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Networks of conforming or nonconforming individuals tend to reach satisfactory decisions.

ABSTRACT: Binary decisions of agents coupled in networks can often be classified into two types: "coordination," where an agent takes an action if enough neighbors are using that action, as in the spread of social norms, innovations, and viral epidemics, and "anticoordination," where too many neighbors taking a particular action causes an agent to take the opposite action, as in traffic congestion, crowd dispersion, and division of labor. Both of these cases can be modeled using linear-threshold-based dynamics, and a fundamental question is whether the individuals in such networks are likely to reach decisions with which they are satisfied. We show that, in the coordination case, and perhaps more surprisingly, also in the anticoordination case, the agents will indeed always tend to reach satisfactory decisions, that is, the network will almost surely reach an equilibrium state. This holds for every network topology and every distribution of thresholds, for both asynchronous and partially synchronous decision-making updates. These results reveal that irregular network topology, population heterogeneity, and partial synchrony are not sufficient to cause cycles or nonconvergence in linear-threshold dynamics; rather, other factors such as imitation or the coexistence of coordinating and anticoordinating agents must play a role.

SUBMITTER: Ramazi P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5135341 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Networks of conforming or nonconforming individuals tend to reach satisfactory decisions.

Ramazi Pouria P Riehl James J Cao Ming M

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20161031 46

Binary decisions of agents coupled in networks can often be classified into two types: "coordination," where an agent takes an action if enough neighbors are using that action, as in the spread of social norms, innovations, and viral epidemics, and "anticoordination," where too many neighbors taking a particular action causes an agent to take the opposite action, as in traffic congestion, crowd dispersion, and division of labor. Both of these cases can be modeled using linear-threshold-based dyn ...[more]

PMID: 27799562

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Project description:The sharp increase in the proportion of asymptomatic cases and the potential risk of virus transmission have greatly increased the difficulty of controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. The individual immune response is closely associated with clinical outcomes and pathogenic mechanisms of COVID-19. However, the clinical characteristics and immunophenotyping features of immune cells of asymptomatic individuals remain somewhat mysterious. To better understand and predict the disease state and progress, we performed a comprehensive analysis of clinical data, laboratory indexes and immunophenotyping features in 41 patients with SARS-CoV-2 (including 24 asymptomatic cases and 17 symptomatic individuals). Firstly, from the perspective of demographic characteristics, the rate of asymptomatic infection was significantly higher in those with younger age. Secondly, the laboratory test results showed that some indexes, such as CRP (acute phase reaction protein), D-Dimer and fibrinogen (the marker for coagulation) were lower in the asymptomatic group. Finally, symptomatic individuals were prone to establishing a non-protective immune phenotype by abnormally decreasing the lymphocyte count and percentage, abnormally increasing the Th17 percentage and decreasing Treg percentage, which therefore cause an increase in the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), monocytes/lymphocytes ratio (MLR) and Th17/Treg ratio. On the other hand, asymptomatic individuals tended to establish a more effective and protective immune phenotype by maintaining a normal level of lymphocyte count and percentage and a high level of NK cells. At the same time, asymptomatic individuals can establish a relatively balanced immune response through maintaining a low level of monocytes, a relatively low level of Th17 and high level of Treg, which therefore lead to a decrease in MNKR and Th17/Treg ratio and finally the avoidance of excessive inflammatory responses. This may be one of the reasons for their asymptomatic states. This study is helpful to reveal the immunological characteristics of asymptomatic individuals, understand immune pathogenesis of COVID-19 and predict clinical outcomes more precisely. However, owing to small sample sizes, a future study with larger sample size is still warranted.

Project description:IntroductionExposure to violence victimization may help explain disparities of substance use among gender-nonconforming youth (i.e., those whose gender expression differs from societal expectations).MethodsIn 2015, three large urban school districts (2 in California and 1 in Florida) conducted a Youth Risk Behavior Survey that included the assessment of gender expression among a racially/ethnically diverse population-based sample of 6,082 high school students. Five categories of violence victimization were assessed (felt unsafe at school, threatened or injured with a weapon at school, bullied at school, electronically bullied, and forced sexual intercourse). In 2019, the effect of violence victimization on substance use disparities was examined by calculating sex-stratified prevalence ratios by gender nonconformity, adjusted for sexual identity, race/ethnicity, and grade (adjusted prevalence ratio 1 [APR1]), and comparing these with prevalence ratios adjusted for those variables plus violence victimization (adjusted prevalence ratio 2 [APR2]).ResultsAmong female students, only being threatened or injured with a weapon was significantly (p<0.05) associated with gender nonconformity and there were no substance use disparities by gender nonconformity. Among male students, every category of violence victimization was more prevalent among gender-nonconforming than among gender-conforming students and most substance use categories demonstrated significant gender nonconformity disparities. After controlling for violence victimization, these disparities decreased but remained statistically significant for the use of cocaine (APR1=2.84 vs APR2=1.99), methamphetamine (APR1=4.47 vs APR2=2.86), heroin (APR1=4.55 vs APR2=2.96), and injection drug use (APR1=7.90 vs APR2=4.72).ConclusionsSchool-based substance use prevention programs may benefit from strategies that support gender diversity and reduce violence victimizations experienced by gender-nonconforming students, by providing a safe and supportive school environment.

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Networks of conforming or nonconforming individuals tend to reach satisfactory decisions.

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Networks of conforming or nonconforming individuals tend to reach satisfactory decisions.

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