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Background: Bereavement experience is shaped by cultural and social contexts. No systematically constructed reviews were identified to explore the bereavement experience for people who are influenced by Chinese culture valuing filial piety and mutual dependence. This review aimed to systematically review the bereavement experience of Taiwanese family members living in Taiwan following an expected death. Methods: MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, China Academic Journal Database, and Chinese Electronic Periodical Services were searched with no date restrictions from inception to 20 October 2022. The methodological rigour of studies was assessed using Hawker’s appraisal tool. A narrative synthesis approach using Popay’s work was employed to synthesise the findings of the studies. Studies investigating Taiwanese family members’ bereavement experiences were included. We excluded papers studying bereavement through the death of a child. Results: Searches retrieved 12,735 articles (after de-duplication), 17 of which met the inclusion criteria and were included for synthesis: English [9] and Chinese [8], published between 2006 and 2021. The studies varied in quality with scores ranging from 22 to 33 out of 36. The studies differed in the relationship between participants and the deceased, the bereaved time frames, and the definitions of bereavement. Most studies focussed on family members of cancer patients receiving specialist palliative care. Three bereavement theories and four tools were used. Risk factors of bereavement outcomes included family members feeling less prepared for death and deaths where palliative sedative therapy was used. Protective factors were higher caregiving burden and longer caregiving periods. Four themes regarding Taiwanese bereavement experience were generated: multiple impacts of death; problem-based coping strategies; importance of maintaining connections; influential religious beliefs and rituals. Conclusion: Continuing the relationship with the dec

This study aims to explore the change of intimate relationship between people with Alzheimer’s disease and their adult child caregivers as the disease progresses. Twelve adult child caregivers were recruited through purposive sampling. Explanatory phenomenological analysis was conducted to analyse data collected by semi-structured in-depth interviews. This study found a dynamically changing relationship between adult child caregivers and their parents with Alzheimer’s disease during care giving that evolved with the progress of the disease. The relationship was the most intimate in the middle stage of the disease for most caregivers and a new reciprocal relationship developed due to caregiving. Caregivers experienced different degrees of self-growth when providing care, though caregiver burdens were common. The positive experience and perception of caregivers were important for improving the quality of life for adult child caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease.

Renal proximal tubular cells are highly vulnerable to different types of assaults during filtration and reabsorption, leading to acute renal dysfunction and eventual chronic kidney diseases (CKD). The chemotherapeutic drug cisplatin elicits cytotoxicity causing renal tubular cell death, but its executing mechanisms of action are versatile and elusive. Here, we show that cisplatin induces renal tubular cell apoptosis and ferroptosis by disrupting glutathione (GSH) metabolism. Upon cisplatin treatment, GSH metabolism is impaired leading to GSH depletion as well as the execution of mitochondria-mediated apoptosis and lipid oxidation-related ferroptosis through activating IL6/JAK/STAT3 signaling. Inhibition of JAK/STAT3 signaling reversed cell apoptosis and ferroptosis in response to cisplatin induction. Using a cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury (CAKI) mouse model, we found that inhibition of JAK/STAT3 significantly mitigates cisplatin nephrotoxicity with a reduced level of serum BUN and creatinine as well as proximal tubular distortion. In addition, the GSH booster baicalein also reclaims cisplatin-induced renal tubular cell apoptosis and ferroptosis as well as the in vivo nephrotoxicity. In conclusion, cisplatin disrupts glutathione metabolism, leading to renal tubular cell apoptosis and ferroptosis. Rewiring glutathione metabolism represents a promising strategy for combating cisplatin nephrotoxicity.

