Sentiment Diffusion of Social Inequality in Microblogs: A Case Study of “Migrant Worker” in Sina Weibo

Migrant workers constitute the main city workforce in China. However, they are the victims of social inequality. Sina Weibo is one of the most important channels for people to share information and public opinions. In order to study into the sentiment diffusion of social inequality over Sina Weibo, we collected a huge number of root microblogs and reposts based on the search query “Migrant Worker”. With applying the sentiment tendency analysis tool provided by Baidu AI, we were able to capture the sentiment flipping process. We found that most microblog users tended to follow the previous users’ sentiment polarity. But the intensity of the sentiment polarity would always get weaken

The least house necessary: a design philosophy from Northern Australia

The current model of design for dwellings in Cairns, Northern Australia is unsustainable. The Least House Necessary design philosophy promotes a climatically responsive and sustainable solution for tropical environments. It advocates for a regionally grounded approach to each project that draws upon history, culture, climate and knowledge of building technologies and traditions to inform sustainable design outcomes

Study on the Aging Behavior of an Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Fiber Barrier Net in a Marine Environment

In the present work, the performance of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) barrier nets in marine environments is investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetry, scanning electron microscopy, and tensile experiments. The chemical, morphological, thermal stability, and strength changes after aging in salt spray, hygrothermal, and ultraviolet (UV) environments are characterized. An environmental spectrum is designed to simulate a real service environment and predict the service life of UHMWPE. The results show that UV energy can activate UHMWPE molecules and lead to chain breaking, which lowers the breaking strength more efficiently than salt spray. In a hygrothermal environment, the UHMPE fibers bond into clumps, which causes a slight increase in breaking strength after the initial rapid decrease with aging time. The acceleration ratio of the environmental spectrum increases with increasing aging time, which may be caused by the cross-linking and degradation of macromolecular chains in the material. The environmental spectrum given by this work can be used to evaluate performance and predict the service life of UHMWPE barrier nets in marine environments

DNA helicase RecQ1 regulates mutually exclusive expression of virulence genes in Plasmodium falciparum via heterochromatin alteration

International audienceThe Plasmodium falciparum var gene family encodes ∼60 surface antigens by which parasites escape the host immune responses via clonal expression of var genes. However, the mechanism controlling this mutual exclusivity, associated with alterations in chromatin assembly, is not understood. Here, we determined how expression of the var gene family is regulated by two RecQ DNA helicase family members, PfRecQ1 and PfWRN, in P. falciparum Through genetic manipulation, we found that the complete var repertoire was silenced on PfRecQ1 knockout, whereas their expression did not show noticeable changes when PfWRN was knocked out. More important, mutually exclusive expression of var genes could be rescued by complementation of PfRecQ1. In addition, knocking out either of these two helicase genes changed the perinuclear cluster distribution of subtelomeres and subtelomeric var genes. Whereas deletion of PfRecQ1 increased the heterochromatin mark trimethylated (H3K9me3) at the transcription start site (TSS) of the var gene upsC1, that deletion had no effect on the global distribution of H3K9me3 over gene bodies, including those for the var genes. ChIP-seq assay showed that PfRecQ1 was enriched globally at the TSSs of all genes, whereas PfWRN-enriched regions occurred at the gene bodies of the var gene family, but not of other genes or at TSSs of all genes. On PfRecQ1 deletion, the upsC1 var gene moved from the active perinuclear transcription region to a silenced region of the upsC type. These findings imply that PfRecQ1, but not PfWRN, is essential for maintaining the clonal expression of var genes