In this paper, the stability of switched neural networks with interval parameter uncertainties and time delays is investigated. First, the conditions for the existence and uniqueness of the equilibrium point of the system are discussed. Second, the average dwell time approach and M-matrix property are employed to obtain conditions to ensure the globally exponential stability of the delayed SNNs under constrained switching. Third, by resorting to inequality technique and the idea of vector Lyapunov function, sufficient condition to ensure the robust (...) exponential stability of the delayed SNNs under arbitrary switching is derived. The form of the constructed Lyapunov functions is simple, which has certain commonality in studying delayed SNNs, and the proposed results not only are explicit but also reveal the relationship between the constrained switching and the arbitrary switching of the SNNs. Finally, two numerical examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness and less conservativeness of the main results compared with the existing literature. (shrink)

In this paper, dynamic behavior analysis has been discussed for a class of switched complex-valued neural networks with interval parameter uncertainties and impulse disturbance. Sufficient conditions for guaranteeing the existence, uniqueness, and global robust exponential stability of the equilibrium point have been obtained by using the homomorphism mapping theorem, the scalar Lyapunov function method, the average dwell time method, and M-matrix theory. Since there is no result concerning the stability problem of switched neural networks defined in complex number domain, the (...) stability results we describe in this paper generalize the existing ones. The effectiveness of the proposed results is illustrated by a numerical example. (shrink)

Studies on the functions of the sign to date have been inadequate in that they leave unanswered a basic question of semiotics: What are the functions of a simple sign that consists essentially in the relation between two relata? The answer to this question is to be found in the phenomenon called “signize.” For intentional signs at least, all the mental entities can be signized, but only certain kinds of them have a strong signizing value. When these mental entities are (...) signized, they tend to be signized into certain kinds of images. The advantages of these images over those mental entities give rise to certain benefits that, in turn, result in the basic functions of simple intentional signs. These basic functions are the starting point of a systematic study of the hierarchy of functions of intentional sign. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Semiotica Jahrgang: 2016 Heft: 210 Seiten: 167-189.

This paper presents an integrated approach to plan smooth path for robots docking in unknown environments with obstacles. To determine the smooth collision-free path in obstacle environment, a tree structure with heuristic expanding strategy is designed as the foundation of path planning in this approach. The tree employs 3D Dubins curves as its branches and foundation for path feasibility evaluation. For the efficiency of the tree expanding in obstacle environment, intermediate nodes and collision-free branches are determined inspired by the elastic (...) band theory. A feasible path is chosen as the shortest series of branches that connects to the docking station after the sufficient expansion of the tree. Simulation results are presented to show the validity and feasibility of the proposed approach. (shrink)

As part of a research project on confrontational maneuvering in the spokespersons’ argumentative replies at the regular press conferences of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 2015 and 2018, this article analyzes, within the framework of Pragma-Dialectics, how the spokespersons declare a standpoint at issue unallowed or indisputable in order to avoid having to resolve a difference of opinion as it is, according to the questioning journalist, presented by their immediate opponents. Starting from the various rationales the spokespersons presuppose to (...) be understood and regarded acceptable by the questioning journalist and the international general public, three subtypes of declaring a standpoint unallowed or indisputable are differentiated: the “Necessity Rationale” subtype, the “Desirability Rationale” subtype, and the “Feasibility Rationale” subtype. The confrontational maneuvering by declaring a standpoint unallowed or indisputable carried out by the spokespersons is directed both at the immediate opponent and at the international general public. However, it is the international general public that the spokespersons primarily intend to convince. For this purpose, they make in all three subtypes of the unallowed or indisputable declaration an effort to adapt their response to their primary audience’s demand by making strategic choices from the available topical potential and the available presentational devices. (shrink)

The purpose of this study is to extend prior research on this topic by investigating whether the impact of ownership concentration moderates the link between corporate social performance and financial performance. This study uses a set of unique, hand-collected pollution control data to measure CSP, based on a sample of Taiwanese listed companies during the period from 1996 to 2006. The results of the empirical analysis provide firm support for the idea that the divergence between control rights and the cash (...) flow rights of controlling owners negatively moderates the link between social and short- and long-run FP. (shrink)

