New rural pension scheme, intergenerational interaction and rural family human capital investments.

Introduction: The new rural pension scheme (NRPS) can improve the quality of life for rural older adult individuals; however, can it have a spillover effect on rural household human capital investments through intergenerational interactions? Methods: Based on data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 and from the perspective of intergenerational interactions, the spillover effect and influencing mechanism of the new rural insurance policy on rural household human capital investments are empirically tested. Results: The results show that the participation of families in the new rural insurance policy can significantly promote the human capital investments of rural families, and they are robust. Moreover, the spillover effect of this new policy is significantly different due to the gender, insurance phase, and family income of the insured. Through intergenerational interactions, the new rural insurance policy has an impact on the human capital investments of rural families from the material level of intergenerational economic support, housework and childcare for children and the nonmaterial level of old-age care cognition. Discussion: Therefore, continuing to promote the coverage of the new rural insurance policy and scientifically improving rural social security through publicity and education to promote benign intergenerational family interactions can improve the accumulation of human capital in rural areas.

Micro-Household Human Capital Investment Decisions and a Simulation Study from the Intergenerational Conflict Perspective.

Education is highly valued in Asian families. However, as family members age, competition for intra-family resources affects children's actualization in the family, which impacts the family's future capital. However, most existing studies have interpreted the family's intergenerational conflicts in terms of care services for older adults, and few have analyzed and simulated intra-family competition based on the intergenerational conflict. This study introduces a multi-agent simulation approach to observe micro-households' educational investment choices under the dual pressures of retirement and childcare. This measure captures households' investment choices and provides a decision basis for given households. Using data from the China Family Panel Study for 2014, 2016, and 2018, we explore the impact of these dual pressures on household educational expenditures and their differences across urban and rural areas, household aging, and income samples. We also simulated the micro-households' investment choices under these dual pressures to observe that these pressures reduce investments in educational human capital in these "sandwich-like" households. The simulation results suggest that households with high childcare stress invest more in education than those with a high retirement burden. Moreover, income growth can mitigate the dual stress "crowding-out" effect on education, which is most pronounced in low-income, high childcare-stress households.

Environmental Risk Assessment of Recycled Products of Spent Coppery Etchant in Jiangsu Province, China.

With the vigorous development of the 5G industry, the characteristic hazardous waste, spent coppery etchant, was also produced in large quantities. In recent years, there are many companies that have begun to collect spent coppery etchant for the purpose of producing recycled products, such as copper sulfate, copper oxide, basic copper chloride, and copper powder, which often contain large amounts of heavy metals. However, due to the lack of relevant standards and applicable regulatory measures, some of the recycled products flow to the feed processing industry and even to the food processing industry. This study investigated the pollution status of heavy metals in recycled products of spent coppery etchant and evaluated the impact of recycled products exposure on human health. The results showed that the content of Zn was the highest, which was 21 times higher than the corresponding standard limit. Human health risk assessment indicated that the hazard quotients of As account for 87.5% of the entire HI value, while the average carcinogenic risk values of As for copper sulfate, copper oxide, basic copper chloride, and copper powder are 1.09 × 10-5, 3.19 × 10-5, 1.29 × 10-5, 7.94 × 10-6, respectively. Meanwhile, suggestions on the supervision of recycled products and the concentration limits of heavy metals in recycled products were put forward.

Ruthenium-Based Catalytic Systems Incorporating a Labile Cyclooctadiene Ligand with N-Heterocyclic Carbene Precursors for the Atom-Economic Alcohol Amidation Using Amines.

Transition-metal-catalyzed amide-bond formation from alcohols and amines is an atom-economic and eco-friendly route. Herein, we identified a highly active in situ N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)/ruthenium (Ru) catalytic system for this amide synthesis. Various substrates, including sterically hindered ones, could be directly transformed into the corresponding amides with the catalyst loading as low as 0.25 mol.%. In this system, we replaced the p-cymene ligand of the Ru source with a relatively labile cyclooctadiene (cod) ligand so as to more efficiently obtain the corresponding poly-carbene Ru species. Expectedly, the weaker cod ligand could be more easily substituted with multiple mono-NHC ligands. Further high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) analyses revealed that two tetra-carbene complexes were probably generated from the in situ catalytic system.

