Search

Recently, pharmaceutical companies have been striving to occupy a greater percentage of the global market with clinical research actively being conducted through mutual collaboration networks. In particular, the international Botulinum toxin (BT) market is characterized by intensifying competition. The majority of BT research has been conducted in the United States and Europe, whilst various countries have started their regional research through international collaboration networks. With this trend, this study aimed to examine the current collaboration trend and network of clinical trial research in the field of BT by employing both bibliometric and collaboration network analyses with one of the global academic and research databases. Based on the collaboration network, which is organized by 8,296 articles and 10,298 institutes, four centrality measures successfully present several international and regional clinical BT research leading institutes. Moreover, there are some hidden active institutes in this area, which are not highlighted in this paper's bibliometric analysis. This study contributes to improving the understanding of clinical trials in BTresearch, a relevant medical topic. Moreover, collaboration network analysis is one of the most valuable approaches of examining the international and regional clinical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we examine friendship centrality and reciprocity between kindergarteners who exhibit externalizing classroom behaviors and their classroom peers. Teachers nominated children who display externalizing classroom behaviors, and we collected network data via individual interviews of 411 children (mean age = 6.7 years; SD =.33) from 21 kindergarten classrooms in four U.S. schools. We found that children nominated for elevated levels of externalizing behavior were significantly less central to the classroom friendship network (over and above the contribution of language skills), and this effect was magnified for boys and students in larger classrooms. Moderator analyses revealed a significant gender by behavior interaction, where the difference between boys and girls was conditional on externalizing behavior nomination. Similar main effect results were found when predicting whether or not students had a reciprocal friendship tie. Students who received a teacher nomination for externalizing behavior had 48% lower odds of having a reciprocal friendship tie, after controlling for language skills. We found no significant moderators of the behavior–reciprocity relation. We conclude our study with a discussion of our findings and recommendations for future research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are attitudes more resistant to change when they are more central to a belief system? Theories of inter‐attitude structure and belief system dynamics both suggest that the answer is yes. We demonstrate how to combine belief system network methods with pretest‐posttest experiments to empirically test this idea. We aimed to persuade US conservatives (Experiment 1 N = 890) and US liberals (Experiment 2 N = 1305, Experiment 3 N = 1293) using moral reframing persuasive strategies. Although we find that moral reframing was persuasive (9 of 12 attempts), there was no evidence that central attitudes were more difficult to change than peripheral attitudes. This was the case across all experiments, target attitudes and methods for assessing belief system structure. The results suggest that moral reframing persuades people, but that theories of inter‐attitude structure and belief system dynamics both do not make accurate predictions in this situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents measures to evaluate the power of states from a network perspective. Several indicators have been used for such analysis, including GDP, GNP, and the CINC. However, these indicators have limitations in that they do not take into account relational factors. Therefore, we provide three measures developed from a network perspective at the macro, meso, and micro levels to overcome these limitations. Furthermore, we explore the applicability of network theory-based measurement by analyzing changes in network power in the United States and China and present the following results. First, considering the economic domain, we conclude that China has surpassed the United States at the micro level, and the results of the centrality analysis indicate that the United States and China are very close at the other two levels. Second, in the military trade and cultural trade sectors, the United States has consistently been the most powerful state at all levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visiting multiple prescribers is a common method for obtaining prescription opioids for nonmedical use and has played an important role in fueling the United States opioid epidemic, leading to increased drug use disorder and overdose. Recent studies show that centrality of the bipartite network formed by prescription ties between patients and prescribers of opioids is a promising indicator for drug seeking. However, node prominence in bipartite networks is typically estimated with methods that do not fully account for the two-mode topology of the underlying network. Although several algorithms have been proposed recently to address this challenge, it is unclear how these algorithms perform on real-world networks. Here, we compare their performance in the context of identifying opioid drug seeking behaviors by applying them to massive bipartite networks of patients and providers extracted from insurance claims data. We find that two variants of bipartite centrality are significantly better predictors of subsequent opioid overdose than traditional centrality estimates. Moreover, we show that incorporating non-network attributes such as the potency of the opioid prescriptions into the measures can further improve their performance. These