Rural labor migration and farmers’arrangements of rice production systems in Central China:Insight from the intergenerational division of labor

Rice production is crucial for food security in China,and its relationship with rural labor migration has been studied extensively.Labor migration in rural China has taken new forms in recent years.There has been a discernible trend wherein adult children have started migrating to cities while their elderly parents return to villages to re-engage in on-farm work.The phenomenon has notably shaped the intergenerational division of labor(IDL)within households.However,it remains to be seen how farmers adjust their rice production systems in response to the IDL.The age of 60 years for employment injury insurance is the eligibility threshold for off-farm employment and is used to obtain a source of exogenous variation in the IDL.Based on a representative household survey of 1,752 rice farmers in the Hubei Province of Central China,our fuzzy regression discontinuity analysis reveals that farmers in IDL households are more likely to adopt ratoon rice(RR)than single cropping rice(SR)or double cropping rice(DR).The effect of the IDL varies under different levels of operational scales and specialized agricultural service availability.Further analysis suggests that farmers’arrangements are associated with two potential mechanisms of downward intergenerational transfer.Monetary transfer for urban housing purchases increases RR in IDL households,and time transfer for intergenerational childcare significantly promotes SR in IDL households.This study enhances the understanding of the relationship between rural labor migration and rice production in China,providing a reference for adjusting rice production systems to ensure food security.

Re-measuring Status of China＇s High-Tech Industries in International Division of Labor： Applying a Non-Competitive Input-Output Model

Based on a refined ＂non-competitive input-output model,＂ this paper proposes a new framework for analyzing the status of a country＇s high-tech industries in the international division of labor, i.e. calculates the index of＂ weighted value-added productivity ＂ by compiling non-competitive input-output tables which distinguish high-tech industries from traditional industries. The new method effectively avoids ＂statistical illusion＂ which stems from a biased focus on gross exports under intra-product specialization. The empirical study shows that since 1995, the status of China＇s high-tech industries has grown quickly as a result of enhanced labor productivity, but still lags behind those of major developed countries. In addition, the study also suggests that the status of China＇s high-tech industries has been over-estimated using the traditional gross export statistical method.

Division of labor, perceived labor-related stress and well-being among European couples

Background: The objective of this study was to analyze how involvement in paid and unpaid work and perceived labor-related stress are related to the well-being of married or cohabiting men and women in Europe. Methods: Data from the European Social Survey round two has been used. The sample consists of 5800 women and 6952 men, aged between 18-65 years. Exposure variables were divided into labor involvement, time spent on paid and unpaid work, and labor-related stress. Multiple logistic regressions with 95 % confidence interval were used. Results: Women spent more hours on housework than men did, but fewer hours on paid work. Women tended to perceive higher degrees of housework-related stress than men did. Furthermore, women who experienced houseworkrelated stress tended to have higher odds of reporting a low level of perceived well-being than men, while men had higher odds of reporting a low level of perceived well-being when they experienced work/family conflicts. Conclusion: For both men and women, the perceptions of labor involvement are of more importance for the well-being than the actual time spent on paid and unpaid work. This implies that, when studying the relationship between labor involvement and well-being, perceived stress should be considered.

The Division of Labor in Parenting and Its Impact on Adolescent Development

The Law of the People's Republic of China on Family Education Promotion explicitly requires both parents to engage in their children's education, but so far there has not been sufficient empirical research on the division of labor in parenting in China. This study,based on questionnaire survey data, is an in-depth investigation of the current situation of the division of labor in parenting, differences in parental status in the family, and the influence of these factors on adolescent development in China. Our findings show that 1)The main pattern of the division of labor in parenting in China is one of intensive maternal parenting with no paternal educational input, followed by a pattern of low participation by both parents. The least common is a pattern of high participation by both parents. 2) The patterns of division of labor in parenting are significantly related to differences in parental status. A family in which the father is highly educated or has a higher level of education than the mother is more likely to evince the pattern of a high level of joint participation by both parents. 3) The division of labor in parenting does not significantly affect the academic performance of adolescents, but has a significant impact upon their mental health and noncognitive abilities. In terms of mental health, strong two-parent participation and intensive maternal parenting with no paternal input are more effective than a low level of participation by both parents. This indicates that a high level of participation by either parent improves children's mental health. In terms of non-cognitive abilities, we found that a high level of joint two-parent participation is more effective than either the pattern of intensive maternal parenting with no paternal educational participation or the pattern of low participation by both parents. The indicates that a father's active role in developing children's non-cognitive abilities cannot be replaced by the mother. 4) A father's contribution in any dimension of parenting can have positive effects on children's mental health and non-cognitive abilities,while a mother can only help with children's mental health and non-cognitive abilities by means of her investment in emotional support and assistance in daily living. The above conclusions indicate that the paternal role is crucial and that greater participation by both parents is highly significant for full adolescent development.

