Digital Commons Network^™

The Role Of Influential Actors In Fostering The Polarized Covid-19 Vaccine Discourse On Twitter: Mixed Methods Of Machine Learning And Inductive Coding, Loni Hagen, Ashley Fox, Heather O'Leary, Deandre Dyson, Kimberly Walker, Cecile A. Lengacher, Raquel Hernandez

School of Information Faculty Publications

Background: Since COVID-19 vaccines became broadly available to the adult population, sharp divergences in uptake have emerged along partisan lines. Researchers have indicated a polarized social media presence contributing to the spread of mis- or disinformation as being responsible for these growing partisan gaps in uptake.

Objective: The major aim of this study was to investigate the role of influential actors in the context of the community structures and discourse related to COVID-19 vaccine conversations on Twitter that emerged prior to the vaccine rollout to the general population and discuss implications for vaccine promotion and policy.

Methods: We collected tweets …

Terrified By Technology: How Systemic Bias Distorts U.S. Legal And Regulatory Responses To Emerging Technology, Steve Calandrillo, Nolan Kobuke Anderson

Articles

Americans are becoming increasingly aware of the systemic biases we possess and how those biases preclude us from collectively living out the true meaning of our national creed. But to fully understand systemic bias we must acknowledge that it is pervasive and extends beyond the contexts of race, privilege, and economic status. Understanding all forms of systemic bias helps us to better understand ourselves and our shortcomings. At first glance, a human bias against emerging technology caused by systemic risk misperception might seem uninteresting or unimportant. But this Article demonstrates how the presence of systemic bias anywhere, even in an …

Iranian Parents' Perceptions On Physical Activity For Their Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Sarvin Salar, Justin A. Haegele, Hassan Daneshmandi

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Faculty Publications

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic is a remarkable health crisis that enforced most people to stay at home and quarantine for a period of time and seems to be having negative impacts on physical activity and mental health worldwide. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder with a deficit in social interaction characteristics, relationships, and stereotyped behaviors. This study examined Iranian parents’ perceptions of physical activity for their children with ASD during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: In this study, an explanatory qualitative methodology was used and data were collected via semi-structured phone interviews. The samples included 40 Iranian parents (aged …

How Comprehensive And Effective Are Waste Management Policies During The Covid-19 Pandemic? Perspectives From The Philippines, Geminn Louis C. Apostol, Angelina Gabrielle A. Acolola, Michelle Alexandra Edillon, Sary Valenzuela

Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health Publications

This study presents a comprehensive analysis on policies governing the management of COVID-19 waste in the Philippines, highlighting gaps in pre-existing policies and opportunities for further policy development and adaptation in the context of present and future public health emergencies. A hybrid search strategy and consultative process identified fifty (50) policy documents directly impacting the management of wastes (general domestic, healthcare, and household healthcare waste) released prior to and during the pandemic. Content analysis revealed comprehensive policy coverage on managing general domestic waste and healthcare waste. However, there remains a dearth in policies for managing household healthcare waste, an emerging …

Evaluation Of Psychiatric Disorders In College Students At West Chester University: Underlying Genetics And The Effect Of Covid-19, Madison James

West Chester University Master’s Theses

The world is facing a mental health crisis and one of the most vulnerable groups are college-age young adults. The crisis has only been exacerbated by the Sars-CoV2 pandemic (commonly referred to as COVID-19). One way scientists are attempting to deal with the increasing prevalence of psychiatric disorders is through studying their genetics using genome wide association studies (GWAS). Scientists have begun to uncover genetic variants associated with the development and potential treatments for these disorders. This thesis followed a cohort of diverse, college-aged young adults from West Chester University of Pennsylvania both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The …

Pursuing Climate Justice: Learning The Lessons Of The Covid-19 Response, Lance Gable

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

The COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis have many parallels. Both are large disruptive events that pose foundational threats to humanity through the capacity to cause substantial harm and death to humans. Both pose complex and multifaceted challenges perpetuated by multiple factors that are difficult to interrupt or mitigate. Both are subject to evolving scientific understandings of their underlying causes and potential interventions. Both are novel challenges not previously faced by most humans alive today that comprise potential threats to human society over an extended time period. These similarities allow scholars and policymakers to extrapolate and understand how the responses …

