Background Patient dignity is sometimes neglected in intensive care unit (ICU) settings, which may potentially cause psychological harm to critically ill patients. However, no instrument has been specifically developed to evaluate the behaviors of dignified care among critical care nurses. Aim This study aimed to develop and evaluate ICU Dignified Care Questionnaire (IDCQ) for measurement of self-assessed dignity-conserving behaviors of critical care nurses during care. Methods The instrument was developed in 3 phases. Phase 1: item generation; phase 2: a two-round (...) Delphi survey and a readability pilot study; phase 3: cross-sectional survey with model estimation. The questionnaire was evaluated by item analysis, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, assessment of internal consistency reliability, and test-retest reliability. The investigation was conducted using a convenience sample of 392 critical care nurses from 6 cities in Zhejiang Province, China, of which 30 participated in the test-retest reliability survey 2 weeks later. Ethical considerations The study was approved by ethics committee. All participants provided written informed consent before the survey. The questionnaire survey was anonymous. Results The results showed acceptable reliability and validity of the IDCQ. The 17-item final version questionnaire was divided into 2 dimensions: absolute dignity and relative dignity. These two factors accounted for 62.804% of the total variance, and model fitting results were acceptable. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the questionnaire was 0.94, and the test-retest intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.88 after 2 weeks. Conclusions This study developed a brief and reliable instrument (IDCQ) to assess dignified care in ICU nursing. It can help critical care nurses identify their behaviors in maintaining patient dignity and discover their deficiencies. It may also serve as a clinical nursing management tool to help reduce patient disrespect experience in ICU. (shrink)

An accumulating amount of research has documented the harmful effects of abusive supervision on either its victims or third parties (peer abusive supervision). The abusive supervision literature, however, neglects to investigate the spillover effects of abusive supervision through third-party employees’ (i.e., peers’) mistreatment actions toward victims. Drawing on social learning theory, we argue that third parties learn mistreatment behaviors from abusive leaders and then themselves impose peer harassment and peer ostracism on victims, thereby negatively affecting victims’ performance. Further, we posit (...) that, if a victim has a proactive personality, this will weaken these indirect, negative effects. We conducted two studies, both with three-wave longitudinal data, to verify the hypotheses. The results of Study 1 evidence the significant indirect effects of abusive supervision on employee creative performance via both peer harassment and peer ostracism. Contrary to our moderation hypothesis, the analysis shows that victims’ proactive personality strengthens rather than weakens the negative indirect effects of peer harassment. Study 2 generally replicated the results of Study 1 with employee’s objective job performance as outcome. Our research contributes to the abusive supervision literature by highlighting a social learning process of third-party peer mistreatment, suggesting a spillover channel of abusive supervision on the victim’s performance. (shrink)

We investigate how firms adjust corporate pension plans in response to economic policy uncertainty (EPU). Using a sample of US-listed firms, we find that firms increase pension underfunding levels when facing higher EPU. The result is robust to controlling for pension portfolio returns, discount rates, plan sizes, pension liability, numbers of employees, other macroeconomic factors, difference-in-differences and instrumental variable estimation, and additional evidence of pension risk-shifting. Further analysis reveals that financial distress and information asymmetry induced through EPU are the potential (...) channels. The effect is stronger for firms having CEOs being excessively paid, using cash flow as a performance metric in CEO compensation, paying high dividends, and having short-term institutional investors, whereas the presence of unions, positive corporate culture, and social capital alleviate the effect. Notably, managers, not shareholders, appear to be the party reaping the benefits. Our findings suggest that firms may shift risk to employees in response to heightened uncertainty and institutional characteristics play a moderating role in this crucial business ethics issue. (shrink)

This paper provides estimates of the economic welfare effects of tobacco taxation in India, S.Africa, S.Korea, Japan and the European Union. It argues that past studies of the cost-benefits of smoking are flawed as they fail to net out Paretoirrelevant pecuniary externalities. It estimates tobacco demand for both the myopic and rational addiction models and finds the latter invariably perform better. It finds that the net welfare losses associated with current tax levels an increase over current taxation of 10% and (...) an increase of 10% a year for!0 years in all these countries, but particularly in the poorest, are large.Cet article fournit des estimations des effets des taxes sur le tabac sur le bien-être : l’Inde, l’Afrique du Sud, la Corée du Sud, le Japon et l’Union Européenne. L’article soutient que les analyses antérieures des coûts et des bénéfices de la cigarette sont erronées car elles ne tiennent pas compte des externalités pécuniaires non pertinentes dans un monde parétien. Il donne des estimations de la demande non tant pour les modèles myopes que pour ceux supposant une addiction rationnelle et constate que ces derniers donnent de meilleurs résultats. Il en ressort aussi que les pertes nettes de bien-être associées aux niveaux actuels de taxes, à une augmentation de 10% des taxes actuelles et à une augmentation annuelle de 10% des taxes sur 10 ans dans toutes les zones étudiées, mais particulièrement dans les plus pauvres d’entre elles, sont conséquentes. (shrink)