Image dehazing is a typical task in the low-level vision field. Previous studies verified the effectiveness of the large convolutional kernel and attention mechanism in dehazing. However, there are two drawbacks: the multi-scale properties of an image are readily ignored when a large convolutional kernel is introduced, and the standard series connection of an attention module does not sufficiently consider an uneven hazy distribution. In this paper, we propose a novel framework named Mix Structure Image Dehazing Network (MixDehazeNet), which solves two issues mentioned above. Specifically, it mainly consists of two parts: the multi-scale parallel large convolution kernel module and the enhanced parallel attention module. Compared with a single large kernel, parallel large kernels with multi-scale are more capable of taking partial texture into account during the dehazing phase. In addition, an enhanced parallel attention module is developed, in which parallel connections of attention perform better at dehazing uneven hazy distribution. Extensive experiments on three benchmarks demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed methods. For example, compared with the previous state-of-the-art methods, MixDehazeNet achieves a significant improvement (42.62dB PSNR) on the SOTS indoor dataset. The code is released in https://github.com/AmeryXiong/MixDehazeNet.

Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the ability of machines or software to mimic or even surpass human intelligence in a given cognitive task. While humans learn by both induction and deduction, the success of current AI is rooted in induction, relying on its ability to detect statistical regularities in task input -- an ability learnt from a vast amount of training data using enormous computation resources. We examine the performance of such a statistical AI in a human task through the lens of four factors, including task learnability, statistical resource, computation resource, and learning techniques, and then propose a three-phase visual framework to understand the evolving relation between AI and jobs. Based on this conceptual framework, we develop a simple economic model of competition to show the existence of an inflection point for each occupation. Before AI performance crosses the inflection point, human workers always benefit from an improvement in AI performance, but after the inflection point, human workers become worse off whenever such an improvement occurs. To offer empirical evidence, we first argue that AI performance has passed the inflection point for the occupation of translation but not for the occupation of web development. We then study how the launch of ChatGPT, which led to significant improvement of AI performance on many tasks, has affected workers in these two occupations on a large online labor platform. Consistent with the inflection point conjecture, we find that translators are negatively affected by the shock both in terms of the number of accepted jobs and the earnings from those jobs, while web developers are positively affected by the very same shock. Given the potentially large disruption of AI on employment, more studies on more occupations using data from different platforms are urgently needed., Comment: 42 pages, 6 figures, 9 tables

This paper extends the Active Aging Index (AAI) to China to measure active aging among men and women over the age of 55. The strength of the AAI approach lies in its selection of a dashboard of multidimensional indicators of active aging, which are then aggregated into composite measures. The analysis used here considers the differences between men and women on 22 AAI indicators and their aggregations. China scores high on the first domain of the AAI (employment), is comparable with the EU countries on the second (participation in society), and scores lower on the third and fourth domains (independent and health living, and capacity and enabling environment). China has one of the largest gender gaps in active aging, especially in employment, but also in the domain of “Independent Living.” The comparison with EU countries points to a number of policy priorities and learnings, including the removal of disincentives to women working longer, namely differential mandatory and occupational retirement ages, and the introduction of measures to make workplaces more age and gender friendly.

Background: Recent studies report that hospital staff at the forefront of caring for COVID-19 patients experience increased psychological distress. To effectively manage the outbreak of COVID-19, China established COVID-19 designated and non-designated hospitals. To date, few studies have examined the impacts of COVID-19 on psychological health of staff working at non-designated hospitals. This study is to explore factors affecting psychological health of non-designated hospital staff in China during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Data were collected through an online questionnaire between February and March 2020. The questionnaire consists of General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-20), Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ), sociodemographic characteristics, employment history, health status, and contact history of COVID-19. The questionnaire was distributed through hospital WeChat groups and work colleague referrals. A total of 470 non-designated hospital staff members completed the questionnaire. Multiple Linear Regression analysis was used to interpret the associations among social support, coping styles, sociodemographic factors, job roles, and psychological status. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21.0. Results: The non-designated hospital staff differed significantly in anxiety and depression subscores of the GHQ-20 by their job roles, levels of social support, and history of mental disorders. Staff with medical job roles, good self-reported health status, no previous mental disorders, adequate social support, and positive coping styles scored lower in GHQ-20 total score, which indicated healthier psychological status. Conclusions: The results indicate that history of mental health disorders, non-medical job roles, and inadequate social support are associated with greater psychological distress. Personalized support should be provided to those who are vulnerable and in need of social and psychological support.

