This study uses content analysis to identify the perceived destination image held by Chinese tourists to New Zealand. In this study, qualitative content analysis is the primary mode of analysis, but quantitative methods are used as a support. The findings reveal the main components of New Zealand, as perceived by Chinese tourists, as being the possession of a protected ecological environment, a variety of activities, and a highly developed society with a "Pakeha" culture. The study also indicates that Chinese cultural norms play an important role in the process of perception formation and interpretation. These norms include the desire for harmony, Li, and a respect of authorities. It is suggested that blogs are an important resource by which destination marketing organizations can seek to influence potential tourists and by which tourist perceptions of place can be assessed.

PurposeThis study aimed to investigate the association between vitamin D and systemic sclerosis (SSc) by meta-analysis.MethodsA comprehensive search was performed through June 12, 2017. Pooled standardized mean difference (SMD) was used to estimate the mean vitamin D difference between case and control groups (or between diffused- and limited-type SSc). Pooled risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the impact of vitamin D level on clinical characteristics of SSc patients. All statistical analyses were performed using Revman 5.0 software.ResultsThe search yielded six studies with a total of 554 SSc patients and 321 healthy controls. The meta-analysis showed that SSc patients suffered from decreased vitamin D levels (SMD =−8.72 ng/mL; 95% CI: −10.11 to −7.32) compared with healthy controls. The meta-analysis results of three studies with 240 SSc patients (93 diffused-type and 147 limited-type SSc patients) showed that diffused-type SSc patients exhibited lower vitamin D levels (SMD =−4.71 ng/mL; 95% CI: −8.98 to −0.44) compared with limited-type SSc patients. However, vitamin D level was not found to be associated with Rodnan score (SMD =−2.29 ng/mL, 95% CI: −8.49 to 3.91, P=0.47), systolic pulmonary pressure (SMD =−1.68 ng/mL, 95% CI: −10.79 to 7.43, P=0.72), gastrointestinal ulcer (RR =1.01, 95% CI: 0.53–1.93, P=0.98), or pulmonary involvement (RR =1.01, 95% CI: 0.36–2.86, P=0.99) in SSc patients.ConclusionSSc patients exhibited lower vitamin D levels compared with healthy controls. Vitamin D levels in diffused-type SSc patients were significantly lower than those in limited-type SSc patients. The severity of clinical features was not associated with the extent of vitamin D deficit. Therefore, we hypothesize that SSc patients, especially diffused type, have lower vitamin D levels, and that the decrease of vitamin D levels might not be an accelerating factor of SSc severity.

This study aims to explore associations between emotional eating, depression and laryngopharyngeal reflux among college students in Hunan Province. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 1301 students at two universities in Hunan. Electronic questionnaires were used to collect information about the students’ emotional eating, depressive symptoms, laryngopharyngeal reflux and sociodemographic characteristics. Anthropometric measurements were collected to obtain body mass index (BMI). Results: High emotional eating was reported by 52.7% of students. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 18.6% and that of laryngopharyngeal reflux symptoms 8.1%. Both emotional eating and depressive symptoms were associated with laryngopharyngeal reflux symptoms (AOR = 3.822, 95% CI 2.126–6.871 vs. AOR = 4.093, 95% CI 2.516–6.661). Conclusion: The prevalence of emotional eating and depressive symptoms among Chinese college students should be pay more attention in the future. Emotional eating and depressive symptoms were positively associated with laryngopharyngeal symptoms. The characteristics of emotional eating require further study so that effective interventions to promote laryngopharyngeal health among college students may be formulated.

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The inference of a general Bayesian network has been shown to be an NP-hard problem, even for approximate solutions. Although k-dependence Bayesian (KDB) classifier can construct at arbitrary points (values of k) along the attribute dependence spectrum, it cannot identify the changes of interdependencies when attributes take different values. Local KDB, which learns in the framework of KDB, is proposed in this study to describe the local dependencies implicated in each test instance. Based on the analysis of functional dependencies, substitution-elimination resolution, a new type of semi-naive Bayesian operation, is proposed to substitute or eliminate generalization to achieve accurate estimation of conditional probability distribution while reducing computational complexity. The final classifier, averaged k-dependence Bayesian (AKDB) classifiers, will average the output of KDB and local KDB. Experimental results on the repository of machine learning databases from the University of California Irvine (UCI) showed that AKDB has significant advantages in zero-one loss and bias relative to naive Bayes (NB), tree augmented naive Bayes (TAN), Averaged one-dependence estimators (AODE), and KDB. Moreover, KDB and local KDB show mutually complementary characteristics with respect to variance.

Among artists and designers, the pen-and-tablet combination is widely used for creating digital drawings, as digital pens outperform other input devices in replicating the experience of physical drawing tools. In this paper, we explore how contextual information such as the relationship between the hand, the pen, and the tablet can be leveraged in the digital drawing experience to further enhance its naturalness. By embedding sensors in the pen and the tablet to sense and interpret these contexts, we demonstrate how several physical drawing practices can be reflected and assisted in digital interaction scenarios.

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