Zhuo Chen

Previous research indicates that spirituality expressed in tradition-specific terms may initiate, invigorate, and integrate Muslim religious commitments, suggesting a 3-I Model of Religious Spirituality. In a test of this model, Islamic seminarians, university students, and office workers in Iran ( N = 604) responded to Muslim Experiential Religiousness (MER), Religious Orientation, and mental health scales. The tradition- specific spirituality of MER displayed correlation, moderation, and mediation results with Intrinsic and Extrinsic Personal Religious Orientations that pointed toward initiation, invigoration, and integration effects, respectively. MER also clarified the ambiguous implications of the Extrinsic Social Religious Orientation. These data most generally confirmed the heuristic potential of the 3-I Model.

With Religious Schema Scales in the West, Truth of Texts and Teachings correlates negatively with the commitment to interreligious dialogue recorded by Xenosophia. This measure of fundamentalism also predicts problematic religious and psychosocial functioning. The present project examined Religious Schema Scales in university students and Islamic seminarians in the Muslim cultural context of Iran. Truth of Texts and Teachings correlated positively rather than negatively with Xenosophia and predicted religious and psychological adjustment. The adaptive implications of Truth of Texts and Teachings were especially evident in Islamic seminarians. These results supplemented previous Religious Schema data from India and Malaysia in suggesting that fundamentalism may have more positive implications outside the West. Cross-cultural differences in fundamentalism more generally support arguments of an Ideological Surround Model that the incommensurability of religious and other social rationalities requires careful research attention.

Religious Reflection Scales yield cross-cultural data suggesting that religious traditions have potentials to integrate intellect with faith. This investigation extended analysis of that possibility to Sunni Muslim university students in Malaysia ( N = 211) and also examined the hypothesis that Islamic commitments to knowledge ( Ilm) promote religious openness. Faith and Intellect Oriented Religious Reflection correlated positively and predicted openness. The Truth of Texts and Teachings factor from the Religious Schema Scales essentially assesses a form of fundamentalism and displayed direct linkages with religious openness as well. Ilm factors from the Ummatic Personality Inventory correlated positively with religious openness and mediated associations of Islamic Religious Reflection with other constructs. Quest as a presumed index of religious openness proved to be incompatible with sincere Muslim commitments. These findings supplemented previous Muslim, Christian, and Hindu data in confirming the potential openness of religious traditions.

This investigation examined Pakistani Muslim understandings of the animal sacrifice that occurs during Eid-ul-Adha at the end of the Hajj. Pakistani university students ( N = 156) responded to a number of items expressing possible interpretations of this ritual. A Faithful Sacrifice factor operationalized sincere religious reasons for the sacrifice and correlated positively with an Intrinsic Religious Orientation and with Muslim Experiential Religiousness. Extrinsic and Troublesome Sacrifice factors recorded nonreligious implications of the practice and displayed direct associations with the Extrinsic Social Religious Orientation and inverse linkages with Muslim Experiential Religiousness. Extrinsic Sacrifice also correlated negatively with the Intrinsic Orientation. These results further documented the complexity of Muslim beliefs and practices and once again illustrated how a dialectic between tradition-specific and more general social scientific perspectives can promote progress in the psychology of religion.

The Religious Openness Hypothesis argues that traditional religions have resources for integrating intellect with faith. In a test of this hypothesis, Hindu graduate students in India ( N = 320) responded to Hindu religious reflection, attitudes toward Hinduism, religious schema, religious orientation, and psychological openness scales. Faith and intellect oriented religious reflection correlated positively with each other and with the all three religious schemas, which also correlated directly. Linkages with attitudes toward Hinduism and intrinsic and extrinsic personal religious orientations documented the compatibility of religious reflection and schema with Hindu commitments. Associations with greater openness to experience and need for cognition confirmed their psychological openness as well. Interactions between attitudes toward Hinduism and the intrinsic orientation suggested that Hinduism had more positive influences in those who were more sincerely religious. These data from India most importantly supported the Religious Openness Hypothesis.

