Digital Inequality Research for Digital Publics: A Call for New Modalities in Policy-oriented Social Science

With the increased reliance on digital resources in the context of the pandemic, the field of digital divides and digital inequalities is increasingly prominent across intellectual landscapes and disciplines. Nonetheless, to date, this important area of research has largely been explored via the battery of traditional social science methodologies that are either textual or computational. While valuable, here we argue that fresh modalities are needed to better interrogate digital inequalities that allow the researcher to capture, analyse, and/or disseminate multi-sensorial data, particularly visual and aural data that captures the experiences and voices of the digitally disadvantaged. With COVID-19, we argue that aural and visual digitization have become increasingly normalized for resourced digital publics. Therefore, the time is ripe for reimagining digital inequality research as a form of public social science that harnesses Burawoy's seminal concepts of "public sociology” and "policy sociology” in which research dissemination extends beyond the academy and into society. To advance both public and policy sociology, we argue that fresh digital modalities are needed to better publicize research on digital inequalities to the public sphere and make its relevance to policymakers richly evident. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

COVID-19, Creative Conflict, and the Seven Cs: A Social Diagnosis of Digital Communication Platforms for Gen Z/Gen T

Adding to the work on creative conflict management that has been the object of organizational and management studies for the last several decades, we focus on a subset of Gen Z or "Generation Tech” (Gen T). This generation will be the first to instinctively and reflexively bring a "technology first” approach to their work practices including conflict resolution. Scholars of organizational communication identify the management of creative conflict as a prosocial process with important ramifications for organizational well-being. Taking a social diagnosis approach, we contribute to this growing literature by bringing it into dialogue with digital sociology and Gen Ters who are well-suited to use digital communication platforms (DCPs) like Teams and Slack to engage in creative conflict that benefits the well-being of organizations and their members. Our analysis shows that DCPs can encourage prosocial behaviors, when they (1) include nonsynchronous functionality, (2) associate contributions with members' real names, and (3) make all interactions visible to all team members. Our study reveals that when organizational DCPs are governed by these parameters, they can foster the Seven Cs of Creative Conflict that we identify as clarity, candor, contribution, cooperation, challenge, courage, and collegiality. The Seven Cs foster a growth mindset feedback loop in which members learn to self-reflectively apply a social diagnostic approach to their own digitally mediated well-being, thereby potentially improving organizational communication. Therefore, the Seven Cs form a core of communication competencies that will be increasingly important for organizational success as Gen Ters continue to mature and become colleagues in a variety of organizations. © 2023 SAGE Publications.

COVID-19 Communication and Media: The First Pandemic of the Digital Age

This issue of American Behavioral Scientist marshals case studies of online media platforms such as Zoom, YouTube, and Twitter and digital hardware systems such as virtual reality technology to assess the often unexpected interactions between the pandemic and digital technologies. The issue leads with a case study of Zoom to examine the laregely successful efforts which Zoom made in the wake of the pandemic to resolve unanticipated privacy and security problems afflicting the suddenly ubiquitous and indispensable platform. Subsequently, the issue charts the growing tensions between competing proprietary and open-source institutional logics during the pandemic. In the next section, articles consider the spread of covid-related information on YouTube and news outlets to take a comparative angle of vision both internationally and in terms of the dynamics of media production and reception in different cultural and societal environments. Variation is also key to the articles in the last section where research focuses on persistent digital usage gaps. Here the articles touch on the socioeconomic factors driving differentiated knowledge about the pandemic, as well as the relatively low uptake of digital technologies among older adults in housing facilities. Finally, we also learn about the effect of the social isolation and anxieties of the pandemic on the uptake of a new form of digital hardware, virtual reality equipment. Finally, the issue closes with an eye to visualization tools needed for the future to close this discussion of the digitization of the 100-year crisis occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic. These contributions take the measure of how the pandemic intersected with digitized communications and media in varied and, at times, unequal ways, as well as lessons applicable to future crises. © 2023 SAGE Publications.

