Spectral Unmixing via Data-guided Sparsity

Hyperspectral unmixing, the process of estimating a common set of spectral bases and their corresponding composite percentages at each pixel, is an important task for hyperspectral analysis, visualization and understanding. From an unsupervised learning perspective, this problem is very challenging---both the spectral bases and their composite percentages are unknown, making the solution space too large. To reduce the solution space, many approaches have been proposed by exploiting various priors. In practice, these priors would easily lead to some unsuitable solution. This is because they are achieved by applying an identical strength of constraints to all the factors, which does not hold in practice. To overcome this limitation, we propose a novel sparsity based method by learning a data-guided map to describe the individual mixed level of each pixel. Through this data-guided map, the $\ell_{p}(0<p<1)$ constraint is applied in an adaptive manner. Such implementation not only meets the practical situation, but also guides the spectral bases toward the pixels under highly sparse constraint. What's more, an elegant optimization scheme as well as its convergence proof have been provided in this paper. Extensive experiments on several datasets also demonstrate that the data-guided map is feasible, and high quality unmixing results could be obtained by our method

Analysis of 116 cases of rectal cancer treated by transanal local excision

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this research was to evaluate the therapeutic effects and prognostic factors of transanal local excision (TAE) for rectal cancer. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 116 cases that underwent TAE for rectal cancer from 1995 to 2008. A Cox regression analysis was used to analyze prognostic factors. RESULTS: The survival times for the patients were from 14 to 160.5 months (median time, 58.5 months). The 5-year and 10-year overall survival rates were 72% and 53%, respectively. In all 16 cases experienced local recurrence (13.8%). Pathological type, recurrence or metastasis, and depth of infiltration (T stage) were the prognostic factors according to the univariate analysis, and the latter two were independent factors affecting patient prognosis. For patients with T1 stage who underwent adjuvant radiotherapy, there was no local recurrence; for those in T2 stage, the local recurrence rate was 14.6%. In addition, there was no difference between the patients who received radiotherapy and those who did not (T1: P = 0.260, T2: P = 0.262 for survival rate and T1: P = 0.480, T2: P = 0.560 for recurrence). CONCLUSIONS: The result of TAE for rectal cancer is satisfactory for T1 stage tumors, but it is not suitable for T2 stage tumors

Introduction of the Household Responsibility System in Contemporary China

This article contributes to the debate regarding the origin of the Household Responsibility System (HRS) in rural China. We argue that the HRS is a social and political construction which is not merely a response to underlying economic forces. Its evolution shows the significant role of politics in shaping economic performance through defining and enforcing economic rules. The establishment of HRS is neither topdown nor bottom-up. In contrast, it is an interaction between peasants, local officials, and central authorities. This article investigates the political process of the institutionalization of the HRS from its inception—the experiment of Xiaogang village in 1978—which solved the competing interests of the state, local authorities and peasants. The origin of the development of HRS property rights can be traced to a group of Chinese peasants who sought to improve their lives and manage the rules and regulations to which they were bound. The local authorities and later central government were convinced to support this radical change from the Commune System because of its positive economic and social effects, promoting spectacular economic growth and a massive reduction in rural poverty. This research, modelling China’s polities in the evolution of the HRS is an attempt to contribute to the new political economy (institutional economics applied to politics) that has been largely focused on the United States. A better understanding of the reform process in China and its varied consequences may be useful for the analysis and critique of reform efforts in developing countries that are in earlier or similar stages of rural transformation

Professionalism, Leadership and Innovation in Countering the Covid-19 Pandemic: Case Studies of Four Chinese Doctors

This article aims to contribute to literature on leadership and leadership development through reviewing China’s early response to the Covid-19 pandemic. In this article, we argue that leadership, professionalism and innovation have been essential in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. These qualities made a considerable difference in this critical situation and played a prominent role in the containment of the Covid-19 virus. We illustrate this by documenting the performance of four Chinese doctors at different stages of the outbreak in Wuhan. These medical professionals were Dr Jixian Zhang who reported the new disease; Dr Yongzhen Zhang, who identified the pathogen behind the outbreak; Dr Nanshan Zhong, who publicized the human-to-human transition and helped the government to put in place significant measures to reduce its impact; and Dr Chen Wang, who proposed and implemented Fangcang shelter hospitals to solve the shortage of hospital beds in Wuhan. They demonstrated that they had the essential traits of leadership-honesty, intelligence, decisiveness but also compassion. We explore the events in China at the start of the pandemic in light of the fact that there are growing signs of conflicting views of what happened when the virus was recognised as a new pathogen

The Nature of Property in Modern Capitalism. Review article of Property in Contemporary Capitalism, (2024) by Paddy Ireland

In a thought-provoking and important new book, Property in Contemporary Capitalism, Paddy Ireland explores the nature of property in contemporary capitalism. Most analyses of property, he argues, including those offered by property theorists, fail to grasp the empirical realities of modern property, tending instead to offer ideologically loaded accounts which fail, amongst other things, to uncover property's social relational and class dimensions. Moreover, he suggests, recent developments in property theory-the rejection of so-called 'bundles-of-rights' conceptions of property and the emergence of neo-Blackstonian 'new essentialist' conceptions that see property in terms of simple person-thing relations (thing-ownership)-are regressive, impeding rather than furthering understanding. Certain forms of property-in particular, property which is used as capital (property-as-capital), much of which is intangible in nature-can only be fully understood when viewed as a social (and class) relation. In making these arguments, Ireland outlines an alternative approach to the study and understanding of property which draws on many disciplines, including law, history, anthropology, political economy and critical finance. In doing this, he reveals important connections between disparate phenomena. Arguing that different sets of property relations and rights structures generate different, historically specific, economic and social dynamics, he suggests that today's 'polycrisis' is in significant part a product of the logic of process generated by our property system and the extension and intensification of that logic brought about by the legal and policy changes to property rights structures over the last half century-in particular, the financial liberalisation and privatisations associated with neoliberalism