In era of new media, method research of ideology and politics education in advanced college focuses on "construction based on character of new media" to achieve purpose of ideological and political education, which is "relationship between you and I", and to think. Educators of ideology and politics courses in advanced colleges can construct equal, interactive, timely "You and I online" relationship base on wide, fast and convenient propagation characteristics of new media. At the same time, based on objective disadvantages of new media, deepen accompanying type of offline relationship. However, no matter how to utilize properties of new media, one should not forget the basic principle that "reason of value is the most basic pursue" is the method of college ideological and political education. Thus revolution on methods and tools won't replace nature content.
This dissertation is comprised of three economic theory papers corresponding to its three chapters: two of them explore the effects of online interactions between firms or individuals; two provide novel explanations of how a society can become culturally polarized (one of them is in both categories). The first chapter is titled "Online Dealers versus Brick-and-Mortar Stores: A Welfare Analysis". Online intermediaries play an increasingly important role in numerous markets. The literature on intermediation has mainly considered intermediaries as information gatekeepers, a role limited to advertising sellers' prices. This paper focuses on intermediaries as dealers or resellers, who acquire final goods through wholesale trade with producers. Consumers often believe that intermediaries can benefit them by mitigating information imperfections. But in many cases, intermediary entry actually lowers consumer surplus, and having more than one intermediary in the one-producer setting allows the monopolist producer to extract the entire consumer surplus. In all cases, however, conditions exist under which the presence of an intermediary improves overall welfare, including producer surplus. The second chapter is titled "Cultural Polarization through Online Communication and Economic Growth". Over the past decade, people have become increasingly partisan in their political views (Stroud 2011). While a growing literature examines the relationship between media slant and polarizing views, this paper provides an explanation of cultural polarization without endogenous media bias. Whereas word-of-mouth communication combines speaking and listening, online communication through social media has decoupled interaction into the sending and receiving of messages. Consumers are influenced by the news content viewed and the messages received. When the cost of sending messages is higher, extremists have a greater influence on preference formation. Rising wages over time naturally raise the opportunity cost of sending messages, and, when combined with the decoupling of social interaction, this increase implies that we should expect to see increasing cultural polarization. The third chapter, "Defensive Extremism: Polarization from a Concern for Balance", further examines naturally polarizing forces in society. Online communication through social media is reshaping the way people interact. While a rich literature in psychology, sociology, political science, and economics has studied many models of socialization among individuals and within groups, this paper offers a model of socialization between groups. Individuals can now easily identify others with similar views through the Internet, but at the same time, the openness of online interactions exposes people to views representing a variety of beliefs and preferences. In this model, agents choose to join a group, and each group seeks to maximize the collective utility of its members by endorsing a message that represents its views. The agents' views are updated following exposure to the messages, and changes lead to disutility. In many cases, each group chooses an extreme message relative to its members' views in order to minimize this disutility. Messages are not meant to influence the other group's members but rather to balance out the in-group's exposure to the out-group's extremism. This "defensive extremism" leads to interesting results that bolster and add to the literature's understanding of socialization and its consequences.
Why have separatist sentiments increased in Hong Kong despite of China's growing economic attractiveness? This question is critical for China–Hong Kong relations. However, few studies have explored it from a comparative perspective. This study compares Hong Kong and mainland college students' national identities by making a series of interlocked surveys and interviews from 2012 to 2016. It shows that Hong Kong students have a much lower sociopolitical identity with China, which proves to be the primary cause for their separatist tendencies. Although they hold a comparably strong pan-Chinese economic identity, it does not strengthen their sociopolitical identity as it does for mainland students. This can be attributed to their post-materialist framework through which they are unlikely to believe that economic development alone can bring sociopolitical improvements. The findings imply that China faces serious difficulties in turning its economic strength into political charm in societies with strong post-materialist values. (J Current Chinese Affairs)
Traumatic brain injury (TBI), particularly explosive blast-induced TBI (bTBI), has become the most prevalent injury among military personnel. The disruption of cognitive function is one of the most serious consequences of bTBI because its long-lasting effects prevent survivors fulfilling their active duty and resuming normal civilian life. However, the mechanisms are poorly understood and there is no treatment available. This study investigated the effects of adenosine A2A receptor (A2AR) on bTBI-induced cognitive deficit, and explored the underlying mechanisms. After being subjected to moderate whole-body blast injury, mice lacking the A2AR (A2AR knockout (KO)) showed less severity and shorter duration of impaired spatial reference memory and working memory than wild-type mice did. In addition, bTBI-induced cortical and hippocampal lesions, as well as proinflammatory cytokine expression, glutamate release, edema, cell loss, and gliosis in both early and prolonged phases of the injury, were significantly attenuated in A2AR KO mice. The results suggest that early injury and chronic neuropathological damages are important mechanisms of bTBI-induced cognitive impairment, and that the impairment can be attenuated by preventing A2AR activation. These findings suggest that A2AR antagonism is a potential therapeutic strategy for mild-to-moderate bTBI and consequent cognitive impairment.
Jian Wang,1 Guorong Dan,1 Jiqing Zhao,1 Yu Ding,2 Feng Ye,1 Huiqin Sun,1 Fan Jiang,1 Jin Cheng,1 Fahuan Yuan,2 Zhongmin Zou11Institute of Toxicology, School of Preventive Medicine, The Third Military Medical University, 2Department of Nephrology, Xinqiao Hospital, Shapingba District, Chongqing, People's Republic of ChinaBackground: MicroRNA-34a (miR-34a) is a potential prognostic factor for survival in patients with several types of cancer according to previous clinical researches. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to summarize the significance of increased miR-34a expression in the prognosis of patients' overall survival.Materials and methods: The present systematic review and meta-analysis of 15 researches included 2,597 patients. Overexpression of miR-34a may predict good overall survival ([OS], HR =0.76, 95% confidence interval: 0.55–1.06, P=0.105), but the effect was not significant enough. Subgroup analysis results showed miR-34a was an ideal predictor for digestive system cancer (OS, HR =0.50, 95% confidence interval: 0.25–0.99, P=0.048). The predictive effects of elevated expression of miR-34a on the OS of untreated and treated patients were not of obvious differences.Conclusion: This systematic review and meta-analysis showed that miR-34a has a predictive effect on overall survival of patients with digestive system cancer.Keywords: meta-analysis, systematic review, miR-34a, cancer, prognosis
