‘Pulsing’ cities and ‘swarming’ metropolises: A simplified, entropy-based approach to long-term urban development

Relocating activities along the fringe, re-designing economic functions, and re-modelling settlement structures across larger regions and broader spatial scales, reflect the inherent shift toward complex metropolitan systems. A refined understanding of urban change requires the adoption of a ‘complex thinking’ that focuses on adaptive behaviour of key agents and local development networks within highly volatile real estate markets. By linking ecology with regional science, our study investigates speed and spatial direction of building activity rates introducing original indicators of urban growth and an exploratory multivariate statistics of the evolving socioeconomic context in the Athens’ region, Greece. Having experienced spatially uncoordinated growth that often resulted in self-organised settlements and socially diversified neighbourhoods, Athens was a paradigmatic example of complex metropolitan systems in Europe. The empirical findings of our study identify non-linear stages of the metropolitan cycle supporting the assumption that long-term urban expansion is a recursive process, with irregular accelerations and decelerations, and a complex relationship between spatial and temporal dimensions. Urban transformations are associated with a broad spectrum of socioeconomic conditions. While playing a variable role over the last century, the most relevant factors in Athens’ growth include population dynamics, urban concentration, and wealth accumulation. Considering such dynamics, spatial planning is required to give adaptive responses to discontinuous socioeconomic development increasingly dependent on territorial aspects and environmental constraints

Sleep and Health Behaviors in a Safety-Net Primary Care Setting

Nearly half of all premature deaths in the United States are attributable to preventable and modifiable health risk behaviors. For decades, the leading behavioral health contributors to morbidity and mortality are tobacco use, physical inactivity, and alcohol consumption. Medication adherence is a relatively less studied yet critical interrelated health behavior that is tied to health and treatment outcomes. Sleep, an important pillar of health, is a daily and modifiable behavior that shows promise as a health behavior facilitator. Better understanding the dynamics of these modifiable health behaviors is essential for the improvement of health promotion, particularly among underserved populations (e.g., racial/ethnic minorities and low-income individuals) who are disproportionately at high risk for adverse health outcomes. As such, the purpose of the current study is to characterize the associations between sociodemographic factors, sleep disturbance, and several health behaviors in a safety-net primary care clinic. Primary care clinics––the largest platform of healthcare delivery in the U.S.––show elevated rates of adverse health behaviors and disturbed sleep. Safety-net clinics are a particularly critical access point given the underserved communities that they serve. As mental health frequently co-occurs with disturbed sleep, we also aimed to examine the unique predictive values of sleep disturbance above and beyond mental health in order to tease apart these two highly comorbid variables. Social support, a key protective factor, was also examined as both a predictor and a moderator of the sleep disturbance—health behaviors associations. Participants (N = 210) were a predominantly low-income, diverse patient sample recruited from an urban safety-net primary care clinic. Findings revealed elevated rates of risky health behaviors among the patient sample. Sleep disturbance was a strong unique predictor of alcohol use, physical inactivity, and medication nonadherence. With the addition of mental health, the unique associations of sleep disturbance and mental health were suppressed for alcohol use. For other health behaviors (e.g., physical activity; medication nonadherence), sleep disturbance either stood alone or with mental health as a significant, unique predictor. Lastly, social support was strongly associated with medication adherence and was not found to moderate any of the sleep––health behaviors associations. Findings highlight sleep’s potential as a critical target for health promotion and health behavior change. Reducing the high prevalence of these health risk behaviors has the potential to improve quality of life, promote health, and extend the lives of many. Future work is needed to further disentangle the bidirectional associations between sleep, mental health, and health behaviors. Study implications and possible explanations of the findings are discussed

