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Many Western studies have indicated that older women are generally more vulnerable in terms of mobility compared to older men, particularly regarding driving. However, the situation may differ in the context of China. This study, based on activity diaries and semi-structured interviews, focuses on the spatiotemporal behavior of older adults in Tianjin and explores how the constraints posed by activity companions (in terms of type, size, and composition) shape the mobilities of older men and women, including activity locations, travel distances, and transportation modes. The key findings are as follows: First, older women are more engaged with their families due to a higher percentage and longer duration of activities spent with family members. Second, older men tend to have more concentrated travel distances near their homes compared to older women. Third, older women exhibit a broader range of activities in different locations and engage in longer-distance leisure travel with family members when compared to older men. In the context of Western literature, this study discusses older women's enhanced social interactions, their earlier retirement in China, and the impact of COVID-19 as factors that help explain these findings. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of accompanied mobilities among Chinese older adults using geographical theory and methods, emphasizing the importance of flexible work schedules for the workforce and the organization of community-based activities to promote the social interactions and mobilities of older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study divided the 1910s and the 1940s into the Beijing government period, the Nanjing Nationalist government period, and the Sino-Japanese War period, and analyzed Japanese legal scholars' perceptions of modern Chinese law. By the 1940s, various deficiencies in China's legal system were pointed out in Japanese legal academia, although it was also recognized that China had enacted the latest code. Despite the lack of evidence based on sufficient observation, the tendency to emphasize the difficulty of operating the new law did not change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the history of animal glue (gelatin) used in medical practice in China. In ancient times, gelatin was widely made from cowhide and has been found in excavations and wall paintings older than 2000 years in Egypt, Greece, and China. However, it has been used medicinally almost exclusively in China and other East Asian countries influenced by Chinese medicine. Since 11th century, donkey-hide has gradually been replaced with cowhide in medicinal gelatin. Currently, donkey-hide gelatin is widely used medicinally in China. During the Edo period, medicinal gelatin was imported to Japan from China. Owing to the distaste for eating animal flesh in traditional Japanese culture, the production of gelatin and its medicinal use is not widespread in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Pterygium is an ocular surface disorder mainly caused by ultraviolet (UV) light exposure. This study explored the relationships between six cataract types with pterygium and UV exposure. Methods: We have previously studied cataracts in residents of three regions in China and Taiwan with different UV intensities. From that study, we identified 1,547 subjects with information on the presence or absence of pterygium. Pterygium severity was graded by corneal progress rate. Cataracts were graded by classification systems as three main types (cortical, nuclear, posterior subcapsular) and three subtypes (retrodots, waterclefts, fiber folds) with high prevalence in middle-aged and elderly people. We calculated the cumulative ocular UV exposure (COUV) based on subject data and National Aeronautics and Space Administration data on UV intensities and used logistic regression to calculate odds ratios for the associations of COUV, cataract, and pterygium. Results: We found an overall pterygium prevalence of 23.3%, with significant variation among the three regions. Four cataract types (cortical, nuclear, posterior subcapsular, and retrodots) were significantly associated with the presence of pterygium. Conclusions: There was a significant association between COUV and pterygium, indicating that COUV is associated with the risk of pterygium development and that pterygium is useful as an index of UV exposure. Furthermore, the type of cataract in eyes with pterygium may indicate the level of UV exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Chinese demand for melons has transformed the rural economy of northern Myanmar. • Mid-chain brokers play key governance roles in these China-centric value chains. • This suggests distinctive new forms of value chain structure serving China. • Value chain structures create new sources of regional dependence and vulnerability. • These were brought into sharp focus when trade collapsed with COVID-19. Mainland Southeast Asia has become an increasingly important source for Chinese imports of fresh fruit. But how have these activities contributed to patterns of regional development in sites of production? This paper uses insights from China-centric melon production in Myanmar to generate new insights into this question. We argue that the expansion of this trade has created a structural form of strategic coupling in which benefits have flowed to a relatively small number of participants. Whereas these outcomes have some similarities to fresh fruit and vegetable export chains elsewhere in the world, what makes this case special is their creation through a form of value chain governance quite unlike the retailer-led arrangements typically associated with export fresh fruit and vegetable production. In the Myanmar-China melons