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It’S Your Turn, Are You Ready To Get Vaccinated? Towards An Exploration Of Vaccine Hesitancy Using Sentiment Analysis Of Instagram Posts, Mohammed Talha Alam, Shahab Saquib Sohail, Syed Ubaid, Shakil, Zafar Ali, Mohammad Hijji, Abdul Khader Jilani Saudagar, Khan Muhammad

Computer Vision Faculty Publications

The deadly threat caused by the rapid spread of COVID-19 has been restricted by virtue of vaccines. However, there is misinformation regarding the certainty and positives outcome of getting vaccinated; hence, many people are reluctant to opt for it. Therefore, in this paper, we identified public sentiments and hesitancy toward the COVID-19 vaccines based on Instagram posts as part of intelligent surveillance. We first retrieved more than 10k publicly available comments and captions posted under different vaccine hashtags (namely, covaxin, covishield, and sputnik). Next, we translated the extracted comments into a common language (English), followed by the calculation of the …

A Novel Vaccine Candidate Against Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus 2 (Rhdv2) Confers Protection In Domestic Rabbits, Angela M. Bosco-Lauth, Bethany Cominsky, Stephanie Porter, J. Jeffrey Root, Amber Schueler, Gary Anderson, Sara Vanderwal, Andy Benson

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

OBJECTIVE To evaluate efficacy of a novel vaccine against rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2 (RHDV2) in domestic rabbits.

ANIMALS 40 New Zealand White rabbits obtained from a commercial breeder.

PROCEDURES Rabbits were vaccinated and held at the production facility for the duration of the vaccination phase and transferred to Colorado State University for challenge with RHDV2. Rabbits were challenged with oral suspensions containing infectious virus and monitored for clinical disease for up to 10 days. Rabbits that died or were euthanized following infection were necropsied, and livers were evaluated for viral RNA via RT-PCR.

RESULTS None of the vaccinated animals …

Alternative Siar Models For Infectious Diseases And Applications In The Study Of Non-Compliance, Marcelo Bongarti, Luke Diego Galvan, Lawford Hatcher, Michael R. Lindstrom, Christian Parkinson, Chuntian Wang, Andrea L. Bertozzi

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In this paper, we use modified versions of the SIAR model for epidemics to propose two ways of understanding and quantifying the effect of non-compliance to non-pharmaceutical intervention measures on the spread of an infectious disease. The SIAR model distinguishes between symptomatic infected (I) and asymptomatic infected (A) populations. One modification, which is simpler, assumes a known proportion of the population does not comply with government mandates such as quarantining and social-distancing. In a more sophisticated approach, the modified model treats non-compliant behavior as a social contagion. We theoretically explore different scenarios such as the occurrence …

Participatory Research For Smallholder Livestock Systems: Applying Common Sense To Complex Problems, P. M. Horne, Werner Stür

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Key Points:

1. Participatory approaches to research (PAR) bring researchers closer to farmers, the intended users of research outputs.

2. Active, functional participation of farmers in the evaluation and development of new technologies requires researchers to make an important commitment: respecting the knowledge, skills and opinions of farmers while maintaining confidence in their own scientific knowledge.

3. Farmer experimentation is not usually suitable to provide quantitative biophysical data (this can be achieved more effectively in researcher controlled experiments), but to provide qualitative information and improve understanding. This type of information can be collected systematically to enable rigorous analysis.

4. While …

Improving The Accuracy Of Interactive Voice Response (Ivr) Technology For Pediatric Experience Scores, Elizabeth Spaargaren Ms, Mph, Cpxp, Abigail Kozak Mba, Cpxp, Cara Herbener Cpxp, Barbara Lawlor Burke Ma, Cpxp

Patient Experience Journal

The increased use of interactive voice response (IVR) in assessing patient and family experience should be paired with evidence-based practices on how to obtain the most accurate information via this survey mode. We added a brief clarification sentence of the survey scale at the start of the IVR call to improve our experience data both qualitatively and quantitatively. Our setting was an urban pediatric hospital. We gathered lived experiences from our patients, families, and providers to understand and design a change to the IVR survey mode that would reduce survey inaccuracies. Outcome measures were assessed by baseline measurement and post-intervention …

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 …

A Data Driven Model To Promote Preparedness And Respond Intelligently To Pandemic Outbreaks, Safea Mohammed Al Senani

Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major effect on various vital sectors of the economy, including education healthcare, and the industry. Governments have imposed strict regulations to reduce the spread of this global disease outbreak. Consequently, working from home, online learning, social distancing and various control measures were enforced. In response, many schools shifted to distance learning, although most of these schools were neither technically ready nor administratively prepared for the online transition. Despite recent progress, countries are still experiencing daunting challenges to control the infection rate and magnitude, stabilize the economy, and relax socialization and public life activities. Decision-makers …

A Comparative Analysis Of Anti-Vax Discourse On Twitter Before And After Covid-19 Onset, Tareq Nasralah, Ahmed El Noshokaty, Omar El-Gayar, Mohammad A. Al-Ramahi, Abdullah Wahbeh

Computer Information Systems Faculty Publications (Archived)

This study aimed to identify and assess the prevalence of vaccine-hesitancy-related topics on Twitter in the periods before and after the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. Using a search query, 272,780 tweets associated with anti-vaccine topics and posted between 1 January 2011, and 15 January 2021, were collected. The tweets were classified into a list of 11 topics and analyzed for trends during the periods before and after the onset of COVID-19. Since the beginning of COVID-19, the percentage of anti-vaccine tweets has increased for two topics, “government and politics” and “conspiracy theories,” and decreased for “developmental disabilities.” Compared to …

Marginal Proportional Hazards Models For Clustered Interval-Censored Data With Time-Dependent Covariates, Kaitlyn Cook, Wenbin Lu, Rui Wang

Statistical and Data Sciences: Faculty Publications

The Botswana Combination Prevention Project was a cluster-randomized HIV prevention trial whose follow-up period coincided with Botswana’s national adoption of a universal test-and-treat strategy for HIV management. Of interest is whether, and to what extent, this change in policy (i) modified the observed preventative effects of the study intervention and (ii) was associated with a reduction in the population-level incidence of HIV in Botswana. To address these questions, we propose a stratified proportional hazards model for clustered intervalcensored data with time-dependent covariates and develop a composite expectation maximization algorithm that facilitates estimation of model parameters without placing parametric assumptions on …

The Detection Of Periodic Reemergence Events Of Sars-Cov-2 Delta Strain In Communities Dominated By Omicron., Claire E. Westcott, Kevin J. Sokoloski, Eric C. Rouchka, Julia H. Chariker, Rochelle H. Holm, Ray A. Yeager, Joseph B. Moore Iv, Erin M. Elliott, Daymond Talley, Aruni Bhatnagar

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Despite entering an endemic phase, SARS-CoV-2 remains a significant burden to public health across the global community. Wastewater sampling has consistently proven utility to understanding SARS-CoV-2 prevalence trends and genetic variation as it represents a less biased assessment of the corresponding communities. Here, we report that ongoing monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 genetic variation in samples obtained from the wastewatersheds of the city of Louisville in Jefferson county Kentucky has revealed the periodic reemergence of the Delta strain in the presence of the presumed dominant Omicron strain. Unlike previous SARS-CoV-2 waves/emergence events, the Delta reemergence events were geographically restricted in the community …

Antibody Prevalence And Risk Factors Associated With Rickettsia Spp. In A Pediatric Cohort: Sfgr Remains Underdiagnosed And Underreported In El Salvador, Kyndall C. Dye-Braumuller, Marvin Stanley Rodríguez Aquino, Kia Zellars, Hanna Waltz, Madeleine Meyer, Lídua Gual-Gonzalez, Stella C.W. Self, Mufaro Kanyangarara, Melissa Nolan Ph.D., Mph

Faculty Publications

Spotted fever group rickettsioses (SFGR) are caused by a group of tick-borne pathogens that are increasing in incidence globally. These diseases are typically underreported and undiagnosed in low- and middle-income countries, and thus, have been classified as neglected bacterial pathogens. Countries with high poverty, low human development index score, and limited health infrastructure—like El Salvador in Central America—lack necessary surveillance for SFGR and other tick-borne pathogens. This paucity of baseline SFGR infection prevalence leaves vulnerable populations at risk of misdiagnosis. Further, tick-borne disease burdens in El Salvador are severely limited. To lay the foundation for tick-borne disease epidemiology in El …

An Algorithm For Indoor Sars-Cov-2 Transmission, Daniel Maxin, Spencer Gannon

Journal of Mind and Medical Sciences

We propose a computer modeling approach for SARS-CoV-2 transmission that can be preferable to a purely mathematical framework. It is illustrated its functionality in a specific case of indoor transmission. Based on literature, we assume that infection is due to aerosols with viral particles that persist and accumulate for hours in the air even after the persons who produced them left the space. We incorporate also restricted opening hours as a mitigation measure and one possible behavioral change in response to this measure. It is shown via several examples how this algorithmic modeling approach can be used to run various …

