What Advances Effective Community-Driven Development? A Cultural Perspective of Gender Mainstreaming and Self-Organization in Rural China

The international development agencies and the Chinese government have become increasingly more aware of the importance of bottom-up community-driven development. Some scholars argue that the problems for community-driven development in China are mainly because of the lack of favorable policy environment and effective monitoring mechanisms. The research in this dissertation does not intend to deny the importance of those factors. The goal of this work, however, is to offer perspectives that can help organizations at all levels and of different sectors to understand the importance of embracing and integrating the local culture into development policy making and program designing. To achieve effective community-driven development, the policy makers and practitioners should first understand and respect the culture and interests of the beneficiaries. Instead of addressing institutaional and structural development issues as "hardware", this research takes a cultural perspective as "software" to contribute to the existing literature of this field. To achieve effective community-driven development in China, partnership and cooperation between different players is crucial. Culture, both as means and ends of development, is an important factor that bonds them together. Emphasizing the significnace of gender roles and responsibilities, a gendered perspective of community development in China is presented in this research. This research also refers to theories of Complex Adaptive Systems and Self-organization mechanisms, which explain how complex, adaptive macro behavior emerges from simple, local micro decisions and how simple agents collectively solve difficult problems. The roles of community, government, and NGOs [domestic and international] in this development process will be addressed here. During the author's field study in the rural areas of China in the summer of 2007, data was collected through participatory observation, interviews, and focus groups with multiple stakeholders involved in the community-driven development programs in China. This work highlights the opportunities and challenges for effective community-driven development in China. Based upon the analysis, this research also offers policy implications for different stakeholders

ACIL: Analytic Class-Incremental Learning with Absolute Memorization and Privacy Protection

Class-incremental learning (CIL) learns a classification model with training data of different classes arising progressively. Existing CIL either suffers from serious accuracy loss due to catastrophic forgetting, or invades data privacy by revisiting used exemplars. Inspired by linear learning formulations, we propose an analytic class-incremental learning (ACIL) with absolute memorization of past knowledge while avoiding breaching of data privacy (i.e., without storing historical data). The absolute memorization is demonstrated in the sense that class-incremental learning using ACIL given present data would give identical results to that from its joint-learning counterpart which consumes both present and historical samples. This equality is theoretically validated. Data privacy is ensured since no historical data are involved during the learning process. Empirical validations demonstrate ACIL's competitive accuracy performance with near-identical results for various incremental task settings (e.g., 5-50 phases). This also allows ACIL to outperform the state-of-the-art methods for large-phase scenarios (e.g., 25 and 50 phases).Comment: published in NeurIPS 202

Mitigating Memorization of Noisy Labels by Clipping the Model Prediction

In the presence of noisy labels, designing robust loss functions is critical for securing the generalization performance of deep neural networks. Cross Entropy (CE) loss has been shown to be not robust to noisy labels due to its unboundedness. To alleviate this issue, existing works typically design specialized robust losses with the symmetric condition, which usually lead to the underfitting issue. In this paper, our key idea is to induce a loss bound at the logit level, thus universally enhancing the noise robustness of existing losses. Specifically, we propose logit clipping (LogitClip), which clamps the norm of the logit vector to ensure that it is upper bounded by a constant. In this manner, CE loss equipped with our LogitClip method is effectively bounded, mitigating the overfitting to examples with noisy labels. Moreover, we present theoretical analyses to certify the noise-tolerant ability of LogitClip. Extensive experiments show that LogitClip not only significantly improves the noise robustness of CE loss, but also broadly enhances the generalization performance of popular robust losses.Comment: Accepted by ICML 202

Intraoperative application of regional cerebral oxygen saturation monitoring for geriatric patients in China: a survey

