J. H. Lee

The Life-Sustaining Treatment (LST) Decision-Making Act is a South Korean law that aims to empower patients by providing them with more autonomy in end-of-life care decisions. However, there are significant differences between the law’s intentions and its implementation in clinical practice. It is essential to understand the perceptions of current and future healthcare professionals regarding LST in order to improve education, policy and patient-centred decision-making. This study aimed to compare the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of LST among practicing healthcare professionals and medical students with clinical exposure to LST decision-making. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from August to December 2023 at a tertiary hospital in South Korea. The participants included healthcare providers (physicians, trainees, and nurses) and medical students with clinical experience. The survey assessed self-reported knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of the LST Decision-Making Act. Group differences were analyzed using chi-square tests and logistic regression analyses. A total of 297 participants responded, including 204 healthcare providers and 93 medical students. Healthcare providers reported significantly higher self-perceived knowledge (88.7% vs. 52.7%) and confidence in participating in LST decisions (69.6% vs. 37.6%) than medical students (both p < 0.001). Both groups supported the ethical purpose of the Act and the need for advance directives, but their educational priorities differed. Providers emphasized procedural knowledge, whereas students prioritized ethical education. Perceptions regarding the timing, decision-makers, and withdrawal of treatment varied. Multivariate analysis revealed that professional roles were independently associated with perceived knowledge and competence. Many healthcare providers have reported systemic barriers, including complex documentation and limited patient or caregiver understanding. Notably, over 25% of providers indicated a continued reliance on Do-Not-Resuscitate forms because of procedural challenges. This study revealed substantial differences in perceptions of LST between healthcare providers and medical students. The findings underscore the need for improved educational programs and standardized protocols to effectively implement LST legislation and highlight significant implementation gaps.

A recurrent neural network (RNN) is a widely used deep-learning network for dealing with sequential data. Imitating a dynamical system, an infinite-width RNN can approximate any open dynamical system in a compact domain. In general, deep networks with bounded widths are more effective than wide networks in practice; however, the universal approximation theorem for deep narrow structures has yet to be extensively studied. In this study, we prove the universality of deep narrow RNNs and show that the upper bound of the minimum width for universality can be independent of the length of the data. Specifically, we show that a deep RNN with ReLU activation can approximate any continuous function or Lp function with the widths dx+dy+2 and \maxdx+1,dy, respectively, where the target function maps a finite sequence of vectors in \mathbbRdx to a finite sequence of vectors in \mathbbRdy. We also compute the additional width required if the activation function is \tanh or more. In addition, we prove the universality of other recurrent networks, such as bidirectional RNNs. Bridging a multi-layer perceptron and an RNN, our theory and proof technique can be an initial step toward further research on deep RNNs.

A recurrent neural network (RNN) is a widely used deep-learning network for dealing with sequential data. Imitating a dynamical system, an infinite-width RNN can approximate any open dynamical system in a compact domain. In general, deep networks with bounded widths are more effective than wide networks in practice; however, the universal approximation theorem for deep narrow structures has yet to be extensively studied. In this study, we prove the universality of deep narrow RNNs and show that the upper bound of the minimum width for universality can be independent of the length of the data. Specifically, we show that a deep RNN with ReLU activation can approximate any continuous function or Lp function with the widths dx+dy+2 and \maxdx+1,dy, respectively, where the target function maps a finite sequence of vectors in \mathbbRdx to a finite sequence of vectors in \mathbbRdy. We also compute the additional width required if the activation function is \tanh or more. In addition, we prove the universality of other recurrent networks, such as bidirectional RNNs. Bridging a multi-layer perceptron and an RNN, our theory and proof technique can be an initial step toward further research on deep RNNs.