This paper extends the Active Aging Index (AAI) to China to measure active aging among men and women over the age of 55. The strength of the AAI approach lies in its selection of a dashboard of multidimensional indicators of active aging, which are then aggregated into composite measures. The analysis used here considers the differences between men and women on 22 AAI indicators and their aggregations. China scores high on the first domain of the AAI (employment), is comparable with the EU countries on the second (participation in society), and scores lower on the third and fourth domains (independent and health living, and capacity and enabling environment). China has one of the largest gender gaps in active aging, especially in employment, but also in the domain of “Independent Living.” The comparison with EU countries points to a number of policy priorities and learnings, including the removal of disincentives to women working longer, namely differential mandatory and occupational retirement ages, and the introduction of measures to make workplaces more age and gender friendly.

Background: Recent studies report that hospital staff at the forefront of caring for COVID-19 patients experience increased psychological distress. To effectively manage the outbreak of COVID-19, China established COVID-19 designated and non-designated hospitals. To date, few studies have examined the impacts of COVID-19 on psychological health of staff working at non-designated hospitals. This study is to explore factors affecting psychological health of non-designated hospital staff in China during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Data were collected through an online questionnaire between February and March 2020. The questionnaire consists of General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-20), Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ), sociodemographic characteristics, employment history, health status, and contact history of COVID-19. The questionnaire was distributed through hospital WeChat groups and work colleague referrals. A total of 470 non-designated hospital staff members completed the questionnaire. Multiple Linear Regression analysis was used to interpret the associations among social support, coping styles, sociodemographic factors, job roles, and psychological status. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21.0. Results: The non-designated hospital staff differed significantly in anxiety and depression subscores of the GHQ-20 by their job roles, levels of social support, and history of mental disorders. Staff with medical job roles, good self-reported health status, no previous mental disorders, adequate social support, and positive coping styles scored lower in GHQ-20 total score, which indicated healthier psychological status. Conclusions: The results indicate that history of mental health disorders, non-medical job roles, and inadequate social support are associated with greater psychological distress. Personalized support should be provided to those who are vulnerable and in need of social and psychological support.

As a promising energy-saving technique, the eco-friendly and low-cost solid-state white light-emitting diodes (WLEDs) based on quantum dots (QDs) have been widely studied. Herein, a WLED device prepared by core-shell structure nanocomposites based on Ag-In-S/ZnS@SiO2 quantum dots (AIS@SiO2) and carbon quantum dots (CDs) was successfully constructed. CDs were combined onto the surface of AIS@SiO2 QDs to synthesize Ag-In-S/ZnS@SiO2-Carbon quantum dots (AIS-CDs) nanocomposites with a white-light emission, which successfully overcome the quenching effect of CDs induced by conventional aggregation. The as-prepared AIS-CDs nanocomposites presented high stability and a photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of 35%. Moreover, the corresponding AIS-CDs nanocomposites-based WLEDs demonstrated the color coordinate of (0.32, 0.33), which is comparable to the pure white light (0.33, 0.33); furthermore, the luminous efficiency of the as-prepared WLEDs showed 15.1 lm W-1. These results reported herein may open up a new avenue for the development of high-performance, low-cost, and environmentally-friendly WLEDs.

