ASSESSING RURAL COMMUNITY VIABILITY AN EXPERIMENTAL MODEL

Community/Rural/Urban Development,

Identifying influential spreaders and efficiently estimating infection numbers in epidemic models: a walk counting approach

We introduce a new method to efficiently approximate the number of infections resulting from a given initially-infected node in a network of susceptible individuals. Our approach is based on counting the number of possible infection walks of various lengths to each other node in the network. We analytically study the properties of our method, in particular demonstrating different forms for SIS and SIR disease spreading (e.g. under the SIR model our method counts self-avoiding walks). In comparison to existing methods to infer the spreading efficiency of different nodes in the network (based on degree, k-shell decomposition analysis and different centrality measures), our method directly considers the spreading process and, as such, is unique in providing estimation of actual numbers of infections. Crucially, in simulating infections on various real-world networks with the SIR model, we show that our walks-based method improves the inference of effectiveness of nodes over a wide range of infection rates compared to existing methods. We also analyse the trade-off between estimate accuracy and computational cost, showing that the better accuracy here can still be obtained at a comparable computational cost to other methods.Comment: 6 page

On the Computational Complexity of Measuring Global Stability of Banking Networks

Threats on the stability of a financial system may severely affect the functioning of the entire economy, and thus considerable emphasis is placed on the analyzing the cause and effect of such threats. The financial crisis in the current and past decade has shown that one important cause of instability in global markets is the so-called financial contagion, namely the spreading of instabilities or failures of individual components of the network to other, perhaps healthier, components. This leads to a natural question of whether the regulatory authorities could have predicted and perhaps mitigated the current economic crisis by effective computations of some stability measure of the banking networks. Motivated by such observations, we consider the problem of defining and evaluating stabilities of both homogeneous and heterogeneous banking networks against propagation of synchronous idiosyncratic shocks given to a subset of banks. We formalize the homogeneous banking network model of Nier et al. and its corresponding heterogeneous version, formalize the synchronous shock propagation procedures, define two appropriate stability measures and investigate the computational complexities of evaluating these measures for various network topologies and parameters of interest. Our results and proofs also shed some light on the properties of topologies and parameters of the network that may lead to higher or lower stabilities.Comment: to appear in Algorithmic

DASHing into a Healthier Life

Almost half of all US adults have hypertension (high blood pressure), which is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Hypertension can be controlled through a combination of diet, exercise, and medications. The DASH diet has been proven to lower blood pressure in as little as two weeks. I created a brochure and Epic SmartPhrase that explains and simplifies the DASH diet for patients.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/fmclerk/1830/thumbnail.jp

Morphosyntactic processing in late second-language learners

The goal of the present study was to investigate the electro- physiological correlates of second-language (L2) morphosyn- tactic processing in highly proficient late learners of an L2 with long exposure to the L2 environment. ERPs were col- lected from 22 English–Spanish late learners while they read sentences in which morphosyntactic features of the L2 present or not present in the first language (number and gender agree- ment, respectively) were manipulated at two different sentence positions—within and across phrases. The results for a control group of age-matched native-speaker Spanish participants in- cluded an ERP pattern of LAN-type early negativity followed by P600 effect in response to both agreement violations and for both sentence positions. The late L2 learner results included a similar pattern, consisting of early negativity followed by P600, in the first sentence position (within-phrase agreement viola- tions) but only P600 effects in the second sentence position (across-phrase agreement violation), as well as significant am- plitude and onset latency differences between the gender and the number violation effects in both sentence positions. These results reveal that highly proficient learners can show electro- physiological correlates during L2 processing that are qualita- tively similar to those of native speakers, but the results also indicate the contribution of factors such as age of acquisition and transfer processes from first language to L

Singular Value Decomposition of Operators on Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces

Reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces (RKHSs) play an important role in many statistics and machine learning applications ranging from support vector machines to Gaussian processes and kernel embeddings of distributions. Operators acting on such spaces are, for instance, required to embed conditional probability distributions in order to implement the kernel Bayes rule and build sequential data models. It was recently shown that transfer operators such as the Perron-Frobenius or Koopman operator can also be approximated in a similar fashion using covariance and cross-covariance operators and that eigenfunctions of these operators can be obtained by solving associated matrix eigenvalue problems. The goal of this paper is to provide a solid functional analytic foundation for the eigenvalue decomposition of RKHS operators and to extend the approach to the singular value decomposition. The results are illustrated with simple guiding examples

