Search

The watercolor painting on the pith paper has very important art value and historical worth as one kind of exported art work in Guangzhou in modern China. This article interpreted the features of aristocrat and folk women in Cantonese district in 18th - 19th century, based on typical women's images in watercolor painting on the pith paper. The author summarized and refined the artistic characteristics of their dress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of the trade in artists' materials in Canton between 1750 and 1842. Through an investigation of China's foreign trade archives and records, this study gives a picture of international trade in artists' materials, particularly pigments, during this period in Canton. Furthermore, it reveals a close trade in Western modern pigments between the West and China. The results of this research may be helpful to conservators and conservation scientists conducting treatments or technical studies on Chinese export paintings of this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to recommend an adjusted Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Removed (SEIR) model that characterizes the temporal patterns of various individuals affected by the omicron variant in an epidemic. This model considers factors such as vaccination, asymptomatic cases, indoor and outdoor air, hospitalizations, and deaths, as well as the impact of immunization and memory trace. While many recent studies overlook the complexities of multiple strains, including their diverse transmission rates and reaction to vaccines, this study introduces a new fractional derivative model to examine the spread of the omicron variant of COVID-19 and the implementation of a vaccination campaign. A thorough theoretical analysis is conducted, and the critical factor (R c r n z) is calculated using the model equations. It is demonstrated that when R c r n z is less than 1, the disease-free state is globally asymptotically stable, meaning that the epidemic diminishes. Moreover, the stability of both global and local equilibrium points is examined. Numerical simulations are employed to demonstrate the alignment between the numerical findings and theoretical characteristics. The model is adjusted to experimental data that reflect the progression of the omicron variant of COVID-19 in Guangzhou, exhibiting a satisfactory performance in predicting the number of infected individuals, thereby suggesting its capability to accurately estimate asymptomatic cases. Furthermore, to emphasize the benefits of employing fractional differential equations, the paper provides examples related to memory trace and hereditary characteristics. Moreover, the examined models are expected to be applied and expanded upon in order to contribute to the formulation of policies for disease control during times of limited vaccine availability. To summarize, the model appears to be a sufficient tool for researching and managing infectious diseases. It is projected that as the Omicron variant's prevalence declines, there will be a reduced need for respiratory-focused precautions. • An SVEIAOPHRD model is put forward to mathematically analyze the spread of the omicron variation of COVID-19. • Mathematical criteria for determining the stability of the equilibria are established. • An efficient nonstandard approach for resolving the continuous problem is suggested and examined. • The numerical simulations validate the analytical and numerical outcomes depicted in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Harbin Institute of Technology. Social Sciences Edition / Haerbin Gongye Daxue Xuebao. Shehui Kexue Ban is the property of Harbin Institute of Technology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Pregled is the property of University of Sarajevo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Alternative food networks (AFNs) have been viewed as being more deeply embedded in the fabric of places and the social relations of their food systems than conventional food networks, and have been regarded as 'spaces of hope' for addressing sustainability challenges associated with global food systems. This paper argues that embeddedness, however, is contingent and shifting rather than an intrinsic quality, and is shaped by the cultures of production, trade, and consumption in particular places. This paper evaluates challenges that emerging AFNs in Guangzhou, China, are confronting relating to their embeddedness in place. The paper is underpinned by research involving interviews and focus groups with key food system actors and stakeholders in Guangzhou, including government officials, organic farmers, retailers, and non-governmental organizations. It demonstrates that AFNs in Guangzhou achieve only 'fragmentary embeddedness' in local cultures and systems of production, retail, and consumption. Despite strong social relationships established by a few successful farms and their loyal consumer groups, AFNs more broadly have struggled to embed themselves in the social and cultural fabric of the city and its commercial foodscapes. In terms of territorial embeddedness, the association of AFNs with western values, which do not always translate into Guangzhou's production and retail systems, can limit their embeddedness and scaling up in this context. The split between 'new' farmers (i.e., educated and urban-rooted producers 'returning to the land') and common farmers (i.e., local peasants) further exacerbates the difficulty of integrating AFNs in rural communities. Regarding social embeddedness, AFNs struggle to meet local consumer preferences regarding food appearances, quality, and taste, and therefore consumer trust in them is limited. In terms of institutional embeddedness, AFNs lack government policy support, despite the alignment of their missions with national strategies. More efforts are needed to deepen the embeddedness of AFNs in Guangzhou's food system and cultures if they are to respond effectively to China's food crisis and wider sustainability issues. • The embeddedness of Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) is not given, but rather is constantly generated and changing. • AFNs in Guangzhou achieve only 'fragmentary embeddedness' in local cultures and systems of production, retail, and consumption. • The split between 'new' farmers and common farmers exacerbates the difficulty of integrating AFNs in rural communities. • Different food values between AFN initiators and general consumers limit the mutual trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the consequences of intra-urban migration have received wide attention, few studies have elucidated whether and how processes of intra-urban migration are associated with perceptions of neighborhood cohesion. This paper tries to extend the literature on neighborhood cohesion by explicitly incorporating the experience of past intra-urban residential moves into multilevel analysis based on a large-scale survey undertaken in Guangzhou. The results reveal that features of intra-urban migration (e.g., tenure shift, change in housing type and frequencies of intra-urban residential movement) have discernible effects on four different dimensions of neighborhood cohesion: Social solidarity, neighborly acquaintance, social trust and informal social control. The findings not only contribute to a more refined understanding of intra-urban migration influences, but also suggest considering a more exhaustive measure of residential history in future explanations of neighborhood cohesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pneumonia is the leading cause of death worldwide for children under 5 years of age. For pneumonia diagnosis, chest X-rays are examined by trained radiologists. However, this process is tedious and time-consuming. Biomedical image diagnosis techniques show great potential in medical image examination. A model for the identification of pneumonia, trained on chest X-ray images, has been proposed in this paper. The compound scaled ResNet50, which is the upscaled version of ResNet50, has been used in this paper. ResNet50 is a multilayer layer convolution neural network having residual blocks. As it was very difficult to obtain a sufficiently large dataset for detection tasks, data augmentation techniques were used to increase the training dataset. Transfer learning is also used while training the models. The proposed model could help in detecting the disease and can assist the radiologists in their clinical decision-making process. The model was evaluated and statistically validated to overfitting and generalization errors. Different scores, such as testing accuracy, F1, recall, precision and AUC score, were computed to check the efficacy of the proposed model. The proposed model attained a test accuracy of 98.14% and an AUC score of 99.71 on the test data from the Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center pneumonia dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors describe district-specific disability-adjusted life-year (DALY) of lung cancer attributable to ambient particulate matter < 2.5 um in diameter (PM2.5) for Guangzhou city in China, so as to help prioritizing environmental health action from geospatial perspective. Comparative risk assessment and satellite-derived PM2.5 concentrations were used to investigate the spatial-temporal distribution of DALY attributable to ambient PM2.5 for lung cancer. Integrated exposure-response model and kriging model were constructed based on estimated relative risk (RR) from risk assessment. Annual mean PM2.5 increased by 25.9% from 2010 (71.1 ug/m3) to 2013 (89.5 ug/m3). Estimated RRs ranged from 1.37 (95% uncertainty interval [UI]: 1.04 ~ 1.86) to 1.99 (95% UI: 1.12 ~ 3.19) among the districts. For lung