Using the presence of at least one client with net-income-increasing misstatement as a signal of low audit quality for an audit firm, this study examines the existence of the contagion effect of low audit quality and further investigates whether financial distress and investment opportunity as two firm-specific financial characteristics moderate the contagion effect of low audit quality. Using a sample of 7887 firm-year observations from the Chinese stock market over the period of 2007–2012, our study documents strong and consistent evidence (...) to show that other clients audited by low-quality audit firms have significantly higher discretionary accruals ; financial distress reinforces the contagion effect of low audit quality; investment opportunity strengthens the contagion effect of low audit quality; the contagion effect of low audit quality persists over subsequent years for clients, and both financial distress and investment opportunity reinforce the contagion effect of misstatement to future misstatement. Above results are robust to a variety of sensitivity tests and are still valid after using the change model to control for the potential endogeneity. This study extends the previous literature on the contagion effect of low audit quality across audit firms. (shrink)

Offers the first focused study of the shifei debates of the Warring States period in ancient China and challenges the imposition of Western conceptual categories onto these debates. In recent decades, a growing concern in studies in Chinese intellectual history is that Chinese classics have been forced into systems of classification prevalent in Western philosophy and thus imperceptibly transformed into examples that echo Western philosophy. Lin Ma and Jaap van Brakel offer a methodology to counter this approach, and illustrate their (...) method by carrying out a transcultural inquiry into the complexities involved in understanding shi and fei and their cognate phrases in the Warring States texts, the Zhuangzi in particular. The authors discuss important features of Zhuangzi’s stance with regard to language-meaning, knowledge-doubt, questioning, equalizing, and his well-known deconstruction of the discourse in ancient China on shifei. Ma and van Brakel suggest that shi and fei apply to both descriptive and prescriptive languages and do not presuppose any fact/value dichotomy, and thus cannot be translated as either true/false or right/wrong. Instead, shi and feican be grasped in terms of a pre-philosophical notion of fitting. Ma and van Brakel also highlight Zhuangzi’s idea of “walking-two-roads” as the most significant component of his stance. In addition, they argue that all of Zhuangzi’s positive recommendations are presented in a language whose meaning is not fixed and that every stance he is committed to remains subject to fundamental questioning as a way of life. (shrink)

Since March 14, 2020, Spanish citizens have been confined to their homes due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participating in musical activities has been associated with reduced anxiety and increased subjective wellbeing. The aim of this study is to analyze how Spanish citizens used music during the lockdown period. We also study perceptions of the impact music has in everyday life, in particular examining the respondents’ insights into the effects of listening to music in situations of isolation. The (...) study was conducted using the MUSIVID19 questionnaire administered to a total of 1868 Spanish citizens. The results indicate that during lockdown, respondents perceived an increase in the time they devoted to musical activities such as listening, singing, dancing or playing an instrument. The participants also reported using music to cope with the lockdown, finding that it helped them to relax, escape, raise their mood or keep them company. The findings suggest an improvement in their perception of the value of music in personal and social wellbeing during the lockdown. However, the study reveals significant differences in the use and perceptions of music according to respondents’ personal situations. Age and feelings of vulnerability may lead to more conservative uses of musical practice and to more moderate perceptions of the positive values of music. (shrink)

The Global Financial Crisis of 2007–2009 exacerbated two distinct concerns about the independence of central banks: a concern about legitimacy and a concern about economic justice. This paper explores the legitimacy of independent central banks from the perspective of these two concerns, by presenting two distinct models of central banking and their different claims to political legitimacy and distributive justice. I argue primarily that we should avoid construing central bank independence in binary terms, such that central banks either are, or (...) are not, independent. I will argue that we should instead construe central bank independence in scalar terms, so that independence admits of degree, thus allowing us to develop an account of independence in which central banks can retain it to the extent necessary for economic efficiency, while meeting reasonable concerns regarding democratic legitimacy and economic justice. (shrink)

Using a sample of 11,357 firm-year observations from the Chinese stock market for the period of 2001–2011, we investigate whether and how religion can mitigate earnings management. Specifically, based on geographic-proximity-based religion variables, we provide strong and robust evidence to show that religion is significantly negatively associated with the extent of earnings management, suggesting that religion can serve as a set of social norms to mitigate corporate unethical behavior such as earnings management. Our findings also reveal that the negative association (...) between religion and earnings management is less pronounced for firms with closer distance to the regulatory centers than for their counterparts, implying the substitutive effects between religion and the distance to regulators on mitigating earnings management. The above results are robust to different measures of earnings management, various religion variables, and a variety of sensitivity tests. (shrink)