Tribal Water Rights And Tribal Health: The Klamath Tribes And The Navajo Nation During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Robin Kundis Craig

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Public health measures to combat COVID-19, especially in the first year before vaccines became widely available, required individuals to be able to access fresh water while remaining isolated from most of their fellow human beings. For the approximately 500,000 households in the United States and over two million Americans who lacked access to reliable indoor running water, these COVID-19 measures presented a considerable added challenge on top of the existing risks to their health from an insecure water supply.

Many of these people were Native Americans, whose Tribes often lack fully adjudicated, quantified, and deliverable rights to fresh water. To …

Regulating For Energy Justice, Alexandra B. Klass, Gabriel Chan

Articles

In this Article, we explore and critique the foundational norms that shape federal and state energy regulation and suggest pathways for reform that can incorporate principles of “energy justice.” These energy justice principles—developed in academic scholarship and social movements—include the equitable distribution of costs and benefits of the energy system, equitable participation and representation in energy decision making, and restorative justice for structurally marginalized groups.

While new legislation, particularly at the state level, is critical to the effort to advance energy justice, our focus here is on regulators’ ability to implement reforms now using their existing authority to advance the …

Evaluating Legal Needs, Luz Herrera, Amber Baylor, Nandita Chaudhuri, Felipe Hinojosa

Faculty Scholarship

This article is the first to explore legal needs in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas – a region that is predominantly Latinx and has both rural and urban characteristics. There are few legal needs assessments of majority Latinx communities, and none that examine needs in areas that are also U.S. border communities. Access to justice studies often overlook this area of the U.S. and this segment of the population despite their unique qualities. Latinos are projected to constitute the largest ethnic group in the country by 2060, making it imperative that we study access to justice-related assets, needs, opportunities, …

Sars-Cov-2 Rna Abundance In Wastewater As A Function Of Distinct Urban Sewershed Size., Rochelle H. Holm, Anish Mukherjee, Jayesh P. Rai, Ray A. Yeager, Daymond Talley, Shesh N. Rai, Aruni Bhatnagar, Ted Smith

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

During the COVID-19 pandemic, wastewater-based epidemiology has emerged as a promising approach for monitoring SARS-CoV-2 prevalence on a community-level. Despite much being known about the utility of making these measurements in large wastewater treatment plants, little is known about the correlation with finer geographic resolution, such as those obtained through sewershed sub-area catchments. This study aims to identify community wastewater surveillance characteristics between sewershed areas that affect the strength of the association of SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection in a metropolitan area. For this, wastewater from 17 sewershed areas were sampled in Louisville/Jefferson County, Kentucky (USA), from August 2020 to April 2021 …

Stress Testing During Times Of War, Kathryn Judge

Faculty Scholarship

In the spring of 2009, the United States was mired in the greatest recession it had faced since the Great Depression. In March, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had fallen to 6,594.44, a total decline of 53.4 percent from its peak in the fall of 2007. The official unemployment rate was over 9 percent and still trending upward, eventually exceeding 10 percent. With the support of Congress, the Federal Reserve (the Fed) and other financial regulators had launched an array of initiatives to contain the fallout of what had become a global financial crisis. These interventions, including a massive recapitalization …

Covid-19 In The Bay Area: The Impact Of A Pandemic On Different Demographics In Selected Counties From 2020 - 2021, Maria Del Rosario Rodriguez Lomeli

Master's Projects

The world experienced a novel coronavirus disease outbreak in Wuhan, China in December of 2019 (Dhillon et al., 2020). Within months it spread worldwide, becoming a pandemic known as the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV2 or COVID-19 (Hunter, 2020). COVID- 19 continued to spread, with public health officials worldwide urging countries to enact stay-at-home orders that could decrease the fast spread of the virus. The Chinese government's official report states that the virus originated in the Huanan Seafood Market located in Wuhan in October of 2019 (Dhillon et al., 2020). The World Health Organization (WHO) was alerted of the virus within a …

The Disproportionate Impact Of Covid-19 On The Housing Stability Of Hispanic/Latino Renters In California, Cyndi Valdez

Master's Projects

How and why did the COVID-19 pandemic impact the housing stability of Hispanic/Latino renters in California? How were communities, such as those in Santa Cruz County, affected by Shelter in Place Orders? What measures were taken to help alleviate the financial burdens caused by the pandemic?

