A standard system, which is a powerful tool in maintaining the normal operations and development of a specific industry, is intrinsically a complex network composed of numerous standards which coordinate and interact with each other. In a networked standard system, the identification of critical standards is of great significance when drafting and revising standards. However, a majority of the existing literature has focused on the citation relationships between standards while ignoring the intrinsic interdependent relationships between the contents of standards. To (...) overcome this limitation, we utilize the text similarity approach to quantify the relationship intensity between each pair of standards, in order to generate a directed weighted network. The critical contribution of this study is that the similarity computed by the TSA is incorporated into the traditional PageRank algorithm for the identification of critical standards. The improved algorithm comprehensively considers the quantity and importance of neighboring standards and the citation intensity, as quantified by TSA. The algorithm is finally validated using the Chinese environmental health standards through comparison with the traditional PageRank algorithm and different classic measurements. (shrink)

Contemporary accounts of logic and language cannot give proper treatments of plural constructions of natural languages. They assume that plural constructions are redundant devices used to abbreviate singular constructions. This paper and its sequel, "The logic and meaning of plurals, II", aim to develop an account of logic and language that acknowledges limitations of singular constructions and recognizes plural constructions as their peers. To do so, the papers present natural accounts of the logic and meaning of plural constructions that result (...) from the view that plural constructions are, by and large, devices for talking about many things (as such). The account of logic presented in the papers surpasses contemporary Fregean accounts in its scope. This extension of the scope of logic results from extending the range of languages that logic can directly relate to. Underlying the view of language that makes room for this is a perspective on reality that locates in the world what plural constructions can relate to. The papers suggest that reflections on plural constructions point to a broader framework for understanding logic, language, and reality that can replace the contemporary Fregean framework as this has replaced its Aristotelian ancestor. (shrink)

In this article, we contribute to sociological literatures on morality, professional and institutional contexts, and morally stigmatized ‘dirty work’ by emphasizing and exploring how they mutually inform one another in lawyers’ work activities. Drawing on interview data with 58 practitioners in the commercial legal industry in Singapore, we analyze how they experience professional and institutional constraints on the expressions of morality in their work. Our findings illustrate how a dominant managerial and economic focus maintains and reproduces a constrained form of (...) morality, limited to instrumental, utilitarian and commercial ends, and subordinated to lucrative client and firm interests. We discuss our findings in terms of the need to research and reform professions in ways that support more rounded and unconstrained moral reflexivity and autonomy in how work is undertaken and valued. This in turn has implications for how organizations and professions might achieve alternative moral institutional orders, and for legal work to avoid the moral and social taints of dirty work. (shrink)

Guanxi in China is a very ancient concept embedded in the Confucian concept of life and one that is a ‚hot' topic in that it is currently attracting increasing attention from both Western and Chinese scholars. One aspect of Guanxi which has been the subject of most of the research of late is the influence of Guanxi on firm performance. However, relatively few studies have examined how Guanxi at the individual level is transferred into a firm to influence its financial (...) performance. This study first reclassifies Guanxi into obligatory, reciprocal, and utilitarian types at the individual level as a means to clarifying the confusion brought above from previous studies. It then provides a conceptual framework in which to systematically characterize the link between Guanxi at the individual level and organizational dynamics: that is, how is Guanxi at the individual level shifted to a firm and how does it affect organizational dynamics of that firm at the organizational level. Finally, it provides a deeper understanding of the financial implications of Guanxi to business firms in China. (shrink)

Quantities and units of measure provide an important means by which intelligent agents interact with the physical world. Although multiple ontologies for quantities and units of measure have been p...

We clarify different definitions of the density matrix by proposing the use of different names, the full density matrix for a single-closed quantum system, the compressed density matrix for the averaged single molecule state from an ensemble of molecules, and the reduced density matrix for a part of an entangled quantum system, respectively. We show that ensembles with the same compressed density matrix can be physically distinguished by observing fluctuations of various observables. This is in contrast to a general belief (...) that ensembles with the same compressed density matrix are identical. Explicit expression for the fluctuation of an observable in a specified ensemble is given. We have discussed the nature of nuclear magnetic resonance quantum computing. We show that the conclusion that there is no quantum entanglement in the current nuclear magnetic resonance quantum computing experiment is based on the unjustified belief that ensembles having the same compressed density matrix are identical physically. Related issues in quantum communication are also discussed. (shrink)

