Long Work Hours and Work-Life Balance in Korea and Japan

This study examines long work hours and work-life balance in relation to wage level, workaholism, and consumerism in both Korea and Japan. Findings of this study can be summarized as follows. First, the hypothesis that the wages and working hours have positive but differential effects depending on wage level categories are supported. Second, effects of cultural factors, such as workaholism and consumerism, on long work hours, however, are not significant in both countries. Third, for Korean manual workers, the probability of working long hours is high, but the level of time scarcity is low; but the effect of union membership on long work hours is not significant in both Korea and Japan. Fourth, the hypothesis that negative effects of long work hours and time scarcity on satisfaction with work-life balance are supported. These findings suggest that an increase in wage for non-regular workers and a minimum wage are required to reduce working hours. In addition, they also suggest that reducing working hours, overtime work in particular, and wage gap are crucial to raising the level of satisfaction with work-life balance in both Korea and Japan.

The Impact of the Digital Economy on Rural Residents’Working Hours:Mechanisms and Empirical Evidence

The rapid development of the digital economy has provided a new impetus for rural residents to extend their working hours.Based on the data collected by the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey(CLDS)in 2014,2016,and 2018,this paper measured the development level of the digital economy in China from the perspectives of internet development and digital financial inclusion,and tested the mechanisms of how the digital economy affected rural residents’working hours.The results showed that the digital economy extended rural residents’working hours by expanding information channels and enhancing human capital,and this mechanism was affected by heterogeneity in rural residents’educational background,age,and social capital.Building on these findings,this paper holds that to increase rural residents’income by extending their working hours and achieving common prosperity for all,it is necessary to expand the opportunities for rural residents to participate in skills training and promote their accumulation of human capital.

On Answering the Question Related to the Legal Regulation of Working Hours in the New Era:Western Experience and Chinese Approach

The popularity of flexible working hours around the world has slowed down the historical trend of reducing working hours.It even shows signs of regression.Whether and how to guide the cur-rent society with flexible working hours to return to the historical track of reducing working hours,improve the quality of working hours,and promote a smooth transition from the era of traditional standard work-ing hours to the era of flexible working hours has become a question related to the legal regulation of working hours in the new era.In this regard,although Western countries have proposed new regulatory concepts and carried out legislative practices with distinctive charac-teristics,the limitations of legal regulation capabilities have prevented them from proposing a package of institutional solutions.The advan-tage of China in the ability of legal regulation of working hours has been gradually formed in the legislation on working hours unnder the leadership of the CPC in the past century.It enables China to break through the limitations of the West and propose a Chinese approach to answer the question of the legal regulation of working hours in the new era from three aspects:limiting the extension of working hours,improving the quality of flexible working hours,and optimizing the funnctions of the multi-funnctional regulatory system for working hours.

Analysis of Effective Working Hours of Automatic Assembly Equipment for Aircraft Assembly Stations

To improve the accuracy of capacity analysis and prediction for the aircraft assembly stations,an approach for calculating the effective working hour(EWH)of automatic assembly equipment is introduced by using the dynamic mixed Weibull distribution(DMWD)model.Firstly,according to the features of aircraft assembling,a DMWD model considering the dynamic reliability of multiple subsystems and their synthetic effects on the whole equipment is established.A typical automatic drilling&riveting machine is selected as the research object,and the dynamic weights of reliability of three subsystems are modeled and solved.Subsequently the unknown parameters of the DMWD model are estimated based on maximum likelihood estimation(MLE)and Newton-Raphson method.Finally,the EWH of an automatic station is defined and modeled by using the solved dynamic reliability function.Based on the experimental study on a real automatic drilling&riveting machine from a wing panel assembly station,it is shown that the proposed DMWD and EWH models could effectively calculate the equipment reliability with full consideration of its multiple subsystems.The DMWD model is more suitable for improving the solution precision of EWH than the traditional three-parameter Weibull distribution.

