Handling exceptions in a knowledge-based system is an important issue in many application domains, such as medical domain. Recently, there is an increasing interest in nonmonotonic extension of description logics to handle exceptions in ontologies. In this paper, we propose three preferential semantics for plausible subsumption to deal with exceptions in description logic-based knowledge bases. Our preferential semantics are defined in the framework of possibility theory, which is an uncertainty theory devoted to handling incomplete information. We consider the properties of (...) these semantics and their relationships. We also discuss the relationship between two of our preferential semantics and two existing preferential semantics. We extend a description logic-based knowledge base by adding preferential subsumptions. Entailment of plausible subsumptions relative to an extended knowledge base is defined. Properties of the preferential subsumption relations relative to an extended description logic-based knowledge base are discussed. Finally, we show that our semantics for plausible subsumption can be reduced to standard semantics of an expressive description logic. Thus, the problem of plausible subsumption checking under our semantics can be reduced to the problem of subsumption checking under the classical semantics. (shrink)

Information has usually been defined as one of the properties of substance and a reflection of the substance world. A new perspective is introduced in this paper concerning the nature of information and its role in the cosmos. The five characteristics of information are discussed in the first part of this paper. While the passivity allows information to be transferred, copied, recorded, and displayed, the other four characteristics of information (i.e. initiative, independent, expressive, and holographic) make it the fundamental element (...) of the cosmos, which generates the cosmos, life, consciousness and human culture. Based on the findings of physics and astrophysics, this view is explored more by defining information as a pattern of orders throughout the cosmos, with series of parameters, functions and programs. It is argued that, the cosmos is the existence of process instead of things; the information is reality itself instead of a property of substance; and the substance is one of the forms in which information expresses itself during its evolution. An original framework named “Information Order N” (N is any integer between 0 and 7) is described in the second part of this paper. This scale of information evolution starts from initial information, which is an intrinsic pattern that inhered from maternal universes. The seven orders after that are dimension and superstring, substance and energy, life, consciousness, system of the earth (with a combination of eco-system and human culture), system of the Milky Way Galaxy, system of the cosmos. This “Information Order N” scale unifies substance,life, consciousness, human culture, and everything in the cosmos into one system of information evolution. In another word, the cosmos is information itself. (shrink)

From the tape-recording of naturally occurring Chinese psychotherapy sessions, this article explores how repeated occurrences of resistance are managed in the course of interactional sequences and the participants’ actions within these sequences. By employing the methods of conversation analysis, we discuss the main discursive strategies employed by the clients to express their resistance and investigate how the therapist manages this. We find that clients show their resistance to the therapist’s questions in four ways: keeping silence, providing minimal response, making non-answer (...) responses, and being over-talkative. Persistent asking is the main technique we identify in the data for the therapist to manage the resistance; in the meantime, asking questions in a stepwise way, making requests after facing resistance to questions, active retreating and reformulating of the client’s words are employed as subsidiary techniques. The successful management of resistance leads to a smooth sequential development of the psychotherapy, while inappropriate strategies might result in a halt or even breakdown of the therapeutic work. In psychotherapy, resistance is a result of the shared interaction between client and therapist. It is such a complex issue that, in order to understand and manage it, we also take into consideration the broader social and cultural context in which it occurs. (shrink)

Improving the resilience of urban road networks suffering from various disruptions has been a central focus for urban emergence management. However, to date the effective methods which may mitigate the negative impacts caused by the disruptions, such as road accidents and natural disasters, on urban road networks is highly insufficient. This study proposes a novel adaptive signal control strategy based on a doubly dynamic learning framework, which consists of deep reinforcement learning and day-to-day traffic dynamic learning, to improve the network (...) performance by adjusting red/green time split. In this study, red time split is regarded as extra traffic flow to discourage drivers to use affected roads, so as to reduce congestion and improve the resilience when urban road networks are subject to different levels of disruptions. In addition, we utilize the convolution neural network as Q-network to approximate Q values, link flow distribution and link capacity are regarded as the state space, and actions are denoted as red/green time split. A small network is utilized as a numerical example, and a fixed time signal control and other two adaptive signal controls are employed for the comparisons with the proposed one. The results show that the proposed adaptive signal control based on deep reinforcement learning can achieve better resilience in most of the cases, particularly in the scenarios of moderate and severe disruptions. This study may shed light on the advantages of the proposed adaptive signal control dealing with major emergencies compared to others. (shrink)

Commented Article: LIU, Rong. Philosophical spirit in traditional Chinese drama. Trans/Form/Ação: Unesp journal of philosophy, Marília, v. 47, n. 4, “Eastern thought”, e0240063, 2024. Available at: https://revistas.marilia.unesp.br/index.php/transformacao/article/view/14667.