The present study investigated the lasting effects of sickness presenteeism on well-being and innovative job performance in the demanding Chinese work context compounded with the precarities of the post-pandemic business environment. Adopting the conservation of resources theory perspective, especially its proposition of compensation of resources, we incorporated social resources at work as joint moderators in the presenteeism–outcomes relationship. We employed a panel design in which all variables were measured twice with 6 months in between. Data were obtained from 323 Chinese (...) employees working in diverse industries in Taiwan. We found that after controlling for the baseline level of well-being, presenteeism did not have a lasting effect on employees' exhaustion. However, presenteeism did have a negative lasting effect on employees' innovative behavior 6 months later. Moreover, we found a significant three-way interaction of presenteeism, supervisory support, and collegial support on employees' innovative job performance, after controlling for the baseline level of performance. Specifically, when working under illness, employees displayed the best innovative performance with high levels of both supervisory and collegial support, the worst performance with both support being low, and the intermediate when any one of the support being high. This can be taken as the preliminary evidence to support the COR proposition of resource caravans, showing that supervisory support and collegial support compensated for each other as critical resources in alleviating the impact of working under sickness on employees' innovative performance. Theoretical implications of the findings are discussed, taking into account the macro-cultural context of the East Asian Confucian societies. We also reflected on the managerial implications of the lasting damages of sickness presenteeism and benefits of mobilizing social resources on employees' well-being and performance. (shrink)

Wer Fichtes Programm der Wissenschaftslehre in der Ersten Einleitung betrachtet, in der er sie als Lehre des Grundes »des Systems der vom Gefühle der Nothwendigkeit begleiteten Vorstellungen« beschreibt, kann über die Verwendung des Begriffs der Notwendigkeit in 1812 nur erstaunt sein. Denn in diesem Vortrag verwendet Fichte in seinen Diskussionen mit Spinoza und Schelling, aber auch schon in 1811, den Begriff der Notwendigkeit - vielleicht bloß scheinbar - metaphysisch als bezogen auf das Absolute selbst. Die erstgenannten Bemerkungen und die weiteren (...) Bestimmungen im Rahmen der Wissenschaftslehren zeigen, daß sich Fichte zeitlebens über die Bedeutung der Modalkategorien durchwegs im klaren war. Dennoch stellt sich später folgende Frage: Wenn die Modalkategorien auf das Absolute bezogen werden, erneuert Fichte dann in seiner letzten Schaffensphase eine Metaphysik des Absoluten, oder betrachtet er diese Diskussion der vormaligen Metaphysik nur deshalb, um in einer negativen Folie seine eigene Darstellung der Wissenschaftslehre als Sicherscheinung des Absoluten klarzumachen? (shrink)

This paper presents social data and knowledge collective intelligence platform for TRaining Ethical AI Models (STREAM) to address the challenge of aligning AI models with human moral values, and to provide ethics datasets and knowledge bases to help promote AI models “follow good advice as naturally as a stream follows its course”. By creating a comprehensive and representative platform that accurately mirrors the moral judgments of diverse groups including humans and AIs, we hope to effectively portray cultural and group variations, (...) and capture the dynamic evolution of moral judgments over time, which in turn will facilitate the Establishment, Evaluation, Embedding, Embodiment, Ensemble, and Evolvement (6Es) of the moral capabilities of AI models. Currently, STREAM has already furnished a comprehensive collection of ethical scenarios, and amassed substantial moral judgment data annotated by volunteers and various popular Large Language Models, collectively portraying the moral preferences and performances of both humans and AIs across a range of moral contexts. This paper will outline the current structure and construction of STREAM, explore its potential applications, and discuss its future prospects. (shrink)

While consumer motivation to maintain a relationship with a retailer is a function of personal idiosyncratic characteristics, specific perceptions of retailers may play a role in influencing receptivity to relationship maintenance. This study integrates relationship marketing tactics and corporate associates into a model of consumer ethical purchasing behavior that improves the relationship between sellers and buyers. Results show social benefits, special treatment benefits, CSR, and service quality have direct and indirect impact on ethically questionable consumer behaviors in retailing. This study (...) also modifies the consumer ethics scale of Muncy and Vitell for the East Asian market with good reliability and validity in order to measure ethically questionable consumption behaviors in retailing. Finally, some theoretical contribution and practical implications are discussed. (shrink)

