Withholding or withdrawing life-saving ventilators can become necessary when resources are insufficient. In the USA, such rationing has unique social justice dimensions. Structural elements of dominant allocation frameworks simultaneously advantage white communities, and disadvantage Black communities—who already experience a disproportionate burden of COVID-19-related job losses, hospitalisations and mortality. Using the example of New Jersey’s Crisis Standard of Care policy, we describe how dominant rationing guidance compounds for many Black patients prior unfair structural disadvantage, chiefly due to the way creatinine and (...) life expectancy are typically considered.We outline six possible policy options towards a more just approach: improving diversity in decision processes, adjusting creatinine scores, replacing creatinine, dropping creatinine, finding alternative measures, adding equity weights and rejecting the dominant model altogether. We also contrast these options with making no changes, which is not a neutral default, but in separate need of justification, despite a prominent claim that it is simply based on ‘objective medical knowledge’. In the regrettable absence of fair federal guidance, hospital and state-level policymakers should reflect on which of these, or further options, seem feasible and justifiable.Irrespective of which approach is taken, all guidance should be supplemented with a monitoring and reporting requirement on possible disparate impacts. The hope that we will be able to continue to avoid rationing ventilators must not stand in the way of revising guidance in a way that better promotes health equity and racial justice, both to be prepared, and given the significant expressive value of ventilator guidance. (shrink)

Background Community advisory boards have expanded beyond high-income countries and play an increasing role in low- and middle-income country research. Much research has examined CABs in HICs, but less is known about CABs in LMICs. The purposes of this scoping review are to examine the creation and implementation of CABs in LMICs, including identifying frequently reported challenges, and to discuss implications for research ethics. Methods We searched five databases for publications describing or evaluating CABs in LMICs. Two researchers independently reviewed (...) articles for inclusion. Data related to the following aspects of CABs were extracted from included publications: time, country, financial support, research focus, responsibilities, and challenges. Thematic analyses were used to summarize textual data describing challenges. Results Our search yielded 2005 citations, 83 of which were deemed eligible for inclusion. Most studies were published between 2010 and 2017. Upper-middle-income countries were more likely to have studies describing CABs, with South Africa, China, and Thailand having the greatest numbers. The United States National Institutes of Health was the main source of financial support for CABs. Many CABs focused on HIV research. Thirty-four studies reported how CABs influenced the informed consent process for clinical trials or other aspects of research ethics. CAB responsibilities were related to clinical trials, including reviewing study protocols, educating local communities about research activities, and promoting the ethical conduct of research. Challenges faced by CABs included the following: incomplete ethical regulations and guidance; limited knowledge of science among members of communities and CABs; unstable and unbalanced power relationships between researchers and local communities; poor CAB management, including lack of formal participation structures and absence of CAB leadership; competing demands for time that limited participation in CAB activities; and language barriers between research staff and community members. Several challenges reflected shortcomings within the research team. Conclusions Our findings examine the formation and implementation of CABs in LMICs and identify several ethical challenges. These findings suggest the need for further ethics training among CAB members and researchers in LMICs. (shrink)

Background In May 2020, England moved to an opt-out organ donation system, meaning adults are presumed to be an organ donor unless within an excluded group or have opted-out. This change aims to improve organ donation rates following brain or circulatory death. Healthcare staff in the UK are supportive of organ donation, however, both healthcare staff and the public have raised concerns and ethical issues regarding the change. The #options survey was completed by NHS organisations with the aim of understanding (...) awareness and support of the change. This paper analyses the free-text responses from the survey. Methods The #options survey was registered as a National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) portfolio trial [IRAS 275992] 14 February 2020, and was completed between July and December 2020 across NHS organisations in the North-East and North Cumbria, and North Thames. The survey contained 16 questions of which three were free-text, covering reasons against, additional information required and family discussions. The responses to these questions were thematically analysed. Results The #options survey received 5789 responses from NHS staff with 1404 individuals leaving 1657 free-text responses for analysis. The family discussion question elicited the largest number of responses (66%), followed by those against the legislation (19%), and those requiring more information (15%). Analysis revealed six main themes with 22 sub-themes. Conclusions The overall #options survey indicated NHS staff are supportive of the legislative change. Analysis of the free-text responses indicates that the views of the NHS staff who are against the change reflect the reasons, misconceptions, and misunderstandings of the public. Additional concerns included the rationale for the change, informed decision making, easy access to information and information regarding organ donation processes. Educational materials and interventions need to be developed for NHS staff to address the concepts of autonomy and consent, organ donation processes, and promote family conversations. Wider public awareness campaigns should continue to promote the positives and refute the negatives thus reducing misconceptions and misunderstandings. Trial registration National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) [IRAS 275992]. (shrink)

