X. Wang

This study investigates the impact of board secretary gender on ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) rating divergence using data from Chinese A-share listed companies. Firms with female board secretaries experience significantly higher ESG rating divergence, driven by gender bias and stereotypes that reduce stakeholder recognition. Contextual factors, such as regional gender equality awareness, social trust, education levels, and the development of the tertiary industry, mitigate these effects. Additionally, corporate governance characteristics, including ownership structure, firm size, and agency costs, moderate the relationship. This study contributes to the literature by identifying gender bias as a key driver of ESG rating divergence, highlighting the role of contextual and governance factors in shaping these dynamics, and offering actionable insights for improving ESG evaluation mechanisms and fostering gender equity in corporate leadership. These findings have significant implications for policymakers, corporate leaders, and market participants seeking to enhance market efficiency, reduce biases, and promote sustainable development.

In causal reasoning literature, the term actual causality is used to refer to the causality of some specific event that actually happened. One of the most prominent approaches for reasoning about actual causality is that of causal models developed by Halpern and Pearl (Pearl, Causality 2009, Halpern, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 2005, Halpern, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 2005). In this work, we extend Halpern and Pearl’s models for actual causality to an environment of possible world semantics. In this environment, we introduce a logic of actual causality with modal operators and provide sound and (weakly) complete axiomatization for this logic. This logic can be used for reasoning about causality in scenarios involving multiple possibilities, uncertainty and knowledge. Based on this new framework, we define what it means for an agent’s knowledge or lack of knowledge of some event to be an actual cause of some other event. We provide several examples to illustrate that our framework and definitions provide an intuitive environment to reason about actual causality in these scenarios.

We further develop the abstract algebraic logic approach to input/output logic initiated in (De Domenico, International Workshop on Logic, Language, Information, and Computation 326–343, 2022), where the family of selfextensional logics was proposed as a general background environment for input/output logics. In this paper, we introduce and discuss the generalizations of several types of permission (negative, dual negative, static, dynamic), as well as their interactions with normative systems, to various families of selfextensional logics, thereby proposing a systematic approach to the definition of normative and permission systems on nonclassical propositional bases.

Research has indicated that microRNAs (miRNAs), a special class of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), can perform important roles in different biological and pathological processes. miRNAs’ functions are realized by regulating their respective target genes (targets). It is thus critical to identify and analyze miRNA-target interactions for a better understanding and delineation of miRNAs’ functions. However, conventional knowledge discovery and acquisition methods have many limitations. Fortunately, semantic technologies that are based on domain ontologies can render great assistance in this regard. In our previous investigations, we developed a miRNA domain-specific application ontology, Ontology for MIcroRNA Target (OMIT), to provide the community with common data elements and data exchange standards in the miRNA research. This paper describes (1) our continuing efforts in the OMIT ontology development and (2) the application of the OMIT to enable a semantic approach for knowledge capture of miRNA-target interactions.

The question of what determines brain laterality for auditory cognitive processing is unresolved. Here, we demonstrate a swap of hemisphere dominance from right to left during semantic interpretation of Chinese lexical tones in native speakers using simultaneously recorded mismatch negativity response and behavioral reaction time during dichotic listening judgment. The mismatch negativity, which is a brain wave response and indexes auditory processing at an early stage, indicated right hemisphere dominance. In contrast, the behavioral reaction time, which reflects auditory processing at a later stage, indicated a right ear listening advantage, or left hemisphere dominance. The observed swap of hemisphere dominance would not occur when the lexical tone was substituted with a meaningless pure tone. This swap reveals dependence of hemisphere labor division initially on acoustic and then on functional cues of auditory inputs in the processing from sound to meaning.

Although there is a wealth of studies on question-asking during clinical settings, scant attention has been paid to patient’s practice of question-asking, especially during Online Medical Consultation (OMC). This study thus probes into the forms, topics, and functions of Chinese e-patient’s question-asking during OMCs. A dataset of 267 examples of e-patient’s question-asking was collected from 44 doctor-patient interactions from Chunyu Doctor. Conventional form (Polar question, Wh-question, Alternative question) and non-conventional form (Sentential fragment, Statement, Response token) were identified and analyzed. Medical questions and General questions were two topics the question-asking concerns. Functionally, e-patient’s question-asking serves as unknown information-seeking, doubted information-verifying, corresponding action-requesting, lay expertise-displaying, and shared decision-making. Furthermore, e-patient’s question-asking is discussed as a deliberate balance between proactive participation and respect for doctor’s superior epistemic access and authorized status.

