Morals and money

The authors review the implication of the term “professional,” especially those dealing with the need for an ethic of trustworthiness and those dealing with the expectation of being paid for services. The erosive potential generated by these foci is explored, and circumstances which magnify or might ameliorate the potential described. The article concludes with a consideration of the relationship between professional ethics and world-view.     

"北斗八女"考——另附汉译密教佛经中南斗北斗之汉化分析

汉译密教佛经中直接以北斗为题材的经文集中出现在盛唐,其中印度来华僧人金刚智所译<北斗七星念诵仪轨>经中,有"北斗八女"字样,同经文标题"北斗七星"相异,在<大正藏>所选用的几个版本经文中也有所同异.笔者比对相关文献考得此"北斗八女"并非"北斗七星"之讹写,其背后是道教的北辰北斗崇拜对密教的影响.比较僧一行撰写的<北斗七星护摩法>,可从中看出密教经文在北斗崇拜上的进一步汉化:不但形式上更接近道教经文,同时此经中首次出现对"火星入南斗"这一传统天象的攘灾之法,是将中土星占内容融入密教佛经中的一条明证,也是天学家身份的僧一行特殊的综合工作.笔者认为金刚智的译文,保留了唐以前道教对密教在北斗崇拜上的影响,而僧一行的工作,是对密教佛经的二次汉化.对这一过程的分析,有助于辨别北斗经文的成文时间上的前后顺序,也有助于理解史传及笔记故事中北斗所具有的丰富内涵.     

Loving thy work: developing a measure of work passion

ABSTRACT

Passion for work has become increasingly valued, as reflected by its ubiquity in popular and empirical discourse. Yet we lack scientific consensus on the definition of work passion, and a reliable, well-validated measure of work passion that is relevant to workers across various vocations. In this paper, we identified and integrated key themes from existing scientific conceptualizations into a precise definition: Passion for work means to strongly identify with a line of work that one feels motivated to engage in and derives positive affect from doing. We developed a 10-item Work Passion (WP) scale, which we tested across multiple studies with a total of 858 adults, including working adults from two different English-speaking cultural backgrounds (i.e., United States and Singapore), and a two-wave study of employees from various vocations. Our results showed that work passion is associated with a host of beneficial outcomes, including greater career commitment, lower levels of job burnout, less work-home conflict, and fewer physical symptoms. Our research (1) provides an integrated definition of work passion, (2) offers a reliable, cross-culturally tested scale, and (3) highlights important implications for work outcomes associated with being passionate towards one’s line of work.     

Some effects of 1 week’s monocular exposure to long-wavelength stimuli

Subjects wore a long-wavelength passband filter over one eye for 1 week. As a consequence, for that eye only, sensitivity to long-wavelength stimuli declined, unique yellow shifted to longer wavelengths, and scotopic stimuli acquired a strikingly bluish appearance. These results make it very likely that long-term exposure to a long-wavelength world can induce relatively prolonged (at least hours) postreceptoral adaptation.     

Early Cognitive Decline and Its Impact On Spouse’s Loneliness

Loneliness is common in dementia caregivers as cognitive impairment (CI) alters marital and social relationships. Unexplored is how an individual’s loneliness is affected at earlier, more ambiguous, periods of their spouse’s CI. Using the Health and Retirement Study, our study participants included 2,206 coupled individuals with normal cognitive function at the 2006/8 baseline. Loneliness outcomes at baseline, 4-year, and 8-year follow-up are assessed by the status of transition to cognitive impairment no dementia (TCIND) (2010/12 & 2014/16) using linear mixed models. Individual’s loneliness was stable when their spouse’s cognition remained normal, but increased with the spouse’s TCIND. The increase in loneliness did not vary by gender. Loneliness, a key risk factor for reduced life quality and increased depression, increases even at early stages of a partner’s CIND. This work suggests the potential impact of early intervention and social support for partners of individuals with CIND.     

面对公共危机,伦理学该如何思考和表达

面对公共危机,伦理学应着力于两个根本问题的思考。第一,这个危机是否因人的行动而成,这直接决定着责任归属问题。如果是可证明其因果关系的,行动者必是责任者;若不能证明其因果关系,也要延迟或事后确定和确证责任归属。第二,公共危机管理中的责任归属问题,在责任判断的类型上,可把相关行为分为出于责任、合乎责任和反乎责任的行为三种。由这样两个根本问题所决定,伦理学的表达方式就应该是理性的,对任何一种与道德责任有关的行为进行判断和推理时,必须给出正当性基础的论证,做到客观因果性和意义妥当性的统一。更为重要的是,在公共危机及危机管理中表现出来的道德人格与稳定状态下的道德人格会有很大不同,要保持道德人格的同一性,就必须有稳定的、经得起正当性基础证明的观念体系、制度结构和伦理环境。公共危机具有两面性,它会把人性中的"向善"和"趋恶"的倾向集中表达出来,这就为后危机状态下的"扬善抑恶"创造了条件。     

Application of family therapy theory to complex social issues: using the WebQuest in family therapy training

This paper describes how the WebQuest is used to foster critical thinking and application of theory to complex social problems in a Master's level class on contemporary family therapy theories. The issue of child trafficking and prostitution is explored through the web‐based inquiry learning where scaffold learning is provided. Scaffolding includes resource links and guidance on cognitive and social skills, which are provided to facilitate the learner's development. The WebQuest design includes the task, the process and the evaluation rubrics. Student feedback on the WebQuest was positive and included increased motivation in learning, critical thinking and global awareness.