Psychotherapy.

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Twitter reciprocal reply networks exhibit assortativity with respect to happiness

The advent of social media has provided an extraordinary, if imperfect, 'big data' window into the form and evolution of social networks. Based on nearly 40 million message pairs posted to Twitter between September 2008 and February 2009, we construct and examine the revealed social network structure and dynamics over the time scales of days, weeks, and months. At the level of user behavior, we employ our recently developed hedonometric analysis methods to investigate patterns of sentiment expression. We find users' average happiness scores to be positively and significantly correlated with those of users one, two, and three links away. We strengthen our analysis by proposing and using a null model to test the effect of network topology on the assortativity of happiness. We also find evidence that more well connected users write happier status updates, with a transition occurring around Dunbar's number. More generally, our work provides evidence of a social sub-network structure within Twitter and raises several methodological points of interest with regard to social network reconstructions.Comment: 22 pages, 21 figures, 5 tables, In press at the Journal of Computational Scienc

Snowmelt onset over Arctic sea ice from passive microwave satellite data: 1979–2012

An updated version (Version 3) of the Snow Melt Onset Over Arctic Sea Ice from SMMR (Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer) and SSM/I-SSMIS (Special Sensor Microwave/Imager-Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder) Brightness Temperatures data set is now available. The data record has been reprocessed and extended to cover the years 1979–2012. From this data set, a statistical summary of melt onset (MO) dates on Arctic sea ice is presented. The mean MO date for the Arctic Region is 13 May (132.5 DOY – day of year) with a standard deviation of ±7.3 days. Regionally, mean MO dates vary from 15 March (73.2 DOY) in the St. Lawrence Gulf to 10 June (160.9 DOY) in the Central Arctic. Statistically significant decadal trends indicate that MO is occurring 6.6 days decade-1 earlier in the year for the Arctic Region. Regionally, MO trends are as great as -11.8 days decade-1 in the East Siberian Sea. The Bering Sea is an outlier and MO is occurring 3.1 days decade-1 later in the year

Temporal patterns of happiness and information in a global social network: Hedonometrics and Twitter

Individual happiness is a fundamental societal metric. Normally measured through self-report, happiness has often been indirectly characterized and overshadowed by more readily quantifiable economic indicators such as gross domestic product. Here, we examine expressions made on the online, global microblog and social networking service Twitter, uncovering and explaining temporal variations in happiness and information levels over timescales ranging from hours to years. Our data set comprises over 46 billion words contained in nearly 4.6 billion expressions posted over a 33 month span by over 63 million unique users. In measuring happiness, we use a real-time, remote-sensing, non-invasive, text-based approach---a kind of hedonometer. In building our metric, made available with this paper, we conducted a survey to obtain happiness evaluations of over 10,000 individual words, representing a tenfold size improvement over similar existing word sets. Rather than being ad hoc, our word list is chosen solely by frequency of usage and we show how a highly robust metric can be constructed and defended.Comment: 27 pages, 17 figures, 3 tables. Supplementary Information: 1 table, 52 figure

Unmasking the Active Galactic Nucleus in PKS J2310-437

PKS J2310-437 is an AGN with bright X-ray emission relative to its weak radio emission and optical continuum. It is believed that its jet lies far enough from the line of sight that it is not highly relativistically beamed. It thus provides an extreme test of AGN models. We present new observations aimed at refining the measurement of the source's properties. In optical photometry with the NTT we measure a central excess with relatively steep spectrum lying above the bright elliptical galaxy emission, and we associate the excess wholly or in part with the AGN. A new full-track radio observation with the ATCA finds that the core 8.64GHz emission has varied by about 20 per cent over 38 months, and improves the mapping of the weak jet. With Chandra we measure a well-constrained power-law spectral index for the X-ray core, uncontaminated by extended emission from the cluster environment, with a negligible level of intrinsic absorption. Weak X-ray emission from the resolved radio jet is also measured. Our analysis suggests that the optical continuum in this radio galaxy has varied by at least a factor of four over a timescale of about two years, something that should be testable with further observations. We conclude that the most likely explanation for the bright central X-ray emission is synchrotron radiation from high-energy electrons.Comment: 7 pages, 12 figure

Diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori by carbon-13 urea breath test using a portable mass spectrometer

CONTEXT: In the non-invasive detection of markers of disease, mass spectrometry is able to detect small quantities of volatile markers in exhaled air. However, the problem of size, expense and immobility of conventional mass spectrometry equipment has restricted its use. Now, a smaller, less expensive, portable quadrupole mass spectrometer system has been developed. Helicobacter pylori has been implicated in the development of chronic gastritis, gastric and duodenal ulcers and gastric cancer. OBJECTIVES: To compare the results obtained from the presence of H. pylori by a carbon-13 urea test using a portable quadrupole mass spectrometer system with those from a fixed mass spectrometer in a hospital-based clinical trial. METHODS: Following ethical approval, 45 patients attending a gastroenterology clinic at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital exhaled a breath sample into a Tedlar gas sampling bag. They then drank an orange juice containing urea radiolabelled with carbon and 30 min later gave a second breath sample. The carbon-13 content of both samples was measured using both quadrupole mass spectrometer systems. If the post-drink level exceeded the pre-drink level by 3% or more, a positive diagnosis for the presence of H. pylori was made. RESULTS: The findings were compared to the results using conventional isotope ratio mass spectrometry using a laboratory-based magnetic sector instrument off-site. The results showed agreement in 39 of the 45 patients. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that a portable quadrupole mass spectrometer is a potential alternative to the conventional centralised testing equipment. Future development of the portable quadrupole mass spectrometer to reduce further its size and cost is indicated, together with further work to validate this new equipment and to enhance its use in mass spectrometry diagnosis of other medical conditions