Although the relationship between stressors and thriving at work has been established, the linkage between them is still in the early stages of theory development. This study proposed a two-path model, based on Lepine’s stressors-performance model, to analyze the effects of the stressors on the thriving at work. Two complementary mediating paths were proposed, i.e., affective strain (positive affect) and motivation (self-efficacy), which were explained using affective events theory and expectancy theory, respectively. Based on the empirical data from 233 employees, (...) the results show that challenge stressors could enhance employees’ positive affect and self-efficacy, thus leading to thriving at work; on the contrary, hindrance stressors would result in negative influences. In addition, it is also found that the effect of affective path tend to be greater than that of motivation path, which could provide a practical guide for organizations to effectively apply stress management and to promote employees thriving at work. (shrink)

According to Eric Olson, the Thinking Animal Argument (TAA) is the best reason to accept animalism, the view that we are identical to animals. A novel criticism has been advanced against TAA, suggesting that it implicitly employs a dubious epistemological principle. I will argue that other epistemological principles can do the trick of saving the TAA, principles that appeal to recent issues regarding disagreement with peers and experts. I conclude with some remarks about the consequence of accepting these modified principles, (...) drawing out some general morals in defending animalism. (shrink)

Intuitionistic dependence logic was introduced by Abramsky and Väänänen [1] as a variant of dependence logic under a general construction of Hodges’ (trump) team semantics. It was proven that there is a translation from intuitionistic dependence logic sentences into second order logic sentences. In this paper, we prove that the other direction is also true, therefore intuitionistic dependence logic is equivalent to second order logic on the level of sentences.

This essay aims to explore Xunzi’s 荀子 problem, which was originally proposed by David S. Nivison. The problem revolves around a tension in Xunzi’s writings about human nature. In his chapter “Human Nature is Bad (Xing’e 性惡),” Xunzi states that humans have inborn selfish desires and natural feelings, and if they do not control or regulate these desires and feelings, there will certainly be chaos. However, in the chapter “The Regulations of a Sage King (Wangzhi 王制),” Xunzi argues that human (...) beings possess yi 義, which is an important feature distinguishing them from other creatures. I try to analyze how yi should be understood in the Xunzi by focusing on the relationship of yi with fen 分 (division) and li 禮 (ritual). In the process, I also consider Hall and Ames’s understanding of yi as “meaning-bestowing,” and pay attention to Xunzi’s mention that yi is something that enables human beings to jump from natural to social divisions. (shrink)

Urban space is the spatial projection of various social and economic activities. Given the complexity of urban functions and the ongoing expansion of urban areas, the spatial differentiation of various economic activities within cities tends to become more and more clear; moreover, there tends to be spatial inequalities in resource allocation. Taking Beijing as an example, this study develops a spatial accessibility model at the town level by integrating the spatial distribution of economic activities with the transport system and evaluating (...) the accessibility to various economic activities. The equality of the residents’ economic-related travel activity is also evaluated in line with the population distribution. The results show that the accessibility to economic activities generally decreases in going from the urban center to the peripheral suburbs, and this “core to edge” difference is readily apparent. In general, residents tend to choose areas to settle in which have a high degree of accessibility, however, the attractiveness of accessibility is constrained within certain limits, as evidenced by a reduction of population in the center of Beijing. Additionally, there are inequalities with respect to traveling experiences. For instance, 27.8% of residents experience very convenient travel conditions, mostly in the Xicheng, Dongcheng, and Haidian districts, and this equates to a high level of accessibility; about half of the residents in Beijing live in areas ranked as being of medium accessibility and where the distribution of economic activities and transportation facilities are insufficient. Residents living in the outlying Changping, Mentougou, Shunyi, and Fangshan districts have relatively poor access to transportation indicating a low level of accessibility. Overall, the evaluation method for spatial equality considers comprehensively the distribution of economic activities, transportation, and population distribution and can provide a reference framework for optimization of the urban spatial structure to improve urban spatial equality. (shrink)

We show that there exists a properly Σ2 minimal degree b, and moreover that b can be chosen to join with 0′ to 0″ – so that b is a 0″ complement for every degree a such that 0′ ≤ a < 0″.