cancer, DALY attributable to PM2.5 increased by 26.8% from 2010 to 2013, reaching 43352.7 DALYs (95% UI: 8157.9 ~ 62371.7) in 2013. The paper showed that population residing in highly-polluted and aged districts might suffer a higher relative risk for developing lung cancer. Our validated analysis framework also showed that population suffered from a higher loss of lung cancer DALYs, partly due to the higher PM2.5 exposure in some subareas within the city. We reveal that ambient PM2.5 pollution contributed substantially to lung cancer burden, both locally and sub-locally. These results suggest the need for enhanced environmental health policies in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A questionnaire which provides desirable reliability and validity has been previously developed to assess the disease awareness of diagnosed chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. However, conventional paper questionnaires often have disadvantages, including recall bias. To substantially improve this, we therefore aimed to explore the feasibility of developing a smartphone-based electronic version (e-version) based upon its original paper version and subsequently tested its validity, reliability, and applicability. A pilot study was conducted at Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine in Guangzhou, China, during August 2019. The e-version had identical content to the paper version and was adapted in terms of layout and assisted functions via the Wechat-incorporated Wen-Juan-Xing platform. Eligible patients with diagnosed CKD were invited to participate and were assigned the e-version. Randomly selected respondents received a test-retest of the same e-version 2 weeks after their first completion. In some instances, psychometric properties, including validity and reliability of the e-version, were examined. In others, its clinical application was also tested, which included comparisons among the clinical profiles of patients who had/had not responded to the questionnaire as well as patients with above or below average questionnaire scores. Of the 225 patients screened, 217 were enrolled to participate, with a response rate of 52.5%. Desirable reliability (Cronbachα = 0.962, ICC for total scores = 0.948), while good convergent validity (Cronbachα = 0.962) and low discriminant validity (one extracted component), of the e-version were detected. Performing inter-group comparisons highlighted statistical differences in terms of higher education level (z = −2.436, P = 0.015) and earlier CKD stages (z = −1.978, P = 0.048), with these patients often preferring to respond. No significant differences were detected in the clinical profiles between respondents who obtained an above or below average questionnaire score. The e-version is reliable but was not shown to be a valid approach. Audiences with higher education levels and less advanced disease condition may prefer to respond to the e-version. Adaptation of this e-questionnaire, from its original paper version, may not be a direct transition and meticulous modifications may be required during the transition process. Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR1900024633). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective and automated detection of pneumonia represents a serious challenge in medical imaging, because the signs of the illness are not obvious in CT or X-ray scans. Further on, it is also an important task, since millions of people die of pneumonia every year. The main goal of this paper is to propose a solution for the above mentioned problem, using a novel deep neural network architecture. The proposed novelty consists in the use of dropout in the convolutional part of the network. The proposed method was trained and tested on a set of 5856 labeled images available at one of Kaggle's many medical imaging challenges. The chest X-ray images (anterior-posterior) were selected from retrospective cohorts of pediatric patients, aged between one and five years, from Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou, China. Results achieved by our network would have placed first in the Kaggle competition with the following metrics: 97.2% accuracy, 97.3% recall, 97.4% precision and AUC = 0.982 , and they are competitive with current state-of-the-art solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In tandem with rapid urbanization in China, the loss of farmland has become a critical problem, as farmland is related to food security and urban ecological system. The local governments of Guangzhou have adopted transfer of development rights (TDR) to protect the Ecological Fruit Park (EFP) of Guangzhou city from destruction by local farmers. The TDR programmes in China are often driven by economic development in the name of ecological protection, however lacking attention to individual development demands and benefits leads to respective implementation failure. This paper examines the TDR programme of EFP in Guangzhou and argues that the TDR of EFP have prioritized ecological concerns and social stability, and especially individual benefit is crucial for the implementation. Based on an in-depth study of the EFP, this paper argues that the core principle of the TDR on collective-owned farmland is the realization of landowners' development rights. This paper also finds that there are three main factors leading to the successful implementation of conservation projects: strong public subsidies, core location of the farmland and strong motivation of the government. This paper thus suggests that local governments should seek an alternative approach of TDR to protect farmland lacking the above-mentioned three main factors. • Since the loss of farmlands has become a national problem of China, the government of Guangzhou have adopted transfer of development rights (TDR) to protect farmlands. While many scholars have considered that TDR in China is driven by economic development in the name of ecological protection, lacking attention to individual development demands and benefits, this paper examines the TDR programme of the Guangzhou Ecological Fruit Park (EFP) and argues that certain TDR efforts in China have prioritized ecological concerns and social stability, and that individual benefit is crucial to the implementation. The core principle of TDR on collective-owned farmland is the realization of landowners' development rights. and the three main factors of the successful implementation of conservation projects are strong public subsidies, core location of the farmland and strong motivation of the government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Civilisations is the property of Institut de Sociologie - ULB and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Prior research on urban form typologies has largely relied on qualitative classification methods, resulting in subjective and limited analyses. Recently, the emerging data-intensive studies often use a single clustering algorithm and parameter setting, raising concerns about the reliability of the findings. This paper introduces a novel clustering analytical framework for conducting typological studies on urban form that yield stable and reliable results. We employ clustering ensembles, which can combine multiple clustering algorithms to further provide a comprehensible output that facilitates interpretation and knowledge generation. By applying the new framework using 3D building data in Guangzhou, we identify eight typologies of urban built forms and reveal a consistent polycentric pattern across different clustering algorithms and parameter settings. The findings have implications for urban land use planning and regulations by integrating 3D representations of urban form. • A novel clustering analytical framework for studying urban built form is developed. • The proposed framework utilizes clustering ensembles to yield stable results. • The results identified eight distinct typologies of built forms of Guangzhou. • The proposed clustering analytical framework can be applied to other urban research settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A GIS-based two-stage assessment method for DCS implementation is proposed. • Three novel DCS evaluation indicators to build GIS layers are proposed. • The distribution of cooling demand in China at a resolution of 1 km² is mapped. • The potential zones for DCS implementation in Guangzhou are assessed. • The impact of population changes on potential zones assessment is investigated. The district cooling system (DCS) is seen as a promising cooling solution for its flexibility and high efficiency. Identifying suitable zones for DCS construction is one of the major challenges in implementing DCS, as the characteristics of the selected zones significantly impact the performance and benefits of DCS. This paper presents a geographic information system (GIS) based two-stage assessment method to rapidly determine potential zones for DCS from a large-scale. Firstly, employing a top-down method to spatially assess cooling demand. Secondly, three novel indicators (R C I , R d a y , R c a p) for DCS cooling intensity, cooling duration, and capacity utilization rate evaluation are proposed, and a multi-criteria decision-making method is applied to identify potential zones for DCS implementation. Based on the proposed method, the cooling demand in China is mapped. Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing, and Shenzhen are identified as the four cities with the highest cooling demand. Furthermore, the potential zones for DCS in Guangzhou are assessed. The results indicate that zones with the highest potential exhibit high robustness against weight uncertainty and are primarily concentrated in densely populated areas. The proposed indicators and method could provide support for macro-level planning of DCS to effectively improve the decision-making efficiency. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effective resistance and rapid recovery from external environmental risks has risen to be a social challenge in the accelerated urbanization process of China. However, the current measures for urban high-rise and high-density core area with high-volume pedestrians and high pollution are often focused on one-dimensional means, which cannot meet the multi-objective demands simultaneously. Therefore, this paper is aimed to explore a prevention-oriented route - a vertical pedestrian system for high-rise buildings based on scheme phase, with multiple objectives optimization of strengthening the ability of ecological order restoration and assisting occupants in recovering psychological and physiological injury from high-density environment in a relative fast speed. The feasibility and effectiveness have been verified by a complete technology route of scheme selection, numerical simulation and field measurements. The results show that, first, after the integration of secondary ground pedestrian system (SGPS) basic unit, the average predicted mean vote (PMV) improves 75.45%, the average air temperature declines 2.75 °C, and the average spatial integration increases 35.35%. Second, the optimal range of unit height difference in SGPS under hot-humid climate condition is suggested to be 6–9 storeys. Third, compared with single-sided "E-type" connection, the thermal comfort improves 70.49% and the indoor average PMV is optimized by 2.56%, with a more stable wind speed by using bilateral alternating "S-type" connection. Finally, compared with connections among low-integrated secondary ground units, the average integration is up to 6.98% with visual and path links of high-integrated-orientation. This paper objectively answers the question of whether and to what extent the combination of vertical greening and walking system contributes to ecological order restoration, which provides a new orientation for exploring the routes of maintaining urban ecological stability and optimizing environmental structure. • It evaluates the effect of SGPS on the high-rise and high-density environment. • It analyzes SGPS's effects from a multi-objective perspective. • The SPGS plays a positive role in environmental regulation and health promotion. • The union of walking system and ventilating shaft effectively integrate resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antibiotics are causing widespread concern as one of the emerging contaminants. There is the abuse of antibiotics in high-density open aquaculture, and the tailwater is often discharged into surrounding rivers. At the same time, the water replenishment of open aquaculture ponds from nearby rivers containing antibiotic contamination from different sources may result in cross-contamination. However, it is still unclear which pollution intensity is greater in rivers or in open aquaculture. So in this paper, the levels of 20 antibiotics (i.e., Fluoroquinolones (FQs), Sulfonamides (SAs), Tetracyclines (TCs), Macrolides (MLs) and Lincosamides (LCs)) in rivers and high-density open aquaculture ponds were investigated in the Baini River basin in the suburbs of Guangzhou, China. The results showed that norfloxacin (NFX) was the predominant antibiotic in river and aquaculture water, with concentrations ranging from 6.12 to 156.04 ng/L and from 7.47 to 82.62 ng/L in both aquatic systems, respectively. As for the pollution intensity of antibiotics, the annual pollution contribution (28.64 kg/a) of the river water supply to open aquaculture is higher than that (10.81 kg/a) of open aquaculture to the river, which means river pollution has a greater impact on aquaculture ponds. The risk quotient (RQ) showed that the ecological risk of lincomycin (LIN), erythromycin (ERY), sulfamethoxazole (SMX), norfloxacin (NFX), ciprofloxacin (CFX) and chlortetracycline (CTC) in rivers and aquaculture environments had high ecological risks from 1.21 to 1.81. Water interactions with contaminated rivers will result in a corresponding increase in the ecological risk of antibiotics in the aquaculture environment. Overall, according to the results, the risk of polluted rivers to open aquaculture cannot be ignored, and it is recommended that open aquaculture should use these water sources with caution, and that the water quality evaluation of aquaculture water should be increased with monitoring indicators for emerging contaminants such as antibiotics. [Display omitted] • Twenty antibiotics in a suburban river and aquaculture ponds were investigated. • Fluoroquinolones were the predominant antibiotics in all water samples. • The impact of river water supply on open aquaculture cannot be underestimated. • All five antibiotics pose ecological risks to the aquatic environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy poverty occurs when a household cannot fulfill its energy needs. Despite its widespread occurrence, Chinese cities have yet to formally recognize energy poverty as distinct from general poverty at the national level, thereby limiting the effectiveness of countermeasures. Guangzhou, a subtropical first-tier city in China, has a complex population comprising diverse migrants and locals of all ages. This age diversity greatly affects energy demand and poverty sensitivity, so analyzing age's impact on energy poverty is crucial. Thus, this paper surveyed 1072 households in 2020 to measure the extent of energy poverty. The energy poverty rate was found to be 13.85 %. Additionally, a U-shaped relationship was discovered between age and energy poverty, with a turning point at age 44. The adults in Guangzhou who are in energy poverty are not in income poverty. Higher education levels were found to impact energy consumption in households of both younger and older adults. For individuals older than 42—or 46 with a higher education level—the likelihood of experiencing energy poverty gradually decreases with age. Our findings indicate a unique pattern in which both younger and older individuals are susceptible to energy poverty in a humid subtropical climate. To achieve the UN's 2030 clean energy goals, policymakers must focus on tailored skill training, enhanced social welfare, and effective affordable housing policies to alleviate energy poverty. • We use survey datato measure Guangzhou household energy poverty. The LIHC indicator is 13.86%. • The relationship between age and energy poverty in the household is U-shaped. • Younger and older residents are vulnerable to energy poverty. • Younger and older highly educated individuals are more vulnerable to energy poverty than those without higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Street trees have often been proposed to improve the outdoor thermal environment. However, due to the combined effects generated by street trees, the impacts of street trees on the thermal radiation field in a street canyon and mean radiant temperature (T mrt) reduction have not been systematically analyzed in previous studies. In this paper, we developed a T mrt decomposition model using first-order Taylor series expansion to decompose the various factors of the street trees on T mrt reduction and quantify their individual and combined effects in Guangzhou, China. Our results showed that street trees significantly reduce T mrt and severe heat stress events (T mrt ≥ 60 °C). For 80% tree crown cover, the maximum decrease of T mrt by 26.2 °C - 42.1 °C and the severe heat stress events decreased by 197 h - 500 h over the course of a year at different sidewalk locations, compared to the street canyon without trees. During the daytime, the interception of radiation (especially short-wave radiation) by street trees was the primary determinant in reducing T mrt , with a contribution that mostly exceeded 70%. Additionally, the shading effects of street trees decreased the short-wave radiation reflected from urban surfaces, contributing about 20% to T mrt reduction. Lastly, our results also showed the leaf area index played an important role in the T mrt reduction. Our study quantified the individual and combined effects of each factors of reducing T mrt by street trees, which will better understand the thermal benefits of urban street trees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines an urban renewal project in Xiaobei, a neighborhood that has become a gathering place for African traders in the Chinese city of Guangzhou. Drawing on documentary analysis, interviews and site visits, the paper argues that, while there is a racial element to the project, we should be careful about ascribing it solely to anti-black racism. The project is as much characterized by pejorative discourses about internal migrants as it is about Africans. Moreover, the project is not unique to Xiaobei, and should also be understood in the context of Guangzhou’s efforts to become a competitive “global” city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers how African student migrants negotiate life in China through gastronomic practices and cultures. African migration to Chinese cities such as Guangzhou and Wuhan is part of internationalization processes that are transforming cities. A thoroughfare in Guangzhou known as Xiaobei is associated with the visible urban presence of African migration because of the ethnic restaurants and shops there. Such typecasting, however, masks more complex food practices that illuminate the social stratification contained within the category popularly referred to as “African.” Food practices also direct attention to migrants’ social interactions with Chinese residents in cities. This paper first highlights the impact of African migration on urban space in China and the social anxieties arising on the part of the Chinese state and residents. Second, the paper argues that even though the African students consume Chinese food as part of their lifestyle routines in China or African food that remind them of home, they also seek out “Western” food as a symbol of cosmopolitan identity to counter racialization in China. Their accounts of food signal colonial and postcolonial negotiations toward the wider global geographies of power in which African countries and the student migrants are situated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