Climate Change and Green Growth:A Perspective of the Division of Labor

This paper presents a new research agenda on climate change and green growth from the perspective of the division of labor in classical economics. The paper covers three major dimensions of green growth （i.e. carbon emissions, environmental proteetion and material resources use） and some related important topics, as well as the fresh policy implications of the new research agenda, Typical marginal analysis in a given structure of the division of labor suggests that ＂green＂ action is a burden to economic development. Therefore, climate negotiation has become a burden-sharing game and has reached a stalemate. New thinking is badly needed to rescue these negotiations and to drive a shift to a new ＂green growth＂ paradigm. The proposed new research agenda represents an effort to create a new narrative on climate change and green growth. Because the new research agenda can theoretically predict the possibility that a more competitive structure of the division of labor could be triggered by ＂＇green ＂＇ policy, it has promising policy implications for various important challenges facing us in the 21st century.

A Division of Labor Perspective on Mothers Who Accompany Their Children’s Study--A Case Study of Student Guardianship among M Town’s Working Families

In modern society,female parents from different strata are involved in the process of constructing their motherhood through education.But mothers of different social classes have different ways of acting.Amid increasingly fierce educational competition,the mothers of ordinary working families move into the school neighborhood to look after their children as the college entrance examination(gaokao)approaches,and construct their“student guardian motherhood”status through their task of accompanying their children’s study.This paper takes as its subject mothers as student guardians in M Town,a typical gaokao community,providing a structural analysis of the features of such mothers’educational labor and production relations from the perspective of gender and class.Seen in the light of the family’s gendered division of labor,the educational work of student guardian mothers is a new form of housework.In terms of the content of its division of labor,the student guardian work of mothers dedicated to their children’s well-being counts as“low-end”work,an overflow from links in the division of labor in school education.On the one hand,due to their lack of cultural capital,the relationship between parents and schools is one of“accompanying”and“submission.”On the other,these parents consciously keep their distance from“quality education”and form an organic compound with the schools’efficient exam-centered education.The traditional Chinese idea of“hoping one’s sons become dragons”[achieve greatness]and the modern“child-centered”concept of nurturing jointly shape the image of student guardian mothers who work as service-oriented mothers in tandem with school education.The function of student guardians is not only the educational labor of“looking after the children”enjoined on middle-and lower-class female parents by the current division of education and social labor,but also an active and rational action strategy adopted by working class Chinese mothers striving for their children’s academic success.

Substrate availability and toxicity shape the structure of microbial communities engaged in metabolic division of labor

Metabolic division of labor(MDOL)represents a widespread natural phenomenon,whereby a complex metabolic pathway is shared between different strains within a community in a mutually beneficial manner.However,little is known about how the composition of such a microbial community is regulated.We hypothesized that when degradation of an organic compound is carried out via MDOL,the concentration and toxicity of the substrate modulate the benefit allocation between the two microbial populations,thus affecting the structure of this community.We tested this hypothesis by combining modeling with experiments using a synthetic consortium.Our modeling analysis suggests that the proportion of the population executing the first metabolic step can be simply estimated by Monod-like formulas governed by substrate concentration and toxicity.Our model and the proposed formula were able to quantitatively predict the structure of our synthetic consortium.Further analysis demonstrates that our rule is also applicable in estimating community structures in spatially structured environments.Together,our work clearly demonstrates that the structure of MDOL communities can be quantitatively predicted using available information on environmental factors,thus providing novel insights into how to manage artificial microbial systems for the wide application of the bioindustry.

Reflections on,and Improvements of,the Mediation Functions of People's Assessors

Legislatively,the people’s assessors are defined as individuals who share judicial power.However,in the context of dispute resolutions,their role is restricted by the courts,which affects the extent of their assessorial activities.It is imperative to reconsider the implications of the people’s assessors’deep involvement in mediation from the standpoint of societal division of labor.To enhance this division of labor,it is advisable that the people’s assessors relinquish their mediation roles.It is necessary to redefine the distinctions between people’s assessors,judges,and people’s mediators,including specially invited mediators.This would not only make up the deficiencies in the role of professional judges but also relieve the tension between judicial professionalism and popular accountability.

Learning by Doing Effect in North South Trade under the Global Value Chains： An Empirical Analysis of Various Industries in the U.S.

