How has the informality of urban slums exposed a gap in policy formulation and research questions in the wake of the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic?This paper seeks to identify the appropriate questions an...How has the informality of urban slums exposed a gap in policy formulation and research questions in the wake of the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic?This paper seeks to identify the appropriate questions and policy frame that would assist future researchers and policymakers on the subject of pandemics in densely populated urban settlements.The authors argue that the nexus between asking the appropriate questions and developing appropriate policy response measures during a pandemic can significantly impact the outcome of the response.The paper examines how the government of Kenya's response to the COVID-19 pandemic reveals a deep-rooted socio-economic and cultural inequality when"blanket"policies are adopted without taking into consideration the tnique dynamics characterizing the society.The findings show that the effectiveness of implementing COVID-19 containment policies such as lockdowns,the cession of movement,working from home,distance learning,and social distancing are affected by other factors such as the nature of jobs,one's income levels,where someone lives,cultural beliefs,access to water,sanitation,intemet,and medical facilities.This means that a significant number of people within the society experience a double tragedy from the pandemic and impact of government response measures.Yet most of the existing literature has focused on the causes,spread,and impact of the pandemic on health institutions,economies,and public health with little emphasis on the impact on policy measures especially on the vulnerable segments of the society.This paper,therefore,looks at the question of how the various public health intervention strategies disrupt or construct the livelihood of the already complex informal settlement.It provides policymakers and researchers with a number of questions that can frame policy and research during a pandemic with important consideration to urban informality.展开更多
Related to the academic topic on innovation and development of information-communication industries,a dualist distinction between formal and informal economy has drawn a lot of research interests in the academy circle...Related to the academic topic on innovation and development of information-communication industries,a dualist distinction between formal and informal economy has drawn a lot of research interests in the academy circle in recent years.In this essay,we discussed the background of Shenzhen’s leapfrog development as a Chinese economic special zone thanks to several policy advantages and the endeavor of itself as a principal part in the framework of China’s market economy reform.Despite the problem of informal economy for citizen’s living,we mainly focused on the positive effect of Shenzhen’s informal economy as flexibility of capital-labor effective coordination.Based on the analysis of the evolution of Shenzhen’s city construction and industrial development,and the analysis on the four development stages that Shenzhen had witnessed,we expect more practical and theoretical summary of its experience for all the developing countries.展开更多
The study on informality has experienced a shift from describing the spatial characteristics toward exploring the connotation of urban governance in recent years. This paper takes urban villages in Shenzhen, a typical...The study on informality has experienced a shift from describing the spatial characteristics toward exploring the connotation of urban governance in recent years. This paper takes urban villages in Shenzhen, a typical informal settlement in China, as cases to analyze the two urban village governance modes of redevelopment and in situ upgrading and reveals the dynamics of the governance mode transformation. Through the lens of informality, this study focuses on the interaction among the government, the market, and former property owners on tenure legalization. The study finds that first of all, informality is the core of the transformation of urban village governance in Shenzhen. By strategically making use of informality, the government adopted different modes of urban village governance to fulfill the demands of urban development at different phases. Second, in the process of formalizing informal settlements through redevelopment, although the institutional framework is relatively complete, the boundary between informality and formality still changes continuously in property titling. While in the new governance mode of in situ upgrading in recent years, the government creates "special areas" in informal settlements via approving their de facto tenure security, so as to attract market force to upgrade physical environment and social management. Through revealing the mechanism in the blurred area between informality and formality, this paper responds to the dualistic argument on the informality theory, deepens the idea of taking informality as a flexible urban governance strategy in developing countries, and provides new thoughts for governance of informal settlements in China and other developing countries.展开更多
