Perceived Discrimination and Life Satisfaction of Elderly Chinese People: The Chain Mediating Effects of National Identity and Sense of Community

In China, aging is becoming an increasingly serious issue, and the Chinese government are paying more attention to the life satisfaction of the elderly. Nevertheless, in their daily lives, the elderly are often discriminated against, which may have a negative impact on their life satisfaction. To enable a better understanding of these relationships, we discuss the factors affecting the macro-system (national identity) and micro-system (sense of community) of the elderly. Three hundred and ninety-one elderly people (60–101 years old; 121 males, 270 females) from three communities in the Anhui and Shandong provinces of China participated in our study. Each participant completed the appropriate questionnaires, including: perceived discrimination measure, national identity questionnaire, sense of community questionnaire, and life satisfaction questionnaire. The results of structural equation modeling revealed that perceived discrimination negatively influenced life satisfaction through national identity and community. Perceived discrimination was found to negatively predict national identity, suggesting that perceived discrimination brings a negative influence to national identity within Chinese culture. The relationship between perceived discrimination and life satisfaction was partially mediated by the chain of national identity and sense of community. The size of the total mediation effect was 32.17%. The relationship between perceived discrimination and life satisfaction, when mediated by national identity or sense of community, was not significant. This suggests that the application of the rejection-identification model to the elderly in China may produce different results. The limitations and the implications of our study were considered in discussion

RF Characterization of Self-Interference Cancellation Using Phase Modulation and Optical SideBand Filtering

Full-Duplex scheme transmitting and receiving signals simultaneously in the same frequency band can significantly improve the throughput and the spectrum efficiency, and is considered as a candidate technology for the fifth generation (5G) wireless communication. However, the high power transmitted signal will interfere with the in-band weak received signal, which is called as RF self-interference. It cannot be simply removed by a notch filter or a narrow bandpass filter because the same frequency band is used for both transmitter and receiver. An optical approach to implement RF self-interference cancellation is proposed. Based on the inherent out-of-phase property between the left and right sidebands of phase-modulated signal and optical sideband filtering, the RF self-interference cancellation is achieved by tuning the delay time and amplitude in the optical domain. The cancellation depth of the system was measured for different frequencies and bandwidths. The cancellation performance affected by the time delay deviation, the amplitude deviation and phase response is analyzed according to experimental results. It gives the direction for the improvement of system performance. Finally, the full-duplex communication by using the optical SIC approach was also investigated. Signal of interest is recovered and the constellation diagram was also shown

Optical Multipath RF Self-Interference Cancellation Based on Phase Modulation for Full-Duplex Communication

Optical multipath RF self-interference cancellation (SIC) based on phase modulation for full-duplex communication is proposed and demonstrated experimentally. Phase modulation is utilized to convert the RF signal into optical domain, in which the time delay tuning, amplitude tuning and phase inversion for multipath RF SIC are completed. The comprehensive theoretical model of the optical multipath RF SIC system is established, and the factors affecting SIC performance including the time delay, amplitude and phase deviations are analyzed. The experimental results verify the feasibility of the proposed scheme for full-duplex communication with the cancellation depth of 26 dB and 28 dB over 100 MHz at central frequency of 6 GHz and 10 GHz, respectively. A figure of merit of the maximum interference to signal of interest ratio is defined to characterize the SOI recovery capability of optical RF SIC system

Performance analysis of photonic RF self-interference cancellation for full-duplex communication

A photonic RF self-interference cancellation (SIC) scheme for full-duplex communication is proposed and demonstrated experimentally. It is based on phase modulation to convert the RF signal into optical domain. The interference cancellation performance of the photonic RF SIC system under different delay deviation (Δτ) and amplitude deviation (Δα) is analyzed. The cancellation depth of 34.5 dB is measured for 10 GHz signal with bandwidth of 50MHz. According to experimental results, the interference cancellation performance affected by the time delay deviation, the amplitude deviation and the phase response is investigated. The results give a direction for the improvement of system performance

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles enhance thrombosis through triggering the phosphatidylserine exposure and procoagulant activation of red blood cells

