A Network Pandemic: Exploring the effects of Social Connectedness on the spread of COVID-19 in the United States

Social interactions influence the way we think and act. Recent literature on COVID-19 and social connectedness explores how social interactions influence people’s perceptions of the risk from COVID-19 and their behaviors. This paper seeks to investigate how social connectedness, political ideologies, and physical interaction are associated with local COVID-19 case and death rates at the US county level. Social connectedness, as defined by (Bailey et al, 2018) measures connectedness between US counties based on Facebook friendship links. I examine whether a county’s average social connectedness to other counties, as determined by the Facebook index, has an impact on its own COVID-19 cases and deaths per 100,000 people. I also examine whether a county’s social connectedness to other counties that are in the top quartile for Republican voter percent or top quartile for COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 people has a positive impact on its own COVID-19 case and death rates. My results suggest that a county’s overall social connectedness to other counties has no significant impact on its cases and deaths per 100,000. I also find that for every 10,000 unit increase in a county’s social connectedness to top quartile Republican counties, cases per 100,000 decrease by 0.00276 and deaths per 100,000 increase by 0.0000380. Additionally, for every 10,000 unit increase in a county’s social connectedness to counties in the top quartile for COVID-19 deaths per 100,000, a user county’s cases per 100,000 increase by 0.00637 and deaths per 100,000 increase by 0.000478

Growing Up Tamarin: Morphology, Reproduction, and Population Demography of Sympatric Free-ranging Saguinus fuscicollis and S. imperator

