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Law enforcement agencies continue to grow in the use of spatial analysis to assist in identifying patterns of outcomes. Despite the critical nature of proper resource allocation for mental health incidents, there has been little progress in statistical modeling of the geo-spatial nature of mental health events in Little Rock, Arkansas. In this article, we provide insights into the spatial nature of mental health data from Little Rock, Arkansas between 2015 and 2018, under a supervised spatial modeling framework. We provide evidence of spatial clustering and identify the important features influencing such heterogeneity via a spatially informed hierarchy of generalized linear, tree-based, and spatial regression models, viz. the Poisson regression model, the random forest model, the spatial Durbin error model, and the Manski model. The insights obtained from these different models are presented here along with their relative predictive performances. The inferential tools developed here can be used in a broad variety of spatial modeling contexts and have the potential to aid both law enforcement agencies and the city in properly allocating resources. We were able to identify several built-environment and socio-demographic measures related to mental health calls while noting that the results indicated that there are unmeasured factors that contribute to the number of events.more » « less
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The specificity and potency of venom components give them a unique advantage in developing various pharmaceutical drugs. Though venom is a cocktail of proteins, rarely are the synergy and association between various venom components studied. Understanding the relationship between various components of venom is critical in medical research. Using meta-analysis, we observed underlying patterns and associations in the appearance of the toxin families. For Crotalus, Dis has the most associations with the following toxins: PDE; BPP; CRL; CRiSP; LAAO; SVMP P-I and LAAO; SVMP P-III and LAAO. In Sistrurus venom, CTL and NGF have the most associations. These associations can predict the presence of proteins in novel venom and understand synergies between venom components for enhanced bioactivity. Using this approach, the need to revisit the classification of proteins as major components or minor components is highlighted. The revised classification of venom components is based on ubiquity, bioactivity, the number of associations, and synergies. The revised classification can be expected to trigger increased research on venom components, such as NGF, which have high biomedical significance. Using hierarchical clustering, we observed that the genera’s venom compositions were similar, based on functional characteristics rather than phylogenetic relationships.more » « less
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False negative rates of severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 diagnostic tests, together with selection bias due to prioritized testing can result in inaccurate modeling of COVID‐19 transmission dynamics based on reported “case” counts. We propose an extension of the widely used Susceptible‐Exposed‐Infected‐Removed (SEIR) model that accounts for misclassification error and selection bias, and derive an analytic expression for the basic reproduction number as a function of false negative rates of the diagnostic tests and selection probabilities for getting tested. Analyzing data from the first two waves of the pandemic in India, we show that correcting for misclassification and selection leads to more accurate prediction in a test sample. We provide estimates of undetected infections and deaths between April 1, 2020 and August 31, 2021. At the end of the first wave in India, the estimated under‐reporting factor for cases was at 11.1 (95% CI: 10.7,11.5) and for deaths at 3.58 (95% CI: 3.5,3.66) as of February 1, 2021, while they change to 19.2 (95% CI: 17.9, 19.9) and 4.55 (95% CI: 4.32, 4.68) as of July 1, 2021. Equivalently, 9.0% (95% CI: 8.7%, 9.3%) and 5.2% (95% CI: 5.0%, 5.6%) of total estimated infections were reported on these two dates, while 27.9% (95% CI: 27.3%, 28.6%) and 22% (95% CI: 21.4%, 23.1%) of estimated total deaths were reported. Extensive simulation studies demonstrate the effect of misclassification and selection on estimation of and prediction of future infections. A R‐packageSEIRfansyis developed for broader dissemination.more » « less
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