findings can be reproduced on different datasets. Our results demonstrate the potential of bipartiteness-aware indices for identifying patterns of high-risk behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rumination, a form of passive, repetitive negative thinking, predicts the development of depressive disorders in non-autistic individuals, and recent work suggests higher levels of rumination may contribute to elevated rates of depression in the autistic population. Using psychological network analysis, this study sought to investigate the structure of rumination in autistic individuals and the relationships between rumination and individual depressive symptoms. Non-regularized partial correlation networks were estimated using cross-sectional data from 608 autistic adults who completed the Ruminative Responses Scale and Beck Depression Inventory–II. Node centrality indices were calculated to determine which specific symptoms may have a disproportionate influence on the network of repetitive negative thoughts. Nodes were also grouped into communities, and specific "bridge" nodes were identified that most strongly connected these different communities. Results demonstrated strong positive relationships between all facets of ruminative thinking, similar to a prior study in non-autistic adults. Self-directed negative cognitions appeared to be particularly central in this network. The depression symptoms most strongly related to rumination in autistic adults were sadness and guilt. Although these findings are preliminary, they highlight specific facets of rumination that warrant future study as depression risk factors and potential intervention targets in the autistic population. Autistic adults are substantially more likely to develop depression than individuals in the general population, and recent research has indicated that certain differences in thinking styles associated with autism may play a role in this association. Rumination, the act of thinking about the same thing over and over without a functional outcome, is a significant risk factor for depression in both autistic and non-autistic adults. However, little is known about how different kinds of rumination relate to each other and to depressive symptoms in the autistic population specifically. To fill this gap in knowledge, we recruited a large online sample of autistic adults, who completed questionnaire measures of both the tendency to ruminate and symptoms of depression. By examining the interacting network of rumination and depression symptoms, this study was able to identify particular aspects of rumination—such as thinking repetitively about one's guilty feelings or criticizing oneself—that may be particularly important in maintaining these harmful thought patterns in autistic adults. Although further study is needed, it is possible that the symptoms identified as most "influential" in the network may be particularly good targets for future interventions for mood and anxiety disorders in the autistic population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Categorizing places based on their network connections to other places in the region reveals not only population concentration but also economic dynamics that are missed in other typologies. The US Office of Management and Budget categorization of counties into metropolitan/micropolitan and central/outlying is widely seen as insufficient for many analytic purposes. In this article, we use a coreness index from network analysis to identify labor market centrality of a county. We use county-to-county commute flows, including internal commuting, to identify regional hierarchies. Indicators broken down by this typology reveal counterintuitive results in many cases. Not all strong core counties have large populations or high levels of urbanization. Employment in these strong core counties grew faster in the postrecession (2008–2015) than in other types of counties. This economic dimension is missed by other typologies, suggesting that our categorization may be useful for regional analysis and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to share reflections about the progress toward the inclusion of race as a core analytical concept in MOS since the article. The emperor has no clothes: Rewriting "race in organizations" was published in the Academy of Management Review twenty-nine years ago. Design/methodology/approach: I critically reflect upon the past and future of race in management and organizations studies drawing upon my own subjective position in what has transpired over the past twenty-nine years. Specifically, I reflect upon the past and future of the study of race in organizations and also offer some recommendations for theories that may help advance it as a core theoretical concept in MOS drawing. Findings: Dethroning the "emperor" remains a challenge. There has been a lack of significant progress toward positioning race as a core analytical concept in MOS. There is still much to do to elevate race to a significant analytical concept in MOS. Post-colonial theory, whiteness and the literature on the sociology of race may assist scholars in making progress. Research limitations/implications: I readily acknowledge that my subjective position as the author of an article declaring the significance of race in MOS and as a Black woman whose life and career has unfolded in a world of systemic racism shape my reflections. It may be time for to consider whether positioning race as a core analytical concept in MOS can be achieved under the diversity paradigm. Perhaps it is time for a new field of study – race in organizations. Practical implications: Theorizing race in organizations is central to undoing the continuing effects of racism. Otherwise, it will be difficult to develop strategies that get to the roots of racial inequality in organizations. Social implications: The confluence of resurgent white supremacy, the stark global racial inequalities revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic and calls to end anti-Blackness and systemic racism by the Black Lives Matter Movement underscore the immense importance of race in every aspect of society including organizations. Originality/value: This essay is my first reflections on what has transpired since the publication of the article. The essay reveals my insights and experiences of writing the article and why rewriting race into MOS is a much larger project than the one envisioned in 1992. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A qualitative examination of work meaning in the zookeeping profession pointed to the centrality of the notion of work as a personal calling. The view of calling expressed by zookeepers, however, was closer in basic structure to the classical conceptualization of the Protestant reformers than it was to more recent formulations. We used qualitative data from interviews with U.S. zookeepers to develop hypotheses about the implications of this neoclassical conceptualization of calling for the relationship between individuals and their work. We found that a neoclassical calling is both binding and ennobling. On one hand, zookeepers with a sense of calling strongly identified with and found broader meaning and significance in their work and occupation. On the other hand, they were more likely to see their work as a moral duty, to sacrifice pay, personal time, and comfort for their work, and to hold their zoo to a higher standard. Results of a survey of zookeepers from 157 different zoos in the U.S. and Canada supported the hypotheses from our emergent theory. These results reveal the ways in which deeply meaningful work can become a double-edged sword. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the centrality of politics in shaping the experiences and identities of thousands of Taiwanese migrants who came to the United States from the 1960s to the 1980s, there are very few scholarly treatments of diasporic Taiwanese activism in English-language literature. In this article, I look at New York as an important site in Taiwanese/American political history and locate it as part of an anticolonial, Sinophone political sphere. In particular, I consider how a subset of New York-based Taiwanese activists known as the Taiwan Revolutionary Party (TRP) strove to develop a leftist political praxis influenced by the Third World Left and internationalism, despite Cold War political and ideological conditions that severely limited their ability to do so. Their lives, thoughts, and actions, I argue, should be understood as part of a long and ongoing history of Asian/American political praxis and nationalist struggle. The TRP's enactment of Taiwanese consciousness revitalizes significant debates surrounding national identity, in particular, Frantz Fanon's distinction between national consciousness and nationalism, and contributes to a growing dialogue on the heterogeneity of Sinophone cultures, peoples, and politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Proposes a method, "Rank," to quantify network relationships between financial institutions from "too central to fail" perspective. • Uses PageRank algorithm to determine financial systemic risks. • Compares Rank with well-known systemic risk measures CoVaR and MES. • Finds that Rank better captures network structure than the other two measures. Following the popularity of the concepts of "too big to fail" and "too connected to fail" after the global financial crisis, the concept of "too central to fail" has garnered considerable attention recently. In this study, we suggest a "too central to fail" systemic risk measure, Rank, using the PageRank algorithm. Then, adopting a centrality perspective, we compare this measure, which effectively captures network relationships among financial institutions, with other well-known systemic risk measures, conditional value at risk (CoVaR) and marginal expected shortfall (MES). First, we model a simulation that generates bilateral connections among financial institutions. Second, we use real market data representing United States financial institutions. We show that Rank can capture the network structure among financial institutions better than CoVaR and MES. Further, Rank does not have procyclical properties; therefore, it is not dependent on market conditions. This study contributes to the development of a timely measure using publicly available market data. The measure also overcomes the shortcomings of the balance sheet-based approach, which is subject to time lags, because financial institutions release balance sheets quarterly basis. We also include equity and liability-type assets, in which systemic risks mainly propagate through intricately connected liability obligations. The findings will help regulators and policy-makers understand the implications of monitoring systemic risks from a network perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on recent contributions inferring financial interconnectedness from market data, our paper provides new insights on the evolution of the US financial industry over a long period of time by using several tools coming from network science. Relying on a Time-Varying Parameter Vector AutoRegressive (TVP-VAR) approach on stock market returns to retrieve unobserved directed links among financial institutions, we reconstruct a fully dynamic network in the sense that connections are let to evolve through time. The financial system analysed consists of a large set of 155 financial institutions that are all the banks, broker-dealers, insurance and real estate companies listed in the Standard & Poors’ 500 index over the 1993–2014 period. Looking alternatively at the individual, then sector-, community- and system-wide levels, we show that network sciences’ tools are able to support well-known features of the financial markets such as the dramatic fall of connectivity