Changes in Tropical Clouds and Atmospheric Circulation Associated with Rapid Adjustment Induced by Increased Atmospheric CO2 A Multiscale Modeling Framework Study

The radiative heating increase due to increased CO2 concentration is the primary source for the rapid adjustment of atmospheric circulation and clouds. In this study, we investigate the rapid adjustment resulting from doubling of CO2 and its physical mechanism using a multiscale modeling framework (MMF). The MMF includes an advanced higher-order turbulence closure in its cloud-resolving model component and simulates realistic shallow and deep cloud climatology and boundary layer turbulence. The rapid adjustment over the tropics is characterized by 1) reduced ascent and descent strengths over the ocean, 2) increased lower tropospheric stability (LTS) over the subsidence region, 3) shoaling of planetary boundary layers over the ocean, 4) increased deep convection over lands and shift of cloud coverage from the ocean to lands, and 5) reduced sensible (SH) and latent heat (LH) fluxes over the oceanic deep convective regions. Unlike conventional general circulation models and another MMF, a reduction in the global-mean shortwave cloud radiative cooling is not simulated, due to the increase in low clouds at lower altitudes over the ocean, resulting from reduced cloud-top entrainment due to strengthened inversion. Changes in regional circulation play a key role in cloud changes and shift of cloud coverage to lands. Weaker energy transport resulting from water vapor and cloud CO2 masking effects reduces the upward motion and convective clouds in the oceanic regions. The ocean-land transports are linked to the partitioning of surface SH and LH fluxes that increases humidity over lands and enhances deep convection over the tropical lands

Social prediction: a new research paradigm based on machine learning

Sociology is a science concerned with both the interpretive understanding of social action and the corresponding causal explanation, process, and result. A causal explanation should be the foundation of prediction. For many years, due to data and computing power constraints, quantitative research in social science has primarily focused on statistical tests to analyze correlations and causality, leaving predictions largely ignored. By sorting out the historical context of "social prediction," this article redefines this concept by introducing why and how machine learning can help prediction in a scientific way. Furthermore, this article summarizes the academic value and governance value of social prediction and suggests that it is a potential breakthrough in the contemporary social research paradigm. We believe that through machine learning, we can witness the advent of an era of a paradigm shift from correlation and causality to social prediction. This shift will provide a rare opportunity for sociology in China to become the international frontier of computational social sciences and accelerate the construction of philosophy and social science with Chinese characteristics

The perception of spontaneous and volitional laughter across 21 societies

Data available at https://dataverse.harvard.edu/ dataverse/laughterperception</p

Long-term outcomes of early childhood science education: insight from a cross-national comparative case study on conceptual understanding of science

The purpose of this research was to explore the long term outcomes of either participating or not participating in early childhood science education on Grade 6 students’ conceptual understanding of science. The research is situated in a conceptual framework that evokes Piagetian developmental levels as both potential curriculum constraints and potential models of efficacy. The research design was a multiple case study of Grade 6 children from three schools in China (n=140) who started formal science education in the third grade, and Grade 6 children from three matched schools in Australia (n=105) who started learning science in kindergarten. The students’ understanding was assessed by a science quiz and in-depth interview. The data showed that participating children from the high socio-economic schools in China and Australia had similar understandings of science. Divergence between the medium and low socio-economic schools, however, indicated that the grounding in early childhood science education in Australia may have placed these children at an advantage. Alternative explanations for the divergence including the nature of classroom instruction in the two countries are discussed

Detecting affiliation in colaughter across 24 societies

Data available at https://www.pnas.org/content/113/17/4682/tab-figures-data</p

Understanding PRRSV Infection in Porcine Lung Based on Genome-Wide Transcriptome Response Identified by Deep Sequencing