BackgroundRegional cerebral oxygen saturation (rSO2) monitoring is a real-time and non-invasive technique for estimating the balance of regional cerebral oxygen supply and consumption. Despite the growing popularity of this monitoring technique, data regarding outcome benefits remain sparse and contradictory. This study was conducted to explore the popularity and understanding of cerebral oxygen saturation monitoring during anesthesia in geriatric patients.MethodsAn online self-report questionnaire was distributed in March 2021 to various hospitals in China for dissemination to anesthesiologists. Questions surveyed cerebral oximetry equipment and utilization, demographics, and clinical practice of participants.ResultsIn total, 447 anesthesiologists responded. Of these, 301 (67.3%) respondents reported that their hospitals were equipped with cerebral oximetry, which 274 anesthesiologists use during anesthesia. A high percentage of anesthesiologists chose to monitor rSO2 during cardiac surgery (77.4%, n = 212) and neurosurgery (40.5%, n = 111). Most anesthesiologists agreed that a 30% reduction from the rSO2 baseline requires intervention to avoid cerebral ischemia, mainly via elevating arterial pressure and fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2). Of those without cerebral oximetry, 138 of 146 (94.5%) anesthesiologists were willing to monitor rSO2. In addition, 291 respondents believed that cerebral oxygen monitoring would help prevent postoperative cognitive dysfunction.ConclusionOur survey indicated that the prevalence of cerebral oximetry remains relatively low, while almost all anesthesiologists expressed their willingness to use rSO2 monitoring in geriatric anesthesia. Heterogeneity in clinical practice was identified, indicating relevant knowledge gaps that should encourage further clinical research to optimize treatment

Risk factors for cerebrovascular disease mortality among the elderly in Beijing: A competing risk analysis

Objective: To examine the associations of combined lifestyle factors and physical conditions with cerebrovascular diseases (CBVD) mortality, after accounting for competing risk events, including death from cardiovascular diseases, cancers and other diseases. Methods: Data on 2010 subjects aged over 55 years were finally analyzed using competing risk models. All the subjects were interviewed by the Beijing Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), in China, between 1 January 1992 and 30 August 2009. Results: Elderly females were at a lower risk of death from CBVD than elderly males (HR = 0.639, 95% CI = 0.457-0.895). Increasing age (HR = 1.543, 95% CI = 1.013-2.349), poor self-rated health (HR = 1.652, 95% CI = 1.198-2.277), hypertension (HR = 2.201, 95% CI = 1.524-3.178) and overweight (HR = 1.473, 95% CI = 1.013-2.142) or obesity (HR = 1.711, 95% CI = 1.1754-2.490) was associated with higher CBVD mortality risk. Normal cognition function (HR = 0.650, 95% CI = 0.434-0.973) and living in urban (HR = 0.456, 95% CI = 0.286-0.727) was associated with lower CBVD mortality risk. Gray\u27s test also confirmed the cumulative incidence (CIF) of CBVD was lower in the \u27married\u27 group than those without spouse, and the mortality was lowest in the \u27nutrition sufficient\u27 group among the \u27frequent consumption of meat group\u27 and the \u27medial type group\u27 (P valu

Anti-angiogenic therapy or immunotherapy? A real-world study of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR/HER2 exon 20 insertion mutations

BackgroundFor patients with EGFR/HER2 exon20 insertions, platinum-containing double-drug chemotherapy is still the standard treatment method. First-generation TKIs have almost no therapeutic activity against EGFR exon 20 insertions. The efficacy of second-and third-generation TKIs is still controversial. Immunotherapy research is scarce, and there is an urgent need for more evidence and new treatment options for this group of patients.MethodsWe reviewed patients with advanced NSCLC with EGFR/HER2 exon 20 insertion mutations treated in Shanghai Chest Hospital and Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital from 2015 to 2022 and assessed the efficacy of receiving chemotherapy, anti-angiogenic therapy and immunotherapy, including objective response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR), and compared progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS).ResultsOf the 126 patients included in the study, 51 patients had EGFR20ins mutations and 7 5 patients had HER2-20ins mutations. In the first-line treatment, bevacizumab + chemotherapy (Beva+Chemo), ICI+chemotherapy (ICI+Chemo), compared with chemotherapy alone (Chemo), ORR: 40% vs 33.3% vs 15% (p=0.0168); DCR: 84% vs 80.9% vs 67.5% (p=0.1817); median PFS: 8.3 vs 7.0 vs 4.6 months (p=0.0032), ICI+Chemo has a trend of benefiting on OS. Stratified analysis showed that compared with chemotherapy, ICI+Chemo was more effective for EGFR20ins mutation with median PFS: 10.3 vs. 6.3m (P=0.013); Beva+Chemo was more effective for HER2-20ins mutation, with a median PFS: 6.6 vs. 4.3m (p=0.030). In the second-line treatment of EGFR20ins mutation, bevacizumab + chemotherapy has a significant advantage in PFS compared with targeted therapy, median PFS:10.8 vs 4.0 months (P=0.016).ConclusionFor patients with EGFR20ins mutation, compared to chemotherapy, ICI+Chemo prolongs PFS, and after chemotherapy progression, bevacizumab combined with chemotherapy seems better than Furmonertinib-based targeted therapy on PFS. For HER2-20ins mutation, Beva+Chemo may be a better choice