following Lehman Brothers’ collapse. More importantly, by means of less traditional metrics, such as sectoral interface or measurements based on contagion processes, our results document the co-existence of both fragmentation and integration phases between firms independently from the sectors they belong to, and doing so, question the relevance of existing macroprudential surveillance frameworks which have been mostly developed on a sectoral basis. Overall, our results improve our understanding of the US financial landscape and may have important implications for risk monitoring as well as macroprudential policy design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds an index family, named bi-directional h-index, to measure node centrality in weighted directed networks. Bi-directional h-index takes the directed degree centrality as the initial value and iteratively uses more network information to update the node’s importance. We prove the convergence of the iterative process after finite iterations and introduce an asynchronous updating process that provides a decentralized, local method to calculate the bi-directional h-index in large-scale networks and dynamic networks. The theoretical analysis manifests that the bi-directional h-index is feasible and significant for establishing a greater conceptual framework that includes some existing index concepts, such as lobby index, node’s h-index, c-index and iterative c-index. An example using journal citation networks indicates that the bi-directional h-index is different from directed degree centrality, directed node strength, directed h-degree and the HITS algorithm in ranking node importance. It is irreplaceable and can reflect these measures of node’s importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the multidisciplinary field of Network Science, optimization of procedures for efficiently breaking complex networks is attracting much attention from a practical point of view. In this contribution, we present a module-based method to efficiently fragment complex networks. The procedure firstly identifies topological communities through which the network can be represented using a well established heuristic algorithm of community finding. Then only the nodes that participate of inter-community links are removed in descending order of their betweenness centrality. We illustrate the method by applying it to a variety of examples in the social, infrastructure, and biological fields. It is shown that the module-based approach always outperforms targeted attacks to vertices based on node degree or betweenness centrality rankings, with gains in efficiency strongly related to the modularity of the network. Remarkably, in the US power grid case, by deleting 3% of the nodes, the proposed method breaks the original network in fragments which are twenty times smaller in size than the fragments left by betweenness-based attack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Horse movements are one of the most important factors for the spread of equine diseases, and past epidemics indicate that contact networks play an important role. Network analysis was used to describe the spatial and temporal characteristics of horse movements between Standardbred racetracks in Canada and the United States during 2019, and to characterize the network to provide a better understanding of the potential racetrack-to-racetrack spread of infectious disease within the network. Networks were constructed and analyzed as an overall network (the entire study period) and monthly networks. There were 254 active Standardbred racetracks in 2019, organized in 24 geographically clustered communities. Movements and subsequent network measures of cohesiveness and centrality exhibited strong seasonal variation. Networks were more highly connected during the summer and early autumn, coinciding with peak racing activities. Monthly networks showed evidence of small-world properties, whereby disease introduction into a racetrack within a local cluster could result in the rapid spread to other racetracks within that cluster, and to other topologically distant clusters through few additional movements. Using centrality measures, a small subset of racetracks were identified as highly influential in the network and could be considered high-risk for disease introduction and disease spread to other racetracks. Enhancement of disease prevention strategies might be most appropriate if targeted to the months associated with peak racing season, and particularly to influential racetracks. The networks produced in this study were not a true representation of the entire contact network as the information contained within the race records only allowed for the consideration of between-racetrack movements. Other non-recorded movements represent further contacts in the network that can have a substantial effect on the spread of disease within a network, and the exclusion of this information can result in incorrect network measure estimates. While likely not an easy task, given the initial findings of this study and experiences from past horse industry infectious disease outbreaks, it could be beneficial for the Standardbred industry to put a movement recording strategy in place. One benefit would be enhanced ability to respond rapidly and efficiently in the event of an outbreak, thereby limiting potential animal health and economic impacts. Additional movement data could also enable further characterization of the network to inform optimal disease prevention and control strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Politik is the property of Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article uses archival panel data over two decades and social network analysis (SNA) to address the question of whether logistics and transportation have become more central to the US economy over time. Unlike traditional measures, SNA goes beyond measuring dyadic relationships