Filtering by
- Status: Published
![153195-Thumbnail Image.png](https://d1rbsgppyrdqq4.cloudfront.net/s3fs-public/styles/width_400/public/2021-08/153195-Thumbnail%20Image.png?versionId=_OJ60P1nD_ufMwpwdtuFOrjo.K6vDrXY&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIASBVQ3ZQ42ZLA5CUJ/20240618/us-west-2/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240618T054410Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=120&X-Amz-Signature=01755984f36c18d1121344d95b5d4efc1833ae756d1501d9035c9cdfa3f564f6&itok=yWwc58Th)
Romanian folk art and African art were the two main sources of influence on Brancusi's primitivism. Brancusi identified himself with the Romanian peasantry and its folk culture. Romanian folk culture embraces woodcarving and folk literary fables--both of which Brancusi incorporated in his sculptures. In my opinion, Brancusi's wood pedestals, such as the Endless Column, are based on wood funerary, decorative, and architectural motifs from Romanian villages.
Brancusi was exposed to African art through his relationship with the New York avant-garde. The art dealers Alfred Stieglitz, Marius de Zayas, and Joseph Brummer exhibited Brancusi's sculptures in their galleries, in addition to exhibiting African art. Meanwhile, Brancusi's main patron John Quinn also collected African art. His interaction with the New York avant-garde led him to incorporate formal features of African sculpture, such as the oval forms of African masks, into his abstract sculptures. Brancusi also used African art to expose the racial prejudice of his time. African art, along with Romanian folk art, informed Brancusi's primitivism consistently throughout his long career as a modern sculptor.
![155172-Thumbnail Image.png](https://d1rbsgppyrdqq4.cloudfront.net/s3fs-public/styles/width_400/public/2021-09/155172-Thumbnail%20Image.png?versionId=8S0RWHGBRZs_KsSK1bUQT4jbFXHHfkWC&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIASBVQ3ZQ42ZLA5CUJ/20240618/us-west-2/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240618T034006Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=120&X-Amz-Signature=f92183f5d175bbfbd70a0f766cd276c70156014788ae2726683fb5d5927e98de&itok=xTarV6T7)
Chapter 1 provides background information and motivation for infectious disease forecasting and outlines the rest of the thesis.
In chapter 2, logistic patch models are used to assess and forecast the 2013-2015 West Africa Zaire ebolavirus epidemic. In particular, this chapter is concerned with comparing and contrasting the effects that spatial heterogeneity has on the forecasting performance of the cumulative infected case counts reported during the epidemic.
In chapter 3, two simple phenomenological models inspired from population biology are used to assess the Research and Policy for Infectious Disease Dynamics (RAPIDD) Ebola Challenge; a simulated epidemic that generated 4 infectious disease scenarios. Because of the nature of the synthetically generated data, model predictions are compared to exact epidemiological quantities used in the simulation.
In chapter 4, these models are applied to the 1904 Plague epidemic that occurred in Bombay. This chapter provides evidence that these simple models may be applicable to infectious diseases no matter the disease transmission mechanism.
Chapter 5, uses the patch models from chapter 2 to explore how migration in the 1904 Plague epidemic changes the final epidemic size.
The final chapter is an interdisciplinary project concerning within-host dynamics of cereal yellow dwarf virus-RPV, a plant pathogen from a virus group that infects over 150 grass species. Motivated by environmental nutrient enrichment due to anthropological activities, mathematical models are employed to investigate the relevance of resource competition to pathogen and host dynamics.