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) has been one of the most economically important diseases affecting swine industry worldwide and causes great economic losses each year. PRRS virus (PRRSV) replicates mainly in porcine alveolar macrophages (PAMs) and dendritic cells (DCs) and develops persistent infections, antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), interstitial pneumonia and immunosuppression. But the molecular mechanisms of PRRSV infection still are poorly understood. Here we report on the first genome-wide host transcriptional responses to classical North American type PRRSV (N-PRRSV) strain CH 1a infection using Solexa/Illumina's digital gene expression (DGE) system, a tag-based high-throughput transcriptome sequencing method, and analyse systematically the relationship between pulmonary gene expression profiles after N-PRRSV infection and infection pathology. Our results suggest that N-PRRSV appeared to utilize multiple strategies for its replication and spread in infected pigs, including subverting host innate immune response, inducing an anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory state as well as developing ADE. Upregulation expression of virus-induced pro-inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, adhesion molecules and inflammatory enzymes and inflammatory cells, antibodies, complement activation were likely to result in the development of inflammatory responses during N-PRRSV infection processes. N-PRRSV-induced immunosuppression might be mediated by apoptosis of infected cells, which caused depletion of immune cells and induced an anti-inflammatory cytokine response in which they were unable to eradicate the primary infection. Our systems analysis will benefit for better understanding the molecular pathogenesis of N-PRRSV infection, developing novel antiviral therapies and identifying genetic components for swine resistance/susceptibility to PRRS

Keeping It Real: Making Space for Play in Early Education Policy and Practice

This chapter considers how the pedagogical framing of preschool activity as a preparation for a school, may be in conflict with an international consensus advocating allowing children greater control of some of their activities in preschool. The first sometimes promotes an early start to more formal learning, while the second proposes that personal responsibility and self-control and can lead to longer lasting benefits resulting from preschool experiences. A case study of changing policy and practice in Kazakhstan is used to illustrate the tensions between these two models of learning. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews with practitioners in the preschool environment were used to explore how national standards documents interact with underlying beliefs about the nature of learning in the formation of practice. The findings suggest that, as in other countries, the intention to increase child-led pedagogy may be inhibited by existing classroom-based expectations of children’s participation. The chapter considers how participatory research in play environments might help to increase awareness of the value of child-led play by focusing increased attention on how play supports learning

Folk religion in Chinese societies

This dissertation consists of three main chapters which investigate folk religion in Chinese societies (mainland and Taiwan). Field research performed in many parts China has documented the revival of folk religious practices and beliefs, but until now few rigorous quantitative studies have been performed to investigate its demographic characteristics, longitudinal trajectories, and civic functions. This dissertation studies these aspects of Chinese folk religion. Chapter 2 examines the number of folk religion adherents and their demographic characteristics in both mainland and Taiwan. The results suggest that in spite of the dramatic social, political, and cultural changes in modern times, the adherents of folk religion still substantially outnumber the believers of institutional religions in Chinese societies. Chapter 3 revisits Weber\u27s classic discussion about disenchantment and recent theoretical development in the religious market approach about the failure of folk religion on a free religious market. In particular, Chapter 3 examines the longitudinal trends of different types of folk religion in Taiwan between 1990 and 2009. The findings highlight the decline of communal folk religion and the growth of certain types of individual folk religion. Chapter 4 focuses on the civic functions of different types of folk religion. Members of sectarian folk religion are found to be more likely to get involved in volunteering within religious organizations while participants of individual folk religion have significantly higher propensity to donate to both religious and secular organizations

Modeling the Influences of Social Mobility Net of Origin and Destination Based on the Front-Door Criterion: A Simulation Study

The consequences of social mobility have been a persistent theme on the research agenda of social scientists, but the estimation of the net mobility effect controlling for both social origin and destination confronts with the identification problem. This research 1) highlights the mechanical identification approaches deployed by the conventional methods—the square additive model, the diamond model, and the diagonal reference model; 2) draws on the directional acyclic graphs to present an identification framework that is based on the intermediate variables; and 3) elaborates the specific identification strategies in typical research scenarios: independent mechanism, joint mechanism, partial mechanism, and intermediate confounded mechanism. The results of the Monte Carlo simulations suggest that the mechanism-based identification approach helps to obtain an unbiased estimate of the net mobility effect