The Callitrichidae are family of small New World primates with a suite of distinctive morphological and behavioral adaptations that set them apart from other primates. Of primary interest is their reproductive system that includes compulsive twinning: ≥80% of births) and cooperative care of offspring by individuals other than biological parents: termed alloparenting). Further, hematopoietic tissues in callitrichids display signals of both self and sibling DNA, due to an exchange of stem cells early in gestation that renders twin callitrichids as cellular mosaics of each other. This phenomenon is known as genetic chimerism, which increases genetic relatedness between individuals and is likely maintained by cooperative breeding systems. The Callitrichidae are thought to be phyletic dwarfs that exhibit habitual twinning as a derived feature, and accompanied by their tolerance for genetic chimerism, are an important clade to study the evolution of primate reproductive system that has adapted to increased reproductive outputs. They are suspected to be highly polyandrous, where additional male mates assist in the care of a dominant female\u27s reproduction, and subdominant females are reproductively suppressed so that all efforts at alloparenting are directed towards offsetting the high energetic costs of raising a single set of infants of the dominant female. To better understand the evolutionary advantages of this system of reproduction, it is important to document group structure and membership, as well as individual dispersal, reproductive success, and the development of offspring across callitrichid species. The goal of the present study was to examine group structure, reproductive success and individual growth and development to assess two sympatric Saguinus spp. These data are evaluated in light of the reproductive system proposed for these callitrichids - strict polyandry, cooperative breeding, reproductive suppression, and single reproducing females - in the context of future genetic studies. As such, I attempted to achieve three specific goals - first, an examination of morphological variation between two sympatric callitrichid species; second, an evaluation of age and reproductive status per individual; and third, a comparison of group compositions, mating systems and dispersal patterns of both species to the expected callitrichid reproductive pattern. I monitored two sympatric species of callitrichids in southeastern Perú at a field site named CICRA over the course of three years - 57 animals in 7 groups of saddleback tamarins: Saguinus fuscicollis), and 36 animals in 6 groups of emperor tamarins: S. imperator). I used an annual capture and release protocol to individually identify all animals, and recorded 19 measures of morphology and dental condition for all subjects. Behavioral data on mating, dispersal, and monthly group-compositions were also obtained, with an emphasis on one focal group per species. I used dental morphology to estimate age for animals ≤ 1 y old: via dental eruption timings) and assigned age-categories for animals ≥ 1 y old via molar occlusal wear. I assessed changes in morphology with age and sex for both species, comparing these measures using Mann-Whitney U tests: α = 0.05), and used reproductive morphology to assign breeding status to adults, identifying primary, secondary, and non-breeders for both sexes. I then identified the predominant mating systems based on the number and sex of breeding adults in a group for both species. I present here a modified trapping protocol for capturing callitrichids with a dual-step anesthetization protocol that increases animal safety and preserves habituation, resulting in 100% recapture rates. Age-structures predicted by dental wear did not differ significantly between species, or between the sexes for each species. Further sampling of younger adults in the study population is required to conduct population viability analyses. Adult Saguinus imperator: 533 ± SD 79 g females vs. 495 ± SD 45 g males) are significantly heavier than adult S. fuscicollis: 395 ± SD 30 g females vs. 385 ± SD 35 g males), with and without pooled sexes. Among S. imperator, significantly thicker limbs and not an overall increase in body size account for this increased weight. No sexual dimorphism was recorded for either species, save in upper arm lengths among S. fuscicollis: slightly longer in females) and waist circumferences in S. imperator: slightly larger in females, but unrelated to pregnancy). There are no significant differences between the species in the size of their genitalia or scent glands, despite differing markedly in their physical appearance: i.e shape and pigmentation). No significant effect of month was found on testicular volume, vulvar indices or suprapubic gland areas: Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test, p ≥ 0.05). Suprapubic scent gland areas are significantly higher among females than males for both species: e.g. in S. fuscicollis, gland area =267.5 ± 143 mm for females and 117.1 ± 72.4 mm for males). Vulvar indices explain ca. 70% of variation in suprapubic gland area for females of both S. fuscicollis: R2 = 0.70, P ≤ 0.001) and S. imperator: R2 = 0.76, P ≤ 0.001), while testicular volumes explain suprapubic gland areas only among male S. fuscicollis: R2 = 0.63, P ≤ 0.001). Male S. imperator have undifferentiated glands in general, unrelated to age or breeding status. While vulvar indices initially appear to grow faster than testicular volumes in both species, by 1.5 years of age, males have fully developed genitalia while females still appear underdeveloped. Morphological scores assigned to genitalia and glands encompass their range of variation, and can be used to distinguish infants from adults, but not other age classes: scores are too variable among adults). This highlights the singular importance of evaluating age based on dentition and not reproductive measures for either species, as reproductive suppression can be misleading and cause animals to appear younger than they actually are. Twinning and strong birth seasonality were observed in both species, with overlapping birth peaks influenced by the environment occurring during the wet season: ca. September to March). Primary breeding males had higher testicular volumes than secondary breeding males: 44-287% higher in S. fuscicollis and 24-80% higher in S. imperator), indicating possible subtle reproductive suppression of males. Secondary breeding females had lower vulvar indices and suprapubic scent gland areas than primary breeding females, and required 2-3 y to acquire secondary breeding status compared to 1 y for males. This is evidence of reproductive suppression of females, but it was not as strict as expected, as evidenced by multiple instances of two primary breeding females reproducing in the same group. Groups of both species display group compositions that encompass multiple adults of both sexes. Their mating systems, however, tend to be polyandrous among S. imperator and polygynandrous among S. fuscicollis. Overall, no sex ratio biases were observed at the level of the population or group; although operational sex ratios indicate that male S. imperator have to share their mate with more males than do male S. fuscicollis. Immigration events are significantly less common than emigration events, with breeding females having extended tenures in both species. Cold fronts known as friajes create breeding vacancies among groups, which were filled by individuals from outside the group. Overall, Saguinus imperator appears to be more similar in terms infant survivorship and mean reproductive output to both the CICRA and Cocha Cashu populations of S. fuscicollis, than it is to S. mystax at other long-term study sites. However, S. fuscicollis has a slightly higher reproductive output likely achieved by its polygynandrous mating system, maintained by reduced reproductive suppression, in which multiple females breed successfully in a group. Therefore, it does not appear that groups of these two species conform to one, invariable mating system or group structure. It is likely that this variability may apply to other callitrichid species as well. There appear to be more ways than one to be a successful callitrichid. Further years of study, including an investigation of endocrine profiles, genetic population structure, feeding ecology, parasitism and genetic chimerism are also underway at this site, and will lend further insight into the range of variation among callitrichid reproductive systems in the wild

Never Kill a Man Who Says Nothing: Things Fall Apart and the Spoken Worlds of African Fiction

Can the novel rendering as it does imaginative worlds in written prose ever adequately capture the expressive oral dimensions of Africa’s lived cultures?  What violence is incurred in the transcription of oral socialities into written imaginaries?  This article reads Chinua Achebe’s iconic novel Things Fall Apart to argue that the most powerful aspect of Achebe’s prose takes the form of orature that unravels ideas about a monolithic African orality opposing itself to a unitary colonial script.   Advancing a theory about orature’s exceptional framing for the African novel, the essay argues that Achebe’s prose resonates with the presence of alternative oralities, including gendered oralities, that resist appropriation by a masculinist voice for representing subaltern Africa, or by the racially inscribed imperatives of colonial literacy

Why Ismat Chughtai Faced Trial: An Intersectional Reading of the Reception of “Lihaaf” in Colonial India

