be further explored with the HPI postulates and the HPIPO framework is discussed. (shrink)

This study examines the influence of Confucianism on corporate poverty alleviation (PA) participation. We argue that firms in regions with more Confucian temples are more likely to participate in government-initiated PA programs because Confucianism emphasizes common social welfare. This positive relationship is stronger for firms with chief executive officers born in Confucian regions and for firms that are under high media pressure, as the trade-off between social welfare and firm interest is in favor of Confucianism. Using a sample of Chinese-listed (...) firms, we find evidence supporting our arguments. Moreover, we find consistent evidence that firms influenced by Confucianism are motivated to pay long-term attention to PA activities and improve corporate PA efficiency, highlighting the substantive role of Confucianism in a PA campaign. Our study contributes to the business ethics literature by introducing Confucianism into research on corporate social activities and provides practical implications. (shrink)

Legal Judgment Prediction (LJP) is a typical application of Artificial Intelligence in the intelligent judiciary. Current research primarily focuses on automatically predicting law articles, charges, and terms of penalty based on the fact description of cases. However, existing methods for LJP have limitations, such as neglecting document structure and ignoring case similarities. We propose a novel framework called Graph Contrastive Learning with Augmentation (GCLA) for legal judgment prediction to address these issues. GCLA constructs trainable document-level graphs for fact description, capturing (...) local and global context through sentence-level subgraphs. Graph augmentation enhances robustness. We introduce a comparison case relation perspective, using graph contrastive learning to model case-text label relationships effectively. Experimental results on real-world datasets demonstrate the competitive performance of GCLA. (shrink)

In this paper, we study the estimation of motion direction prediction for fast motion and propose a threshold-based human target detection algorithm using motion vectors and other data as human target feature information. The motion vectors are partitioned into regions by normalization to form a motion vector field, which is then preprocessed, and then the human body target is detected through its motion vector region block-temporal correlation to detect the human body motion target. The experimental results show that the algorithm (...) is effective in detecting human motion targets in videos with the camera relatively stationary. The algorithm predicts the human body position in the reference frame of the current frame in the video by forward mapping the motion vector of the current frame, then uses the motion vector direction angle histogram as a matching feature, and combines it with a region matching strategy to track the human body target in the predicted region, thus realizing the human body target tracking effect. The algorithm is experimentally proven to effectively track human motion targets in videos with relatively static backgrounds. To address the problem of sample diversity and lack of quantity in a multitarget tracking environment, a generative model based on the conditional variational self-encoder conditional generation of adversarial networks is proposed, and the performance of the generative model is verified using pedestrian reidentification and other datasets, and the experimental results show that the method can take advantage of the advantages of both models to improve the quality of the generated results. (shrink)

This study investigates measurement invariance of the 17-item-4-factor Love of Money Scale across gender and college major among university students in People's Republic of China. Results revealed configural invariance across gender. Metric invariance across gender was not achieved based on chi-square change, but achieved based on fit indices change between unconstrained and constrained multi-group confirmatory factor analysis. Both configural invariance and metric invariance were achieved across college major. Results of this study suggest that the Love of Money Scale, developed in (...) the U.S., has achieved measurement invariance in this student sample in China. Future researchers will have some confidence in using this measurement when they examine the love of money in Chinese management and organizational studies. (shrink)

Business Ethics, the Environment &Responsibility, EarlyView.

The era of sustainable transformation has witnessed an increase in corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure waves. Using Chinese A-share listed companies from 2016 to 2021 as a sample, this study adopted textual analysis and machine-learning techniques to analyze ESG reports and explore the imitation behavior of ESG disclosures in emerging Chinese markets for the first time. The results show imitation behavior exists in corporate ESG disclosures from the perspective of group association. Regarding the imitation object, enterprises tend to (...) choose the peer average level as a reference rather than the best enterprise in the same industry, which reveals the inherent law that enterprises' ESG disclosures are satisfied with compliance rather than championship. In terms of effects, the ESG-mimetic isomorphic pressure has no incremental information effect but has an efficiency optimization effect. Furthermore, the imitation intensity and impact effects of ESG disclosure behavior exhibit heterogeneity owing to differences in properties, sales growth rates, and external attention. This study expands the motivation for corporate ESG disclosure behavior and enriches the empirical evidence for institutional isomorphism. (shrink)

