scholarly journals SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence in a University Community: A Longitudinal Study of the Impact of Student Return to Campus on Infection Risk Among Community Members

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Callum Arnold ◽  
Sreenidhi Srinivasan ◽  
Catherine M Herzog ◽  
Abhinay Gontu ◽  
Nita Bharti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
State University ◽  
Igg Antibodies ◽  
Pennsylvania State University ◽  
Igg Antibody ◽  
Longitudinal Cohort ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal ◽  
The Impact

Background Returning university students represent large-scale, transient demographic shifts and a potential source of transmission to adjacent communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods In this prospective longitudinal cohort study, we tested for IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in a non-random cohort of residents living in Centre County prior to the Fall 2020 term at the Pennsylvania State University and following the conclusion of the Fall 2020 term. We also report the seroprevalence in a non-random cohort of students collected at the end of the Fall 2020 term. Findings Of 345 community participants, 19 (5.5%) were positive for SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies at their first visit between 7 August and 2 October. Of 625 student participants who returned to campus for fall instruction, 195 (31.2%) were positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies between 26 October and 23 November. Twenty-eight (8.1%) community participants returned a positive IgG antibody result by 9 December. Only contact with known SARS-CoV-2-positive individuals and attendance at small gatherings (20-50 individuals) were significant predictors of detecting IgG antibodies among returning students (aOR, 95% CI: 3.24, 2.14-4.91; 1.62, 1.08-2.44; respectively). Interpretation Despite high seroprevalence observed within the student population, seroprevalence in a longitudinal cohort of community residents was low and stable from before student arrival for the Fall 2020 term to after student departure. The study implies that heterogeneity in SARS-CoV-2 transmission can occur in geographically coincident populations. Funding The Pennsylvania State University Office of the Provost, Social Science Research Institute, Huck Institute for the Life Sciences, and Clinical and Translational Science Institute; National Institutes of Health.

A Perspective On The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic in Basic Science Research and its Future implications

Coronaviruses ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 01 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yam Nath Paudel ◽  
Efthalia Angelopoulou ◽  
Bhupendra Raj Giri ◽  
Christina Piperi ◽  
Iekhsan Othman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Basic Science ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Preventive Measure ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Research Institutes ◽  
Basic Science Research ◽  
Long Term Consequences ◽  
Long Term Impact ◽  
The Impact

: COVID-19 has emerged as a devastating pandemic of the century that the current generations have ever experienced. The COVID-19 pandemic has infected more than 12 million people around the globe and 0.5 million people have succumbed to death. Due to the lack of effective vaccines against the COVID-19, several nations throughout the globe has imposed a lock-down as a preventive measure to lower the spread of COVID-19 infection. As a result of lock-down most of the universities and research institutes has witnessed a long pause in basic science research ever. Much has been talked about the long-term impact of COVID-19 in economy, tourism, public health, small and large-scale business of several kind. However, the long-term implication of these research lab shutdown and its impact in the basic science research has not been much focused. Herein, we provide a perspective that portrays a common problem of all the basic science researchers throughout the globe and its long-term consequences.

scholarly journals On the Discursive and Methodological Categorisation of Islam and Muslims in the West: Ontological and Epistemological Considerations

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 501
Author(s):  
Fethi Mansouri
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
The West ◽  
Research Agendas ◽  
Muslims In The West ◽  
The Impact

This article reflects on the ethical and epistemological challenges facing researchers engaged in contemporary studies of Islam and Muslims in the West. Particularly, it focuses on the impact of the constructions and categorisations of Muslims and Islam in research. To do this, it considers the entwinement of public discourses and the development of research agendas and projects. To examine this complex and enmeshed process, this article explores ideological, discursive and epistemological approaches that it argues researchers need to consider. In invoking these three approaches alongside an analysis of a collection of recent research, this article contends that questions of race, religion and politics have been deployed to reinforce, rather than challenge, certain essentialist/orientalist representations of Islam and Muslims in the West in research. As this article shows, this practice is increasingly threatening to compromise, in a Habermasian communicative sense (i.e., the opportunity to speak and be heard for all concerned), the ethical and epistemological underpinnings of social science research with its emphasis on inclusion and respect.

scholarly journals Doing Less with More: Cohorts, Education and Civic Participation in America

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Horowitz
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Civic Participation ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
School Students ◽  
College Degrees ◽  
Geographic Space ◽  
The Impact