Crop Diversity for Yield Increase

Traditional farming practices suggest that cultivation of a mixture of crop species in the same field through temporal and spatial management may be advantageous in boosting yields and preventing disease, but evidence from large-scale field testing is limited. Increasing crop diversity through intercropping addresses the problem of increasing land utilization and crop productivity. In collaboration with farmers and extension personnel, we tested intercropping of tobacco, maize, sugarcane, potato, wheat and broad bean – either by relay cropping or by mixing crop species based on differences in their heights, and practiced these patterns on 15,302 hectares in ten counties in Yunnan Province, China. The results of observation plots within these areas showed that some combinations increased crop yields for the same season between 33.2 and 84.7% and reached a land equivalent ratio (LER) of between 1.31 and 1.84. This approach can be easily applied in developing countries, which is crucial in face of dwindling arable land and increasing food demand

Association between actual weight status, perceived weight and depressive, anxious symptoms in Chinese adolescents: a cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Backgroud</p> <p>The purpose of this study was to describe actual measured weight and perceived weight and to explore associations with depressive, anxiety symptoms in school adolescents in China.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A sample of 1144 Chinese adolescents was randomly selected from four schools in Wuhan, China, including 665 boys and 479 girls with ages ranging between 10 and 17 years. Actual measured weight and height and perceived weight status were compared to anxiety and depressive symptoms measured using the revised Self-Rating Anxiety Scale and Children's Depression Inventory. A general linear model was used to compare differences in psychological symptoms among the teenagers with different measured and perceived weights.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>When compared with standardized weight tables (WHO age- and gender-specific body mass index (BMI) cutoffs (2007 reference)), girls were more likely to misperceive themselves as overweight, whereas more boys misclassified their weight status as underweight. The adolescents who perceived themselves as overweight were more likely to experience depressive and anxiety symptoms (except girls) than those who perceived themselves as normal and/or underweight. However, no significant association was found between depressive and anxiety symptoms actual measured weight status.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Perceived weight status, but not the actual weight status, was associated with psychological symptoms.</p

Comparison of Five Calcified Structures for Estimating the Age of Bream Abramis brama (L.) from the Irtysh River in China

We compared five calcified structures (scale, otolith, vertebra, cleithrum, and opercular bone) for estimating the age of bream Abramis brama (L.) from the Irtysh River in China. Otoliths consistently had the clearest marks, highest confidence scores, highest between-reader agreement (91.63%), and lowest CVs. Cleithra provided the second-highest between-reader agreement (88.65%) and highest agreement (66.08%) with otoliths. Scales and vertebrae yielded equivalent age estimates that were lower than those from otoliths and cleithra, but the estimates of A. brama older than 11 years were consistently underestimated using scales and vertebrae. Opercular bone was inferior to other structures for aging A. brama. Opercular bones resulted in the lowest between-reader agreement (84.68%), lowest agreement with otoliths (62.33%), and highest CVs. According to these findings, we recommend the use of ground otoliths for estimating the age of A. brama when an accurate age structure assessment is required, and recommend scales if a nonlethal procedure is needed for age estimation in order to analyze simple population metrics of A. brama

Research on the Interactive Coupling Relationship between Land Space Development and Eco-Environment from the Perspective of Symbiosis: A Practical Analysis of Henan, China

As a key issue in China&rsquo;s sustainable development, land space development (LSD) creates increasing pressure on the environment. Thus, a better understanding of the relationship between LSD and the eco-environment is necessary for Chinese policymakers to realize sustainable high-quality development. LSD and the eco-environment are closely related and mutually dependent, and the coupling coordination pattern between LSD and the eco-environment has great significance to promoting high-quality development and ecological civilization construction in the region. This study highlights the equilibrium between LSD and ecological protection and introduces symbiosis theory to measure the degree of coordinated and symbiotic development in the Henan province, using data from 2000&ndash;2018. The coupling coordination degree model was used to evaluate the coupling coordination relationship of spatial&ndash;temporal patterns and development type characteristics. The evaluated results show that there are regional gradient differences in the level of LSD and the eco-environment, and the coupling coordination degree of LSD and the eco-environment in the Henan province are in the bare coordination stage and on the verge of imbalance at present. In addition, the spatial correlation pattern between LSD and the eco-environment was discussed. It is proposed that there is a positive correlation between the coupling coordination degree of LSD and the eco-environment. Moreover, this study suggested implementing a scientific and high-quality development path of land space, reasonably coordinating the social, economic, and eco-environment of the Henan province, then promoting regional sustainable development