The micro-level corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature has underscored the economic benefits of an organization's CSR investments, such as bolstering employees' organizational commitment and improving work performance. Yet, research on the potential influence of CSR in fostering socially oriented outcomes among employees has been rather scarce. This study aims to investigate the influence of CSR on employees' internal whistleblowing behaviors and the underlying mechanisms. A three-time-point survey was distributed across the service, manufacturing, construction, and financial insurance industries in Chinese enterprises. (...) The findings reveal that both internal and external CSR positively impact employees' internal whistleblowing behaviors through the mediating role of moral courage, with internal CSR demonstrating a stronger effect. Organizational loyalty positively moderates the mediating role of moral courage in the relationship between internal CSR/external CSR and internal whistleblowing behaviors. Theoretically, this study presents a pioneering endeavor in establishing the link between CSR and employees' internal whistleblowing behaviors, underscoring the significant role that employees' perceptions of CSR play in enhancing societal well-being and ethical governance. Besides contributing to the micro-level CSR literature, this study also provides practical insights for organizations seeking to leverage CSR as a tool for promoting employees' ethical conduct. (shrink)

With the problems of climate warming and ecological destruction becoming more and more serious, natural risks have attracted more and more attention, and corporate natural resource disclosure has gradually become a focal topic in academia. Therefore, based on the institutional theory and the upper echelon theory, this study selects 348 Chinese natural resource-based listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets from 2014 to 2021 as samples to investigate the influence of clan culture on corporate natural resource disclosure and the (...) moderating effect of natural resource endowment on the relationship between the two, and analyzes the heterogeneity from the two aspects of the workplace and growth experience of corporate executives. The results indicate that clan culture has a significant positive effect on corporate natural resource disclosure. Natural resource endowment can negatively moderate the effect of clan culture on corporate natural resource disclosure. The positive effect of clan culture on the quality of corporate natural resource disclosure is significant when executives work in their birthplace or are born before the Cultural Revolution, but it is not significant when executives do not work in their birthplace or are born after the Cultural Revolution. These findings help to extend the analysis of the influence of informal institutions on information disclosure, providing a reference for future research on natural resource disclosure and informal institutions in developing countries. (shrink)

Purpose Over the past decade, many research works in various disciplines have benefited from the endless ocean of people and their potentials as an effective problem-solving strategy and computational model. But nothing interesting is ever completely one-sided. Therefore, when it comes to leveraging people's power, as the dark side of crowdsourcing, there are some possible threats that have not been considered as should be, such as recruiting black hat crowdworkers for organizing targeted adversarial intentions. The purpose of this paper is (...) to draw more attention to this critical issue through investigation of its different aspects. Design/methodology/approach To delve into details of such malicious intentions, the related literature and previous researches have been studied. Then, four major typologies for adversarial crowdsourced attacks as well as some real-world scenarios are discussed and delineated. Finally, possible future threats are introduced. Findings Despite many works on adversarial crowdsourcing, there are only a few specific research studies devoted to considering the issue in the context of cyber security. In this regard, the proposed typologies for such human-mediated attacks can shed light on the way of identifying and confronting such threats. Originality/value To the best of the authors' knowledge, this the first work in which the titular topic is investigated in detail. Due to popularity and efficiency of leveraging crowds' intelligence and efforts in a wide range of application domains, it is most likely that adversarial human-driven intentions gain more attention. In this regard, it is anticipated that the present research study can serve as a roadmap for proposing defensive mechanisms to cope with such diverse threats. (shrink)