Background Expanding biomedical application of anatase titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) is raising the public concern on its potential health hazards. Here, we demonstrated that TiO2 NPs can increase phosphatidylserine (PS) exposure and procoagulant activity of red blood cells (RBCs), which may contribute to thrombosis. Results We conducted in vitro studies using RBCs freshly isolated from healthy male volunteers. TiO2 NPs exposure (≦ 25 μg/mL) induced PS exposure and microvesicles (MV) generation accompanied by morphological changes of RBCs. While ROS generation was not observed following the exposure to TiO2 NPs, intracellular calcium increased and caspase-3 was activated, which up-regulated scramblase activity, leading to PS exposure. RBCs exposed to TiO2 NPs could increase procoagulant activity as measured by accelerated thrombin generation, and enhancement of RBC-endothelial cells adhesion and RBC-RBC aggregation. Confirming the procoagulant activation of RBC in vitro, exposure to TiO2 NPs (2 mg/kg intravenously injection) in rats increased thrombus formation in the venous thrombosis model. Conclusion Collectively, these results suggest that anatase TiO2 NPs may harbor prothrombotic risks by promoting the procoagulant activity of RBCs, which needs attention for its biomedical application.This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea Government (MSIP) (2015R1A2A2A01011705), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.82020108027 and No.82003500) as well as the Talent Introduction Program of Postdoctoral International Exchange Program (No. YJ20190263)

Evaluating Shanghai new towns' maturity of urban form : an exploration index based on new urban data

The natural evolution of urban forms over time is a key issue in urban morphology. With the rapid development of 7quantitative analytical tools and new urban data, new research potential has emerged. This study attempts to develop an analytical framework for evaluating the urban maturation process. Using street blocks as the analytical unit, this study integrates the spatial design network analysis (sDNA), Spacematrix, Points-of-Interests (POIs), and Open Street Map (OSM) in the geographical information system (GIS) to calculate the urban maturation index in the context of big data. Shanghai, a metropolitan city with a long urbanisation history and a series of new towns, was selected as the case study. The validation of this new index was first achieved by comparing this maturation index between several districts located in the city centre and suburban new towns. Insights in this direction would help generate new urban design guidance for creating vibrant urban places. This study also aimed to introduce new quantitative thinking into the previously qualitative and intuition-based fields of urban morphology and urban design

Efficacy and Safety of Subcutaneous Golimumab in Methotrexate-Naive Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis: Five-Year Results of a Randomized Clinical Trial

Objective: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of golimumab through 5 years in adults with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who had not previously received methotrexate (MTX). Methods: In the GO-BEFORE study, 637 MTX-naive adult patients with active RA were randomized (1:1:1:1) to placebo + MTX (group 1), golimumab 100 mg + placebo (group 2), golimumab 50 mg + MTX (group 3), or golimumab 100 mg + MTX (group 4). Inadequate responders in groups 1, 2, and 3 entered early escape at week 28 to golimumab 50 mg + MTX, golimumab 100 mg + MTX, or golimumab 100 mg + MTX, respectively; remaining patients in group 1 could cross over to golimumab 50 mg + MTX at week 52. Assessments included the American College of Rheumatology 20%/50%/70% improvement criteria (ACR20/50/70) response, the Disease Activity Score in 28 joints (DAS28) using C-reactive protein (CRP) level, and the modified Sharp/van der Heijde score (SHS). Efficacy was analyzed using an intent-to-treat (ITT) analysis. Pharmacokinetics and immunogenicity were evaluated at selected visits. Results: A total of 422 patients completed golimumab treatment through week 256. At week 256, 72.8%, 54.6%, and 38.0% of all patients in the full ITT population (n = 637) had an ACR20/50/70 response, respectively; 84.1% had a good or moderate DAS28-CRP response; and 72.7% had a clinically meaningful improvement in physical function. Radiographic progression was minimal in all treatment groups through week 256, and the overall mean change from baseline in SHS was 1.36. Serum trough golimumab concentrations were approximately dose proportional and maintained through week 256. Antibodies to golimumab occurred in 9.6% of patients through week 256. Infections were the most common type of adverse event (AE); 204 of 616 patients (33.1%) had ≥1 serious AE. Conclusions: Clinical efficacy with golimumab treatment was maintained through week 256 of the GO-BEFORE trial of MTX-naive RA patients. No unexpected AEs occurred; safety results through 5 years are consistent with earlier reports