This study was conducted to determine whether there is an association between cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption and self-reported health status among older persons and how sociodemographic and socio-economic factors mediate the association between these lifestyle behaviours and health in old age. Data from wave 7 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) were analysed using bivariate and logistic regression method. Self-reported health status was assessed as a binary variable; cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption as independent variables; and age, sex, marital status, education, employment as well as financial status were assessed as covariates. Smoking had a significant inverse association with reported health status and the odds of reporting good health status versus bad health status was 59% and 38% times less for former and current smokers respectively compared with those that never smoked. However, mild alcohol consumption seemed to have a significant positive association with health status, while a negative association existed between heavy alcohol consumption and health. Sociodemographic and economic factors did not appear to mediate the effects of smoking and alcohol consumption on health status. This study provided evidence that it is important to consider interventions on smoking and heavy alcohol drinking behaviours on good health status of older adults.

Aim: Given the paucity of data on the use of internet and quality of life (QoL), this literature review aimed to identify the motivations and barriers for internet use and the impact on QoL on older adults using the internet. Background: Even though older adults are increasingly using information technology, the numbers remain quite small globally. Currently published research primarily focuses on the various ways and methods of information technology use by older adults and the factors influencing use rather than on the impact of information technology on QoL of older adults. Methods: The studies included in this literature review were searched in three databases: WEB of Science, GoogleScholar and PubMed. English language articles were searched using the terms ‘older’, ‘elderly’, ‘senior’, ‘well-being’, ‘life satisfaction’, ‘quality of life’, ‘internet’ and “computer”. Findings: The review demonstrated the association of internet use on QoL in older adults. The majority of the studies substantiate the advantages of internet use by older adults including the ability to communicate with family and friends, maintain a wide social network, have access to information and participate in online leisure activities. There are some studies, though less in number, which did not find a relationship between well-being and use of internet by older adults. The policy implications of this review advocate a multidimensional strategy to support internet use by the older people incorporating internet training and education, financial issues, technical support and access needs to be developed.

In the year 2012, China had 177 urban agglomerations (referred to as high-density built-up areas, or “shiqu” in Chinese) with populations of over 750 thousand inhabitants. These 177 areas are the commonly known major “cities” of China. Of these cities, Chongqing had the largest population numbering almost 17.7 million inhabitants. Shanghai followed at almost 13.5 million, and then Beijing at almost 12.2 million. Of special interest in this chapter is the fact that even though Chongqing has more inhabitants than Shanghai which has more inhabitants than Beijing, we will show that Beijing is the most “dominant” of the cities in China and occupies the top place in the urban system. By comparison, the United States in the year of 2012 had 69 urban agglomerations (referred to in the U.S. as metropolitan statistical areas) with populations of 750 thousand or more. The New York-Northeastern New Jersey-Long Island area has the largest population at over 18.9 million, followed by Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana at over 12.8 million, and Chicago-Joliet-Naperville at almost 9.5 million. It turns out that these three largest metro areas in the U.S. are also the three most “dominant” of all the U.S. metro areas in the same order as the size of their populations. Our analysis will demonstrate that these giant cities usually rank at the top layer of the country’s urban system.

Aim: Given the paucity of data on the use of internet and quality of life (QoL), this literature review aimed to identify the motivations and barriers for internet use and the impact on QoL on older adults using the internet. Background: Even though older adults are increasingly using information technology, the numbers remain quite small globally. Currently published research primarily focuses on the various ways and methods of information technology use by older adults and the factors influencing use rather than on the impact of information technology on QoL of older adults. Methods: The studies included in this literature review were searched in three databases: WEB of Science, GoogleScholar and PubMed. English language articles were searched using the terms ‘older’, ‘elderly’, ‘senior’, ‘well-being’, ‘life satisfaction’, ‘quality of life’, ‘internet’ and “computer”. Findings: The review demonstrated the association of internet use on QoL in older adults. The majority of the studies substantiate the advantages of internet use by older adults including the ability to communicate with family and friends, maintain a wide social network, have access to information and participate in online leisure activities. There are some studies, though less in number, which did not find a relationship between well-being and use of internet by older adults. The policy implications of this review advocate a multidimensional strategy to support internet use by the older people incorporating internet training and education, financial issues, technical support and access needs to be developed.

