524 research outputs found
Understanding the Dimensions of Education Inequality in China at Different Geographical Scales
Although education equality has been valued and frequently discussed by scholars from different disciplines, theoretical discussions and empirical studies of education equality from a geographical perspective have been somewhat limited. Since the traditional two-dimensional non-spatial framework for measuring and analysing education inequality is inadequate, the research in this thesis is based on a more comprehensive and flexible three-dimensional framework, in which geography is included as an important dimension.
China is used as the case study country to examine education inequalities at different geographical scales. At a regional scale, a multidimensional Index of Regional Education Advantage (IREA), underpinned by Amartya Sen’s capability approach, is introduced to evaluate the effectiveness of policies targeted at reducing regional/provincial educational inequalities in China since 2005. At a local scale, the thesis explores the use of geodemographics as a means of assessing potential inequality in access to compulsory education within urban areas. The thesis argues that applying an area classification, one of the first in China, allows consideration of multi-dimensional, socio-spatial influences which affect school choice within urban areas. The ideas are illustrated through a case study of Central Beijing. At the micro scale, multilevel modelling is used to reveal the influence of contextual factors and confounding individual level socio-economic characteristics on pupils’ travel distance to school in Beijing.
The results at the regional scale revealed that education in north-eastern China is better than in the south-west of the country, a pattern which lacks conformity with the eastern, middle and western macro-divisions adopted by Central Government as the basis of policy implementation. Furthermore, the social and spatial disparities in terms of access to education facilities within urban areas were also identified. This research has, for the first time, revealed education inequality in China comprehensively from a geographical perspective, and provides some unique insights and crucial policy implications of education inequalities in China at different geographical scales
Projector calibration method based on optical coaxial camera
This paper presents a novel method to accurately calibrate a DLP projector by using an optical coaxial camera to capture
the needed images. A plate beam splitter is used to make imaging axis of the CCD camera and projecting axis of the DLP
projector coaxial, so the DLP projector can be treated as a true inverse camera. A plate having discrete markers on the
surface will be designed and manufactured to calibrate the DLP projector. By projecting vertical and horizontal
sinusoidal fringe patterns on the plate surface from the projector, the absolute phase of each marker’s center can be
obtained. The corresponding projector pixel coordinate of each marker is determined from the obtained absolute phase.
The internal and external parameters of the DLP projector are calibrated by the corresponding point pair between the
projector coordinate and the world coordinate of discrete markers. Experimental results show that the proposed method
accurately obtains the parameters of the DLP projector. One advantage of the method is the calibrated internal and
external parameters have high accuracy because of uncalibrating the camera. The other is the optical coaxes geometry
gives a true inverse camera, so the calibrated parameters are more accurate than that of crossed-optical-axes, especially
the principal points and the radial distortion coefficients of the projector lens
Towards Bias Correction of FedAvg over Nonuniform and Time-Varying Communications
Federated learning (FL) is a decentralized learning framework wherein a
parameter server (PS) and a collection of clients collaboratively train a model
via minimizing a global objective. Communication bandwidth is a scarce
resource; in each round, the PS aggregates the updates from a subset of clients
only. In this paper, we focus on non-convex minimization that is vulnerable to
non-uniform and time-varying communication failures between the PS and the
clients. Specifically, in each round , the link between the PS and client
is active with probability , which is to both the
PS and the clients. This arises when the channel conditions are heterogeneous
across clients and are changing over time.
