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Assessing The Impacts Of Household Contacts In Covid-19 Transmission Dynamic Modeling Through Small-World Network, Thanagun Dheravijaranayankul

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

In the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, understanding household transmission has become crucial for formulating effective intervention strategies. This research investigated the impact of considering heterogeneous contact patterns in household settings by leveraging the small-world network (SWN) concept, characterized by high local clustering and short average path length. The methodology involved developing an agent-based simulation model with a two-layer contact network, distinguishing between household and non-household contacts. This simulation aimed to explore the impact of contact patterns on transmission dynamics as well as provide insights into tailored intervention strategies. We evaluate seven Non-Pharmaceutical Intervention (NPI) scenarios focusing on reducing …

Correlation Between Meteorological Conditions, Pm2.5, And Covid-19 Mortality In Thailand, Viranphat Singrakphon

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The appearance of a new strain of coronavirus led to a worldwide health crisis, affecting public health and economies globally, including Thailand since 2019. Previous research had suggested possible links between environmental factors and the surge in COVID-19 cases, but these connections remained uncertain. This study examined the ratios of indoor to outdoor (I/O) environments and investigated potential associations between fine particulate matter (PM2.5), meteorological conditions, and the Case Fatality Rate (CFR%) of COVID-19 in Bangkok and its surrounding metropolitan area from January to December 2021. Through Spearman’s Rank correlation analysis, the findings indicated a positive correlation between CFR% and …

Application Of Metagenomic And Molecular Microbiology Techniques To Elucidate Sources Of Fecal Pollution And Anthropogenic Antibiotic Resistance Genes To Surface Water: A Step Towards A “One Health” Approach To Watershed Management, Mehedi Hasan Tarek

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The use of fecal indicator bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, is a widely established regulatory and monitoring practice to detect surface water contamination associated with fecal pollution. However, the detection or quantification of fecal indicator bacteria alone does not accurately inform the sources of fecal pollution. The development of molecular and metagenomic methods that target the DNA of microorganisms has resulted in a host of new tools for monitoring fecal pollution and its sources, as well as for understanding emerging microbial threats, such as antimicrobial resistance. Antimicrobial resistance is a critical “One Health” challenge presenting a high risk to …

Impacts Of Diverse Inflammatory Stimuli On Neutrophil Behavior: Extracellular Vesicles, E-Cigarettes, And Nanoparticles, Hunter T. Snoderly

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Neutrophils are the body’s front-line defenders against foreign insult and are key players in a variety of inflammatory conditions. This body of work examines the role of neutrophils in promoting pathology in three distinct inflammatory contexts. In the pro-inflammatory state provoked by breast cancer, neutrophils decondense their nuclei and release cytotoxic web-like structures known as neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). NETs form most commonly via histone modifications facilitated by the enzyme PAD4. NETs are known to be a harbinger of disease progression and promote metastasis through capture of circulating tumor cells. It was hypothesized that breast tumors release small particles known …

Assessing The Impact Of Contact Tracing With An Agent-Based Model For Simulating The Spread Of Covid-19: The Irish Experience, Elizabeth Hunter, Sudipta Saha, Jwenish Kumawat, Ciara Carroll, John Kelleher, Claire Buckley, Conor Mcaloon, Patricia Kearney, Michelle Gilbert, Greg Martin

Articles

Contact tracing is an important tool in managing infectious disease outbreaks and Ireland used a comprehensive contact tracing program to slow the spread of COVID-19. Although the benefits of contact tracing seem obvious, it is difficult to estimate the actual impact contact tracing has on an outbreak because it is hard to separate the effects of contact tracing from other behavioural changes or interventions. To understand the impact contact tracing had in Ireland, we used an agent-based model that is designed to simulate the spread of COVID-19 through Ireland. The model uses real contact tracing data from the first year …

Sars-Cov-2 Detecting Rapid Metasurface-Based Sensor, Shobhit K. Patel, Jaymit Surve, Juveriya Parmar, Khaled Aliqab, Meshari Alsharari, Ammar Armghan