This paper studies the division of labor and economic development under global value chains in North South trade by mainly investigating the changes of production hours and cost per unit along with more and more output and increasing trade value in several industries in the U.S., because the U. S. is at the leading position in the division of labor by global value chains. The empirical evidence reveals that more international outsourcing, there will be more detailed division of labor, and the industry unit production time and production cost will show more declining trend year by year. This is consistent with that the global value chains and the outsourcing play more and more important roles in the international division of labor and economic growth in both developed and developing countries, and helps explain the integration of workforce across countries in the global value chains.

How U.S. Antidumping Actions Affect China＇s Inward and Outward FDI

This paper presents an empirical study of how U.S. antidumping （AD） actions against China affect China ＇s inward and outward foreign direct investment （FDI） based on the international division of labor model. Our findings are as follows： （1） The U.S.-China trade deficit has been widened by both downstream firms in China established through vertical FDI and also inward enterprises established through horizontal FDI. The widening deficit in turn exacerbates vitriolic complaints in the U.S. about injury to its industries. This will lead to further U.S. AD actions discouraging FDI in China. （2） U.S. AD cases against China have negatively impacted China＇s metal manufacturing, chemical and, especially, textile industries in terms of exports and inward FDI. From 2004 to 2009, the share of total inward FDI going to China＇s manufacturing sector has dropped drastically by almost 20 percent. This supports predictions made using the international division of labor model. （3） With U.S. AD actions against Chinese products on the rise, Chinese firms chose not to circumvent such barriers through outward FDI in the U.S. but rather through outward FDI in tax havens. Such a pattern of outward FDI is not helpful for China to establish its own successful industrial development model.

China-US High-Tech Competition,Trade Conflict and Development Rights

The power and interest of industrial manufacturers are determined by their status in the relations of production.At the international level,countries see their economic and political status rise only when they climb the ladder in the international division of labor.As the primary production forces,science and technology are the main drivers behind such change.As new technologies give rise to new industries and restructure the international division of labor,developed countries strive to enhance the protection of their intellectual property rights(IPR)and safeguard their monopoly over core technologies.For developed countries,technological prowess holds the key to their supremacy in the global supply chain and international relations.The 19 th CPC National Congress makes clear the overarching goal in the new era is to rejuvenate the Chinese nation and turn China into a strong modern country.As an important material condition for achieving this goal,China must transition from being medium-and low-end links in the international division of labor to becoming high-end links.In this process,China will encounter backlash from developed countries that lead in the international division of labor.The recent China-US tussle over trade in high-tech goods is a case in point,and should be viewed through the lens of the relations of production and the international division of labor.The insights thus achieved will be of great significance to China’s future development.

The Half-industrial and Half-agricultural Working Structure in Rural China

The half-industrial and half-agricultural working structure in rural China is a key phenomenon supporting China's industrialization and urbanization. Based on inter-generational division of labor, the current half-industrial and half-agricultural working structure has given birth to the elderly agriculture and mainstay agriculture, the latter of which has gone out of agricultural involution and to some extent changed the management philosophy of traditional agriculture, becoming a key direction of China's agricultural development. Such a structure has also shaped the "new three-generation family" and facilitated the expansion of middle-income rural groups. While supporting long-term farmers in rural China, it also paves the way for China's urbanization. This structure plays a significant role in the economic, political and social development of rural China. Therefore, this structure is a rural economic structure which concerns farmers' income structure and livelihood patterns. Meanwhile, it is also a rural political structure, village structure and family structure. Through development and refinement, the half-industrial and halfagricultural working structure in rural China has far extended the scope of a descriptive concept. As a dominant variable, the structure, along with its derivatives, through permutation and combination, can establish logical relationships and an interpretation chain among a variety of major economic, political and social phenomena in rural China. Therefore, it can expect to be constructed into an analyticity-oriented mid-level concept.

Analysis on the Theoretical Basis of Rural Revitalization Strategy

The rural revitalization strategy represents a quantum leap in both the theory and practice of rural development in China,and serves as a crucial solution to address the array of challenges facing rural areas.Multi-dimensionally,the rural revitalization strategy sets out the general requirements of“building rural areas with thriving businesses,pleasant living environments,good social civility,effective governance,and prosperity,”which echo the measures of new urbanization:efficient,green,humanistic,well-governed,and inclusive.Specifically,“building rural areas with prosperity”aligns with the development requirement of urban-rural dual structure theory;“building rural areas with thriving businesses”meets the development requirement of the industrial division of labor and integration theory;“building rural areas with pleasant living environments and good social civility”follows the development requirement of sustainable development theory;and“building rural areas with effective governance”tallies with the development requirement of rural governance theory.Urbanization theory,urban-rural dual structure theory,the industrial division of labor and integration theory,sustainable development theory,and rural governance theory serve as crucial theoretical references for the rural revitalization strategy,helping make clear its conceptual underpinnings.