Poverty alleviation through tourism is an important way for China to achieve targeted poverty alleviation and win the battle of poverty alleviation. As a region with deep poverty and great difficulty in poverty alleviation, whether tourism development has injected key impetus into ethnic minority areas needs to be tested by both qualitative analysis and quantitative measurement. This paper takes eight ethnic provinces in China as an example to conduct an empirical study. Based on the Data Envelopment Analysis -BCC model and (...) Malmquist index, it evaluates the tourism investment and tourism poverty alleviation efficiency of the ethnic regions in the two stages of tourism poverty alleviation, and analyzes them by classification. The results of the study show: The pure technical efficiency in the first stage is relatively high, but the total factor productivity of each region is declining; The pure technical efficiency in the second stage is also relatively high, but the scale efficiency is low, and the change rate of total factor productivity of the provinces in China has increased significantly; The “double high” type includes Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, and Guizhou, and the “double low” type includes Qinghai, Yunnan, Tibet, Xinjiang, and Ningxia. The results of the study generally show that tourism poverty alleviation has brought about the improvement of the living standards of residents and the development of local economy, but the efficiency of tourism poverty alleviation needs to be improved. On this basis, the article puts forward corresponding improvement measures, in order to further help the ethnic minority areas get rid of poverty in a comprehensive way by promoting the efficient and sustainable development of tourism. (shrink)

Different home textile patterns have different emotional expressions. Emotion evaluation of home textile patterns can effectively improve the retrieval performance of home textile patterns based on semantics. It can not only help designers make full use of existing designs and stimulate creative inspiration but also help users select designs and products that are more in line with their needs. In this study, we develop a three-stage framework for home textile pattern emotion labeling based on artificial intelligence. To be specific, first (...) of all, three kinds of aesthetic features, i.e., shape, texture, and salient region, are extracted from the original home textile patterns. Then, a CNN -based deep feature extractor is constructed to extract deep features from the aesthetic features acquired in the previous stage. Finally, a novel multi-view classifier is designed to label home textile patterns that can automatically learn the weight of each view. The three-stage framework is evaluated by our data and the experimental results show its promising performance in home textile patterns labeling. (shrink)

This study investigates the literary-historical context of the attempts by late Southern Song critics to periodize Tang poetry. It demonstrates that the primary agenda of these critics was to establish High Tang poetry as the sole correct model. The insistence on the supremacy of the High Tang went in tandem with, and formed part of, the rebuke of contemporary poets for choosing Late Tang poetry as the object of emulation. The focal point of contention was whether Late Tang poetry could (...) or should serve as a useful model, at least for some in the initial stage of their poetic training. In this context, periodizations of Tang poetry functioned as an auxiliary to the discourse on choices of models in the late Southern Song. (shrink)

A gourd is a sort of pumpkin whose shell is frequently used to keep food and water. Gourds are also used as kitchen utensils, musical instruments or decoration. This paper draws attention to the time framework in gourd image representations, which symbolize universality and immortality as well as the positive notions of regeneration and emptiness. By analyzing the artistic expressions in the form of gourd representations reflected in literature and art, this paper reveals the complex notion of time in Chinese (...) civilization. (shrink)

Reprint of Volume XVII in Probsthain's Oriental Series. With a Chinese index and an index of names and references. The Book of Lord Shang was probably compiled sometime between 359 and 338 BCE. Along with the Han Fei-Tzu, it is one of the two principal sources of Legalism, a school of Chinese political thought. Legalism asserts that human behavior must be controlled through written law rather than through ritual, custom or ethics because people are innately selfish and ignorant. The law (...) is not effective when it is based on goodness or virtue; it is effective when it compels obedience. This is essential to preserve the stability of the State. Roscoe Pound recommended this book for the study of old Chinese law in Outlines of Lectures on Jurisprudence (5th ed.) 235. (shrink)

Resumen: Mencio heredó el camino de la “benevolencia” de Confucio y formó una teoría política de la benevolencia relativamente completa. El concepto de “gobierno benévolo” es también un “camino real”. Su contenido principal es controlar la propiedad de las personas, tomar posesión de las personas, no violar las temporadas agrícolas y dar importancia a la educación moral. El núcleo del gobierno benévolo es la ideología orientada a las personas de Mencius. La concentración de su ideología orientada al pueblo se refleja (...) en los siguientes tres aspectos: aquellos que ganen los corazones del pueblo ganarán el mundo, la relación entre el pueblo y el monarca, y la forma de servir al monarca y servir al ministro. La teoría política de Mencius esbozó el modelo para gobernar el país en la antigua sociedad china y tuvo un profundo impacto en la política tradicional china. Comenzando desde la perspectiva del “gobierno benévolo” y la ideología orientada a las personas de Mencius, este documento analiza sistemáticamente la ideología de gobierno de Mencius, destacando así el significado especial y el encanto de la filosofía política de Mencius. La ideología orientada a las personas en la teoría política de Mencius ha inspirado la construcción de una sociedad armoniosa orientada a las personas en la sociedad contemporánea. Mencius valora el concepto central de la educación moral en el gobierno del país, proporcionando inspiración para la construcción de la civilización política y espiritual en la sociedad actual. (shrink)

