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Social housing policies in neoliberal contexts have become residualized. The notions of housing vulnerability and vulnerable populations emerged as a new organizing principle for the housing policy agenda and interventions in many countries. However, there is no cohesive and shared understanding of the characteristics and types of vulnerable households and housing situations, nor the drivers and consequences of different forms of vulnerability. This leads to questions about how to apply the concept to address people’s right to housing. This special issue presents research into what housing vulnerability means in different world regions, what structures and systems may be driving it, and the variety of experiences of housing vulnerability. These studies use different theoretical frameworks, methodologies, and empirical contexts to examine factors and initiatives that drive or counter housing vulnerability, fostering a dialogue towards critical housing research and policy agendas that meet our expectations of housing as a human right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The neoliberalization of housing policy and housing financialization have brought unequal impacts on housing outcomes. Drawing on eight waves of census data, this study uncovers the changing mechanism of housing stratification in selected Canadian census metropolitan areas from 1981 to 2016, a period when Canada transitioned from a welfare housing regime to a neoliberal regime. This study reveals entrenched housing inequality and strengthened income effect in determining access to affordable housing in the neoliberal era. Housing financialization has significantly contributed to intensified inequality in accessing affordable housing. Access to affordable housing in Canada is also stratified along the lines of gender and immigration status. Homeownership affordability for low-to-moderate-income households has significantly deteriorated over time, representing a new form of housing vulnerability in the neoliberal era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do residents participate in neighborhood affairs in different forms? This study probes this question by integrating the social capital framework and the place attachment framework. Drawing on a qualitative case study and survey data in the city of Guangzhou, China, this research demonstrates the differential effects of place attachment and social capital on different forms of neighborhood participation. Neighborhood attachment (i.e., place sentiment toward a neighborhood) serves as a prerequisite for any form of participation. While neighborhood attachment is sufficient for latent involvement, such as staying informed about neighborhood issues through social exchanges and other spontaneous activities, social capital produces mobilizing forces that motivate residents to move beyond the latent stage to influence community outcomes through manifest engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the spherical unit speed nonlightlike curve in pseudo-hyperbolic space and de Sitter space γ and a given point P, we can define naturally the pedal curve of γ relative to the pedal point P. When the pseudo-sphere dual curve germs are nonsingular, singularity types of such pedal curves depend only on locations of pedal points. In this paper, we give a complete list of normal forms for singularities and locations of pedal points when the pseudo-sphere dual curve germs are nonsingular. Furthermore, we obtain the extension results in dualities, which has wide influence on the open and closed string field theory and string dynamics in physics, and can be used to better solve the dynamics of trajectory particle condensation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Methods Results Conclusion This study investigates the DP7‐C/miR‐26a complex as a stable entity resulting from the combination of miR‐26a with the immunomodulatory peptide DP7‐C. Our focus is on utilizing DP7‐C loaded with miR‐26a to modulate the immune microenvironment in bone and facilitate osteogenesis.The DP7‐C/miR‐26a complex was characterized through transmission electron microscopy, agarose electrophoresis, and nanoparticle size potentiometer analysis. Transfection efficiency and cytotoxicity of DP7‐C were assessed using flow cytometry and the CCK‐8 assay. We validated the effects of DP7‐C/miR‐26a on bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and macrophages RAW 264.7 through gene expression and protein synthesis assays. A comprehensive evaluation of appositional bone formation involved micro‐CT imaging, histologic analysis, and immunohistochemical staining.DP7‐C/miR‐26a, a nanoscale, and low‐toxic cationic complex, demonstrated the ability to enter BMSCs and RAW 264.7 via distinct pathways. The treatment with DP7‐C/miR‐26a significantly increased the synthesis of multiple osteogenesis‐related factors in BMSCs, facilitating calcium nodule formation in vitro. Furthermore, DP7‐C/miR‐26a promoted M1 macrophage polarization toward M2 while suppressing the release of inflammatory factors. Coculture studies corroborated these findings, indicating significant repair of rat skull defects following treatment with DP7‐C/miR‐26a.The DP7‐C/miR‐26a system offers a safer, more efficient, and feasible