X. Wang

This article uncovers a little-known aspect of Nicolas Fréret’s work in the Newtonian chronology controversy: his strategic use of ancient Chinese astronomical records. A member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Fréret maintained a correspondence network linking him with French Jesuits in Beijing and with Parisian astronomers. Based on the astronomical verification he obtained through this network and his own philological knowledge, Fréret was able to propose a revised date for the ‘Zhong Kang eclipse,’ a celestial observation recorded in the Chinese classics that had provoked considerable debate in Europe. By treating such Chinese astronomical records as evidence for a continuous antiquity independent of biblical tradition, Fréret challenged Newton’s dismissal of early Chinese history and called into question the broader validity of Newton’s revisionist chronology. Fréret’s approach was shaped by a combination of intellectual, polemical, and institutional circumstances specific to his expertise in philology and his position at the Académie des Inscriptions. This case study not only offers a fuller picture of Fréret as a critic of Newtonian chronology, but also brings to light the overlooked role that ancient Chinese astronomy played in one of the most heated scholarly debates of eighteenth-century Europe.

This article argues that the Maupertuis–Cassini controversy over the shape of the Earth in the 1730s was intricately connected to Eurasian intellectual networks and academic politics. It focuses on the alliance of two Parisian pro-Cassini savants, Dortous de Mairan and Nicolas Fréret, and on their private correspondence with French Jesuits Antoine Gaubil and Dominique Parrenin in Beijing. Through these Eurasian connections, this article examines how Qing cartographic information was mobilized and transformed into credible evidence for polemical purposes in the Parisian public sphere and its aftermath. By uncovering the academic politics behind the episode, it shows that Mairan and Fréret’s deployment of Chinese evidence, and Maupertuis’s retaliatory response, emerged largely from a complex interplay of personal ambitions, institutional allegiances and factional rivalries within the French learned world. The article thus foregrounds the overlooked Eurasian entanglements of a classic intra-European dispute and offers a case study of how evidence acquired credibility across Eurasia and was contested in eighteenth-century Paris.

In order to highlight the role of music teaching in the teaching of ideological and political courses, this study puts forward research on the integration of music teaching and ideological and political teaching. This study analyzes the promotion and necessity of college music teaching to ideological and political work, constructs a fusion model of college music teaching and ideological and political work, introduces deep learning methods, and weakens the influence of errors in the data of college music teaching and ideological and political work. This study also optimized the integration mode of college music teaching and ideological and political work and realized the model research of college music teaching and ideological and political work. The experimental results show that the resource output amplitude controlled by the deep learning method has the best stability, and there is no large amplitude fluctuation during the experiment. The output amplitude and control time of the fusion resource are guaranteed and the fusion path of music teaching and ideological and political education is clearer. The maximum control time of the fusion resource of this method is 23.55 ms.

Palliative care often relies on relatives to support decisions and coordinate care. Older parents who have lost their only child may rely on other trusted people whose roles and responsibilities require clarification. We conducted a qualitative empirical bioethics study in 18 hospitals across ten Chinese provincial-level regions from November 2024 to November 2025. The 179 participants comprised 57 older parents receiving clinically confirmed palliative care, 57 separately interviewed supporters, 35 health and social care professionals, and 30 management, policy and ethics stakeholders. Framework analysis compared accounts across participant groups, within patient-supporter dyads and across care settings. Normative analysis assessed the grounds and limits of proposed responsibilities. Five themes described expectations of adult-child support, opportunities for deliberation, recognition of supporters, place-of-care decisions and coordination across services. Patient and supporter accounts showed high convergence in 49 dyads for current preferences, 42 for current support tasks and 35 for expected supporter roles. Setting comparisons identified differences in how services organised repeated communication, documented supporter roles and arranged care transitions. The ethical framework distinguished minimum procedural duties, conditional service responsibilities and longer-term reforms. Clinical teams and hospitals have responsibilities to support informed decisions, clarify the voluntary scope of supporter involvement and arrange accountable handovers. Recognising a patient-chosen supporter requires agreement from both members of the relationship about the roles involved. Additional services require decisions about organisational mandate, resources and fair allocation. Not applicable.