In the year 2012, China had 177 urban agglomerations (referred to as high-density built-up areas, or “shiqu” in Chinese) with populations of over 750 thousand inhabitants. These 177 areas are the commonly known major “cities” of China. Of these cities, Chongqing had the largest population numbering almost 17.7 million inhabitants. Shanghai followed at almost 13.5 million, and then Beijing at almost 12.2 million. Of special interest in this chapter is the fact that even though Chongqing has more inhabitants than Shanghai which has more inhabitants than Beijing, we will show that Beijing is the most “dominant” of the cities in China and occupies the top place in the urban system. By comparison, the United States in the year of 2012 had 69 urban agglomerations (referred to in the U.S. as metropolitan statistical areas) with populations of 750 thousand or more. The New York-Northeastern New Jersey-Long Island area has the largest population at over 18.9 million, followed by Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana at over 12.8 million, and Chicago-Joliet-Naperville at almost 9.5 million. It turns out that these three largest metro areas in the U.S. are also the three most “dominant” of all the U.S. metro areas in the same order as the size of their populations. Our analysis will demonstrate that these giant cities usually rank at the top layer of the country’s urban system.

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia, affecting millions of older people worldwide. However, pharmacological therapies have not achieved desirable clinical efficacy in the past decades. Non-pharmacological therapies have been receiving increased attention to treat dementia in recent years. OBJECTIVE: This study explores the effects of music therapy on cognitive function and mental wellbeing of patients with AD. METHODS: A total number of 298 AD patients with mild, moderate, or severe dementia participated in the study. The participants with each grade of severity were randomly divided into three groups, which were a singing group, a lyric reading group, and a control group. These three groups received different interventions for three months. All participants underwent a series of tests on cognitive functions, neuropsychological symptoms, and activities of daily living at baseline, three months, and six months. RESULTS: The analysis shows that music therapy is more effective for improving verbal fluency and for alleviating the psychiatric symptoms and caregiver distress than lyrics reading in patients with AD. Stratified analysis shows that music therapy is effective for enhancing memory and language ability in patients with mild AD and reducing the psychiatric symptoms and caregiver distress in patients with moderate or severe AD. However, no significant effect was found for activities of daily living in patients with mild, moderate, or severe AD. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that music therapy is effective in enhancing cognitive function and mental wellbeing and can be recommended as an alternative approach to manage AD associated symptoms.

Introduction Many studies suggest that Tai Chi exercise is a safe and appropriate mind-body exercise for older people and effectively slows down age-related cognitive decline. A set of bespoke Tai Chi exercise named ‘Cognition Protecting Tai Chi’ (CPT) has been created for older people with cognitive impairments by the research team of geriatricians, neurologists, rehabilitation specialists, experts of sports medicine and experienced practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine. This trial is designed to evaluate its effects on cognitive function, behaviour/moods, risk of falls and activities of daily living of the participants with mild dementia. Methods and analysis A randomised controlled study will be conducted. Eighty participants with mild dementia will be recruited and randomly allocated to an intervention group and a control group. The intervention group will practice the CPT exercise three times a week for 20 min each time under the guidance of professional therapists. The control group will continue receiving their routine treatments. The duration of this study will be 10 months. All participants will be assessed with a battery of neuropsychological and functional evaluations, which include Mini Mental State Examination, Montreal Cognitive Assessment, the WHO-University of California Los Angeles-Auditory Verbal Learning test (WHO-UCLA-AVLT), Trail Making Test (TMT), Geriatric Depression Scale, Neuropsychological Inventory and Barthel Index, at the baseline, 5 and 10 months during the study period. Fall incident will also be recorded. The primary outcome will be the WHO-UCLA-AVLT delayed recall score. The secondary outcome will be the TMT score. Ethics and dissemination This study has been approved by the ethical review committee of the Beijing Geriatric Hospital (protocol number: 2015–021). Informed consent will be obtained from all participants or their guardians. The authors intend to submit the findings of the study to peer-reviewed journals o

In this chapter, the AAI for China is calculated by using the 2011--2012 data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Its findings reveal the unrealized potential of Chinese older population comparing to countries in the European Union (EU). It is argued that social policies should aim at enabling older people to maintain quality of life and contribute to the family, the economy and society. What can be safely recommended includes: (1) flexible retirement plans for older population to voluntarily participate in labour market; (2) an efficient community based old-age care system and lifelong learning system to enable the older population to enjoy active, independent, secured and healthy life.

