Ageing in rural China: migration and care circulation

This article applies the concept of care circulation (Baldassar and Merla, Transnational families, migration and the circulation of care: understanding mobility and absence in family life, 2013) to the processes involved in the care of old people in rural China,an area which has hitherto been predominantly located in a quantitatively based intergenerational transfer framework. Drawing upon a qualitative study of rural families in the context of rural to urban migration, this article examines the multidirectional and asymmetrical exchanges of caregiving and care-receiving and seeks to provide a more nuanced understanding of the impact of migration upon ageing and familial care in rural China. First, going beyond a unidirectional flow or two-way transfer, this article reveals that care circulates between different family members, in different locations, to differing degrees, over the life course. This circulation framework enables an examination of intra-generational dynamics as well as intergenerational relations. Second, this article draws attention to the mediating factors that impact upon the ways in which adult children care for the older generation. It reveals how the employment status of migrating adult children, the temporal dimension of migration and family life cycle of migrating children as well as family relations between the older generation and adult child generation are critical factors. These factors also contribute to the quality of care provided. Finally, while confirming existing scholarship that gender is an important dimension in structuring old age support in rural China, this article calls for a more differentiated approach among generations of women and between regions, revealing the ways in which local migration history interacts with intergenerational dynamics to determine the cohort of women that endure the greatest burden of care

Bottom-Up Assembly of Hydrogels from Bacteriophage and Au Nanoparticles: The Effect of Cis- and Trans-Acting Factors

Hydrogels have become a promising research focus because of their potential for biomedical application. Here we explore the long-range, electrostatic interactions by following the effect of trans-acting (pH) and cis-acting factors (peptide mutation) on the formation of Au-phage hydrogels. These bioinorganic hydrogels can be generated from the bottom-up assembly of Au nanoparticles (Au NP) with either native or mutant bacteriophage (phage) through electrostatic interaction of the phage pVIII major capsid proteins (pVIII). The cis-acting factor consists of a peptide extension displayed on the pVIII that mutates the phage. Our results show that pH can dictate the direct-assembly and stability of Au-phage hydrogels in spite of the differences between the native and the mutant pVIII. The first step in characterizing the interactions of Au NP with phage was to generate a molecular model that identified the charge distribution and structure of the native and mutant pVIII. This model indicated that the mutant peptide extension carried a higher positive charge relative to the native pVIII at all pHs. Next, by monitoring the Au-phage interaction by means of optical microscopy, elastic light scattering, fractal dimension analysis as well as Uv-vis and surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy, we show that the positive charge of the mutant peptide extension favors the opposite charge affinity between the phage and Au NP as the pH is decreased. These results show the versatility of this assembly method, where the stability of these hydrogels can be achieved by either adjusting the pH or by changing the composition of the phage pVIII without the need of phage display libraries

'Who said I was a forced bachelor? 'Single men's voices and strategies in rural China

Single men of China are often portrayed as passive victims of a tight marriage market and referred to as ‘forced bachelors’. This study examines how men and their natal families adjust to the difficulty men experience in finding women to marry. Based on 107 in-depth interviews conducted with men and women of various marital statuses and generations in Shannxi and Jiangsu provinces of China in 2012, this study suggests that agency among single men is exhibited in diverse ways. Our analysis underscores that single men are not passive victims, but, rather, they make choices and seek alternatives in a severely constrained demographic and social environment. Moreover, a comparison of men’s marital strategies in the two fieldwork sites indicates how local marriage markets must be examined in relationship to local marital norms, gendered migration flows and rural-urban regional economic disparities

Ageing, migration and familial support in rural China

Accelerated by economic reforms, a large scale migration of younger workers from rural to urban China has taken place since the 1990s. This has separated many adult children from their ageing parents and imposed significant challenges on traditional patterns of familial support for rural older people. These challenges are augmented by the fact that in rural China the elderly have been deprived a state pension and other welfare provisions available to urban residents. Drawing upon qualitative data from a project on ageing in rural China, this article examines the agency of older people and their families in responding to geographical separation resulting from the migration of the economically active to the cities. Through 32 life history interviews with multiple generations of nine households in one rural village, this article sheds light on the resilience and flexibility of rural households which have experienced migration and highlights the webs of interdependence that feature in the daily strategies of householding. It shows how members of the household across different geographical locations worked together to build and maintain the collective welfare of the family. In particular, this article argues that it would be over simplistic to suggest that migration is always detrimental to the older generation who stay behind. Contrary to assumptions in some migration studies and ageing literature in China, it shows that it is the breakdown of the webs of interdependence and reciprocity rather than the event of migration that will have inevitable negative effects upon old age care for the seniors in the household. Further, while highlighting the significance of householding, this article reveals the internal dynamics within a household. It identifies the role of gender in daily householding and suggests that the caring, supportive and kin-keeping roles performed mainly by women played a critical role in ensuring social and physical reproduction across generations. The article finds that while daughters took over some responsibilities which were traditionally expected from their brothers and sisters-in-law in old age support, the persistence of gendered practices and traditions in rural villages allowed sons more symbolic status and material benefits

Near-Infrared Plasmon-Driven Nitrogen Photofixation Achieved by Assembling Size-Controllable Gold Nanoparticles on TiO₂ Nanocavity Arrays

Solar-driven reduction of nitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3) offers an alternative carbon-free strategy toward cleaner and more sustainable NH3 production compared with the traditional Haber–Bosch process. However, the photofixation of N2 by low photonic-energy near-infrared (NIR) light still represents a huge challenge. Here, we design an Au/TiO2 hybrid plasmonic system via a solid-state dewetting process to arrange Au nanoparticles uniformly on ordered ultrathin TiO2 nanocavity arrays based on the anodic TiO2 templates, in which the tailored gold nanoparticle arrays serve as the mediator to guarantee NIR light harvesting and energy transfer. The oxidized layer of Ti is rich in oxygen vacancies produced simultaneously in solid-state-dewetting process which facilitates the adsorption and activation of N2 molecules. The charge transfer and N2 reduction reaction are driven in a tandem pathway, leading to an ammonia evaluation rate of 10.1 nmol cm–2 h–1 under NIR irradiation, while the photocatalytic performance shows no obvious decay after a cycle test. Briefly, the NIR-responsive Au/TiO2 plasmonic photocatalyst system opens a new insight to achieve a better utilization of solar energy for photocatalytic nitrogen fixation