To study the different mechanisms of understanding figurative language in a speaker’s native language and their second language, this study investigated how scientific metaphors in Chinese and English are electrophysiologically processed via event-related potential experimentation. Compared with the metaphors from daily life or in literary works, scientific metaphors tend to involve both a more complicated context structure and a distinct knowledge-inferencing process. During the N400 time window, English scientific metaphors elicited more negative N400s than Chinese ones at the parietal region. (...) In the late positive component time window, English scientific metaphors elicited less positive LPCs than Chinese ones at the parietal region, and larger late negativities encompassing smaller areas of the brain. The findings might indicate that for late unbalanced bilingual speakers, L2 scientific metaphor comprehension requires more effort in information retrieval or access to the non-literal route. Altogether, the possible findings are that non-native and non-dominant language processing involves decreased automaticity of cognitive mechanisms, and decreased sensitivity to the levels of conventionality of metaphoric meanings. (shrink)

al-Juzʼ al-awwal. Dirāsāt fī al-manṭiq wa-falsafat al-ʻulūm -- al-juzʼ al-thānī. Dirāsāt fī al-manhaj wa-al-ʻilm al-ʻArabī.

The role of the two hemispheres in processing metaphoric language is controversial. In order to complement current debates, the current divided visual field study introduced scientific metaphors as novel metaphors, presenting orientation mapping from the specific and familiar domains to the abstract and unfamiliar domains, to examine hemispheric asymmetry in metaphoric processing. Twenty-four Chinese native speakers from science disciplines took part in the experiment. The participants were presented with four types of Chinese word pairs: scientific metaphors, conventional metaphors, literal word (...) pairs, and unrelated word pairs. The first word in each pair was presented centrally, and the second was presented to the left visual field or the right visual field. Event-related potentials were recorded when participants read the target words and judged whether words in each pair were related. The data demonstrated that both hemispheres were involved at the initial stage of metaphor processing, but the right hemisphere took a more privileged role. The significant activation of the left hemisphere for scientific metaphoric processing supports the fine-coarse coding hypothesis. During right-visual-field presentation, the left hemisphere, responsible for the processing of closely related domains, has to integrate the loosely associated domains of scientific metaphor, which greatly increased cognitive taxes. Moreover, the data of late positive components revealed different hemispheric activation between scientific metaphors and conventional metaphors. Compared with literal pairs, conventional metaphors elicited significantly higher LPCs during right visual field presentation, while the scientific metaphor elicited significantly lower LPCs during left visual field presentation. These results suggest different processing mechanisms between novel metaphors and conventional metaphors and the special role of the right hemisphere in novel metaphoric processing at the later mapping stage. (shrink)

Integration und Desintegration sind ein zentrales Thema der Geisteswissenschaften. Auf makropolitischer Ebene gilt das besondere Interesse dem Entstehen und Vergehen von Staaten, entscheiden sich doch hiermit existenzielle Fragen des Seins einer politischen Gemeinschaft. Auf mikropolitischer Ebene geht es um die Frage, inwieweit dem Bürger "aufgegeben" ist, sich in Gesellschaft und Staat zu integrieren. Supranationalisierung und Globalisierung lassen die Kraft des Nationalstaates schwinden. Dem Übergang der Moderne in die Postmoderne entspricht der Übergang von der Welt der Staaten mit ihren durch Grenzen (...) abgeschlossenen Territorien zur Welt der Kontinente, Gemeinschaften und Netzwerke. Doch gibt es viele Stimmen, die meinen, der Staat sei auf absehbare Zeit nicht wegzudenken und als politische Gemeinschaft zu schützen.Werner Mäder ist anderer Auffassung: "Deutschland ist kein Staat mehr..." lautet sein Befund. Der Autor zieht Parallelen zu Hegels Schrift "Kritik der Verfassung Deutschlands" aus dem Jahre 1801 und seinen Kriterien des Staates. Nach Mäder ist das Grundgesetz nur noch eine "Gedankenverfassung", seine fundamentalen Voraussetzungen Staat, Souveränität, Nation, Volk und Demokratie substanziell ausgezehrt. Für Europa bedeutet dies, sich mit eigener Identität selbst zu behaupten, um den Souveränitätsverlust seiner Länder auszugleichen und auf eine neue Multipolarität der internationalen Beziehungen hinzuarbeiten. (shrink)

本书是在总结作者近年来发表的论文的基础上写成的。全书共分三部分,第一部分是矩阵对策上的计策理论;第二部分是连续对策上的计策理论;第三部分是有限人对策上的计策理论.