Conflicts between target and distraction can occur at the level of both stimulus and response processing. However, the neural oscillations underlying occurrence of the interference in different levels have not been understood well. Here, we reveal such a neural oscillation modulation by combining a 4:2 mapping design (two targets are mapped into one response key) with a practice paradigm (pretest, practice, and posttest) when healthy human participants were performing a novel color-word flanker task. Response time (RT) results revealed constant stimulus (...) conflict (SC, stimulus incongruent minus congruent, SI-CO) but increased response conflict (RC, response incongruent minus stimulus incongruent, RI-SI) with practice. Event-related potential (ERP) results demonstrated stable P3 amplitude differences for the SI-CO in the centro-parietal region across practice, which may reflect maintenance of the stimulus processing; and significantly larger P3 amplitudes in the same region for the RI relative to SI trial type in posttest, which may reflect inhibition of the distraction response. Further, neural oscillatory results showed that with practice, the lower alpha band in the frontal region and the upper alpha band in the occipital-parietal region distinguished between stimulus- and response-conflicts, respectively, suggesting that practice reduces the alertness (sensitiveness) of the brain to conflict occurrence, and enhances stimulus-response associations. (shrink)

The basic concepts we use to frame metaphysical discussions – our tools of metaphysics – profoundly influence how those discussions proceed. Much recent work in anglophone metaphysics has centred on a set of hyperintensional such tools: grounding, dependence, fundamentality, and essence. This topical collection will provide new perspectives on these debates by bringing them into contact with Asian metaphysical traditions.

Researchers are enthusiastically concerned about neural stem cell (NSC) therapy in a wide array of diseases, including stroke, neurodegenerative disease, spinal cord injury (SCI) and depression. Although enormous evidences have demonstrated that neurobehavioral improvement may benefit from NSC-supporting regeneration in animal models, approaches to endogenous and transplanted NSCs are blocked by hurdles of migration, proliferation, maturation and integration of NSCs. Electrical stimulation (ES) may be a selective nondrug approach for mobilizing NSCs in the central nervous system (CNS). This technique is (...) suitable for clinic application, because it is well established and its potential complications are manageable. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of the emerging positive role of different electrical cues in regulating NSC biology in vitro and in vivo, as well as biomaterial-based and chemical stimulation of NSCs. In the future, ES combined with stem cell therapy or other cues probably becomes an approach for promoting brain repair. (shrink)

本书收入了31篇论文,涉及价值哲学研究领域的诸多方面,包括关于价值哲学研究的一般方法与价值哲学的范畴体系的讨论,关于价值存在范围与价值本质的商榷与争鸣等内容。.

本书主要篇目为:论法的起源和本质、论法律与国家、论法的种类、作用、规范等18个大类。.

本书收有1987年11月北京召开的首届“政治科学学研讨会”论文20篇,文章用政治科学学观点对近代一些著名的政治科学现象进行了分析研究。.

EDITOR’S ABSTRACTThis paper argues that we cannot determine with certainty the sequence of the two parts of the Laozi text: “Way” and “Virtue”. These two parts were originally written independently by Lao Zi and in an uncertain chronological order. They originally circulated separately, and were later combined differently by various editors. Thus emerged the two Laozi versions: The one with “Way” preceding “Virtue” has dominated the transmission; the alternative order can be retrieved from recently discovered sources such as the Mawangdui (...) Silk Manuscripts and Han Bamboo Slips. (shrink)

In clinical studies, it is important to investigate the effectiveness of different therapeutic designs, especially, multiple treatment groups to one control group. The paper mainly studies homogeneity test of many-to-one risk differences from correlated binary data under optimal algorithms. Under Donner’s model, several algorithms are compared in order to obtain global and constrained MLEs in terms of accuracy and efficiency. Further, likelihood ratio, score, and Wald-type statistics are proposed to test whether many-to-one risk differences are equal based on optimal algorithms. (...) Monte Carlo simulations show the performance of these algorithms through the total averaged estimation error, SD, MSE, and convergence rate. Score statistic is more robust and has satisfactory power. Two real examples are given to illustrate our proposed methods. (shrink)

