Explore the vast range of titles available.

This article presents Jeong Jedu (Hagok; 1649–1736) on the topic of emotions and its comparative and contemporary relevance. It discusses this leading neo-Confucian thinker’s thought-provoking Four-Seven thesis and its vital implication for self-cultivation and ethics. This important topic has not been discussed in current scholarship on Korean Confucianism. The article begins with the Confucian notion of emotions (jeong/qing, 情), according to its textual and philosophical background in the Chinese tradition, and then covers key issues regarding the “Four Beginnings” of virtue, the “Seven Emotions”, and leading neo-Confucian perspectives by Zhu Xi (1130–1200) and Wang Yangming (1472–1529). The article also provides a brief comparative analysis of Toegye’s and Yulgok’s leading Korean opinions on the nature, role, and problem of emotions. The third section focuses on Hagok’s interpretation in the same context. The fourth section discusses Hagok’s ethics and spirituality of emotions in terms of the mind’s original essence (bonche/benti) and innate knowledge (of good) (yangji/liangzhi) in connection to Wang Yangming’s doctrines. The final section concludes by considering the originality and distinctiveness of Hagok’s holistic interpretation. It also presents my contemporary reflections to articulate how Hagok’s groundbreaking insights compare with certain Western theories of emotions and why they offer a worthwhile resource for comparative philosophy, religion, and ethics.

Evil is a key concept in Confucianism and other world religions. The problem of evil is therefore central to our interreligious discussion of human nature and the world. In Western scholarship, however, Confucian moral idealism is occasionally criticized for being too optimistic or unable to articulate the nature of evil; it is philosophically or theologically weak, also due to the absence of an omnipotent, omniscient God (divine law-giver). If we take the Confucian doctrine of innate human goodness for granted, how do we explain the active presence of evil in the human world? This article discusses the heart of T’oegye’s thought by focusing on the problem of evil and the way to transcend it. Yi Hwang 李滉 (T’oegye 退溪, 1501– 1570) was an eminent Korean thinker who greatly influenced Neo-Confucian ethics and spirituality. By using a textual and interpretive approach, I present his major works including the Sŏnghak sipto 聖學十圖 (Ten diagrams on sage learning), Chasŏngnok 自省錄 (Record of self-reflection), and “Four-Seven Debate Letters.” T’oegye eloquently criticized the origin of moral evil and emphasized a selftranscending way to remove evil and do good. What is important about his interpretation and how does it enrich our global understanding of good and evil? I conclude by considering this and related questions from a comparative and interreligious standpoint.

This paper shows a case study on a novel community-based sustainability planning framework that balances environmental, social, cultural dimensions for a high-density urban setting. The case study presents a community-driven “Four-Zero” sustainability model—zero energy, zero water, zero food, and zero waste—as a foundation for environmental sustainability practices implemented in a high-density estate in Hong Kong, alongside community-led ecological and heritage initiatives that reinforce place-based resilience. Through integrated activities, such as community farming, aquaponics, organic waste composting, biodiversity monitoring, and heritage mapping, the residents co-produced knowledge and activated novel bottom–up planning schemes and fostered social cohesion while advancing environmental objectives. Notably, the discovery of rare species and historic Dairy Farm remnants catalyzed a community-led planning proposal for an eco-heritage park that stimulated policy dialogues on conservation. These collective efforts illustrate how circular resource systems and cultural and ecological conservation can be balanced with urban development needs in compact, high-density communities. This case offers policy insights for rethinking urban sustainability planning in dense city contexts, contributing to global discourses on urban political ecology by examining socio–nature entanglements in contested urban spaces, to environmental justice by foregrounding community agency in shaping ecological futures, and to commoning practices through shared stewardship of urban resources.

First of all, I appreciate the editorial board of Acta Koreana for inviting me to serve as their Guest Editor for this special issue of Acta Koreana (December 2019). I am pleased and honored to do so by providing the following introduction. This special issue presents five scholarly articles on the special theme of good and evil in Korean philosophy, religion, and spirituality. The first two are on Buddhism by Robert Buswell and Sumi Lee, respectively; the third one on Confucianism by Edward Chung; the fourth on a modern Christian thinker by Halla Kim; and the last article, by Donald Baker, offers a historical overview of the theme.· When Robert E. Buswell, Jr. presented a keynote speech at the international conference on the same theme that I hosted at my university in 2018, he asked the following question: If the buddhanature universally exists in the human mind or if God s universal love and grace are freely given, where does evil come from and how do we explain the active problem of evil in the human world?

Traffic safety studies need more than what the current micro-simulation models can provide, as they presume that all drivers exhibit safe behaviors. Therefore, existing micro-simulation models are inadequate to evaluate the safety impacts of managed motorway systems such as Variable Speed Limits. All microscopic traffic simulation packages include a core car-following model. This paper highlights the limitations of the existing car-following models to emulate driver behaviour for safety study purposes. It also compares the capabilities of the mainstream car-following models, modelling driver behaviour with precise parameters such as headways and time-to-collisions. The comparison evaluates the robustness of each car-following model for safety metric reproductions. A new car-following model, based on the personal space concept and fish school model is proposed to simulate more accurate traffic metrics. This new model is capable of reflecting changes in the headway distribution after imposing the speed limit from variable speed limit (VSL) systems. This model can also emulate different traffic states and can be easily calibrated. These research findings facilitate assessing and predicting intelligent transportation systems effects on motorways, using microscopic simulation.

