Envy, Altruism, and the International Distribution of Trade Protection

One important puzzle in international political economy is why lower-earning and less-skilled intensive industries tend to receive relatively high levels of trade protection. This pattern of protection holds even in low-income countries in which less-skilled labor is likely to be the relatively abundant factor of production and therefore would be expected in many standard political-economy frameworks to receive relatively low, not high, levels of protection. We propose and model one possible explanation: that individual aversion to inequality—both envy and altruism—lead to systematic differences in support for trade protection across industries, with sectors employing lower-earning workers more intensively being relatively preferred recipients for trade protection. We conduct original survey experiments in China and the United States and provide strong evidence that individual policy opinions about sector-specific trade protection depend on the earnings of workers in the sector. We also present structural estimates of the influence of envy and altruism on sector-specific trade policy preferences. Our estimates indicate that both envy and altruism influence support for trade protection in the United States and that altruism influences policy opinions in China.

Scale-dependent effects of climate and geographic distance on bacterial diversity patterns across northern China's grasslands.

Patterns of variation in plant and animal diversity along precipitation gradients have been extensively studied, but much less is known about how and to what extent precipitation affects the biogeographic distribution of microbial diversity in arid areas across large spatial scales. Here we collected soils from 54 sites along a 3700 km transect covering a wide range of grassland ecosystems with distinct aridity gradients. We quantified the bacterial community diversity and the effects of climate, edaphic parameter and geographic distance on the bacterial community structure using high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Of the 35 phyla detected, 6 were dominant: Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Deltaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Planctomycetes. Aridity was a major factor influencing bacterial diversity, community composition and taxon abundance. Although the pattern of bacterial species richness is markedly different from that of plant species richness, most soil bacteria were endemic to particular bioregions like macro-organisms. Community similarity significantly declined with environmental distance and geographic distance (r = -0.579 and -0.773, respectively). Geographic distance (historical contingencies) contributed more to bacterial community variation (36.02%) than combined environmental factors (24.06%). Overall, our results showed that geographic distance and climatic factors concurrently govern bacterial biogeographic patterns in arid and semi-arid grassland

Study on Wear Resistance of Nickel Cladding Layer with Imitation Shell Convex Strip Structure on the Surface of 7075 Aluminum Alloy Drill Pipe

In this study, a nickel cladding layer with a bionic convex strip structure was applied to the surface of an aluminum alloy drill pipe, and laser cladding technology was used to improve the wear resistance of the aluminum alloy drill pipe. Firstly, by observing the morphological characteristics of the shell surface, the ratio of the width of the convex strips to the spacing between the convex strips was obtained as 0.39–0.53, and thus a model of the bionic structure was constructed. Numerical simulations were performed, and the results showed that the wear of the bionic structure was reduced by 77.6% compared with that of the smooth structure. Subsequently, the cladding layers of both structures were coated on the drill pipe using nickel powder as the material, and wear tests were performed. The microstructure, composition, and hardness behavior of the cladding layers were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy, an X-ray diffractometer, and a microhardness tester. It was found that the cladding layer mainly consists of Al3Ni2, and there is a transition layer between the cladding layer and the aluminum alloy matrix, whose hardness is lower than that of Al3Ni2. In addition, the groove space can be formed between the convex strips, which effectively reduces the frequency of the debris flow. The results of the wear tests show that the wear of the cladding layer with the bionic structure is reduced by 74.0%. Similar results in numerical simulations and experiments verified that the designed cladding layer with a bionic convex strip structure can significantly improve the wear resistance of aluminum alloy drill pipes.© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

COVID in china: how do you get down from a tiger’s back?

COVID has become increasingly politicised in China, says Xiaobo Lü (Columbia). The zero-COVID policy is hailed as a Chinese success, and the country faces a serious challenge if it is to convince its population that another approach is possible

Formation overpressure and shale oil enrichment in the shale system of Lucaogou Formation, Malang Sag, Santanghu Basin, NW China

According to observation of cores and thin sections, as well as analyses of fluid pressure features and geochemical indexes, the cause of fluid overpressure and the mechanism of shale oil enrichment in the Lucaogou Formation, Malang Sag, Santanghu Basin, were discussed. The results show that the shale oil of the Lucaogou Formation is generated in the low mature–premature stage of the source rocks and has the features of high density and high viscosity. The low-permeability and thick source rocks lead to high start-up resistance of fluid, which made it difficult for oil and gas to expel, so the retainment of oil and gas in source rocks is the major cause of formation overpressure. Excellent generation potential and well developed reservoir space are the basis for the oil retention; the pressure produced by hydrocarbon generation is not high enough to overcome the resistance of oil migration, which leads to the enrichment of shale oil. The enrichment degree of shale oil is controlled by hydrocarbon generation and storage capacity of lithofacies at various evolution stages. Key words: shale oil, overpressure, enrichment mechanism, Malang Sa