Legislation to Regulate the Working Hours and Labor Intensity of Practitioners in the Platform Economy

Under the employment model of online car-hailing platforms,the extension of working hours and increase of labor intensity for practitioners are driven by the orders from these platform companies and labor-related third parties.Also,they are more attributable to the internal driving force of practitioners themselves who hope to have more orders and earn more.It is impossible to apply the regulation system of the existing labor law to protect the rights and interests of employees in terms of working hours and labor intensity.The author suggests that the state should make special labor legislation to make the following targeted provisions:Online car-hailing platform companies and labor-related third parties that implement labor management and control over practitioners shall,on the premise of abiding by labor standards and industry rules,set various reasonable indicators of working hours and labor intensity through rules and take effective technical measures to control these two dimensions,so that practitioners can avoid serious overwork.Besides,by encouraging the provision of certain convenience for practitioners to take intermittent breaks,jointly building a compatibility system for different online car-hailing platforms,and establishing relevant operating rules,we can restrain practitioners from being seriously overworked.This is actually a multi-cooperative boosting legislative regulation approach.

Educational Status and Risks of Cardiovascular Disease in Awka, Southeast Nigeria

Background and Objectives: All over the world, cardiovascular risks constitute a heavy healthcare burden, affecting people with different levels of education, across economies in both the developed and the developing ones. Differences in educational levels in cardiovascular risks have not been completely defined. This study was set out to evaluate the influence of levels of education on the risks of cardiovascular disease in an urban community in Awka, southeast Nigeria. Methodology: In this cross sectional study of 294 subjects conducted in Awka in 2017, biodata, anthropometric and demographic data were obtained. A questionnaire was used to extract information on smoking, alcohol use, tobacco snuff use, diabetes mellitus status, time spent at work > 10 hours daily and night sleep duration < 4 hours. Blood pressure and body mass index were measured. Data were analyzed and the association between levels of education and the potential cardiovascular risks determined. Results: The prevalence of smoking was 5.4%, tobacco snuff use 5.4%, alcohol 42.2%, thickened arterial wall 27.2%, meat protein 91.8%, diabetes mellitus 9.5%, time spent at work > 10 hours daily 29.3%, obesity 33.3%, hypertension 58.5%, night sleep < 4 hours 5.4%. Levels of education has association with tobacco use (p = 0.009), alcohol use (p = 0.013), thickened arterial wall (p < 0.001), diabetes mellitus (p < 0.001), time spent at work > 10 hours daily (p < 0.001), obesity (p = 0.020), hypertension (p < 0.001), meat consumption (p = 0.047). However, smoking and night sleep < 4 hours have no significant association with levels of education, p = 0.415, and p = 0.132. Conclusion: There was variability in the prevalence of cardiovascular risks at different levels of education. The prevalence of smoking and night sleep duration < 4 hours did not vary with levels of education. The prevalence of tobacco snuff and thickened arterial wall was high in primary education holders and meat consumption in secondary education. Alcohol prevalence increased with increasing levels of education. Diabetes mellitus, time spent oat work > 10 hours daily, hypertension and obesity increased in prevalence with increasing levels of education but declined with tertiary education.

Employment and Working Hour Effects of Minimum Wage Increase:Evidence from China

Using a difference-in-differences model, the present paper provides empirical evidence of minimum wage effects on employment and working hours in China. The results show that male employment is not affected by a minimum wage increase, although men ＂s working hours do increase. In contrast, female employment is more likely to be negatively affected by a minimum wage increase, while their working hours remain unchanged. This may lead to women being in a more disadvantaged position in the workforee, and adopting a monthly minimum wage may induce firms to extend men＇s working hours. Therefore, to better protect disadvantaged workers, we suggest that minimum wage regulation should focus on the target group of less-educated women, and that a unified minimum hourly wage needs to be set for both full-time and part-time workers. Meanwhile, the importance of human capital accumulation shouM be addressed in alleviating the negative effects of minimum wage increases.