We show that when the 's are not uniform,
(FedAvg) -- the most widely adopted FL algorithm -- fails to minimize the
global objective. Observing this, we propose (FedPBC) which is a simple variant of FedAvg. It differs from
FedAvg in that the PS postpones broadcasting the global model till the end of
each round. We show that FedPBC converges to a stationary point of the original
objective. The introduced staleness is mild and there is no noticeable
slowdown. Both theoretical analysis and numerical results are provided. On the
technical front, postponing the global model broadcasts enables implicit
gossiping among the clients with active links at round . Despite 's
are time-varying, we are able to bound the perturbation of the global model
dynamics via the techniques of controlling the gossip-type information mixing
errors
KLF 15 Works as an Early Anti-Fibrotic Transcriptional Regulator in Ang II-Induced Renal Fibrosis via Down-Regulation of CTGF Expression
Measuring and assessing regional education inequalities in China under changing policy regimes
China’s uneven regional economic development and decentralisation of its education system have led to increasing regional education disparities. Here, we introduce a new multidimensional index, the Index of Regional Education Advantage (IREA), underpinned by Amartya Sen’s capability approach, to evaluate the effectiveness of policies targeted at reducing regional/provincial educational inequalities in China since 2005. The analysis of the distribution of IREA scores and the decomposition of the index reveals that education in north-eastern China is better than in the south-west part of the country, a pattern which lacks conformity with the eastern, middle and western macro-divisions adopted by Central Government as the basis of policy implementation. In addition, the education of migrant children and the low transfer rate into high schools are identified as key issues requiring Government attention
Advanced liposome-loaded scaffolds for therapeutic and tissue engineering applications
Liposome is one of the most commonly used drug delivery systems in the world, due to its excellent biocompatibility, satisfactory ability in controlling drug release, and passive targeting capability. However, some drawbacks limit the application of liposomes in clinical, such as problems in transporting, storing, and difficulties in maintaining the drug concentration in the local area. Scaffolds usually are used as implants to supply certain mechanical supporting to the defective area or utilized as diagnosis and imaging methods. But, in general, unmodified scaffolds show limited abilities in promoting tissue regeneration and treating diseases. Therefore, liposome-scaffold composite systems are designed to take advantages of both liposomes’ biocompatibility and scaffolds’ strength to provide a novel system that is more suitable for clinical applications. This review introduces and discusses different types of liposomes and scaffolds, and also the application of liposome-scaffold composite systems in different diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, skin-related diseases, infection and human immunodeficiency virus, and in tissue regeneration like bone, teeth, spinal cord and wound healing.Peer reviewe
Visualizing the elongated vortices in -Ga nanostrips
We study the magnetic response of superconducting -Ga via low
temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. The magnetic vortex
cores rely substantially on the Ga geometry, and exhibit an unexpectedly-large
axial elongation with aspect ratio up to 40 in rectangular Ga nano-strips
(width 100 nm). This is in stark contrast with the isotropic circular
vortex core in a larger round-shaped Ga island. We suggest that the unusual
elongated vortices in Ga nanostrips originate from geometric confinement effect
probably via the strong repulsive interaction between the vortices and Meissner
screening currents at the sample edge. Our finding provides novel conceptual
insights into the geometrical confinement effect on magnetic vortices and forms
the basis for the technological applications of superconductors.Comment: published in Phys. Rev. B as a Rapid Communicatio
GPR48-Induced keratinocyte proliferation occurs through HB-EGF mediated EGFR transactivation
AbstractGPR48 can mediate keratinocyte proliferation and migration. Our investigations showed that AG1478, an inhibitor of EGFR tyrosine kinase, could block GPR48-mediated cellular processes. AG1478 treatment of Gpr48+/+ cells also decreased phosphorylation of EGFR, ERK and STAT3. Subsequent screening using conditioned media immunodepleted of EGFR ligands identified HB-EGF as the ligand responsible for phosphorylation of EGFR, ERK and STAT3. HB-EGF was reduced in Gpr48−/− cell culture medium, but its addition restored the phosphorylation of EGFR, ERK, STAT3, as well as cell proliferation. Confirmation that GPR48 mediates EGFR signaling pathway through HB-EGF was subsequently performed using an inhibitor of HB-EGF
Single-walled carbon nanohorn (SWNH) aggregates inhibited proliferation of human liver cell lines and promoted apoptosis, especially for hepatoma cell lines
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