Traffic sign detection is a critical component of driving systems.Single-stage network-based traffic sign detection algorithms,renowned for their fast detection speeds and high accuracy,have become the dominant approa...Traffic sign detection is a critical component of driving systems.Single-stage network-based traffic sign detection algorithms,renowned for their fast detection speeds and high accuracy,have become the dominant approach in current practices.However,in complex and dynamic traffic scenes,particularly with smaller traffic sign objects,challenges such as missed and false detections can lead to reduced overall detection accuracy.To address this issue,this paper proposes a detection algorithm that integrates edge and shape information.Recognizing that traffic signs have specific shapes and distinct edge contours,this paper introduces an edge feature extraction branch within the backbone network,enabling adaptive fusion with features of the same hierarchical level.Additionally,a shape prior convolution module is designed to replaces the first two convolutional modules of the backbone network,aimed at enhancing the model's perception ability for specific shape objects and reducing its sensitivity to background noise.The algorithm was evaluated on the CCTSDB and TT100k datasets,and compared to YOLOv8s,the mAP50 values increased by 3.0%and 10.4%,respectively,demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed method in improving the accuracy of traffic sign detection.展开更多
Experimental therapies targeting immune and stromal cells,such as mast cells,cancer-associated fibroblasts,dendritic cells,and tumor endothelial cells,in the treatment of gastrointestinal solid tumors pose new and com...Experimental therapies targeting immune and stromal cells,such as mast cells,cancer-associated fibroblasts,dendritic cells,and tumor endothelial cells,in the treatment of gastrointestinal solid tumors pose new and complex surgical and medico-legal challenges.These innovative treatments require that informed consent not be limited to simple acceptance of the medical procedure,but instead reflect a true relational and cognitive process grounded in understanding,free choice,and the ability to revoke consent at any time.In particular,it is essential that the patient understands the experimental nature of the therapy,its development stage,potential benefits and risks,as well as the implications for their health and personal dignity.In the case of stromal cell-based treatments,which may exert complex immunomodulatory effects or activate angiogenic pathways that are not yet fully understood,patients must be made fully aware that they are participating in a non-standardized therapy whose outcomes,whether beneficial or harmful,cannot yet be predicted with certainty.This requires particularly careful medical communication,using simple yet scientifically accurate explanations delivered in appropriate language,along with a final verification of the patient’s actual understanding.展开更多
Quantitative analysis of aluminum-silicon(Al-Si)alloy microstructure is crucial for evaluating and controlling alloy performance.Conventional analysis methods rely on manual segmentation,which is inefficient and subje...Quantitative analysis of aluminum-silicon(Al-Si)alloy microstructure is crucial for evaluating and controlling alloy performance.Conventional analysis methods rely on manual segmentation,which is inefficient and subjective,while fully supervised deep learning approaches require extensive and expensive pixel-level annotated data.Furthermore,existing semi-supervised methods still face challenges in handling the adhesion of adjacent primary silicon particles and effectively utilizing consistency in unlabeled data.To address these issues,this paper proposes a novel semi-supervised framework for Al-Si alloy microstructure image segmentation.First,we introduce a Rotational Uncertainty Correction Strategy(RUCS).This strategy employs multi-angle rotational perturbations andMonte Carlo sampling to assess prediction consistency,generating a pixel-wise confidence weight map.By integrating this map into the loss function,the model dynamically focuses on high-confidence regions,thereby improving generalization ability while reducing manual annotation pressure.Second,we design a Boundary EnhancementModule(BEM)to strengthen boundary feature extraction through erosion difference and multi-scale dilated convolutions.This module guides the model to focus on the boundary regions of adjacent particles,effectively resolving particle adhesion and improving segmentation accuracy.Systematic experiments were conducted on the Aluminum-Silicon Alloy Microstructure Dataset(ASAD).Results indicate that the proposed method performs exceptionally well with scarce labeled data.Specifically,using only 5%labeled data,our method improves the Jaccard index and Adjusted Rand Index(ARI)by 2.84 and 1.57 percentage points,respectively,and reduces the Variation of Information(VI)by 8.65 compared to stateof-the-art semi-supervised models,approaching the performance levels of 10%labeled data.These results demonstrate that the proposed method significantly enhances the accuracy and robustness of quantitative microstructure analysis while reducing annotation costs.展开更多
Submission.Papers appearing in the Journal comprise Editorials,Rapid Communications,Perspectives,Tutorials,Feature Articles,Reviews,Research Articles,which should contain original information,theoretical or experiment...Submission.Papers appearing in the Journal comprise Editorials,Rapid Communications,Perspectives,Tutorials,Feature Articles,Reviews,Research Articles,which should contain original information,theoretical or experimental,on any topics in the field of polymer science and polymer material science.Papers already published or scheduled to be published elsewhere should not be submitted and certainly will not be accepted.展开更多
