Stations, trains and small-world networks

The clustering coefficient, path length and average vertex degree of two urban train line networks have been calculated. The results are compared with theoretical predictions for appropriate random bipartite graphs. They have also been compared with one another to investigate the effect of architecture on the small-world properties.Comment: 6 pages, prepared in RevTe

Disparities in Breast Cancer and African Ancestry: A Global Perspective

Recognition of breast cancer disparities between African‐American and White American women has generated exciting research opportunities investigating the biologic and hereditary factors that contribute to the observed outcome differences, leading to international studies of breast cancer in Africa. The study of breast cancer in women with African ancestry has opened the door to unique investigations regarding breast cancer subtypes and the genetics of this disease. International research efforts can advance our understanding of race/ethnicity‐associated breast cancer disparities within the USA; the pathogenesis of triple negative breast cancer; and hereditary susceptibility for breast cancer.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110831/1/tbj12369.pd

The Role of Alexithymia in Ethnic Groups on Eating-Related Attitudes and Behaviors

Alexithymia, a term referring to deficits in ability to describe and differentiate emotions, has been studied in a variety of Caucasian medical and psychiatric populations, including patients with eating disorders. Research suggests that alexithymia is more prevalent among the Caucasian eating disordered population than the general population. However, there is little research on the prevalence of alexithymia or its relationship to problematic eating-related attitudes and behaviors in African Americans. This study investigated and compared the occurrence of alexithymia and its effects on eating-related attitudes and behaviors in Caucasian and African American college women using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 and the Eating Disorders Inventory, 2nd edition. Depression, measured by the Beck Depression Inventory, 2nd edition, and acculturation, measured by the African American Acculturation Scale-Revised, were also considered as variables hypothesized to affect the occurrence and presentation of alexithymia and eating-related pathology. Data from 171 female students, 91 African American and 80 Caucasian, indicated that alexithymia was equally prevalent among the groups (12.1% of African Americans and 11.25% of Caucasians). Approximately 16.25% of Caucasian students and 6.6% of African American (6.6%) students were suspected of having a clinical eating disorder. In this sample, alexithymia was associated with psychological correlates of eating disorders, such as depression, ineffectiveness, interpersonal distrust, maturity fears, poor impulse regulation, and social insecurity, but not with the cardinal features of eating disorders, such as drive for thinness, binging and purging, and body dissatisfaction. Ethnic differences were apparent in eating-related attitudes and behaviors. Despite being heavier, African American students had less body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness than Caucasian students. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of depressive symptoms for the ethnic groups in this study, with depression affecting 35% of the Caucasian and 21% of the African American samples. Results from this sample of university students suggested that African American students were as likely as Caucasian students to engage in bulimic behaviors, and to have difficulty recognizing and accurately responding to their emotional states, and differentiating affective from bodily sensations

Breast Cancer in African‐American Women

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139983/1/onco0001.pd

Couples\u27 Views of the Effects of Natural Family Planning on Marital Dynamics

Purpose: Natural Family Planning (NFP) requires periodic abstinence and partner cooperation to prevent pregnancy. The aim of this study was to learn about the effects of modern NFP methods on marital relationships. Design: Descriptive survey. Methods: Questionnaires were mailed to 1,400 randomly selected couples known to use NFP and residing in the United States of America; 334 couples (24%) responded. Content analysis was used to identify meanings and themes. Numeric analyses were used to determine frequencies. Findings: Nearly two-thirds of the qualitative comments were positive. Four themes were identified in the positive responses: relationship enhancements, knowledge improvements, spirituality enrichments, and method successes. Three negative themes were identified: strained sexual interactions, worsened relationships, and method problems. Although about onefourth of the comments indicated that NFP presented challenges, the majority (74%) found it beneficial, often resulting in stronger bonds, better communication, and improved knowledge. Conclusions: NFP had more positive than negative effects and its use warrants further consideration

Strategies for Institutionalizing Sustainability in Higher Education

Report on the Northeast Campus Sustainability Consortium 3rd Annual Conference and International Symposium November 2-4, 200

Interview with Juanita Newman

Juanita Newman talks about canning.https://digital.kenyon.edu/elfs_interviews/1043/thumbnail.jp

Modularity functions maximization with nonnegative relaxation facilitates community detection in networks

We show here that the problem of maximizing a family of quantitative functions, encompassing both the modularity (Q-measure) and modularity density (D-measure), for community detection can be uniformly understood as a combinatoric optimization involving the trace of a matrix called modularity Laplacian. Instead of using traditional spectral relaxation, we apply additional nonnegative constraint into this graph clustering problem and design efficient algorithms to optimize the new objective. With the explicit nonnegative constraint, our solutions are very close to the ideal community indicator matrix and can directly assign nodes into communities. The near-orthogonal columns of the solution can be reformulated as the posterior probability of corresponding node belonging to each community. Therefore, the proposed method can be exploited to identify the fuzzy or overlapping communities and thus facilitates the understanding of the intrinsic structure of networks. Experimental results show that our new algorithm consistently, sometimes significantly, outperforms the traditional spectral relaxation approaches

The treatment of depression and simple phobia through an interpreter in the North East of England : a case study.

A 35-year-old Middle Eastern woman, experiencing moderate depression compounded by animal phobia was referred to an Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) service. Shared understandings were gradually developed using written functional analyses translated in session. Activity scheduling was integrated with graded exposure to increase access to positive reinforcement. Questionnaires and subjective data indicated a reduction in phobic avoidance and functioning increased. Despite the complexity of working as a triad, a positive therapeutic relationship was achieved with increased mutual cultural understanding. Indirect communication led to difficulties maintaining guided discovery and focus. There is limited evidence to support CBT when delivered through an interpreter. IAPT recommendations suggest staff reflect the community; the North East has one of the lowest foreign-born populations in the UK indicating that IAPT services may be ill prepared to work with ethnic minorities. Learning points for the therapist were: maintain simplicity, take time to formulate incorporation of cultural difference, and use transcultural interventions. The interpreter brought advantages; providing means of communication and understanding of cultural differences. Disadvantages were the potential for bias or lost information, increased time and complexity of delivering therapy. This case indicates a deficit in high intensity training and lack of literature to support therapists

A Queer and Pleasant Danger: A memoir by Kate Bornstein

Lisa Newman reviews the new autobiography, A 'Queer and Pleasant' Danger by transgender artist, writer, and activist, Kate Bornstein. The memoir gives an account of Bornstein's unusual journey from her beginnings as a young Jewish boy, to being promoted to first-mate to L. Ron Hubbard in Scientology, to becoming a transgendered performance artist; or in her words 'the girl she is today'. Brief references and descriptions of Bornstein's other novels are included, giving an overview of her literary body of work