In this paper, I study Ismat Chughtai’s short story “Lihaaf” (“The Quilt,” 1942) side by side with her essay “The Lihaaf Trial” (English translation, 2000). I also analyze their reception of these texts in regards to their treatment of sexuality, women, and morality in the colonial period. I engage the texts through the lens of intersectionality. Multiple aspects affected the reception of Chughtai’s “Lihaaf” because it explores the intersection of multiple axes of oppression like gender, colonialism, class, and sexuality. During the colonial period in India, the British colonizers directly influenced Indian morality through laws and emphasized British cultural superiority. One Indian response to this Western influence was a fear that Indian women, who were made to hold the onus of the cultural values and virtues, would want to break free from this role. This made the women doubly oppressed by both the colonizers and the colonized men. Partha Chatterjee also asserts that there has been a marked difference in the degree and manner of the westernization of women as distinct from that of men. Chughtai explores several social taboos, including women’s sexual desire and homosexuality, which demarcated “Lihaaf” from other works produced by women in the mid-20th century. She can be considered a writer who challenged the boundaries set for women’s writing in the colonial period, paving the way for other women writers to explore and represent social taboos

Attitude determination of GPS satellite vehicles

There is an increasing demand for navigation systems that has led to rapid development of Global Positioning System (GPS) across industries. Apart from position and speed, precise attitude measurements are needed for many GPS applications. This thesis presents techniques for attitude determination of satellite vehicles in both real-time and stand-alone positioning applications. The GPS system used is a differential GPS system that estimates the body frame baselines using at least four receivers. The attitude information is obtained using these baselines and projecting them onto a local level frame. Integer ambiguity is a major constraint in attitude determination. Least Squares Ambiguity Deco-relation method is implemented to fix the ambiguities prior to baseline estimation. Estimation techniques such as Least Squares and Kalman Filter are implemented for deriving baseline components. Finally, this system will compute body frame coordinates and attitude components in reference to the desired coordinate frames.Engineering Technology, Department o

Museum Collecting and Constructions of Identity in Indian Punjab,1947-1970

This thesis takes an original approach to twentieth century south Asian history by linking long established research on partition and postcolonial nation building, with a new domain of enquiry and material: museum historiography and practice. If unpacking colonial museums and collecting practices revealed the workings of colonialism and the colonial state, what can studying postcolonial museums and collecting practices tell us about the nation-state? What sort of national discourse did they generate in these early years, especially when located away from the centre in a region like Indian Punjab? Collecting for a Punjab museum continued throughout the region’s unique experience of changing boundaries and polities from 1947-1966, beginning with partition, and ending with the linguistic reorganisation of states, with a phase of princely federation in between. These events and their implications impacted the ways in which the collections were acquired, and subsequently interpreted. Competing, conflicting narratives and motivations emerge, including nostalgia for a pre-partition past, and princely legacies offering alternative national imaginaries, set against an Indian art historical project that projected art from the Kangra Valley as the pinnacle of not only Punjab’s but India’s artistic heritage. How did the Punjab Museum — which later became the Chandigarh Museum — present Punjab to itself, to India, and the world? I approach these questions by using personal correspondence and archival material to reveal the previously unconsidered transnational networks that animate this history, which challenge our assumptions about the people and processes that shape a nation.Major funding provided by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Cambridge Trust (RGCS). Additional funding and sponsorship provided by: Faculty of History, Smuts Memorial Fund, J. N. Tata Endowment, Nehru Trust, Royal Historical Society, Charles Wallace India Trust, Girton College, Gilchrist Educational Trust, Commonwealth Association of Museums, European Association of South Asian Studies, Bryn Mawr College, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland

Keeping Up With Hanuman: Reimagining the Myth of Hanuman through Animation

Hanuman (2005) distinguished itself from the previous films by mimicking and adopting an animation style that was adopted in Western superhero movies and cartoons. The favorable response of the Indian community and diaspora to the movie Hanuman coupled with the fact that Hanuman had previously been adapted in basic arcade and online games as the main hero, inspired the Indian digital gaming industry. This essay analyzes the popularity of the ‘animated’ Hanuman and the Indian audiences eagerness to ingest Hanuman’s stories through animation. What makes Hanuman appealing to new media genres, like animation, in the Indian sub-continent? How do the animated visual representations of Hanuman challenge, embellish, alter, or rewrite the myth, iconography, and, broadly, the religiosity of Hanuman worship

Green Nano Actinobacteriology – An Interdisciplinary Study

Green nano actinobacteriology has been considered as a novel field of study in order to develop least expensive and highly qualitative strategies for production of eco-friendly beneficial products with diverse applications. The uniqueness of bioactive actinomycetes has turned the attention of scientists worldwide in order to explore its potentiality as effective “micronanofactories”. This chapter provides a brief overview of the synthesis, characterization, and application of actinobacterial nanoparticles with an added note to actinobacterial detoxification