It is argued that the competition for land rent gap or surplus is inclined to incur redevelopment. However, there exist various models of redevelopment due to different relationships among stakeholders. In this research, we introduce the framework of collective retention constituted by "power relations" and "path-dependence." We do so in order to explain why collective retention emerged within the scope of collective land redevelopment in the Pearl River Delta, an area where the state began granting collectives land redevelopment rights via a land profit-sharing scheme in 2009. Taking the Panyu district of Guangzhou as a case study, this paper examines how collective retention affects land transformation from rural to urban use in peri-urban areas. It finds that preference discrepancy in land-use change among local state, collectives, and villagers generates significant conflicts in rural renewal process, making the cost to achieve consensus significantly high. Moreover, collectives' path dependence on the rental economy hinders their incentives to engage in village redevelopment. The retention of collective ownership has slowed the process of land use transformation and strengthened landholding within the rentier class. • Collectives retain collective ownership during the process of rural land use transformation. • Preference discrepancy of stakeholders generates significant conflicts of interest in rural renewal. • Collectives' path-dependence on rental economy hinders them to engage in redevelopment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fine particulate matter, generally known as PM 2.5 , has great impact on the air quality and human health. Although closing external windows can help prevent outdoor PM 2.5 going into indoors, many studies have shown that a significant number of particles can still pass the building façade through the cracks around the window. In order to quantify the influence of the external window crack structure and some relevant parameters, such as room dimension, on the indoor PM 2.5 mass concentration, this paper introduces an updated model from a previously published paper by the authors [18]. The model was developed based on two-month field measured data from five unoccupied offices located in the central area of Beijing (capital city located in northern China), and then was validated against a new dataset measured in Guangzhou (a major city located in southern China). The model can be used to quantify the indoor PM 2.5 mass concentration based on the instant outdoor PM 2.5 level, considering influences from external window crack structure, room dimension and outdoor meteorological conditions, i.e. outdoor wind speed and relative humidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of acase study on the causes and effects of typical service disruptions in aHigh-speed rail (HSR) system in China–Wuhan–Guangzhou High-speed railway (WH-GZ HSR). With acause-specific approach, seven delay causalities leading to primary delays (PDs) are identified, and the properties and consequences of each primary delay (PD) factor is derived. The comparison of candidate distributional forms shows that the Log-normal distribution model can approximate better the length of all identified PDs. For each PD cause, the distribution of delay duration is estimated and tuned. Next, cause-specific distributional models for PDs severity are discussed. The models for the number of affected trains are presented in the form of inverse regression models with specific domains. Then, comparing five different kinds of candidate models, the results show that the Cubic is the best to approximate the distributions of total-affected time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographically-distributed urban environment contexts affect human psychological wellbeing through the real-time interactions between individuals and their surroundings. Recent field experiments have become particularly interesting in using wearable devices for tracking episodic changes in wellbeing outcomes. However, most research primarily contribute to correlate unconscious physiological arousal with single environmental feature, ignoring the contextualized environment neural psychological effects at the brain level. This paper studies the effects of walking exposures to various urban environment contexts on neural physiological and psychological parameters relevant to mental health in women cohorts. We measure neural physiological parameters using a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) monitoring approach to detect brain activity variability during a journey-based field experiment, and perceived psychological wellbeing outcomes are measured through emotional questionnaires. A group of 10 healthy women walked across dense and diverse urban settings in Guangzhou, China. We have identified the beneficial effects of blue-green spaces and open spaces on psychological wellbeing, as well as their underlying neurophysiological mechanisms that exhibit localized context differentiation. Additional results quantify evidence in support of spatial typology and travel sequence-based uncertainties as underlying channels at work. Our study provide a walking-oriented investigation model of locally contextualized mental health effects, and expand explanatory method for walking mental health. It also suggests the importance of conceptualizing landscape complementarities in planning policies that help to improve the interaction between wellbeing and localized environmental exposures. • Experiment is applied through a combination of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) monitoring devices and questionnaires. • Significant increases in physiological and psychological responses when exposing to urban green and open spaces. • A locally contextualized channel is observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the seriousness of the problem, the city government does not wield much power in its attempt to reduce exhaust gases. While vehicle emissions are the main source of local pollution, they have regional environmental consequences. So far, localized measures to address regional smog are far from effective. This paper explains that local efforts are confined by economic interests and priorities that lie within the jurisdictional boundaries which find addressing local air pollution through limiting car ownership and use as politically unacceptable. Also, incomplete pollution data in China in general makes it difficult for city officials to come up with targeted and innovative approaches that can bring additional emission reductions. The paper further argues that without a strong and direct commitment to radically reducing current levels of vehicle-based pollution through a set of complementary behavioral modification measures, continued reliance on temporary technical fixes is likely to exacerbate the urban air pollution problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Delta cities are increasingly exposed to the risks of floods caused by climate change. • Policy framing matters for the legislative support in discourse and for the incorporation of flood affairs into local planning agendas. • Policy framing takes effect through problem-setting, action scripts and reconceptualisation of governance arrangements. • Guangzhou tries to promote flood resilience and climate adaptation through spatial planning with a new framing pattern. • Discourse in flood risk management has an impact on the framing in spatial planning related to climate adaptation. Integration of flood risk in spatial planning is increasingly seen as a way to enhance cities' resilience to the growing flood hazards, albeit its operationalisation remains challenging. This study aims to explain the reasons for this difficulty through the case study of Guangzhou, a Chinese delta city that is highly vulnerable to coastal, fluvial and pluvial flooding, particularly in the context of a changing climate and rapid expansion of the urban fabric. It does so by investigating the recognition of flood risk in spatial planning and vice-versa, of spatial issues in the flood risk management field, using framing analysis. The paper reveals that the integration of flood risk concerns in spatial planning in Guangzhou remains an emerging process, gradually shifting from informal to formal activities grounded in legislation. This happens through percolation of framing discourse from the flood risk management policy to spatial planning, leading to changes in problem setting, action scripts and the prescribed governance arrangements in the planning discourse. The vagueness of governance arrangements, however, undermines the integration of flood risk management in spatial planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Developed an improved attention-based approach for robust cooling load prediction. • Generated hourly cooling loads under diverse occupancy schedules. • Highlighted the impact of temporal characteristics on prediction performances. • Introduced a time representation learning and attention mechanism to improve accuracy. • Combining XGB to enhance prediction accuracy, robustness, and