Analysis Of Public Sentiment Of Covid-19 Pandemic, Vaccines, And Lockdowns, Devinesh Singh

Master's Projects

CoV-2 pandemic prompted lockdown measures to be implemented worldwide; these directives were implemented nationwide to stunt the spread of the infection. Throughout the lockdowns, millions of individuals resorted to social media for entertainment, communicate with friends and family, and express their opinions about the pandemic. Simultaneously, social media aided in the dissemination of misinformation, which has proven to be a threat to global health. Sentiment analysis, a technique used to analyze textual data, can be used to gain an overview of public opinion behind CoV-2 from Twitter and TikTok. The primary focus of the project is to build a deep …

Covid-19 Vaccine Brand Hesitancy And Other Challenges To Vaccination In The Philippines, Arianna Maever L. Amit, Veincent Christian F. Pepito, Lourdes S. Tanchanco, Manuel Dayrit

Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health Publications

Effective and safe COVID-19 vaccines have been developed at a rapid and unprecedented pace to control the spread of the virus, and prevent hospitalisations and deaths. However, COVID-19 vaccine uptake is challenged by vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaccination sentiments, a global shortage of vaccine supply, and inequitable vaccine distribution especially among low- and middle-income countries including the Philippines. In this paper, we explored vaccination narratives and challenges experienced and observed by Filipinos during the early vaccination period. We interviewed 35 individuals from a subsample of 1,599 survey respondents 18 years and older in the Philippines. The interviews were conducted in Filipino, …

Columbus State University Honors College: Senior Theses, Fall 2022/Spring 2023/Summer 2023, Les Anderson, Olympia Badwin, Ian Becerra, Lucy Clarke, Maya Davis, Kaylee Day, Dradley Defore, Rajvi Desai, Hannah Dickerson, Molly Foster, Andrew Holmes, Haley Johnson, Sana Khan, Nicole Kincaid, Kayleen Linge, Keenan Pasqua, Marc Pierre, Richard Rogers, Timothy Sabau, Kaitlyn Shepherd, Havahna Wilkes, Destinee Williams

Senior Theses from the Honors College

This is a collection of senior theses written by honors students at Columbus State University during the Fall 2022, Spring 2023, and Summer 2023 semesters.

Titles:

- "Mise En Scene: Healing Through a Cinematic Lense" , by Les Anderson

- "SCS22: Determining Molecular Function and Its Role in Heat Shock Protection in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae" , by Olympia Badwin

- "The Design and Activity of Novel Antimicrobial Hairpin Peptides" , Ian Becerra

- " Food Justice and Public Health: A Systematic Literature Review of Food Insecurity Prevalence among Black and Indigenous Populations Before and During COVID-19", by Maya Davis

- "The …

Maintaining Social And Emotional Wellbeing Among Older Adults During Periods Of Increased Social Isolation: Lessons From The Covid-19 Pandemic, Brigitta Scarfe, Claire Adams, Eyal Gringart, Daniel Mcaullay, Moira Sim, Natalie Strobel

Research Datasets

Older adults are vulnerable to isolation and poor emotional wellbeing during COVID-19, however, their access to appropriate supports is unknown. The aim of this study was to explore older adults’ experiences accessing social and emotional support during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.

Ten older adults from Western Australia (Australia) aged 68 to 78 years participated in individual semi-structured interviews between December 2020 and January 2021. Responses were investigated using thematic analysis.

