Expanding the Reach of Wastewater Surveillance through Improved Pathogen Detection and Passive Sampling Methods

Wastewater-based epidemiology has emerged as a critical tool for public health surveillance, building on decades of environmental surveillance work for pathogens such as poliovirus. Work to date has been limited to monitoring a single pathogen or small numbers of pathogens in targeted studies; however, simultaneous analysis of a wide variety of pathogens would greatly increase the utility of wastewater surveillance. Additional characterization of widely used sampling methods, such as Moore swabs, is needed to consider applications of such passive samplers both experimentally and through additional field campaigns. This dissertation intends to 1) develop and demonstrate a scalable method for simultaneous detection of multiple pathogens from wastewater treatment plants in Atlanta, GA and propose a meaningful limit of detection for this matrix; 2) characterize Moore swab sorption behavior to better aid interpretation of passive sampling data; and 3) compare common active and passive sampling methods in waste streams from Maputo, Mozambique. Our data suggest broad utility in expanding the scope of pathogen surveillance in wastewaters, with potential for application in a variety of settings where pathogen quantification in fecal waste streams can inform public health surveillance and selection of control measures to limit infections. Key findings include: i) we detected a wide range of targets in Atlanta wastewater including SARS-CoV-2, but also several pathogen targets that are not commonly included in wastewater surveillance like Acanthamoeba spp., Balantidium coli, Entamoeba histolytica, astrovirus, norovirus, and sapovirus; ii) adsorption behavior of Moore swab passive sampling methods are best characterized under the Redlich-Peterson isotherm model, retaining highest viral RNA concentrations after deployment between 9-12 hours in the presence of stable densities of target microbes under controlled laboratory conditions; iii) and active sampling and passive sampling have unique advantages and disadvantages logistically and based on microbial target class for detection of up to 47 gene targets simultaneously under real-world conditions in Maputo, Mozambique.Doctor of Philosoph

IMMEDIATE SHORTEST BESIDE AREA SEARCH WITH QUERY PROCESS

Conventional spatial queries, such as range search and nearest neighbor retrieval, involve only conditions on objects’ geometric properties. Today, many modern applications call for novel forms of queries that aim to find objects satisfying both a spatial predicate, and a predicate on their associated texts. For example, instead of considering all the restaurants, a nearest neighbor query would instead ask for the restaurant that is the closest among those whose menus contain “steak, spaghetti, brandy” all at the same time. Currently the best solution to such queries is based on the IR2-tree, which, as shown in this paper, has a few deficiencies that seriously impact its efficiency. Motivated by this, we develop a new access method called the spatial inverted index that extends the conventional inverted index to cope with multidimensional data, and comes with algorithms that can answer nearest neighbor queries with keywords in real time. As verified by experiments, the proposed techniques outperform the IR2-tree in query response time significantly, often by a factor of orders of magnitude

Modeling and Simulation Of Transformer-less Grid Connected Photovoltaic System With Artificial Neural Network Based Power Converter

This paper describes a novel transformer less  grid connected  ANN based power  converter  with  negative grounding for a photovoltaic generation system. The negative terminal of the solar cell array can be directly connected to the ground in the proposed grid-connected power converter to avoid the transparent conducting oxide corrosion that occurs in some types of thin-film solar cell array.   The   proposed   grid-connected   power converter consists of a dc–dc power converter and a dc–ac inverter. The salient features of the proposed power converter are that some power electronic switches are simultaneously used in both the dc–dc power converter and dc–ac inverter, and only two power electronic switches operate at high switching frequency at the same time (one is in the dc–dc power converter and the other is in the dc–ac inverter). The leakage current of the photovoltaic generation system  is reduced because the negative terminal of the solar cell array is connected directly to the ground. Finally, a prototype was developed to verify the performance of the proposed grid- connected power converter.  Performance of the proposed ANN based grid-connected power converter is verified using MATLAB/SIMULINK

COVID-19: Policy Interventions and Socio-economic Impact in Andhra Pradesh, India

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed several lives and has already adversely affected the livelihoods of millions of vulnerable households. This policy brief surveys the current status of the disease, its spread and its likely socio-economic effects in the context of Andhra Pradesh, India. Given the global scope of the shock, the policy brief emphasizes the need for innovative and bold policy measures, particularly from the states’ perspective

Effect of Organic Manures and Biofertilizers on Herb Yield and Economics of Kalmegh (Andrographis panniculata Wall. Ex. Nees. ) var. CIM Megha

Aim: To study the effect of organic manures and biofertilizers on growth, herb yield and economics of kalmegh. Study Design: The experiment was carried out with 13 treatments in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications. Place and Duration of Study: The research trial was carried out at P.G students research block, College of Horticulture, Rajendranagar, SKLTSHU, Hyderabad during Kharif, 2021. Results: Among the organic and biofertilizer treatments combinations the results reported that the (T6): 75 % N through VC + 12.5 % N through NC + 12.5 % N through PM + AMC recorded the highest herb yield and Benefit cost ratio compared to other treatments. Conclusion: Organic produce fetches higher price in market compared to inorganic produce, which helped in increasing the gross returns, net returns and highest B:C ratio

