Research at the edge of computational social science
We use lexicography, historiography, information forensics, meta-analysis and disciplinics to study structures and dynamics of real-world in a human context.
Determinants of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance
The landscape of public opinion transmission on vaccines-related topics. The seven different colored dots represent the seven main topics. The lines between them represent the mutual influence between them, and the density of the lines represents the degree of influence. Most Chinese believe that the vaccine is cheaper than previously thought, while some claim they could not afford it for their entire family. The Chinese are inclined to be positive to side effects over time and proud of China’s development regarding vaccines. Nevertheless, they have a collective misunderstanding about inactivated vaccines, insisting that inactivated vaccines are safer than other vaccines. Reflecting on those collective responses, the unfolding determinants of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance provide illuminating benchmarks for vaccine-promoting policy-makings.
The Psic Effect
The Psic Effect of linguistic steganography. The term “Psic Effect” was coined by Zhongliang Yang and Zhiwen Hu. Herein, ‘psic’ is a blend of ‘perception’ and the Latin ‘sic’ (‘in such a way’). The Psic effect, which is often linked to both perceptual-imperceptibility and statistical-imperceptibility, is a conflict phenomenon of generative steganography –– the quality of the generated carrier is gradually getting worse with the increase of the embedding rate, whereas its anti-steganalysis ability is gradually increasing. The abscissa represents the average number of bits embedded in per word (bpw). The orange line indicates the calculated mean perplexity (the smaller, the better) of these generated steganographic sentences. The size and transparency of the dots represent the average human score (the larger, the better), with the specific score at the top. The blue line represents the steganographic detection accuracy (the lower, the better) under different embedding rates.
The hidden burden of stigma

150 years of Nature
Blind Guci Musicians in Ancient Chinese Imperial Courts

Listen to the bimillennial-years Chinese rap here A precious audio snippet featured the original record of the radio programme “Yongkang Guci” on August 28, 2009. (26 downloads)
“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.“
— Albert Schweitzer (Nobel Laureate of the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize)