Alerting enhances attentional bias for salient stimuli: Evidence from a global/local processing task

The present study examined the role of alerting in modulating attentional bias to salient events. In a global/local processing task, participants were presented with a large arrow (global level) comprised of smaller arrows (local level) pointing in the same or opposite directions and had to indicate the direction of the large or small arrows in different blocks. Saliency of the global and local levels was manipulated, creating global-salient and local-salient conditions. Alerting signals were presented in half of the trials prior to the target. Results revealed a double dissociation in the effects of alerting on global/local interference effects. In a global salient condition, alerting increased global interference and decreased local interference. In a local salient condition, alerting reduced global interference and increased local interference. We demonstrate that within a single task, alerting can increase and reduce conflict based on perceptual saliency. These findings help to better understand disorders like hemispatial neglect in which both arousal and attention to salient events are impaired. These results also challenge previous theories suggesting that alerting acts to increase conflict interference. We argue that alerting is an adaptive mechanism that diverts attention to salient events, but comes at a cost when selective attention to less salient details is required.     

Theological Education in a New Missional Era: A Personal Journey with Seven Theses

The author's personal journey in discovering, developing, researching and practicing adult theological education in the church is rehearsed, pointing out key learning moments along the way. Out of this praxis seven theses are offered that set an agenda for theological education in the new missional era in which the church finds itself.     

晚期乳腺癌原发灶局部处理的若干问题

乳腺癌仍然是严重威胁女性健康的重大疾病。每年新发乳腺癌患者中约有6％为Ⅳ期乳腺癌,而这类患者5年生存率小于20％,局部处理（外科、放疗）可以根除局部病灶及微小转移灶,以延缓或者缓解症状,但是否可以带来生存获益尚无定论。本文对Ⅳ期乳腺癌原发灶的局部处理等方面的若干问题作一综述。     

手术治疗单一局部复发或远处转移病灶乳腺癌的临床观察

探索手术治疗单一局部复发或唯一远处转移病灶乳腺癌的临床价值。收集2006年6月至2013年6月湖南省人民医院乳甲外科收治的64例局部复发或术后远处转移乳腺癌患者,其中28例为单发病灶病例。根据是否采取了包含手术的综合治疗,将其分为手术组与非手术组。回顾性分析两组的临床资料和随访数据,分析手术治疗局部复发或远处转移乳腺癌有无临床意义。结果28例都采取了含化疗的综合治疗,8例局部单发病灶与9例远处单一脏器转移病例进行了手术治疗。手术组的局部缓解率与控制率明显优于非手术组,均为100％。两组无进展生存时间（PFS）和总生存时间（（）S）比较,手术组明显长于非手术组;但在单一远处脏器转移手术组中0S没有优势。2年生存率方面手术组与非手术组比较有统计学意义。对于术后单一局部复发病灶或唯一远处脏器转移的乳腺癌患者,采取含手术的综合治疗方案能带来明显的PFS优势,若有手术机会和条件成熟,手术仍是不应放弃的有效治疗方法。     

Toward a cosmopolitan ethos

There has been a rising trend in cosmopolitan moral theory to seriously take into consideration the human's rootedness in, and partiality toward, particular cultures, places, peoples and traditions. This essay suggests that reframing our theorizing on cosmopolitanism from one that primarily addresses an ethico-political set of questions to one that addresses questions related to moral psychology, personal and collective identity formation and the ways in which civilizations and cultural communities cultivate an ethos may assist in the task of generating a rooted form of cosmopolitanism. Conceptualizing cosmopolitanism as an ethos entails a shift from considering our moral obligations to distant others toward a focus on the types of dispositions and character traits necessary to forge a sense of intercultural solidarity. Through an analysis of the ideas of ‘diaspora’, ‘proximity’, ‘partiality' and the ‘foreign’, it will be suggested that through our rootedness in particularity, and our ability to be partial to particular persons and identify with particular cultures, we are capable of fostering a sense of world citizenship that can serve as a foundation upon which we can secure a tenable global ethic for our pluralistic society.     

The four tasks of development ethics at times of a changing climate

This paper argues that the challenges posed by climate change and the need to quickly move toward a sustainable low-carbon future require the contributions of development ethics. I propose four tasks for development ethics. The first relates to unpacking the urgency posed by climate change by showing how, from an ethical perspective, the impacts of climate change are extremely dangerous risks, especially for those most vulnerable, and thus require immediate attention. The second relates to a better understanding of the components of well-being. The third relates to concerns regarding the global commons and to the need to reframe key components of socio-ecological balance as public goods. The fourth and last task of development ethics refers to the multiple trade-offs and dilemmas in the processes leading to a low-carbon and equitable future arguing for strengthening public deliberation and democracy.     

Why global justice matters

Why does global justice as a philosophical inquiry matter? We know that the world is plainly unjust in many ways and we know that something ought to be done about this without, it seems, the need of a theory of global justice. Accordingly, philosophical inquiry into global justice comes across to some as an intellectual luxury that seems disconnected from the real world. I want to suggest, however, that philosophical inquiry into global justice is necessary if we want to address the problems of humanity. First, in some cases, a theory of global justice is needed for identifying what counts as legitimate problems of justice. Second, even in obvious cases of injustices, such as the fact of preventable extreme poverty to which we know we have an obligation to respond, we cannot know the content and the limits of these obligations and who the primary bearers of these obligations are without some theoretical guidance. However, I acknowledge that philosophical inquiry on global justice risks becoming a philosophical parlor game if it loses sight of the real-world problems that motivate the inquiry in the first place. If global justice is to provide the tools for addressing the problems of humanity, it must remain a problems-driven enterprise.     

Global ethics: increasing our positive impact

Global ethics is no ordinary subject. It includes some of the most urgent and momentous issues the world faces, such as extreme poverty and climate change. Given this, any adequate review of that subject should, I suggest, ask some questions about the relation between what those working in that subject do and the real-world phenomena that are the object of their study. The main question I focus on in this essay is this: should academics and others working in the field of global ethics take new measures aimed at having more real-world positive impact on the phenomena they study? Should they take new measures, that is, aimed at bringing about more improvements in those phenomena, improvements such as reductions in extreme poverty and in emissions of greenhouse gases? I defend a positive answer to this question against some objections, and also discuss some of the kinds of measure we might take in an attempt to have more positive impact.     

政策执行偏差严重程度对公众地方政府责任判断的影响机制

为探讨地方政府政策执行偏差严重程度对公众地方政府责任判断的影响机制。采用问卷法对728名社会公众进行调查,结果显示：（1）公众地方政府有意性判断和公众地方政府可控归因中介了政策执行偏差严重程度与公众地方政府责任判断之间的关系。（2）政策执行偏差严重程度还通过公众地方政府有意性判断→公众地方政府可控归因的中介链作用于公众地方政府道德责任判断。并对研究的实践启示进行了讨论。