ABSTRACTReceiving favors is often a mixed blessing and commonly triggers two emotions: the positive emotion gratitude and negative emotion indebtedness. In three studies, we examined the hypothesis that gratitude and indebtedness have distinct functions in social exchange. Contrary to current views, we believe that the function of gratitude does not primarily reside in facilitating social exchange. Instead, we propose that indebtedness motivates people to repay favours received, and thus accounts for most of the prosocial effects commonly attributed to gratitude. On (...) the other hand consistent with current views, we believe that gratitude signals the potential for developing a relationship and fosters proximity seeking. Supporting these assumptions, in Study 1 we found that gratitude and indebtedness were associated with aspects of the favour that reflect the concern for relationship and the level of inequity. Studies 2 and 3 provided causal support for these relations, and revealed the unique associations... (shrink)

This paper explores the often-overlooked role of teaching assistants (TAs) in engineering ethics courses, and a particular challenge that TAs face in these roles. TAs not only undertake tasks like instructors, which include teaching, guiding, and evaluating courses, but they also assume the roles of “intermediaries between instructors and students” and “learners becoming teachers.” These distinct roles present TAs with unique challenges, one of which we call the neutrality problem. This problem pertains to whether TAs can and should maintain a (...) neutral stance in the classroom, particularly when students articulate ideas that deviate from the values promoted in the course or held by the TAs. Using a real-life teaching experience as illustrative, we claim that it is challenging and, at times, undesirable for TAs to achieve pedagogical neutrality, primarily due to their pre-existing understanding of ethics and the actual situation of the students. Nevertheless, we posit that TAs should strive to foster an environment where students are encouraged to improve their ethical awareness. Through the underrepresented lens of TAs, we aim to initiate a multi-faceted dialogue on the teaching philosophy and goal of engineering ethics. (shrink)

This empirical study explores the effect of cultural intelligence (CQ) on migrant workers’ innovative behavior, as well as the mediating role of knowledge sharing on the CQ-innovative behavior relationship. Besides, it also examines the extent to which the mediating process is moderated by climate for inclusion. Using survey data collected from Chinese migrant workers and their supervisors working in South Korea (n = 386), migrant workers’ CQ is found to positively impact their innovative behavior through enhanced knowledge sharing. However, it (...) is observed that this indirect relationship is significant, only for migrant workers in a strong climate for inclusion. Thus, these findings reveal the underlying mediation and moderation mechanism and consequently unveil the important role of migrant workers’ CQ in shaping their behavior. This study provides insightful and practical implications to a multicultural organization, where culturally diverse migrant workers work together. (shrink)

This paper examines the elusive concept of Xu in Zhuangzi’s philosophy to find out how specifically Xu addresses relationality through its distinct cultivation of ambiguity in this Daoist philosopher’s theory. The paper chooses liubai and body as two examples to unravel the ways in which the concept of Xu is manifested. Embedded in the meanings of blandness and lack of substance, Xu enlivens change, transformation and process. Evident in liubai, Xu creates a unique ecological space of metamorphosis that nourishes mutual (...) becoming. For Zhuangzi, body is neither understood as the object to be acquired nor as the means to acquire knowledge. Rather, body is a void to become. The political implication of Xu suggests a politics of indeterminacy – an alienation from preordained power structures and a reconstruction of power relations. (shrink)

To discern the indiscernibles is the main purpose of Danto’s philosophy of art. Influenced by analytical philosophy, Zen Buddhism, and symbolism, three ways of discernment can be identified in Danto’s text: the external discernment, the internal discernment, and the middle discernment, which, roughly speaking, mean a discernment by means of examining the object, self-reflection or enlightenment, and the relation between experience and expression, in Danto’s terms, the aboutness and embodiment, respectively. However, neither analytic philosophy and its external discernment nor Zen (...) and its internal discernment can distinguish the indiscernible indeed, only symbolism and its middle discernment have the potential to do so. Unfortunately, Danto was so indulged in analytical philosophy and Zen that he could not see this promise from symbolism. (shrink)

Management literature has repeatedly shown that an absence of voice can have serious negative influences on team and organization performance. However, employees often withhold suggestions or advices when they have ideas, concerns, or opinions. The present study proposes leader behavioral integrity as a key antecedent of employee voice, and investigates how and when leader behavioral integrity influences employee voice. Specifically, we argue that leader behavioral integrity affects employee voice via team independence climate. In addition, we propose a moderating effect of (...) corporate ethical values. The results from a study of 134 managers and 408 employees provide support for this moderated mediation model. Leader behavioral integrity positively affects employee voice via team independence climate, but only when ethical values are emphasized in organizations. These results suggest that leader behavioral integrity, along with team independence climate and corporate ethical values, is very important for fostering employee voice. (shrink)

It is proved in $\mathsf {ZF}$ (without the axiom of choice) that, for all infinite sets M, there are no surjections from $\omega \times M$ onto $\operatorname {\mathrm {\mathscr {P}}}(M)$.

