findMonotonicityBreaks.scala

def countMonotonicityBreaks(items: Seq[Int]): Int = 
  items.sliding(2). // two items at a time
  filter(p => p.size == 2 && p(0) != p(1)). // remove any equalities
  map{p => p(1).compare(p(0))}. // get -1 and 1 values; must have 2 values
  sliding(2). // take *these* two at a time
  count(p => p.size == 2 && p(0) != p(1)) // count when the differ

See: https://gist.github.com/ryanlecompte/6017746