Gustatory responsiveness in Vespula germanica workers:exploring the interplay between sensory perception and task specialization

Workers'task specialization and division of labor are critical features of social insects'ecological success.It has been proposed that the division of labor relies on response threshold models:individuals varying their sensitivity(and responsiveness)to biologically relevant stimuli and performing a specific task when a stimulus exceeds an internal threshold.In this work,we study carbohydrate and protein responsiveness and their relation to worker task specialization in Vespula germanica,an invasive social wasp.The sucrose and peptone responsiveness of two different subcastes,preforagers and foragers,was determined by stimulating the antenna of the wasps with increasing concentrations of the solution and quantifying whether each concentration elicited a licking response.We studied responsiveness in five different ways:(1)response threshold,(2)concentration 50(concentration to which at least 50%of wasps responded),(3)maximum response,(4)mean scores and(5)median scores.Our results suggest that V germanica foragers are more sensitive to sucrose(lower thresholds)than preforager workers.However,we found no differences for peptone thresholds(i.e.,a protein resource).Nonetheless,this is the first study to investigate response thresholds for protein resources.The intercaste variation in sucrose responsiveness shown in our work contributes to the existing knowledge about response threshold theory as a mechanism for task specialization observed in V germanica.

Transcriptomic analysis of epigenetic modification genes in the termite Reticulitermes speratus

Eusocial insects display a caste system in which different castes are morpho-logically and physiologically specialized for different tasks.Recent studies have revealed that epigenetic modifications,including DNA methylation and histone modification,me-diate caste determination and differentiation,longevity,and polyethism in eusocial insects.Although there has been a growing interest in the relationship between epigenetic mech-anisms and phenotypic plasticity in termites,there is ltte information about differential expression levels among castes and expression sites for these genes in termites.Here we show royaltissuc-specific expression of epigenetic modification genes in the termite Reticulitermes speratus.Using RNA-seq,we identified 74 genes,including three DNA methyltransferases,seven sirtuins,48 Trithorax group proteins,and 16 Polycomb group proteins.Among these genes,15 showed king-specific expression,and 52 showed age-dependent differential expression in kings and queens.Quantitative real-time PCR revealed that DNA methyltransferase 3 is expressed specifically in the king's testis and fat body,whereas some histone modification genes are remarkably expressed in the king's testis and queen's ovary.These findings imply that epigenetic modification plays important roles in the gamete production process in termite kings and queens.

The Difficult Transition to the“New”Caring Fatherhood:An Examination of Paternity Leave

Paternity leave,a social policy first implemented in China some twenty years ago,has a direct bearing on fatherhood.It marks a preliminary attempt to promote the transition from fathers’lack of involvement to engagement founded on cultural recognition and economic and political redistribution.The intergenerational continuity of the absent father,the reproduction of this absence through the extended family,the limited fatherhood created by employers through a consensus about human feelings,and the way local governments are taking the lead in paternity leave,ahead of the central government,jointly build the mainstream model of the absent father.Fathers should indeed provide day-to-day care for their children,but only as helpers;this means that short-term paternity leave is an appropriate way for new fathers to take on their responsibilities.This notion,however,not only fails to meet the new needs,responsibilities and rights of some fathers who wish to actively care for and bond with their children,but also further consolidates the gender division of labor(in which men are innately breadwinners and women homemakers),a division that is inextricably linked with people’s interests,ethics and emotions in contemporary China.The low fertility in today’s world calls for a significant change in the gender division of labor.Actively embracing a caring role is not only a work right and an emotional right for fathers,but also heralds emerging civil rights and marks a new development in social emotions.In this sense,the transition to care-giving fathers should not be that difficult.

High ratio of illegitimate visitation by small bees severely weakens the potential function of heteranthery