气候变化情景下中国因高温造成的劳动生产力损失预估

气候变化背景下,高温会影响职业人群的工作效率并造成劳动生产力损失.本研究基于区域气候模式并采用本土化的暴露-反应函数,预估了未来气候变化情景下中国因高温造成的劳动时间损失.研究发现,与基线期的213亿小时高温相关劳动时间损失相比,到21世纪末在RCP2.6、RCP4.5和RCP8.5情景下,损失将分别增加-17.8%、10.8%及121.1%.损失主要集中在华南、华中和华东地区,其中广东与河南将占到全国总损失的四分之一.因为这些区域的温度将更高、人口更密集、户外工作者在总人群中的比例较大.与RCP2.6、RCP4.5和RCP8.5情景相比,若能实现1.5℃温控目标,将分别能够避免11.8%、33.7%和53.9%的劳动时间损失,相当于避免了全中国21世纪中叶的0.1%、0.6%及1.4%的年均GDP损失.本研究显示未来气候变化会给中国造成严重的热相关劳动生产力损失,并强调亟需采取因地制宜的气候减缓及适应策略以保护职业人群健康.本研究对其他与中国相似的发展中国家同样具有重要意义.

On the neurocomputing based intelligent simulation of tractor fuel efficiency parameters

Tractor fuel efficiency parameters(TFEPs)(fuel consumption per working hour(FCWH),fuel consumption per tilled area(FCTA)and specific volumetric fuel consumption(SVFC))were intelligently simulated.A neurocomputing based simulation strategy(adaptive neurofuzzy inference system(ANFIS))was used to simulate the TFEPs.A comparison was also made between results of the best ANFIS environment and those of another neurocomputing based simulation strategy,artificial neural network(ANN).Field experiments were conducted at plowing depths of 10,20 and 30(cm)and forward speeds of 2,4 and 6(km/h)using a disk plow implement.Statistical descriptor parameters applied to evaluate simulation environments indicated that the best simulation environment of both ANFIS and ANN were able to perfectly predict the TFEPs.However,the best comprehensive ANN simulation environment with a simple architecture of 2-6-3 was easier to use than three individual ANFIS simulation environments.The ANN results revealed that simultaneous increase of forward speed from 2 to 6(km/h)and plowing depth from 10 to 30(cm)led to nonlinear increment of the FCWH from 5.29 to 14.89(L/h)and nonlinear decrement of the SVFC from 2.95 to 0.67(L/h kW).Meanwhile,forward speed increment along with plowing depth decrement resulted in nonlinear decrement of the FCTA from 28.13 to 12.24(L/ha).Interaction of forward speed and plowing depth on the FCWH and SVFC was congruent,while it was incongruent for the FCTA.It is suggested to employ the ANN environment in developing future fuel planning schemes of tractor during tillage operations.

A Wireless Video Capsule Endoscopy System: Design and Realization

Wireless capsule endoscopy(CE), an image inspection technique, has been an important advancement in the diagnosis of gastrointestinal(GI) tract diseases. A video capsule endoscopy(VCE) system is analyzed in this study. A complementary metal oxide semiconductor(CMOS) analog image sensor is adopted, and other illumination, communication and energy modules are designed for functional realization. Measuring only φ11 mm ×25 mm, the VCE has a total power consumption of 52.5 m W, which enables it to work continuously for 8 h. The in vivo experiment on a living pig indicates that a clear video with high frame rate of 30 f/s can be obtained.

Labor Inputs and Productivity in Chinese Industries:2000-2018

Under the framework of growth accounting,this paper introduces four heterogeneity characteristics of labor,namely,educational level,age,gender and industry,constructs a cross classification matrix of employment,labor compensation and working hours,and calculates the labor input(volume)of the whole country and of 19 industries during 2000-2018.Then it decomposes the volume into quantity and quality parts to analyze the total amount of labor input and the performance of industry labor input.The results are as follows.First,during the research period,the annual growth rate of labor input was 2.5%,and 78.8%of that came from the growth of labor input quality.The growth of labor input was mainly resulted from the improvement of educational level and the optimization of industrial structure.Second,in 2018,the proportions of labor input of the primary,secondary and tertiary sectors were 13.76%,31.06%and 55.18%respectively,and the transfer speed of labor input to the secondary and tertiary sectors was higher than that of the quantity structure;the labor input volume in the new economy and related industries in the tertiary sector has been greatly increased.Third,the index method-based labor productivity(ILP)of some producer service and consumer service industries was relatively low,and the growth of total industry output mainly attributed to the increase of labor input and the expansion of industrial scale.The improvement of labor input quality has become the key to the growth of labor input in China,and the improvement of educational level is the core power to improve the labor input quality.