How to identify the key nodes effectively in urban traffic networks to achieve the equitable resource allocation face to the complex traffic network? This issue needs to be solved in current traffic management. This study considered the urban traffic network topology and network traffic status, put forward an improved model based on the economics of the input-output method by introducing a virtual node to the selected network set up with the flow of urban traffic network, sensor nodes by Leontief inverse (...) matrix calculation coefficient to determine node importance, according to the node importance to deliberate attack traffic network to analyze its robustness, to test the accuracy and practicability of the method. The results show that this improved method adopted to measure the importance of traffic nodes from the global scope has the advantages of fast calculation and simple process and provides a more reliable basis for rational allocation of transport resources. (shrink)

As the aging population problem intensifies, many emerging economies are caught in labor shortage and rising labor costs, thus improving the corporate labor investment efficiency is crucial for these countries. In this context, we take China as an example to explore the influence of the current booming digital finance on corporate LIE. This paper, which enriches the existing literature, is one of the few studies that explores the link between macroeconomic policies and firms’ LIE. Our research adopts the baseline methodology (...) of ordinary least squares regression, and the data comprise 23,503 observations for Chinese A-share listed businesses from 2011 to 2020. In addition, we use fixed effects regression, instrumental variables method and substitution of independent variables to deal with endogeneity and test the robustness. The outcomes suggest that DF may significantly increase corporate LIE. Further results from the path mechanism study suggest that DF could alleviate financing constraints and optimize human capital structure, both of which have a favorable effect on the LIE. Last but not least, the heterogeneity results imply that DF can more effectively encourage LIE of firms in economically underdeveloped regions and of private nature. The study recommends that emerging economies should pay attention to strengthening regulation to avoid financial risks while vigorously promoting DF. In addition, enhancing the level of human capital and optimizing human capital allocation are also essential. (shrink)

How foreign policy embodies human values is an issue worth studying. Such a value not only refers to the interests of social and political elites but to the prevailing welfare of people. In 2016, t...

After the era of nihilism, ethical issues have been gradually focused on how to rebuild a value of “Being”. Thinkers tend to reaffirm the significance of one’s own Being and try to find a way of existence in order to resist against nothingness. In such an epoch, Levinas contends that the ethics “for the Other” and the existence are inextricably linked. Furthermore, he notes that the value of existence is not revealed against the nihilism, but realized with the ethics “for (...) the Other” in one’s act of assuming the burden of existence. The meaning of “Being” is thus revealed in the effort of “for the Other” and in the noble will of making the sense of responsibility beyond ones’ own Being to reach the Other.Después de la era del nihilismo, las cuestiones éticas se han ido enfocando gradualmente en cómo reconstruir un valor de “Ser”. Los pensadores tienden a reafirmar la importancia del propio Ser e intentan encontrar una manera de existir capaz de resistir contra la nada. En dicha época, Levinas sostiene que la ética “por el Otro” y la existencia están inextricablemente unidas. Más aún, dice que el valor de la existencia no se revela frente al nihilismo, sino que se realiza en la ética “por el Otro” en el acto mismo de asumir la carga de la existencia. El sentido de “ser” es así revelado en el esfuerzo “por el Otro” y en la voluntad noble de dar sentido a la responsabilidad más allá del propio Ser para alcanzar al Otro. (shrink)

The Southern Garden Poetry Society: Literary Culture and Social Memory in Guangdong. By David B. Honey. Hong Kong: the Chinese University Press, 2013. Pp. xiv + 258. $45.

This study examines the different ways in which fractions are dealt with in two elementary mathematics textbook series: Kang Hsuan in Taiwan and Laskutaito in Finland. The results showed that the total number of fraction questions in Laskutaito is higher than that in KH and that Laskutaito highlights the basic definition of fractions to help children develop higher levels of reasoning. Fraction questions in Laskutaito were presented with a number of pictorial representations to clarify the concepts. Laskutaito includes more symbolic (...) representation of questions. Moreover, the questions posed in the Laskutaito reflect real-life situations, whereas the questions posed in KH do not connect with real life. The implications of this study are discussed and suggestions for future studies are made in this paper. (shrink)