On The Universal and Local Aspects of Confucianism

To counter the tendency of making Confucianism “localized” and thereby turning Confucianism research into research of local social history, the author criticizes this tendency and thinks it is unilateral to emphasize or stress the importance of a small unit’s locality, but ignore the oneness of the distribution of Confucianism and the universality of Confucian thought. The thesis emphasizes that the main schools of Confucianism in the Song and Ming Dynasties are all not local ones and cannot be reduced to reflections of some local need and social structure. The author points out that we need to self-examine the following phenomena: aggrandizing the function of local social structure to culture and thought, coming down academic schools to reflections of local social benefits, opposing this kind of research to the research of thought itself, thus rejecting philosophical research and analysis of thought itself.     

A dynamical approach to speech categorization: Two routes to learning

Learning to perceive a non-native speech sound reliably is a specific instance of the more general issue of category learning. Here we take a dynamical approach that provides a theoretically motivated way to understand individual differences in the process of learning to perceive new speech sounds. Fundamental to this approach is the focus on the initial categorization and discrimination abilities of individual perceivers and how these structure the form of learning over time. Two distinct patterns of learning were observed that were predictable based on initial perceptual abilities. In one pattern, subjects became more attuned to small acoustic distinctions between stimuli and could use that sensitivity to label tokens reliably. In the second pattern, subjects became less attuned to within-category acoustic distinctions, suggesting cognitive restructuring. Finally, we present a dynamical model that incorporates both modes of category learning, and also allows for failure to learn.     

心肌保护基因治疗进展及展望

心肌保护基因治疗的研究目前仍停留在动物实验阶段。本文从哲学的角度论述了心肌保护基因治疗研究的进展与优点,以及存在的安全性、局限性与伦理学方面的问题,并就目前其它领域基因治疗的进展对其作了进一步的展望。     

An efficient computerized testing method for the capuchin monkey (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cebus apella</Emphasis>): Adaptation of the LRC-CTS to a socially housed nonhuman primate species

Even with advances in automated testing techniques, the capuchin monkey (Cebus apella) can be a difficult species to test in the laboratory, given its social/behavioral tendencies and typical activity pattern. Laboratories that maintain social colonies of capuchin monkeys are able to separate and test individuals, but the process can be very effortful and time consuming, and the resulting data can be modest in quantity. The present article describes procedures and apparatuses that were used to train a colony of computer-naive capuchin monkeys to quickly and reliably isolate themselves from group members and interact with a computerized test system in order to produce a large volume of data. Several elements that were important in motivating the monkeys to participate are discussed.     

大学生自我意识研究

使用认识自我同卷和自我意识量表对752名大学生进行测评,探索大学生个性自我、道德自我、倾向自我、社会自我、虚拟自我等维度的自我意识,结果发现:1道德自我和积极的个性自我意识是大学生自我意识的主流,道德自我、个性自我、外在自我和社会自我在年级方面存在非常显著差异.2文理科大学生自我意识存在差异.虚拟自我在性别方面存在非常显著差异,而个性自我、道德自我、倾向自我、社会自我在性别方面没有显著差异,文理科大学生虚拟自我意识差异显著.3大学生私我型自我意识平均水平高于公众型.     

Maternal perceptions of the sleep patterns of premature infants at seven months corrected age compared to full-term infants

It has been reported that 83%–87% of full-term infants regularly sleep through the night (from midnight to 5 a.m.) by 6 months of age, but there is little information about the sleep patterns of premature infants. The purpose of the current study was to identify maternal perceptions of the sleep patterns of premature infants. Parents of 32 premature infants with birth weight below 1,750 gm and of 13 full-term infants completed a 24-hour sleep record in 30-minute epochs for 1 week at 7 months of chronological (term) or corrected age (premature). Mean birth weight of premature infants was 1,278 ± 340 gm, with a gestational age of 30.4 ± 2.7 weeks. The daily total sleep time, longest sleep segment, frequency of sleep-wake transitions, and percentage of night sleep (8 p.m.–8 a.m.), averaged from the 1-week sleep record and number of night wakenings per week, were used as indicators of sleep patterns. The longest reported sleep segments of premature infants were significantly shorter than those of full-term infants (8.2 ± 2 hours versus 9.6 ± 1 hour, p < 0.01) and the number of night wakenings per week was significantly greater (3.13 ± 3 versus 0.54 ± 7, p < 0.005). Total reported sleep time, percentage of night sleep, and sleep-wake transitions did not differ significantly between premature and full-term infants. However, analysis of feeding events revealed that premature infants received significantly more feedings between midnight and 5 a.m. (M = 0.31 + 3 versus M = 0.06 + 1, p < 0.001). We conclude that sleep pattern diaries kept by parents indicate that premature infants have developed a diurnal sleep rhythm by 7 months corrected age, but they still have shorter sleep segments and they awaken more during the night than term infants.     

A postpartum telephone program of reassurance,information, and early intervention in a family practice

This paper presents a program developed in a family practice office to provide reassurance, guidance, and early detection and intervention for mothers and their new infants in the first month of the infant's life. Telephone calls from an office nurse at 2 weeks of age followed by a written questionnaire demonstrated a dichotomy between the mothers' expressions of their physical and emotional problems. Feeding was the most prominently expressed concern, but we also found that complaints or worries about feeding were also an acceptable way to initiate intervention for more serious problems.     

Book reviews

The Tao and the Logos: Literary Hermeneutics, East and West. Zhang Longxi, 1992 Duke University Press xviii + 239 pp., ISBN 0 8223 1218 2, pb $14.50

Ibn Sinā and Mysticism: Remarks and Admonitions. Shams C. Inati, 1996, London, Kegan Paul International, 114 pp., ISBN 0 7103 0482 X, hb £30.00

Ethics in Early Buddhism. David J. Kalupahana, 1995, Hawaii, University of Hawaii Press, ix+ 171 pp., ISBN 0 8248 1702 8, hb $27.00

On Understanding Buddhists. Essays on Theravāda Tradition in Sri Lanka. John Ross Carter, 1993, Albany, State University of New York Press, xiv+215 pp, hb $16.95

To See the Buddha. A Philosopher's Quest for the Meaning of Emptiness. Malcolm David Eckel, 1994 (1st edn 1992), Princeton, Princeton University Press, x + 262 pp., ISBN 0 691 03773 6, pb US$ 16.95     

How Groups Merge: The Effects of Merger Integration Patterns on Anticipated Commitment to the Merged Organization1

This study examined the influence of merger integration patterns on expectations about the merger process. The integration patterns included the absorb, in which the merged organization closely resembled the acquiring company; the blend, in which features of both companies were maintained, and the combine, in which the organization resembled neither pre-merger company. Undergraduates role-played employees of a merging organization and written scenarios manipulated the integration pattern and membership in the acquired or acquiring organization. Participants' commitment to the merged organization was most favorable in the combine pattern. Path analyses indicated that the relationship between merger integration pattern and organizational commitment is mediated by the conditions of intergroup contact, perceptions of organizational support, organizational unity, and the degree of threat experienced.