Barriers to rural women's involvement in economic activities : evidence from Shaanxi, China : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Economics at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand

With China’s fast development in urbanization and agricultural modernization, rural women are one of the most affected yet ignored groups in society. However, strong evidence has shown that women’s active economic participation can not only reduce the likelihood of household poverty, but also improve distributional dynamics within a household. With first-hand data collected from three areas in one province, this research studies rural women’s barriers to economic participation in farming and off-farm employment under the government’s policy of land transfer. It is found that rural women are facing different challenges and have diversified needs and aspirations. There is a mismatch between the training local government offered and what rural women really want. The study of women professional farmers aims at building an updated understanding of rural women within the fast pace of China’s modernization. This research covers some of the critical factors of economic growth, such as the role of geography, gender, history and institutions. The findings provide information to policy makers, researchers and social organizations concerned with the future of rural women, and assist the sustainable implementation of the land transfer policy and gender equality

Toward a more realistic holographic QCD model

By matching the $Dp-Dq$ system in type II superstring theory with the Regge trajectories of vector and axial-vector meson spectra, a possible 5-dimension metric of a $Dp-Dq$ soft-wall model has been determined. The dependence of the metric parameters on Regge trajectory parameters has been demonstrated. It is shown that the models defined in $Dp$ brane background for $p=3$ or 4 can be consistent with experimental data.Comment: 8 pages, proceedings for the YITP International Symposium "Fundamental Problems in Hot and/or Dense QCD", March 3-6, 2008, Kyoto, Japa