Decades of social science research demonstrate the impact of education on civic participation. However, prior scholarship generally assumes that the returns to education do not change over time or geographic space. Absolute educational effects are not always plausible; as more individuals obtain a college degree, there are a greater number of qualified individuals competing for the same social resources. The present study tests the impact of education on civic participation, and whether this effect changes as the number of college-educated individuals increases over birth cohorts. The present findings suggest that in some cases, a college degree's impact on civic participation declines as more individuals obtain college degrees. The findings challenge commonly held assumptions about the effect of higher education on civic participation. Furthermore, the findings suggest that while sending an individual to college may increase civic participation, encouraging all high school students to go to college may undercut the benefits of college attendance.Keywords: higher education, cohorts, civic engagement, volunteering

The Determinants of Program Success and Failure

1981 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 433-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold Wolman
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Evaluation Research ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Program Performance ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Program Success ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTRecent social science research – particularly evaluation research and cost-benefit analysis – has produced a substantial and very useful literature on the impact of public policy and on the relationship of program inputs to outputs and outcomes. However, the explicit focus of these analytic techniques on impacts and outcomes does not systematically yield useful information on why programs have been successes or failures. Policy-makers faced with an evaluation of program success or failure obviously need to know something about the why question if they are to make needed adjustments in the program or carry the lessons of one program to other areas. This article attempts to present a comprehensive framework for explaining and understanding program performance. It is meant to have two uses and to serve two clienteles. First, it presents for social scientists a set of research questions to guide research into the determinants of program performance. Second, it provides public policy-makers with a set of action questions which should be asked and answered appropriately in the actual formulating and carrying out of public policy, as a means of enhancing the chances of program success. The framework is divided into two parts, the formulating process and the carrying out process, although these two processes may overlap considerably, both in time and in terms of substantive concerns. Program success may be impeded by problems or inadequacies in one or more of the components in either the formulating stage or the carrying out stage or in both.

Using a Probabilistic Model to Assist Merging of Large-Scale Administrative Records

2019 ◽  
Vol 113 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
TED ENAMORADO ◽  
BENJAMIN FIFIELD ◽  
KOSUKE IMAI
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Auxiliary Information ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Unique Identifier ◽  
Scalable Algorithm ◽  
Administrative Records ◽  
Inaccurate Information ◽  
Multiple Data ◽  
Open Source Software Package

Since most social science research relies on multiple data sources, merging data sets is an essential part of researchers’ workflow. Unfortunately, a unique identifier that unambiguously links records is often unavailable, and data may contain missing and inaccurate information. These problems are severe especially when merging large-scale administrative records. We develop a fast and scalable algorithm to implement a canonical model of probabilistic record linkage that has many advantages over deterministic methods frequently used by social scientists. The proposed methodology efficiently handles millions of observations while accounting for missing data and measurement error, incorporating auxiliary information, and adjusting for uncertainty about merging in post-merge analyses. We conduct comprehensive simulation studies to evaluate the performance of our algorithm in realistic scenarios. We also apply our methodology to merging campaign contribution records, survey data, and nationwide voter files. An open-source software package is available for implementing the proposed methodology.

scholarly journals Using Quantile Regression to Estimate Intervention Effects Beyond the Mean

2019 ◽  
Vol 79 (5) ◽  
pp. 883-910 ◽  
Author(s):  
Spyros Konstantopoulos ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Shazia Miller ◽  
Arie van der Ploeg
Keyword(s):  
Quantile Regression ◽  
Least Squares ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Intervention Effects ◽  
Education Data

This study discusses quantile regression methodology and its usefulness in education and social science research. First, quantile regression is defined and its advantages vis-à-vis vis ordinary least squares regression are illustrated. Second, specific comparisons are made between ordinary least squares and quantile regression methods. Third, the applicability of quantile regression to empirical work to estimate intervention effects is demonstrated using education data from a large-scale experiment. The estimation of quantile treatment effects at various quantiles in the presence of dropouts is also discussed. Quantile regression is especially suitable in examining predictor effects at various locations of the outcome distribution (e.g., lower and upper tails).

scholarly journals Disruptive Norms: Assessing the Impact of Ethnic Minority Immigration on Nonimmigrant Voter Turnout Using a Complex Model

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 422-442
Author(s):  
Thomas Loughran ◽  
Edward Fieldhouse ◽  
Laurence Lessard-Phillips ◽  
Lee Bentley
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Complex Model ◽  
Civic Duty ◽  
Majority Population ◽  
Spatial Composition ◽  
The Impact