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

We have proposed a novel approach to detect COVID-19 by detecting the ethyl butanoate which high volume ratio is present in the exhaled breath of a COVID-19 infected person. We have employed a refractive index sensor (RIS) with the help of a metasurface-based slotted T-shape perfect absorber that can detect ethyl butanoate present in exhaled breath of COVID-19 infected person with high sensitivity and in-process SARS-CoV-2. The optimized structure of the sensor is obtained by varying several structure parameters including structure length and thickness, slotted T-shape resonator length, width, and thickness. Sensor’s performance is evaluated based on numerous factors comprising …

A Robust Random Forest Prediction Model For Mother-To-Child Hiv Transmission Based On Individual Medical History, Rebecca Chaula

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) continues to be a leading cause of mortality and reduces manpower throughout the world. HIV transmission from mother to child is still a global challenge in health research. According to UNAIDS, in every 7 girls, 6 are found to be newly infected among adolescents whereby 15-24 years are likely to be living with HIV which is the maternal age and likely to transfer to the child. Machine learning methods have been used to predict HIV/AIDS transmission from mother to child but left behind some important considerations including the use of patient-level information and techniques in balancing …

Plasmon-Enhanced Quantitative Lateral Flow Assay For Detection Of Neisseria Gonorrhoeae, Jiaqi Wang

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

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Six-Dimensional Single-Molecule Imaging With Isotropic Resolution Using A Multi-View Reflector Microscope, Oumeng Zhang, Zijian Guo, Yuanyuan He, Tingting Wu, Michael D. Vahey, Matthew D. Lew

Electrical & Systems Engineering Publications and Presentations

Imaging of both the positions and orientations of single fluorophores, termed single-molecule orientation-localization microscopy, is a powerful tool for the study of biochemical processes. However, the limited photon budget associated with single-molecule fluorescence makes high-dimensional imaging with isotropic, nanoscale spatial resolution a formidable challenge. Here we realize a radially and azimuthally polarized multi-view reflector (raMVR) microscope for the imaging of the three-dimensional (3D) positions and 3D orientations of single molecules, with precisions of 10.9 nm and 2.0° over a 1.5-μm depth range. The raMVR microscope achieves 6D super-resolution imaging of Nile red molecules transiently bound to lipid-coated spheres, accurately resolving …

Machine Learning For Early Detection Of Pediatric Sepsis, Glory Manson-Endeboh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sepsis is a host response to infection in both adults and children. It contributes to approximately 1.7 million cases annually with nearly 270,000 annual deaths in the United States. In the United States, the financial burden of sepsis on survivors and their families including the hospitals is over $4.8 billion, at approximately $64,280 per hospitalization. The first goal of this thesis research is to develop efficient machine learning models to predict pediatric sepsis accurately for inpatients. The second objective is to develop machine learning methods to determine how early sepsis can be detected to mitigate mortality. We examine data collected …

An Integrated Electronic-Skin Patch For Real-Time And Continuous Monitoring Of A Panel Of Biomarkers Combined With Drug Delivery, Tanzila Noushin

Electrical Engineering Theses

Inflammatory biomarkers present in the human body play a vital role in medical field by guiding the clinician in decision-making for many diseases. The levels of these inflammatory biomarkers are associated with the severity and progress of several diseases. Researchers have found that increasing severity of many diseases such as cardiovascular disease, after surgery infection, and adverse clinical outcomes due to infectious diseases, results in the elevation of the level of inflammatory biomarkers in human sweat. Furthermore, the inflammatory cytokines indicate the pathophysiology and prognosis of critically ill SARS‑CoV‑2 patients. In this thesis work, different sensors have been developed for …

Low Resource Assay For Tracking Sars-Cov-2 In Wastewater, Julissa Van Renselaar

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Wastewater based epidemiology (WBE) allows for the tracking of nucleic acid of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater which gives the opportunity for the public and government officials to be informed about the infectivity of the virus in a community. Advances have been made in WBE that have allowed for higher performance, lower resource use, and faster turnaround time. An adapted concentration method of spin column direct extraction has yielded a proxy virus recovery of 83%, consumable cost of $2.01 per sample, and a turnaround time of 0.33 hour/sample. Other concentration methods have lower proxy virus recoveries, comparable cost, and comparable turnaround time. …