The Acute Effects of Self-Myofascial Release on Range of Motion and Fatigue Rate in the Lower Extremities

There has been a growing popularity in a technique similar to a massage that is easily accessible known as self-myofascial release, or more commonly as “foam rolling”. While research has been conducted to examine the effects on a smooth foam roller, little research has been conducted regarding a more aggressive form of deep tissue self-myofascial release on muscular strength and fatigability. PURPOSE: To examine the acute effect of deep tissue self-myofascial release on hip range of motion and fatigue rate of the quadriceps in uninjured individuals. METHODS: Nineteen males, ages 20-35, with no prior knee surgery/injury on their preferred leg regardless of current functional status were recruited. Subjects were allowed familiarity trials for goniometry of hip flexion/extension, self-myofascial release, and the isokinetic strength/fatigability test prior to exercise testing. All subjects underwent three experimental trials [self-myofascial release (SMR), static stretching (STS), no additional warm-up control (CON)] in a balanced crossover design. During the treatment trials, subjects were required to perform a 10 minute warm-up on a stationary rate independent cycle ergometer (50 W) followed by one of the treatments applied to the hamstrings and quadriceps of the preferred leg; SMR (1 set; 2 min), STS (4 sets; 30 secs). Subjects were required to perform the Thorstensson test, using a single-chair isokinetic dynamometer, which consisted of 50 voluntary maximal isokinetic leg extensions on their preferred leg where the rate of force production was controlled as 180°.sec-1. Measurement of hip flexion (HF) and extension (HE), absolute peak quadriceps force production (AF), relative peak quadriceps force production (RF), quadriceps fatigue rate (FR), and perceived local leg fatigue (PF) were recorded. One-way ANOVA with repeated measures was used to analyze for differences between trials (STS, SMR, CON), except for FR where a Friedman ANOVA was used, α=0.05. RESULTS: HF did differ significantly between the treatments (p\u3c0.05) where SMR (113.7±4.8°) and STS (114.7±4.9°) \u3e CON (106.2±5.0°). The treatments also differed significantly (p\u3c0.05) in HE, where SMR (19.7±3.3°) and STS (18.2±4.3°) \u3e CON (13.2±3.6°). AF did not differ significantly (p\u3e0.05) between the treatments (SMR=175.2±32.1 Nm, STS=180.9±35.6 Nm, CON=177.2±38.3 Nm), nor did RF (SMR=1.9±0.4 Nm/kg, STS=1.9±0.4 Nm/kg, CON=1.9±0.4). FR also did not differ (p\u3e0.05) between treatments (SMR=59.7±9.4%, STS=61.3±11.0%, CON=61.5±8.8%). PF was seen to be more frequently greater with most subjects in CON, but there were no significant difference (p\u3e0.05) between trials. CONCLUSION: While SMR had no effect on muscular strength and fatigability, SMR did have similar significant effect as static stretching on hip range of motion

Estimation of global network statistics from incomplete data

Complex networks underlie an enormous variety of social, biological, physical, and virtual systems. A profound complication for the science of complex networks is that in most cases, observing all nodes and all network interactions is impossible. Previous work addressing the impacts of partial network data is surprisingly limited, focuses primarily on missing nodes, and suggests that network statistics derived from subsampled data are not suitable estimators for the same network statistics describing the overall network topology. We generate scaling methods to predict true network statistics, including the degree distribution, from only partial knowledge of nodes, links, or weights. Our methods are transparent and do not assume a known generating process for the network, thus enabling prediction of network statistics for a wide variety of applications. We validate analytical results on four simulated network classes and empirical data sets of various sizes. We perform subsampling experiments by varying proportions of sampled data and demonstrate that our scaling methods can provide very good estimates of true network statistics while acknowledging limits. Lastly, we apply our techniques to a set of rich and evolving large-scale social networks, Twitter reply networks. Based on 100 million tweets, we use our scaling techniques to propose a statistical characterization of the Twitter Interactome from September 2008 to November 2008. Our treatment allows us to find support for Dunbar\u27s hypothesis in detecting an upper threshold for the number of active social contacts that individuals maintain over the course of one week

The Evolution of State Supreme Courts

Part I of this Article describes in broad quantitative terms the changing relationship between the caseload of supreme courts and the population of the states in which these courts sit. Part II examines the various means states used to control supreme court caseloads, the political problems involved, and the types of courts that have resulted. Part III presents evidence that changes in court organization in response to caseload pressure are accompanied by changes in the kinds of cases state supreme courts hear, the style of their opinions, and the results of the cases