The successful adjustment of international students to the new environment depends on their ability to interact effectively with the external environment. However, the literature has not yet provided a clear understanding of how the support provided by host universities affects the academic achievement and cultural adaptation of international students, particularly in longitudinal studies involving students from different countries and regions in China. Based on Student-centered Learning Engagement framework, this study developed and tested a model composed of three variables—university support, academic achievement and cultural adaptation, and collected data from South Asian students at Chinese universities from 2017 to 2019 through questionnaires. The findings revealed that university support significantly affected cultural adaptation through academic achievement. The study suggests that Chinese universities should provide appropriate levels of support for international students to achieve positive academic outcomes, and to better understand and adapt to the universities, societies, and cultures.
Mycosis fungoides is characterized by widespread skin patches that may progress to plaques and tumors, necessitating precise tumor burden assessment for staging and treatment guidance. However, existing methods, including the widely accepted modified Severity Weighted Assessment Tool (mSWAT), present significant challenges in routine practice owing to their time-consuming nature and interobserver variability. This study developed an artificial intelligence model, mSWAT-Net, to estimate mSWAT scores using clinical images of patients with mycosis fungoides. Notably, the overlap area segmentation submodule of mSWAT-Net addressed double-counting errors in multiangle photos through training on 3904 annotated images generated from 61 three-dimensional human images. Across 2463 standardized full-body photographs from 134 imaging series, mSWAT-Net demonstrated performance comparable with that of experienced cutaneous lymphoma specialists, achieving intraclass correlation coefficients of 0.917 (internal validation) and 0.846 (temporal validation) for mSWAT score. Moreover, mSWAT-Net outperformed 3 junior dermatologists in image-based scoring (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.917 vs 0.777) and demonstrated robust performance when compared with ground truth derived from 3-dimensional patient imaging (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.812). Finally, mSWAT-Net was deployed as a free web application to support mycosis fungoides management in clinical settings. These findings highlight the potential of mSWAT-Net as an accurate, automated clinical tool for facilitating patient follow-up, treatment monitoring, and remote consultations.
Wisdom is theorized to regulate the ethical use of cognitive strengths, but empirical evidence for its moderating role remains limited and inconsistent. This research investigates whether wisdom guides the application of intelligence and creativity toward prosocial ends, using domain-consistent, humanistic assessments across two studies (N = 933). Study 1 employed performance-based measures to examine how state-level wisdom influences the prosocial deployment of social intelligence and real-life creativity in morally complex scenarios. Study 2 used self-report measures to explore trait-level associations among integrative wisdom, social intelligence, creativity, and social mindfulness. Across both studies, wisdom consistently moderated the link between creativity and prosociality: higher wisdom predicted either stronger positive associations (Study 2) or buffered against ethically problematic use (Study 1). In contrast, no consistent evidence was found that wisdom similarly guided the use of intelligence. These findings suggest that wisdom functions as a selective moral regulator, more effectively shaping the ethical expression of open-ended, generative capacities such as creativity than of structured, instrumental capacities such as intelligence. The results underscore the importance of aligning constructs within shared evaluative domains and provide preliminary empirical support for wisdom as a meta-capacity that channels value-sensitive strengths toward socially constructive ends.
The evolution of Fe(II)-oxidizing microorganisms has been closely linked to the evolution of Earth's iron biogeochemical cycle and redox history. However, its impact on the coupled biogeochemical cycling of iron and phosphorus, particularly the distribution of iron-bound phosphate (PFe) in water columns, remains largely unexplored. This study elucidates the distinct Fe(II) oxidation mechanisms of the anoxygenic Rhodobacter ferrooxidans SW2 and the oxygenic Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002, along with the properties, transformation processes, and phosphate interactions of their biogenic iron (oxyhydr)oxides. SW2-mediated Fe(II) oxidation via iron oxidase drove sequential transformation from ferrihydrite to green rust and then to goethite. The resulting cell-mineral aggregates had a large hydrodynamic diameter (Dh, up to 26 μm), a high Fe/C ratio (∼2.5), and a rapid sedimentation rate (up to 57.7 m/day), efficiently transporting PFe to deep-sea sediments. In contrast, PCC 7002 indirectly oxidized Fe(II) via oxygen production, forming poorly crystalline iron (oxyhydr)oxides stabilized by extracellular polymeric substances. The resultant small aggregates (Dh = ∼6.9 μm), with a slower sedimentation rate (∼3.9 m/day), exhibited high phosphorus retention and were susceptible to dissimilatory iron reduction, facilitating PFe recycling in surface waters. These findings suggest that biogenic iron (oxyhydr)oxides from anoxygenic iron oxidizers act as carriers, transporting phosphorus to deep sediments, whereas those from oxygenic cyanobacteria function as phosphorus traps in surface waters. This study provides new insights into how the evolution of Fe(II)-oxidizing microorganisms reshapes PFe cycling and distribution in water columns, emphasizing the need to integrate microbiological and geochemical perspectives in understanding Earth's biogeochemical cycles.
Chinese universities have actively engaged in knowledge production about other countries and played crucial roles in training professionals for the country’s foreign policy community since the founding of the People’s Republic (PRC). For decades, the transformations of the PRC’s international and area studies programs have not only reflected the shifting demands of top decision-makers but also influenced the interactions among scholars, academic institutions, government agencies, business elites, and the general public. This article analyzes the ups and downs of China’s international and area studies programs in the second half of the 20th century and how they were closely intertwined with the country’s shifting priorities in foreign policy, overseas Chinese affairs, and higher education. Primarily focusing on the case of Southeast Asian Studies (SEAS), this paper explores how the PRC’s area studies programs interacted with the country’s foreign policy during the 1955–1965 and post-1978 periods. Despite the changing geopolitical dynamics after 2000, the academic infrastructure and particular institutional culture formed in these two phases remain essential to our understanding of China’s area studies initiatives today.
Rural in-migrants often introduce distinctive architectural aesthetics, driving gentrification processes in rural areas. While this new aesthetic influences local residents' architectural preferences, the factors related to these preferences remain unclear. This study investigates how interactions with rural in-migrants are associated with locals' architectural tastes and identifies other socio-cultural factors. We developed an innovative two-dimensional matrix framework for assessing architectural preferences in rural in-migration contexts, integrating rural in-migration theory with acculturation theory and validated through phototesting techniques. Through a theory-building case study, we focused on 3 villages in Dali, China, which share similar cultural backgrounds but exhibit different architectural changes in response to rural in-migration. We surveyed 335 locals and 218 migrants across these villages in 2021.
The results show that increased social interactions between locals and migrants are significantly associated with strengthened local preferences for locality-based architectural styles over globalized ones, accompanied by a narrowing of the aesthetic distance between the two groups. These findings suggest that cultural interaction processes may reinforce rather than replace local aesthetic preferences. However, this effect varies among locals due to differences in community characteristics, urban experience, future residential intentions, age, education, and marital status. This study shows that local residents demonstrate agency in cultural adaptation rather than remain passive recipients, suggesting potential pathways for communities to resist marginalization in the gentrification process.