In late 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions unveiled the U.S. Department of Justice's plan to reduce violent crime in the United States. Instead of creating a new program, Mr. Sessions announced the dramatic expansion of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), an approach created in the early 2000s that emphasizes multi-agency and multi-jurisdictional partnerships to address violence. PSN has been a part of the Justice Department's violence reduction efforts in varying degrees since its inception, but now, according to the Attorney General, it will be the centerpiece. The lessons learned over the 17-year history of PSN, as well as other violence reduction initiatives and research supported by the Justice Department, are well captured in the principles articulated by Attorney General Sessions and could very well be a framework for implementing comprehensive violence reduction strategies that target the most violent offenders. They also have the potential, if implemented with fidelity, to garner the support of the community. But the obstacles posed by Justice Department's overall philosophy may be too much of a contradiction to achieve all of these goals.

This study proposes a new control method for rule-based motorway coordinated ramp metering. Coordinated ramp metering makes use of the network-wide measurements and allows multiple meters to participate in the control action to prevent or delay the onset of congestion on motorways. An essential component is a controller to dynamically adjust the level of contribution to coordination of each participating meter. The new control method builds on the concept of proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller. A comprehensive sensitivity analysis is carried out to formulate the controller structure and coefficients. The final structure takes the form of PD controller with P-term as the main controller and D-term as supplementary to accelerate response speed and to improve the control stability. The PD controller is embedded in a rule-based coordinated ramp metering strategy for performance evaluation. A simulation study demonstrates the effectiveness of the PD controller. The coordinated control improves the mainstream traffic condition by reducing 60% and 8.4% of average traffic delay time over the base case assuming no metering and the local metering control scenario, respectively. The overall traffic travel time also decreased by the coordinated control by 25.1% and 2.0% over the base case and local metering, respectively. The enhanced mainstream traffic flow is achieved by balanced utilization of local meters and on-ramp spaces.

This article aims to examine one aspect of Chinese culture, guanxi. Guanxi, \"special relationships\" has long been employed to facilitate business in China. The authors ask whether this is likely to continue in the rapidly changing environment. China's long history of insularity has created a culture and business environment considered to be uniquely based on Confucian values. Yet in the last couple of decades China has opened its doors to globalisation. These forces, in conjunction with what many see as Confucian dynamism of Chinese entrepreneurship, have generated economic growth levels in excess of 11 per cent per annum. This blending of the old and the new raises questions about how practices may be changing. The authors employed a survey of two groups; middle managers in Hong Kong and young middle class in mainland China. These groups represent the modern, Hong Kong as westernised; the old, but with new perspectives, the affluent middle classes of present day China. Open-ended questions about perceptions of understanding and use of guanxi were asked. The research finds many contrasts between the respondent groups. The Hong Kong respondents did not really understand guanxi, but still thought it important in China. The mainland group both understood and used guanxi, but similarly to the Hong Kong group, did not like it or enjoy its use. Both groups saw a diminishing application of guanxi as China's regulatory and market environment improves. The paper establishes that guanxi persists and may remain essential in China. However guanxi will work in conjunction with markets and regulations, rather than as a replacement. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Purpose This study aims to identify the pandemic’s impact on house rents by applying a rental gradient analysis to compare the pre-and post-COVID-19 periods in Auckland. The micro-level household census data from the Integrated Data Infrastructure of Statistics New Zealand is also applied to scrutinise this WFH trend as a robustness check. Design/methodology/approach Since the outbreak of COVID-19, work-from-home (WFH) and e-commerce have become much more common in many cities. Many news reports have contended that households are leaving city centres and moving into bigger and better houses in the suburbs or rural areas. This emerging trend has been redefining the traditional theory of residential location choices. Proximity to central business district (CBD) is no longer the most critical consideration in choosing one’s residence. WFH and e-commerce flatten the traditional bid rent curve from the city centre. Findings The authors examined micro-level housing rental listings in 242 suburbs of the Auckland Region from January 2013 to December 2021 (108 months) and found that the hedonic price gradient models suggest that there has been a trend of rental gradient flattening and that its extent was almost doubled in 2021. Rents are also found to be increasing more in lower-density suburbs. Research limitations/implications The results imply that the pandemic has accelerated the trend of WFH and e-commerce. The authors further discuss whether the trend will be a transient phenomenon or a long-term shift. Practical implications Suppose an organisation is concerned about productivity and performance issues due to a companywide ability to WFH. In that case, some standard key performance indicators for management and employees could be implemented. Forward-thinking cities need to focus on attracting skilful workers by making WFH a possible solution, not by insisting on the primacy of antiquated nine-to-five office cultures. Social implications WFH has traditionally encountered resistance, but more and more companies are adopting WFH policies in this post-COVID era. The early rental gradient and the micro-level household data analysis all confirm that the WFH trend is emerging and will likely be a long-term shift. Instead of resisting the change, organisations should improve their remote work policies and capabilities for this WFH trend. Originality/value So far, empirical studies of post-COVID urban restructuring have been limited. This study aims to empirically test such an urban metamorphosis by identifying the spatial and temporal impacts of COVID on house rental gradients in the Auckland Region, New Zealand. The authors apply rental gradient analysis to test this urban restructuring hypothesis because the method considers the spatial-temporal differences, i.e. a difference-in-differences between pre-and post-pandemic period against the distance measured from the city centre. The method can control for the spatial difference and the endogeneity involved.