2017-20 Income and Poverty Gaps between Han and Ethnic Minorities in Rural China, 2002 and 2013

In this chapter, using selected rural samples of the CHIP 2002 and CHIP 2013 surveys that cover a total of fourteen provinces, we focus on income and poverty differentiation among Chinese ethnic minorities and changes over time in atypical ethnic regions, that is, outside of China's five autonomous regions. As shown by our analysis as well as in other literature, the incomes of ethnic minorities have always been lower than those of Han. However, the income gap between ethnic minorities and Han narrowed during the 2002-2013 period in atypical ethnic areas. At the same time, it should be noted that during this period inequality increased more for ethnic minorities than it did for Han. Our decomposition of the inequality index shows that the income gap between Han and ethnic minorities can mainly be attributed to factors such as household characteristics and residence location rather than ethnic identity. Between 2002 and 2013 the pattern of poverty changed both for Han and ethnic minorities, but the changes in absolute poverty and relative poverty were the opposite. At the absolute poverty level, the poverty rate, poverty depth, and poverty strength narrowed. But in terms of relative poverty, the poverty rate, poverty depth, and poverty strength increased. Descriptive analysis reveals that ethnic differences in terms of poverty narrowed from 2002 to 2013. Regression analysis suggests that this might be attributed to the fact that ethnic minorities are mainly located in less-developed regions where their ethnic identity does not make any difference. In fact, when controlling for the regional variables, the level of poverty among Han is even more serious than that among ethnic minorities. It is also worth noting that the coefficient of education among ethnic minorities is significantly larger than that among Han, indicating that the development of education may be a very effective anti-poverty strategy for ethnic minorities

Does inhibitory repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation augment functional task practice to improve arm recovery in chronic stroke?

Introduction. Restoration of upper extremity (UE) functional use remains a challenge for individuals following stroke. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a noninvasive modality that modulates cortical excitability and is being explored as a means to potentially ameliorate these deficits. The purpose of this study was to evaluate, in the presence of chronic stroke, the effects of low-frequency rTMS to the contralesional hemisphere as an adjuvant to functional task practice (FTP), to improve UE functional ability. Methods. Twenty-two individuals with chronic stroke and subsequent moderate UE deficits were randomized to receive 16 sessions (4 times/week for 4 weeks) of either real-rTMS or sham-rTMS followed by 1-hour of paretic UE FTP. Results. No differences in UE outcomes were revealed between the real-rTMS and sham-rTMS intervention groups. After adjusting for baseline differences, no differences were revealed in contralesional cortical excitability postintervention. In a secondary analysis, data pooled across both groups revealed small, but statistically significant, improvements in UE behavioral measures. Conclusions. rTMS did not augment changes in UE motor ability in this population of individuals with chronic stroke. The chronicity of our participant cohort and their degree of UE motor impairment may have contributed to inability to produce marked effects using rTMS

Dual Benefits of Adding Damper Bars in PMSMs for Electrified Vehicles: Improved Machine Dynamics and Simplified Integrated Charging

Recently, due to rising environmental concerns and predicted future shortages of fossil fuels, there is a movement towards electrification of the transportation industry. A vast majority of the current research uses permanent magnet synchronous machines as the main traction motor in the drivetrain. This work proposes to add a special damper to a conventional permanent magnet synchronous machine to further improve the suitability of this machine for electrified vehicles. Firstly, an equivalent circuit model is developed to simulate the operation of a conventional PMSM with a damper. A synchronous loading test is proposed to determine the synchronous reactance of the machine. A modified blocked rotor test is used to find the damper parameters assuming that the rotor cage construction is known. Also a single-phase AC test that can be used to determine the damper parameters without prior knowledge of the rotor construction is proposed and presented as an alternative to the blocked rotor test. Thereafter, the models of a 50 kW traction motor and the same machine with damper bars are developed and simulated. The performance of both machines are compared and evaluated. The damper parameters are selected based on the dynamic and steady state performances. It is also shown that the machine with a damper has faster response to a three-phase short circuit fault. In addition, this study also looks into integrated charging which utilizes the existing drivetrain components for vehicle to grid and grid to vehicle operation. The damper is shown to be effective in mitigating the saliency condition caused by the buried magnets of IPMSM at stand-still condition. As a result, the machine windings can be used as line inductors for integrated charging