本书从宇宙太空、万物之始、原子物理、人体生命、社会结构等多维度、多层面剖解世界与人生,辨物析理。.

Im 20. Jahrhundert galt es sowohl im Marxismus als auch unter seinen Gegnern als ausgemachte Sache, dass das Werk von Karl Marx eine anspruchsvolle Theorie der Geschichte enthält, die von einer starken optimistischen Grundstimmung getragen wird. Oft hielt man sie für einen als Wissenschaft verkleideten Entwurf einer idealen Zukunftsgesellschaft, für eine Heilslehre. Umso erstaunlicher ist es daher, dass eine gründliche Erforschung des Marxschen Fortschrittsdenkens bislang noch aussteht. Denis Mäders Studie analysiert das moderne Fortschrittsdenken und die zeitgenössische Diskussion desselben. Vor diesem (...) Hintergrund rekonstruiert sie die Entstehung eines originären Fortschrittsbegriffs, den Marx in kritischer Auseinandersetzung mit seinem philosophischen Milieu (vor allem mit Hegel, den Hegelianern und Proudhon) gewinnt. Fortschritt ist die historische Bewegung des Guten. Zugleich aber gibt es für den Dialektiker Marx ohne Gegensatz keinen historischen Fortschritt. Fortschritt bildet für ihn die Möglichkeit positiver Entwicklung, ohne andersartige oder gegenläufige Entwicklungsformen darin aufzuheben. (shrink)

本书以对道德的重视和人的觉醒为二大主线, 揭示了春秋时期思想文化的转型以及这一转型对儒学的形成及其对整个中国古代思想文化基本特征确立的历史意义.

Commentary on Sakya Pandita's Tshad ma rigs gter; includes root text.

Translator's introduction -- Mir Damad's introduction -- 1st qabas. On the kinds of creation (huduth) and the divisions of existence according to them, establishing the bases of judgment, and defining the area of dispute -- 2nd qabas. On the three kinds of essential antecedence and constructing the demonstration by way of essential priority (taqaddum bi'l-dhat) -- 3rd qabas. The two kinds of separate posteriority and constituting the demonstration by way of eternal priority -- 4th qabas. Quotations from the book of (...) god and the traditions of his messenger, and from the traditions of the lofty and pure imams -- 5th qabas. Concerning the mode of existence of the unqualified natures and the path of the demonstration by the mode of the existence of the nature -- 6th qabas. On the continuity of time and motion; setting up the course of the demonstration with respect to the continuity of the magnitude of time according to the natural system in two ways; establishing the finitude of extended continuous quantity; and invalidating a numerical infinity -- With respect to successive temporal creatures -- 7th qabas. A series of abridged arguments, unsound dialectical arguments, and criticism of certain syllogisms and controversial sophistical doubts according to the two extremes of the two groups -- 8th qabas. Inquiry into the power of God and his will after completing what remains in the care of the intellect, through the use of decisive utterance, to solve some of the difficulties and dilemmas caused by doubt and the confusions arising from idle fancies -- 9th qabas. On establishing the intelligible substances and the stages of the system of existence in the two chains of beginning and return -- 10th qabas. The decisive doctrine on the secret of predetermination (qada') and fate (qadar), how evil is related to predetermination, the colocynth of truth on prayer and its granting, and the return of the command to god in the beginning and the end -- Glossary-- Bibliography. (shrink)

内容:外来冲击与传统中国道德伦理观的回应, 重商行为下的价值紊乱, 道德革命与政治革命, 文化断层与道德真空, 革命道德与道德革命等.

Greek philosophy; Syriac schools; Ancient Near East; history.

Communication strategies to shape public opinion can be applied to the philosophical program of conceptual engineering. I propose to look for answers to the implementation challenge for conceptual engineering on similar challenges that arise in other contexts, such as that of social movements. I claim that conceptual engineering is successfully practiced in other areas with direct consequences on the political landscape, and that we can apply to philosophy what we might learn from those successful practices. With that end in mind, (...) I explain the psychological approach to conceptual engineering. I present what has been called “the implementation challenge”, which is the problem that emerges from the possibility of control over the content of our concepts. The challenge consists in that if there is not such a control, conceptual engineering is not implementable. Then, I review some of the reactions that have been given to that challenge, and I defend the feasibility of conceptual engineering appealing to the collective action frames that social movements endorse as an instance of a successful kind of conceptual engineering and derive some strategies that might be of use for conceptual engineering in philosophy. Finally, I reply to some anticipated objections to my proposal. (shrink)