Who can feel both happy and sad at the same time, but not discomfort? This study aimed to investigate the cultural differences in mixed emotional experiences induced by conflict stimuli among American and Chinese undergraduate students. In total, 160 Americans and 158 Chinese watched two different valence advertisements (one predominantly positive and the other predominantly negative) that elicited mixed emotions; their feelings were assessed through self-reported measures. Findings indicated the impact that cultural differences have in people’s mixed emotional experiences depends (...) on the emotional components of the mixed emotional situations. The Americans and Chinese both experience a comparably intense mixture of emotions in different valence situations, but their discomfort toward conflicting stimuli is different. Further, dialectical thinking may be a mechanism behind the influence of cultural differences in people’s mixed emotional experiences. Implications for emotion theory and research are discussed. (shrink)

Double 11 shopping carnival, celebrated by the most successful electronic-commerce Chinese company, Alibaba, has always been the online shopping festival with the highest turnover and involves the largest number of consumers and enterprises in China. This study integrates the elaboration likelihood model and stimulus-organism-response theory to study the dual-processing path of information, which drives customers’ behavioral intention on Double 11. There are 454 valid samples of data are collected, and the research model is tested using the partial least squares method. (...) Results show that in the Double 11 context, two different processing mechanisms affect consumers’ behavioral intention. Thereinto, consumers’ behavioral intention is more affected by the peripheral path than the central path. The affective experience affected by the information stimulus has a greater impact on the behavioral intention than cognitive experience. Furthermore, we find situational involvement have different moderating effects on the relationship between two experiences and behavioral intention. (shrink)

Based on real-life intergroup animosities originating from a historical conflict, the current study examined how the perceived stance of the outgroup about the conflict affects the dehumanization of the outgroup. In Study 1 (N= 120), Korean undergraduates attributed morehuman natureto the Japanese after reading an article that the Japanese government did (vs. refused to) issue an official apology for a historical wrong. In turn, the more human nature assigned to the Japanese predicted higher expectations about positive mutual relations in the (...) future. Similarly, in Study 2 (N= 209), Japanese undergraduates attributed morehuman uniquenessto Koreans after reading an article that an official apology for a historical wrong from Japan was accepted (vs. rejected) by Koreans. The higher the perceived human uniqueness of Koreans was, the higher were the willingness to help and the expectations of a positive relationship in the future. The findings demonstrate how mutual dehumanization can be reduced as a result of the other side’s reconciliatory stances and can further contribute to improving intergroup relations. (shrink)

本书深入细致地介绍了刑法总论的基本理论问题,特别是犯罪构成和刑事责任问题。每个专题在系统介绍中外学者的观点之后,都提出了自己的观点。.

The present study adopts both empirical and theoretical methods for the analysis of the acquisition of English sentence stress based on Optimality Theory, aiming to overcome mispronunciation of English sentence stress. Optimality Theory has a dramatic impact on most areas in linguistics besides phonology. The acoustic software Praat is chosen to collect and label data as the basis of the empirical method. Then, through analyzing the four major principles of distribution of sentence stress and based on the analysis of Optimality (...) Theory, the software Praat, and SPSS, the researcher can present the following findings: firstly, the constraint hierarchical ranking of nonnative speakers is DEP-IO >> NEW-IP >> ALIGN-IP-LEFT >> ALIGN-IP-RIGHT. Secondly, the native speakers also undergo the demotion of constraint hierarchical ranking: NEW-IP >> DEP-IO >> ALIGN-IP-RIGHT >> ALIGN-IP-LEFT. Thirdly, the constraint in each demotion of constraint hierarchical ranking during different stages is as follows: NEW-IP constraint moves from the undominated position to the dominated position in the hierarchy; ALIGN-IP-RIGHT and ALIGN-IP-LEFT constraints move from the dominated position to the lower position in the hierarchy. Through the specific analysis, the researcher draws a conclusion that the varied reasons affect the nonnative speakers to master the distribution of sentence stress due to their incorrect position in the demotion of constraint hierarchical ranking. (shrink)