We examine the relationship between Japanese foreign direct investment (FDI) and the national corporate responsibility (NCR) environment in host countries using corporate social responsibility and international business theories. Based on data from the Japanese Government’s Ministry of Finance AccountAbility, and other sources, we find that the level of NCR has a positive relationship with FDI inflow for developing countries. The relationship for developed countries is negative but not statistically significant. The underlying host country development stage moderates the relationship. The results (...) can help deepen understanding of FDI behaviors and have practical implications for host countries in terms of attracting FDI. (shrink)

全书以灾异思想为切入点，以西汉经学灾异思想与思潮为中心，结合先秦至西汉间的时代背景与思想氛围，在细致考察与解读相关文本的基础上，对西汉经学灾异思想的观念来源与理论先导、创立过程与时代特色、理论形态与建 构方法，以及灾异思潮与现实政治的互动等问题，进行了全面深入的研究和探讨；对于经学灾异思想何以会在西汉建立、经学灾异思潮缘何会在西汉爆发、经学灾异论造成了怎样的历史影响，以及如何评价灾异论氛围中的西汉儒 学与儒生群体等问题，本书也进行了系统的反思，并提出了一系列见解。.

Riassunto: L’antico teatro della Casa Ufficiale è un antico teatro esistente nell’area Montuosa del Taihang nella Provincia dell’Henan Settentrionale, il quale nacque nel periodo centrale della Dinastia Qing. L’aspetto dell’antico teatro della Casa Ufficiale è legato all’ambiente naturale locale, alla cultura popolare e alla produttività agricola. Ci sono otto antiche fasi della casa ufficiale nell’area Montuosa del Taihang nella Provincia dell’Henan Settentrionale, che forniscono prove fisiche per lo studio del dramma teatrale popolare nell’area Montuosa del Taihang durante la dinastia Qing. (...) Le iscrizioni sulle stele e sul palcoscenico dell’opera tradizionale cinese riflettono alcune caratteristiche del dramma teatrale rappresentato dai funzionari fin dalla dinastia Qing in Cina. I tipi di opere eseguite sono opere locali, le quali rappresentano dei preziosi materiali per lo studio storico. In una certa misura, è possibile ricostruire il percorso lo sviluppo regionale della società, della cultura e della vita quotidiana locale. (shrink)

Christian ethics stands to benefit from its critics. I argue that James Baldwin should be placed among Ludwig Feuerbach, David Hume, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Nietzsche as a salutary preface to Christian ethics, especially in his reflections on race and sexuality. Together these figures underscore some characteristic damages of some Christian beliefs. I show Baldwin’s astute treatment of Christianity in four distinctive voices and suggest the recovery of genres, the appreciation for recent achievements and unfinished tasks in the field, the (...) vigilance about ambivalent ethical implications inherent in Christian doctrine (such as eudaimonism and providentialism), and the unsentimental affective preparation as pedagogical gains of including Baldwin in Christian ethics syllabi. (shrink)

In advocating gender equality today, we should not only pay attention to women's social status but also call for the women's psychological identification of class equality. What dominates female class identification? To answer this question, based on the data of the Chinese General Social Survey in 2015, this study constructs a female class identity framework from five aspects: the mother's intergenerational influence, female personal characteristics, lifestyle, gender consciousness, and spouse status. In this study, the ordered logit model is used to (...) empirically analyze the impact of various factors on female class identification, and the results show the following: gender consciousness has a significant impact on female class identification. Lifestyle has a significant impact on the situation of having a spouse. Spouse status has a significant positive effect on female class identification. But the mother's intergenerational influence has no effect on female class identification. Therefore, this paper suggests that we should improve laws and regulations to protect women's normal rights, encourage women to establish an independent and self-improvement character, and enhance the class consciousness of women, especially rural women, in order to achieve the overall improvement of female class and psychological identification. (shrink)