This article explores whether introducing an external group into a population with different characteristics to the existing population may lead to behavioral change. Specifically, we test whether introducing ethnic minority immigrants with varying levels of civic duty (commitment to voting) norms into a previously homogenous nonimmigrant ethnic majority population influences voter turnout among the nonimmigrant majority group. The findings have been produced using a complex agent-based model (“the voter model”) where the parameters and characteristics have been developed through the extensive synthesis of existing findings from real-world social science research on voter turnout. The model adopts the KIDS (“Keep It Descriptive Stupid”) approach to this form of modeling complex systems. The model puts a particular emphasis on exploring the dynamic social aspects that influence turnout by focusing on the role of networks and spatial composition factors such as ethnic diversity and levels of internal and external immigration. It uses an approach based on aggregative neighborhood dynamics to go beyond existing static models of the influence of social norms on voting similar to the classic approach of Schelling. The main findings from this article suggest that, other factors being equal, increased levels of immigration lead to a small but significant increase in turnout among the nonimmigrant population and show that higher levels of civic duty among immigrants lead to higher levels of turnout among nonimmigrants over time. This challenges the popular belief that increased immigration and diversity in a specific community will always lead to lower turnout levels.

scholarly journals A New Model for Industry–Academic Partnerships

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 703-709 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary King ◽  
Nathaniel Persily
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Data Access ◽  
Private Companies ◽  
Consumer Privacy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Charitable Foundations ◽  
Academic Partnerships ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTThe mission of the social sciences is to understand and ameliorate society’s greatest challenges. The data held by private companies, collected for different purposes, hold vast potential to further this mission. Yet, because of consumer privacy, trade secrets, proprietary content, and political sensitivities, these datasets are often inaccessible to scholars. We propose a novel organizational model to address these problems. We also report on the first partnership under this model, to study the incendiary issues surrounding the impact of social media on elections and democracy: Facebook provides (privacy-preserving) data access; eight ideologically and substantively diverse charitable foundations provide initial funding; an organization of academics we created, Social Science One, leads the project; and the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard and the Social Science Research Council provide logistical help.

Policy analysis by academics

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marleen Brans ◽  
David Aubin ◽  
Valérie Smet
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Relevant Research ◽  
Education Policies ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Research Programmes ◽  
Structural Interfaces ◽  
Policy Problems ◽  
The Impact

Through their policy relevant research outputs and integration in policy networks, Belgian academics ‘speak truth to power’ (Wildavsky 1979) or ‘make sense together’ (Hoppe 1999) in political and public debates about policy problems and options. At the turn of the millennium, the federal and regional governments have moved to institutionalizing policy relevant research in what are called interuniversity research pillars, and middle to long term research programmes, thematically organised along the priorities decided by the respective governments. Next to these structural interfaces, there are other access points for academics to bring their expertise to policy-making. Sectoral academic experts maintain multiple relationships with knowledge brokers. They are welcome guests in opinion sections of the written and spoken media and hold positions in the strategic advisory bodies of different governments. Several of them are also active in think tanks, or act themselves as consultants in commercial university spin-offs. This chapter analyses the structural and individual access of academics to policy-making in Belgium. The empirical material is based upon documents analysis and budget information, on a study of knowledge utilisation in labour market and education policies in Belgium, and on a recent survey on the impact of social science research on Flemish policy-makers.

scholarly journals Spatially Integrated Social Sciences with Qualitative GIS to Support Impact Assessment in Mining Communities

Resources ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Lechner ◽  
John Owen ◽  
Michelle Ang ◽  
Deanna Kemp
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Dynamic Interactions ◽  
Mining Communities ◽  
Qualitative Gis ◽  
Future Assessment ◽  
Broad Term ◽  
Qualitative Knowledge

Spatially integrated social science is a broad term used to describe the integration of space and place in social science research using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). It includes qualitative GIS approaches, such as geo-ethnology and geo-narratives, which combine qualitative social data with GIS and represent an emerging approach with significant potential for facilitating new insights into the dynamic interactions between mining companies and host communities. Mine operations are unique in their complexity, both in terms of the dynamic and diverse nature of issues and the requirement to integrate knowledge, theories, and approaches from a range of disciplines. In this paper we describe the potential for spatially integrated social science using qualitative GIS to understand the social impacts of mining. We review current literature and propose a framework that incorporates quantitative and qualitative knowledge across social and biophysical domains within a multi-user approach. We provide examples to illustrate how our approach could support past, present, and future assessment of socio-environmental systems in large-scale mining. We conclude by discussing the need for a multi-disciplinary approach to support decision makers and local stakeholders in considering complex social and environmental scenarios.

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