Three key themes emerged: adaptability and self-sufficiency; informal support-seeking; and digital and online technologies. Older adults were adaptable to COVID-19 restrictions; however, some were anxious about reconnecting with their …

Environmental Health Responses To Covid 19 In Western Australia: Lessons For The Future, Jacques Oosthuizen, Melissa Stoneham, Toni Hannelly, Edmore Masaka, Giverny Dodds, Victor Andrich

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The COVID-19 pandemic tested the health system of Western Australia (WA) and the relatively new overarching legislative framework that guided the state-wide public health response to the pandemic. This study aimed to evaluate the experiences and roles of environmental health officers (EHOs) in WA during the management of COVID-19 and to identify any policy changes that are needed to facilitate the rapid deployment of EHOs during a future public health crisis. An online survey with 78 respondents was administered and analysis was both qualitative and quantitative. It was found that participants believed there was inadequate resourcing, workforce shortages, increased workloads, …

A Domain-Knowledge Modeling Of Hospital-Acquired Infection Risk In Healthcare Personnel From Retrospective Observational Data: A Case Study For Covid-19, Phat Huynh

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Healthcare personnel (HCP) is facing a consistent risk of viral infections. We proposed a domain-knowledge-driven infection risk model to quantify the individual HCP and the population-level risks. For individual-level risk estimation, a time-variant model was proposed to capture the disease transmission dynamics. At the population-level, the infection risk was estimated using a Bayesian network model constructed from three feature sets. For model validation, we investigated the case study of the Coronavirus disease. The variance-based sensitivity analysis indicated that the uncertainty in the estimated risk was attributed to two variables: the number of close contacts and the viral transmission probability. We …

A Study Of Mutations In Sars-Cov-2 Genomes, Michael Andrew Welford

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-Cov-2 virus has affected the lives of everyone around the world. There has been a rapid appearance of new variants. As the variants affected the efficacy of vaccines, it is important to study the mutations of the variants. A pipeline of tools, SARS-CoV-2 Analyzer, was created to study the mutations in the most mutated S-gene of SARS-Cov-2. Two batches of data were used in this study: all samples available at The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) were downloaded in September 2021 (before the emergence of the first omicron variant) and December 2021 (after …

Coming Off Mute: A Case Study Of Elementary Students' Perceptions Of Remote Learning During The Height Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Karen L. Ladendorf

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this exploratory case study was to understand how elementary students perceived their learning and engagement in a remote learning environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Five students elected to join the study with parental permission, ranging in grades 3rd – 5th. Interviews were conducted on Zoom with the students as well as their teachers and the students were observed during synchronous learning times.Data analysis identified three areas of themes: the remote learning experience, control and power struggles, and preferences for or against remote learning. Within the first area, the remote learning experience, students identified ways to personalize their …

Power In A Pandemic: Teachers’ Unions And Their Responses To School Reopening, Bradley D. Marianno, Annie A. Hemphill, Ana Paula S. Loures-Elias, Libna Garcia, Deanna Cooper, Emily Coombes

Educational Psychology, Leadership, and Higher Education Faculty Research

Drawing on Bachrach and Baratz’s first and second faces of interest group power, we explore the relationship between teachers’ union power and reopening decisions during the fall 2020 semester in 250 large districts around the United States. We leverage a self-collected panel data set of reopening decisions coupled with measures of teachers’ union first face power (drawn from social media postings on teachers’ unions’ Facebook pages) and second face power (operationalized as district size, whether the school district negotiates a collective bargaining agreement with the teachers’ union, the length of the collective bargaining agreement, and the amount of revenue raised …

How Single Mothers Navigated Changes In Role Strain And Role Conflict In Rural Areas During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Scott Miller

Research Papers

No abstract provided.