Dynamic nodes, edges, and subnetworks in brain connectivity

Dept. of Medical Science/석사Recent brain research has been expedited by the network brain theory and neuroimaging methods for constructing whole-brain structural and functional brain networks. Functional brain networks are constructed based on the synchronous fMRI signal fluctuations among brain regions during resting state. Numerous studies have utilized functional brain network analysis to characterize individuals, to understand diseases and to test effects of treatments. All these applications of resting state functional brain networks were based on the assumption that functional brain networks are sufficiently stationary enough to describe a relatively long-lasting brain state. However, recent studies have shown dynamic natures of resting state brain networks within a relatively short time period. Thus, this study investigates dynamicity of network nodes, edges, and subnetworks of the whole brain using repeatedly measured fMRI data. We particularly focused on the hypothesis that integration among subregions of each node is highly dynamic, i.e., dynamic heterogeneity among voxels within a node. We also hypothesized that brain regions for highly dynamic membership for whole brain modules (high entropy) may correspond to hub regions. To test this hypothesis, we used resting state fMRI data from 12 healthy subjects measured at eight sessions during a 24-hour period. To evaluate the dynamicity of nodes, edges and other network properties, we used intra-class correlation (ICC). We found that highly stable node strength, node efficiency and clustering coefficient (ICC>0.5) at the bilateral superior parietal gyri, right precuneus, left hippocampus, and lateral inferior parietal lobule. We also found high entropy at bilateral parahippocampal gyri, bilateral hippocampus, and bilateral superior frontal gyri. These regions overlap with rich-club brain areas in previous studies. When we measured principal component analysis of each ROI time series, highly heterogeneous integration within ROI were found especially higher order brain regions. Furthermore, we examined the temporal consistency of effective connectivity of brain network submodules by looking at correlation between eight sessions. The higher order frontal area showed more dynamicity than lower sensory areas such as primary visual and auditory cortices. All these results reveal dynamic natures of the brain even during a 24-hour period. These dynamicity is not only node properties, edge strengths but also within node heterogeneous integrations, membership complexities and effective connectivities.ope

Sleep problems among sexual minorities: a longitudinal study on the influence of the family of origin and chosen family

Background: There is growing evidence that lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adults experience more sleep problems than the general population. As LGB individuals experience a signifcantly greater risk of family rejection and low family support, our study investigates the role of family support as a potential determinant of LGB sleep problems over a prolonged period, and whether friend support (i.e. chosen family) can mitigate the efect of low family support. Given the importance of sleep on mental and physical health, study results may help shed light on persistent health disparities across sexual orientations. Methods: Our sample included 1703 LGB individuals from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS). Mixed-efect logistic regressions were used to estimate the efect of family and friend support on the development of sleep problems after 24months while controlling for potential confounders. A modifed Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used to measure 1) presence of any sleep problems, 2) short sleep duration, and 3) poor sleep quality. Results: Family support at baseline was independently associated with all sleep problems in our study after 24-months: 1 SD increase in family support was associated with a 0.94 times lower risk of sleep problems (95% C.I=0.90-0.98), a 0.88 times lower risk of short sleep duration (95% C.I=0.81-0.95), and a 0.92 times lower risk of sleep quality (95% C.I=0.93-0.98). Support from one’s chosen family (proxied by friend support) did not mitigate the efects of low family support on sleep problems. Conclusions: Our study found a consistent efect of family support across all sleep outcomes along with evidence of a persistent efect after 24months. Our fndings point to the importance of targeting family support in designing interventions aimed at reducing LGB sleep problems.Brock Library Open Access Publishing Fun

Exercise participation : sleep quality in Thai older adults

Physical activity and social interaction may be related to sleep quality in older adults. This study aimed to explore differences in sleep quality among older adults who performed exercise at elder clubs, older adults who exercised at home, and older adults who did not exercise, as well as identify factors associated with sleep quality in this population. The Symptom Management Model was adopted to guide this study. Using a cross-sectional correlational design, three groups of participants (60 persons per group) who met inclusion criteria were recruited from senior clubs and communities from HatYai District, Songkha Province, Thailand. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to analyze the differences in sleep quality as measured by the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index and the Insomnia Severity Index among three groups. Logistic regression was used to estimate the extent to which health conditions, pain, depressive symptoms, social connectedness (social network and social support), and self-reported physical activity predicted sleep quality. No significant differences in sleep quality scores were found among the three groups, although the non-exercise group reported scores indicating poorer sleep quality, compared to the other two groups. Sleep quality was associated with number of health conditions, pain level, depressive symptoms, social connectedness (social network), and physical activity. The results of the logistic regression analysis showed that pain and depressive symptoms were significant predictors of sleep quality when controlling for age, gender, education, and marital status. The findings suggest that exercising can positively influence sleep. Healthcare providers should evaluate sleep quality in older adults within the context of their physical and mental health, as well as their social connections

Advancing Community Public Health Systems in the 21st Century: Emerging Strategies and Innovations from the Turning Point Experience

The findings presented in this report were generated from: NACCHO's technical assistance efforts supporting two years of community planning, including four national Turning Point forums; evaluation reports compiled by The Lewin Group; all written reports and systems improvement plans submitted by the 41 community/tribal Turning Point partnerships; and findings derived from activities implemented by the Center for the Advancement of Collaborative Strategies in Health at the New York Academy oF Medicine