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia, affecting millions of older people worldwide. However, pharmacological therapies have not achieved desirable clinical efficacy in the past decades. Non-pharmacological therapies have been receiving increased attention to treat dementia in recent years. OBJECTIVE: This study explores the effects of music therapy on cognitive function and mental wellbeing of patients with AD. METHODS: A total number of 298 AD patients with mild, moderate, or severe dementia participated in the study. The participants with each grade of severity were randomly divided into three groups, which were a singing group, a lyric reading group, and a control group. These three groups received different interventions for three months. All participants underwent a series of tests on cognitive functions, neuropsychological symptoms, and activities of daily living at baseline, three months, and six months. RESULTS: The analysis shows that music therapy is more effective for improving verbal fluency and for alleviating the psychiatric symptoms and caregiver distress than lyrics reading in patients with AD. Stratified analysis shows that music therapy is effective for enhancing memory and language ability in patients with mild AD and reducing the psychiatric symptoms and caregiver distress in patients with moderate or severe AD. However, no significant effect was found for activities of daily living in patients with mild, moderate, or severe AD. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that music therapy is effective in enhancing cognitive function and mental wellbeing and can be recommended as an alternative approach to manage AD associated symptoms.

Introduction Many studies suggest that Tai Chi exercise is a safe and appropriate mind-body exercise for older people and effectively slows down age-related cognitive decline. A set of bespoke Tai Chi exercise named ‘Cognition Protecting Tai Chi’ (CPT) has been created for older people with cognitive impairments by the research team of geriatricians, neurologists, rehabilitation specialists, experts of sports medicine and experienced practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine. This trial is designed to evaluate its effects on cognitive function, behaviour/moods, risk of falls and activities of daily living of the participants with mild dementia. Methods and analysis A randomised controlled study will be conducted. Eighty participants with mild dementia will be recruited and randomly allocated to an intervention group and a control group. The intervention group will practice the CPT exercise three times a week for 20 min each time under the guidance of professional therapists. The control group will continue receiving their routine treatments. The duration of this study will be 10 months. All participants will be assessed with a battery of neuropsychological and functional evaluations, which include Mini Mental State Examination, Montreal Cognitive Assessment, the WHO-University of California Los Angeles-Auditory Verbal Learning test (WHO-UCLA-AVLT), Trail Making Test (TMT), Geriatric Depression Scale, Neuropsychological Inventory and Barthel Index, at the baseline, 5 and 10 months during the study period. Fall incident will also be recorded. The primary outcome will be the WHO-UCLA-AVLT delayed recall score. The secondary outcome will be the TMT score. Ethics and dissemination This study has been approved by the ethical review committee of the Beijing Geriatric Hospital (protocol number: 2015–021). Informed consent will be obtained from all participants or their guardians. The authors intend to submit the findings of the study to peer-reviewed journals o

In this chapter, the AAI for China is calculated by using the 2011--2012 data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Its findings reveal the unrealized potential of Chinese older population comparing to countries in the European Union (EU). It is argued that social policies should aim at enabling older people to maintain quality of life and contribute to the family, the economy and society. What can be safely recommended includes: (1) flexible retirement plans for older population to voluntarily participate in labour market; (2) an efficient community based old-age care system and lifelong learning system to enable the older population to enjoy active, independent, secured and healthy life.