This article examines the intervention of the French secular geographer Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville in the 1730s dispute over the figure of the Earth. D'Anville championed a method best described as “armchair geography.” By critically integrating the Cassinis' geodetic results from France with Jesuit reports from Qing China, he furnished geographical evidence for the Cassinian prolate Earth. His work was more than scholarly compilation: it depended on a trans-Eurasian knowledge network established under the auspices of the French Crown and the Académie and implemented by the Jesuits, which made Far Eastern information reliable and comparable. This network enabled d'Anville to wield Eurasian evidence in a Parisian scientific dispute without leaving Paris, and provoked discussion among scholars, Jesuits, and academicians. By restoring d'Anville's place in the controversy, this article shows how armchair geography allowed a secular geographer to intervene meaningfully in a debate usually reconstructed through its intra-European, Académie-centred, and expeditionary protagonists.

Access to scientific publications is essential for scientific progress, yet access remains uneven across countries due to differences in institutional subscriptions and digital infrastructure. This paper examines how digitalisation is associated with the use of accessible scientific publications, as proxied by Sci-Hub downloads, and scientific productivity across countries. Using Sci-Hub download data, we capture cross-country patterns in the use of accessible scientific knowledge. The results suggest that higher levels of digitalisation are associated with greater use of accessible scientific publications and higher levels of scientific output. Furthermore, the association between individual-level digitalisation and publication use is stronger in low- and lower-middle-income countries than in upper-middle- and high-income countries, whereas the corresponding income-group difference for business-level digitalisation is not statistically significant. These findings highlight the potential role of digitalisation in shaping global patterns of access to scientific knowledge and scientific production.

This study conceptualized digital competence in line with self-determined theory and investigated how it alongside help-seeking and learning agency collectively preserved university students’ psychological well-being by assisting them to manage cognitive load and academic burnout, as well as increasing their engagement in online learning during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Moreover, students’ socioeconomic status and demographic variables were examined. Partial least square modeling and cluster analysis were performed on the survey data collected from 695 students. The findings show that mental load and mental effort were positively related to academic burnout, which was significantly negatively associated with student engagement in online learning. Digital competence did not directly affect academic burnout, but indirectly via its counteracting effect on cognitive load. However, help-seeking and agency were not found to be significantly negatively related to cognitive load. Among the three SDT constructs, digital competence demonstrated the greatest positive influence on student engagement. In addition, female students from humanities and social sciences disciplines and lower-income families seemed to demonstrate the weakest digital competence, lowest learning agency, and least help-seeking behaviors. Consequently, they were more vulnerable to high cognitive load and academic burnout, leading to the lowest learning engagement. This study contributes to the ongoing arguments related to the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and informs the development of efficient interventions that preserve university students’ psychological well-being in online learning.

The study uses a discourse-analytic approach to explore Chinese police’s discursive strategies of regulating citizens’ negative emotions during police-citizen interactions. Through analyzing natural-occurring conversations from two famous Chinese police documentaries, we find that the police’s extrinsic emotion regulation targets at six types of negative emotions, which can be realized through four explicit discursive strategies, including comforting, distracting, negotiating, and showing empathy, as well as six implicit strategies, namely delegitimating, hope-building, evoking the influence of family bonds, displaying good intent, pinpointing misunderstanding, and affirming. Given the persuasive and educational orientation of Chinese policing, these strategies closely align with appeals to pathos, logos, and ethos. This study offers insight into the growing literature on extrinsic emotion regulation in the context of police-citizen interactions.