This investigation analyzed Islamic spirituality as measured by a Muslim Experiential Religiousness Scale. Iranian university and seminary students (N = 351) responded to this instrument along with the Psychological Measure of Islamic Religiousness (PMIR) and Perceived Stress and Self-Esteem scales. Muslim Experiential Religiousness correlated predictably with all PMIR sub-scales, Perceived Stress, and Self-Esteem, and mediated almost all relationships of the PMIR Islamic Beliefs subscale with religious functioning. When evaluated by participants, Muslim Experiential Religiousness items proved to be “rational” relative to their Muslim religious ideals. Women in an Islamic seminary scored higher on Muslim Experiential Religiousness than Islamic women in a more general university, and Muslim Experiential Religiousness also mediated the many other religious differences observed between these two student groups. These data most importantly identified the Muslim Experiential Religiousness Scale as a useful instrument for testing hypotheses about the dynamics of Muslim spirituality.

Research suggests that religious beliefs may both help and hinder how Muslims cope. In a Pakistani sample, the Positive Islamic Coping, Islamic Identity, and Extra-Prayer Commitment factors from the Psychological Measure of Islamic Religiousness correlated negatively with Perceived Stress and positively with Mental Well-Being, Intrinsic Religious Orientation, and Extrinsic Personal Religious Orientation. Islamic Identity also partially mediated the negative relationship of Perceived Stress with Mental Well-Being. A Punishing Allah Reappraisal factor failed to display any evidence that it operationalized a maladaptive form of Muslim coping. These data most importantly confirmed the positive coping potentials of Muslim commitments, with Islamic Identity being especially noteworthy.

The lack of a standardized reliable and valid instrument makes it difficult to measure attitudes toward lesbian women and gay men consistently and thus poses a challenge to compare and contrast intervention measures. This study aimed to validate Herek’s ATLG scale among undergraduates in mainland China and identify factors associated with negative attitudes toward LG. A total of 6,036 eligible undergraduates conveniently drawn from 30 provinces across mainland China were randomly split in half. Item analysis was first used to select unrelated or redundant items for deletion. Exploratory factor analysis were then conducted on the first half of the sample, followed by confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis in the second half. Logistic regression analyses were finally carried out to identify their determinants. Six items were removed from the item analysis. EFA supported the existence of two factors. CFA results indicated that the two-factor model fit the data better than the one-factor model. Logistic regression analyses indicated that being female, majoring in non-health-related disciplines, attributing homosexuality to uncontrollable causes, non-adherence to traditional gender norms and exposure to homosexual content were significantly associated with less negative attitudes toward both L and G. Urban students were marginally less likely to express negative attitudes toward L but not G, while non-heterosexuals and those who had prior personal contact with homosexuals exhibited less negative attitudes toward G but not L. However, grade showed no significant associations with either ATL or ATG. The retained 14-item version of Herek’s ATLG scale has been proven to be a reliable and valid tool. Furthermore, ATL and ATG were determined by different factors and thus would be treated separately. In order to reduce negative attitudes toward LG among undergraduates in mainland China, a comprehensive intervention plan such as conducting comprehensive sex education and pushing the process of legalizing same-sex marriage should be designed, implemented and evaluated.

Purpose: To assess noninvasive optical coherence tomography and optical Doppler tomography for early detection and evaluation of chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis. Experimental Design: Cheek pouches of 10 Syrian golden hamsters were imaged using OCT/ODT during development of chemotherapy-induced mucositis. I.p. injections of 5-fluorouracil and mechanical irritation induced oral lesions. At 2, 4, 7, and 11 days, one hamster was sacrificed and processed for histopathology. OCT images were visually examined; ODT results were semiquantified. Imaging data were compared with histologic findings. Results: During the development of mucositis, OCT/ODT identified the following events: change in epithelial thickness, loss of surface keratinized layer continuity, loss of epithelial and submucosal integrity, changes in axial blood flow velocity, and changes in blood vessel size. The semiquantitative imaging-based scoring system identified the severity of mucositis as defined by histopathology. The combination of imaging criteria used allowed for the detection of early, intermediate, and late mucositic changes. Imaging data gave higher scores compared with clinical scores early on, suggesting that the imaging-based diagnostic scoring was more sensitive to early mucositic change than the clinical scoring system. Once mucositis was established, imaging and clinical scores converged. Conclusion: OCT/ODT identified chemotherapy-induced oral changes before their clinical manifestation, and the proposed scoring system for oral mucositis was validated for the semiquantification of mucositic change. © 2007 American Association for Cancer Research.