The writing of histories of Chinese philosophy in the first half of the twentieth century was pivotal in sustaining Chinese philosophy as a sub-discipline under philosophy. Feng Youlan's 馮友蘭 (1895–1990) two-volume _The History of Chinese Philosophy_ stands as a milestone contribution in the field of Chinese philosophy. However, the combined publication of the two volumes in 1934 overshadowed the publication of the first volume in 1931. The 1931 edition thus remains largely overlooked in the field of Chinese philosophy. In this article, I take Feng's discussion of the pre-Qin Yang Zhu as my focal point to examine the differences between the 1931 and 1934 editions, demonstrating how Feng's narration of Chinese philosophy was shaped by his engagement in the discourse on Chinese philosophy of his time and how his revised interpretation became definitive for the contemporary understanding of Yang Zhu.

D. Davidson argues that the existence of alternative conceptual schemes presupposes the Kantian scheme-content dualism, which requires a scheme-neutral empirical content and a fixed, sharp schemecontent distinction. The dismantlement of such a Kantian scheme-content dualism, which Davidson calls “the third dogma of empiricism”, would render the notion of alternative conceptual schemes groundless. To counter Davidson’s attack on the notion of alternative conceptual schemes, I argue that alternative conceptual schemes neither entail nor presuppose the Kantian scheme-content dualism. On the contrary, it is exactly the abandonment of the concept-neutral content and the denial of a fixed, absolute scheme-content distinction that turns the Kantian conceptualabsolutism upside down and thus makes alternative conceptual schemes possible. Proposing common-sense experience as the empirical content of alternative schemes, I construct and defend a non-Kantian scheme-content dualism based on a non-fixed, relative scheme-content distinction. The proposed non-Kantian scheme-content dualism is not only “innocent” enough to be immune from Davidson’s charge of the third dogma of empiricism, but also “solid” enough to be able to sustain alternative conceptual schemes. I conclude that in terms of our conceptual schemes, we are connected to the world as closely as possible; only through conceptual schemes can we be connected to the world.

Is grammatical metaphor – the different ways of construing experience as captured in the grammar of clauses – a challenge for translating like other metaphor types? We investigated how source texts’ degrees of metaphoricity and levels of translation expertise influence the performance of 41 informants when translating texts containing more or less metaphorical segments as stimuli. Data comprised keylogging, screen recording, written retrospective protocols and translation products. No significant differences emerged in total task time, and time allocated to source text reading, information search, and revision in processing stimuli. However, degrees of metaphoricity significantly impact (a) the aggregated time devoted to stimuli, (b) the subset thereof devoted to first-draft typing and (c) the degree of metaphoricity of stimuli renditions. Levels of translation expertise significantly influence informants’ stimuli renditions. Moreover, degrees of metaphoricity interact with translation expertise through the ratio of aggregated time devoted to stimuli to total task time. Informants with higher-level translation expertise showed increased awareness of stimuli, identified them as problems, organized problem-solving behaviors, and demonstrated higher degrees of metaphoricity in renditions. The study sheds light on the intricate relationship between grammatical metaphor, translation expertise, and translation performance, emphasizing nuanced impacts on time allocation and translation quality within a controlled experimental setting.

This paper expands upon the work by Wang (Proceedings of TARK, pp. 493–512, 2017) who proposes a new framework based on quantifier-free predicate language extended by a new bundled modality ∃x□\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\exists x\Box $$\end{document} and axiomatizes the logic over S5 frames. This paper first gives complete axiomatizations of the logics over K, D, T, 4, S4 frames with increasing domains and constant domains, respectively. The systems w.r.t. constant domains feature infinitely many additional rules defined inductively than systems w.r.t. increasing domains. In the second part of the paper, we show that these rules are admissible in the systems without them by providing a general strategy for proving completeness theorems for the logics without these rules over constant domain models (also increasing domain models).

This article examines past and present moral education practices in Chinese families. It begins with a brief overview of Confucian thought on moral education and its lasting influence on Chinese moral ethos. It then identifies the types of moral values emphasised by Chinese parents, as well as the kinds of moral education literature they use for teaching. It proceeds to analyse the methods employed by Chinese parents to instil moral values in everyday contexts. Using evidence from research and recent news reports on Chinese moral conduct, the author argues that the moral socialisation practices in Chinese families may be problematic, despite their best intentions. The article concludes by suggesting alternative family moral education approaches for future consideration.