文摘How has the informality of urban slums exposed a gap in policy formulation and research questions in the wake of the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic?This paper seeks to identify the appropriate questions and policy frame that would assist future researchers and policymakers on the subject of pandemics in densely populated urban settlements.The authors argue that the nexus between asking the appropriate questions and developing appropriate policy response measures during a pandemic can significantly impact the outcome of the response.The paper examines how the government of Kenya's response to the COVID-19 pandemic reveals a deep-rooted socio-economic and cultural inequality when"blanket"policies are adopted without taking into consideration the tnique dynamics characterizing the society.The findings show that the effectiveness of implementing COVID-19 containment policies such as lockdowns,the cession of movement,working from home,distance learning,and social distancing are affected by other factors such as the nature of jobs,one's income levels,where someone lives,cultural beliefs,access to water,sanitation,intemet,and medical facilities.This means that a significant number of people within the society experience a double tragedy from the pandemic and impact of government response measures.Yet most of the existing literature has focused on the causes,spread,and impact of the pandemic on health institutions,economies,and public health with little emphasis on the impact on policy measures especially on the vulnerable segments of the society.This paper,therefore,looks at the question of how the various public health intervention strategies disrupt or construct the livelihood of the already complex informal settlement.It provides policymakers and researchers with a number of questions that can frame policy and research during a pandemic with important consideration to urban informality.
文摘Related to the academic topic on innovation and development of information-communication industries,a dualist distinction between formal and informal economy has drawn a lot of research interests in the academy circle in recent years.In this essay,we discussed the background of Shenzhen’s leapfrog development as a Chinese economic special zone thanks to several policy advantages and the endeavor of itself as a principal part in the framework of China’s market economy reform.Despite the problem of informal economy for citizen’s living,we mainly focused on the positive effect of Shenzhen’s informal economy as flexibility of capital-labor effective coordination.Based on the analysis of the evolution of Shenzhen’s city construction and industrial development,and the analysis on the four development stages that Shenzhen had witnessed,we expect more practical and theoretical summary of its experience for all the developing countries.
基金funded by the National Natural Science Fund of China(No.51578304)PhD Dissertation Scholarship of Urban Development and Land Policy Research Center,Peking University–Lincoln Institute of Land Policy(No.DS03-20180901-GXY)+3 种基金the National Social Science Fund of China(No.16CRK020)the Humanity and Social Science Research Youth Foundation of China’s Ministry of Education(No.15YJCZH016)the Social Science Foundation of Beijing,China(No.15SHC043)the Horizon 2020 Research&Innovation Program(No.770141)
文摘The study on informality has experienced a shift from describing the spatial characteristics toward exploring the connotation of urban governance in recent years. This paper takes urban villages in Shenzhen, a typical informal settlement in China, as cases to analyze the two urban village governance modes of redevelopment and in situ upgrading and reveals the dynamics of the governance mode transformation. Through the lens of informality, this study focuses on the interaction among the government, the market, and former property owners on tenure legalization. The study finds that first of all, informality is the core of the transformation of urban village governance in Shenzhen. By strategically making use of informality, the government adopted different modes of urban village governance to fulfill the demands of urban development at different phases. Second, in the process of formalizing informal settlements through redevelopment, although the institutional framework is relatively complete, the boundary between informality and formality still changes continuously in property titling. While in the new governance mode of in situ upgrading in recent years, the government creates "special areas" in informal settlements via approving their de facto tenure security, so as to attract market force to upgrade physical environment and social management. Through revealing the mechanism in the blurred area between informality and formality, this paper responds to the dualistic argument on the informality theory, deepens the idea of taking informality as a flexible urban governance strategy in developing countries, and provides new thoughts for governance of informal settlements in China and other developing countries.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.62572057,62272049,U24A20331)Beijing Natural Science Foundation(Grant Nos.4232026,4242020)Academic Research Projects of Beijing Union University(Grant No.ZK10202404).