trade, brokers, not retailers, exercise lead firm functions. These arrangements have generated distinctive and highly uneven distributions of risk and reward that have inhibited value chain upgrading and created substantial environmental despoliation. The vulnerabilities associated with these processes were brought into sharp relief with the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, which led to local farmers bearing huge costs and debts when the border trade was abruptly curtailed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: We investigated associations between ocular ultraviolet (UV) radiation exposure dose and cataract opacities among Han people living in China and Taiwan, to assess the effects of UV exposure intensity. Methods: This cross-sectional study included Han people aged ≥40 years (1,801 individuals, 450 in Sanya, 636 in Taiyuan, and 715 in Taichung) as subjects who completed a questionnaire including items about diabetes, smoking, steroid use, work history, and time spent outdoors, and underwent an ophthalmic examination. Right eye axial length was measured using A-mode ultrasonography or IOLMaster. Slit-lamp imaging under maximum mydriasis was used to classify cataracts into three major types [cortical (COR), nuclear (NUC), and posterior subcapsular cataracts (PSC)] and two subtypes [retrodots (RD) and waterclefts (WC)] by one ophthalmologist. COR was divided into opacity presence (CEN+) or absence (CEN-) in the central 3-mm diameter area of the pupil. COR was also subdivided into three groups according to opacity shape: axle-shaped opacity concomitant with WC, wedge-shaped opacity around the pupil to the eye center, and ring-shaped opacity in the lens equator along the pupillary margin. The cumulative ocular UV exposure (COUV) was calculated. A logistic regression analysis was used for multivariate analysis. Results: Cataract odds ratios in high COUV eyes were 5.35 for NUC, 1.87 for PSC, and 1.35 for RD. In eyes with WC, risk of COR ring-shaped opacity significantly increased but that of wedge-shaped opacity (CEN+) significantly decreased. In eyes without WC, risk of COR axle-shaped opacity (CEN–) and ring-shaped opacity significantly increased but that of wedge-shaped opacity (CEN+) significantly decreased. Conclusions: Increased COUV level among Han people may be a risk factor for the development of nuclear cataracts, PSC, retrodots and ring-shaped cortical cataract. Risk of ocular UV exposure for cortical cataract may differ by opacity shape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fracture is an important factor controlling mineralization and ore distribution in metallic deposits. Fracture also affects mechanical stability of drifts. A plausible three-dimensional discrete fracture network (DFN) was constructed using GEOFRAC, a geostatistical method of conditioning directions (strikes and dips) and locations of sample fractures. The northern part of the Gejiu tin district, southwest China, was selected, using 10,212 fractures sampled on drift roofs at five different levels and along a 5463 m length. Key parameters of this DFN are fracture density, direction, and the connective condition of disks that form a fracture plane. The simulated fractures were verified by good correspondence of their directions with those of the sample fractures; furthermore, continuous fractures longer than 1 km matched the faults observed in outcrops. The most notable result was clarification of fracture control by the orebody shape: Simulated gentle fractures (30° dips or less) formed layered orebodies and created boundaries between each layer, while steep fractures (60° dips or more) displaced the layers by acting as faults. Such fault-type fractures and the densely fractured portions require caution with respect to mining safety. It was concluded that GEOFRAC is useful for three-dimensional DFN modeling in underground mines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China and Western countries have repeatedly portrayed each other as potential or actual adversaries in cyberspace. Yet, both sides proclaim that they subscribe to an international consensus that cyber operations must be subjected to the rule of law. Against this background, the article examines five key aspects of the rule of law in cyberspace, which are ordinarily understood as areas of contention: (1) preferred method of identification and development of international law; (2) competing models of cyberspace governance; (3) application of sovereignty to cyberspace; (4) question of militarization of cyberspace; and (5) legality of cyber espionage. Our analysis demonstrates that it is inaccurate to view China and the West as sharply divided and competing camps. Rather, the emerging picture reveals a web of relationships and views that reflect an overall trajectory of convergence, even if modest in scope and velocity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper used data from 6 waves of the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) 1993-2009 to examine the effects of child gender, number of siblings, and sibling composition on children's health status, noting particularly any gender gaps, in the context of China's one-child policy. In the 1990s, the enforcement of the policy became less stringent, and ultrasound technologies, which enable prenatal gender selection, became more available. This led us to believe that the girls who were born were wanted by parents. In addition, growing income and industrialization should also narrow the gender gap in health status. Our results showed that on average, being a female decreased height-for-age approximately by 0.08 z-score as well as having an additional male sibling decreased height-for-age roughly by 0.17 z-score for a child under age 8. These results were particularly strong in the