transparency. Space cooling in buildings is responsible for massive energy consumption and carbon emissions. Accurate cooling load prediction can facilitate the implementation of energy-efficiency cooling control strategies in practice. In this paper, an improved attention-based deep learning approach is proposed for robust ultra-short-term cooling load prediction. First, a novel time representation learning is introduced to extract the periodicity and non-periodicity of cooling loads efficiently. Then, long short-term memory with an attention mechanism extracts properly the time steps by identifying the relevant hidden states and learns high-level temporal dependency. The approach additionally incorporates extreme gradient boosting through the error reciprocal method, enhancing the elimination of prediction errors and improving robustness. The study takes Guangzhou as an example and generates cooling loads using diverse occupancy schedules of five building types based on the Chinese National Standard and Typical Meteorological Year data. The approach is evaluated on datasets comprising the cooling loads, meteorological data, and contextual information. Through results analysis, the approach outperforms other models in terms of prediction accuracy and robustness across all building types. Additionally, model interpretation is provided regarding feature importance and attention matrixes, which enhances the understanding and transparency of the final prediction from the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chloride salts deposited on building surfaces not only accelerate the degradation of historic coastal buildings and incur costly repairs, but also penetrate into building plaster mortars and corrode steel reinforcement, reducing the service life of modern coastal buildings. The unclear chloride-salt deposition and their spatial pattern on different building surfaces severely hinder targeted salt-resistant designs for coastal buildings. This paper adopted a non-destructive method based on flocked swabs to sample salts deposited on surfaces of typical buildings in the Zhujiang River Estuary of Guangzhou, China. These field investigations enabled the analysis of the effects of environmental and architectural factors on chloride-salt deposition. Our results showed that offshore distances, building elevations, and building layouts critically governed such deposition, whereas building ages exerted little influence. Specifically, chloride-salt deposition on building surfaces was positively correlated with not only offshore distances in the 500 m–500 m range, but also building elevations in the 10 m–100 m range under unobstructed conditions. Moreover, narrower spacings between the buildings promoted greater chloride-salt deposition on their surfaces. It is envisioned that our findings will provide valuable insights into salt-prevention designs for new buildings and salt-resistant maintenance strategies for old buildings. [Display omitted] • Chloride and sulfate salts deposited on buildings in a 1:1 M mass ratio accelerate corrosion. • Salt deposition increased linearly with offshore distances ranging from 500 to 1500 m. • Salt deposition increased with building elevations in the 10–100 m in unobstructed conditions. • Local winds played a greater role in salt deposition than prevailing winds for a high-density layout. • A narrow corridor, especially less than 3 m, exacerbated salt deposition on the building surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of recent studies that have begun to establish a more quantifiable understanding of the use of urban greenways, this paper presents a preliminary investigation into the patterns in which a greenway is used and the mechanism behind the pattern of use of the greenway. Factors of the location, economic situation, environment and social background have been measured and analyzed in the use intensity model to interpret their impact on the use intensity of different sections of a greenway. The results suggest that use of the Waterfront Greenway in Guangzhou is highly impacted by population density, employment density, nearby service provision and the connectivity of the greenway to other parts of the city. In this case, the use intensity model with indicators such as location, economic, environmental and social factors has been shown to be applicable to the evaluation of the use of the greenways. Results from the case study suggest that providing greenways close to the residential zones, employment centers and key public services such as hospitals and schools will increase greenway use. The surrounding network system of a greenway must be carefully considered and designed to improve the linking of the greenway to other parts of the city, to increase the number of potential visitors to the greenway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Land suitability evaluation can assist in the efficient use of land resources at a regional level. This is an important issue because of the pressures that an increasing population and economic growth have put on limited land resources. Matter-element theory, which was first put forward by the Chinese mathematician Cai Wen, has shown potential for solving incompatibility problems. Based on the matter-element model, this paper uses land use, roads, water bodies, population density, distance from center of the city, geodetic height, and slope as factors in modeling land suitability for development. Zengcheng, an urban–rural administration was used as a case study for applying the matter-element model to assessing the suitability of land for development. The model was cross referenced with local urban plans for verification and the results of this study show that the model constructed was effective at assessing the suitability of land for development. According to both the classification map created using the matter-element model and the statistics on the of land suitability classes, the study area was found to have a considerable amount of land which is highly suitable for development. After the category ‘highly suitable’, the next largest total land area was in the category of ‘not suitable’ for development, while there was relatively little land classified as moderately and marginally suitable. The percentage of the total land area of each class of suitability was 41.80%, 34.22%, 16.35% and 7.64%, respectively. Apart from this, the study also demonstrated the advantage of matter-element models over fuzzy theory, as they provide much more information. For example, all integrated degree of all classes in the paper had ranges from −1 to 1, but differed from each other by percentage. In the category of ‘highly suitable’ only 45.51% of matter-elements fully conformed to the criteria (those within a range of 0–0.5925), while the remainder (54.49%) did not corresponded to the requirements of the category, but did have the potential to do so with relatively few changes (those within a range of −0.3923–0 degrees). This data provides us with an understanding of the potential and limitation to development of the land in the region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper investigates the interconnections between sense-of-place dimensions across different geographical scales. While existing knowledge on sense of place has demonstrated that place meanings rest at various scales, little attention has been devoted to exploring how sense-of-place dimensions at different geographical scales can be interconnected in forming a multi-scalar construction of place meanings. In this paper, we approach this under-theorization of multi-scalarity of sense of place by looking at urban migrants’ sense of place at two geographical scales – a community culture center and the city of Guangzhou, China. In so doing, we also contribute to the scholarship on Chinese urban migrant, particularly in terms of how urban migrants reestablish their psychological connections with place of destination through specific place experiences. Our research methodology combines both quantitative (structural equation modeling analysis with 104 questionnaires) and qualitative (12 in-depth interviews) approaches. Quantitative study reaches a structural model that has not been observed by existing research, while qualitative data provide strong empirical evidence in support of the statistical relations in the structural model. Major findings in this research include: 1. at the scale of culture center, place dependence contributes strongly to both place identity and place attachment, while the latter two dimensions can be seen as parallel constructs; 2. at the scale of Guangzhou, place dependence is a dimension independent of both place identity and place attachment, and on the other hand, it is place identity that has a strong impact on place attachment; 3. migrants’ place dependence on the culture center significantly influences their place identity to Guangzhou, which further contributes to the migrants’ place attachment to the city. Although the scope of this research is limited in its sampling and research location, the empirical evidence in this paper provides a basis to argue that the construction of sense of place involves the working of sense-of-place constructs at various geographical scales. Particularly, we also argue that connecting different places across geographical scales requires a delicate network that involves various sense-of-place constructs that work both within and across scales. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