![155517-Thumbnail Image.png](https://d1rbsgppyrdqq4.cloudfront.net/s3fs-public/styles/width_400/public/2021-09/155517-Thumbnail%20Image.png?versionId=c8.DN65lMcxR120.iRIanjMcgB2p.UFx&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIASBVQ3ZQ42ZLA5CUJ/20240618/us-west-2/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240618T061057Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=120&X-Amz-Signature=5df6190003d1e9db5330a3745924d247ecadc343e6f9038841a525154ba9a59c&itok=QudUAtfZ)
![156095-Thumbnail Image.png](https://d1rbsgppyrdqq4.cloudfront.net/s3fs-public/styles/width_400/public/2021-08/156095-Thumbnail%20Image.png?versionId=8_Mr2mYjF6jQODhxPq1w4vcw3VI_6Nfq&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIASBVQ3ZQ42ZLA5CUJ/20240613/us-west-2/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240613T062813Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=120&X-Amz-Signature=be05092d36f4f6d27f48a43b0254fde27b986936d99c60f97faf4cabede6d8d4&itok=qd7Y7Xdu)
![158320-Thumbnail Image.png](https://d1rbsgppyrdqq4.cloudfront.net/s3fs-public/styles/width_400/public/2021-09/158320-Thumbnail%20Image.png?versionId=Q.DpVZw6p0Sjo_6mYcJg70hRRQlb7hK0&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIASBVQ3ZQ42ZLA5CUJ/20240618/us-west-2/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240618T052341Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=120&X-Amz-Signature=a3becc5a2b8da8e2eb5a228d0c861ab0f6b4883b2982cee620d5c82dee1c0ace&itok=CPTcBGJd)
However, not everyone has an opportunity to enjoy healthy and safe bicycling and
walking. Many studies suggested that access to healthy walking and bicycling is heavily
related to socio-economic status. Low income population and racial minorities have
poorer transportation that results in less walking and bicycling, as well as less access to
public transportation. They are also under higher risks of being hit by vehicles while
walking and bicycling. This research quantifies the relationship between socioeconomic
factors and bicyclist and pedestrian involved traffic crash rates in order to establish an
understanding of how equitable access to safe bicycling and walking is in Phoenix. The
crash rates involving both bicyclists and pedestrians were categorized into two groups,
minor crashes and severe crashes. Then, the OLS model was used to analyze minor and
severe bicycle crash rates, and minor and severe pedestrian crash rates, respectively.
There are four main results, (1) The median income of an area is always negatively
related to the crash rates of bicyclists and pedestrians. The reason behind the negative
correlation is that there is a very small proportion of people choosing to walk or ride
bicycles as their commuting methods in the high-income areas. Consequently, there are
low crash rates of pedestrians and bicyclists. (2) The minor bicycle crash rates are more
related to socio-economic determinants than the severe crash rates. (3) A higher
population density reduces both the minor and the severe crash rates of bicyclists and
pedestrians in Phoenix. (4) A higher pedestrian commuting ratio does not reduce bicyclist
and pedestrian crash rates in Phoenix. The findings from this study can provide a
reference value for the government and other researchers and encourage better future
decisions from policy makers.
![161702-Thumbnail Image.png](https://d1rbsgppyrdqq4.cloudfront.net/s3fs-public/styles/width_400/public/2021-11/161702-Thumbnail%20Image.png?versionId=MJQ9ZJUiME6_jvf3cVHc7aB0ZvYU6EcH&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIASBVQ3ZQ42ZLA5CUJ/20240618/us-west-2/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240618T052341Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=120&X-Amz-Signature=58e70c6e96af65d54676be22a5c066eba9a6d13bfe1016f9189d92871a6b3714&itok=odt-C00f)
![161665-Thumbnail Image.png](https://d1rbsgppyrdqq4.cloudfront.net/s3fs-public/styles/width_400/public/2021-11/161665-Thumbnail%20Image.png?versionId=GB.InQ9rK2gdLpYxpNs6nikQVMtrjNIk&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIASBVQ3ZQ42ZLA5CUJ/20240618/us-west-2/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240618T032108Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=120&X-Amz-Signature=369ba557e4726cc3856663e44f117f0c3acc02dd170ce9a6852a81debf8a4da1&itok=2qJWnRaa)
![161533-Thumbnail Image.png](https://d1rbsgppyrdqq4.cloudfront.net/s3fs-public/styles/width_400/public/2021-11/161533-Thumbnail%20Image.png?versionId=kXkLmO6ELbnWWU3OyXCp2yh48YlMpH6c&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIASBVQ3ZQ42ZLA5CUJ/20240618/us-west-2/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240618T071336Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=120&X-Amz-Signature=d96a62b05153ce7dcca5d2384921b1cd390a48106e440606dca8622af402ca47&itok=UVL3Q2OT)