rural area but were non-existent in urban areas and among only-children. Our argument is that the gender gap was due to son preference and not sibling rivalry. Additionally, we found that having only one brother appeared to have a positive effect on girls' health status, compared to boys with another brother who tended to become rivals for household resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In situ observation of the atmospheric CO2, CH4, and CO mixing ratios at Hateruma Island (HAT, 24.05° N, 123.80° E) often show synoptic-scale variations with correlative elevations during winter, associated with air transport from the East Asian countries. We examine winter (November-March) trends in ΔCH4 /ΔCO2, ΔCO/ΔCO2, andΔCO/ΔCH4 observed at Hateruma over the period 1999 to 2010. To investigate the relationship between the East Asian emissions and the short-term variations in the atmospheric mixing ratios, we use the FLEXPART Lagrangian particle dispersion model (LPDM). The observed ratios ΔCH4 /ΔCO2 and ΔCO/ΔCO2 both show an overall gradual decrease over the study period due to a recent rapid increase in fossil fuel consumption in China. We note, however, that the decreasing rates of ΔCH4 /ΔCO2 and ΔCO/ΔCO2 show gradual decrease and increase, respectively, during the entire observation periods used in this study. The ΔCO/ΔCH4 slope, on the other hand, shows an increasing trend during 1999-2004 but a decrease during 2005- 2010. Calculation of the concentration footprint for the atmospheric observation at HAT by using the FLEXPART LPDM indicates that most of the short-term variations are caused by emission variations from northern and eastern China. Combined with a set of reported emission maps, we have estimated the temporal changes in the annual CH4 and CO emissions from China under the assumption that the estimate of the fossil-fuel-derived CO2 emissions based on the energy statistics are accurate. The estimated annual CH4 emissions, corresponding to nonseasonal sources or anthropogenic sources without rice fields, show a nearly constant value of 39±7 TgCH4 yr-1 during 1998-2002, and then gradually increase to 46±8 TgCH4 yr-1 in 2009/2010. The estimated annual CO emissions increase from 134±32 TgCO yr-1 in 1998/1999 to 182±42 TgCO yr-1 in 2004/2005, level off after 2005, and then slightly decrease to less than 160 TgCO yr-1 in 2008-2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new Germacrane-type sesquiterpenoids 1 and 2 together with three known sesquiterpenoids were isolated from the methanol extract of the leaves of Illicium lanceolatum , which is indigenous to the southern part of China. The structures and absolute configurations of 1 and 2 were elucidated through comprehensive spectroscopic analyses as well as ECD data and DP4 computational results. Compounds 1 and 2 are new Germacrane-type sesquiterpenoids with an oxatricyclo[6.4.0.0.4,5] structure and a 7-membered ether ring, respectively. In particular, compound 1 is the first natural product with an oxatricyclo [6.4.0.0.4,5] structure. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Song dynasty, many “Pulu” (a specific writing style which is close to monographs) came out. At least 17 works in Pulu writings of the Song dynasty feature the tree peony, that accounts for almost a half of Pulu featuring flowering plants, while they became precursory books that promoted other flower Pulu. Nowadays only seven of the 17 works remain, so it is hard to know what were written in those lost works. In this paper, including those lost works, I would show the investigation into background of each Pulu author, the precise time of writing, the frameworks and the contents of each Pulu. As a result, the following points are newly discovered: (a) By the reseach of the authors' backgrounds, not only their social/official positions and circumstances of writing are clarified, but the relationships between the authors are also emerged. (b) In addition, based on the investigation into the more precisely presumed time of writings, all the 17 works are now able to be placed in chronological order, and the transition of the recorded varieties and these locations of each work become clear. As a result, the number of varieties actually does not simply increase by chronological order, but comparing the varieties written in each Pulu, we can know there were always newly-produced varieties. People in the Song dynasty often sought newer varieties and ignored older ones. The number of varieties in each Pulu therefore does simply increase by chronoligical order. (c) Through the examination into the frameworks and the contents inside the seven extant works, it can be known that most of authors recorded the present varieties of the tree peonies, and sometime mentioned flower gardens, folklife with the flowers, and cultivation techniques, in order to hand down to posterity. Some authors who were scholar-officials presented their own philosophical ideas concerning how new varieties of the tree peonies can be produced. They often mentioned “Zaowu” and/or “Zaohua” (a certain creator) who is supposed to administrate nature, that is also supposed to influence mutations of the tree peonies. Meanwhile, this paper also introduces the different early editions of the existent seven works, such as texts in Baichuan Xuehai, and shows the most reliable versions with a comparison among the different versions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tree peony is a flowering plant found in China, and well-known in Britain. Its root cortex is often used in Chinese traditional prescriptions, such as Dahuang mudan tang, Liuwei dihuang wan, and Jiawei shaoyao san. In contemporary Chinese, the tree peony is called 'Mudan', and although its beauty was largely ignored until the Kaiyuan era (713-41 CE), a drug of the same