A total of 25 Chinese patients aged 6 to 36 months hospitalised at Beijing Children's Hospital due to melamine-induced kidney stones complicated by acute obstructive renal failure in 2008 were included in a study in order to diagnose and treat these special cases more effectively. Feeding history, clinical presentation, ultrasound findings, treatments and effects were summarised. Twelve to seventeen months follow-up was reported also. Ultrasound examination showed that calculi were located at the kidney and ureters. Stones were composed of both uric acid and melamine in a molar ratio of 1.2:1 to 2.1:1. Treatments providing liquid plus alkalisation of urine proved to be effective in helping the patients pass the stones. Surgical intervention was needed in severe cases. Renal function returned to normal in all 25 patients after various durations of therapy. Sixty-eight percent of the patients expelled all of the calculi within 3 months, 90% in 6 months and 95% in 9 months, without sequelae till now. Melamine-contaminated milk formula can cause kidney stones in infants, which should be diagnosed by feeding history, clinical symptoms and ultrasound examination. Composition of the stones was not only of melamine but also uric acid. Providing liquid orally or intravenously plus alkalisation of urine proved to promote the removal of the stones. Follow-up of 12 to 17 months after discharge showed no sequelae.

Digital technological innovation is reshaping the pattern of industrial development. Due to the shortage of digital talents and the frequent mobility of these people, the competition for talents will be very fierce for organizations to realize digital transformation. The digitization transformation of China’s service industry is far ahead of that of industry and agriculture. It is of great significance to study the organizational management and talent management of service enterprises to reduce the negative impact of insufficient talent reserve and meet the needs of digital development. Based on 378 valid questionnaires from China’s service industry, this paper applied polynomial regression and a response surface model to analyze the impact of two kinds of person-environment fit on work engagement and individual creativity. The results show that: under the combination of high morality and high talent, work engagement and individual creativity are the highest; individual creativity is stronger under the condition of high morality and low talent than under low morality and high talent; and work engagement mediates the influence of morality and talent on individual creativity. The research reveals the internal mechanism by which morality and talent cooperatively promote individual creativity, which provides theoretical guidance for management practice of service firms to improve individual creativity in the process of digital transformation.

Research on deconversion can largely be seen as a mirror image of research on conversion. While the latter focuses upon gradual or sudden acceptance of a religion, the former focuses upon the abandonment of a religion which also may be sudden or gradual. To define either religion or atheism simply in terms of belief is what has been termed the objectivist fallacy. Atheism like religion is a multidimensional construct. Empirical studies document that belief is only one factor in accepting or rejecting religion. Participation in religion as well as deconverting from religion is seldom simply a cognitive matter. Atheistically motivate deconversion may be sudden or gradual and motivated by emotional or positive factors that may involve various reasons for rejecting specific religious beliefs, including the existence of God.

© The Author 2017.The observation of replica bands in single-unit-cell FeSe on SrTiO3 by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy has led to the conjecture that the coupling between FeSe electrons and the STO phonons are responsible for the enhancement of T c over other FeSe-based superconductors. However the recent observation of a similar superconducting gap in single-unit-cell FeSe/STO raised the question of whether a similar mechanism applies. Here we report the ARPES study of the electronic structure of FeSe/STO. Similar to the results in FeSe/STO, clear replica bands are observed. We also present a comparative study of STO and STO bare surfaces, and observe similar replica bands separated by approximately the same energy, indicating this coupling is a generic feature of the STO surfaces and interfaces. Our findings suggest that the large superconducting gaps observed in FeSe films grown on different STO surface terminations are likely enhanced by a common mechanism.