This book offers an in-depth analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility, gathering contributions by authors from various countries, cultures and political systems. It provides readers with a better understanding of the concept and its implementation in China by pursuing an international approach. The respective contributions examine Corporate Social Responsibility in terms of its close ties to ecology, corporate sustainability and the future of specific industries. The book is the product of two international meetings, the "Ecological Education and Sustainable Development Forum" in (...) Chengdu, China, and the "CSR & Business Sustainability Development Forum" in Shenzen, China. (shrink)

In order to improve the iris classification rate, a novel biogeography-based optimization algorithm based on local search and nonuniform variation was proposed in this paper. Firstly, the linear migration model was replaced by a hyperbolic cotangent model which was closer to the natural law. And, the local search strategy was added to traditional BBO algorithm migration operation to enhance the global search ability of the algorithm. Then, the nonuniform variation was introduced to enhance the algorithm in the later iteration. The (...) algorithm could achieve a stronger iris classifier by lifting weaker similarity classifiers during the training stage. On this base, the convergence condition of NBBO was proposed by using the Markov chain strategy. Finally, simulation results were given to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed iris classification method. (shrink)

The present expression of radiation of an accelerated point charge is only approximately valid. The exact expression of radiation of an accelerated point charge is derived based on special relativity, and using the Larmor formulation for the radiation of an charged particle being accelerated, but instantaneously at rest. The totaled radiation power obtained by the exact expression is the same as Liénard’s generalization of the Larmor formula.

Resolving the challenge of flight delays caused by air traffic congestion renders it necessary to explore the mode of congestion propagation. By applying complex network theory, this article establishes a complex network structure where airspace sectors act as nodes, and the edges represent traffic flow relationships between sectors. In addition, a cascading failure model is proposed to analyze the airspace sector network’s invulnerability. The critical threshold and the sector abnormality rate are determined according to the cascading failure measurement indexes. Based (...) on the remaining capacity of sector nodes, two optimization strategies are proposed: adjacent load redistribution strategy and local load redistribution strategy. The simulation results demonstrate that the local load redistribution strategy greatly improves the airspace sector network’s invulnerability to cascading failure. (shrink)

Extant research has identified various effects of leader humor on subordinates and work groups. In contrast, less research has explored the influence of leader humor on leaders themselves and leaders’ subsequent behaviors. To address these issues, we drew from ego depletion theory and investigated when and how leader humor impacted leader workplace deviance. We argued that leader humor along with high impression management motive would bring increased ego depletion to leaders themselves and ultimately result in more leader workplace deviance. We (...) tested our theoretical model using a three-wave time-lagged field survey data collected from 103 leaders and 595 subordinates, as well as an experiment involving 487 leader participants, which provided overall support for our hypotheses. Our findings revealed the possible dark side of leader humor influencing both leaders themselves and organizations. Theoretical contributions and new avenues for future research are addressed. (shrink)

The study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the coronavirus anxiety scale during the coronavirus disease 2019 delta epidemic. A total of 2,116 participants on the Chinese mainland completed the online survey. We employed exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis to investigate the factor structure. The findings showed that the one-factor model of the CAS Chinese version fitted perfectly with the data. The multigroup CFAs showed the measurement invariance across gender and age groups. We also examined the CAS’s (...) internal consistency and convergent and concurrent validity. The results demonstrated that the one-factor model had good reliability and convergent and concurrent validity. Overall, according to our findings, the CAS Chinese version was reliable for measuring coronavirus anxiety during the COVID-19 delta outbreak. (shrink)

In this article, we propose a series of control strategies to synchronize two chaotic financial systems. Due to the characteristics of chaotic systems, the system is very sensitive to its initial values. Thus, the behaviour of two systems with different initial values will be completely different. In order to realize the synchronization of two financial chaotic systems, we designed a series of controls including controllers to realize global asymptotic synchronization and controllers to realize global exponential synchronization to make the two (...) systems fully synchronized. We provide mathematical proofs to show that the designed controls are effective. Numerical methods are used to verify the effectiveness of the controls. (shrink)

The libidinal economy could be exploited by both political movements and advertising campaigns in a pictorial space that is related to the social space at any historical moment. The arrangement of desires in a propaganda poster of the Chinese Cultural Revolution is, in light of political semiotics, the same as in a campaign poster in a consumer society today. The same libidinal economy is rooted in our political unconsciousness and remains to be the deep structure of our political performance. A (...) critical image analysis or a political semiotic critique of this libidinal economy that rules us in the Chinese Cultural Revolution and in consumer society today is necessary and urgent. (shrink)