Background Neurodiversity emerged from autistic self-advocacy communities in the mid-1990s. Other anti-stigmatization narratives are widely advocated to reduce autism-related stigma. In China, parent-led organizations and charitable organizations have played an indispensable role in challenging discriminatory attitudes and protecting the dignity of autistic individuals and their families, notably through anti-stigma narratives such as “Gūdúzhèng” [literally meaning “autism” with a focus on loneliness, an alternative term to avoid stigma], “children of the stars,” and “genius narrative.” However, the impact of these specific one-sided beautification narrative strategies on access to medical resources and health equity remains under-researched, with limited attention to the potential unintended consequences of such positive narratives. Methods This study adopted a qualitative descriptive research design and selected four cities through purposive sampling. Data collection methods included semi-structured interviews and participant observation. Results The study drew three core conclusions: (1) Disability-removing narratives (such as “Gūdúzhèng”) may inhibit parents from applying for disability certificates for their children, hindering access to medical resources; (2) Homogenized terms (such as “Gūdúzhèng” and “genius”) obscured the heterogeneity of the autism spectrum and comorbid medical needs, reducing the supply of charitable medical resources; (3) Templated charitable fundraising narratives exacerbated the Matthew Effect in the allocation of charitable resources. Conclusion The jointly constructed homogenized and templated beautified narratives of autism are designed to reduce stigma and are pursued with the legitimate goal of safeguarding dignity. However, they inadvertently perpetuate reverse stigmatization and conceal the genuine medical and rehabilitation needs of autistic individuals, contributing to autism-related health inequality. This study emphasizes the urgent need for balanced narrative frameworks that integrate identity, dignity, and explicit recognition of autism spectrum heterogeneity and lifelong support needs.

PurposeThe aim of this study was to investigate and compare impulsiveness, negative emotion, cognitive function, and P300 components among gamma-hydroxybutyrate -addicted patients, heroin-dependent patients, and methadone maintenance treatment subjects.MethodsA total of 48 men including 17 GHB addicts, 16 heroin addicts, 15 MMT subjects, and 15 male mentally healthy controls were recruited. All subjects were evaluated for symptoms of depression, anxiety, impulsiveness, and cognitive function through the Patient Health Questionnaire, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale version II, the Beijing version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, the behavioral test, and event-related potential P300 detection.Results The mean scores of BIS-II in the GHB addiction group, heroin dependence group, and MMT group were significantly higher than those of the HC group. The total scores of BJ-MOCA in GHB addiction group was the worst among the four groups, followed by heroin addiction, MMT group and HC group. The response time in the GHB addiction group was the longest among the four groups, followed by the heroin addiction, MMT, and HC groups. The amplitude and latency of P300 in GHB addiction subjects were significantly lower and longer than those of the MMT group and the HC group. For the three types of addiction, the P300 amplitudes at Fz, Cz, Pz, T5, and T6 were negatively correlated with the scores of GAD-7, PHQ-9, and BIS-II; the P300 latencies were positively correlated with the response time and negatively correlated with the scores of the BJ-MoCA.ConclusionPeople with an addiction were likely to have increased impulsiveness. The cognitive function of the GHB and heroin-addicted subjects, including the heroin detoxification and the MMT groups, was severely impaired, especially for the GHB-addicted patients. The impairment manifested as abnormalities of BJ-MoCA, response time, and P300 components.

ObjectivesAimed to analyze the mediating effect of executive function between physical activity level and trait anxiety in college students.MethodsThe International Physical Activity Questionnaire, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Stroop task, 1-back task, and More-odd shifting task were used to analyze 248 college students.ResultsTrait anxiety were significantly correlated with shifting function (r = 0.182, P = 0.004) and inhibition function (r = 0.163, P = 0.010) and not with working memory (r = 0.056, P = 0.385). Vigorous physical activity (VPA) was most highly correlated with inhibition function (Beta = −0.144, P = 0.024) and working memory (Beta = −0.208, P = 0.001), and light physical activity (LPA) was most highly correlated with shifting function (Beta = −0.211, P = 0.001). Physical activity had a 72.31% association with trait anxiety (B = −0.195), with 11.79% mediated by inhibition function (B = −0.023) and 15.90% by shifting function (B = −0.031).ConclusionCollege students' physical activity promotes both inhibition and shifting functions, which in turn affect trait anxiety. VPA had a direct effect, while the effect of moderate physical activity (MPA) and LPA was completely mediated exclusively through executive functions, and the mediating effect of shifting function was the highest. It is recommended that college workers should motivate students with high trait anxiety to engage in more VPA and pay attention to changes in their inhibition and shifting functions.

