Why Strawson’s Basic Argument Is Not Impressive: an Answer from Frankfurt,Christman and Ekstrom

Philosophia - Galen Strawson defends his pessimist position with his famous “Basic Argument”. He attempts to prove that no agent can meet the demands for the ultimate moral...     

What Matters Most to the Left-Behind Children’s Life Satisfaction and School Engagement: Parent or Grandparent?

This study compared the role of the parent and grandparent in the adjustment of children who had, and who had not, been left behind when their parents moved to urban areas for work, and tested whether self-esteem mediated the association between these family relationships and child adjustment. The sample included 428 middle school students in central China, 204 of whom were left-behind children who were cared for by grandparents and 224 of whom were not left behind. The students responded to five questionnaires measuring parent–child relationships, grandparent–child relationships, self-esteem, life satisfaction and school engagement. Regression analyses showed that self-esteem mediated the association between parent–child and grandparent–child relationships and children’s adjustment, but there were different patterns of association for the non-left-behind children and left-behind children groups. Furthermore, the unique effect of parent–child relationships was higher than that of grandparent–child relationships for the non-left-behind children, but for the left-behind children, grandparent–child relationships played a more important role than grandparent–child relationships in predicting their school engagement, and parent–child relationships played a more important role in predicting their life satisfaction. Parents who are far away and grandparents who are close at hand can shape different psychological and behavioral development outcomes of left-behind children.     

西方工业化进程中家庭女佣的社会境遇

家庭女佣是西方工业化时期劳动妇女人数最多的群体,也是最缺少社会关注的群体.她们从事着无休无止的长时间劳作,却忍受着中世纪的人身束缚,没有起码的人身自由.19世纪社会改革者未尝将目光投向她们,西方各国的工厂立法也将她们排除在外.因此,家庭女佣与工厂女工一样,承担了早期工业化的苦难,却更晚才享受到社会改革所带来的福祉.     

Language experiences and vocabulary development in Dominican and Mexican infants across the first 2 years

We longitudinally investigated parental language context and infants' language experiences in relation to Dominican American and Mexican American infants' vocabularies. Mothers provided information on parental language context, comprising measures of parents' language background (i.e., childhood language) and current language use during interviews at infants' birth. Infants' language experiences were measured at ages 14 months and 2 years through mothers' reports of mothers' and fathers' engagement in English and Spanish literacy activities with infants and mothers' English and Spanish utterances during videotaped mother-infant interactions. Infants' vocabulary development at 14 months and 2 years was examined using standardized vocabulary checklists in English and Spanish. Both parental language context and infants' language experiences predicted infants' vocabularies in each language at both ages. Furthermore, language experiences mediated associations between parental language context and infants' vocabularies. However, the specific mediation mechanisms varied by language.     

Irradiation-enhanced twin boundary migration in BCC Fe

The effects of irradiation on twin boundary migration in BCC Fe are studied by atomistic simulations. It is found that under the applied shear strain–stress, thermal spikes may create twinning dislocation loops (TDLs) at twin boundaries, so triggering twinning. Irradiation-generated clusters of point defect at twin boundaries may act as sources to nucleate TDLs. When a vacancy loop intersects with a twin boundary, the critical stress to activate a TDL is less than half of that required for a defect-free twin boundary.     

Unraveling the daily stress crossover between unemployed individuals and their employed spouses

This study examined the dynamic relationship of distress levels between spouses when one is unemployed (and looking for a job) while the other is engaged in full-time employment. Using the diary survey method, we sampled 100 couples in China for 10 days and tested a model comprising three stress crossover mechanisms: the direct crossover, the mediating crossover, and the common stressor mechanisms. Results supported the direct crossover and common stressor mechanisms. Other stressors (e.g., work–family conflict and negative job search experience) were also related to distress of the unemployed individuals and their employed spouses. Additionally, we found a three-way interaction involving gender, marital satisfaction, and distress levels of employed spouses. We discuss how the study contributes to the unemployment and stress crossover literatures.     

Investigating the Impact of Uncertainty About Item Parameters on Ability Estimation

Asymptotic expansions of the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) and weighted likelihood estimator (WLE) of an examinee’s ability are derived while item parameter estimators are treated as covariates measured with error. The asymptotic formulae present the amount of bias of the ability estimators due to the uncertainty of item parameter estimators. A numerical example is presented to illustrate how to apply the formulae to evaluate the impact of uncertainty about item parameters on ability estimation and the appropriateness of estimating ability using the regular MLE or WLE method.     

关于寺庙慈善事业可持续发展的探讨——以广州光孝寺为例

按佛教教义及管理学原理,以饶益、随顺众生为特色的寺庙慈善行为,满足了社会中的个体及群体的部分需求。因此,慈善行为也就成为寺庙这一非营利组织存在乃至发展的前提。人类的需求,有的亘古不变,如衣食住行等基本生理需求;有的则具备时代特征,如商业社会中普遍存在的求职、职业发展需求等。当今寺庙的慈善行为以因袭传统为特质,所满足的大多是那些不随社会变化而变化的需求。满足需求的手段,也以传统的财布施为主。因袭传统的慈善,或许可以维持寺庙的生存现状。若要实现可持续发展,则需探究众生在现时代的特有需求,在此基础上开发技能满足之。     

中学生学习成绩抱负水平的指导对学习成功感的影响研究

研究以100名中学生为被试,进行了学习成绩抱负水平指导的实验。研究采用集体指导和个别谈话的方式,配以强化问卷,经过半年的实证研究,发现指导中学生设置恰当的学习成绩抱负水平,可以促进其学习成功感的提高。研究表明,可以采取适当的方法,发挥学习成绩(分数)(抱负水平)的积极作用。     

A standardised database of Chinese emotional film clips

Film clips are widely used in emotion research due to their relatively high ecological validity. Although researchers have established various film clip sets for different cultures, the few that exist related to Chinese culture do not adequately address positive emotions. The main purposes of the present study were to establish a standardised database of Chinese emotional film clips that could elicit more categories of reported positive emotions compared to the existing databases and to expand the available film clips that can be used as neutral materials. Two experiments were conducted to construct the database. In experiment 1, 111 film clips were selected from more than one thousand Chinese movies for preliminary screening. After 315 participants viewed and evaluated these film clips, 39 excerpts were selected for further validation. In experiment 2, 147 participants watched and rated these 39 film clips, as well as another 8 excerpts chosen from the existing databases, to compare their validity. Eventually, 22 film excerpts that successfully evoked three positive emotions (joy, amusement, and tenderness), four negative emotions (moral disgust, anger, fear, and sadness), and neutrality formed the standardised database of Chinese emotional film clips.