Local Climate Change Induced by Urbanization on a South China Sea Island

The South China Sea is a hotspot for regional climate research.Over the past 40 years,considerable improvement has been made in the development and utilization of the islands in the South China Sea,leading to a substantial change in the land-use of the islands.However,research on the impact of human development on the local climate of these islands is lacking.This study analyzed the characteristics of local climate changes on the islands in the South China Sea based on data from the Yongxing Island Observation Station and ERA5 re-analysis.Furthermore,the influence of urbanization on the local climate of the South China Sea islands was explored in this study.The findings revealed that the 10-year average temperature in Yongxing Island increased by approximately 1.11℃from 1961 to 2020,and the contribution of island development and urbanization to the local warming rate over 60 years was approximately 36.2%.The linear increasing trend of the annual hot days from 1961–2020 was approximately 14.84 days per decade.The diurnal temperature range exhibited an increasing trend of 0.05℃per decade,whereas the number of cold days decreased by 1.06days per decade.The rapid increase in construction on Yongxing Island from 2005 to 2021 led to a decrease in observed surface wind speed by 0.32 m s^(-1)per decade.Consequently,the number of days with strong winds decreased,whereas the number of days with weak winds increased.Additionally,relative humidity exhibited a rapid decline from 2001 to 2016 and then rebounded.The study also found substantial differences between the ERA5 re-analysis and observation data,particularly in wind speed and relative humidity,indicating that the use of re-analysis data for climate resource assessment and climate change evaluation on island areas may not be feasible.

The Influence of Urbanization Development on Farmers' Income Growth in Wuhan City

Over the past three decades,with the development of urbanization in Wuhan,farmers' income has been substantially increased in Wuhan City,and urbanization has played an important role in farmers' income growth. By the empirical analysis of the data related to the level of urbanization development and farmers' income in Wuhan City during 1993- 2013,this paper finds that there is a long-term stable equilibrium relationship between urbanization development and farmers' income growth in Wuhan City,and urbanization development has become an important driving force for farmers' income growth. Finally,this paper puts forth some policy recommendations for promoting farmers' income by urbanization development in Wuhan City on the basis of empirical analysis.

Land-losing Farmers' Citizenization in the Process of Urbanization

Starting from the status of citizenization of land-losing farmers,problems in the citizenization are analyzed,such as the difficulty in land-losing farmers' economic life after turning into citizens,employment difficulties of land-losing farmers after living in the city,and the prominent problems in social security of land-losing farmers.Causations for the citizenization problems of land-losing farmers are analyzed.Firstly,institutionalized rejection is the root of the obstacle in citizenization of land-losing farmers.Secondly,exclusion from social security system is a fundamental reason.Thirdly,exclusion of land-losing farmers from both urban citizens and themselves is the subjective factor.Fourthly,exclusion of land-losing farmers from urban employment is the objective factor.Based on these,countermeasures are put forward:formulating a reasonable price of land transfer;establishing a reasonable land compensation and benefit-sharing mechanism;setting up a multi-level social security system for land-losing farmers;increasing the human capital investment in land-losing farmers to enhance their employment status;and improving the cultural quality of land-losing farmers to realize the change in lifestyle.

Welfare effects of rural-urban land conversion on different aged land-lost farmers:exemplified in Wuhan city

Rural-urban land conversion is a universal phenomenon in the rapid process of economic development and urban growth.The welfare of farmers who lost their farmland attracted a widespread concern within the society and academia.However,further research about differentiated policies according to the characteristics of different farmer groups is still need to be conducted.This article divides the land-lost farmers into three age groups:younger than 45,45-65,and more than 65.It proposes a welfare index system including eight functional areas based on different age groups of affected farmers,taking four districts of Wuhan City as case study area.Fuzzy mathematics method is used to derive the aggregated welfare effect index.Our analysis show that the overall welfare levels of land-lost farmers of all age groups declined,but with a varying degree,with the level of welfare in those farmers who are 45-65 years old,younger than 45 years old,and older than 65 years old decreased by 18.7%,16.6%,and 12.7%,respectively.The direction and degree of effects on the functional activity index varies among different groups.Economic conditions,living environment,health,and social participation of all age groups decrease while social security and housing conditions increase.On the other hand,development opportunities,social communication,and leisure have different changing directions in different age stages.These results call for differentiated and tailor-made compensation policies for land-lost farmers,towards improving the welfare levels of all farmers and reduce the disparity among them.

Analysis on the Employment of Landless Farmers during the Reconstruction of Urban Village: A Case Study of S Village in Shaanxi Province

The re-employment of landless farmers in reconstruction of urban village is an important way to solve the problems concerning farmers. In S Village of Shaanxi Province,the landless farmers are facing the employment problems such as low re-employment rate and quality,lack of employment competitiveness,and weak employment willingness. This paper analyzes the main factors influencing the employment of landless farmers in this urban village such as local government's lack of overall design on the employment of landless farmers,landless farmers' lack of long-term employment concept,poor employment conditions,and lack of vocational education in rural areas. Finally some recommendations are set forth to enhance the employment of landless farmers in S Village: strengthening the institutional support for the employment of landless farmers; perfecting the fund guarantee for the employment of landless farmers; actively expanding the employment channels; enhancing the employability of landless farmers.

Social Security of Land-losing Farmers in Urban Demolition——A Case of Hedong Village, Chengzhong District,Liuzhou City

Based on the survey of peasants from 40 households who are chosen at random and have lost their land in the Hedong Village of Liuzhou, the status quo of land expropriation and social security of land-losing peasants are expounded. The social security problems of peasants in urban demolition and peasantsh desperate demands are analyzed as follows. For example, the Main problems after the peasants losing their lands cover the substandard of resettlement, which can not maintain the former living standard; the source of income has changed and the relevant security mechanism has not been established; the peasants who have lost their land are in desperate need of more stable jobs and stable income. In view of the current situation, the countermeasures and suggestions for establishing social security mechanism for peasants who have lost their land are put forward. The measures cover establishing the subsistence allowances for land-losing peasants; establishing the guarantee system for aged people; building medical care system; providing employment and training opportunity, trying to increase the channels of employment for farmers and fostering the employment security system for peasants who have lost their land.

Research on the Urban Integration of Land-losing Farmers

Fishbone chart is used to analyze the status of the living ability of land-losing farmers, as well as its causation from the aspects of system layer, social support network, land-losing farmer themselves, and economic layer. Result shows that the system layer includes the unreasonable land compensation, the lack of social security for land-losing farmers, and the employment exclusion of land-losing farmers. Small scale and low heterogeneity are the causations for social support network. Low willingness to become citizens, low cultural quality and difficulty in role change are the causations of land-losing farmers themselves. The low expected return and high living cost are the causations for economic layer. Based on the above analysis, countermeasures to improve the urban-living ability of land-losing farmers are put forward, such as improving the land expropriation system, establishing a multi-level social security system, enhancing the training and employment mechanism of land-losing farmers, and improving the quality of land-losing farmers.

Cultivation Model of New Farmers under the Urban Rural Development: A Case Study of Guangdong Province

Different from traditional farmers, new farmers refer to the high-quality farmers who are educated and skilled, and have the capability of operating. Cultivation of new farmers is a key factor of developing rural human resources, and also the lasting power for the new countryside construction. Guangdong Province has witnessed rapid urbanization and industrialization, and local farmers have been faced with the competition with foreign quality talents and the pressure of survival. Against the background of new countryside construction, this paper studied the supply-demand situation and problems of traditional farmers in Guangdong Province, explored education and cultivation model of new farmers and innovation mechanism, which is signifi cant for improving the innovation level of Guangdong, and promoting the urban-rural coordinated development.

