Northern Hemisphere Urban Heat Stress and Associated Labor Hour Hazard from ERA5 Reanalysis

Increasing surface air temperature is a fundamental characteristic of a warming world. Rising temperatures have potential impacts on human health through heat stress. One heat stress metric is the wet-bulb globe temperature, which takes into consideration the effects of radiation, humidity, and wind speed. It also has broad health and environmental implications. This study presents wet-bulb globe temperatures calculated from the fifth-generation European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts atmospheric reanalysis and combines it with health guidelines to assess heat stress variability and the potential for reduction in labor hours over the past decade on both the continental and urban scale. Compared to 2010–2014, there was a general increase in heat stress during the period from 2015 to 2019 throughout the northern hemisphere, with the largest warming found in tropical regions, especially in the northern part of the Indian Peninsula. On the urban scale, our results suggest that heat stress might have led to a reduction in labor hours by up to ~20% in some Asian cities subject to work–rest regulations. Extremes in heat stress can be explained by changes in radiation and circulation. The resultant threat is highest in developing countries in tropical areas where workers often have limited legal protection and healthcare. The effect of heat stress exposure is therefore a collective challenge with environmental, economic, and social implications.publishedVersio

Results of Fabry Disease Screening in Male Pre-End Stage Renal Disease Patients with Unknown Etiology Found Through the Platform of a Chronic Kidney Disease Education Program in a Northern Taiwan Medical Center

Background/Aims: Fabry disease (FD), a rare x-lined genetic disorder is a cause of renal deterioration. The phenotype of FD is highly variable and nonspecific, and correct diagnosis has always been delayed. We aimed to explore the prevalence and clinical presentation of FD in this high-risk male population in a Northern Taiwan medical center. Methods: This is the first study to survey the incidence of FD in this high-risk population through the platform of a chronic kidney disease (CKD) education program in Asia. A total of 1,012 male patients with unknown CKD causes were screened using an assay of alpha-galactosidase A activity (α-Gal A) by dried blood spots (DBS). A final GLA gene analysis was also done for those with low enzyme activity. Results: We identified two new patients with classic FD and four patients with late-onset FD. One novel GLA mutation with c.413 G>A was found in one classic FD patient (index 5). The prevalence of FD is about 0.59 % (6 in 1,012) in the high-risk population group with CKD. The clinical symptoms of FD patients are nonspecific except in those with various degrees of renal failure. Those patients’ correct diagnosis was delayed, taking years and even decades. Three patients received enzyme replacement therapy and one started regular hemodialysis due to persistent renal function deterioration. Another two patients were found from family screening through a new index. In addition, a false negative result occurred in one patient who was proved to have FD by his kidney pathology as determined by this screening. Conclusion: FD is not such as rare a disease and its prevalence is greater in this high-risk male population. Clinicians need to be aware that FD should be included in the differential diagnosis in CKD with unknown etiology

Social classes in China : an analysis of China's transition to capitalism

The dissertation aims to bring social classes back into the center of the research on Chinese social stratification and inequality in its transition to market capitalism. Drawing from the neo-Marxian class theory on the ownership of three types of assets, it develops a Chinese class schema, taking into account the household registration (hukou) institution, the work unit (danwei) institution, and the cadre institution, which are respectively associated with the ownership of labor power, organizational assets, and skills or authority. Based on the national survey data, the dissertation empirically demonstrates the superiority of such a class schema to other alternatives in fitting in with the reality in China. With the new class schema, the dissertation examines the transformation of the class structure in China from the Maoist era to the present; the trends in class inequality, class consciousness and politics of emerging classes. Analyses of survey data collected in 1996, 2003, and 2005 from China have shown the proletarianization of the class structure, the polarization of class inequality, and the embryonic development of class consciousness. A class analysis of China not only contributes to the understanding of the continuity and changes in the course of China’s transition to market capitalism but also enriches the modern class theory

Class Structure, Social Inequality and Social Mobility in Transitional China, 1979-2003

[[fileno]]2040619030015[[department]]社會學研究

Globalization versus Classes: Class Structure and Income Inequality in Hong Kong, 1991-2006

[[fileno]]2040619030016[[department]]社會學研究

The Changing Labor Process of State-Owned Enterprises in Taiwan: a Case Study of a Power Company

[[fileno]]2040619030021[[department]]社會學研究

臺灣的高等教育擴張與階級複製：混合效應維續的不平等 How does the Expansion of Higher Education Reproduce Class Inequality? The Case of Taiwan

臺灣高等教育擴張究竟促進了階級流動，還是造成階級複製的惡化，或者改變了階級複製的機制？本研究運用臺灣社會變遷基本調查與新韋伯派的階級分類法，檢視高等教育擴張對學生教育機會分配的影響。結果顯示，高教擴張導致大學水平分化，優勢階級子女就讀篩選性高且教學資源充裕的公立一般大學、進而增加繼續就讀研究所的機會，而中、下階級家庭子女易進入學費較高與教學資源相對缺乏的私立或技職大學，在背負學貸或打工還債影響學業成績的壓力下，繼續就讀研究所的機率較低，證明在臺灣高等教育擴張的過程中，「有效維續不平等」與「極力維續不平等」效果同時混合起來維繫階級不平等，臺灣高等教育擴張政策幾乎沒有改變既有的階級複製，反而使之以更隱晦的方式延續。 Does the expansion of higher education in Taiwan facilitate social mobility, or form a horizontal stratification in higher education to maintain social inequality? Using the Taiwan Social Change Survey, this paper examines the effects of higher educational expansion on the distribution of educational opportunities among students with different family backgrounds. The findings show that the expansion of higher education produces horizontal stratification within higher education. Advantaged students are more likely to attend selective and prestigious public colleges and to enter graduate schools as a result of higher educational expansion, while lowerclass students tend to enter lower-ranking private colleges with higher tuition. These results reveal that both Maximally Maintained Inequality and Effectively Maintained Inequality hypotheses work during a period of educational expansion. Finally, due to differences in tuition and the wage gap in the labor market between public and private college students, educational expansion policy in Taiwan has not mitigated class inequality, and has even functioned in subtle ways to maintain this inequality