Previous research demonstrates the critical role moral disengagement plays in unethical decision-making. This study investigates the relationships among moral endorsement, shareholder-value orientation, moral disengagement, and moral judgment on issues of different moral intensities. The results of a scenario-based survey conducted in China confirm the negative (positive) impact of moral disengagement (moral intensity) on moral judgment. The findings reveal that both moral endorsement and shareholder-value orientation of decision-makers significantly influence moral judgment and that moral intensity moderates the relationships between moral endorsement (...) and moral judgment, and between shareholder-value orientation and moral disengagement. The study’s theoretical contributions, managerial implications, and limitations are discussed. (shrink)

There is no notion of postmortem Heaven and Hell in both ancient Israeli and Confucian traditions, and the two traditions also share quite a number of similarities about the idea of immortal life after death. Therefore, a comparison of the commonness in this field, e.g. the Jewish Levirate Marriage custom and the Confucian custom of adopting one’s son as heir; the idea of name surviving death in Biblical Judaism and that of glorifying one’s parents by making one’s name famous in (...) future ages in Confucianism, can help us reveal the common pursuit in the two traditions: the postmortem fulfillment of an individual is realized in the form of the continuation of one’s family/ tribe/ nation of which they were, and forever remain, a generational link. In addition, this can help clarify a long faulted Confucian dogma of “Having no male heir being the gravest of the three cardinal offences against filial piety”. (shrink)

With the implementation of national carbon emission reduction policies and the development of online shopping, manufacturers are making low-carbon efforts and selling products through dual channels. This paper constructs a dual-channel supply chain decision-making model composed of low-carbon emission reduction manufacturers and retailers and studies the optimal decision-making problem of the supply chain under subsidies by the government based on emission reduction R&D and per unit product emission reduction. The research results show the following: when the government subsidizes emission reduction (...) R&D, the emission reduction will have an impact on retailers’ optimal prices, manufacturers’ optimal wholesale prices, and optimal direct sales channel sales prices. The profit of the manufacturer increases with the increase in carbon emissions, and the profit of the manufacturer increases to a certain level and then appears to decline. When the government adopts a subsidy method based on the emission reduction per unit product, the manufacturer’s wholesale price and the selling price of direct sales channels, as well as the retailer’s own optimal price, will increase with the increase in emission reductions. Retailers’ profits will increase linearly with the increase in carbon emissions. Manufacturers’ profits will first increase in a straight line and then increase in a curve. (shrink)

The topic of employee work engagement in the public sector has attracted broad attention because it is critical to the efficiency and effectiveness of public services. Based on the Job Characteristics Model and the Integrative Theory of Employee Engagement, the present research adopts a multilevel design to examine a moderated mediation model in which task characteristics and social context jointly impact employee work engagement via individual perception of meaningfulness in work. A total of 349 grassroots police officers from 35 police (...) substations were invited to anonymously complete a survey via mobile app. After performing the cross-sectional analysis, the results indicated that in contrast to task significance, the conditional effect of task autonomy on work engagement via perceived meaningfulness was more positive at a lower level of transformational leadership. Implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed. (shrink)

The study reported in this paper analyzed the influence of leader psychological capital (PsyCap) on employees’ innovative behavior and the roles of psychological safety and growth need strength (GNS) in this process within the context of positive psychology theory and conservation of resources theory. Three stages of questionnaire surveys were administered to 81 enterprise leaders and their 342 direct subordinates in South China to test our theoretical model. The results showed that leader PsyCap had significant and positive effects on employee (...) innovative behavior, psychological safety had a partially mediating effect, and GNS positively moderated the relationship between psychological safety and innovative behavior. The results revealed the mechanism of PsyCap and external boundary conditions of the influence of leader PsyCap on employee innovative behavior. The study expands the research results of leader PsyCap theory and also provides guidance on how enterprises manage employees’ innovative behavior. (shrink)

We investigate cluster-delay synchronization of a directed network possessing cluster structures by designing an intermittent control protocol. Based on Lyapunov stability theory, we proved that synchronization can be realized for oscillators in the same cluster and cluster-delay synchronization can be realized for the whole network. By simplifying the obtained sufficient conditions, we carry out a succinct and utilitarian corollary. In addition, comparative researches are carried out to show the differences and the usefulness of the obtained results with respect to other (...) similar controllers from the recent literature. Finally we provide two numerical examples to show the effectiveness of the control schemes. (shrink)

The time-scale dynamic equations play an important role in modeling complex dynamical processes. In this paper, the Mei symmetry and new conserved quantities of time-scale Birkhoff’s equations are studied. The definition and criterion of the Mei symmetry of the Birkhoffian system on time scales are given. The conditions and forms of new conserved quantities which are found from the Mei symmetry of the system are derived. As a special case, the Mei symmetry of time-scale Hamilton canonical equations is discussed and (...) new conserved quantities for the Hamiltonian system on time scales are derived. Two examples are given to illustrate the application of results. (shrink)