Ethnobotanical Knowledge of Local Cassava Varieties and Characteristics Desired by Farmers in Sierra Leone

It has been observed that farmers adopt only a small number of the “improved” cultivars. A nationwide germplasm collection exercise in February 2018 provided the opportunity to collect indigenous technical knowledge (ITK) of the diversity of cassava varieties in terms of: their morphology, growth characteristics, uses (of tubers and leaves) and desirable characteristics. The objective is to see to what extent the objectives of the plant breeders are consistent with what farmers’ value. We performed 405 structured and semi-structured interviews with informants who were selected based on “purposive household sampling”. We found a considerable turn-over in cassava varieties, just over a third (45) have been in cultivation for at least 40 years, however, since the end of the civil war an additional 25 varieties are cultivated, while others varieties seem to have disappeared. One major issue with estimating turnover of varieties is whether the same variety might have several local names, and conversely the same name may be applied to different cultivars. Farmers overwhelmingly use ITK to select and preserve cassava germplasm for future use. Farmers have a clear preference for: sweet taste, high yield, early maturity and easy cooking and preferentially adopt cultivars that have those qualities. Cassava is primarily a human food eaten boiled or fried, some are processed into fufu and gari, and uses as livestock feed and medicine are reported but at low levels. The information produced during this study could help plant breeders choose selection criteria that will ensure their efforts are adopted and sustainable, the importance of preserving the genetic resources of local cultivars is also highlighted.

Research on the local government investment and fi nancing system innovation and risk assessment under the new-type urbanization background

At present, with the new urbanization as the background of the situation in our country, local governments in China especiallyin the central region as the representative of Henan Province, is to take this opportunity to create their own economic heights and industrialagglomeration, and constantly improve the level of urbanization of the original, but the town level cannot improve open the power of capital, thelocal government of is facing fi nancing, fi nancing platform, fi nancing channels and fi nancing policy and a series of fi nancing systems caused byfi nancing diffi culties. Therefore, as the perspective of the local government, a new study of investment and fi nancing system and the risk measure,can more effectively guide and encourage the existing capital city infrastructure and public services to improve the fi eld.

Policy Needs for Social Security in the Process of Citizenization of the Peri-urban Farmers:A Case Study of Hefei City

We conduct a survey of transformational towns and villages in High-tech Development District, Yaohai District and Shushan District, Hefei City. Using data, we analyze the "sideline effect" and inherent contradiction of transformational cities, research the policy needs for social security and its trend in the citizenization process of the peri-urban farmers. On this basis, we construct the social security policy system that can adapt to the accelerated process of urbanization. Finally, we put forth the following recommendations for the social security policy in the citizenization process of the peri-urban farmers: distinguishing different groups' policy needs for social security; attaching importance to people's dynamic policy needs for social security in urbanization; focusing on the adaptability of social security policy transformation in urbanization; attaching importance to the social psychosocial environment of social security policy transformation in urbanization; achieving the trinity of non-farm conversion, urbanization and citizenization in the process of urbanization; strengthening the government's dominant position in the building of social security policy system.

Genetically Modified Doubts Imported GM soybeans impact China’s local farmers and create food safety concerns

The cooking oil made from the imported soybeans does not contain transgenic proteins. So there will be no food safety threat.

Operating in Tandem Chinese experts in Sao Tome and Principe cooperate with local farmers to raise medical standards in the breeding industry

Santomean pig farmer Simao Vicente was hopeful when he came to ask Zou Rui for help. His pig was suffering from hernia, and Zou, a 42-year-old Chinese agricultural expert working in Sao Tomé and Príncipe, was the only person on the island who could provide emergency surgery.

Combination of Local Culture and Landscape in Urban Plaza Design——A Case Study of Yingmeng Plaza Design in Zitong County, Mianyang City of China

Taking the design of Yingmeng Plaza in Zitong County, Mianyang City for example, location feature and overall design objective were analyzed on the basis of design background. By analyzing the theme of Yingmeng Plaza, design principles were proposed as "based on overall functions, fully considering users' needs, showing characteristics of a tourist city and cultural city". Guided by the overall planar layout, the whole plaza was classified into 5 functional areas to highlight its landscape structure of "four centers, four axes, two districts and two belts". By following the concept of "Beginning of a dream- Expectations of the dream-Transition of the dream-Dream coming true", and considering theme and design principles of Yingmeng Plaza, design concepts of its major scenic spots were elaborated.