Studying Changes And Addressing The Effects Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Restaurants, Nael Mohamed Nabil Alsarrag

BAU Journal - Creative Sustainable Development

Several everyday activities were majorly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, adapting these activities to become safe for people to perform and become "covid-friendly" required many studies. Dining out in restaurants was one of the major activities that were affected by this pandemic. Permanently or partially closed, restaurants adapted quickly to sidewalk pickups, and excessive delivery demand, and accordingly, their menus and even the staffing were shortened. Several months later, the foodservice industry was one of the first to move a step forward against coronavirus and positively adapt by coming up with creative and innovative ways to be able to re-open …

A Two-Layer Network Propagation Model Of Awareness Diffusion And Seir Epidemic, Yurong Song, Yulin Bao, Ruqi Li

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: In order to understand the transmission characteristics of epidemics similar to COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) with obvious expose period, a two-layer network transmission model considering time-varying factors is proposed to make corresponding predictions and measures. The UAU (unaware-aware-unaware) information transmission model is used to represent the diffusion process of conscious information about epidemic. In the underlying network, the susceptible-exposed-infected- recovered (SEIR) epidemic-like transmission model with latent state is used to describe the epidemic transmission process affected by conscious information. The MMCA (microscopic Markov chain approach) is used to deduce the transmission threshold of epidemics diseases. By analyzing the key …

A Novel Voc Breath Tracer Method To Evaluate Indoor Respiratory Exposures In The Near- And Far-Fields; Implications For The Spread Of Respiratory Viruses, Hooman Parhizkar, Mark Fretz, Aurelie Laguerre, Jason Stenson, Richard Corsi, Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg, Elliott T. Gall

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background

Several studies suggest that far-field transmission (>6 ft) explains a significant number of COVID-19 superspreading outbreaks.

Objective

Therefore, quantifying the ratio of near- and far-field exposure to emissions from a source is key to better understanding human-to-human airborne infectious disease transmission and associated risks.

Methods

In this study, we used an environmentally-controlled chamber to measure volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released from a healthy participant who consumed breath mints, which contained unique tracer compounds. Tracer measurements were made at 0.76 m (2.5 ft), 1.52 m (5 ft), 2.28 m (7.5 ft) from the participant, as well as in the …

An Anthropology With Human Waste Management: Non-Humans, The State, And Matters Of Care On The Placencia Peninsula, Belize, William Alex Webb

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The management of human waste is a seldom studied phenomenon in anthropology. Yet across the globe, in countries both rich and poor, it presents pervasive and difficult to tame problems. This dissertation draws on complimentary theories of management and entanglements to explore the practices and processes of organizing human waste on the Placencia Peninsula, Belize. The results illustrate how problems are conditioned and defined by messy relations between institutions, people, technologies, materials, and ecological life.

Fieldwork and analysis for this work was a culmination of years of interdisciplinary collaboration between other anthropologists and engineers at the University of South Florida. …

Modeling Airport Catchment Areas: Using Spatial Analysis Approach, Sitong Chen

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

Th e airport catchment area is the geographic area from which an airport can reasonably expect to draw commercial air service passengers. Th e purpose of this interdisciplinary research is to estimate airport catchment areas using a spatial analysis method for informed airport management. In order to ensure the comprehensiveness and reliability of the research, we chose to analyze the catchment areas for five airports of different sizes and in different geographic locations in the United States. The Huff model, which is usually used in marketing, economics, and retail research, was adopted in this study. We applied this model in …

Blockchain And Federated Learning-Based Security Solutions For Telesurgery System: A Comprehensive Review, Sachi Chaudjary, Riya Kakkar, Rajesh Gupta, Sudeep Tanwar, Smita Agrawal, Ravi Sharma