兩甲子前，中國戰敗於日本，儒家士大夫遂尋求全面制度變革，行之數千年的堯舜周孔治理之道被棄如敝屣。此後百年，雖有仁人志士守護道統，復興儒學，唯多局限於精神、道德、文化領域，以為儒家未曾塑造、維護良好秩序 ，更不可能行於當世。 本書作者卻力排眾議，為當前中國之制度變革提出「儒家憲政」方案。作者認為，一國憲政當扎根於自身文明，儒家在中國文明中具有特殊地位，這决定了中國憲政必為儒家憲政。 本書上卷「義理」，參考中國數千年的治理實踐，疏解儒家經典，闡明常在常新的中國治理之道；下卷「更化」，探討當下中國通往儒家憲政之路。作者並不準備提出整全的憲制方案，反而保持充分開放的心態。作者認為，唯有 歸宗道統，中國之政治秩序才可趨於良善、穩定，但「人能弘道」，當世君子不能不因時而立制，為此不能不廣泛參照西方的法度。 故「儒家憲政」既不同於自由民主憲政或社會主義憲政，亦有別於「儒教憲政」。作者以為，前者無視中國文明傳統、憑空立憲，而失之於「不及」；後者「生乎今之世，反古之道」，而失之於「過」。儒家憲政中道而行，或可 供有志於治國平天下的賢明君子採擇一二。.

As an important view in the epistemology of perception, dogmatism proposes that for any experience, if it has a distinctive kind of phenomenal character, then it thereby provides us with immediate justification for beliefs about the external world. This paper rejects dogmatism by looking into the epistemology of imagining. In particular, this paper first appeals to some empirical studies on perceptual experiences and imaginings to show that it is possible for imaginings to have the distinctive phenomenal character dogmatists have in (...) mind. Then this paper argues that some of these imaginings fail to provide us with immediate justification for beliefs about the external world at least partly due to their inappropriate etiology. Such imaginings constitute counterexamples to dogmatism. (shrink)

Lu Jia's New Discourses: A Political Manifesto from the Early Han Dynasty is a readable yet accurate translation by Paul R. Goldin and Elisa Levi Sabattini. Celebrated as "a man-of-service with a mouth [skilled] at persuasion", Lu Jia (c. 228-140 BCE) became one of the leading figures of the early Han dynasty, serving as a statesman and diplomat from the very beginning of the Han empire. This book is a translation of Lu Jia's New Discourses, which laid out the reasons (...) for rise and fall of empires. Challenged by the new Emperor to produce a book explaining why a realm that was conquered on horseback cannot also be ruled on horseback, Lu Jia produced New Discourses, to great acclaim. (shrink)

We tend to think that perceptual experiences tell us about what the external world is like without being influenced by our own mind. But recent psychological and philosophical research indicates that this might not be true. Our beliefs, expectations, knowledge, and other personal-level mental states might influence what we experience. This kind of psychological phenomena is now called “cognitive penetration.” The research of cognitive penetration not only has important consequences for psychology and the philosophy of mind, but also has interesting (...) epistemological implications. According to the Downgrade Thesis, some cognitively penetrated perceptual experiences give their subjects less justification for believing their penetrated contents than perceptual experiences that are unpenetrated to represent those contents would usually give. In this paper, I propose an innovative argument for the Downgrade Thesis. First, I develop a positive account of how some cognitive penetration works, according to which cognitive states influence perceptual experiences by triggering some imaginings. Second, I argue that imaginings do not give their subjects justification for believing their contents. I apply this epistemology of imagining to cognitive penetration, and argue that because of the role that imaginings play, some cognitively penetrated experiences also give their subjects less justification for believing their penetrated contents. (shrink)

Despite the prevalent role of guanxi in conducting business in Chinese, it is unclear whether interpersonal guanxi fosters interfirm trust. Taking a contingency approach, this study examines how institutional and individual factors moderate the association between interpersonal guanxi and interfirm trust. Based on a paired survey between salespersons and sales managers and two secondary datasets, this study finds that interpersonal guanxi is positively associated with interfirm trust. Moreover, this positive effect is stronger when firms operate in regions with strong government–market (...) relationships and strong Buddhism influence. In addition, the positive relationship is weaker when guanxi resides in boundary spanners who have relatively high role performance, but becomes stronger when boundary spanners have a broad span of partner control. These findings highlight the situations in which guanxi at an interpersonal level is more or less likely to foster interfirm trust. (shrink)