17,379 research outputs found
Does the negative binomial distribution add up?
No full textThe negative binomial distribution (NBD) is widely used to describe the distribution of parasitic helminths in a number of host individuals and has proved a useful, though possibly overused, empirical and theoretical device. It is therefore important that the limits to the applicability of the NBD be clearly defined. In this paper, Alan Grafen and Mark Woolhouse consider applications of the NBD in situations where either the host or parasite population can be divided into subpopulations of different types (eg. by age, sex or genotype), and they describe the relationships between the frequency distributions relevant to the different subpopulations and those relevant to the total population
The Story of "Me" Contemporary American Autofiction
No full textCover -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Masculinity, Whiteness, and Postmodern Self-Consciousness -- 2. Rage against the Dying of the Author -- 3. The New Journalism as the New Fiction -- 4. Trauma Autofiction, Dissociation, and the Authenticity of "Real" Experience -- 5. Memoir vs. Autofiction as the Story of Me vs. the Story of "Me" -- Coda -- Appendix -- Notes -- References -- IndexDescription based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, YYYY. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries
Remember Me A Novella about Finding Our Way to the Cross
No full textShades of Light.Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Dedication Page -- Contents -- 1 The Word Became Flesh -- 2 The Gift of Myrrh -- 3 Taking the Cup -- 4 With a Kiss -- 5 Awakened -- 6 Accused -- 7 Bearing the Cross -- 8 Lament -- 9 Stripped -- 10 Pierced -- 11 It Is Finished -- 12 Into Your Hands -- 13 Buried -- 14 Risen -- Epilogue -- Journey to the Cross -- Acknowledgments -- Also Available -- Praise for Remember Me -- About the Author -- More Titles from InterVarsity PressShades of Light.Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, YYYY. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries
"Test me and treat me" - attitudes to vitamin D deficiency and supplementation: a qualitative study
No full text© 2015 BMJ Open, "Test me and treat me"-attitudes to vitamin D deficiency and supplementation: a qualitative study. This manuscript version is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution Licens
Reactions of co-ordinated Ligands. Part 56. Synthesis and Reactivity of [Mo{eta3,eta3-CH(Me)C(Me)CHCHC(Me)CH2}(CO)(eta-C5H5)][BF4] formed by Coupling of But-2-yne and Isoprene Ligands; Reactions of [Mo(eta2-C2H4)(eta2-MeC2Me)(CO)(eta-C5H5)][BF4]
No full textBook of the month: Kennetta Hammond Perry's London is the Place for Me
No full textAuthor: Desmond L. Kemp Indiana University Purdue University Our book recommendation of the month is London is the Place for me whereby activism in London and America has been an ongoing challenge for Black people. Perry delivers a solid account of how post-war Afro-Caribbean migrants resisted British racism to establish their citizenship in England. The introduction begins with a calypso music tribute in "Windrush Politics", sets the tone of social history for migrants with a tale of the arr..
Remind Me to Investigate
No full textPolitical cartoon depicting United States Senator James O. Eastland of Mississippi dictating to his secretary, Remind Me to Investigate the Ole Miss Affair, My Findings Will Be as Follows; Source: unknown; Unknown datehttps://egrove.olemiss.edu/jws_clip/1054/thumbnail.jp
Dynamics of Network Formation Processes in the Co-Author Model
No full textThis article studies the dynamics in the formation processes of a mutual consent network in game theory setting: the Co-Author Model. In this article, a limited observation is applied and analytical results are derived. Then, 2 parameters are varied: the number of individuals in the network and the initial probability of the links in the network in its initial state. A simulation result shows a finding that is consistent with an analytical result for a state of equilibrium while it also shows different possible equilibria.Dynamics, Network, Game Theory, Model,Simulation, Equilibrium, Complexity
Metagenomic surveillance of viruses at the human-animal interface
No full textZoonotic viruses are a major contributor to emerging infectious diseases, and continuously
burden public health systems. Early detection and effective response to viral emergence
require an overview of what viruses are circulating in animal hosts, which of these can and
do infect at-risk human populations, and which pose the greatest risk of further spread.
However, knowledge of such epidemiological patterns is generally biased towards known
pathogens of humans and of economically important livestock species. With metagenomic
sequencing, one can begin to address these biases by generating a more representative
picture of what viruses are present in different host species living in a shared environment.