Aims in heterantherous plants,‘division of labor’among structurally dif-ferent stamens,i.e.pollinating and feeding functions,has been thought to reduce the evolutionary conflict of relying on pollen both as the carrier of male gametes and as the food for pollinators.The key to successful division of labor among different sets of stamens is the size match between stamens and legitimate pollinators,which results in the precise deposition of pollen onto specific locations on pollinator’s body and facilitates cross pollination.However,the potential impact of small illegitimate insects that are ubiquitous dur-ing the pollination process on the plant reproduction in heteranth-erous species has been largely neglected in previous studies and never been demonstrated experimentally.Methods Here,we investigated the functions of three different types of sta-mens in Commelina communis.The pollinator visitation,pollen removal and deposition were compared among flowers with dif-ferent types of anthers emasculated at two natural populations.moreover,the mating systems of C.communis in wild populations were estimated using microsatellite markers.Important Findingsour data showed that the main floral visitors for C.communis at the two studied populations were small illegitimate bees rather than legitimate pollinators,accounting for 77.5 and 92.2%of total flower visits,respectively.Flower manipulations in C.communis demon-strated that the two types of brightly yellow stamens separately func-tioned as‘deceptive attraction’and‘feeding’functions.although the brown inconspicuous stamens of C.communis with the largest amount of fertile pollen had the potential function in offering pollen for cross pollination,the high ratio of illegitimate visitation by small bees significantly affected the dispersal and deposition of pollen from the pollinating anthers,and subsequently decreased the levels of outcrossing(tm=0.23-0.32)in wild populations.our work further confirmed that the size match between pollinators and the floral morphology is the prerequisite to successfully fulfill the functional differentiation among different sets of stamens in heterantherous plants.local high ratio of illegitimate visitation by size unmatched insects could significantly weaken the potential functions of heteranthery,affecting the dispersal and deposition of functional pollen in heterantherous plants and further the whole mating systems.

Network approach to understanding the organization of and the consequence of targeted leader removal on an end-oriented task

Relocation is an important event in the lives of several social insects whereby all colony members have to be transferred to a new nest when conditions in the old nest become unfavorable. In the current study, network tools were used to examine the organization of this goal-oriented task in the Indian queenless ant Diacamma indicum Which relocate their colonies by means of tandem running. Individual ants were used as nodes and tandem runs as directed edges to construct unweighted networks. Network parameters were characterized in control relocations （CRs） and in relocations where the node with the highest outdegree, that is, the Maximum tandem leader （Max TL） was experimentally removed. These were then compared to 1） randomized networks, 2） simu- lated networks in which Max TL was removed, and 3） simulated networks with removal of a random leader. Not only was there complete recovery of the task, but the manner in which it was organized when Max TL was removed was comparable to CRs. The results obtained from our empirical study were significantly different from the results predicted by simulations of leader removal. At an individual level, the Max TL had a significantly higher outdegree than expected by chance alone and in her absence the substitute Max TL did comparable work. In addition, the position of the Max TL in the pathway of information flow was conserved in control and experimentally manipulated conditions. Understanding the organization of this critical event as more than the sum of individual interactions using network parameters allows us to appreciate the dynamic response of groups to perturbations.

Effects of resource sharing directionality on physiologically integrated clones of the invasive Carpobrotus edulis

Aims One of the key traits associated with clonal growth in plants is the capacity for physiological integration,which allows resource sharing between connected ramets within a clonal system.Resource transport is expected to occur following a source–sink relationship:from ramets established in rich patches to ramets growing in poor patches.However,some experiments have shown that acropetal transport(from basal to apical modules)usually exceeds basipetal transport(from apical to basal ramets).In this study,we aimed to determine the resource transport directionality in physiologically integrated modules of the invader Carpobrotus edulis.Methods We conducted two manipulative experiments under common garden conditions that studied the effect of different nutrient levels located at different positions(basal,medial and apical)on connected and disconnected clonal systems of C.edulis.We compared the biomass partitioning patterns and final biomass of ramets to elucidate whether the effect of physiological integration is affected by the directionality of the resource transport.Important Findings Results indicate a prevalent acropetal transport of resources in C.edulis,with a developmentally programmed division of labor where basal ramets were specialized in obtaining soil-based resources and apical ramets specialized in aboveground growth.This biomass partitioning pattern was not affected by the nutrient conditions in which basal or apical ramets were growing,although the highest benefit was achieved by apical ramets growing under the most stressed conditions.This developmentally programmed division of labor is expected to increase the lateral growth of C.edulis,and therefore could have meaningful implications for the expansion of this invasive species.

Gender Issues in Household-based Bamboo Industries:A Case Study of Two Villages in Xinping County,Yunnan Province of China

A qualitative gender assessment of household-based bamboo industries was conducted in Zhuyuan and Lagadi villages in Laochang Township, Xinping County in Southwest China's Yunnan Province. Results showed that both women and men were actively involved in the production and marketing of bamboo products in the two villages. There were gender differences in bamboo-based rural industries that were closely associated with the ethnic habits, traditional norms of the rural society, the differences of educational levels that women and men achieved, and the gender blind-spots in the enforcement of laws and policies. It is evident that women were “equal” partners in the production of bamboo products, but “unequal” when the rights of access to and control over resources and personal independence are concerned. Suggestions are made to achieve a gender-balanced production system of bamboo products in rural areas of bamboo producing counties in Yunnan Province, China.