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

The advent of telemedicine with its remote surgical procedures has effectively transformed the working of healthcare professionals. The evolution of telemedicine facilitates the remote monitoring of patients that lead to the advent of telesurgery systems, i.e. one of the most critical applications in telemedicine systems. Apart from gaining popularity, the telesurgery system may encounter security and trust issues of patients? data while communicating with the surgeon for their remote treatment. Motivated by this, we have presented a comprehensive survey on secure telesurgery systems comprising healthcare, surgical robots, traditional telesurgery systems, and the role of artificial intelligence to deal with the …

Mocmin: Convex Inferring Of Modular Low-Rank Contact Networks Over Covid Diffusion Data, Emre Sefer

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

SEIR (which consists of susceptible, exposed, infected, and recovered states) is a common diffusion model which could model different disease propagation dynamics across various domains such as influenza and COVID diffusion. As a motivation, across these domains, observing the node states is relatively easier than observing the network edges over which the diffusion is taking place, or it may not even be possible to observe the underlying network. This paper focuses on the problem of predicting modular low-rank human contact network edges only if a SEIR diffusion dynamics spreading among the human on their contact network can be observed. Such …

Therapeutic Efficacies Of Nano Carriers In Delivering Drugs, Bailey Krueger, Taylor Frazier, Sheila Galbreath, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

The drug release rates of poorly soluble medications such as doxorubicin has been investigated in this paper. Since the drug was fixed, different carriers used to deliver it and their release rates compiled from literature were evaluated in this paper. Even though targeting of drugs is very important in drug delivery, it is not within the scope of this paper. However, functionalization of the carrier may provide this benefit, those constructs are included for comparison in terms of hybrid constructs. Dendrimer, micelles and hybrid constructs used in the delivery of doxorubicin compared in this paper with respect to carrier size …

Therapeutic Efficacies Of Nano Carriers In Delivering Drugs, Bailey Krueger, Taylor Frazier, Sheila Galbreath, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

The drug release rates of poorly soluble medications such as doxorubicin has been investigated in this paper. Since the drug was fixed, different carriers used to deliver it and their release rates compiled from literature were evaluated in this paper. Even though targeting of drugs is very important in drug delivery, it is not within the scope of this paper. However, functionalization of the carrier may provide this benefit, those constructs are included for comparison in terms of hybrid constructs. Dendrimer, micelles and hybrid constructs used in the delivery of doxorubicin compared in this paper with respect to carrier size …

Analysis Of Functionality Of Statistical Data In Geovisualization Of Population Dynamics, L Gulyamova, M Sh Shafkarova, D N. Rakhmonov

Technical science and innovation

The article deals with the analysis of population density with the help of geo information programs, the process of visualization of the integration of statistical and geographical data, the structure of the technological sequence. One of the methods for describing the relative productivity of land data is considered. Geo information systems can support the decision-making process in the design and selection phase with limited capabilities, and these systems provide a very static modeling environment. This limits their scope as a decision support tool, especially at stages where collaborative problem solving decisions are required.

Controlling Sars Related Illnesses In The Indoor Environment Using Hvac Ventilation Techniques, Natalie Mansson

Construction Management Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought on a need for better ventilation systems due to the deadly spreading of the SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 illness through the air. As the positivity rate increases sharply, this study is pertinent in the fight against the virus. The implementation of MERV filters and ventilation rates while also understanding respiratory droplets and how they move through the air is an important part of understanding airborne transmission. Much research has been done on MERV filtration and respiratory droplets and their traveling methods in the air, and this research aims to find the commonalities between prior research, and …

Electrochemical Biosensing And Deep Learning-Based Approaches In The Diagnosis Of Covid-19: A Review, Omer Sadak, Ferhat Sadak, Ozal Yildirim, Nicole M. Iverson, Rizwan Qureshi, Muhammed Talo, Chui Ping Ooi, U. Rajendra Acharya, Sundaram Gunasekaran, Tanvir Alam

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

COVID-19 caused by the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus taking a huge toll on global health and caused life-threatening medical complications and elevated mortality rates, especially among older adults and people with existing morbidity. Current evidence suggests that the virus spreads primarily through respiratory droplets emitted by infected persons when breathing, coughing, sneezing, or speaking. These droplets can reach another person through their mouth, nose, or eyes, resulting in infection. The "gold standard'' for clinical diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 is the laboratory-based nucleic acid amplification test, which includes the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test on nasopharyngeal swab samples. The main concerns …