Residential segregation is a major area of research in demography. Most prior investigations have focused on the segregation of racial/ethnic minorities from the majority white group in cities and metropolitan areas of the United States and several other countries. Few analyses have dealt with the spatial segregation of sexual minorities from the majority. In this paper, we analyze the residential segregation of gay male and lesbian households from heterosexual married and heterosexual cohabiting households. We use two dissimilarity measures of residential segregation and draw on data from the American Community Surveys for 2008 through 2012 to compute segregation scores for the 100 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with the largest gay male and lesbian populations around the year 2010. We show that there is a sizable amount of homosexual-heterosexual residential segregation and that it appears to be a different phenomenon from racial and ethnic residential segregation. We also show that gay male households are more segregated from different-sex partnered households than are lesbian households, and that levels of segregation vary positively across the MSAs with the size of the gay male and lesbian populations.

Residential segregation is a major area of research in demography. Most prior investigations have focused on the segregation of racial/ethnic minorities from the majority white group in cities and metropolitan areas of the United States and several other countries. Few analyses have dealt with the spatial segregation of sexual minorities from the majority. In this paper, we analyze the residential segregation of gay male and lesbian households from heterosexual married and heterosexual cohabiting households. We use two dissimilarity measures of residential segregation and draw on data from the American Community Surveys for 2008 through 2012 to compute segregation scores for the 100 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with the largest gay male and lesbian populations around the year 2010. We show that there is a sizable amount of homosexual-heterosexual residential segregation and that it appears to be a different phenomenon from racial and ethnic residential segregation. We also show that gay male households are more segregated from different-sex partnered households than are lesbian households, and that levels of segregation vary positively across the MSAs with the size of the gay male and lesbian populations.

Motivated by the conjectured existence of trends in the intensity of tropical storms, this paper proposes new inferential methodology to detect a trend in the annual pattern of environmental data. The new methodology can be applied to data which can be represented as annual curves which evolve from year to year. Other examples include annual temperature or log–precipitation curves at specific locations. Within a framework of a functional regression model, we derive two tests of significance of the slope function, which can be viewed as the slope coefficient in the regression of the annual curves on year. One of the tests relies on a Monte Carlo distribution to compute the critical values, the other is pivotal with the chi– square limit distribution. Full asymptotic justification of both tests is provided. Their finite sample properties are investigated by a simulation study. Applied to tropical storm data, these tests show that there is a significant trend in the shape of the annual pattern of upper wind speed levels of hurricanes.

According to data from the 2010 Census of the People’s Republic of China, China’s 55 minority nationalities numbered over 111 million people, comprising almost 8.4 % of China’s total population. By comparison, in 2010 the minority populations of the United States comprised 36.3 % of the country’s population, numbering just under 112 million people. Thus there are about as many minorities in China as there are in the United States, even though China’s percentage share is one-fifth that of the United States. If the minorities of China were a single country, it would be the 12th most populous in the world, outnumbered only by India, the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Russia, Japan, Mexico, and the Han population of China. Much of the research on Chinese minority populations conducted by Chinese and non-Chinese scholars pertains to specific minority groups and often tends to be more ethnodemographic than quantitative. These studies provide us with detailed social histories of specific minority groups and classifications according to their predominant forms of sustenance organization, marriage norms and patterns, religious and cultural orientations, and linguistic practices. This chapter examines the demographic and socioeconomic composition of China’s 55 minority populations. Using data from China’s 2010 census, we have developed characteristics variables for each of these groups dealing with age, dependency, fertility, education and literacy, occupation, residential segregation, and geographic differentiation. After a brief review of the history of Han-minority relations, we discuss and describe the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the minorities. Also, since around one-fifth of China’s minorities are Muslim, we present at the end of our chapter a brief discussion of the Muslims of China.