technical means for treating bone defects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whereas education inequality has attracted wide scholarly attention, there has been little attention paid to the spatial patterns of schools or, more specifically, the spatial equity of secondary schools. This study investigates the spatial patterns of secondary schools (regular vs. key) in Guangzhou, China and disparities in school accessibility among different social groups at the neighbourhood level. We use a two‐step floating catchment area method to measure school accessibility. Our results demonstrate strong spatial disparities in secondary school accessibility in Guangzhou and further underscore significant associations between the access to secondary schools, especially key schools, and neighbourhood characteristics. This study helps to document salient spatial inequity in China's current education system and suggests that efforts should be made to reduce the country's spatial inequity in secondary education. Key Messages: Access to secondary schools, especially prestigious key schools, is highly unequitable in urban China.Accessibility of key secondary schools is significantly associated with socio‐economic characteristics of a neighbourhood.Due to both socialist and market mechanisms, neighbourhoods with higher socio‐economic status have greater access to (better) secondary education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The loss of psychosocial well-being is an overlooked but monumental consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. These effects result not only from the pandemic itself but, in a secondary way, from the Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) made to curb the spread of disease. The unprecedented physical distancing and stay-at-home requirements and recommendations provide a unique window for housing researchers to better understand the mechanisms by which housing affects psychosocial well-being. This study draws on a survey conducted with over 2,000 residents of the neighbouring Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta in 2021. We propose a new multi-dimensional model to examine the relationships between the Material, Economic, Affordances, Neighbourhood, and Stability (MEANS) aspects of housing and psychosocial well-being. Our analysis reveals the direct and indirect pathways by which deficiencies in each of these areas had negative effects on psychosocial well-being. Residential stability, housing affordances, and neighbourhood accessibility exert stronger direct impacts on psychosocial well-being than material and economic housing indicators (e.g. size of living space and tenure). Notably, we find no significant well-being differences between different homeowners and renters when we account for other housing MEANS. These findings have important implications for housing policy across pandemic and post-pandemic contexts, suggesting a need for research and policy focus on understanding housing and well-being in terms of non-material aspects, such as residential stability and affordances that housing provides. • We examine the relationships between key aspects of housing and psychosocial well-being. • Stability, housing affordances and neighbourhood accessibility have stronger effects than material and economic indicators. • No significant well-being differences exist between different tenure types when we account for other housing aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a socio-spatial analysis of the restructuring of Guangzhou, China, from 2000 to 2010, this study explores the spatiality of gentrification. We argue that gentrification processes in Guangzhou are best characterized as state-embedded gentrification wherein the spatiality of gentrification manifests the spatial selectivity of the hegemonic state. Specifically, Guangzhou's restructuring presents a pattern of suburban gentrification, coupled with sporadic inner-city gentrification. The city's spatial pattern of gentrification was shaped by the local state's spatial selectivity through land-driven development policies, such as administrative annexation, new-zone development, and urban renewal, which were intended to promote industrial upgrading and economic growth. While new-build gentrification was a key form of gentrification, the demographic changes in gentrified neighborhoods in Guangzhou were primarily attributed to the inflows of gentrifiers (especially those in knowledge-oriented or state sectors) instead of the physical displacement of disadvantaged groups. After critically interrogating the applicability and relevance of existing gentrification concepts to Chinese cities, we argue that the concept of state-embedded gentrification helps to articulate the nuanced exercise of state hegemony in gentrification. • Gentrification processes in Guangzhou (2000–2010) are best characterized by state-embedded gentrification • The spatiality of gentrification manifests the spatial selectivity of the hegemonic state • New-build gentrification was a key form • Gentrification was attributed more to the inflows of gentrifiers than the physical displacement of disadvantaged groups • State-embedded gentrification helps to articulate the nuanced exercise of state hegemony in gentrification [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scholarship