Metajournalistic Discourse As A Stabilizer Within The Journalistic Field: Journalistic Practice In The Covid-19 Pandemic, Gregory P. Perreault, Mildred F. Perreault, Phoebe Maares

School of Advertising & Mass Communications Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 Pandemic created a two-fold challenge for journalists: first, the task of gathering and distributing information vital to the responses of the public, and second, the challenge of mitigating the complexities of the journalism field. The purpose of this study is to connect the theoretical frameworks of metajournalistic discourse and field theory, using the touch point of journalistic practice. Prior research has postulated that metajournalistic discourse operates as a stabilizing force in the journalistic field. Using the timely test of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study seeks to explore the discursive construction of journalistic practice during a pandemic through the …

The Community School Initiative In Toronto: Mitigating Opportunity Gaps In The Jane And Finch Community In The Wake Of Covid-19, Ardavan Eizadirad, Sally Abudiab, Brice Baartman

Education Faculty Publications

COVID-19 significantly impacted the delivery of education with widespread disruptions, particularly disadvantaging racialized and low-income families. Our research project explored how community-based programming can be adapted and mobilized to mitigate opportunity and achievement gaps for Black, Indigenous, people of colour (BIPOC), and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. The project as a case study examined an afternoon and weekend supplementary academic program called the Community School Initiative (CSI), offered from September 2020 to May 2021 to members of the Jane and Finch community in Toronto, Canada at a subsidized cost. CSI is a partnership between the non-profit organization Youth Association for …

Parental Status As A Modifying Factor In Covid-19 Vaccination Status: A Mixed Methods Approach, Mackenzie Carter

All Master's Theses

Introduction: Vaccines are the best protection against COVID-19 and have been proven to be safe and effective. Parental efforts to protect their children by complying with or refusing pediatric vaccinations have previously been studied. However, the author found little research on how parental status affects the vaccination decisions for the parents. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach and the Health Belief Model, this study examines how parental status influences parental COVID-19 vaccination status. Methods: A local health department conducted a quantitative survey on COVID-19 vaccination attitudes and beliefs from September to October 2021. The COVID-19 vaccination status of parents of …

Why Do Family Members Reject Ai In Health Care? Competing Effects Of Emotions, Eun Hee Park, Karl Werder, Lan Cao, Balasubramaniam Ramesh

Information Technology & Decision Sciences Faculty Publications

Artificial intelligence (AI) enables continuous monitoring of patients’ health, thus improving the quality of their health care. However, prior studies suggest that individuals resist such innovative technology. In contrast to prior studies that investigate individuals’ decisions for themselves, we focus on family members’ rejection of AI monitoring, as family members play a significant role in health care decisions. Our research investigates competing effects of emotions toward the rejection of AI monitoring for health care. Based on two scenario-based experiments, our study reveals that emotions play a decisive role in family members’ decision making on behalf of their parents. We find …

Queer Survival Amidst Hiv/Aids, Covid-19 And Homelessness, Julia Young

Pitzer Senior Theses

The treatment and survival of a society's marginalized peoples reveal the true impacts of a pandemic. An analysis of homeless queer youth during the HIV/AIDS and SARS-CoV-2 crises lays bare the systemic failure of the United States government to provide equitable healthcare.

I compare the HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 pandemics in queer homeless youth to demonstrate the dangers of disease moralization via a sociocultural analyses of disease stigma and responsibility politics. Utilizing syndemic theory I draw on the synergistic relationship between disease and illness to describe the unique challenges queer homeless youth face. A syndemic framework is applied to address common …

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

Reports

No abstract provided.

The Interplay Between Cognitive And Affective Risks In Predicting Covid-19 Precautions: A Longitudinal Representative Study Of Americans, Marie Helweg-Larsen, Laurel M. Peterson, Sarah H. Dimuccio

Psychology Faculty Research and Scholarship

Objective

Cognitive risk figures prominently in models predicting health behaviors, but affective risk is also important. We examined the interplay between cognitive risk (personal likelihood of COVID-19 infection or death) and affective risk (worry about COVID-19) in predicting COVID-19 precautionary behaviors. We also examined how outbreak severity bias (overestimation of the severity of COVID-19 in one’s community) predicted these outcomes.

Design

In a representative sample of U.S. adults (N = 738; Mage = 46.8; 52% women; 78% white), participants who had not had COVID-19 took two online surveys two weeks apart in April 2020.

Main outcome measures

We assessed cognitive …