Use of recurrence quantification analysis to examine associations between changes in text structure across an expressive writing intervention and reductions in distress symptoms in women wth breast cancer

The current study presents an exploratory analysis of using Recurrence Quantification Analysis (RQA) to analyze text data from an Expressive Writing Intervention (EWI) for Danish women treated for Breast Cancer. The analyses are based on the analysis of essays from a subsample with the average age 54.6 years (SD = 9.0), who completed questionnaires for cancer-related distress (IES) and depression symptoms (BDI-SF). The results show a significant association between an increase in recurrent patterns of text structure from first to last writing session and a decrease in cancer-related distress at 3 months post-intervention. Furthermore, the change in structure from first to last essay displayed a moderate, but significant correlation with change in cancer-related distress from baseline to 9 months post-intervention. The results suggest that changes in recurrence patterns of text structure might be an indicator of cognitive restructuring that leads to amelioration of cancer-specific distress

Lexical Similarities and Differences in the Mathematics, Science and English Language Textbooks

The teaching of Science and Math in English in Malaysia is an area of great concern to educators and students alike. This study looks, in particular, at the common word classes among keywords identified in the Science, Math and English language Form One textbooks used in Malaysia and the differences in language use identified in the Science and Math textbooks

Realizability of metamaterials with prescribed electric permittivity and magnetic permeability tensors

We show that any pair of real symmetric tensors \BGve and \BGm can be realized as the effective electric permittivity and effective magnetic permeability of a metamaterial at a given fixed frequency. The construction starts with two extremely low loss metamaterials, with arbitrarily small microstructure, whose existence is ensured by the work of Bouchitt{\'e} and Bourel and Bouchitt\'e and Schweizer, one having at the given frequency a permittivity tensor with exactly one negative eigenvalue, and a positive permeability tensor, and the other having a positive permittivity tensor, and a permeability tensor having exactly one negative eigenvalue. To achieve the desired effective properties these materials are laminated together in a hierarchical multiple rank laminate structure, with widely separated length scales, and varying directions of lamination, but with the largest length scale still much shorter than the wavelengths and attenuation lengths in the macroscopic effective medium.Comment: 12 pages, no figure

A Proof of Luttinger Theorem

A rigorous and simple perturbative proof of Luttinger's theorem is sketched for Fermi liquids in two and three dimensions. It is proved that in the finite volume, the quasi-particle density is independent of the interaction strength. The thermodynamic limit is then controlled to all orders in perturbation theory.Comment: 7 page

Self-Evaluation Applied Mathematics 2003-2008 University of Twente

This report contains the self-study for the research assessment of the Department of Applied Mathematics (AM) of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) at the University of Twente (UT). The report provides the information for the Research Assessment Committee for Applied Mathematics, dealing with mathematical sciences at the three universities of technology in the Netherlands. It describes the state of affairs pertaining to the period 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2008

Can a computer be "pushed" to perform faster-than-light?

We propose to "boost" the speed of communication and computation by immersing the computing environment into a medium whose index of refraction is smaller than one, thereby trespassing the speed-of-light barrier.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, presented at the UC10 Hypercomputation Workshop "HyperNet 10" at The University of Tokyo on June 22, 201

Ions in Fluctuating Channels: Transistors Alive

Ion channels are proteins with a hole down the middle embedded in cell membranes. Membranes form insulating structures and the channels through them allow and control the movement of charged particles, spherical ions, mostly Na+, K+, Ca++, and Cl-. Membranes contain hundreds or thousands of types of channels, fluctuating between open conducting, and closed insulating states. Channels control an enormous range of biological function by opening and closing in response to specific stimuli using mechanisms that are not yet understood in physical language. Open channels conduct current of charged particles following laws of Brownian movement of charged spheres rather like the laws of electrodiffusion of quasi-particles in semiconductors. Open channels select between similar ions using a combination of electrostatic and 'crowded charge' (Lennard-Jones) forces. The specific location of atoms and the exact atomic structure of the channel protein seems much less important than certain properties of the structure, namely the volume accessible to ions and the effective density of fixed and polarization charge. There is no sign of other chemical effects like delocalization of electron orbitals between ions and the channel protein. Channels play a role in biology as important as transistors in computers, and they use rather similar physics to perform part of that role. Understanding their fluctuations awaits physical insight into the source of the variance and mathematical analysis of the coupling of the fluctuations to the other components and forces of the system.Comment: Revised version of earlier submission, as invited, refereed, and published by journa