and incorporates measures of power, like centrality, closeness, and betweenness that traditional measures fail to capture. Secondary data from the Benchmark Use Input-Output Tables compiled every five years by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis are examined in the SNA context. Results demonstrate the value of using SNA over conventional dyadic measures to analyze the extended network, especially with respect to the shift of power and centrality over time. The findings demonstrate that while the overall industrial landscape of the United States has become less centralized over time, transportation and warehousing have become increasingly central to the US economy. Thus, the article demonstrates that over time, logistics and warehousing have not only become more powerful, but have gone from being peripheral activities to being increasingly central and important in the larger economy. The article contrasts our findings from the SNA approach with those obtained from conventional (non-SNA-based approaches) and highlights the differences in the two approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historians are generally hostile to the idea of "American exceptionalism." The history of American exceptionalist discourse, however, illuminates an ongoing process of identity formation as Americans have sought to determine the place of their nation in the larger world. This article focuses on the provincial Anglo-American sources of exceptionalist discourse and emphasizes Britain's continuing centrality to national identity through the nineteenth century. Although the debate over who "we" are will never be definitively resolved, the debate itself is vitally important in sustaining the legitimacy and capacity of the regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan has long been regarded as a central component of America's grand strategy in Asia. Scholars and practitioners assume this situation will persist in the face of China's rise and, indeed, that a more 'normal' Japan can and should take on an increasingly central role in US-led strategies to manage this power transition. This article challenges those assumptions by arguing that they are, paradoxically, being made at a time when Japan's economic and strategic weight in Asian security is gradually diminishing. The article documents Japan's economic and demographic challenges and their strategic ramifications. It considers what role Japan might play in an evolving security order where China and the US emerge as Asia's two dominant powers by a significant margin. Whether the US-China relationship is ultimately one of strategic competition or accommodation, it is argued that Japan's continued centrality in America's Asian grand strategy threatens to become increasingly problematic. It is posited that the best hope for circumventing this problem and its potentially destabilizing consequences lies in the nurturing of a nascent 'shadow condominium' comprising the US and China, with Japan as a 'marginal weight' on the US side of that arrangement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of whiteness is seductive; it strikes a chord and resonates, highlighting what was long ignored in the history of immigrants in America. However, in reading the literature, one cannot help but be troubled by the reduction of a plethora of relations to a singular binary, as important as that binary may be. This paper examines the experience of Polonia (the Polish Diaspora) in America, drawing on broad historical evidence as well as a particular ritual of identification (the Pulaski Day Parade in Philadelphia), in order to highlight the follies of reducing the immigrant experience to one of 'becoming white.' This paper challenges three major assumptions in whiteness studies: the particular relationship between ethnicity and race found therein; the assumptions regarding the assimilation of immigrant groups; and the centrality of the white/black binary in processes of identification. Ultimately, the argument presented here posits that to maintain whiteness as an analytically useful concept, it needs to be placed within the complex multitude of relations in which it occurs in the actual experiences of immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The US Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) program began in 1980 with the mission of addressing long-term ecological phenomena through research at individual sites, as well as comparative and synthetic activities among sites. We applied network science measures to assess how the LTER program has achieved its mission using intersite publications as the measure of collaboration. As it grew, the LTER program evolved from (a) a collection of independent sites (1981-1984) to (b) multiple ephemerally connected groupings with a gradual increase in collaboration (1985 to about 1998) to (c) a largely collaborative, densely connected network (from approximately 1999 on). Some sites demonstrated "preferential attachment" by contributing more to the evolution of network cohesion than others. Collaborative efforts of LTER scientists included cross-site measurements and comparisons, information technology transfer, documentation of methodologies, and synthesis of ecological concepts. Network science provides insights that not only document the evolution of research networks but also may be prescriptive of mechanisms to enhance this evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the court case Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. One v. Holder (NAMUDNO), wherein the litigation demonstrate the centrality of the avoided constitution question of Voting Rights Act (VRA) in the U.S. It establishes the Supreme Court's equivocation with regard to the VRA and the corroborated reference to oral argument and the ensuing decision of the case. Also mentioned is the case's proposition that VRA assumes special status within the statutory law.

