BACKGROUND: Chinese menopausal women comprise a large population and the women in it experience menopausal symptoms in many different ways. Their health related quality of life (HRQOL) is not particularly well studied. Our study intends to evaluate the influence of menopause on HRQOL and explore other risk factors for HRQOL in rural China. METHODS: An interview study was conducted from June to August 2010 in Beijing based on cross-sectional design. 1,351 women aged 40-59 were included in the study. HRQOL was measured using the EuroQol Group's 5-domain (EQ5D) questionnaire. Comparison of HRQOL measures (EQ5D index and EQ5D-VAS scores) was done between different menopausal groups. Logistic regression and multiple regression analysis were performed to adjust potential confounders and explore other risk factors for health problems and HRQOL measures. RESULTS: Postmenopausal women who had menopause for 2-5 years (+1b stage) were more likely to suffer mobility problems (OR = 1.835, p = 0.008) after multiple adjustment. Menopause was also related to impaired EQ5D index and EQ5D-VAS scores after adjustment for age. Among menopausal groups categorized by menopausal duration, a consistent decrement in EQ5D index and EQ5D-VAS scores, that is, worsening HRQOL, was observed (p < 0.05). Multiple regression analysis revealed low education level and physical activity were associated with EQ5D index (beta = -0.080, p = 0.003, and beta = 0.056, p = 0.040, respectively). Cigarette smoking and chronic disease were associated with EQ5D index (beta = -0.135, p < 0.001 and beta = -0.104, p < 0.001, respectively) and EQ5D-VAS (beta = -0.057, P = 0.034 and beta = -0.214, p < 0.001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Reduction in physical function was found within the first five years after menopause. Worsening EQ5D index and EQ5D-VAS scores were related to menopause. Education level, physical activity, cigarette smoking, and chronic disease history were associated with HRQOL in middle aged Chinese rural women.
Different from the previous video coding standards that employ fixed-size coding blocks (and macroblocks), the latest high efficiency video coding (HEVC) introduces a quadtree structure to represent variable-size coding blocks in the coding loop. The main objective of this study is to investigate a novel way to reuse these variable-size blocks to represent the foreground objects in the picture. Towards this end, this paper proposes three methods, i.e., flagging the blocks lying in the object regions flagging compression blocks (FCB), adding an object tree in each Coding Tree Unit to describe the objects' shape in it additional object tree (AOT) and confining the block splitting procedure to fit the object shape confining by shape (CBS). Among them, FCB and CBS add a flag bit in the syntax description of the block to indicate whether it lies in the objects region, while AOT adds a separate quadtree to represent the objects. For all these methods, the additional bits are then fed into the HEVC entropy coding module to compress. As such, the representation of visual objects in the pictures can be implemented in the HEVC coding loop by reusing the variable-size blocks and entropy coding, without additional coding tools. The experiments on six manually-segmented HEVC testing sequences (three in 1080P and three in 720P) demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of our proposal. To represent the objects in the 1080P testing sequences, the BD rate increases of FCB, AOT, and CBS over the HEVC anchor are 1.57%, 3.27%, and 5.93% respectively; while for the 720P conference videos, those are 4.57%, 17.23%, and 26.93% (note that the average bitrate of the anchor is only 1009 kb/s).