Based on a close study of benchmark examples in default reasoning, such as Nixon Diamond, Penguin Principle, etc., this paper provides an in depth analysis of the basic features of default reasoning. We formalize default inferences based on Modus Ponens for Default Implication, and mark the distinction between "local inferences"(to infer a conclusion from a subset of given premises) and "global inferences"(to infer a conclusion from the entire set of given premises). These conceptual analyses are captured by a formal semantics (...) that is built upon the set-selection function technique. A minimal logic system M of default reasoning that accommodates Modus Ponens for Default Implication and suitable for local inferences is proposed, and its soundness is proved. (shrink)

We show that it is consistent with ZFC + ¬CH that there is a maximal cofinitary group (or, maximal almost disjoint group) G ≤ Sym(ω) such that G is a proper subset of an almost disjoint family A $\subseteq$ Sym(ω) and |G| < |A|. We also ask several questions in this area.

The research study explores the philosophical viewpoints on cultural hybridity and considers how they affect the development of identities, moral behaviour, epistemological criticism, and real-world applications in a variety of fields. Cultural hybridity, which is defined as the blending of different cultural aspects, calls into question established ideas about identity and encourages us to reevaluate the flexibility and diversity that are fundamental to the human self. For measuring, the research study used the Smart PLS Algorithm Model related to variables through (...) this software run results included descriptive statistics, correlation coefficient, and the Smart PLS Algorithm Model between them. Philosophical investigations into cultural hybridity shed light on the dynamic interactions between identity and alterity, ethics and epistemology, and draw on the works of philosophers like Stuart Hall, Emmanuel Levinas, and Homi K. Bhabha. Cultural hybridity is an ethical imperative that requires us to shift our perspective towards the Other and welcome cultural variety with warmth and kindness. From an epistemological point of view, cultural hybridity upends hegemonic knowledge frameworks and creates pluralistic modes of knowledge creation that provide voice to underrepresented groups. Philosophical viewpoints on cultural hybridity have practical implications in urban planning, education, diplomacy, and intercultural communication. Overall result found that there is a direct and significant link between philosophical perspectives on the cultural hybridity related to dynamics of identity and alterity. These applications promote inclusive societies, social cohesion, and creativity. We began a revolutionary route towards a more globalized, compassionate, and linked society by accepting cultural hybridity. (shrink)

Since Plato, western philosophy has had an uneasy relationship with the sea. The sea has always acted as the unspoken that threatens to breaks up the laborious definitions attained by philosophical achievements. Of all the thinkers who grapple with the maritime latency of philosophy and the openness inherent to thinking, Nietzsche is perhaps the most outspoken about the force of the sea for the birth of a new philosophy. Throughout his works, Nietzsche has consistently commended: “Aboard the ships, ye philosophers!” (...) Nowhere has Nietzsche pursued the philosophical potency of the maritime so forcefully as in Thus Spoke Zarathustra. In this essay, I aim to show how the sea is pivotal to the thinking of eternal recurrence and how Zarathustra comes to embody the maritime and becomes a khoratic site of hospitality and transfiguration – for the birth of new historical values and for the condition of possibility of the value of values. (shrink)

The Copernican Revolution had meant for modern Europe surer navigation, bolder voyages and wilder discoveries. With the declaration of independence of America in 1781 and the publication of The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant in the same year, the age of Enlightenment defined itself as an age of coming of age and of daring to know. This essay tries to draw out the peculiar enlightenment ethos of a youth against youth through Kant’s depiction of the voyage of human (...) reason in the First Critique. It will do so by examining the four-fold sense of objects, the island of truth surrounded by illusion, amphibolic insularity, the mirror of schema and the “No Further!” of the Pillars of Hercules. Interrogating the dual sense of “limit” as both infinitizing, transgressively de-territorializing and yet at the same time self-delimiting, self-critiquingly re-territorializing, this essay argues for a hermeneutic vantage point to comprehend Kant as the unwilling mariner who by way of the transcendental as-if attempted to gain a certain spectatorship, a particular possibility of seeing - at a shore already and increasingly lost to the European and global humanity of centuries to come. (shrink)

Genome complexity is correlated with biological complexity. A recent paper by Michael Lynch proposes that evolution of complex genomic architecture was driven primarily by non‐adaptive stochastic forces, rather than by adaptive evolution.1 A general negative relationship between selection efficiency and genome complexity provides a strong support for this hypothesis. The broad capacity of this theory is both its appeal and source for criticism. BioEssays 28: 979–982, 2006. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.