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Human Ecology

College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Faculty Publications

2013

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health

Happiness And The Patterns Of Life: A Study Of Geolocated Tweets, Morgan R. Frank, Lewis Mitchell, Peter Sheridan Dodds, Christopher M. Danforth Sep 2013

Happiness And The Patterns Of Life: A Study Of Geolocated Tweets, Morgan R. Frank, Lewis Mitchell, Peter Sheridan Dodds, Christopher M. Danforth

College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Faculty Publications

The patterns of life exhibited by large populations have been described and modeled both as a basic science exercise and for a range of applied goals such as reducing automotive congestion, improving disaster response, and even predicting the location of individuals. However, these studies have had limited access to conversation content, rendering changes in expression as a function of movement invisible. In addition, they typically use the communication between a mobile phone and its nearest antenna tower to infer position, limiting the spatial resolution of the data to the geographical region serviced by each cellphone tower. We use a collection …


Dynamical Influence Processes On Networks: General Theory And Applications To Social Contagion, Kameron Decker Harris, Christopher M. Danforth, Peter Sheridan Dodds Aug 2013

Dynamical Influence Processes On Networks: General Theory And Applications To Social Contagion, Kameron Decker Harris, Christopher M. Danforth, Peter Sheridan Dodds

College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Faculty Publications

We study binary state dynamics on a network where each node acts in response to the average state of its neighborhood. By allowing varying amounts of stochasticity in both the network and node responses, we find different outcomes in random and deterministic versions of the model. In the limit of a large, dense network, however, we show that these dynamics coincide. We construct a general mean-field theory for random networks and show this predicts that the dynamics on the network is a smoothed version of the average response function dynamics. Thus, the behavior of the system can range from steady …


Linking Environmental Variability To Village-Scale Malaria Transmission Using A Simple Immunity Model, Teresa K. Yamana, Arne Bomblies, Ibrahim M. Laminou, Jean Bernard Duchemin, Elfatih A.B. Eltahir Aug 2013

Linking Environmental Variability To Village-Scale Malaria Transmission Using A Simple Immunity Model, Teresa K. Yamana, Arne Bomblies, Ibrahim M. Laminou, Jean Bernard Duchemin, Elfatih A.B. Eltahir

College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Individuals continuously exposed to malaria gradually acquire immunity that protects from severe disease and high levels of parasitization. Acquired immunity has been incorporated into numerous models of malaria transmission of varying levels of complexity (e.g. Bull World Health Organ 50:347, 1974; Am J Trop Med Hyg 75:19, 2006; Math Biosci 90:385-396, 1988). Most such models require prescribing inputs of mosquito biting rates or other entomological or epidemiological information. Here, we present a model with a novel structure that uses environmental controls of mosquito population dynamics to simulate the mosquito biting rates, malaria prevalence as well as variability in protective …


The Geography Of Happiness: Connecting Twitter Sentiment And Expression, Demographics, And Objective Characteristics Of Place, Lewis Mitchell, Morgan R. Frank, Kameron Decker Harris, Peter Sheridan Dodds, Christopher M. Danforth May 2013

The Geography Of Happiness: Connecting Twitter Sentiment And Expression, Demographics, And Objective Characteristics Of Place, Lewis Mitchell, Morgan R. Frank, Kameron Decker Harris, Peter Sheridan Dodds, Christopher M. Danforth

College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Faculty Publications

We conduct a detailed investigation of correlations between real-time expressions of individuals made across the United States and a wide range of emotional, geographic, demographic, and health characteristics. We do so by combining (1) a massive, geo-tagged data set comprising over 80 million words generated in 2011 on the social network service Twitter and (2) annually-surveyed characteristics of all 50 states and close to 400 urban populations. Among many results, we generate taxonomies of states and cities based on their similarities in word use; estimate the happiness levels of states and cities; correlate highly-resolved demographic characteristics with happiness levels; and …


Limited Imitation Contagion On Random Networks: Chaos, Universality, And Unpredictability, Peter Sheridan Dodds, Kameron Decker Harris, Christopher M. Danforth Apr 2013

Limited Imitation Contagion On Random Networks: Chaos, Universality, And Unpredictability, Peter Sheridan Dodds, Kameron Decker Harris, Christopher M. Danforth

College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Faculty Publications

We study a family of binary state, socially inspired contagion models which incorporate imitation limited by an aversion to complete conformity. We uncover rich behavior in our models whether operating with either probabilistic or deterministic individual response functions on both dynamic and fixed random networks. In particular, we find significant variation in the limiting behavior of a population's infected fraction, ranging from steady state to chaotic. We show that period doubling arises as we increase the average node degree, and that the universality class of this well-known route to chaos depends on the interaction structure of random networks rather than …


Ecohealth Interventions Limit Triatomine Reinfestation Following Insecticide Spraying In La Brea, Guatemala, David E. Lucero, Leslie A. Morrissey, Donna M. Rizzo, Antonieta Rodas, Roberto Garnica, Lori Stevens, Dulce M. Bustamante, Maria Carlota Monroy Apr 2013

Ecohealth Interventions Limit Triatomine Reinfestation Following Insecticide Spraying In La Brea, Guatemala, David E. Lucero, Leslie A. Morrissey, Donna M. Rizzo, Antonieta Rodas, Roberto Garnica, Lori Stevens, Dulce M. Bustamante, Maria Carlota Monroy

College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Faculty Publications

In this study, we evaluate the effect of participatory Ecohealth interventions on domestic reinfestation of the Chagas disease vector Triatoma dimidiata after village-wide suppression of the vector population using a residual insecticide. The study was conducted in the rural community of La Brea, Guatemala between 2002 and 2009 where vector infestation was analyzed within a spatial data framework based on entomological and socio-economic surveys of homesteads within the village. Participatory interventions focused on community awareness and low-cost home improvements using local materials to limit areas of refuge and alternative blood meals for the vector within the home, and potential shelter …


Risk Factors Associated With Clinical Malaria Episodes In Bangladesh: A Longitudinal Study, Ubydul Haque, Gregory E. Glass, Arne Bomblies, Masahiro Hashizume, Dipak Mitra, Nawajish Noman, Waziul Haque, M. Moktadir Kabir, Taro Yamamoto, Hans J. Overgaard Apr 2013

Risk Factors Associated With Clinical Malaria Episodes In Bangladesh: A Longitudinal Study, Ubydul Haque, Gregory E. Glass, Arne Bomblies, Masahiro Hashizume, Dipak Mitra, Nawajish Noman, Waziul Haque, M. Moktadir Kabir, Taro Yamamoto, Hans J. Overgaard

College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Faculty Publications

Malaria is endemic to Bangladesh. In this longitudinal study, we used hydrologic, topographic, and socioeconomic risk factors to explain single and multiple malaria infections at individual and household levels. Malaria incidence was determined for 1,634 households in 54 villages in 2009 and 2010. During the entire study period 21.8% of households accounted for all (n = 497) malaria cases detected; 15.4% of households had 1 case and 6.4% had ≥2 cases. The greatest risk factors for malaria infection were low bed net ratio per household, house construction materials (wall), and high density of houses. Hydrologic and topographic factors were not …