In†situ Generated Ruthenium Catalyst Systems Bearing Diverse N-Heterocyclic Carbene Precursors for Atom-Economic Amide Synthesis from Alcohols and Amines.

The transition-metal-catalyzed direct synthesis of amides from alcohols and amines is herein demonstrated as a highly environmentally benign and atom-economic process. Among various catalyst systems, in situ generated N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-based ruthenium (Ru) halide catalyst systems have been proven to be active for this transformation. However, these existing catalyst systems usually require an additional ligand to achieve satisfactory results. In this work, through extensive screening of a diverse variety of NHC precursors, we discovered an active in situ catalyst system for efficient amide synthesis without any additional ligand. Notably, this catalyst system was found to be insensitive to the electronic effects of the substrates, and various electron-deficient substrates, which were not highly reactive with our previous catalyst systems, could be employed to afford the corresponding amides efficiently. Furthermore, mechanistic investigations were performed to provide a rationale for the high activity of the optimized catalyst system. NMR-scale reactions indicated that the rapid formation of a Ru hydride intermediate (signal at δ=-7.8 ppm in the 1 H NMR spectrum) after the addition of the alcohol substrate should be pivotal in establishing the high catalyst activity. Besides, HRMS analysis provided possible structures of the in situ generated catalyst system.

Dose metrics assessment for differently shaped and sized metal-based nanoparticles.

The mean primary diameter (d) of nanoparticles (NPs) is commonly used as the best basis to assess the dose metric for expressing the toxicity of spherical NPs. However, d bears no relevance for nonspherical NPs. In the present study, the mean surface area to volume ratio, applicable to both spherical and nonspherical NPs, was used to replace d given the aim of obtaining the best dose metric (volume, surface area, or number) of differently shaped metallic NPs in vivo (9 organisms) and in vitro (6 mammalian cell lines). The slope of the curves obtained by relating the total particle number of NPs at various effect concentrations to the mean surface area to volume ratio was subsequently used to deduce the best dose metric. For the majority of the organisms studied, it was found that NP volume is the most appropriate dose metric, independent of the composition of the NPs tested. For 3 organisms exposed to Ag NPs, however, surface area was found to be the best dose metric. It is therefore concluded that the optimum dose metric depends on organism and NP properties. Environ Toxicol Chem 2016;35:2466-2473. © 2016 SETAC.

An economical synthesis of substituted quinoline-2-carboxylates through the potassium persulfate-mediated cross-dehydrogenative coupling of N-aryl glycine derivatives with olefins.

A practical and economical K2S2O8-mediated oxidative cross-dehydrogenative coupling of N-aryl glycine derivatives with olefins has been established, affording structurally diverse quinoline-2-carboxylates in good to high efficiency. The low cost, negligible toxicity, and ease of handling of K2S2O8 combined with the absence of hazardous byproducts and the easy workup consisting of simple filtration are attractive based on economic and environmental factors.

Evaluation of the impact of breast milk expression in early postpartum period on breastfeeding duration: a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Breast milk expression (breast pumping) has become prevalent as an important dimension of breastfeeding behavior. It is, however, not clear whether increasing breast milk expression contributes to extend the duration of breastfeeding. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the impact of breast milk expression in early postpartum period on breastfeeding duration amongst mothers of healthy term infants. METHODS: A prospective cohort study had been conducted from March to June 2010. Mothers who gave birth to healthy, full-term and singleton babies were enrolled at discharge. These women were interviewed at 6 weeks postpartum about their breastfeeding behaviors. According to expressing patterns at 6 week postpartum, women were divided into three groups: direct breastfeeding (group 1), combining direct breastfeeding with expressing (group 2), exclusive expressing (group 3). The investigators followed up the women by telephone thereafter at a bimonthly basis and documented breastfeeding duration. Survival analysis was conducted to explore the association between expressing patterns at 6 weeks postpartum and breastfeeding duration. Associated factors of exclusive expressing at 6 weeks postpartum were characterized by logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Four hundred one eligible women were enrolled at discharge. Among the 389 women who attended the face-to-face interview at 6 weeks postpartum, 345 women continued breastfeeding. They were divided into 3 groups by their expressing patterns. According to survival analysis, women who exclusively expressed breast milk at 6 months postpartum (group 3) were 1.77 times as likely to stop breastfeeding as those who did not (group 1 and 2) (95% confidence interval: 1.25-2.48; P <0.001). There is, however, no significant difference of breastfeeding duration between group 1 and group 2. Subgroup analysis showed that exclusive expressing women who were exclusively breastfeeding at 6 weeks postpartum had the shortest breastfeeding duration. Mother's high education level, short maternity leave, breast milk expression in hospital and bottle-feeding in hospital were associated factors to exclusive expressing at 6 weeks postpartum. CONCLUSIONS: Exclusive expressing in the early postpartum period may not help women to achieve long-term breastfeeding duration, especially in women who were exclusively breastfeeding.