Administrative Urbanization and City-making in Post-reform China: A Case Study of Ordos City, Inner Mongolia

In post-reform China, local governments, instead of the central state, have become major promoters of urbanization. Differing from the existing literature based on Western theories, this article argues that a localized perspective, ‘administrative urbanization', can provide a contextual explanation for the mechanism of urbanization in the reform era. The case study of Ordos indicates that new town construction, especially in the inland area, has become the main strategy for investment attraction and economic development. The local government has played a dominant role in this construction through a series of administrative measures, including avoidance of central state regulations, land leasing, high standard infrastructure construction, relocation policies and industrial attraction. This article also explores the issue of unsustainability in the new town, and identifies that underdeveloped industrialization, slow population agglomeration and real estate bubbles are primary threats to the sustainability of administrative urbanization.

Revisiting and Rethinking Regional Urbanization in Changjiang River Delta,China

China is entering a critical and accelerating phase of urbanization.As one of the most urbanized regions in China,the Changjiang(Yangtze)River Delta has experienced dramatic urbanization and urban transformation.However,in the recent years,many changes have taken place in this region and there is limited attention to the regional urbanization path evolution,its problems and the way to solve these problems.Therefore,we should revisit the urbanization process in the Changjiang River Delta again.In this paper,we revisited urbanization paths of the Changjiang River Delta by data analysis,influence factors of urbanization by the Gray Relational Analysis,and major challenges to urbanization of the Changjiang River Delta by theoretical considerations.We found that the urbanization of the Changjiang River Delta had experienced several stages of large-scale spatial and urban system restructuring.Within the Changjiang River Delta,Shanghai,Zhejiang and Jiangshu had experienced different urbanization path with local characteristics.But with their development model gradually converging,their urbanization model is also converging.We also found that the major influence factors affecting the Changjiang River Delta urbanization were dynamic change and urbanization was driven by different key factors in different socio-economic development stages.Meanwhile,the Changjiang River Delta urbanization is facing many problems such as existing institutional arrangements,including the hukou(household registration)system and others which can not meet the needs of current socioeconomic development and urbanization.Therefore,it is imperative to promote institutional innovation and adopt a new urbanization development strategy for the sake of the orderly and sustainable urbanization development in the Changjiang River Delta.

Localization and mapping in urban area based on 3D point cloud of autonomous vehicles

In order to meet the application requirements of autonomous vehicles, this paper proposes a simultaneous localization and mapping （SLAM） algorithm, which uses a VoxelGrid filter to down sample the point cloud data, with the combination of iterative closest points （ICP） algorithm and Gaussian model for particles updating, the matching between the local map and the global map to quantify particles＇ importance weight. The crude estimation by using ICP algorithm can find the high probability area of autonomous vehicles＇ poses, which would decrease particle numbers, increase algorithm speed and restrain particles＇ impoverishment. The calculation of particles＇ importance weight based on matching of attribute between grid maps is simple and practicable. Experiments carried out with the autonomous vehicle platform validate the effectiveness of our approaches.

Spatial Autocorrelation and Localization of Urban Development

A nonlinear analysis of urban evolution is made by using of spatial autocorrelation theory. A first-order nonlinear autoregression model based on Clark’s negative exponential model is proposed to show urban population density. The new method and model are applied to Hangzhou City, China, as an example. The average distance of population activities, the auto-correlation coefficient of urban population density, and the auto-regressive function values all show trends of gradual increase from 1964 to 2000, but there always is a sharp first-order cutoff in the partial auto- correlations. These results indicate that urban development is a process of localization. The discovery of urban locality is significant to improve the cellular-automata-based urban simulation of modeling spatial complexity.

Costs and Strategies on Urbanization of Chinese Megacities’ Rural Areas Based on a Case Study of Beijing

As urbanization expands＇ into the suburbs of Chinese cities, the conversion of farmers into citizens with urban social protection is becoming an important issue facing Chinese megacities. Taking Beijing as an example, this paper has calculated the one-off urbanization cost of farmers in China and arrived at the results of 500, 000 yuan per person for urbanization of centralized target regions in the suburb and 200, 000 yuan per person for urbanization of scattered target regions in the exurb. This paper considers that a diversified cost sharing mechanism should be put into place for the step-by-step urbanization of farmers. In addition, policy recommendations are proposed regarding the functional transformation of collective economic organizations, eradication of the urban-rural divide, enhancement of land system innovation and policy improvements for urbanization of rural residents.