This essay explores the conception of the individual in Dewey's democratic writings. Following Dewey's lead, I argue that it is human individuality, including our impulses, habits, and capacities, along with an appropriate environment, that represents the uniqueness and power of every individual. In achieving our individuality, we form habits to live and to grow; we strive toward a fully realized human being, while we perform a unique function in keeping the community growing. Dewey's theory of self-construction provides a theoretical foundation (...) for an active-individual as-a-societal-contributor-always-in-the -making that in turn contributes to the improvement of educational opportunities for all people. (shrink)

This study aims to enrich our understanding of the relationship between political connections and the adoption of environmental corporate socially responsible investments. In addition to the individual-level political connections, i.e., entrepreneurs’ personal ties to government officials, we propose in China the creation of Communist Party of China branches in privately owned firms serve as organizational and institutionalized dimensions of political connection building. Drawing on the social exchange theory, this paper details how CPC branches function in privately owned firms and how (...) entrepreneurs are motivated by the reciprocal logic to engage in ECSR. We also supplement this main effect by examining the boundary conditions of it at the firm and regional level. Using a dataset with 17,690 firm observations in China, we find that the existence of CPC branches gives rise to the ECSR investments and the firm-level contingencies such as centralized governance and financial constraints, and the regional-level contingencies such as the development of the market system, are important moderators that shape the association of political links and ECSR investments. These findings have ample implications to understand the ECSR activities and extend social exchange theory beyond the individual level on which it is typically applied. (shrink)

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 has been rapidly transmitted worldwide, which contributed to various psychological problems among the general population in China. The purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence and associated factors of depressive symptoms among Chinese adults.Methods: A cross-sectional study of Chinese adults was conducted during 17–29 February 2020. Symptoms of depression were assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale.Results: A total of 3,399 respondents were included in the analysis. It was observed that 14.2% (...) of the participants were screened positive for depressive symptoms. In a multivariate logistic regression analysis, older age, smoking, self-rated health, having greater support scores, knowledge about the main symptom of COVID-19, and staying in Wuhan within 3 months before the outbreak of epidemic were associated with depressive symptoms.Conclusion: A considerable proportion of the general population in China had depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 epidemic. Routine screening and targeted interventions for depression are needed among high-risk depressed individuals during the COVID-19 epidemic. (shrink)

A geometric lattice is the lattice of closed subsets of a closure operator on a set which is zero-closure, algebraic, atomistic and which has the so-called exchange property. There are many profound results about this type of lattices, the most recent one of which, due to Czédli and Schimdt, says that a lattice L of finite length is semimodular if and only if L has a cover-preserving embedding into a geometric lattice G of the same length. The goal of our (...) paper is to offer the following result: a lattice of finite length is semimodular if and only if every cell in L is a 4-element Boolean lattice and the 7-element non-distributive atomistic lattice having 3 atoms is not a cover-preserving sublattice of L. (shrink)

This study aimed to explore the mediating effects of internet gaming disorder, social network use, and generalized pathological internet use on the association between loneliness and depression. A total of 2211 junior high school students completed questionnaires regarding loneliness, internet gaming disorder, social network use, GPIU, and depression. The results of a structural equation model revealed that the path coefficient of loneliness to depression was significantly positive, loneliness could not predict depression through GPIU directly, but loneliness could predict depression through (...) internet gaming disorder to GPIU, loneliness could predict depression through social network use to GPIU, and loneliness could not predict depression through internet gaming disorder to social network use to GPIU. These results provided significant implications for the prevention and reduction of depression in Chinese junior high school students. (shrink)

This article offers a timely, critical analysis of the male gaze upon sportswomen in male Chinese fans’ consumption of sporting megaevents. We use the most popular Chinese-language sports fandom platform, Hupu, as the data repository and scrutinise the threads of male Hupu users’ postings about two elite sportswomen at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as the case studies. Drawing on feminist critical discourse analysis (FCDA), we elucidate the discursive strategies that male Chinese fans adopt to sexualise sportswomen and trivialise their accomplishments. (...) The research findings showcase how China’s sports fandom has evolved as a masculine terrain, where men’s visions of asymmetrical gender power relations are discursively negotiated and rationalised. (shrink)