Child neglect in one-child families from Suzhou City of mainland China.

BACKGROUND: The one-child policy introduced in China in 1979 has led to far-reaching changes in socio-demographic characteristics. Under this policy regime, each household has few children. This study aims to describe the prevalence of child neglect in one-child families in China and to examine the correlates of child neglect. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of 2044 children aged 6 to 9 years and recruited from four primary schools in Suzhou City, China was conducted. Neglect subtypes were determined using a validated indigenous measurement scale reported by parents. Child, parental and family characteristics were obtained by questionnaires and review of social security records. Linear regression analyses were performed to estimate the associations between these factors and the subtypes of child neglect. RESULTS: The prevalence of child any neglect was 32.0% in one child families in Suzhou City, China. Supervisory (20.3%) neglect was the most prevalent type of child neglect, followed by emotional (15.2%), physical (11.1%), and educational (6.0%) neglect After simultaneous adjustment to child and family characteristics and the school factor, boys, children with physical health issues and cognitive impairment, younger and unemployed mother, were positively associated with neglect subtypes. We also found that parents with higher education and three-generation families were negatively associated with neglect. CONCLUSION: The rates of child neglect subtypes vary across different regions in China probably due to the different policy implementation and socio-economic levels, with a lower level of physical and educational neglect and a higher level of emotional neglect in this study. The three-generation family structure was correlates of neglect which may be unique in one child families. This indicates that future intervention programs in one-child families should target these factors.

Age band 1 of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-Second Edition: exploring its usefulness in mainland China.

The aim of this paper was to examine the validity and reliability of age band 1 of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-Second Edition (MABC-2) in preparation for its standardization in mainland China. Interrater and test-retest reliability of the MABC-2 was estimated using Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). Cronbach's alpha for each item and Item-total correlation were used to determine internal consistency. The content validity was determined by the Item-level content validity index (I-CVI). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the factorial validity of the MABC-2 test. The correlation coefficients between the MABC-2 and the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales-2 (PDMS-2) were used to assess the criteria-related validity. The Cronbach's alpha values of all eight items together were moderate but acceptable. The correlation coefficients between each test item and the total score were moderate except for two items. The ICC of interrater and test-retest reliability for each test items was good. The I-CVI of each item was excellent (each above 0.78). The result of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the goodness-of-fit indices of the adjusted model were good (each above 0.9), indicating a satisfactory fit of the data to the model. The total score on MABC-2 and PDMS-2 was correlated well (r=0.631). It is concluded that the reliability and validity of age band 1 of MABC-2 were fair in this study based on a large sample. However, there was a need to adjust part of items to improve the test's psychometric properties when it is used in Chinese children.

Communicating air pollution-related health risks to the public: an application of the Air Quality Health Index in Shanghai, China.

The Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) was originally developed in Canada. However, little is known about its validity in communicating morbidity risks. We aimed to establish the AQHI in Shanghai, China, and to compare the associations of AQHI and existing Air Pollution Index (API) with daily mortality and morbidity. We constructed the AQHI as the sum of excess total mortality associated with individual air pollutants, and then adjusted it to an arbitrary scale (0-10), according to a time-series analysis of air pollution and mortality in Shanghai from 2001 to 2008. We examined the associations of AQHI with daily mortality and morbidity, and compared these associations with API from 2005 to 2008. The coefficients of short-term associations of total mortality with particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10 µm (PM(10)), PM(2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO(2)) were used in the establishment of AQHI. During 2005-2008, the AQHI showed linear non-threshold positive associations with daily mortality and morbidity. A unit increase of the PM(10)-AQHI was associated with a 0.90% [95% (confidence interval, CI), 0.43 to 1.37], 1.04% (95%CI, 0.04 to 2.04), 1.62% (95%CI, 0.39 to 2.85) and 0.51% (95%CI, 0.09 to 0.93) increase of current-day total mortality, hospital admissions, outpatient visits and emergency room visits, respectively. The PM(2.5)-AQHI showed quite similar effect estimates with the PM(10)-AQHI. In contrast, the associations for API were much weaker and generally statistically insignificant. The AQHI, compared with the existing API, provided a more effective tool to communicate the air pollution-related health risks to the public.