Crazy by design : brain research and adolescence : implications for classroom teaching, teacher learning and possibilities of teacher research

This research aims to influence teacher understandings of brain research and its implications for teaching adolescents by addressing the following issues: 1. What are the implications of changes in the adolescent brain for teaching and teachers and the adolescent learning environment? 2. How can teachers better accommodate knowledge of the brain into their understandings and pedagogical practices for adolescents? 3. What can the use of a teacher-as-researcher model contribute to teacher learning in understanding brain research and the adolescent learning environment? To address these questions, this research aimed to: 1. Design, implement and evaluate a teacher learning package that would fill a gap in teacher knowledge by strengthening teacher knowledge of current brain research and deepen teacher understanding of the connection between this research and the adolescent learning environment. 2. Support a team of teachers to use an action research methodology to apply brain-research-informed pedagogical practices, learning tools and ‘essential understandings’ of adolescents in mainstream adolescent educational learning environments to improve educational experience and success. 3. Develop a further teacher learning package that: i) Builds the capacity of teachers outside of my research, and leaders of teachers, to implement action research processes in their own context to improve practice. ii) Describes how teachers at Purple High School (PHS) worked as teacher researchers to use brain research to improve the educational experience and success of adolescent learners, and what they learned about action research as teacher learning. This research addresses these aims and questions by telling the story of three inter-related projects. It engaged with three areas: with neuroscience, with teacher-as-researcher and with the teacher-learning literature and research and built connections to teacher praxis

Managing identities during social change

Protests and social movements are a part of the history of Higher Education in the United States. In this study I use grounded theory to understand the process of identity management for administrators, faculty, and staff during student-led protests on a university campus. To gather data for this project I have conducted 26 interviews with faculty, administrators and staff. I theorize that the process of identity management was a discursive and embodied process of interweaving familiar scripts in response to a limited and limiting organizational script of silence. Many participants found the organizational script insufficient and, therefore, turned to following other familiar scripts: organization roles, occupational knowledge, motherhood, and cultural background. The identity management process engaged and was informed by specific cultural, historic, and geographic realities. This overall process is described as a rhizomatic identity negotiation process. My project extends the theorizing on identity work and on feminist grounded theory, with a specific focus on understanding the embodied nature of identity negotiation.Includes bibliographical reference

The Relationship Between Food Sharing and Social Cohesion among Local Farmers: a case study of Ntafufu Location, Port St Johns Municipality.

The overall aim of this study was to examine how food sharing at Ntafufu location in Port St Johns (Republic of South Africa), augments social cohesion among local farmers. A mixed-method approach was used for this study. This study used a triangulation research method to measure the correlation between food sharing and social cohesion and to ensure that it is statistically sound, certainly gaining rich data from the study population. Focus groups and questionnaires were used to collect data. The researcher used thematic analysis for qualitative analysis and Statistical Packages for the Social Science (SPSS) for quantitative analysis. The researcher did not include the whole population. The researcher only interviewed selected participants, and these participants were taken from the study population. There were 13 participants for qualitative research and 43 participants for quantitative research totalling 56 participants. The findings revealed that there is a relationship between food sharing and social cohesion. An important finding to emerge in this study is that food sharing alleviates poverty. However, several limitations need to be considered. For instance, witchcraft was mentioned as a challenge for this practice.Thesis (MSoc) (Anthropology) -- University of Fort Hare, 202

The Relationship Between Food Sharing and Social Cohesion among Local Farmers: a case study of Ntafufu Location, Port St Johns Municipality.

The overall aim of this study was to examine how food sharing at Ntafufu location in Port St Johns (Republic of South Africa), augments social cohesion among local farmers. A mixed-method approach was used for this study. This study used a triangulation research method to measure the correlation between food sharing and social cohesion and to ensure that it is statistically sound, certainly gaining rich data from the study population. Focus groups and questionnaires were used to collect data. The researcher used thematic analysis for qualitative analysis and Statistical Packages for the Social Science (SPSS) for quantitative analysis. The researcher did not include the whole population. The researcher only interviewed selected participants, and these participants were taken from the study population. There were 13 participants for qualitative research and 43 participants for quantitative research totalling 56 participants. The findings revealed that there is a relationship between food sharing and social cohesion. An important finding to emerge in this study is that food sharing alleviates poverty. However, several limitations need to be considered. For instance, witchcraft was mentioned as a challenge for this practice.Thesis (MSoc) (Anthropology) -- University of Fort Hare, 202