![129573-Thumbnail Image.png](https://d1rbsgppyrdqq4.cloudfront.net/s3fs-public/styles/width_400/public/2021-04/129573-Thumbnail%20Image.png?versionId=1J0lcC9w1T0IGwStNeFbO4C27UHEiYRk&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIASBVQ3ZQ42ZLA5CUJ/20240618/us-west-2/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240618T012119Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=120&X-Amz-Signature=acd9aebf08d53870be7a61405db5bdfd001a6b56bfddccf66724a76eafae1ad7&itok=sg7uRARO)
Bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are structural components of the outer membranes of Gram-negative bacteria and also are potent inducers of inflammation in mammals. Higher vertebrates are extremely sensitive to LPS, but lower vertebrates, like fish, are resistant to their systemic toxic effects. However, the effects of LPS on the fish intestinal mucosa remain unknown. Edwardsiella ictaluri is a primitive member of the Enterobacteriaceae family that causes enteric septicemia in channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus). E. ictaluri infects and colonizes deep lymphoid tissues upon oral or immersion infection. Both gut and olfactory organs are the primary sites of invasion. At the systemic level, E. ictaluri pathogenesis is relatively well characterized, but our knowledge about E. ictaluri intestinal interaction is limited. Recently, we observed that E. ictaluri oligo-polysaccharide (O-PS) LPS mutants have differential effects on the intestinal epithelia of orally inoculated catfish. Here we evaluate the effects of E. ictaluri O-PS LPS mutants by using a novel catfish intestinal loop model and compare it to the rabbit ileal loop model inoculated with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium LPS. We found evident differences in rabbit ileal loop and catfish ileal loop responses to E. ictaluri and S. Typhimurium LPS. We determined that catfish respond to E. ictaluri LPS but not to S. Typhimurium LPS. We also determined that E. ictaluri inhibits cytokine production and induces disruption of the intestinal fish epithelia in an O-PS-dependent fashion. The E. ictaluri wild type and ΔwibT LPS mutant caused intestinal tissue damage and inhibited proinflammatory cytokine synthesis, in contrast to E. ictaluri Δgne and Δugd LPS mutants. We concluded that the E. ictaluri O-PS subunits play a major role during pathogenesis, since they influence the recognition of the LPS by the intestinal mucosal immune system of the catfish. The LPS structure of E. ictaluri mutants is needed to understand the mechanism of interaction.
![129510-Thumbnail Image.png](https://d1rbsgppyrdqq4.cloudfront.net/s3fs-public/styles/width_400/public/2021-04/129510-Thumbnail%20Image.png?versionId=kxHHeSyIKU0AW88qqAkQVI521K40gKpA&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIASBVQ3ZQ42ZLA5CUJ/20240618/us-west-2/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240618T012119Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=120&X-Amz-Signature=254baf325da0f6c34dc8c1a7ba82c1d3ff9dd520f833232f3147317af31eb3f8&itok=jsLM6zCZ)
Contemporary vaccine development relies less on empirical methods of vaccine construction, and now employs a powerful array of precise engineering strategies to construct immunogenic live vaccines. In this review, we will survey various engineering techniques used to create attenuated vaccines, with an emphasis on recent advances and insights. We will further explore the adaptation of attenuated strains to create multivalent vaccine platforms for immunization against multiple unrelated pathogens. These carrier vaccines are engineered to deliver sufficient levels of protective antigens to appropriate lymphoid inductive sites to elicit both carrier-specific and foreign antigen-specific immunity. Although many of these technologies were originally developed for use in Salmonella vaccines, application of the essential logic of these approaches will be extended to development of other enteric vaccines where possible. A central theme driving our discussion will stress that the ultimate success of an engineered vaccine rests on achieving the proper balance between attenuation and immunogenicity. Achieving this balance will avoid over-activation of inflammatory responses, which results in unacceptable reactogenicity, but will retain sufficient metabolic fitness to enable the live vaccine to reach deep tissue inductive sites and trigger protective immunity. The breadth of examples presented herein will clearly demonstrate that genetic engineering offers the potential for rapidly propelling vaccine development forward into novel applications and therapies which will significantly expand the role of vaccines in public health.