A Survey of Best Monotone Degree Conditions for Graph Properties

We survey sufficient degree conditions, for a variety of graph properties, that are best possible in the same sense that Chvatal's well-known degree condition for hamiltonicity is best possible.Comment: 25 page

Suburban Poverty: Barriers to Services and Injury Prevention among Marginalized Women who Use Methamphetamine

Objective: This paper aims to identify the needed healthcare and social services barriers for women living in suburban communities who are using or have used methamphetamine. Drug users are vulnerable to injury, violence and transmission of infectious diseases, and having access to healthcare has been shown to positively influence prevention and intervention among this population. Yet little is known regarding the social context of suburban drug users, their risks behaviors, and their access to healthcare.Methods: The data collection involved participant observation in the field, face-to-face interviews and focus groups. Audio-recorded in-depth life histories, drug use histories, and resource needs were collected from 31 suburban women who were former or current users of methamphetamine. The majority was drawn from marginalized communities and highly vulnerable to risk for injury and violence. We provided these women with healthcare and social service information and conducted follow-up interviews to identify barriers to these services.Results: Barriers included (1) restrictions imposed by the services and (2) limitations inherent in the women’s social, economic, or legal situations. We found that the barriers increased the women’s risk for further injury, violence and transmission of infectious diseases. Women who could not access needed healthcare and social resources typically used street drugs that were accessible and affordable to self-medicate their untreated emotional and physical pain.Conclusion: Our findings add to the literatureon how healthcare and social services are related to injury prevention. Social service providers in the suburbs were often indifferent to the needs of drug-using women. For these women, health services were accessed primarily at emergency departments (ED). To break the cycle of continued drug use, violence and injury, we suggest that ED staff be trained to perform substance abuse assessments and provide immediate referral to detoxification and treatment facilities. Policy change is needed for EDs to provide the care and linkages to treatment that can prevent future injuries and the spread of infectious diseases. [West J Emerg Med. 2011;12(3):284-292.

The Structure of Chromatic Polynomials of Planar Triangulation Graphs and Implications for Chromatic Zeros and Asymptotic Limiting Quantities

We present an analysis of the structure and properties of chromatic polynomials $P(G_{pt,\vec m},q)$ of one-parameter and multi-parameter families of planar triangulation graphs $G_{pt,\vec m}$, where ${\vec m} = (m_1,...,m_p)$ is a vector of integer parameters. We use these to study the ratio of $|P(G_{pt,\vec m},\tau+1)|$ to the Tutte upper bound $(\tau-1)^{n-5}$, where $\tau=(1+\sqrt{5} \ )/2$ and $n$ is the number of vertices in $G_{pt,\vec m}$. In particular, we calculate limiting values of this ratio as $n \to \infty$ for various families of planar triangulations. We also use our calculations to study zeros of these chromatic polynomials. We study a large class of families $G_{pt,\vec m}$ with $p=1$ and $p=2$ and show that these have a structure of the form $P(G_{pt,m},q) = c_{_{G_{pt}},1}\lambda_1^m + c_{_{G_{pt}},2}\lambda_2^m + c_{_{G_{pt}},3}\lambda_3^m$ for $p=1$, where $\lambda_1=q-2$, $\lambda_2=q-3$, and $\lambda_3=-1$, and $P(G_{pt,\vec m},q) = \sum_{i_1=1}^3 \sum_{i_2=1}^3 c_{_{G_{pt}},i_1 i_2} \lambda_{i_1}^{m_1}\lambda_{i_2}^{m_2}$ for $p=2$. We derive properties of the coefficients $c_{_{G_{pt}},\vec i}$ and show that $P(G_{pt,\vec m},q)$ has a real chromatic zero that approaches $(1/2)(3+\sqrt{5} \ )$ as one or more of the $m_i \to \infty$. The generalization to $p \ge 3$ is given. Further, we present a one-parameter family of planar triangulations with real zeros that approach 3 from below as $m \to \infty$. Implications for the ground-state entropy of the Potts antiferromagnet are discussed.Comment: 57 pages, latex, 15 figure

The significance of 'the visit' in an English category-B prison: Views from prisoners, prisoners' families and prison staff

A number of claims have been made regarding the importance of prisoners staying in touch with their family through prison visits, firstly from a humanitarian perspective of enabling family members to see each other, but also regarding the impact of maintaining family ties for successful rehabilitation, reintegration into society and reduced re-offending. This growing evidence base has resulted in increased support by the Prison Service for encouraging the family unit to remain intact during a prisoner’s incarceration. Despite its importance however, there has been a distinct lack of research examining the dynamics of families visiting relatives in prison. This paper explores perceptions of the same event – the visit – from the families’, prisoners’ and prison staffs' viewpoints in a category-B local prison in England. Qualitative data was collected with 30 prisoners’ families, 16 prisoners and 14 prison staff, as part of a broader evaluation of the visitors’ centre. The findings suggest that the three parties frame their perspective of visiting very differently. Prisoners’ families often see visits as an emotional minefield fraught with practical difficulties. Prisoners can view the visit as the highlight of their time in prison and often have many complaints about how visits are handled. Finally, prison staff see visits as potential security breaches and a major organisational operation. The paper addresses the current gap in our understanding of the prison visit and has implications for the Prison Service and wider social policy