[Assessment on the validity and reliability of Family Environment Scale on Motor Development for Urban Pre-school Children].

OBJECTIVE: To assess the validity and reliability of Family Environment Scale on Motor Development for Urban Pre-school Children (FESMDUPC) so as to provide valid and reliable tools for measuring the influencing factors from home environment on motor development of the children. METHODS: One thousand eight hundreds and twenty four preschool children from 15 kindergartens in Suzhou city were included in this study which related to reliability and validity of FESMDUPC. Data on test-retest reliability, internal consistent reliability, content validity and construct validity were assessed using the Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC), Cronbach α coefficient, Item-level content validity index (I-CVI) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). When the Observation for Measurement of the Environment Revisited was used as criteria, the criteria-related validity of MABC was assessed, using the Spearman correlation analysis. RESULTS: This study showed that the ICC of all items was above or close to 0.9. The total Cronbach α coefficient was 0.875 and the Cronbach α coefficient was 0.868-0.873 when each item was deleted. Formal validity and reliability study showed that I-CVI of the 23 items was 0.79-1.00. The average I-CVI was 0.92. Results from the CFA model showed that χ2=1077.5, df=224 and χ2/df=4.810. Fit of Goodness on the other indices of the model were as follows: GFI (0.949), AGF (0.937), NFI (0.889), CFI (0.896), with each of them above or close to 0.9. The RMSEA was 0.046 which showed that the model's Fit of Goodness could be accepted. The factor loadings were all above 0.3 with statistical significance. However, according to this model, the strengths of relationship between Outside Space, Inside Space and Toy were high, so the high-step CFA of FESMDUPC was further analyzed. The model's Fit of Goodness was good. The factor loadings were all above 0.3 with statistical significance. Results showed that the Spearman Coefficient of the total score of FESMDUPC and HOME scale was 0.476 (each P<0.001). Among them only the learning staff and movement variety were comparatively and highly correlated with Toy, Parental Rearing Patterns. Spearman coefficients were all above 0.3 (each P<0.001). CONCLUSION: The above results showed that the reliability of test-retest, the internal consistent reliability, the content validity and the construct validity of FESMDUPC were fair and had met the basic psychometric demands. FESMDUPC could be used as a quantitative tool to assess the motor development among children.

[Assessment on the application of 'Movement Assessment Battery' for Children].

OBJECTIVE: To assess the application of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC-2), to provide valid tools for developmental coordination disorder (DCD) screening. METHODS: A total number of 1823 preschool children from 15 kindergartens in Suzhou city were included in this study regarding the reliability and validity on MABC-2. Data on test-retest reliability internal consistent reliability, content validity and construct validity were assessed, using methodologies as Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC), Cronbach α coefficient, Item-level Content Validity Index (I-CVI) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). When the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (DCDQ) was considered as the criteria, the criteria-related validity of MABC was assessed, using the area under the ROC curve. RESULTS: from the study showed that the ICCs of most items were above 0.9 except for 'Drawing and Walking Heels Raised' and 'Jumping on Mats'. The total Cronbach α coefficient was 0.502, with the total Cronbach α coefficient as 0.549 when the two items of 'Drawing and Walking Heels Raised' were deleted. I-CVIs of the eight items were 1.0, 1.0, 0.96, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.96, 0.96, respectively. The average I-CVI was 0.985. RESULTS: from the final CFA model showed that the factor loading of the items was above 0.4 except for the 'Jumping on Mats', while the 'Modification Index' was below 3.84. The areas under ROC curve of the total score on revised-MABC-2 (when the items of 'Drawing and Walking Heels Raised' was deleted) were significantly different from the DCDQ (χ(2) = 110.145, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: In addition to the internal consistent reliability, the validity and reliability of MABC-2 were fair which could be applied well in China. However, some items of MABC-2 should be revised. MABC-2 could be used to screen the children with motor coordination dysfunction at the health care clinics for children, as well as applied in the large-scale epidemiologic studies.