The experiences of menstrual symptom changes among international students studying in China during the acculturation period: A phenomenology study

Objectives Menstruation is a normal physiological phenomenon among female which could be influenced by the process of acculturation.Few studies have explored the experience of menstrual symptom changes among international female students studying in China.Therefore,this paper aims to summarize international female students’experiences of menstrual symptom changes when they were studying in China and interpret these changes through considering the influence of acculturation on their social and academic lives.Methods We used a descriptive phenomenology approach.Structured in-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted between May and November 2019 among ten international female students studying in one Province located in south central China.Participants were those who reported having experienced menstrual symptom changes during the acculturation period,which was defined as the first six months of living in China.All interviews were audio-recorded,transcribed verbatim,and analyzed using NVivo 11.0 with the guidance of Colaizzi's seven-step method.Results The international female students’experiences of menstrual symptom changes were summarized and grouped into five main categories and 13 subcategories.The main categories include:1)demonstration of menstrual symptom changes,2)challenges of maintaining menstrual function in the new setting,3)coping styles to take care of menstrual health,4)consequences of the menstrual symptom changes,and 5)culture-based attitude toward menstruation.Conclusions International female students reported experiences of menstrual symptom changes,including somatic and psychological symptoms during the acculturation period.Culture barriers,academic stress,and sleep patterns are common factors influencing their menstrual symptom changes.More culturally-tailored interventions should be explored to improve the menstrual health of international female students in China.

Changes in Climate Factors and Extreme Climate Events in South China during 1961-2010

Daily climate data at 110 stations during 1961-2010 were selected to examine the changing characteristics of climate factors and extreme climate events in South China. The annual mean surface air temperature has increased significantly by 0.16℃ per decade, most notably in the Pearl River Delta and in winter. The increase rate of the annual extreme minimum temperature (0.48℃ per decade) is over twice that of the annual extreme maximum temperature (0.20℃ per decade), and the increase of the mean temperature is mainly the result of the increase of the extreme minimum temperature. The increase rate of high-temperature days (1.1 d per decade) is close to the decrease rate of low-temperature days (-1.3 d per decade). The rainfall has not shown any significant trend, but the number of rainy days has decreased and the rain intensity has increased. The regional mean sunshine duration has a significant decreasing trend of -40.9 h per decade, and the number of hazy days has a significant increasing trend of 6.3 d per decade. The decrease of sunshine duration is mainly caused by the increase of total cloud, not by the increase of hazy days in South China. Both the regional mean pan evaporation and mean wind speed have significant decreasing trends of -65.9 mm per decade and -0.11 m s-1 per decade, respectively. The decrease of both sunshine duration and mean wind speed plays an important role in the decrease of pan evaporation. The number of landing tropical cyclones has an insignificant decreasing trend of -0.6 per decade, but their intensities show a weak increasing trend. The formation location of tropical cyclones landing in South China has converged towards 10-19°N, and the landing position has shown a northward trend. The date of the first landfall tropical cyclone postpones 1.8 d per decade, and the date of the last landfall advances 3.6 d per decade, resulting in reduction of the typhoon season by 5.4 d per decade.

Workshop on Polar Climate Changes and Extreme Events

Polar climate systems have experienced a number of dramatic changes （Wang et al., 2017; Turner et al., 2016; Gordon, 2014; Rignot et al., 2013; Meier et al., 2012; Kwok and Rothrock, 2009; Thompson and Solomon, 2002）, which have influenced climatic conditions across large parts of the globe through large-scale atmospheric and oceanic teleconnections （Dou and Wu, 2018; Zhang et al., 2018;

Sediment record of environmental change at Lake Lop Nur (Xinjiang, NW China) from 13.0 to 5.6 cal ka BP

Lake Lop Nur is located in the eastern part of the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang,northwestern China.A 220-cm-long sediment core was collected from the center of the ear-shaped depression forming the basin and dated with AMS^(14)C.Grain size,total organic matter(TOC),total nitrogen(TN),and TOC/TN(C/N)analyses were used to reconstruct climatic conditions from 13.0 to 5.6 cal ka BP.The results showed fi ve main climatic stages.Zone I(13.0–11.3 cal ka BP)was a wet–dry environment,whereas Zone II(11.3–8.9 cal ka BP)consisted of a primarily wet environment.Zone III(8.9–7.7 cal ka BP)was subdivided into Zone IIIa(8.9–8.2 cal ka BP)that indicated lake constriction and dry climate,and Zone IIIb(8.2–7.7 cal ka BP)in which the proxies indicated wet conditions.In Zone IV(7.7–6.6 cal ka BP),the climate presented a bit wet conditions.In Zone V(6.6–5.6 cal ka BP),abundant glauberite is present in the sediment and silt dominates the lithology;these results indicate the lake shrank and the overall climate was dry.Abrupt environmental events were also identifi ed,including six dry events at 11.0,10.5,9.3,8.6,8.2,and 7.6 cal ka BP and one fl ood event from 7.8 to 7.7 cal ka BP in the Early–Middle Holocene.