Synthesis Of Novel Dna-Binding Polyamides To Prevent Cancer-Related Gene Overexpression, Huy Q. Nguyen

Dissertations

Pyrrole-imidazole polyamides (PIPs) are nanomolecular compounds designed to fit in the tight space of DNA minor grooves. As analogs of Netropsin and Distamycin A, PIPs are specifically designed to recognize the base pairs of DNA sequences. PIPs have many biological applications, such as regulating gene expression, biochemistry pathway regulations, and suppressing the development of cancer cells. SETMAR gene is the chimeric fusion of the SET domain with the mariner transposase. Its protein (Metnase) has functions involving DNA repairs in the NHEJ pathway, regulating gene expression, DNA decatenation, etc. Despite not having an active transposable element, SETMAR still has an unknown …

Environmental Bacteriophage Detection On Coastal Carolina University Campus, Madison Gentilo, Hailey Oldfield, Gavin Ockert, Paul E. Richardson

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria. These viruses are found ubiquitously in the environment and are more abundant than any living organism on Earth, including bacteria. Eleven sites are designated for weekly sample collection on the campus of Coastal Carolina University. Water samples are filtered and amplified using strains of E. coli B and E. coli K12 to allow potential coliphages in the sample to proliferate to detectable levels. Plaque assays are used as a microbial screen for the presence of bacteriophage. Samples that test positively using the microbial test are analyzed through a molecular test using PCR to identify …

Climate Change And The Threat To U.S. Jails And Prisons, Laurie L. Levenson

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

A Trichy Situation, Kathryn Purple

Cumberland Mountain Naturalist

This issue of the Cumberland Mountain Naturalist discusses Dr Kathryn Purple's research concerning Trichomonosis carried by pigeons.

Examining The Association Between A Modified Quan Charlson Comorbidity Index (Qcci) And Viral Suppression: A Cross Sectional Analysis Of Dc Cohort Participants, Hasmin C. Ramirez, Lauren O’Connor, Morgan Byrne, Anne Monroe

Epidemiology Faculty Posters and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Quality Of Life In Older And Younger People With Hiv And Diabetes, Lauren F. O’Connor, La’Marcus Wingate, Sam Simmens, Amanda D. Castel, Anne K. Monroe

Epidemiology Faculty Posters and Presentations

No abstract provided.

(Si10-057) Effect Of Time-Delay On An Sir Type Model For Infectious Diseases With Saturated Treatment, R. P. Gupta, Arun Kumar

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

This study presents the complex dynamics of an SIR epidemic model incorporating a constant time-delay in incidence rate with saturated type of treatment rate. The system is studied to observe the effect of time lag in the asymptotic stability of endemic equilibrium states. We also establish global asymptotic stability of both disease-free and endemic equilibrium states by Lyapunov direct method with the help of suitable Lyapunov functionals. The existences of periodic solutions are ensured for the suitable choice of delay parameter. Finally, we perform numerical simulations supporting the analytical findings as well as to observe the effect of time-delay. The …

Development Of The Invasive Candidiasis Discharge [I Can Discharge] Model: A Mixed Methods Analysis, Jinhee Jo, Truc T Tran, Nicholas D Beyda, Debora Simmons, Joshua A Hendrickson, Masaad Saeed Almutairi, Faris S Alnezary, Anne J Gonzales-Luna, Edward J Septimus, Kevin W Garey

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Patients with invasive candidiasis (IC) have complex medical and infectious disease problems that often require continued care after discharge. This study aimed to assess echinocandin use at hospital discharge and develop a transition of care (TOC) model to facilitate discharge for patients with IC. This was a mixed method study design that used epidemiologic assessment to better understand echinocandin use at hospital discharge TOC. Using grounded theory methodology focused on patients given echinocandins during their last day of hospitalization, a TOC model for patients with IC, the invasive candidiasis [I Can] discharge model was developed to better understand discharge barriers. …

(Si10-077) A Novel Collocation Method For Solving Second-Order Volterra Integro-Differential Equations, Nimai Sarkar, Mausumi Sen, Pratiksha Jadli, Dipankar Saha

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

In this article, we present an efficient numerical methodology to solve second-order linear Volterra integro-differential equations. Further, the modified Chebyshev collocation method is used at the Gauss-Lobatto collocation points. In that context, some theoretical investigation related to error analysis is suggested through residual function. Numerical examples are also encountered to study the applicability of the present method. In order to get a vivid illustration of the efficiency, we present a comparative survey with three existing collocation methods.