El presente artículo examina los discursos histórico-geográficos sobre América transmitidos en China por misioneros jesuitas entre los siglos XVI y XVIII. Este busca demostrar el modo en que misioneros y sus colaboradores chinos crearon, cuidadosa y estratégicamente, sus informaciones sobre el continente con el fin de apoyar su agenda política y misional. El texto comienza con una descripción general de las estrategias de la misión en China y su relación con la producción geográfica sino-jesuita, para luego ejemplificar a través de (...) un análisis de los contenidos sobre la geografía, etnografía y el “descubrimiento” del continente, la conexión de estas informaciones con los planes de la misión. El artículo concluye que las representaciones sobre la geografía, gentes e historia de América reflejan tres intereses interrelacionados: atraer la atención de los literatos chinos; resaltar el alto desarrollo de la civilización europea; y comunicar mensajes religiosos. (shrink)

How might the agency of the subaltern be conceptualized within the intersection of multiple worlds? Actor-network theory’s translation framework for understanding agency portraying this as entrepreneur and talking of a world in the making is arguably “imperialist,” “managerial,” and “monolithic.” Draws from the enactment turn of ANT and insights into the politics of representation, this article elaborates an alternative framework which focuses on displacement. By examining the case of dialysis patients, the article explores the displacing practices that follow the disruption (...) of routines in dialysis. Patients have to go through a process of problematization, distribution, hybridization, and restabilization, in order to sustain the coexistence of their alternative practices with dialysis. Unlike entrepreneurs in the translation model who transform the world by interesting others, enduring trials, and becoming spokespersons for all, those patients who manage to displace and sustain the coexistence of multiple worlds avoid interesting, still less confronting, the hegemonic actors and claiming representation for themselves. This article suggests the displacement of agency as a generic alternative. (shrink)

A great deal of progress has been made on information ethics. Which portion is not sufficient? That might be the comparison from countries to countries. The purpose of this study was closely examined using the cross-cultural method for comparison. To determine the ethics cognitions and behaviors of the students, a comprehensive survey was distributed. The questionnaire for the study used Mason’s four essential factors in information ethics that included Privacy, Accuracy, Property and Accessibility (PAPA). The samples were comprised of Kaohsiung (...) Taiwan and Nanjing China, junior high school students in 2006. The sample and the survey were obtained from two stages of random sampling that was conducted using an Internet website. Students could read the online questionnaire in the computer laboratory and then send immediate feedback to the website server. The result of the experiment showed the divergence of information ethics in cognition and behavior between Kaohsiung and Nanjing school children. The effects of background and correlation are from cognition and behavior between two regions. (shrink)

This study examines the characteristics of request sequences in Chinese public service calls. The data analysis indicates that a prominent characteristic of Chinese public service calls is the frequent appearance of insert expansions and non-minimal post-expansions, with the latter occurring after both preferred response and dispreferred response. This is closely related to participants’ institutional identities and epistemic asymmetry; operators handling such service calls should pay due attention to this asymmetry to ensure mutual understanding in conversation.

This paper explores whether a Student’s choice of major leads to certain personality traits and the reasons for this phenomenon. Specifically, we look at evidence from two Chinese universities, both of which specialize in agricultural studies. Using the Sixteen Personality Factor questionnaire and the Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Five-Factor Inventory questionnaire, we collected data from two groups of students: those who study agriculture-related majors, and those who study non-agriculture-related majors. The surveys all showed no significant change in personality traits during Students’ (...) freshman year. However, after 3 years of university study, significant personality trait changes were noted between seniors in the ARM and NARM groups. Whereas ARM seniors tended to be socially shy and lower in communicative competence, NARM seniors were better at expressing themselves and communicating with others. Although a Student’s choice of profession has an influence on their personality traits, it is not the only factor. The differences between ARM and NARM training models and curricula are also undoubtedly significant. Moreover, the bias against ARM in Chinese society further magnifies the differences in personality traits among students with different majors. (shrink)

Research on couples’ earnings arrangements has focused on men’s and women’s conformance to the male-breadwinner/female-homemaker model. By doing so, research has ignored the following: Breadwinning can be a source of stress for men; the male-breadwinner/female-homemaker model does not apply to all racial groups; and the proportion of women in an occupation may moderate the stress process associated with divergent earnings arrangements. To address factors overlooked, I applied mixed-effects models to the 1999–2017 Panel Study of Income Dynamics data to examine the (...) internalizing and externalizing responses to stress among married, non-Hispanic white and Black men and women. Greater relative earnings reduce Black women’s psychological distress and heavy drinking, but increase Black men’s heavy drinking. Among white men, greater relative earnings reduce psychological distress and demonstrate a curvilinear relationship with heavy drinking, whereas no significant pattern emerges for white women. Occupational sex composition moderates these relationships. Among Black women, greater relative earnings lower psychological distress the most for those in women-concentrated occupations, and moving from economic dependency to equal breadwinning decreases heavy drinking the most for white men in men-concentrated occupations. Findings showcase the value of an intersectional approach to capture the diverse meanings associated with earnings arrangements. (shrink)