Observed Climate Changes in Southwest China during 1961-2010

The present study focused on statistical analysis of interannual, interdecadal variations of climate variables and extreme climate events during the period of 1961-2010 using observational data from 376 meteorological stations uniformly distributed across Southwest China, which includes Yunnan, Guizhou, Chongqing, Sichuan and Tibet. It was found that temperatures in most of the region were warming and this was especially evident for areas at high elevation. The warming was mostly attributable to the increase in annual mean minimum temperature. The characteristics of high temperature/heat waves are increase in frequency, prolonged duration, and weakened intensity. Annual precipitation showed a weak decreasing trend and drier in the east and more rainfall in the west. The precipitation amount in flood season was declining markedly in the whole region; rainfall from extreme heavy precipitation did not change much, and the portion of annual precipitation contributed by extreme heavy precipitation had an increasing trend; annual non-rainy days and the longest consecutive non-rainy days were both increasing; the extreme drought had a decreasing trend since the 1990s; the autumn-rain days displayed a downward fluctuation with apparent periodicity and intermittency. The number of southwestern vortices was decreasing whereas the number of moving vortices increased.

Understanding the pregnant women’s experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic:A qualitative study

Objective To explore and interpret the experiences of pregnant women in Macao region,China during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods Recruitment advertisements were published through multiple social platforms in Macao region,China.A purposive snowball sampling method was adopted to select interviewees.Eighteen women who were confirmed as pregnant from January to May 2020 participated in this qualitative study.Data was collected from November to December 2020 using in-depth personal interviews.One-to-one interviews were conducted by telephone to avoid personal contact.Thematic analysis was used to perform the data analysis and identify emergent themes.Results Five themes emerged from the data analysis:changes in daily life,psychological distress,unique experiences of pregnancy follow-up,trying to pay attention to health information but also feeling overwhelmed,and change in hygiene behaviors due to fear of infection.Six sub-themes were identified:being confined at home but understanding the reasons,financial pressures and timely support from the government,perceived risk of catching the infection,retaining optimism with various help and support,adequate personal protections,and obsessive hygiene behaviors.Conclusion During a pandemic,there is a risk of greater individual isolation,particularly for vulnerable groups such as women in pregnancy.The humanized attention to and support for the residents from the government buffered the adverse impact on the study participants.Preplanning for such events is needed to focus on psychological distress,financial constraints,and prenatal health services.Alternative service delivery,such as telemedicine,online counseling,and virtual reality(VR)technology,should be applied to offer pregnant women timely support and avoid a crisis.

Global sea level variations from altimetry,GRACE and Argo data over 2005-2014

Total sea level variations（SLVs） are caused by two major components：steric variations due to thermal expansion of seawater,and mass-induced variations due to mass exchange between ocean and land.In this study,the global SLV and its steric and mass components were estimated by satellite altimetry,Argo float data and the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment（GRACE） data over 2005-2014.Space gravimetry observations from GRACE suggested that two-thirds of the global mean sea level rise rate observed by altimetry（i.e.,3.1 ± 0.3 mm/a from 2005 to 2014） could be explained by an increase in ocean mass.Furthermore,the global mean sea level was observed to drop significantly during the2010/2011 La Nina event,which may be attributed to the decline of ocean mass and steric SLV.Since early 2011,the global mean sea level began to rise rapidly,which was attributed to an increase in ocean mass.The findings in this study suggested that the global mean sea-level budget was closed from 2005 to 2014 based on altimetry,GRACE,and Argo data.

The Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia Data Management System for the Arctic Sciences

The brokering approach can be successfully used to overcome the crucial question of searching among enormous amount of data （raw and/or processed） produced and stored in different information systems. In this paper, authors describe the Data Management System the DMS （Data Management System） developed by INGV （Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia） to support the brokering system GEOSS （Global Earth Observation System of Systems） adopted for the ARCA （Arctic Present Climate Change and Past Extreme Events） project. This DMS includes heterogeneous data that contributes to the ARCA objective （www.arcaproject.it） focusing on multi-parametric and multi-disciplinary studies on the mechanism （s） behind the release of large volumes of cold and fresh water from melting of ice caps. The DMS is accessible directly at the www.arca.rm.ingv.it, or through the IADC （Italian Arctic Data Center） at http：//arcticnode.dta.cnr.it/iadc/gi-portal/index.jsp that interoperates with the GEOSS brokering system （http：//www.geoportal.org0 making easy and fast the search of specific data set and its URL.