As virtual influencers become increasingly prevalent in marketing communications, their influence on consumers’ pro-environmental perceptions remains understudied. This challenge is exacerbated by the diverse range of virtual influencer designs that firms can utilize in their green campaigns. Drawing on prototype category theory, we conceptualize virtual influencers into two categories—nature prototypes and consumption prototypes—and propose that these prototypes motivate pro-environmental behaviors through distinct pathways. Building on regulatory focus theory, we further argue that the extent to which virtual influencers enhance consumers’ pro-environmental behavioral intentions depends on the fit between the virtual influencer prototype and the framing of the green message. We suggest that this fit strengthens consumers’ sense of feeling right, which in turn promotes pro-environmental intentions. A series of cross-cultural experiments conducted in China and the United States reveals that prototype-framing fit enhances pro-environmental intentions in both public and private domains, although the patterns differ across cultural contexts. Among Chinese participants, both the nature-gain and consumption-loss combinations produce the expected fit effects by fostering a sense of feeling right. Among U.S. participants, however, the effect of prototype-framing fit becomes asymmetric: the nature-gain combination consistently drives pro-environmental intentions, whereas the consumption-loss combination exerts an influence only indirectly, through the sense of feeling right. Our findings offer practical insights for deploying virtual influencers in green marketing campaigns across cultural contexts.

Миф несет в себе самую раннюю культурную память людей. Это способ мышления и духовная форма постижения человеком окружающего мира. Как разновидность мифа, миф о герое представляет собой важный культурный феномен и является неотъемлемой частью духовного развития человечества. Идейная основа мифов оказала серьезное влияние на социальную и культурную жизнь, религиозную мораль, политическую историю и другие аспекты жизни последующих поколений. Йи и Геракл – знаменитые герои, соответственно, древнекитайской и древнегреческой мифологии. Они являются воплощением мудрости и силы, для них характерны схожие экстраординарные достижения. Несмотря на то, что они различаются по индивидуальным качествам и внешнему виду, и поскольку все называют их героями, необходимо признать, что у них есть общая черта: их стойкий характер и героический дух. Им свойственны высокие идеалы, и сами они выдающиеся личности, служившие духовной опорой предков, носителями национального духа и культурных символов. На основе сравнения героических образов Йи и Геракла, используя метод литературного анализа и сравнительный метод, в статье исследуются общие исключительные черты различных героических образов, что полезно для наследования и распространения благородного героического духа, воспетого в мифах и легендах. Герои всегда являются представителями общества, а их прекрасные качества и характеристики, которые соответствуют своему времени или превосходят его, на самом деле являются воплощением общественного идеала, образцом для подражания. Изучение героических образов никогда не потеряет своей актуальности. Это уникальный ракурс для изучения сути явлений и особого культурного миропонимания.

Single‐stranded DNA (ssDNA) is an emerging nucleic acid tool with the potential to become a more efficient genetic delivery vector than traditional plasmids in prokaryotes. While conventional double‐stranded DNA (dsDNA) vectors are easily recognized and attacked by bacterial defense systems, ssDNA's structural differences make it resistant to corresponding enzymatic recognition. Moreover, the presence of unpaired bases in ssDNA enables efficient binding with other molecules, allowing for regulated gene expression and targeted delivery of other nucleic acids or molecules. In this study, we investigated the natural forms of ssDNA and summarized its synthesis and introduction methods. By analyzing existing applications of ssDNA in eukaryotes, we demonstrated the strategies and advantages of applying it to genetic manipulation in prokaryotes.

