Yellow "Take a break (and a bookmark)" poster

These posters were created to encourage students to practice healthy habits during busy weeks and exam seasons

"Neon summer colors, "We're here to help" BU Libraries poster

Poster promoting BU Libraries research services for students

Blue hues "You're doing great" posters

These posters were created to encourage students during exam season

"Laptop glitch" Library Horror Stories posters

These posters were created to make BU students aware of the library resources available for them on campus

CinemaAfriq@BU: "Liyana" film screening posters

These posters were created to promote a screening of a documentary, "Liyana," presented by BU Libraries and the African Studies Center

"Red swirl" Congrats, Grads 2019 posters

These posters were created to congratulate Boston University's class of 2019

Study of Beamwidth Variation of Dipole Array Antenna for Microwave Scanning of Biological Target

A broadside quarter wave dipole array antenna has been proposed for microwave scanning of biological body with high contrast in complex permittivity in the near field region. The dimension of inhomogeneities in complex permittivity in different cells of biological target is of the order of millimeter, so the spatial resolution required for medical imaging will be at the same millimeter range. Hence to increase the resolution of the microwave imaging system the beamwidth of the interrogating wave should be minimized. Two different approaches have been studied here for the reduction of beamwidth of near field pattern of dipole array antenna. In the first case the operating frequency is kept constant at 2.4 GHz and the variation of beamwidth has been observed for five different sets of dipole array elements. Beamwidth decreases with the increase of number of array elements. In the second approach the variation of beamwidth of antenna field pattern has been studied with different values of operating frequencies from 2 GHz to 5 GHz while number of dipole elements in the array remains fixed. The beamwidth decreases with the increase of operating frequency

Wastewater Based Epidemiology Perspective as a Faster Protocol for Detecting Coronavirus RNA in Human Populations: A Review with Specific Reference to SARS-CoV-2 Virus

Abstract: Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has a long history of identifying a variety of viruses from poliovirus to coronaviruses, including novel Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The presence and detection of SARS-CoV-2 in human feces and its passage into the water bodies are significant public health challenges. Hence, the hot issue of WBE of SARS-CoV-2 in the coronavirus respiratory disease (COVID-19) pandemic is a matter of utmost importance (e.g., SARS-CoV-1). The present review discusses the background, state of the art, actual status, and prospects of WBE, as well as the detection and quantification protocols of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. The SARS-CoV-2 detection studies have been performed in different water matrixes such as influent and effluent of wastewater treatment plants, suburban pumping stations, hospital wastewater, and sewer networks around the globe except for Antarctica. The findings revealed that all WBE studies were in accordance with clinical and epidemiological data, which correlates the presence of SARS-CoV-2 ribonucleic acid (RNA) with the number of new daily positive cases officially reported. This last was confirmed via Reverse Transcriptase-quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR) testing which unfortunately is not suitable for real-time surveillance. In addition, WBE concept may act as a faster protocol to alert the public health authorities to take administrative orders (possible re-emerging infections) due to the impracticality of testing all citizens in a short time with limited diagnostic facilities. A comprehensive and integrated review covering all steps starting from sampling to molecular detection of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater has been made to guide for the development well-defined and reliable protocols

Reaching the poor with health interventions: Programme-incidence analysis of seven randomised trials of women's groups to reduce newborn mortality in Asia and Africa

Background Efforts to end preventable newborn deaths will fail if the poor are not reached with effective interventions. To understand what works to reach vulnerable groups, we describe and explain the uptake of a highly effective community-based newborn health intervention across social strata in Asia and Africa. Methods We conducted a secondary analysis of seven randomised trials of participatory women's groups to reduce newborn mortality in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Malawi. We analysed data on 70 574 pregnancies. Socioeconomic and sociodemographic differences in group attendance were tested using logistic regression. Qualitative data were collected at each trial site (225 focus groups, 20 interviews) to understand our results. Results Socioeconomic differences in women's group attendance were small, except for occasional lower attendance by elites. Sociodemographic differences were large, with lower attendance by young primigravid women in African as well as in South Asian sites. The intervention was considered relevant and interesting to all socioeconomic groups. Local facilitators ensured inclusion of poorer women. Embarrassment and family constraints on movement outside the home restricted attendance among primigravid women. Reproductive health discussions were perceived as inappropriate for them. Conclusions Community-based women's groups can help to reach every newborn with effective interventions. Equitable intervention uptake is enhanced when facilitators actively encourage all women to attend, organise meetings at the participants' convenience and use approaches that are easily understandable for the less educated. Focused efforts to include primigravid women are necessary, working with families and communities to decrease social taboos

"Textured red background" Welcome back posters

These posters were created to welcome the BU community back to campus