Suchergebnisse

Past studies examining the transition to adulthood within the Chinese context often implicitly or explicitly assume that the rural population is a homogeneous group and suggest that rural individuals tend to enter the workforce and marry at younger ages than their urban peers. This assumption overlooks the distinct challenges faced by rural youth, who often confront higher poverty risks and greater uncertainties compared to urban counterparts, yet empirical research on these unique challenges is limited. Using both a national survey and a unique longitudinal sample of rural youth in one of the poorest regions of China, this study demonstrates that rural youth experience a greater diversity of pathways from adolescence to early adulthood than do urban youth, which contradicts many earlier studies in Western contexts. In addition, this study identifies a variety of childhood environment factors that structure the transition pathways of rural youth. This study highlights the growing rural–urban disparity in China and has important implications for research on social stratification and rural youth development.

Abstract

Background
Although the family plays a pivotal role in older adults' care, there is limited research on how evolving demographic trends affect older adults' support networks and how the trends vary by race. To fill this gap, we examine the influence of shifting family demographics on future care needs for older adults with dementia, emphasizing the unequal health and potential caregiving burdens by race in the U.S.


Methods
Using demographic models of kinship, we estimate the availability of potential caregivers, and dementia prevalence among one's kin by race, kin type, and the age of a focal person from 2000 to 2060. We introduce an index called the Dementia Dependency Ratio to assess dementia caregiving demands at the population level, taking into account the age and kinship structure of the population.


Results
Our findings suggest that Black individuals tend to have more children, grandchildren, and nieces/nephews as they age. However, Black individuals also tend to have more kin with dementia compared to their White counterparts. This elevated prevalence of dementia among Black kinship networks counterbalances the advantage of having more kin as potential caregivers. A further projection analysis suggests that the racial gap in caregiving demand within the kinship network will widen in the next four decades if the racial gap in dementia prevalence remains unchanged.


Conclusions
These findings emphasize the urgency of reducing racial inequality in dementia prevalence rates and increasing public support for families with extended members affected by dementia. With the shrinkage of nuclear families and population aging in the next few decades, extended family members may undertake more caregiving responsibilities for dementia. We call for a kinship perspective in understanding dementia care in future research.

Abstract. Monitoring drought and mastering the laws of drought propagation are the basis for regional drought prevention and resistance. Multivariate drought indicators considering meteorological, agricultural and hydrological information may fully describe drought conditions. However, series of hydrological variables in cold and arid regions that are too short or missing make it difficult to monitor drought. This paper proposed a method
combining Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and empirical Kendall distribution function (KC′) for drought monitoring. The SWAT model, based on the principle of runoff formation, was used to simulate the hydrological variables of the drought evolution process. Three univariate drought indexes, namely meteorological drought (standardized precipitation
evapotranspiration index; SPEI), agricultural drought (standardized soil moisture index; SSI)
and hydrological drought (standardized streamflow drought index; SDI), were constructed using a parametric or non-parametric method to analyze the propagation time from meteorological drought to agricultural drought and hydrological drought. The KC′ was used to build a multivariable comprehensive meteorology–agriculture–hydrology drought index (MAHDI) that integrated meteorological, agricultural and hydrological drought to analyze the characteristics of a comprehensive drought evolution. The Jinta River in the inland basin of northwestern China was used as the study area. The results showed that agricultural and hydrological drought had a seasonal lag time from meteorological drought. The degree of drought in this basin was high in the northern and low in the southern regions. MAHDI proved to be acceptable in that it was consistent with historical drought records, could catch drought conditions characterized by univariate drought indexes, and capture the occurrence and end of droughts. Nevertheless, its ability to characterize mild and moderate droughts was stronger than severe droughts. In addition, the comprehensive drought conditions showed insignificant aggravating trends in spring and summer and showed insignificant alleviating trends in autumn and winter and at annual scales. The results provided theoretical support for the drought monitoring in the Jinta River basin. This method provided the possibility for drought monitoring in other watersheds lacking measured data.

Monetary policy changes have an irreplaceable impact on economic activity. Considering the close linkage among economic policies, we employ a bi-directional Granger causality test to investigate the potential linkages between monetary policy uncertainty (MPU) and other categorical economic policy uncertainty (CEPU) in the time and frequency domains. We consider all news-based U.S. categorical economic policy uncertainty indices (CEPU). All monthly CEPU indicators, covering January 1986 to January 2022, can be obtained from the website of Economic Policy Uncertainty. On an average, causality running from each CEPU to MPU is not apparent, while MPU can significantly affect six policy-related uncertainties: taxes, government spending, health care, national security, entitlement programs and regulation. A further frequency-domain study showed the dynamic changes in the relationship between them. For instance, we capture mid- and long-run causality running from tax uncertainty to MPU, while MPU has an impact on taxes in the medium run. Our findings provide policymakers with a better understanding of the nexus between MPU and other CEPU for formulating appropriate economic policies. Particularly, if a sectional government considers the long- and short-term effects of different policies when formulating strategies, risk transmission may be curbed to some extent.

Subterranean termite Odontotermes formosanus (Shiraki) (Blattodea: Isoptera: Termitidae), is a pest species found in forests and dams. Serratia marcescens Bizio (SM1) has a potential pathogenic effect on O. formosanus. However, the response of detoxifying enzymes to exposure by S. marcescens in O. formosanus has not been studied. In the present work, 20 detoxifying enzyme genes, including 6 glutathione S-transferases (GSTs), 5 UDP glycosyltransferases (UGTs) and 9 Cytochrome P450s (CYPs), were identified from the O. formosanus transcriptome dataset by bioinformatics analysis. Furthermore, the effects of SM1 infection on the transcription levels of detoxifying enzyme genes (GSTs, UGTs and CYPs) in O. formosanus were determined. The results showed that the expression of all detoxifying enzyme gene, except one GST, in O. formosanus were altered in response to the infection by SM1. The response of GSTs, UGTs and CYPs to SM1 in O. formosanus suggested that they may play an important role in the defense against bacterial infection such as SM1, and implies that termites have evolved a complex immune response to potential pathogens.