From the perspective of urban political order, this paper focuses on the top-down intergovernmental relations and bottom-up grassroots power building in China's urban redevelopment. Based on the detailed case study of Enning Road in Guangzhou, the paper explores the distinctive features of the "socialist pro-growth coalition", the way in which grassroots power has been built to counterbalance the pro-growth coalition, and the factors that give impetus to regime transition. Finally, we conclude that: (1) the distinctive features of socialist pro-growth coalition lie in the unique intergovernmental relations; (2) the media plays a key role in grassroots power building to counterbalance the growth-oriented coalition; (3) transition of governing arrangements is the response of internal actors to external intergovernmental relations. • It enriches our understanding of the growth coalitions in Chinese transitional society. • It explores the distinctive features of the "socialist pro-growth coalition". • It illustrates the way in which grassroots power has been built to counterbalance the pro-growth coalition. • It focuses on how intergovernmental relations influence agenda-setting and decision-making at local level. • It explains what is the interactive mechanism of intergovernmental relations and grassroots power to promote regime transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the increasing popularity of peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation-sharing platforms (i.e., Airbnb), this paper aims to explore the effects of both picture color cues and textual cues related to color (TCC) on rental decisions made on these platforms in China. Based on cue utilization theory, this paper distinguishes picture color cues signaled from photos listed by hosts and TCC signaled from online guest reviews. The paper conducts an empirical study using data crawled from Xiaozhu.com. The research model is tested with poisson regression using 2520 valid listings collected in Guangzhou and is verified with additional data collected in Shanghai. Results show that both picture color cues and TCC affect rental transactions. Properties displayed with warm-colored pictures are more likely to be rented than those with cold-colored pictures. In addition, the consistency of picture color cues and TCC is found to have a significant impact on rental decisions. Interestingly, we also found an invert-U effect of brightness on rental purchase. • Based on cue utilization theory, this paper defined picture color cues and textual cues related to color (TCC). • Results show that both picture color cues and TCC affect rental transactions. • Properties displayed with warm-colored pictures are more likely to be rented than those with cold-colored pictures. • The consistency of picture color cues and TCC is found to have a significant impact on rental decisions. • We also found an invert-U effect of brightness on rental purchase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Short-term passenger flow forecasting is one of the crucial components in transportation systems with data support for transportation planning and management. For forecasting bus passenger flow, this paper proposes a multi-pattern deep fusion (MPDF) approach that is constructed by fusing deep belief networks (DBNs) corresponding to multiple patterns. The dataset of the short-term bus passenger flow is first segmented into different clusters by an affinity propagation algorithm. The passenger flow distribution of these clusters is subsequently analyzed for identifying different patterns. In each pattern, a DBN is developed as a deep representation for the passenger flow. The outputs of the DBNs are finally fused by chronological order rearrangement. Taking a bus line in Guangzhou city of China as an example, the present MPDF approach is modeled. Five approaches, non-parametric and parametric models, are applied to the same case for comparison. The results show that, the proposed model overwhelms all the peer methods in terms of mean absolute percentage error, root-mean-square error, and determination coefficient criteria. In addition, there exists significant difference between the addressed model and the comparison models. It is recommended from the present study that the deep learning technique incorporating the pattern analysis is promising in forecasting the short-term passenger flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban streams could concurrently bring about both positive amenities accruing to the view of waterscape and negative disamenities associated with water pollution. In this paper, we focus on a specific question that has not yet been explicitly answered in the extant literature: how to estimate the cumulative impacts of urban streams (which refer to the combined impacts of amenities and disamenities of multiple sources) in high density and high-rise urban contexts. A typical residential apartment complex (comprised of a number of apartment units located in dozens of mid- to high-rise commercial apartment buildings on a contiguous land parcel) in Guangzhou, south China, is used as a case study. A detailed palette of natural amenities and environmental disamenities of two bifurcated streams are quantified via the generalized spatial two-stage least squares (GS2SLS) model. In this model, an originally constructed 3-D spatial connectivity matrix, cube contiguity, is applied to address, in a sophisticated manner, an array of endogenous, exogenous, and error interactions along both horizontal and vertical dimensions that inherently exist in the spatial context of high-rise housing markets. Our results from spatial hedonic models at the micro-neighborhood level demonstrate that homebuyers tend to evaluate urban streams’ chemical, physical, and ecological features holistically. A cumulative impact is also found, as homebuyers would like to pay an extra premium for an apartment located farther away from both polluted streams. This study advances the extant literature by contributing to a novel and effective extension of the conventional two-dimensional spatial matrix which can capture the long-ignored spatial correlation existing amongst apartment units located on contiguous floors, as well as a robust estimation of the demand of urban natural and environmental amenities in the gradually rising mid- and high-rise housing market in both developing and developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) is the world's workshop and one of the most rapidly growing economic regions in the world. In the GBA multi-port system, Hong Kong, which is one of the world's largest shipping centres and once the leading port in the GBA, has experienced a continuous decline in recent years and has been successively overtaken by two other GBA ports (i.e. Shenzhen and Guangzhou). This paper explores the concentration, inequality, and competition of the GBA multi-port system during the 1972 – 2020 period from multi-faced perspectives. Results indicate that: 1) Hong Kong has witnessed an entire K-wave evolution, and 2) the evolution of the GBA multi-port system is a result of the asynchronous development stages of different GBA ports; 3) Missing the opportunity period of 2000 – 2008, the transfer of capital from Hong Kong and the Chinese "opening up" policy are the direct, the underlying and the root causes behind this evolution; 4) A tri-hub multi-port system has gradually taken shape in the GBA finally, in which Hong Kong is the second runner-up after Shenzhen and Guangzhou. The prospect of the Hong Kong Port would not be optimistic, and a negative impact of Guangzhou on Hong Kong could be expected in the near future. We recommend Hong Kong to carry out differentiation development with Shenzhen Port and Guangzhou Port and focus on international transhipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) and bisphenol S (BPS) has garnered considerable global health concerns. In this paper, the daily intake (DI) of BPA and BPS in the general population of Guangzhou, China, were back-calculated using the biomarkers BPA glucuronides (BPA-G) and BPS glucuronides (BPS-G), respectively. The biomarkers are preferable to total BPA and BPS measurements because they are not susceptible to external contamination. A total of 1440 urine samples were gathered from the general population in Guangzhou, China, which were classified by age and sex into 36 pooled urine samples. 100% and 98% of pooled urine samples contained BPA-G and BPS-G at median values of 1.57 and 0.38 ng/mL, respectively. Based on urinary BPA-G and BPS-G concentrations, we determined the median DI of BPA and BPS to be 31.07 and 7.37 ng/(kg bw*d), respectively, and the highest values to be 106.77 ng/(kg bw*d) and 18.19 ng/(kg bw*d), respectively. Furthermore, our results showed that for the entire dataset, the DI of BPA and BPS were considerably greater in males than in females (p < 0.01)and declined significantly with age (p < 0.05). For risk assessment, the estimated DIs of BPA and BPS were much lower than the European Food Safety Authority' s (EFSA) the temporary acceptable reference dose of 4 μg/(kg bw*d) advised for BPA, suggesting that the exposure risk of BPA and BPS for Guangzhou population is within a controllable safety range. This is the first study to investigate BPA and BPS exposure in the general population of Guangzhou, China, on the basis of urinary metabolites. [Display omitted] • Urinary concentration profiles of the glucuronide conjugates of BPA and BPS were provided. • Human exposure to BPA and BPS was assessed via urinary metabolites. • The relationship between BPA and BPS exposure and gender and age was determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many cultural landscapes are undergoing inevitable urbanization. For these landscapes to attain sustainability, participatory planning processes are often required. However, different stakeholders may prefer different strategies and goals, making decision-making extremely difficult. This paper explores how