Spanning Trees on Lattices and Integration Identities

For a lattice $\Lambda$ with $n$ vertices and dimension $d$ equal or higher than two, the number of spanning trees $N_{ST}(\Lambda)$ grows asymptotically as $\exp(n z_\Lambda)$ in the thermodynamic limit. We present exact integral expressions for the asymptotic growth constant $z_\Lambda$ for spanning trees on several lattices. By taking different unit cells in the calculation, many integration identities can be obtained. We also give $z_{\Lambda (p)}$ on the homeomorphic expansion of $k$-regular lattices with $p$ vertices inserted on each edge.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Barriers to positive mental health in a young offenders institution: A qualitative study

Objective: To explore the barriers to positive mental health in a group of young offenders. Design A qualitative approach was used to provide insight into the ways in which mental health for young offenders is experienced and managed. Setting A Young Offenders Institute (YOI) accommodating males aged between 18 and 21 years. Method: Participants were recruited voluntarily using posters. Twelve offenders participated in focus groups and an additional three interviews were carried out with individuals who felt uncomfortable in the focus group situation. Results: Participants stressed that feelings in a YOI could not be shared due to the masculine ethos that had been created on the wings. Listener services were reported to be ineffective for support because using them would show weakness and vulnerability to other prisoners. Visiting time was the main highlight in the routine for most young offenders; however, leaving family and friends was difficult. In dealing with these emotions young offenders would use coping mechanisms, including acts of aggression to vent built-up frustrations. The issue of prison staff and their effect on mental health was raised by all offenders involved in the research. Unanimously, it was suggested that there are both excellent prison officers who engage with the prisoners, and staff who abuse their power and treat prisoners disrespectfully. Conclusion: Promoting mental health is not the principle business of a YOI. However, this research has generated some issues for consideration for governors and those working within this setting

Expression of gain-of-function CFTR in cystic fibrosis airway cells restores epithelial function better than wild-type or codon-optimized CFTR

Class Ia/b cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) variants cause severe lung disease in 10% of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients and are untreatable with small-molecule pharmaceuticals. Genetic replacement of CFTR offers a cure, but its effectiveness is limited in vivo. We hypothesized that enhancing protein levels (using codon optimization) and/or activity (using gain-of-function variants) of CFTR would more effectively restore function to CF bronchial epithelial cells. Three different variants of the CFTR protein were tested: codon optimized (high codon adaptation index [hCAI]), a gain-of-function (GOF) variant (K978C), and a combination of both (hˆK978C). In human embryonic kidney (HEK293T) cells, initial results showed that hCAI and hˆK978C produced greater than 10-fold more CFTR protein and displayed ∼4-fold greater activity than wild-type (WT) CFTR. However, functionality was profoundly different in CF bronchial epithelial cells. Here, K978C CFTR more potently restored essential epithelial functions (anion transport, airway surface liquid height, and pH) than WT CFTR. hCAI and hˆK978C CFTRs had limited impact because of mislocalization in the cell. These data provide a proof of principle showing that GOF variants may be more effective than codon-optimized forms of CFTR for CF gene therapy. Video abstract: [Video presented

Low connectivity between shallow, mesophotic and rariphotic zone benthos

© 2019 Massachussetts Medical Society. All rights reserved. Worldwide coral reefs face catastrophic damage due to a series of anthropogenic stressors. Investigating how coral reefs ecosystems are connected, in particular across depth, will help us understand if deeper reefs harbour distinct communities. Here, we explore changes in benthic community structure across 15-300 m depths using technical divers and submersibles around Bermuda. We report high levels of floral and faunal differentiation across depth, with distinct assemblages occupying each depth surveyed, except 200-300 m, corresponding to the lower rariphotic zone. Community turnover was highest at the boundary depths of mesophotic coral ecosystems (30-150 m) driven largely by taxonomic turnover and to a lesser degree by ordered species loss (nestedness). Our work highlights the biologically unique nature of benthic communities in the mesophotic and rariphotic zones, and their limited connectivity to shallow reefs, thus emphasizing the need to manage and protect deeper reefs as distinct entities

Transfer Matrices and Partition-Function Zeros for Antiferromagnetic Potts Models. IV. Chromatic polynomial with cyclic boundary conditions

We study the chromatic polynomial P_G(q) for m \times n square- and triangular-lattice strips of widths 2\leq m \leq 8 with cyclic boundary conditions. This polynomial gives the zero-temperature limit of the partition function for the antiferromagnetic q-state Potts model defined on the lattice G. We show how to construct the transfer matrix in the Fortuin--Kasteleyn representation for such lattices and obtain the accumulation sets of chromatic zeros in the complex q-plane in the limit n\to\infty. We find that the different phases that appear in this model can be characterized by a topological parameter. We also compute the bulk and surface free energies and the central charge.Comment: 55 pages (LaTeX2e). Includes tex file, three sty files, and 22 Postscript figures. Also included are Mathematica files transfer4_sq.m and transfer4_tri.m. Journal versio