The lecture courses given by Augustin–Louis Cauchy, published in 1820 s, contributed decisively to the reputation of the cours d’analyse at the Ecole Polytechnique in history. However, as B. Belhoste has pointed out, the teaching of analysis during the initial 5 year period (1794–1799) of the school was pivotal for the development of analysis in the nineteenth century. Joseph Fourier taught analysis from 1795 to 1798 at this institution, a period that coincided with the delivery of lectures on a more advanced level by Joseph–Louis Lagrange on the same mathematical topic from 1795 to 1799. However, the courses taught by Fourier have been overlooked, either because they were not published as the courses by Lagrange and Cauchy at the Ecole Polytechnique were, or because they were considered to be of lesser importance, being viewed merely as sources for teaching. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the two unpublished manuscripts that document Fourier’s pedagogical contributions at the Ecole Polytechnique. These manuscripts, Ms. 1852 and Ms. 2044, offer a unique insight into Fourier’s approach to teaching analysis at the Ecole Polytechnique. Each manuscript comprises notes taken during or produced after the courses taught by Fourier in a specific period, which will be elucidated in a greater detail in the article. The manuscripts are studied as material objects in order to gain insight into the content and textual forms of the documents, which in turn shed light on the teaching and learning activities of analysis at the end of the eighteenth century. The study of these manuscripts highlights that the lecture notes, produced and preserved in manuscript form, offer a unique perspective that published textbooks do not provide. By examining and comparing the manuscripts, this paper establishes that Fourier in fact presented the differential calculus twice to two different classes of students and it also highlights the evolution from one to the other. Furthermore, I argue that Fourier’s pedagogical approach was instrumental in shaping his methodology of the differential calculus. In addition, I bring to light Fourier’s epistemological concerns in dealing with this subject. In his methodology of analysis, Fourier shared with Lagrange an affinity for epistemological values, including simplicity, clarity and rigour. In conclusion, I suggest that an epistemological/mathematical culture took shape in this context, which cannot be dissociated from the enterprise of rigorizing analysis undertaken by Lagrange, then Fourier and subsequently Cauchy at the Ecole Polytechnique.

As the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Covid-19 a pandemic on 11 March 2020 and called on governments' to activate and scale up [their] emergency response mechanisms' as well as to [f] ind, isolate, test and treat every case and trace every contact'(WHO 2020), governments around the world responded by tapping into digital technology to contain and limit the spread of the disease. One of the most prominent examples among these responses is Digital Contact Tracing Apps (DCTAs), that is, apps, services, and systems for contact tracing: identifying and notifying all those who come in contact with a [Covid-19] carrier'(O'Neill, T. Ryan-Mosley and B. Johnson 2020). DCTAs work by collecting and/or requesting–either involuntarily or voluntarily–various types of data through the users' smart devices and other relevant data sources, for example, location, travel histories, proximities, health status and so on, calculate their risk of being infectious and then instruct and/or enforce specific actions, for example,(self-) quarantine. ¹ DCTAs, however, have also generated numerous discussions about their social, ethical and legal implications; in particular, concerns have been raised about their efficacy, acceptability, voluntariness, transparency, accountability, security and impacts on privacy and autonomy (see, eg, Lucivero et al. 2020; Afroogh et al. 2022; Kahn 2020; Miller and Smith 2023), and these concerns may have contributed to the limited adoption rate of DCTAs (see Morley et al. 2020).

The development of open government data has attracted interest from academics and practitioners. However, only a few studies have examined a culture-based account of open government data development. This study empirically investigates the impact of national culture on open government data. Through the data investigation and analysis of 55 countries, this research finds that the development of open government data is positively linked with national culture with respect to individualism, indulgence and long-term orientation and is negatively related to power distance. Furthermore, this study shows that economic development moderates the relationship between national culture and open government data development, especially with respect to individualism and long-term orientation. Practically, the findings of this research can help policymakers better understand the multifaceted impacts of national culture on the development of open government data, including the promotion of cultural values (i.e. high individualism, high indulgence, and high long-term orientation) and the change in the passive and conservative attitude of citizens toward the openness of government data in countries where power distance culture is high.