Vietnam is considered a high-risk setting for the emergence of zoonoses, due to its high
population and livestock densities and the prevalence of socio-cultural practices involving
frequent close contacts between humans, livestock and wildlife. The Vietnam Initiative on
Zoonotic Infections (VIZIONS) was established to improve our understanding of zoonotic
emergence in this context. Over 2000 faecal samples and rectal swabs were collected from
humans and a variety of farmed animals, and subjected to metagenomic sequencing. In this
thesis, I use viral taxonomic classification methods to identify and characterise the viruses
present in these samples. I investigate any signals for (putative) zoonotic viruses, and assess
whether they could represent emerging public health threats. I also evaluate the roles and
challenges of metagenomic surveillance for emerging viruses at the human-animal interface.
The first part of this thesis focuses on the development and testing of a viral taxonomic
classification pipeline. I describe the basic steps of this pipeline, and the rationale behind the
chosen methods. Next, I test the pipeline on a subset of samples and viruses for which
diagnostic quantitative PCR (qPCR) data were available for comparison. Receiver operating
characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the pipeline accurately distinguishes qPCR positive from qPCR-negative samples, and read pair counts correlate well with qPCR cycle
threshold values. Investigation of samples with discordant qPCR and metagenomic results
indicated that taxonomic misclassification by the pipeline plays a minor role in these
discrepancies. Additionally, I found that, for each of the tested viruses, negative samples have
variable read pair counts (“background noise”) that correlate with the total number of read
pairs assigned to the virus across all samples of the same sequencing run. I hypothesise that
this is due to “index switching”, a form of cross-contamination, and model the association.
The findings of these investigations allow me to incorporate additional steps into the pipeline
to counteract misclassification, and to use signal thresholds that take into account the effect
of index switching cross-contamination.
In the second part of this thesis, I focus on the characterisation of viruses identified with the
taxonomic classification pipeline. I present an overview of the mammalian viruses found in
samples from humans, swine and rats from Dong Thap province. After removing likely
contaminants, I categorize the remaining viruses according to their zoonotic potential. Seven
of these viruses are known or generally presumed to be zoonotic; three are only found in the
animal study populations, but four – Rotavirus A, Picobirnavirus, Human associated cyclovirus
8, and Mammalian orthoreovirus – are shared between human and animal populations.
Comparison of signals suggests that viral chatter (Rotavirus A) and cross-species transmission
within a more generalist ecology (Picobirnavirus, Human associated cyclovirus 8) are
plausible in this setting. Additionally, three putative novel zoonoses are identified, but
knowledge gaps hinder extensive interpretation. I evaluate the relevance of these 10
zoonotic and putative novel zoonotic viruses as potential emerging public health threats, and
highlight the knowledge gaps that need to be addressed before the risks of these viruses can
be properly assessed.
Finally, I interpret my findings in the general context of disease emergence, and evaluate the
roles and challenges of viral metagenomics as a tool in the surveillance for emerging
infectious disease
Potential for epidemic take-off from the primary outbreak farm via livestock movements
No full textBackground
We consider the potential for infection to spread in a farm population from the primary outbreak farm via livestock movements prior to disease detection. We analyse how this depends on the time of the year infection occurs, the species transmitting, the length of infectious period on the primary outbreak farm, location of the primary outbreak, and whether a livestock market becomes involved. We consider short infectious periods of 1 week, 2 weeks and 4 weeks, characteristic of acute contagious livestock diseases. The analysis is based on farms in Scotland from 1 January 2003 to 31 July 2007.
Results
The proportion of primary outbreaks from which an acute contagious disease would spread via movement of livestock is generally low, but exhibits distinct annual cyclicity with peaks in May and August. The distance that livestock are moved varies similarly: at the time of the year when the potential for spread via movements is highest, the geographical spread via movements is largest. The seasonal patterns for cattle differ from those for sheep whilst there is no obvious seasonality for pigs. When spread via movements does occur, there is a high risk of infection reaching a livestock market; infection of markets can amplify disease spread. The proportion of primary outbreaks that would spread infection via livestock movements varies significantly between geographical regions.
Conclusions
In this paper we introduce a set-up for analysis of movement data that allows for a generalized assessment of the risk associated with infection spreading from a primary outbreak farm via livestock movements, applying this to Scotland, we assess how this risk depends upon the time of the year, species transmitting, location of the farm and other factors
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