three urbanization strategy options (based on lay stakeholders' willingness, historical landscape pattern, and land-use planning) and their possible trade-offs can affect cultural landscapes' sustainability. Specifically, it examines 1) how these strategies' varying adoption levels affect different landscape functions, and 2) how their different trade-offs affect sustainability perceived by different stakeholders. We conducted a case study in the Nansha District of Guangzhou, China. Based on interviews with lay and expert stakeholders, we developed an agent-based model to experiment with a range of scenarios reflecting different trade-offs of the three strategies. With 11 indicators and their stakeholder-weighted aggregation assessed in every simulation step, we analyzed the strategies' effects and compared five typical scenarios' sustainability on two timescales. The results showed that the scenario prioritizing lay stakeholders' willingness outperformed other scenarios in the sustainability assessment. Following historical patterns performed well in the ecological aspect and in the near term, but it may fall short in intensive urbanization from non-experts' perspectives. Land-use planning was plausible as a static destination but ineffective during the entire process. The findings suggest that sustainable rural development should prioritize local adaptations; landscape pattern preservation and land-use planning must consider place-specific processes based on stakeholder participation. They also suggest the usability of agent-based modeling and time-series analysis in cultural landscape and sustainability research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As traffic congestion becoming increasingly prominent, more and more cities begin to focus on the development of subway. It is of great significance to study the subway network characteristics and evolution properties based on the complex network theory. In this paper, we take Guangzhou subway network (GSN) as a case and present its six characteristics. Furthermore, the properties of the future GSN are systematically analyzed and its evolution properties are also investigated. The conclusion may be useful for the development of GSN in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The continuous Guangzhou expansion leads to more and more construction of the city road, which is a special underlying surface. In 2012, the total length of the road in Guangzhou is 9050.715 km. Among them, the total length of the highway is 652.6 km and the remaining 6044 km is urban roads. There are 47 main roads with a distance of 5685 km and area of 3953.63 million square meters. The roads are commonly constructed by asphalt and cement concrete whose heat absorption rate is higher than that of the green land and water body, while the thermal capacity of the asphalt and cement concrete is smaller than that of the green land and water body. This means that the roads with asphalt and cement concrete can absorb the solar radiation largely and cause the big temperature increase itself, which will increase the summer energy consumption of vehicles on the road and affect the outdoor thermal comfort of pedestrians. Nowadays, the construction of roads has become one of the main-reasons for urban heat island. In another hand, road provides the broad path for urban ventilation, which makes it become an important element for the construction of urban wind corridor. According to above negative impact on urban heat island and positive impact on urban ventilation, great difficulties still remain when urban planners attempt to design the urban roads to realize the comfortable outdoor thermal environment. The orientation of urban roads is an important element for the road design. Its relationship with the prevailing wind direction can somehow affect the city temperature distribution and ventilation efficiency. Fazia Ali-Toudert from University of Freiburg concludes that in urban street the roads with east-west orientation are less efficient in releasing heat compared with the north-south orientation (Fazia Ali-Toudert, 2006). Andreou concludes that, under the same condition of shade and solar energy, street geometry, height/width ratio, orientation and trees can affect urban canyon microclimate (Fazia Ali-Toudert, 2014). They do not have a detailed study of the relationship between the orientation towards the prevailing wind, as well as to the impact on the surrounding thermal environment This paper uses the method of numerical simulation to analyze the impact of road orientation on the thermal environment of Guangzhou Zhujiang New Town. Some implications for the urban road design are obtained. Orientation of the road has a great influence on the local thermal environment for example in windless area or with respect to high-rise buildings in low-lying areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Co-production practices differ depending on the adaptability of land use policies. • Limiting flexibility diminishes the strength of co-production ventures. • Balancing private and public actor interests is challenging in co-production. • 'Flexibility' and 'regulation' affect the success of co-production ventures. • 'Flexible regulation' is the key to the co-production process and its outcomes. The introduction of a national construction land quota in China has made urban collective construction land transformation imperative in urban governance in the Pearl River Delta and beyond. Whilst normative planning approaches have failed to produce desired outcomes, special pilot land use policies applied in this region provided an alternative deliberative space for co-production practices to thrive. Using project level experiences and based on qualitative interviews with villagers, representatives of village collectives, planning professionals and private investors, this paper discusses the relationship between shifting pilot collective construction land use policies and institutionalised co-production practices. We argue based on the empirical findings that although co-production practices offer a great potential for transformative land development, the outcomes of the practices differ depending on the adaptability of land use policies to actor interests. Adaptive collaboration among key stakeholders at an early phase of urban collective land transformation encourages a better engagement of stakeholders, and stimulates promising co-productive initiatives that are critical at resolving the dilemmas involved in land transformation projects. The paper also contributes to the burgeoning discourse on co-production theory by flagging up how two key contradictions: 'flexibility' versus 'regulation' affect the success of co-production ventures and calls for an experimentation of the oxymoron of 'flexible regulation' in co-productive governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Street vending faces uncertain state responses in contemporary Chinese cities, though it plays an important role in sustaining the livelihood of urban migrants. Building on the critical perspective that understands informality as a production of the state, this paper explores the nature of the regulation of street vending in Guangzhou since 1949. The state’s regulatory practices are characterized by what we call historical ambivalence and geographical ambivalence, which refer to the inconsistency in policies, which fluctuate between soft and hard approaches over time, and the mix of contradictory regulatory measures applied in different urban spaces, respectively. Ambivalence is generated because the state addresses street vending in ways that attain the overarching objective of urban policies. In particular, the exclusion of street vendors in present-day China is not historically natural but driven and sustained by the government’s pursuit of a good city image favorable for attracting capital in the context of intensifying inter-urban competition. The definition of informality is not a neutral classification. Rather, declaring when and to what extent an informal practice is tolerable depends on what the state desires in a specific historical circumstance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In order to alleviate the limitation of traditional statistical models utilizing only structured data, this paper proposes a new fore- casting method, which is able to take full advantage of domain knowledge and avoid many kinds of biases and inconsistencies inherent in subjective judgments. The new method is applied to forecasting the container throughput of Guangzhou Port, one of the most important ports of China. In order to test the effectiveness of the new method, we compare its performance with that of the frequently-used ARIMAX model. The results show that the new method significantly outperforms the ARIMAX model. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Amidst China's immense and rapid urbanisation, gentrification has spread from urban centres to peri-urban and rural areas. Employing an analytical perspective built from the literatures on counter-urbanisation, rural immigration and rural gentrification, this study examines the two-stage gentrification processes in Xiaozhou village, Guangzhou, China. Situating rural gentrification in Xiaozhou against broader backdrops – such as urbanisation in Guangzhou and the preservation regulations imposed by the local state – this article unveils the ways in which interplays between the aestheticisation of rural living and indigenous villagers' rent-seeking behaviour fostered rural immigration and gentrification. In Xiaozhou, grassroots artists' aestheticisation and colonisation of the village ignited an initial stage of gentrification. The subsequent commodification of rural land and housing, induced by increasing concentration of art students and middle class “elite artists”, led to deepened gentrification, studentification and eventually displacement of pioneer gentrifiers. In this process, local villagers' rent-seeking behaviour went hand in hand with aestheticisation and commodification of rural space. This finding questions the representations of victimised local rural residents in much of Western literature on rural gentrification. The special role played by the government policy and institutional arrangement in the stories of Xiaozhou also has the potential to add a new dimension to rural gentrification explanations. In sum, this paper shows that explanations of the perplexing dynamics of rural immigration and gentrification can benefit from more flexible and fluid conceptualisations of “gentrifiers” and “gentrification” as a whole. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• A six-day gridding field measurement of UHI intensity (UHII) in autumn in Guangzhou was to comprehend its spatiotemporal pattern. • The hourly UHII at a given period cannot reflect the daily UHII. • The optimal interpretation radius of UHII is up to 100 m, implying strong interactions within these buffer zones. • There are significant interactions between adjacent urban units around 100–200 m dimension. • CC and TC are the most impactful indicators, followed by SVF, SC, and WC. Urban heat islands (UHI) have strong spatiotemporal variations. Despite surface UHIs (SUHIs) with fine spatial distribution, UHIs have many advantages, more continuous temporal patterns, more relevant to people's feelings, and better thermal interaction between adjacent areas. Furthermore, the incomplete overlap between SUHI and UHI patterns within a city likely causes inconsistent research results and even influences urban-planning decisions. This paper conducted a six-day gridding field measurement of UHI intensity (UHII) in Guangzhou in autumn to comprehend its spatiotemporal pattern, to determine its response radius with urban-construction indicators and the accordingly magnitude of their interaction, and to recommend critical urban-construction indicators on a block scale. Results show that the hourly UHII at a given period cannot reflect the daily UHII. The optimal interpretation radius of UHII was up to 100 m, thus implying strong interactions within these buffer zones. The larger the block scale, the more consideration should be given to the influence of configuration of the internal landscape on UHII; the smaller the block scale, the more consideration should be on the surrounding landscape. Based on regression analysis, concrete coverage and tree coverage were the most vital urban-construction indicators on the block scale, followed by sky view factor, site coverage, and waterbody coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the notion of intelligent pipelines gaining ground in natural gas pipe networks, the requirements for fully automated daily operations are increasing. The flow control problem, especially in the complex station-level process piping network (SLPPN), has become the main challenge. This paper proposed a machine learning-based surrogate model that used the precise SLPPN flow control. A hybrid modeling method that uses data-driven method to surrogate numerical model was adopted to reveal the flow characteristics in the SLPPN, retaining the accuracy of the numerical simulation model while increasing its calculation speed simultaneously. Then, a two-step controller combining open-loop optimal control and closed-loop feedback control was designed to replace the classic proportional-integral-differential (PID) controller. First, genetic algorithms (GA) were used to determine the optimal control scheme of the surrogate model for fast simulation. Second, the follow-up PID controller was employed to compensate for the gap between the setpoint and the flow after the first control step. The controller was verified using the actual calibration station of a natural gas flowmeter in Guangzhou, China. The results showed that this two-step control method based on the surrogate model outperformed the conventional PID control technique regarding control duration and time, highlighting its potential in automating and intellectualizing the natural gas transportation industry. • The surrogate approach was proposed as a solution to the inverse problem in piping flow control. • The first principle simulation model was replaced by a data-driven model to significantly improve simulation speed. • A two-step controller combining open-loop optimal control and closed-loop feedback control was designed to regulate flow. • A case study was performed with actual data from the Guangzhou natural gas flowmeter calibration station. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outdoor mean radiant temperature (MRT) has been used as an indicator to characterize radiation in an outdoor thermal environment. To investigate outdoor MRT, the cost-effective and portable black-globe thermometer method has commonly been used, though its shortcomings have been noted, such as limited accuracy and environmental applicability. The objective of this paper is to evaluate MRT estimation results of the black-globe thermometer method and upper and lower hemispheric radiation method through the MRT results of the six-directional radiation method as a benchmark for three open sites with different underlying surfaces in a subtropical city. The hourly diffuse solar radiation model applicable to the subtropical region was further explored through statistical evaluation. Numerous findings were noteworthy: (i) the different values of albedo of the materials of underlying surfaces critically affected the long-wave radiation environment in the corresponding sites, which in turn led to differences in the MRT across the sites; (ii) the Orgill model exhibited the highest accuracy in characterizing the diffuse solar radiation for both hourly and minutely data; (iii) the upper and lower hemispheric radiation method registered significantly lower deviations for the MRT estimation results than the black-globe thermometer method, and (iv) the MRT results with the Orgill model were closer to the benchmark values than those with the measured data. In general, the upper and lower hemispheric radiation method has demonstrated accuracy, cost-effectiveness, and environmental applicability, reflecting its appropriateness for observational studies on subtropical outdoor thermal environments. • Underlying surfaces varied in daytime long-wave mean radiant temperatures (MRTs). • Orgill model outdid empirical models in gauging Guangzhou's diffuse solar radiation. • Upper and lower hemispheric measurements outperformed black-globe thermometer ones. • Despite lacking observed solar data, the model's MRT deviations were not elevated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the effects of trees on CO2 concentrations in a street canyon in Guangzhou, China are examined by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations of the concentration distribution, taking into account both the CO2 absorption/emission and aerodynamic effects of trees. Simulation results show that, under a 2 m/s southerly prevailing wind condition, CO2 absorption by trees will reduce the CO2 concentration by around 2.5% in the daytime and at the same time the trees'' resistance will increase the difference of CO2 concentrations in the street and at the inflow by 43%. As the traffic density increases to 50 vehicles/min, the effect of trees on the ambient CO2 concentration will change from positive to negative. At night, trees have a negative effect on the concentration in the street canyon mainly because of their resistance to airflow. When environmental wind changes, the effect of trees will be different. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this article we investigate local citizens’ place politics and discourses of place identity during the 2010 language conflict in Guangzhou, China. Drawing on geographical scholarship on the relational construction of place and the progressive politics of difference, we conceptualize place as an assemblage of trans-local connections and disparate trajectories which constitute the radical hybridity of any particular place. In concretizing a relational rethinking of place into a local politics of difference, we suggest that Doreen Massey’s thesis of a global sense of place provides an important epistemological basis for destabilizing the normative local/non-local boundary in order to realize a relational constitution of place-based cultural identity and subjectivity. Based on a social and political campaign against state-led hegemonic language standardization, the 2010 language conflict in Guangzhou is a socially and culturally constructed process in which the Guangzhou locals’ imagination and representation of place and identity are reproduced within a local geometry of social relations involving the state language policy, the local community and the city’s migrant population. Both exclusionary and progressive discourses of place identities have been articulated in this process of re-negotiation and re-imagination of place-based identities. This paper acknowledges that some place-bounded politics may demonstrate a counter-hegemonic dimension and are therefore not inherently regressive. But we also contend that any place politics needs to ask which elements are to be welcomed and which can be excluded in a fluid regime of politics within specific networks of social relations. The cultural boundary of insiders/outsiders must be constantly re-negotiated and rendered relational with the attentiveness to ethical responsibility towards otherness. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]