Recent advances in plant biology suggest that plants engage in complex behaviours once thought to require nervous systems. This article surveys the empirical foundations of plant cognition, covering research on goal‐directed movement, decision‐making, anticipatory behaviour, communication, phytoacoustics, and plant neurobiology. In addition, we examine evidence for systemic signalling and anaesthesia in plants, alongside parallels and contrasts with animal cognition. These findings indicate that cognition may not be restricted to neural organisms, challenging conventional boundaries of mind. Building on this empirical base, we explore the philosophical and ethical implications of attributing cognition to plants. The discussion engages classic debates about other minds, functionalism, multiple realisability, and the possibility of plant sentience. Even if plant sentience remains speculative, their cognitive complexity raises broader questions about ecological value, precautionary concern, and the scope of moral consideration. Taken together, these discussions highlight how empirical discoveries in plant biology intersect with enduring philosophical questions about mind, intelligence, and moral status. A companion article, Plant Cognition—A Methodological Primer, provides the necessary theoretical and methodological background, whereas this piece focuses on evidence and implications.

We investigate how the alignment of trust between leaders and their subordinates could influence leaders’ unethical behavior that specifically benefits their subordinates (i.e., unethical pro-subordinate behavior). Drawing on social identity theory, we propose that when there is a high level of trust alignment between leaders and subordinates, leaders may develop stronger identification with their subordinates, could create a psychological foundation for prioritizing subordinate interests—potentially through unethical means. Based on time-lagged data collected from 285 leader-subordinate dyads in South Korean police riot squads using polynomial regression and response surface analysis, we found that when leaders and subordinates have congruent levels of trust in each other, leaders tend to identify more strongly with their subordinates, which in turn is associated with a higher likelihood of engaging in unethical pro-subordinate behavior. These findings contribute to our understanding of the complex ethical dynamics within leader-subordinate relationships and offer important implications for leadership development.

Recent developments in neuroscience and comparative philosophy challenged the classical dichotomy between reason and emotion, revealing emotions as cognitive appraisals shaped by cultural norms. This paper examines how late Joseon litigation novels (The Tale of Eunae and The Tale of Sin Yeocheok) anticipate this insight through a Confucian model of “empathetic justice,” where emotions such as righteous anger serve as publicly ratified indicators for recognizing moral legitimacy when aligned with communal ethical standards. Contrary to Adam Smith’s impartial spectator, which regulates emotion through imaginative distance, Joseon-era thought valued the appropriateness (中節) and communal alignment of emotion as essential criteria for public reasoning. Analysis of royal verdicts and their fictional representations reveals how moral emotions, when ethically cultivated and publicly endorsed, functioned as both motivational forces and evaluative criteria for justice. This framework offers an alternative to Western models, with implications for contemporary debates on restorative justice and moral psychology.

Managers of for-profit corporations are required to seek profits, which entails organizing the corporation’s activities for the sake of realizing a profit. This prioritization of profit-seeking seems to invert the proper ordering of ends, thus undermining the possibility of managing the for-profit corporation with virtue. This article argues that such a threat can be avoided without jettisoning the traditional virtue ethics framework by envisioning profit-seeking as a practice that aims at engaging in a collective deliberation with market participants to promote an improvement in the way we allocate resources in society.

Drawing on the themes of men and masculinity, this article examines texts in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports of local multinational enterprises (MNEs) in South Korea, an emerging economy. This article explores how Korean male hegemony is hidden and naturalized in CSR reporting. Focusing on the discursive construction of gender identity, we analyze how CSR reports portray gendered identities in ways that may foster gender inequality by examining how the texts reflect the inferior position of women and marginalized male workers in the workplace. We review 15 CSR reports from Korean MNEs as a primary data source for examining corporate policies and disclosure on gender‐equality issues in the workplace. We explore the inherently embedded meaning of CSR reports to evaluate the masculine tone of gender relations in these texts. To deepen our understanding, we retrieved the original text segments, coded them by using a categorical framework and revisited our data to critically examine our interpretation of the narrative structures that we argue reflect and reproduce certain discourses of masculinity, through the (in)visibility of women, the marginalization of women and (part‐time) men, and the silencing of their voices by the Korean male hegemony.