克里斯脱夫·密赫尔(Christoph Michels)《文化转移与君王的希腊疯：希腊化时期的比提尼亚、旁图、加帕多西亚》是德国万登出版社(Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht)政治传播学系列的第四册。此书作者以文化人类学下的文化转移概念出发，研究希腊化时期三个小亚细亚地区的非希腊裔王朝统治各自领地的手段。多年来，学界检讨卓业森(Johanna Gustav Droysen)所提出的「希腊化」概念，多发现马其顿君王不只是于领地内众建希腊城市，而是多有接纳所辖领地之内地方统治文化与生活方式的现象，以致于小亚细亚、列凡特、美索不达米亚、埃及等地，文化种类繁杂。延续如此研究潮流，此书作者以三个非希腊裔的小亚细亚王国作为研究对象，针对三国的碑刻、钱币、众建城市等往往被认为是代表「希腊化」或「希腊文化政策」的表征，研究非希腊裔君王与希腊文化之间的关系。以方法论，此书以文化人类学理论为基础，检视卓氏「希腊化」定义之下的「希腊疯」君主以及「希腊化」定义下的「文化政策」两个面相。非希腊裔君主究竟是不是扮演「推动希腊文化者」这个角色？这些君主究竟有无所谓的「文化政策」？ 研究发现，三国虽铸钱币，且钱币文字与图示在设计上虽与希腊钱币雷同（如正面有君王人头像、背面有神祇图示、并使用希腊文标注君王或国度名称等等），但是神祇模样与种类呈现在地化的特征，并不能说是以希腊人为目标群而设计的。城市亦然：虽然有作家如有三国非希腊裔君王众建城市、并如马其顿诸王将城市以自己或皇室成员命名的记载，但究竟三国建的是生产或防御型的镇，还是如希腊地区一般有体育场、剧院等公共设施的城市，就难以考证。考古资料显示，希腊化时期在此三国领地之内的希腊城市似乎多原本就是希腊殖民地，随后被各王国或征服、或威吓，而收入势力范围之内。由希腊化时期三国诸王建起的希腊型城市少之又少，其余多是以生产或是管理方便而扩大范围的城镇。各君王的目的似是要建立统治体系，而不是要希腊化。之所以会有非希腊裔国王建城以将其领土希腊化的误解，多与古希腊作家的偏见有关。此书作者所提的核心例子就是西西里的狄奥多罗(Diod.类Sic. 31.19.8)叙述加帕多西亚君王阿立阿拉提五世(Ariarathes V)的希腊疯(Philhellenimus)。狄奥多罗记载，阿立阿拉提五世母亲是希腊人，早年受希腊教育，在王位竞争中胜出后，在加帕多西亚内推行希腊制度，终于成为有文化水准的人都能畅游的国度。然而，此书作者强调，除了加帕多西亚并没有明显的希腊化特征之外，没有任何迹象显示阿立阿拉提五世有如其他非希腊裔君王一样，在希腊半岛与爱琴海诸岛上大肆捐献雕像建筑，以宣传自己的希腊性。狄奥多罗应是以希腊本位思想渲染了阿立阿拉提五世的若干举措，而这些举措（如领雅典城公民资格、由波斯式钱币改为铸希腊式币、大兴土木在提亚那(Tyana)建希腊式公共建筑等），或与王位竞争时依靠马其顿与希腊势力较有关系。作者结论以为，三国君主是有文化政策，但所谓文化政策的意义与今日不同。三国文化政策并不是主动地推行和散布希腊文化，而是将文化当成统治者自我表述的工具，以稳定国内外局势。建立权力与正当性才是三国文化政策的目的。若有其他效果，也不是主要的目的。
Regional air pollution is complex and becomes increasingly important in China.Among many others,secondary organic aerosol(SOA) is one of the most important components of PM2.5.This paper discusses various methods for quantifying SOA in the atmosphere(including methods based on the EC tracer,WSOC,receptor model,the SOA tracers,and air quality model),presents the basic principle of each method and points out that 1) the EC-tracer method,the WSOC method and the receptor model method are relatively simple and convenient,but limited by the availability of local source profiles and some specific tracers;2) the SOA-tracer method is analytically challenging but can supply source-specific SOA information;and 3) the air quality model method can provide large scale spatial distribution of SOA.This paper also summarizes the most recent results of SOA research in China and abroad and indicates that SOA is important in organic aerosol,and anthropogenic VOCs play a significant role in SOA formation in China.The primary purpose of this review is to provide basic and integrated information and suggestion for future directions of SOA study in China.
For the first time, PM2.5 source apportionment methods and techniques previously and currently applied in China are summarized, including sampling preparation, sampler selection, chemical speciation analysis, and source apportionment tools. The research direction for PM2.5 source apportionment work in China is also suggested. This review is expected to provide a fundamental understanding of PM2.5 source apportionment methods and to serve as an important reference for future source apportionment studies to be widely conducted in China and regulations or law for PM2.5 abatement in China.