Amphibian Collapses Increased Malaria Incidence In Central America, Michael R. Springborn, Joakim A. Weill, Karen R. Lips, Roberto Ibáñez, Aniruddha Ghosh

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Biodiversity in ecosystems plays an important role in supporting human welfare, including regulating the transmission of infectious diseases. Many of these services are not fully-appreciated due to complex environmental dynamics and lack of baseline data. Multicontinental amphibian decline due to the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) provides a stark example. Even though amphibians are known to affect natural food webs—including mosquitoes that transmit human diseases—the human health impacts connected to their massive decline have received little attention. Here we leverage a unique ensemble of ecological surveys, satellite data, and newly digitized public health records to show an empirical link between …

Characterization Of The Interaction Between Grx4-Bol2 And The Iron-Responsive Transcription Factor Aft1 In Candida Glabrata, Evan A. Talib

Theses and Dissertations

Iron is an indispensable protein cofactor that plays a critical role in biological functions such as cellular respiration. However, excess iron causes cellular damage via the generation of reactive oxygen species. To obtain optimal intracellular iron levels, eukaryotic cells have developed mechanisms to tightly regulate iron levels. The molecular mechanism for iron regulation in the pathogenic yeast Candida glabrata has not yet been explored, although this yeast bears iron regulation pathways that are very similar to the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Understanding how C. glabrata regulates iron levels is critical for the treatment of infections caused by this opportunistic …

Predicting The Level Of Respiratory Support In Covid-19 Patients Using Machine Learning, Hisham Abdeltawab, Fahmi Khalifa, Yaser Elnakieb, Ahmed Elnakib, Fatma Taher, Norah Saleh Alghamdi, Harpal Singh Sandhu, Ayman El-Baz

All Works

In this paper, a machine learning-based system for the prediction of the required level of respiratory support in COVID-19 patients is proposed. The level of respiratory support is divided into three classes: class 0 which refers to minimal support, class 1 which refers to non-invasive support, and class 2 which refers to invasive support. A two-stage classification system is built. First, the classification between class 0 and others is performed. Then, the classification between class 1 and class 2 is performed. The system is built using a dataset collected retrospectively from 3491 patients admitted to tertiary care hospitals at the …

How Spirituality Intensifies Sustainability: A Case Study Of Ananda Valley In Northern Portugal, Mia Handler

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The religious affiliations of citizens in the West are currently shifting away from the fundamentalist, traditional structures of the past towards more alternative spiritualities. Furthermore, as a result of the climate crisis, ecovillages are becoming increasingly popular. Ecovillages are intentional, “sustainable” communities that seek to reduce consumption, live in harmony with nature, and create strong social bonds. They are characterized by varying levels of spiritual involvement (Greenberg, 2014, p. 274). As such, the objective of this paper is to study the relationship between spirituality and environmentally-friendly practices and attitudes, using the ecovillage Ananda Valley – an Ananda Marga Master Unit …

Seasonal Habitat Selection By American White Pelicans, Frederick L. Cunningham, Guiming Wang, D. Tommy King

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Resource utilization strategies of avian migrants are a major concern for conservation and management. Understanding seasonal habitat selection by migratory birds helps us explain the ongoing continental declines of migratory bird populations. Our objective was to compare the secondorder and third-order habitat selection by the American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos; hereafter pelican) between the breeding and non-breeding grounds. We tested the Lack hypothesis that habitat selection by migratory birds is stronger on the breeding grounds than on the nonbreeding grounds. We used random-effect Dirichlet-multinomial models to estimate the second-order habitat selection between the seasons with the GPS locations …

Effects Of Early‑Life Experience On Innovation And Problem‑Solving In Captive Coyotes, Andrew C. Garcia, Mitchell A. Parsons, Julie K. Young

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Early-life experience often shapes behaviors like innovation and exploration. These behaviors are important to animals encountering novel food resources in diverse habitats, such as mesocarnivores in urban areas. To understand if early-life experiences impact later-life behavior, we examined how coyotes (Canis latrans) responded to a multi-access puzzle box at two life stages: pup (~ 7 weeks) and dispersal (~ 10 months). We first exposed pups, still living with their parents and littermates, to a baited puzzle box. At dispersal age, we again tested both these pups and an age-matched control group that was not exposed to the puzzle …

2022 Btl O&M Events Log, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

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 …