Rebels Lead to the Doctrine of the Mean: Opinion Dynamic in a Heterogeneous DeGroot Model

We study an extension of the DeGroot model where part of the players may be rebels. The updating rule for rebels is quite different with that of normal players (which are referred to as conformists): at each step a rebel first takes the opposite value of the weighted average of her neighbors' opinions, i.e. 1 minus that average (the opinion space is assumed to be [0,1] as usual), and then updates her opinion by taking another weighted average between that value and her own opinion in the last round. We find that the effect of rebels is rather significant: as long as there is at least one rebel in every closed and strongly connected group, under very weak conditions, the opinion of each player in the whole society will eventually tend to 0.5.Comment: 7 pages, Proceedings of The 6th International Conference on Knowledge, Information and Creativity Support Systems, Beijing, 201

Antibiotics induce polarization of pleural macrophages to M2-like phenotype in patients with tuberculous pleuritis

Pleural macrophages play critical roles in pathogenesis of tuberculous pleuritis, but very little is known about their response to anti-tuberculosis antibiotics treatment. Here, we examined whether and how pleural macrophages change in phenotype, transcription and function following antibiotics treatment in patients with tuberculous pleuritis. Results show pro-inflammatory cytokines were down-regulated significantly post antibiotic treatment in the pleural effusions and pleural macrophages up-regulated markers characteristic of M2 macrophages such as CD163 and CD206. Differential expression analysis of transcriptomes from four paired samples before and after treatment identified 230 treatment-specific responsive genes in pleural macrophages. Functional analysis identified interferon-related pathway to be the most responsive genes and further confirmed macrophage polarization to M2-like phenotype. We further demonstrate that expression of a significant fraction of responsive genes was modulated directly by antibiotics in pleural macrophages in vitro. Our results conclude that pleural macrophages polarize from M1-like to M2-like phenotype within a mean of 3.5 days post antibiotics treatment, which is dependent on both pleural cytokine environment and direct modulatory effects of antibiotics. The treatment-specific genes could be used to study the roles of pleural macrophages in the pathogenesis of tuberculous pleuritis and to monitor the response to antibiotics treatment

Fashion, Cooperation, and Social Interactions

Fashion plays such a crucial rule in the evolution of culture and society that it is regarded as a second nature to the human being. Also, its impact on economy is quite nontrivial. On what is fashionable, interestingly, there are two viewpoints that are both extremely widespread but almost opposite: conformists think that what is popular is fashionable, while rebels believe that being different is the essence. Fashion color is fashionable in the first sense, and Lady Gaga in the second. We investigate a model where the population consists of the afore-mentioned two groups of people that are located on social networks (a spatial cellular automata network and small-world networks). This model captures two fundamental kinds of social interactions (coordination and anti-coordination) simultaneously, and also has its own interest to game theory: it is a hybrid model of pure competition and pure cooperation. This is true because when a conformist meets a rebel, they play the zero sum matching pennies game, which is pure competition. When two conformists (rebels) meet, they play the (anti-) coordination game, which is pure cooperation. Simulation shows that simple social interactions greatly promote cooperation: in most cases people can reach an extraordinarily high level of cooperation, through a selfish, myopic, naive, and local interacting dynamic (the best response dynamic). We find that degree of synchronization also plays a critical role, but mostly on the negative side. Four indices, namely cooperation degree, average satisfaction degree, equilibrium ratio and complete ratio, are defined and applied to measure people's cooperation levels from various angles. Phase transition, as well as emergence of many interesting geographic patterns in the cellular automata network, is also observed.Comment: 21 pages, 12 figure

Real-time Monitoring for the Next Core-Collapse Supernova in JUNO

Core-collapse supernova (CCSN) is one of the most energetic astrophysical events in the Universe. The early and prompt detection of neutrinos before (pre-SN) and during the SN burst is a unique opportunity to realize the multi-messenger observation of the CCSN events. In this work, we describe the monitoring concept and present the sensitivity of the system to the pre-SN and SN neutrinos at the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), which is a 20 kton liquid scintillator detector under construction in South China. The real-time monitoring system is designed with both the prompt monitors on the electronic board and online monitors at the data acquisition stage, in order to ensure both the alert speed and alert coverage of progenitor stars. By assuming a false alert rate of 1 per year, this monitoring system can be sensitive to the pre-SN neutrinos up to the distance of about 1.6 (0.9) kpc and SN neutrinos up to about 370 (360) kpc for a progenitor mass of 30$M_{\odot}$ for the case of normal (inverted) mass ordering. The pointing ability of the CCSN is evaluated by using the accumulated event anisotropy of the inverse beta decay interactions from pre-SN or SN neutrinos, which, along with the early alert, can play important roles for the followup multi-messenger observations of the next Galactic or nearby extragalactic CCSN.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figure

A Constructionalization Approach to the “Hen + X” Construction from the Perspective of Information Structure

“Hen” is a common degree adverb in modern Chinese, which is generally used to modify verbs, adjectives and adverbs. The special phenomenon that “Hen” modifies nouns has attracted the attention of many scholars. Based on the theory of Diachronic Construction Grammar, this study attempts to investigate the constructionalization process of the “Hen + X” construction (X refers to words of any part of speech) through using corpus, clarify the evolution of the form-meaning/function of the “Hen + X” construction, analyze the cognitive mechanism behind the constructionalization of the “Hen + X” construction, and explore the cognitive motivation of the constructionalization of the “Hen + X” construction, which aims to enrich the study of the “Hen + X” construction and provide a new way of thinking for the study of Diachronic Construction Grammar