The bulletin board system (BBS) significantly changed the production and transmission of knowledge in China’s information technology (IT). Launched in 1991, Chinese FidoNet (CFido) provided a virtual space for hobbyists to explore technology-for-fun and aggregated many future Chinese digital entrepreneurs, enabling them to experiment with business models and pursue open-source software with Chinese characters. CFido’s short history (1991–1998) also encapsulates the fast-changing dynamic between knowledge and its social context. CFido participants first perceived the BBS as a utopian “pure land” where (...) grassroots intellectuals could develop software and digital technologies, free from outside interests and interventions. Yet the beginning of government control of cyberspace, the boom of the IT industry and e-commerce, and the transition from the dial-up BBS to the Internet led the CFidoers to diverging positions about amateurs and ultimately brought CFido to an end. (shrink)

Hsün Tzu was an eminent Legalist. The book Hsün Tzu fully reflects his Legalist thought. In the decisive period of great social change at the end of the Warring States period he stood in the front ranks of the age and created a great deal of public opinion in favor of the replacement of the slave system by the feudal system; he "disclosed the past, set forth the present, dispersed disorder, and propagated reason as easily as turning over his hand" (...) , creating a thick foundation of theory for the Legalist line and manifesting the vital and vigorous fighting spirit of the newly rising landlord class. (shrink)

Synthesizing insights from a dynamic capability perspective and social network theory, this study identifies the factors influencing green innovation and examines the relationships between influencing factors, green innovation, and performance. This study uses structural equation modeling to test the research hypotheses. The results indicate that dynamic capability, coordination capability, and social reciprocity are significant drivers of green innovation, including green product innovation and green process innovation. Green product and process innovation have positive effects on environmental performance and organizational performance. These (...) findings are relevant to firms in quest of green management and innovation. (shrink)

L'émergence des TIC et deux changements politiques successifs ont amené une troisième vague de mouvements sociaux à Taïwan. Ces mouvements ont commencé à s'affranchir des partis politiques ; ils se préoccupent de problèmes sociaux et mobilisent différents modes de participation à la base. Cependant, les TIC ne peuvent à elles seules garantir leur succès. La plupart des études sur les nouveaux mouvements sociaux suggèrent que les TIC accroissent l'adhésion à ces mouvements parmi la population, ce qui facilite leur extension. Cette (...) étude analyse deux mouvements récents au sein de la société civile taïwanaise et conclut que ni la théorie de la mobilisation des ressources ni la théorie des nouveaux mouvements sociaux ne montrent comment les TIC seraient suffisantes pour structurer les mouvements de la société civile. En l'absence d'organisation concrète et réelle de la société civile, la participation purement virtuelle de la base risque d'en compromettre le leadership, la mobilisation, les prises de décision et les liens au niveau international.The emergence of ICT and two successive political changes have led to a third wave of social movements in Taiwan. These movements have begun to overcome the political parties they are concerned about social issues and mobilizing different modes of grassroots participation. However, ICT alone can not guarantee success. Most studies on new social movements suggest that ICTs increase adherence to these movements among the population, which facilitates their extension. This study analyzes two recent movements in civil society Taiwanese and concludes that neither the theory nor the resource mobilization theory of new social movements did not show how ICT would be sufficient to organize the movement of civil society. In the absence of concrete and actual organization of civil society participation purely virtual database could compromise leadership, advocacy, decision-making and international links. (shrink)

A general account of the Confucian self as either collectivist or relational requires careful examination. This article begins with the major textual resources of the Confucian tradition and then compares this idea of moral expansion with Deweyan ideas of the self and community. By parsing key Confucian terms that comprise the meaning of “being together” and “mutual association,” the author argues that Confucian selves and individuals are fundamentally contextually creative. By comparing the Confucian idea of family with the Deweyan notion (...) of community, the author further supports his argument that the Confucian self is always co-creative with others. Despite the fact that Confucian ethics has long been considered either a kind of virtue ethics or a kind of role ethics, the author argues that Confucian ethics is better viewed as a kind of co-creative ethics, which stems from an ethical theory concerning the co-creative self and other. (shrink)