COVID-19: Policy Interventions and Socio-economic Impact in Andhra Pradesh, India

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed several lives and has already adversely affected the livelihoods of millions of vulnerable households. This policy brief surveys the current status of the disease, its spread and its likely socio-economic effects in the context of Andhra Pradesh, India. Given the global scope of the shock, the policy brief emphasizes the need for innovative and bold policy measures, particularly from the states’ perspective

Spatial Variability of Escherichia coli in Rivers of Northern Coastal Ecuador

The use of contaminated surface water continues to be a pressing issue in areas of the world where people lack improved drinking water sources. In northern coastal Ecuador, many communities rely on untreated surface water as their primary source of drinking water. We undertook a study to explore how microscale river hydrodynamics affect microbial water quality at community water collection locations at three rivers with varying stream velocity and turbidity profiles. To examine how the distance from river shore and physiochemical water quality variables affect microbial contamination levels in the rivers; we collected a total of 355 water samples within six villages on three rivers; and tested for Escherichia coli concentrations using the IDEXX Quanti-tray method. We found that log10 E. coli concentrations decreased with increasing distance from shore (? = ?0.017; p = 0.003). Water in the main channel had E. coli concentrations on average 0.12 log10 lower than within eddies along the river shore and 0.27 log10 lower between the sample closest to shore and any sample >6 m from the shore. Higher E. coli concentrations were also significantly associated with increased turbidity (? = 0.003; p < 0.0001) and decreased dissolved oxygen levels (? = ?0.310; p < 0.0001). The results of this study can help inform community members about the safest locations to collect drinking water and also provide information on watershed scale transport of microbial contaminants between village

Performance of Gluconate and Lactate Based Formulations on Plant Growth and Yield Attributes in Maize (Zea mays L.)

Aim: To check the efficacy of gluconate and lactate based formulations on plant growth and yield characteristics of maize. Place and Duration of Study: School of Agricultural Sciences, Malla Reddy University, Hyderabad, spring 2021. Methodology: The experiment was laid-out in Randomized Block Design (RBD), with Maize hybrid (DHM-117) spacing adopted (60 x 20 cm) with 4 replications. The treatments viz; T1: Control (No fertilizer), T2:100% RDF, T3: 75% RDF + 25% Sahasra Organic Formulations (SOF), T4:50% RDF + 50% SOF, T5: 25% RDF + 75% SOF, T6: 100% SOF. The RDF (N:72-80; P:24; K:20 kg/acre). Results: The yield attributes were recorded intermittently and maximum grain yield (7,649.8 kg &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ha-1) and Stover yield (8,859.87 kg ha-1) were recorded with T2 (100% RDF), followed by T3 (75% RDF + 25% Sahasra Organic Formulations). Similarly gross returns (₹ 123606.5 ha-1), net returns (₹ 87116.49 ha-1) and B: C (3.4) ratio was also recorded highest in T2 followed by T3 (75% RDF + 25 % SOF), while the lowest were recorded with T1 (control). Conclusion: Adoption of gluconate and lactate based formulations enhanced soil fertility, soil organic carbon and yield in Maize crop. The study concluded that the integrated approach i.e., T3 (75% RDF + 25% SOF) has realized the highest net returns (₹ 82466.8 ha-1) and B: C ratio (3.4) in comparison to the 100% RDF treatment thus reducing the cost of fertilizers and benefiting the net returns to the farmers

A behaviour change intervention with lipid-based nutrient supplements had little impact on young child feeding indicators in rural Kenya.

Poor infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices are associated with linear growth faltering. Our objective was to evaluate the impact of a nutrition and water and sanitation for health intervention on three IYCF indicators-minimum dietary diversity (MDD), minimum meal frequency (MMF), and minimum acceptable diet (MAD) in Kenyan children. Households were randomized into one of eight groups: (a) active control; (b) passive control; (c) water quality (W); (d) sanitation (S); (e) handwashing (H); (f) combined Water, Sanitation, and Handwashing; (g) nutrition (N); and (h) combined WSH&nbsp;+&nbsp;N. In the N and WSH&nbsp;+&nbsp;N arms, community-based promoters counselled households on optimal IYCF practices, and small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS) were provided to children 6-24&nbsp;months of age. Twelve months (Year 1) and 24&nbsp;months (Year 2) after interventions began, enumerators surveyed mothers to ascertain IYCF practices. We made pairwise comparisons of each intervention arm versus the active control arm using log binomial models. In total, 3,652 caretakers were surveyed at Year 1 and 4,987 caretakers at Year 2. Compared with the active control, there were no differences in any of the arms in MDD, MMF, or MAD, aside from an increase in MDD at Year 1 in the nutrition only arm but not in the combined WSH&nbsp;+&nbsp;N arm (N: 68%; WSH&nbsp;+&nbsp;N: 61%; C: 61%; N arm prevalence ratio: 1.13 95% CI [1.01, 1.25]). In this setting, a nutrition behaviour change communication intervention had little impact on IYCF indicators. The provision of SQ-LNS was not detrimental to current IYCF indicators in the community