Modeling Infectious Diseases : Two Strain Diseases in Metapopulations

Infectious diseases often mutate and are carried between regions. We consider a mathematical model which begins to account for these factors. We assume two disjoint populations that only occasionally comingle, and two strains of a disease present in these populations. Of interest are the equations describing the dynamics of this system, the conditions under which epidemics will occur, and the long term behavior of the system under various initial conditions. We find that in many ways this system is similar to a simpler one-population model. However, we find evidence that there may be conditions under which both disease strains can coexist, other than the expected case where both strains are of equal strength

The platform conjuncture

The paper engages the problematic of platform capitalism in the company of Fernand Braudel. Platform capitalism is accordingly located in the opaque zone of the so-called antimarket, “where the great predators roam,” with its characteristic conditions of monopolization, concentrated economic and political power, and cultures of systematic regulatory evasion. The Braudelian schema requires that platform capitalism is situated, both historically and geographically, in this case both as a distinctive conjunctural moment and as an epiphenomenon of variegated and globalizing processes of financialization and neoliberalization. The paper offers an antidote to the mainstream treatment of platforms, with its technological exuberance, its preoccupation with internally generated dynamics, and its exaggerated claims to novelty and indeed revolutionary significance. Thinking conjuncturally about platform capitalism qua Braudelian capitalism does not just counter these problems, it represents a constructive supplement to extant political-economy accounts. It accentuates and problematizes non-repeating historical continuities (against presumptions of a radical technological-organizational break). And it points to constitutive conditions of coexistence (against the imaginary of a separate, self-propelling, and distinct innovation economy). To pose the platform question along with Braudel is to begin with problematics of monopoly power and antimarket behavior, rather than with technological affordances, network capacities, or the market

Students and Clinical Agency Staff Mutually Benefit from Collaboration

Color poster with text and photographs.In this study clinical agency staff were assisted by undergraduate nursing students in overcoming the barriers that prevent them from utilizing research in their practice. Undergraduate students assisted agency staff in finding research while simultaneously learning how to obtain important and relevant research.University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire Office of Research and Sponsored Programs; Community Health Partnership, Inc

Prosodic Encoding of Sexuality in the Speech Patterns of Gay and Straight Men

Several studies have been designed to analyze the differences between gay and straight speech in males. Among them, Gaudio (1994) reported little difference in fluctuation in pitch and pitch range between the two populations from read text. This led him to conclude that sexuality could either be encoded by other features in their speech (i.e. /s/-fronting or “gay lisp”), or that differences in pitch could only appear in more naturally occurring speech. This poster reports on a sociophonetic study that builds on Gaudio (1994), addressing the latter concern by analyzing speech from different experimental tasks: each participant read aloud from a script, told a story from a picture book with no words, and recalled something funny that had happened to them recently. In a pilot study, two participants (one gay, one straight) were recorded performing each of the tasks in a sound-attenuated booth using a digital recorder. Praat phonetic analysis software was used to measure the pitch (fundamental frequency; F0), fluctuations in F0, and F0 range in each phrase produced by the participants. A preliminary analysis of the results supports Gaudio’s conclusions, providing further evidence that pitch fluctuation and pitch range are not indicative of male sexual identity