文摘Traffic sign detection is a critical component of driving systems.Single-stage network-based traffic sign detection algorithms,renowned for their fast detection speeds and high accuracy,have become the dominant approach in current practices.However,in complex and dynamic traffic scenes,particularly with smaller traffic sign objects,challenges such as missed and false detections can lead to reduced overall detection accuracy.To address this issue,this paper proposes a detection algorithm that integrates edge and shape information.Recognizing that traffic signs have specific shapes and distinct edge contours,this paper introduces an edge feature extraction branch within the backbone network,enabling adaptive fusion with features of the same hierarchical level.Additionally,a shape prior convolution module is designed to replaces the first two convolutional modules of the backbone network,aimed at enhancing the model's perception ability for specific shape objects and reducing its sensitivity to background noise.The algorithm was evaluated on the CCTSDB and TT100k datasets,and compared to YOLOv8s,the mAP50 values increased by 3.0%and 10.4%,respectively,demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed method in improving the accuracy of traffic sign detection.
文摘Experimental therapies targeting immune and stromal cells,such as mast cells,cancer-associated fibroblasts,dendritic cells,and tumor endothelial cells,in the treatment of gastrointestinal solid tumors pose new and complex surgical and medico-legal challenges.These innovative treatments require that informed consent not be limited to simple acceptance of the medical procedure,but instead reflect a true relational and cognitive process grounded in understanding,free choice,and the ability to revoke consent at any time.In particular,it is essential that the patient understands the experimental nature of the therapy,its development stage,potential benefits and risks,as well as the implications for their health and personal dignity.In the case of stromal cell-based treatments,which may exert complex immunomodulatory effects or activate angiogenic pathways that are not yet fully understood,patients must be made fully aware that they are participating in a non-standardized therapy whose outcomes,whether beneficial or harmful,cannot yet be predicted with certainty.This requires particularly careful medical communication,using simple yet scientifically accurate explanations delivered in appropriate language,along with a final verification of the patient’s actual understanding.
基金funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52061020).
文摘Quantitative analysis of aluminum-silicon(Al-Si)alloy microstructure is crucial for evaluating and controlling alloy performance.Conventional analysis methods rely on manual segmentation,which is inefficient and subjective,while fully supervised deep learning approaches require extensive and expensive pixel-level annotated data.Furthermore,existing semi-supervised methods still face challenges in handling the adhesion of adjacent primary silicon particles and effectively utilizing consistency in unlabeled data.To address these issues,this paper proposes a novel semi-supervised framework for Al-Si alloy microstructure image segmentation.First,we introduce a Rotational Uncertainty Correction Strategy(RUCS).This strategy employs multi-angle rotational perturbations andMonte Carlo sampling to assess prediction consistency,generating a pixel-wise confidence weight map.By integrating this map into the loss function,the model dynamically focuses on high-confidence regions,thereby improving generalization ability while reducing manual annotation pressure.Second,we design a Boundary EnhancementModule(BEM)to strengthen boundary feature extraction through erosion difference and multi-scale dilated convolutions.This module guides the model to focus on the boundary regions of adjacent particles,effectively resolving particle adhesion and improving segmentation accuracy.Systematic experiments were conducted on the Aluminum-Silicon Alloy Microstructure Dataset(ASAD).Results indicate that the proposed method performs exceptionally well with scarce labeled data.Specifically,using only 5%labeled data,our method improves the Jaccard index and Adjusted Rand Index(ARI)by 2.84 and 1.57 percentage points,respectively,and reduces the Variation of Information(VI)by 8.65 compared to stateof-the-art semi-supervised models,approaching the performance levels of 10%labeled data.These results demonstrate that the proposed method significantly enhances the accuracy and robustness of quantitative microstructure analysis while reducing annotation costs.
文摘Submission.Papers appearing in the Journal comprise Editorials,Rapid Communications,Perspectives,Tutorials,Feature Articles,Reviews,Research Articles,which should contain original information,theoretical or experimental,on any topics in the field of polymer science and polymer material science.Papers already published or scheduled to be published elsewhere should not be submitted and certainly will not be accepted.