in building community capacity by way of cultivating community social capital and community spirit through neighborhood design has spawned heated debates in urban and community studies. This paper contributes to this scholarship by examining the neighborhood contexts of grassroots participation in Chinese contemporary urban communities. In particular, it explores the relationship between neighborhood communal space and community participation, using a city-wide survey of 1809 households in 39 commodity housing estates in the city of Guangzhou. It is found that local residents' participation in community affairs is conditioned by both the social milieu (measured by the overall level of social cohesion) and the physical environment (indicated by effects of communal space) of a neighborhood. Notably, communal space exerts positive indirect effects on grassroots participation by facilitating the development of place-based social capital and neighborhood attachment. These findings point to a civic virtue of communal space and provide nascent evidence regarding neighborhood contexts of grassroots participation in urban China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on data from the 2005 National Population Sample Survey and compiled covariates of 205 prefectures, this research adopted principal-component and multilevel-logistic analyses to study homeownership in urban China. Although the housing reform has severed the link between work units and residence, working in state sectors (government, state-owned enterprises and collective firms) remained significant in determining a household’s entitlement to reform-era housing with heavy subsidies or better qualities. While the prefecture-level index of marketization reduced local homeownership of self-built housing, affordable housing and privatized housing, its effect is moderated by cross-level interactions with income, education and working in state sectors across different types of housing. Meanwhile, the index of political and market connections promoted all types of homeownership except for self-built housing. By situating the downside of marketization within a context of urban transformation, this research not only challenges the teleological premise of the neoliberal market transition theory but calls for research on institutional dynamics and social consequences of urban transformation in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the 2005 microcensus data set, this research adopts a multilevel approach to examine housing outcomes in relation to city-level contexts. We find that housing stratification in contemporary China is not homogeneous across cities but rather is spatially dynamic and conditioned by local contexts. Net of other effects, per capita gross domestic product and housing price are significantly associated with housing outcomes in the open market, whereas the effect of a city's administrative rank is restricted to the social housing domain. In addition, in relatively rich cities, the advantage of proper institutional affiliations in owning commodity housing somewhat diminishes, but it remains persistent, if not strengthened, in owning reformed housing and affordable housing. The effects of market-related factors (i.e., education and income) on housing outcomes also vary across cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The housing reform in urban China since the 1990s and the ensuing spatial and social dynamics gave rise to new kinds of neighbourhoods with new logics of neighbouring and neighbourhood attachment. Meanwhile, neighbourhoods are actively promoted as platforms for policy implementation. Both are reasons to revisit the meaning of neighbourhood attachment in the Chinese context. This article focuses on the roles of neighbourly interaction and physical environment, juxtaposing post-reform commodity housing estates against traditional neighbourhoods. The analysis draws on both qualitative and quantitative datasets from three case studies in Guangzhou and a city-wide survey. Results indicate that, compared with traditional neighbourhoods, residents of commodity housing estates have weak neighbourly interactions but strong neighbourhood attachment, which is based mainly on their satisfaction with the physical environment and less on their neighbourly contacts. Neighbourhoods in China have apparently shifted their function from social arenas to privatised living environments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Based on more than 280,000 newspaper articles published in North America, this study proposes an integrative machine learning framework to explore heterogeneous social sentiments over time. After retrieving and preprocessing articles containing the term "Chinese" from six mainstream newspapers, we identified major discussion topics and assigned articles to their corresponding topics via posterior probabilities estimated by using a novel Bayesian nonparametric model, the hierarchical Dirichlet process. We also employed a groundbreaking deep learning technique, bidirectional encoder representations from transformers, to assign a negative or positive sentiment score to each newspaper article, which was trained on binary-labeled movie reviews from the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). By combining