This study examines how working‐class mothers in the People's Republic of China respond to their young children's transgressions in everyday contexts. Twenty 4‐year‐old children and their mothers in a working‐class neighbourhood were observed in their daily routines at home. When addressing children's transgressions and socialising desirable behaviour, mothers frequently made references to other children, children's media characters, past transgressions, authority figures and quotes from the classics. Moreover, the study indicates that mothers responded differently to some of the transgressions committed by boys as opposed to girls. This study also demonstrates that children understood social and moral rules by spontaneously elaborating on and appropriating the socialisation strategies used by their mothers.

This chapter defines moral capital in the general sense of capital, and discusses the basic characteristics and forms of moral capital. Furthermore, it stresses that moral capital is different from the traditional concept of capital which reflects or criticizes the capitalist social system and its economic relations as posited in Marx’s theories on political economics while the morality which is in scientific terms or meets the demand of the times has capitalist attributes when it exerts a spiritual influence on the formation and increment of value.

Cognitive reappraisal is one of the core treatment components of cognitive behavioral therapy and is the gold standard treatment for major depressive disorders. Accumulating evidence indicates that cognitive reappraisal could function as a protective factor of cognitive vulnerability to depression. However, the neural mechanism by which CR training reduces cognitive vulnerability to depression is unclear. There is ample evidence that the prefrontal–amygdala circuit is involved in CR. This study proposes a novel cognitive bias model of CR training which hypothesizes that CR training may improve the generation ability of CR with altered prefrontal–amygdala functional activation/connectivity, thus reducing negative cognitive bias and alleviating depressive symptoms. This study aims to explore whether there is abnormal CR strategy generation ability in individuals who are cognitively vulnerable to depression; test the hypothesis that CR training alleviates depressive symptoms through the mediators of cognitive bias ; explore the neural mechanism by which CR training may enhance the ability of CR strategy generation; and examine the short- and long-term effects of CR training on the reduction in depressive symptoms in individuals who are cognitively vulnerable to depression following intervention and 6 months later. The study is promising, providing theoretical and practical evidence for the early intervention of depression-vulnerable individuals.

This study conceptualized digital competence in line with self-determined theory and investigated how it alongside help-seeking and learning agency collectively preserved university students’ psychological well-being by assisting them to manage cognitive load and academic burnout, as well as increasing their engagement in online learning during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Moreover, students’ socioeconomic status and demographic variables were examined. Partial least square modeling and cluster analysis were performed on the survey data collected from 695 students. The findings show that mental load and mental effort were positively related to academic burnout, which was significantly negatively associated with student engagement in online learning. Digital competence did not directly affect academic burnout, but indirectly via its counteracting effect on cognitive load. However, help-seeking and agency were not found to be significantly negatively related to cognitive load. Among the three SDT constructs, digital competence demonstrated the greatest positive influence on student engagement. In addition, female students from humanities and social sciences disciplines and lower-income families seemed to demonstrate the weakest digital competence, lowest learning agency, and least help-seeking behaviors. Consequently, they were more vulnerable to high cognitive load and academic burnout, leading to the lowest learning engagement. This study contributes to the ongoing arguments related to the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and informs the development of efficient interventions that preserve university students’ psychological well-being in online learning.

Background With the extensive integration of digital technology into clinical research, intelligence, virtualization, and decentralization have gradually transformed into emerging clinical research modes, the electronization of informed consent has become indispensable to the development of clinical trial informatization, and the inclination to use electronic informed consent (eIC) has grown. The knowledge and perceptions of research participants, as objects of informed consent acquisition, regarding eIC are crucial. However, few studies have empirically explored such issues. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted at three general hospitals in south-central China from July to September 2022. An online survey questionnaire was adapted and administered via WeChat to investigate the issues of interest. Results A total of 388 valid questionnaires were included in the analysis. The results showed that the overall response rate for the knowledge section of the questionnaire exceeded 70%. Of the respondents, 53.1% had heard of the term “electronic informed consent,” but only 43.2% had used eIC. The majority of respondents (68%) expressed a preference for using eIC and demonstrated a positive attitude toward it. However, some participants expressed concerns regarding the security and confidentiality (64.4%), operational complexity (52.3%), and effectiveness of online interaction (59.3%) in eIC. Statistically significant relationships were observed between participants’ attitude scores and their age, gender, type of participation, and frequency of involvement in clinical research. Additionally, a positive and statistically significant correlation was found between participants’ knowledge scores and their attitude scores. Conclusion The results of this study indicate that most participants have a good understanding of eIC-related knowledge and hold a positive attitude toward its implementation. However, they also express concerns about data protection and privacy security in eIC. These findings provide a foundation for developing targeted strategies to enhance the adoption and acceptance of eIC among diverse populations.

