Data Driven Modeling Social Media Influence using Differential Equations

Individuals modify their opinions towards a topic based on their social interactions. Opinion evolution models conceptualize the change of opinion as a uni-dimensional continuum, and the effect of influence is built by the group size, the network structures, or the relations among opinions within the group. However, how to model the personal opinion evolution process under the effect of the online social influence as a function remains unclear. Here, we show that the uni-dimensional continuous user opinions can be represented by compressed high-dimensional word embeddings, and its evolution can be accurately modelled by an ordinary differential equation (ODE) that reflects the social network influencer interactions. We perform our analysis on 87 active users with corresponding influencers on the COVID-19 topic from 2020 to 2022. The regression results demonstrate that 99% of the variation in the quantified opinions can be explained by the way we model the connected opinions from their influencers. Our research on the COVID-19 topic and for the account analysed shows that social media users primarily shift their opinion based on influencers they follow (e.g., model explains for 99% variation) and self-evolution of opinion over a long time scale is limited. © 2022 IEEE.

An optimal control theory approach for freight structure path evolution post-COVID-19 pandemic.

After the outbreak of COVID-19, the freight demand fell briefly, and as production resumed, the trucking share rate increased again, further increasing energy consumption and environmental pollution. To optimize the sudden changing freight structure, the study aims on developing an evolution model based on Markov's theory to estimate the freight structure post-COVID-19. The current study applies economic cybernetics to establish a freight structural adjustment path optimization model and solve the problem of how much freight transportation should increase each year under the premise that the total turnover of the freight industry continues to grow, and how many years it will take at least to reach a reasonable freight structure. The freight transport structure of China is used to examine the feasibility of the proposed model. The finding indicates that the development of China's freight transport structure is at an adjustment period and should enter a stable period by 2035 and the COVID-19 makes it harder to adjust the freight structure. Increasing the growth rate of the freight volume of railway and waterway transportation is the key to realizing the optimization of the freight structure, and the freight structure path optimization method can realize the rationalization of the freight structure in advance.

Study on Spatial–Temporal Evolution Characteristics and Restrictive Factors of Urban–Rural Integration in Northeast China from 2000 to 2019

With the rapid development of urbanization and the widening gap between urban and rural areas, how to effectively enhance the balanced development of urban and rural areas as well as promote the integrated development of urban and rural areas have become heated topics. Based on the basic theory of urban–rural integration and spatial balance, this paper establishes a comprehensive evaluation system. Using a coupling coordination model and an obstacle degree model, this paper selects 32 indicators from aspects of economy, society and ecology to measure the development level of urban–rural integration in 34 prefecture-level cities in Northeast China from 2000 to 2019. We also analyze the spatial pattern, evolution type characteristics and obstacle factors of urban–rural relations. The results show that: (1) The growth rate of urban development in Northeast China is higher than that of rural development. Except for rural ecology, all dimensions of urban and rural areas have increased year by year, but there are large spatial differences within the region. (2) The urban–rural integration development level of Northeast China is growing constantly and the types of urban and rural coordination are all rising to a higher level. Areas with high urban–rural coordination levels are concentrated in the Harbin–Changchun urban agglomeration and the central and southern Liaoning urban agglomeration, with obvious agglomeration effects. (3) In the coordinated development of urban and rural areas, the restrictive degree of the rural social subsystem was higher than that of the urban subsystem. The restrictive factors in the coordinated development of urban and rural areas are relatively stable, and include per capita consumption expenditure, per capita public budget expenditure, books in public libraries per thousand people, etc. (4) The functions of rural social elements should be enhanced, and the social urban–rural integrated development mechanism should be established to promote the integrated development of urban and rural society.