Wastewater-Informed Public Health Intervention Playbook

Sustain Magazine

As the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic quickly spread from country to country and continent to continent in 2020, governments and scientists needed a way to track COVID-19 through populations in order to position public health interventions in the most impactful locations. Having a decision-based risk framework may help to guide policy creation that could minimize or prevent possible outbreaks and surges of infection within communities. The University of Louisville in partnership with Louisville’s Department of Public Health and Wellness tested this strategy in 2021 and 2022. This Wastewater-Informed Public Health Intervention Playbook describes the decisions and actions of that academic and public …

A Qualitative Descriptive Study On Re-Assessing The Mental Certification By Faa For Future Pilots, Kaung Z. Min

Student Works

Mental illness becomes one of the main problems that most pilots do not usually address. It is not because pilots do not have the courage or are open enough to talk with someone, but because the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) forces them to hide from mental depression. Most of the time, the pilots are not willing to declare such illnesses as they fear losing their job; simultaneously, the Federal Aviation Agencies across the world require pilots to be in peat health, including their mental condition, to operate the aircraft. While it can be said that the passengers’ and crews’ safety …

Towards Public Vaccination Data Resilience During Natural Disaster Using Blockchain-Based Decentralized Application, Riri Fitri Sari, Mokhammad Rizqi Herdiawan, Muhammad Hamzah, Muhammad Aljundi, Jauzak Hussaini Windiatmaja

Smart City

This paper presents a platform development plan for a public vaccination decentralized data base based on Blockchain technology. Vaccination is a medical practice that allows a human body to produce a specific antibody as a means of developing a preventive measure and reducing the risk of contracting a particular disease. Systematic vaccination data recording is an utmost important system that is required particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. The recording mechanism should utilize the state-of-the-art information and communication technology (ICT). For faster vaccination data recording, it is common to use digital technology, making the health care process faster thus decreasing time …

Intrinsic Cardiac Effects Of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 In Coronavirus Disease 2019, Brittany Danielle Brumback

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Cardiac arrhythmias, particularly ventricular arrhythmias, can be life-threatening and caused by both congenital genetic mutations and acquired cardiac injury. My thesis work was originally focused on delineating the effects of genetic mutation-driven dysregulation of a protein called Hey2 in Brugada Syndrome, a complex disease characterized by a predisposition to dangerous arrhythmias originating in the right ventricular outflow tract. In response to the pandemic, my thesis work shifted toward understanding the mechanisms of cardiovascular injury in Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is associated with serious cardiovascular complications, including ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death as well as endothelial dysfunction and coagulopathies. …

Plasmonic Nanomaterials-Based Point-Of-Care Biosensors, Rohit Gupta

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Point-of-care (POC) biosensors, although rapid and easy-to-use, are orders magnitude less sensitive than laboratory-based tests. Further they are plagued by poor stability of recognition element thus limiting its widespread applicability in resource-limited settings. Therefore, there is a critical need for realizing stable POC biosensors with sensitivity comparable to gold-standard laboratory-based tests. This challenge constitutes the fundamental basis of this dissertation work– to expand access to quality and accurate biodiagnostic tools. At the heart of these solutions lies plasmonic nanoparticles which exhibit unique optical properties which are attractive for label-free and labelled biosensors.Firstly, we improve the stability and applicability of label-free …

Validating And Testing An Agent-Based Model For The Spread Of Covid-19 In Ireland, Elizabeth Hunter, John D. Kelleher

Articles

Agent-based models can be used to better understand the impacts of lifting restrictions or implementing interventions during a pandemic. However, agent-based models are computationally expensive, and running a model of a large population can result in a simulation taking too long to run for the model to be a useful analysis tool during a public health crisis. To reduce computing time and power while running a detailed agent-based model for the spread of COVID-19 in the Republic of Ireland, we introduce a scaling factor that equates 1 agent to 100 people in the population. We present the results from model …