state-of-the-art tools for topic modeling and sentiment analysis, we found an overall lack of consensus on whether sentiments in North America since 1978 were pro- or anti-Chinese. Moreover, the images of Chinese are highly topic specific: (1) sentiments across different topics show distinct trajectories over the period of study; (2) discussion topics explain much more of the variation in sentiments than do the publisher, year of publication, or country of publisher; (3) less positive sentiments appear to be more relevant to material concerns than to ethnic considerations, whereas more positive sentiments are associated with an appreciation of culture; and (4) sentiments on the same or similar topic might exhibit different temporal patterns in the United States and Canada. These new findings not only suggest a multifaceted and dynamic view of social sentiments in a transnational context but also call for a paradigm shift in understanding intertwined sociodiscursive interactions over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents focus group research with community housing residents in Vancouver, Canada, investigating the role, activities, and importance of neighboring to these individuals living in vulnerable situations. Neighborly relationships play a key role in connecting the private home with the larger urban community through processes of home-making, social inclusion and integration, but an increasing share of urbanites are excluded from the structural and social expectations of good neighboring. Although neighbors constitute weaker and different ties than friends and family, and although contemporary urban community housing situations present barriers to good neighboring, neighboring is nonetheless essential to urban quality of life. We propose a conceptual frame of a spectrum of neighboring and find that pro-social neighboring, anti-social neighboring, and a middle zone of asocial neighboring, all are important aspects of life in community housing that are also defined in a context-specific way by community housing residents. The outcomes of this research highlight the need for urban social and housing policy that addresses neighboring across the spectrum as an important part of social inclusion and well-being efforts in cities contending with increasing density, diversity, and vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sought to examine grouped and right-censored (GRC) counts of adolescent marijuana use and estimate its temporal trajectories and sociodemographic disparities over almost half a century. After compiling 46 waves of nationally representative data from the Monitoring the Future (MTF) study from 1976 to 2021 (sample size = 491,348), we utilized an innovative modified Poisson (mixture) approach to analyze past-year marijuana use quantified by GRC counts. The overall reduction in incidence rates of marijuana use was attributable to an almost 40% reduction in the risk of marijuana use (with the proportion of at-risk adolescents at 51.36% in 1979 and 31.53% in 2021). Despite substantial changes over the study period, the recent incidence rates for at-risk individuals were similar to those in the early 1980s. Living in an intact family was a protective factor against adolescent marijuana use over time. The incidence rates of marijuana use among at-risk students, especially those from disadvantaged families, remained high over the study period. The modified Poisson (mixture) approach serves as the preferred tool for modeling GRC responses. It is essential to distinguish among risk, at-risk incidence, and overall incidence when assessing substance use and other risky behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: A lack of relevant research on Lycium barbarum polysaccharide‐glycoprotein (LBP) application in oral diseases. Here, we focused on the effect of LBP on osteogenic differentiation of human periodontal ligament stem cells (hPDLSCs) and periodontitis bone loss. Methods: Human periodontal ligament stem cells (hPDLSCs) were isolated and identified by flow cytometry. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, Alizarin Red staining, and combined qPCR and Western blot analyses were performed to elucidate the effects of LBP on the osteogenic potential of hPDLSCs. In vivo experiments were performed with the treatment of LBP in rat periodontal model. MicroCT scanning and histological analysis were conducted to evaluate osteogenesis in situ. Results: Human periodontal ligament stem cells (hPDLSCs) were successfully isolated and identified with CD90, CD29, and CD45. LBP enhanced hPDLSCs proliferation and migration and promoted RUNX2, ALP, Collagen I, and Osteocalcin expression through activating the ERK1/2 signaling pathway in vitro. The inflammatory factors, including interleukin 6 (IL‐6) and interleukin 8 (IL‐8) were reduced after LBP treatment. Alveolar bone resorption was significantly decreased in the LBP‐treated groups in vivo, and osteoclast was markedly decreased by LBP application. Conclusion: LBP promoted hPDLSC osteogenesis by targeting the ERK1/2 signaling pathway and reverse bone loss by reducing inflammation. These findings provided latent hope for LBP application in periodontal therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores racial and gender disparities in civic-network centrality