本書屬於比較哲學的工作，它涉及德國、中國與韓國的倫理學思考。第一、二章首先藉由梳理康德早期倫理學經由席勒倫理學到現象學倫理學的發展過程及其內在理路。此一發展涉及倫理學的基本問題：我們對於道德價值的「領 會」（Erfassung）究竟是什麼性質？此一問題具有跨文化的普遍意義，因此上述的思考為我們之探討中、韓儒學中的相關問題提供了極有用的參考架構。在中國儒學的發展當中，本書選擇了南宋朱熹與湖湘學派關於「 仁」的辯論（第三章），以及晚明劉宗周對於孟子的「四端」與《中庸》的「喜怒哀樂」之獨特詮釋（第四、五章）為探討個案。在韓國儒學的發展當中，本書則選擇了朝鮮儒者李退溪與奇高峰、李栗谷與成牛溪關於「四端」與 「七情」的辯論（第六、七、八章）為探討個案。在這三個個案中，朱子學作為共同的參照系統，與康德後期的倫理學有類似之處，即均預設理性與情感（或性與情）二分的主體性架構。反之，張栻等湖湘學者、劉蕺山、李退溪 與成牛溪將孟子的「四端」或《中庸》的「喜怒哀樂」視為與「七情」異質的形上之情，此點與現象學倫理學的基本方向不謀而合.

As per my new theory in ontology and cognition, the theory of education could be demonstrated. My this paper is to demonstrate the theory of education as per my new ontology and cognition. Following is my new theory in ontology and cognition: New ontology: The Onto is the uniform contradiction being. The essence of people: The uniform contrast body within people’s body, is “ego and nonego. “New Cognition: Cognition course moves by the force from the contrast between the Ego and (...) Nonego within an exist being live body. Following is the Cognition move course way : “EGO” + “Nonego”→→ Force to move (N times)→→ Feeling(N times)→→Idea (N numbers) + thinking (N times)→→Knowledge (N numbers) ≈ Object →→ ＝ Object As per above new ontology and cognition, Theory ofeducation is demonstrated in my this paper. (shrink)

Книга рассчитана на тех, кто по своей специальности занимается социальной философией и в дальнейшем углубят свои знания в этом вопросе, а также для широкого круга читателей.

On salvation (mokṣa) in Hindu philosophy.

Study on conduct of life of Muslim women and women in Islamic perspective.

In the course of modernization, the technical rationality still was the leading part of mainstream rational view in China. Modern technology brings us not only the acceleration of the modernization, but also increasingly serious condition, including of ecological crisis, environment deterioration, resource shortage, polarization of the rich and the poor, morality degradation and labor alienation. The potential phenomenon in the course of western modernization also appears in china. Maybe we can’t charged the whole fault to modern technology, but it as (...) the essential phenomenon and leading power of our Times, avoidance plays that blaming part in the result of development. Nowadays western developed countries have realized modernization and begin to step into the Time which we call as post-industrial, post-informatization, and post-knowledgeable society. In starting from the theory paradigm of postmodernism philosophy, searching for essential survey of technology’s philosophical meanings, discussing a Postmodernism view on Technology which re-unscramble transformation relationship between in human and nature, This paper presents a pattern of interpretation and construction of technology which has the meanings of sustainable development. Postmodernism View of Technology, which is the total attitude and ultimate standpoint about the essence of technology, the constitutes oftechnology, the drive of technology, the development of technology, the function of technology, the value of technology and the relation between technology and society in the postmodern context. This paper introduces and analyzes the postmodern theory system on philosophy of technology. This system is based on a kind of postmodernism worldview, through distinguishing pre-modern, modern and postmodern, the author deeply criticizes the alienation of modern technology, and tries to build up a postmodern Society which “needs take good care of and waits for being harvested” by “returning value to technology” and “transcendingmodernity”. It has the important academic value for theory innovation of technology philosophy, and important directive significance for building a harmonious society on the basis of human. (shrink)

shang. Feng gu bai dai -- xia. Si xiang qian nian.

本书是作者从哲学反思和文化重构的立场研究中国文化及其现代化关系的成果之一，内容包括：中国文化的基本精神、中国文化的类型和特点、思想家与文化传统、中国传统人文思想等。.