name is mentioned in medical texts of the Eastern Han period (25-220 CE). The early authoritative materia medica, Xinxiu bencao (659 CE), also describes a plant called 'Mudan', but it is different from the tree peony in form. Curiously, although the tree peony is not considered to be native to Japan, it is described as a specialty plant in the early Japanese gazetteer, Izumonokuni Fudoki (733 CE). This study demonstrates that in early texts 'mudan' referred to a different plant from the tree peony, and that 'mudan' had two remarkable aliases, 'bailiangjin' in China and 'yamatachihana' in Japan. Today, both aliases are used to refer to Ardisia species. Furthermore, I will demonstrate that the Xinxiu bencao's description of the Mudan closely matches that of the Ardisia, especially the A. japonica species. My investigations therefore suggest that early prescriptions may have used the Ardisia species, not the tree peony. This raises further questions: when and how did the tree peony come to replace the Ardisia? This paper presents the most likely progression of this transition by tracing the expansion of cultivation of Mudan for ornamental purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The current study examined how psychological resilience acted as a buffer against mental health deterioration during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We conducted an online survey in four countries (Japan, Malaysia, China, and the U.S.) to examine how psychological resilience functions toward the maintenance of mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: We collected data from 1583 citizens from four countries via an online survey between October 14 and November 2, 2020. We gathered demographic data and measured mental distress (depression, anxiety, and stress) and fear of COVID-19. Data on sense of control, ego-resilience, grit, self-compassion, and resilience indicators were also collected.Results: Sense of control was negatively associated with mental distress in all four countries. Self-compassion was negatively associated with mental distress in the samples from Japan, China, and the U.S. We also found an interaction effect for sense of control: the lower the sense of control, the stronger the deterioration of mental distress when the fear of COVID-19 was high.Limitations: This study's cross-sectional design precludes causal inferences. Further, lack of data from people who were actually infected with the virus limits comparisons of people who were and were not infected. Finally, as this study only compared data from four countries, comparisons with more countries are needed.Conclusions: A sense of control and self-compassion may help buffer against mental health deterioration during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sense of control was consistently associated with mental health across cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Independent component analysis (ICA) is one of the most effective approaches in extracting independent signals from a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) regional station network. However, ICA requires the involved time series to be complete, thereby the missing data of incomplete time series should be interpolated beforehand. In this contribution, a modified ICA is proposed, by which the missing data are first recovered based on the reversible property between the original time series and decomposed principal components, then the complete time series are further processed with FastICA. To evaluate the performance of the modified ICA for extracting independent components, 24 regional GNSS network stations located in North China from 2011 to 2019 were selected. After the trend, annual and semiannual terms were removed from the GNSS time series, the first two independent components captured 17.42, 18.44 and 17.38% of the total energy for the North, East and Up coordinate components, more than those derived by the iterative ICA that accounted for 16.21%, 17.72% and 16.93%, respectively. Therefore, modified ICA can extract more independent signals than iterative ICA. Subsequently, selecting the 7 stations with less missing data from the network, we repeatedly process the time series after randomly deleting parts of the data and compute the root mean square error (RMSE) from the differences of reconstructed signals before and after deleting data. All RMSEs of modified ICA are smaller than those of iterative ICA, indicating that modified ICA can extract more exact signals than iterative ICA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four neuraminidase (NA) inhibitors and an RNA synthesis inhibitor were recently approved and are currently in clinical use for influenza. Among NA inhibitors, oseltamivir phosphate (OSE, Tamiflu®) and zanamivir are approved worldwide, whereas peramivir and laninamivir octanoate (LAN, Inavir®) are regionally approved for human use. Therefore, OSE has been used to treat infections of highly pathogenic influenza viruses, such as H5N1 and H7N9, which caused epidemic in southeast Asia and Egypt, and China, respectively. Generally, OSE is administered twice daily for 5 days by oral administration, and LAN once by inhalation for completing influenza therapy. In this study, we compared the efficacy of OSE and LAN administered according to the regimens in mice infected with highly lethal influenza viruses. The drugs were administered at the early and late stages of infection, which correspond to mild and severe inflammation in the lungs, respectively. Based on the drugs' regimens for human, a single administration of LAN at both stages of inflammation showed superior efficacy to repeated administration of OSE. LAN, as in OSE, could also be efficacious in treating severe influenza in humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]