This study examines the influence of some suspected sources of bias on perceptions of public sector corruption. These sources include dependence on two types of media as information sources about corruption: traditional and social media, positive perception of public employees, and social identification with public employees. Data were collected through a face‐to‐face survey of the general public in South Korea. The sample comprised 472 respondents evenly dispersed across the country. Through regression analysis, we found that dependence on traditional media—but not social media—significantly increased the perceived level of corruption. However, positive perceptions of and social identification with public employees were negatively associated with it, showing that these factors may skew respondents' perceptions of corruption. The results have implications for practitioners and researchers who design, implement, or evaluate anti‐corruption policies, suggesting the need for caution when making use of survey results.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) refers to policies, practices, and social norms aimed at promoting fair treatment and representation of people from historically disadvantaged groups, such as sexual, gender, and ethnic minorities. DEI’s institutionalization has been criticized by some as ineffective, wasteful and even antithetical to these aims, producing unintended negative side effects, such as threats to free speech and to the recognition of merit. Others maintain that DEI has had a net-positive influence, and that efforts to dismantle DEI programs in universities, business, and government are premature or unfounded. We reconcile these views by showing how critics and supporters of DEI alike could each advance their position if they (1) narrow the focus of debate to specific policies or programs, (2) evaluate how effectively programs or policies achieve their intended humanitarian outcomes through a targeted causal mechanism, and (3) build in the capacity to test for unintended negative consequences. Doing so avoids the mistake of overgeneralizing either the defense or condemnation of DEI by shifting focus to the strengths and failings of specific programs, and reveals novel avenues for researchers, policymakers, and the public to adjudicate the value of DEI programming.

According to the PubMed resource from the U.S. National Library of Medicine, over 750,000 scientific articles have been published in the ~5000 biomedical journals worldwide in the year 2007 alone. The vast majority of these publications include results from hypothesis-driven experimentation in overlapping biomedical research domains. Unfortunately, the sheer volume of information being generated by the biomedical research enterprise has made it virtually impossible for investigators to stay aware of the latest findings in their domain of interest, let alone to be able to assimilate and mine data from related investigations for purposes of meta-analysis. While computers have the potential for assisting investigators in the extraction, management and analysis of these data, information contained in the traditional journal publication is still largely unstructured, free-text descriptions of study design, experimental application and results interpretation, making it difficult for computers to gain access to the content of what is being conveyed without significant manual intervention. In order to circumvent these roadblocks and make the most of the output from the biomedical research enterprise, a variety of related standards in knowledge representation are being developed, proposed and adopted in the biomedical community. In this chapter, we will explore the current status of efforts to develop minimum information standards for the representation of a biomedical experiment, ontologies composed of shared vocabularies assembled into subsumption hierarchical structures, and extensible relational data models that link the information components together in a machine-readable and human-useable framework for data mining purposes.

Big data analysis is sweeping the natural sciences, industry, and the digital humanities, but what about business and society? The purpose of this session is to facilitate a conversation about the relationship of big data and data science analytics and their relevance to the business and society community in our roles as researchers, reviewers, editors, and scholars. We will discuss the benefits and challenges of big data analysis, and comparisons of big data methods with traditional quantitative and qualitative methods. We will offer a brief example of a topic modelling analysis, and will invite participants to consider the possibilities for using big data analysis in their business and society research.

This paper examines the Slack Resource Mechanism (SRM) in the Corporate Responsibility (CR) literature, proposing that when a firm has enough slacks, it is more likely to engage in CR activities, which eventually improve its financial performance. In order to assess whether or not, and in which contexts SRM really works, this paper reviews two research issues in SRM. Based on literature review, we empirically test two proposed hypotheses with a large-scale longitudinal dataset from 1997 to 2012. We find that firms become involved in CR activities for external stakeholders when they have enough slack resources, and that the slack-induced CR engagements are not favored by the stock market. Based on our research findings, we assure that SRM may need to be reconsidered and further developed.

