Patterns and Predictors of Taiwanese Adult Children’s Intergenerational Exchanges Before and After Economic Stagnation

This study explores whether cultural norms and economic performance shape the differences in the patterns of intergenerational exchanges, and analyzes whether structural, normative, or emotional dimensions of intergenerational solidarity predict the derived typology of intergenerational exchange in Taiwan before and after economic stagnation. Data derives from nationally representative samples of adult children with at least one parent alive in 2006 and 2016. Latent class analysis (LCA), measurement invariance with LCA, and multinomial logistic regression analysis are applied to analyze data. The results demonstrate how filial norms and economic stagnation influence the intergenerational exchange patterns. The study identifies five classes of intergenerational exchanges. There was a higher proportion of the high-exchange membership in the period of salary growth, while there was a higher proportion of the memberships of emotion-oriented exchanges during the wage stagnation period. Results reveal that geographic distance exerts a stronger and more consistent association with various exchange patterns.

Axe Quarrying, Production, and Exchange in Australia and New Guinea

Ground-edge artefacts (GEAs), also known as ground-edge axes, are an independent innovation that date to the earliest sites in Sahul (the continental landmass of Australia and New Guinea). During the Pleistocene, these tools were localized to the northern parts of the continent. Over time, significant changes took place in the distribution of GEAs, which became an almost continent-wide technology, with distinct regional variations in their form, production, and exchange patterns. This article explores the evolution of GEAs in Sahul, mapping the different trajectories in their production, use, and exchange, while also exploring the different roles that they may have played both socially and economically in their communities of use.

Evolution of combinatorial diversity in trans-acyltransferase polyketide synthase assembly lines across bacteria

Trans-acyltransferase polyketide synthases (trans-AT PKSs) are bacterial multimodular enzymes that biosynthesize diverse pharmaceutically and ecologically important polyketides. A notable feature of this natural product class is the existence of chemical hybrids that combine core moieties from different polyketide structures. To understand the prevalence, biosynthetic basis, and evolutionary patterns of this phenomenon, we developed transPACT, a phylogenomic algorithm to automate global classification of trans-AT PKS modules across bacteria and applied it to 1782 trans-AT PKS gene clusters. These analyses reveal widespread exchange patterns suggesting recombination of extended PKS module series as an important mechanism for metabolic diversification in this natural product class. For three plant-associated bacteria, i.e., the root colonizer Gynuella sunshinyii and the pathogens Xanthomonas cannabis and Pseudomonas syringae, we demonstrate the utility of this computational approach for uncovering cryptic relationships between polyketides, accelerating polyketide mining from fragmented genome sequences, and discovering polyketide variants with conserved moieties of interest. As natural combinatorial hybrids are rare among the more commonly studied cis-AT PKSs, this study paves the way towards evolutionarily informed, rational PKS engineering to produce chimeric trans-AT PKS-derived polyketides.

Water Costs of Gas Exchange by a Speckled Cockroach and a Darkling Beetle

Respiratory water loss during metabolic gas exchange is an unavoidable cost of living for terrestrial insects. It has been suggested to depend on several factors, such as the mode of gas exchange (convective vs. diffusive), species habitat (aridity), body size and measurement conditions (temperature). We measured this cost in terms of respiratory water loss relative to metabolic rate (respiratory water cost of gas exchange; RWL/V˙CO2) for adults of two insect species, the speckled cockroach (Nauphoeta cinerea) and the darkling beetle (Zophobas morio), which are similar in their mode of gas exchange (dominantly convective), habitat (mesic), body size and measurement conditions, by measuring gas exchange patterns using flow-through respirometry. The speckled cockroaches showed both continuous and discontinuous gas exchange patterns, which had significantly a different metabolic rate and respiratory water loss but the same respiratory water cost of gas exchange. The darkling beetles showed continuous gas exchange pattern only, and their metabolic rate, respiratory water loss and respiratory cost of gas exchange were equivalent to those cockroaches using continuous gas exchange. This outcome from our study highlights that the respiratory water cost of gas exchange is similar between species, regardless of gas exchange pattern used, when the confounding factors affecting this cost are controlled. However, the total evaporative water cost of gas exchange is much higher than the respiratory cost because cuticular water loss contributes considerably more to the overall evaporative water loss than respiratory water. We suggest that the total water cost of gas exchange is likely to be a more useful index of environmental adaptation (e.g., aridity) than just the respiratory water cost.

The Dependency Structure of Bad Jobs: How Market Constraint Undermines Job Quality

Power and dependence in economic exchange shape industry structure. When a focal industry faces powerful suppliers or buyers, this can reduce industry rents. The authors argue that these dynamics also affect job quality by reducing the economic surplus available to be shared with workers. Drawing on ideas from power-dependency theory, this article explains industry earnings and job quality differences by examining inter-industry exchange patterns. The authors build on Ronald Burt’s seminal analysis of structural constraint in economic exchange using industry input-output tables. They calculate market constraint measures for recent years in the United States and link these with CPS data on wages and benefits. Analyses reveal that workers in more buyer-constrained industries (dependence on powerful buyers) experience lower wages and benefits. Findings also show that market constraint reduces the economic surplus available for union bargaining. Theory and results suggest that market concentration reduces suppliers’ economic rents, harming job quality.

Gender Differences in the Impact of Intergenerational Support on Depressive Symptoms among Older Adults in Korea

Background: This study examined the relationship between intergenerational support patterns and depressive symptoms among older men and women in Korea. Methods: A nationally representative survey of non-institutionalized, community-dwelling older adults in Korea was used. A total of 7531 older adults (3592 men and 3939 women) was included in the analysis. Results: We observed gender differences in the impact of financial support exchanges on depressive symptoms. A lack of mutual financial support significantly increased the risk of depressive symptoms by 3.83 times (95% CI 2.34–6.24) in men and 1.73 times (95% CI 1.06–2.83) in women. Men who received financial support were more likely to experience depressive symptoms (OR (Odds Ratio), 1.81, 95% CI 1.36–2.42), whereas women who provided financial support were more likely to experience depressive symptoms (OR 2.82, 95% CI 1.21–6.56). The lack of an exchange of emotional support was significantly associated with depressive symptoms in both men (OR 1.49, 95% CI 1.17–1.90) and women (OR 1.87, 95% CI 1.50–2.34). Conclusions: We discuss the evidence of gender differences in intergenerational support exchange patterns and their impact on depressive symptoms within the context of Korean cultures and suggest that future research should be conducted on gender differences in the impact of intergenerational support on mental health across diverse societies.