We investigate how corporate venture capitalists (CVCs) can rapidly attain central positions in venture capital syndication networks. Using data of CVC investments by U.S. corporations between 1996 and 2005, we complement prior research, which suggests that centrally positioned VCs predominantly invest together with other centrally positioned VCs. While we find clear support for the social network theory arguments that prior central positions in syndication networks significantly explain future network positions of CVCs, we also find a negative interaction effect between past centrality and corporate resources. This finding implies that resources of CVCs can substitute for their lack of prior centrality and allow them to gain rapidly central positions in rigid VC syndication networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commentary on progress and reflections of conversations that undergirded the advancement of ethnic minority psychology are presented by the author as a perspective of an Elder. Articles in this special issue are considered in terms of the themes that emerged from their narratives on the history of ethnic psychological associations, Division 45, the Minority Fellowship Program, and governance's response to multicultural issues within the American Psychological Association. Themes in the history of African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians are discussed in terms of the centrality of culture, history, and pride in resilience, treatment in U.S. history, representation in literature, and its implications for training, research and practice, challenges for ethnic psychological associations, and tensions in transition to a multicultural psychology movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tests hypotheses linking the structural characteristics of policy networks to the feelings of trust of their members. A social capital perspective suggests that actors in denser networks should trust others more, while an alternative "centrality" approach suggests that trust may be a byproduct of the occupation of key positions in the group. The author tests these expectations with data mapping policy networks in twenty-two estuaries in the United States and finds that centrality is a better predictor of trust. This opens room for questioning the real value of trust as a necessary ingredient in the solution of collective action dilemmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined relationships at the individual level of analysis between work group collectivism and work centrality and pride in work, and the moderating effects of nations on these relationships. Participants from Ecuador, Germany, India, Mexico, and the United States completed questionnaire measures of the constructs of interest. Multiple-groups confirmatory factor analyses were performed to evaluate and control for psychometric nonequivalence in the measurement of latent constructs, prior to multiple-groups structural equation modeling analyses of the relationships between work group collectivism and work centrality and pride in work. Results showed positive relationships between collectivism and work centrality and work pride in each country, and non-significant differences between countries in these relationships. Tests of mean differences at the nation level of analysis also showed somewhat higher work centrality and pride in work among countries that scored higher in work group collectivism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing emphasis on guidelines and prescription drug monitoring programs highlight the role of healthcare providers in pain treatment. Objectives of this study were to identify characteristics of key players and influence of opioid prescribers through construction of a referral network of patients with chronic pain. A retrospective cohort study was performed and patients with commercial or Medicaid coverage with chronic back, neck, or joint pain were identified using the Arkansas All-Payer Claims-Database. A social network comprised of providers connected by patient referrals based on 12-months of healthcare utilization following chronic pain was constructed. Network measures evaluated were indegree and eigen (referrals obtained), betweenness (involvement), and closeness centrality (reach). Outcomes included influence of providers, opioid prescribers, and brokerage status. Exposures included provider demographics, specialties and network characteristics. There were 51,941 chronic pain patients who visited 8,110 healthcare providers. Primary care providers showed higher betweenness and closeness whereas specialists had higher indegree. Opioid providers showed higher centrality compared to non-opioid providers, which decreased with increasing volume of opioid prescribing. Non-pharmacologic providers showed significant brokerage scores. Findings from this study such as primary care providers having better reach, non-central positions of high-volume prescribers and non-pharmacologic providers having higher brokerage can aid interventional physician detailing. PERSPECTIVE: Opioid providers held central positions in the network aiding provider-directed interventions. However, high-volume opioid providers were at the borders making them difficult targets for interventions. Primary care providers had the highest reach, specialists received the most referrals and non-pharmacological providers and specialists acted as brokers between non-opioid and opioid prescribers., (Copyright © 2021 United States Association for the Study of Pain, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This article comments on the evaluation of the evidence for and against the theory of bank control, which states that banks are assuming control over nonbanking business in the U.S. in the 1970s. It is assumed that interlocks between corporations would be an empirical, if not logically necessary, correlate of control. Thus the concentration or lack of concentration of interlocks among various corporations could serve as evidence for or against the theory of control. To operationalize the tendency to interlock, two measures were used. One was simply the number of interlocks which a particular board realized with other boards; the other measure was Bonacich's index of centrality. Knowing that the number of interlocks is highly correlated with rank, one could construct a test that would boost the centrality of banks: by simply restricting the set of banks to a smaller, higher-ranked group. If, to achieve the opposite effect, one wanted to make them less central, then one could extend the cutoff beyond 50 or reduce the size of other sets to which the banks would be compared. The difficulty with the formulation of the theory and, one sometimes suspects, with the whole theory of bank control is that the theory is not yet a theory in the sense of having specific premises and rigorously derived consequences.

