Analysis of the Pragmatic Functions of Double Negative

Double negative in English has three functions： to strengthen the affirmatives, and to affirm euphemism and to strengthen the negative meaning, which are analyzed in the present paper.

Quantum Inequality Bounds for Free Rarita-Schwinger Field in Flat Spacetime

Although quantum field theory allows the local energy density negative, it also places severe restrictions on the negative energy. One of the restrictions is the quantum energy inequality （QEI）, in which the energy density is averaged over time, or space, or over space and time. By now temporal QEIs have been established for various quantum fields, but less work has been done for the spacetime quantum energy inequality. In this paper we deal with the free Rarita-Schwinger field and present a quantum inequality bound on the energy density averaged over space and time. Comparison with the QEI for the Rarita-Schwinger field shows that the lower bound is the same with the QEI. At the same time, we find the quantum inequality for the Rarita-Schwinger field is weaker than those for the scalar and Dirac fields. This fact gives further support to the conjecture that the more freedom the field has, the more easily the field displays negative energy density and the weaker the quantum inequality becomes.

Xuebijing injection alleviates liver injury by inhibiting secretory function of Kupffer cells in heat stroke rats

OBJECTIVE： To evaluate the effects of Xuebijing （XBJ） injection in heat stroke （HS） rats and to inves- tigate the mechanisms underlying these effects. METHODS： Sixty anesthetized rats were random- ized into three groups and intravenously injected twice daily for 3 days with 4 mL XBJ （XBJ group） or phosphate buffered saline （HS and Sham groups） per kg body weight. HS was initiated in the HS and XBJ groups by placing rats in a simulated climate chamber （ambient temperature 40℃：, humidity 60% ）. Rectal temperature, aterial pressure, and heart rate were monitored and recorded. Time to HS onset and survival were determined, and serum concentrations of tumor necrosis factor （TNF）-α, in-terleukin （IL）-1β, IL-6, alanine-aminotransferase （ALT）, and aspartate-aminotransferase （AST） were measured. Hepatic tissue was harvested for patho- logical examination and electron microscopic ex- amination. Kupffer cells （KCs） were separated from liver at HS initiation, and the concentrations of se- creted TNF-α, IL-1β3 and IL-6 were measured. RESULTS： Time to HS onset and survival were signif- icantly longer in the XBJ than in the HS group. Moreover, the concentrations of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, ALT and AST were lower and liver injury was milder in the XBJ than in the HS group. Heat-stress in- duced structural changes in KCs and hepatic cells were more severe in the HS than in the XBJ group and the concentrations of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 se- creted by KCs were lower in the XBJ than in the HS group. CONCLUSION： XBJ can alleviate HS-induced sys- temic inflammatory response syndrome and liver injury in rats, and improve outcomes. These protec- tive effects may be due to the ability of XBJ to inhib- it cytokine secretion by KCs.

Empirical Likelihood for Partially Linear Models Under Negatively Associated Errors

This paper proposes to use the blockwise empirical likelihood （EL） method to construct the confidence regions for the regression vector β in a partially linear model under negatively associated errors. It is shown that the blockwise EL ratio statistic for β is asymptotically χ^2 distributed. The result is used to obtain an EL-based confidence region for β. Results of a simulation study on the finite sample performance of the proposed confidence regions are reported.

Exponential inequalities under the sub-linear expectations with applications to laws of the iterated logarithm

Kolmogorov's exponential inequalities are basic tools for studying the strong limit theorems such as the classical laws of the iterated logarithm for both independent and dependent random variables. This paper establishes the Kolmogorov type exponential inequalities of the partial sums of independent random variables as well as negatively dependent random variables under the sub-linear expectations. As applications of the exponential inequalities, the laws of the iterated logarithm in the sense of non-additive capacities are proved for independent or negatively dependent identically distributed random variables with finite second order moments.For deriving a lower bound of an exponential inequality, a central limit theorem is also proved under the sublinear expectation for random variables with only finite variances.