Background: Optical Doppler tomography combines laser Doppler flowmetry with optical coherence tomography to obtain high-resolution images of blood flow in human skin in situ and in real time. Observations: We present a case in which ODT was used on a patient with a port-wine stain birth-mark to document the change of blood flow in response to laser therapy. It might be possible to use ODT blood flow measurements in situ to assist in assessing the efficacy of laser PWS therapy. If partial restoration of flow occurs immediately or shortly after laser exposure, indicative of reperfusion due to inadequate blood vessel injury, the PWS can be retreated using higher light dosages. Retreatment is continued until the measured Doppler shift is zero due to a permanent reduction in blood flow, indicative of irreversible microthrombus formation in the PWS vessels. Conclusions: We have demonstrated that ODT may be used for noninvasive imaging of blood vessels in PWS skin. Moreover, ODT will potentially allow laser therapy to be optimized on an individual patient basis by providing a fast, semiquantitative evaluation of the efficacy of PWS laser therapy in situ and in real time.

Background: In vivo, non-invasive optical coherence tomography permits high-resolution imaging of tissue surfaces and subsurfaces, with the potential capability for detection and mapping of epithelial pathologies. Purpose: To evaluate the clinical capability of non-invasive in vivo OCT for diagnosing oral dysplasia and malignancy. Experimental Design: In 50 patients with oral lesions, conventional clinical examination was followed by OCT imaging, then standard biopsy and histopathology. Two blinded, pre-standardized investigators separately diagnosed each lesion based on OCT and histopathology. Results: Intra- and inter-observer agreement between diagnoses based on histopathology and imaging data was excellent, with λ values between 0.844 and 0.896. Sensitivity and specificity were also very good. Conclusions: These data demonstrate the excellent capability of in vivo OCT for detecting and diagnosing oral premalignancy and malignancy in human subjects. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Hamster cheek pouches were exposed to 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide [CEES, half-mustard gas ] at a concentration of 0.4, 2.0, or 5.0 mg/ml for 1 or 5 min. Twenty-four hours post-HMG exposure, tissue damage was assessed by both stereomicrography and optical coherence tomography. Damage that was not visible on gross visual examination was apparent in the OCT images. Tissue changes were found to be dependent on both HMG concentration and exposure time. The submucosal and muscle layers of the cheek pouch tissue showed the greatest amount of structural alteration. Routine light microscope histology was performed to confirm the OCT observations. © 2010 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

Contrast in optical coherence tomography images can be enhanced by utilizing surface plasmon resonant gold nanoparticles. To improve the poor in vivo transport of gold nanoparticles through biological barriers, an efficient delivery strategy is needed. In this study, the improved penetration and distribution of gold nanoparticles were achieved by microneedle and ultrasound, respectively, and it was demonstrated that this multimodal delivery of antibody-conjugated PEGylated gold nanoparticles enhanced the contrast in in vivo OCT images of oral dysplasia in a hamster model. © 2009 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

Early detection of cancer and its precursors remains the best way to ensure patient survival and quality of life. Our specific aim is to test a multimodality approach to noninvasive diagnostics of oral premalignancy and malignancy. In the hamster cheek pouch model, in vivo optical coherence tomography and optical Doppler tomography map epithelial, subepithelial, and vascular change throughout carcinogenesis. In vivo multiwavelength multiphoton and second-harmonic generated fluorescence techniques provided parallel data on surface and subsurface tissue structure, specifically collagen presence and structure, cellular presence, and vasculature. Images are diagnosed by two blinded, prestandardized investigators using a scale from 0 to 6 for all modalities. After sacrifice, histopathology is evaluated on a scale of 0 to 6. Imaging data are reproducibly obtained with good accuracy. Carcinogenesis-related structural and vascular changes are clearly visible to tissue depths of 2 mm. Sensitivity and specificity compare well with conventional techniques. Our conclusions are that OCT/ODT and MPM/SHG are promising noninvasive in vivo diagnostic modalities for oral dysplasia and malignancy. © 2005 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

Optical coherence tomography is a catheter-based imaging technology with powerful resolution capable of identifying vulnerable plaques and guiding coronary intervention. However, a significant limitation of intravascular OCT imaging is its attenuation by blood. We propose that the use of an oxygen-carrying blood substitute could potentially optimize OCT image quality. Surgical isolation of the descending thoracic aorta of six rabbits is performed, followed by intravascular OCT imaging of the abdominal aorta. Perfluorodecalin is oxygenated using a bubble-through technique with 100% oxygen. OCT imaging is performed and compared using three different flushing modalities: PFD; saline; and blood. OCT imaging of the rabbit abdominal aorta is successful in all of the subjects. In each of the six studied subjects, flushing with PFD consistently provides dramatically better imaging of the vessel wall tissue structures. OCT image quality is highly dependent on the ability of the flushing modality to remove blood from the imaging field. From this proof-of-concept study, we demonstrate that endovascular flushing with an oxygen-carrying blood substitute is optically superior to saline flushing for intravascular imaging. © 2009 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

We describe an algorithm based on shrinkage in the curvelet domain to attenuate speckles in optical coherence tomography images. The algorithm exploits the curvelet transform's sparse representation of edge discontinuities that are common in OCT images and its ability to map signals and noise into different areas in the curvelet domain. The speckle attenuation is controlled by a single parameter that determines the threshold in the curvelet domain. Applying the algorithm to OCT images shows significant improvement of image quality. © 2009 Optical Society of America.

The structural origin of scattering contrast from single cells is examined by using a combined optical coherence and multiphoton microscope based on a 12 fs Ti:sapphire source and a 0.95 NA objective. High-resolution coherence-gated scattering images from single cells are coregistered and compared with two-photon-excited fluorescence images. Scattering contrast is observed from mitochondria, plasma membrane, actin filaments, and the boundary between cytoplasm and nucleus. There is little contribution to scattering from regions inside the nuclear core. These results confirm that light scattering signals from specific subcellular structures can be visualized by using coherent reflectance geometry. © 2007 Optical Society of America.

Research has shown that people sometimes report self-perceived growth as a result of dealing with a potentially traumatic event, but relatively few methodologically rigorous studies have examined whether perceived posttraumatic growth is associated with improved subsequent well-being across a wide range of outcomes. In this three-wave longitudinal study of Colombian emerging adults, we examined the associations of perceived posttraumatic growth with 17 well-being outcomes across domains of psychological well-being, psychological distress, social well-being, physical well-being, and character strengths. Using an outcome-wide analytic design that adjusted for a range of covariates assessed in Wave 1, we found that overall perceived posttraumatic growth assessed in Wave 2 was robustly associated with improvements in one or more facet of each well-being domain assessed approximately six months later in Wave 3. Our findings suggest that perceived posttraumatic growth may contribute to individual well-being over the longer-term.

This article aims to answer the question that whether higher education would lead to happier life in China and tries to provide some explanations from the perspective of housing asset. Using data from four waves of China Household Finance Survey, we find that higher education on average is significantly negatively correlated with people's happiness in urban China. Higher education tends to prevent people from achieving “extremely happy” lives; instead, it is more likely to lead to “acceptable” lives. Based on the realities of housing market in urban China, we find that housing asset plays the mediating role in the relationship between higher education and happiness. Specifically, years of schooling could evidently compress the years of being homeowners; as a result, highly educated people generally have more unpaid housing debts and bear more housing purchase costs due to the soaring housing prices. Meanwhile, higher education has negative effect on people's happiness in cities with relatively high housing prices, while this effect is insignificant in cities with relatively low housing prices. Moreover, the market-oriented housing reform that launched in 1998 has negative impact on highly educated people's happiness, since it has dramatically boosted housing prices and essentially changed housing distribution system for urban employees. Besides, we also find that Ph.D graduates are the relatively unhappiest people compared to bachelors or masters. Obviously, our findings have important policy implications for Chinese government to understand and resolve the “education-happiness paradox.”