Presents the history of the fundamental principle in the representation and removal of state capitals in the U.S. Proportional representation method used during the revolutionary era to sought means of equalizing representation; Number of states that moved seats of government between 1776 and 1812; Views of political thinkers James Madison and Thomas Jefferson on the concept of centrality.

The article describes the global order of America at the beginning of the twenty-first century. America as self-reifying centrality has militated for its indisputable ontological status since its inception as Puritan theocracy. Hegemonic world order is prone to guard its privileged epistemic and onto-theological status with fanatical zeal. American stands apart as uncontested and incontestable hegemony in a cyclical return to a heroic age, where heroic can only be understood in Hobbsian and apocalyptic terms.

This article presents a response to a criticism of the evaluation on the theory of bank control in the U.S. in the 1970s. To measure the association between type of corporation and centrality, the amount of variation in centrality scores accounted for by each type of corporation was computed, and then divided by the total variation in centrality scores. Not removing the effects of rank inflates the total sum-of-squares and therefore deflates the association between rank and centrality. In order to determine the possible effects of various proportions of different types of corporations, the proportion of variation explained in log10 of the number of interlocks by type of corporation was computed. The implication of the data for analysis of interlocks is to increase the importance of specifying the population to which one's theories and data refer. Type of corporation in general and banks in particular account for only a small proportion of the total variation in interlocking. Common practice among bank control theorists is to use interlock between banks and other corporations and between corporations interlocked with the same banks as prima facie evidence of control. A valid bank control theory must be able to explain why, if interlocks follow power that control over money creates, insurance companies are not as powerful and as interlocked as banks.

Objectives: This paper has two objectives. First, it categorizes the Twitter handles tweeted flu related information based on the amount of replies and mentions within the Twitter network. The collected Twitter accounts are categorized as media, health related individuals, organizations, government, individuals with no background with media or medical field, in order to test the relationship between centrality measures of the accounts and their categories. The second objective is to examine the relationship between the importance of the Twitter accounts in the network, centrality measures, and specific characteristics of each account, including the number of tweets and followers as well as the number of accounts followed and liked., Methods: Using Twitter search network API, tweets with "flu" keyword were collected and tabulated. Network centralities were calculated with network analysis tool, NodeXL. The collected Twitters accounts were content analyzed and categorized by multiple coders., Results: When the media or organizational Twitter accounts were present in the list of important Twitter accounts, they were highly effective disseminating flu-related information. Also, they were more likely to stay active one year after the data collection period compared to other influential individual accounts., Conclusions: Health campaigns are recommended to focus on recruiting influential Twitter accounts and encouraging them to retweet or mention in order to produce better results in disseminating information. Although some individual social media users were valuable assets in terms of spreading information about flu, media and organization handles were more reliable information distributors. Thus, health information practitioners are advised to design health campaigns better utilizing media and organizations rather than individuals to achieve consistent and efficient campaign outcomes., (Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.)