According to data from the 2010 Census of the People’s Republic of China, China’s 55 minority nationalities numbered over 111 million people, comprising almost 8.4 % of China’s total population. By comparison, in 2010 the minority populations of the United States comprised 36.3 % of the country’s population, numbering just under 112 million people. Thus there are about as many minorities in China as there are in the United States, even though China’s percentage share is one-fifth that of the United States. If the minorities of China were a single country, it would be the 12th most populous in the world, outnumbered only by India, the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Russia, Japan, Mexico, and the Han population of China. Much of the research on Chinese minority populations conducted by Chinese and non-Chinese scholars pertains to specific minority groups and often tends to be more ethnodemographic than quantitative. These studies provide us with detailed social histories of specific minority groups and classifications according to their predominant forms of sustenance organization, marriage norms and patterns, religious and cultural orientations, and linguistic practices. This chapter examines the demographic and socioeconomic composition of China’s 55 minority populations. Using data from China’s 2010 census, we have developed characteristics variables for each of these groups dealing with age, dependency, fertility, education and literacy, occupation, residential segregation, and geographic differentiation. After a brief review of the history of Han-minority relations, we discuss and describe the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the minorities. Also, since around one-fifth of China’s minorities are Muslim, we present at the end of our chapter a brief discussion of the Muslims of China.

Motivated by the conjectured existence of trends in the intensity of tropical storms, this paper proposes new inferential methodology to detect a trend in the annual pattern of environmental data. The new methodology can be applied to data which can be represented as annual curves which evolve from year to year. Other examples include annual temperature or log–precipitation curves at specific locations. Within a framework of a functional regression model, we derive two tests of significance of the slope function, which can be viewed as the slope coefficient in the regression of the annual curves on year. One of the tests relies on a Monte Carlo distribution to compute the critical values, the other is pivotal with the chi– square limit distribution. Full asymptotic justification of both tests is provided. Their finite sample properties are investigated by a simulation study. Applied to tropical storm data, these tests show that there is a significant trend in the shape of the annual pattern of upper wind speed levels of hurricanes.

Motivated by the conjectured existence of trends in the intensity of tropical storms, this paper proposes new inferential methodology to detect a trend in the annual pattern of environmental data. The new methodology can be applied to data which can be represented as annual curves which evolve from year to year. Other examples include annual temperature or log–precipitation curves at specific locations. Within a framework of a functional regression model, we derive two tests of significance of the slope function, which can be viewed as the slope coefficient in the regression of the annual curves on year. One of the tests relies on a Monte Carlo distribution to compute the critical values, the other is pivotal with the chi– square limit distribution. Full asymptotic justification of both tests is provided. Their finite sample properties are investigated by a simulation study. Applied to tropical storm data, these tests show that there is a significant trend in the shape of the annual pattern of upper wind speed levels of hurricanes.

In 2010, the population of China totalled 1.33 billion people, of which an overwhelming majority (91.6 % of the total) were members of the Han nationality. The remaining 112 million (almost 8.4 %) were members of one of China’s 55 minority nationalities. The authors examine the demographic and socioeconomic structure of China’s minority populations, focusing in particular on the 18 groups with populations of over 1 million. The chapter begins with a brief review of the history of relations between the Han and the non-Han minorities. It next presents vignettes for the largest 18 groups and analyses their socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, and the differences between them and the Han population. It concludes by spelling out some of the implications of our research for assimilationist theories of ethnic group relations.

In 2010, the population of China totalled 1.33 billion people, of which an overwhelming majority (91.6 % of the total) were members of the Han nationality. The remaining 112 million (almost 8.4 %) were members of one of China’s 55 minority nationalities. The authors examine the demographic and socioeconomic structure of China’s minority populations, focusing in particular on the 18 groups with populations of over 1 million. The chapter begins with a brief review of the history of relations between the Han and the non-Han minorities. It next presents vignettes for the largest 18 groups and analyses their socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, and the differences between them and the Han population. It concludes by spelling out some of the implications of our research for assimilationist theories of ethnic group relations.