Understanding and predicting human cooperative behaviour and belief dynamics remains a major challenge both from the scientific and practical perspectives. Because of the complexity and multiplicity of material, social and cognitive factors involved, both empirical and theoretical work tends to focus only on some snippets of the puzzle. Recently, a mathematical theory has been proposed that integrates material, social and cognitive aspects of behaviour and beliefs dynamics to explain how people make decisions in social dilemmas within heterogeneous groups. Here we apply this theory in two countries, China and Spain, through four long-term behavioural experiments utilising the Common Pool Resources game and the Collective Risk game. Our results show that material considerations carry the smallest weight in decision-making, while personal norms tend to be the most important factor. Empirical and normative expectations have intermediate weight in decision-making. Cognitive dissonance, social projection, logic constraints and cultural background play important roles in both decision-making and beliefs dynamics. At the individual level, we observe differences in the weights that people assign to factors involved in the decision-making and belief updating process. We identify different types of prosociality and rule-following associated with cultural differences, various channels for the effects of messaging, and culturally dependent interactions between sensitivity to messaging and conformity. Our results can put policy and information design on firmer ground, highlighting the need for interventions tailored to the situation at hand and to individual characteristics. Overall, this work demonstrates the theoretical and practical power of the theory in providing a more comprehensive understanding of human behaviour and beliefs.

For the first time, this study uses the sports event—tennis as an intermediate carrier to build a bridge of interaction between wealth management characteristic talents and wealth management objects, so that the training of wealth management characteristic talents and employers can be seamlessly connected and integrated naturally. It has broadened the employment channels for talents with characteristics of wealth management, shortened the time process for the integration of wealth management-related college graduates into the society, and improved the recognition of wealth management-related students by employers. At the same time, this study proposes specific measures for wealth management-related employers to feed back the quality of wealth management talent training in colleges and universities.

The need for automated fact-checking has become urgent with the rise of misleading content on social media. Recently, Fake News Classification (FNC) has evolved to incorporate justifications provided by fact-checkers to explain their decisions. In this work, we argue that an argumentative representation of fact-checkers’ justifications can improve the precision and explainability of FNC systems. To address this challenging task, we present LIARArg, a novel linguistic resource composed of 2,832 news and their justifications. LIARArg extends the 6-label FNC dataset LIAR-PLUS with argumentation structures, leading to the first FNC dataset annotated with argument components (claim and premise) and fine-grained relations (attack, support, partial support and partial attack). To integrate argumentation in FNC, we propose a novel joint learning method combining, for the first time, Argument Mining and FNC which outperforms state-of-the-art approaches, especially for news with intermediate truthfulness labels. Besides, our experimental setting demonstrates that fine-grained relations allow an extra performance boost. We also show that the argumentative representation of human justifications can be exploited in a Chain-of-Thought manner both in prompts and model output, paving a promising avenue for research in explainable fact-checking. Finally, our fully automated pipeline shows that integrating argumentation into FNC is not only feasible but also effective.

Contemporary communication contexts involving dramatic increases in multilingual and multimodal interaction call for careful attention to translation between domains and modalities. This study provides a bibliometric analysis of studies on multimodal translation (MT) to map its trend and development. The indicators analyzed include the number of publications by year, mostly researched fields, most productive countries/regions, major source journals, most frequently explored topics, most cited articles, and most cited references. The results show that the annual research output of MT is on the rise, revealing its significant potential. It is evident that, although MT is mostly distributed in the field of linguistics, its collaborative research with other fields is increasing, like psychology, history, music, and religion. Audiovisual translation is spearheaded by scholars with continuing interests. Other emerging topics include the translation of video games, comics, musical lyrics, and machine translation. As a whole, many potentially unexplored areas may gradually appear with the development of technology, presenting both broad prospects and challenges for MT.

Corporate debt default risk poses significant challenges in the business world, requiring a multifaceted approach for effective mitigation. This study, grounded in an ethical decision-making framework, investigates the influence of Confucian culture on shaping ethical corporate culture and managers’ moral capacity and its subsequent impact on corporate debt default risk. Our findings indicate that companies deeply influenced by Confucian culture tend to exhibit lower debt default risks. Specifically, companies that embrace Confucian values demonstrate an enhanced ethical corporate culture and heightened individual moral capacity. These factors play crucial roles in the ethical decision-making process, thereby reducing the likelihood of engaging in risky financial behaviors. Further analysis reveals that the inhibitory effect of Confucian culture on debt default risk is particularly pronounced in enterprises operating within regions characterized by poor integrity environments and weak product market competition. This inhibitory effect can lead to a reduction in the cost of corporate debt financing and the risk of stock price crashes. Overall, this study contributes to the understanding of the interplay between culture, business ethics, and corporate risk management.