This paper argues that we can understand the practical philosophy of early Chinese thinkers like Zhuangzi by considering how they imagine the normative aspects of the world and how their existence can constitute reasons for action, how they can make certain actions appropriate or inappropriate. We can interpret these normative aspects of the world as ethical warrants for moral action and as the basis for evaluative attitudes. Although these normative dimensions of the world may not be readily apparent, many early Chinese thinkers believed that we could possess veridical access to them through forms of revealed knowledge or revelation. In other words, the perception of normative realities like Heaven or the Dao serve as grounds which make evaluative attitudes and practical reasons appropriate or inappropriate, more or less reflective of the Way. The paper concludes with some methodological reflections on the “asymmetry” that currently exists in comparative ethics and the reasons why this asymmetry continues to endure.

The most recent survey by the PEW Research Center (2024) on religion found that for the first time the ‘religiously unaffiliated’ or ‘religious nones’ constituted the largest cohort (28%) of American adults, edging out Catholics (23%) and Evangelical Protestants (23%). Although it may appear as if this group shares some sympathies with certain Kierkegaardian attitudes in regard to Christendom, the institutional church, and normative culture in general, a closer look reveals that these religious nones, particularly the ones who describe their religion as ‘nothing in particular’ (63%), are animated not so much by inwardness and passion but by the evasion of commitments and an aesthetic approach to religion. Unable to articulate the conditions of belief or even a rich picture of human fullness, the lived spiritualities of religious nones reflects a detached perspective within an immanent frame that is closer to Kierkegaardian despair than to a genuine life of spirit.

A common sentiment among anti-sex-robot scholars is the apprehension that sex robots will normalize and perpetuate sexual violence towards humans. In this new chapter within the feminist sex war, the authors of this article tend to agree with anti-sex-robot concerns and seek to further identify potential harms of sex robots. However, instead of characterizing the harm in terms of what the robots represent and symbolize, we are primarily interested in the internal state of the user and the type of relationship that will emerge between human users and sex robots, which we argue is an unprecedented sexual relation. Unlike other comparable sex products and services, sex robots occupy a liminal space between being perceived as both a sexual property and agent, oscillating based on the preferences and convenience of the user. We argue that this oscillation that enables human–sex robot intimacy requires self-deception, which in turn entails individual moral responsibility. Thus, we articulate a novel virtue-based approach of examining human–robot intimacy that focuses on cultivating erotic flourishing. We conclude that people have a moral responsibility to exhibit self-awareness within the dynamics of their intimate relationship with sex robots and the (contradictory) beliefs required to maintain such intimacy.

『소크라테스의 변명』의 소크라테스는 멜레토스의 두 기소 내용에 대해서 서로 다른 전략을 취한다. 첫 번째 불경죄라는 기소는 상대적으로 방어하기가 쉬웠다. 소크라테스는 멜레토스의 불경죄 기소 내용을 무신론에 대한 기소로 재정의한 후, 자신은 신적인 것을 믿으므로 무신론자가 아님을 입증함으로 방어를 한다. 그러나 두 번째 기소 내용인 젊은이들을 타락시키는 것은 방어하기가 어려웠다. 왜냐하면 소크라테스가 젊은이들과 대화를 통해서 보인 모습은 소피스트와 크게 달라 보이지 않았기 때문이다. 소크라테스는 재판정에서 자신이 소피스트들과 다르다는 것을 입증하기 위해서 자신의 행동의 동기와 의도의 차원에서 증명을 했어야 했다. 『소피스트』편의 소크라테스는 엘레아에서 온 손님과 테아이테토스의 대화를 들으면서 거짓 진술의 가능성을 통해 자신과 소피스트들과의 차이를 알 수 있었다. 이런 점에서 『소피스트』편의 드라마 설정은 『소크라테스의 변명』과 이어진다. 『소피스트』편의 소크라테스는 의도와 목적이라는 측면에서 소피스트와 자신을 구분해 냈고, 만약 충분한 시간이 있었다면 이 구분으로 유죄 판결을 받지 않았을지도 모른다. 소크라테스는 유죄 판결을 받고 사형을 당했지만, 저자인 플라톤은 『소피스트』편을 소크라테스의 재판에서 사용할 수도 있었을 반대 논변으로도 집필했다.