using various social network methods and regression models. We find that civic networks of women and whites exhibit greater network centrality than their counterparts do. Religious organizations are the hub of civic networks, while labor unions and ethnic/civil-rights organizations are more peripheral. Whites tend to have job-related and nondomestic organizations as the core of their civic network. Women rely on domestic organizations and show little advantage over men in overlapping memberships of voluntary associations. These findings provide a more holistic view of racial and gender disparities in social networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although changes in urban space often mean a restructuring of social relations, few studies elucidate why network-related frameworks are inherently related to residential outcomes in urban neighborhoods. By proposing a relational account of neighborhood governance, we investigate outcomes of neighborhood governance by incorporating a series of measures of network forms of organization, network-based social capital, and neighborly interactions. Based on a collaborative survey project conducted in Guangzhou, we find that neighborhood ties and neighborly interactions are positively associated with neighborhood attachment and cohesion, whereas uneven power relations between grassroots governments and civic homeowners associations are negatively associated with these two measures. These results not only reveal new social dynamics in urban space but also lend support to a relational account of neighborhood governance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To investigate temporal patterns, sociodemographic gradients, and structural breaks in adolescent marijuana use in the United States from 1991 to 2018, we used hierarchical age-period-cohort logistic regression models to distinguish temporal effects of marijuana use among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders from 28 waves of the Monitoring the Future survey (1991–2018). Structural breaks in period effects were further detected via a dynamic-programing–based method. Net of other effects, we found a clear age-related increase in the probability of marijuana use (10.46%, 23.17%, and 31.19% for 8th, 10th, and 12th graders, respectively). Period effects showed a substantial increase over time (from 16.23% in 2006 to 26.38% in 2018), while cohort effects remained stable throughout the study period. Risk of adolescent marijuana use varied by sex, racial group, family status, and parental education. Significant structural breaks during 1995–1996, 2006–2008, and 2011–2013 were identified in different subpopulations. A steady increase in marijuana use among adolescents during the latter years of this time period was identified. Adolescents who were male, were non-Black, lived in nonintact families, and had less educated parents were especially at risk of marijuana usage. Trends in adolescent marijuana use changed significantly during times of economic crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate temporal patterns, sociodemographic gradients, and structural breaks in adolescent marijuana use in the United States from 1991 to 2018, we used hierarchical age-period-cohort logistic regression models to distinguish temporal effects of marijuana use among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders from 28 waves of the Monitoring the Future survey (1991–2018). Structural breaks in period effects were further detected via a dynamic-programing–based method. Net of other effects, we found a clear age-related increase in the probability of marijuana use (10.46%, 23.17%, and 31.19% for 8th, 10th, and 12th graders, respectively). Period effects showed a substantial increase over time (from 16.23% in 2006 to 26.38% in 2018), while cohort effects remained stable throughout the study period. Risk of adolescent marijuana use varied by sex, racial group, family status, and parental education. Significant structural breaks during 1995–1996, 2006–2008, and 2011–2013 were identified in different subpopulations. A steady increase in marijuana use among adolescents during the latter years of this time period was identified. Adolescents who were male, were non-Black, lived in nonintact families, and had less educated parents were especially at risk of marijuana usage. Trends in adolescent marijuana use changed significantly during times of economic crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we take advantage of envelope theory and singularity theory to study the evolutoids and pedaloids in Minkowski plane. We illustrate an internal correlation from algebraic and geometric viewpoints, and give the geometric explanation of evolutoids and pedaloids. Then, we generalize the notions of evolutoids and pedaloids to the category of frontals in Minkowski plane. Furthermore, we apply the technique of singularity theory, using the discriminants and versal unfolding tools, to consider evolving evolutoids and give the classifications of singularities of the evolutoids, and explain when cusps and inflexions occur and how evolutoids evolving. Besides, we found that there is a close relationship between the evolutoids and pedaloids and good correspondence between their singularities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]