Immunological Approaches Towards Cancer and Inflammation: A Cross Talk

The inflammation is the protective response of the body against various harmful stimuli; however, the aberrant and inappropriate activation tends to become harmful. The acute inflammatory response tends to resolved once the offending agent is subside but this acute response becomes chronic in nature when the body is unable to successfully neutralized the noxious stimuli. This chronic inflammatory microenvironment is associated with the release of various pro-inflammatory and oncogenic mediators such as nitric oxide (NO), cytokines [IL-1β, IL-2, interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)], growth factor, and chemokines. These mediators make the inflammatory microenvironment more vulnerable toward tumorigenesis. The pro-inflammatory mediators released during the chronic inflammation tends to induce several molecular signaling cascades such as nuclear factor kappa B, MAPKinase, nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2, phosphoinositide-3-kinase, Janus kinases/STAT, Wnt/B-catenin, and cyclic AMP response element binding protein. The immune system and its components have a pleiotropic effect on inflammation and cancer progression. Immune components such as T cells, natural killer cells, macrophages, and neutrophils either inhibit or enhance tumor initiation depending on the type of tumor and immune cells involved. Tumor-associated macrophages and tumor-associated neutrophils are pro-tumorigenic cells highly prevalent in inflammation-mediated tumors. Similarly, presence of T regulatory (Treg) cells in an inflammatory and tumor setting suppresses the immune system, thus paving the way for oncogenesis. However, Treg cells also inhibit autoimmune inflammation. By contrast, cytotoxic T cells and T helper cells confer antitumor immunity and are associated with better prognosis in patients with cancer. Cytotoxic T cells inflict a direct cytotoxic effect on cells expressing oncogenic markers. Currently, several anti-inflammatory and antitumor therapies are under trials in which these immune cells are exploited. Adoptive cell transfer composed of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes has been tried for the treatment of tumors after their ex vivo expansion. Mediators released by cells in a tumorigenic and inflammatory microenvironment cross talk with nearby cells, either promoting or inhibiting inflammation and cancer. Recently, several cytokine-based therapies are either being developed or are under trial to treat such types of manifestations. Monoclonal antibodies directed against TNF-α, VEGF, and IL-6 has shown promising results to ameliorate inflammation and cancer, while direct administration of IL-2 has been shown to cause tumor regression

Wuji Riyue Cimu Temple: A female pantheon; Miao Fa Temple: Secret revelation from the Mt. Fuji

The drone footage captures the Wuji Riyue Cimu Temple (無極日月慈母殿) and the Miaofa Temple (妙法寺). Wuji Riyue Cimu Temple (無極日月慈母殿) is a shrine gathering a group of female deities across different religious contexts, including Queen Mother of the West (王母娘娘, Wang Mu Niang Niang), Earth Mother Goddess (地母娘娘, Di Mu Niang Niang), and Cuti Boddhisattva (準提佛母, Zhuti Fomu). These deities represent a mixed Buddhist and Daoist pantheon. This video observed a burning ritual that is performed to celebrate the birthday of the Earth Mother Goddess. The other temple shows in the footage is the Miaofa Temple (妙法寺). It demonstrates a vivid example of female leadership in the Daoist-quasi-folk community in Taiwan. Chen Yuxia, also addressed as Madam Chen, was believed to have received revelation from Mt. Fuji, Japan and later became the founder of Miaofa Temple (妙法寺). Religious practices in the Miaofa Temple are derived from both Buddhism and Daoism a religious practice known as Fo Dao Shuangxiu (佛道雙修). The video clip also records the interview with temple staff. The interview focuses on the history and architecture of the temple. It is important to interview temple staff as they are the caretakers of the area and are most intimately aquainted with the history of the place. Further, their exposure to the temple enables them to better understand the unwritten or oral history of the temple. The music credit is to the artist Anti-General, with whose permission that the music can be used for non-commercial purposes. The music can be retrieved from the Soundcloud.com.Non UBCUnreviewedAuthor Affiliations: University of Hamburg, Longmen Grottoes Academy, Tel Aviv University, National University of KaohsiungGraduateUndergraduat

Sheng Ming Palace: Hybrid pantheon with a cult on the tree and Zhu Bajie

The drone footage captures the Sheng Ming Palace (聖明宮), along with the "Thousands Year Tree Deity (千年豬神樹公)" at its back. The Tree Deity is a lump on the tree resembling the shape of a piglet. The local sees it as an incarnation of Zhu Bajie (豬八戒, a deity in Buddhism and a major character of the novel Journey to the West). Additionally, the video shows the Three Grand Statues in the palace, which are Ji Gong (濟公活佛, a deity in Buddhism), Jade Emperor (玉皇上帝, a deity in Daoism), and the Earth Mother Goddess (地母娘娘, a deity exists in the Daoism-quasi-folk belief in Taiwan). This temple was chosen because of it's unique relationship with Taiwanese folk religion and connection to the local religious community. In addition to the manifestation of Zhu Bajie, the combination of these three deities' statues at this temple highlights the relationship of folk religion with established religious traditions in this worship site as they each represent a different aspect of Taiwanese religious traditions.Non UBCUnreviewedAuthor Affiliations: University of Hamburg, Longmen Grottoes Academy, Tel Aviv University, National University of KaohsiungGraduateUndergraduat