The complex TIE between macrophages and angiogenesis

Macrophages are primarily known as phagocytic immune cells, but they also play a role in diverse processes, such as morphogenesis, homeostasis and regeneration. In this review, we discuss the influence of macrophages on angiogenesis, the process of new blood vessel formation from the pre-existing vasculature. Macrophages play crucial roles at each step of the angiogenic cascade, starting from new blood vessel sprouting to the remodelling of the vascular plexus and vessel maturation. Macrophages form promising targets for both pro- and anti-angiogenic treatments. However, to target macrophages, we will first need to understand the mechanisms that control the functional plasticity of macrophages during each of the steps of the angiogenic cascade. Here, we review recent insights in this topic. Special attention will be given to the TIE2-expressing macrophage (TEM), which is a subtype of highly angiogenic macrophages that is able to influence angiogenesis via the angiopoietin-TIE pathway

Dynamical Patterns of Cattle Trade Movements

Despite their importance for the spread of zoonotic diseases, our understanding of the dynamical aspects characterizing the movements of farmed animal populations remains limited as these systems are traditionally studied as static objects and through simplified approximations. By leveraging on the network science approach, here we are able for the first time to fully analyze the longitudinal dataset of Italian cattle movements that reports the mobility of individual animals among farms on a daily basis. The complexity and inter-relations between topology, function and dynamical nature of the system are characterized at different spatial and time resolutions, in order to uncover patterns and vulnerabilities fundamental for the definition of targeted prevention and control measures for zoonotic diseases. Results show how the stationarity of statistical distributions coexists with a strong and non-trivial evolutionary dynamics at the node and link levels, on all timescales. Traditional static views of the displacement network hide important patterns of structural changes affecting nodes' centrality and farms' spreading potential, thus limiting the efficiency of interventions based on partial longitudinal information. By fully taking into account the longitudinal dimension, we propose a novel definition of dynamical motifs that is able to uncover the presence of a temporal arrow describing the evolution of the system and the causality patterns of its displacements, shedding light on mechanisms that may play a crucial role in the definition of preventive actions

Dynamical Patterns of Cattle Trade Movements

Despite their importance for the spread of zoonotic diseases, our understanding of the dynamical aspects characterizing the movements of farmed animal populations remains limited as these systems are traditionally studied as static objects and through simplified approximations. By leveraging on the network science approach, here we are able for the first time to fully analyze the longitudinal dataset of Italian cattle movements that reports the mobility of individual animals among farms on a daily basis. The complexity and inter-relations between topology, function and dynamical nature of the system are characterized at different spatial and time resolutions, in order to uncover patterns and vulnerabilities fundamental for the definition of targeted prevention and control measures for zoonotic diseases. Results show how the stationarity of statistical distributions coexists with a strong and non-trivial evolutionary dynamics at the node and link levels, on all timescales. Traditional static views of the displacement network hide important patterns of structural changes affecting nodes' centrality and farms' spreading potential, thus limiting the efficiency of interventions based on partial longitudinal information. By fully taking into account the longitudinal dimension, we propose a novel definition of dynamical motifs that is able to uncover the presence of a temporal arrow describing the evolution of the system and the causality patterns of its displacements, shedding light on mechanisms that may play a crucial role in the definition of preventive actions

Stories of Critical Moments Contributing to the Development of Applied Sport Psychology Practitioners

This study explored the stories of critical moments experienced by applied sport psychology practitioners. The 13 recruited practitioners (eight male and five female) were in different stages of their development (trainee, neophyte, and experienced) and were asked to tell one story about a critical moment that significantly contributed to their development as applied practitioners. Narrative analysis was used to explore the stories of critical moments. Four distinct narrative structures were evident; Re-birth, Rags to Riches, Tragedy, and The Quest. There was one consistent narrative feature that supported these plots: critical moments contribute towards an alignment between a practitioner’s beliefs and behaviour, which supports the development of a congruent philosophy of practice and the environment they choose to work within. We recommend future research, such as the use of narrative analysis to explore alternative narrative structures and the investigation of successful and unsuccessful consultancy experiences