Organizational and Institutional Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

This issue of American Behavioral Scientist deals with the various ways in which different kinds of organizations cope with the manifold challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Together, these articles map the challenges and opportunities encountered by a variety of organizations in a major public health crisis. The first section of the issue takes up the theme of adaptive crisis response in relation to two different kinds of organizations. This section begins with a comprehensive overview of U.S. nonprofit organizations' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The second article expands on the theme of communication practices in organizations using digital communication platforms which facilitate constructive forms of disagreement or "creative conflict.” Both of these articles indicate the potential positive outcomes of entrepreneurial organizational response. In the next section, we turn to organizational responses hampered by digital inequalities. The first article addresses digital inequalities and eLearning during the pandemic in the country of Pakistan. The next article also uses a digital inequalities framework to probe infrastructural inadequacies faced by the criminal justice system in terms of hindrances to external communication for incarcerated populations during the pandemic. This pair of articles underscores the importance of infrastructure as a necessary element of successful crisis response. The third section of the issue continues with case studies of carceral institutions with the first article offering insight into strategies used by incarcerated people to generate a sense of normality despite pandemic disruptions. Finally, the issue closes with an article revealing the delicate balancing act which rural U.S. law enforcement carried out when competing imperatives made it extremely difficult to manage public health and public safety simultaneously. © 2023 SAGE Publications.

Gig Work, Telework, Precarity, and the Pandemic

This issue examines technology-driven economic developments during the global COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Specifically, the articles cover the ways that gig work, the platform economy, and remote work have evolved during the course of the pandemic. The issue leads with articles that chart the interplay of the platform economy with various facets of the pandemic from the inequalities and risks faced by gig workers to market forces shaping the commercialization of hosting platforms. The following articles concentrate on the ways in which specific structural conditions—digital infrastructure as well as the structure of the economy—influence the unequal distribution of telework in Uruguay and the relationship between informality and remote work opportunities across Latin America. The last two articles explore remote work in Asia and North America. In the first of these two articles remote work in Japan is examined in order to investigate the cultural sources of resistance to the adoption of remote work. In the second and concluding article, the remote work preferences of U.S. adults are analyzed as a function of technology usage (videoconferencing versus instant messaging) as well as sociodemographic and occupational attributes. © 2023 SAGE Publications.

Combating Misinformation/ Disinformation in Online Social Media: A Multidisciplinary View

Recently, the viral propagation of mis/disinformation has raised significant concerns from both academia and industry. This problem is particularly difficult because on the one hand, rapidly evolving technology makes it much cheaper and easier to manipulate and propagate social media information. On the other hand, the complexity of human psychology and sociology makes the understanding, prediction and prevention of users' involvement in mis/disinformation propagation very difficult. This themed series on "Multi-Disciplinary Dis/Misinformation Analysis and Countermeasures" aims to bring the attention and efforts from researchers in relevant disciplines together to tackle this challenging problem. In addition, on October 20th, 2021, and March 7th 2022, some of the guest editorial team members organized two panel discussions on "Social Media Disinformation and its Impact on Public Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic," and on "Dis/Misinformation Analysis and Countermeasures - A Computational Viewpoint." This article summarizes the key discussion items at these two panels and hopes to shed light on the future directions.

Partnering with primary care to implement evidence based interventions (EBI) to address overdue colorectal cancer (CRC) screening in Connecticut (CT)

PURPOSE: Partnering with the largest Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in New Haven, CT, the goal is to implement and test 4 evidence-based interventions (EBI) to increase CRC screening, while evaluating real-world implementation. Here, we report on the six-month (approximate) follow up of a cohort of 3,127 patients overdue for CRC screening who received 1 or more EBIs in October 2021. BACKGROUND: Sociocultural and medical concerns are barriers to colonoscopy uptake contributing to disparities in CRC screening. An additional barrier is system level capacity. COVID-19 associated delays exacerbated the existing backlog of individuals overdue for CRC screening, underscoring the need to expand Fecal Immunochemical Testing (FIT) capacity. This was particularly evident in the safety-net primary care setting that serves lower socio-economic status individuals living in urban New Haven, CT. METHOD(S): We are testing the unique and additive value of multiple evidence-based interventions (EBIs) for increasing CRC screening. The EBIs include the use of medical reminders, addressing the structural barriers (social determinants of health [SDOH]), and providing assistance from community health workers (CHW). We randomized 3,127 patients overdue for CRC screening to one of 4 arms of the study. All individuals received a reminder from their providers that they were due/overdue for CRC screening with instructions to contact the FQHC. Arm 2 also included information on SDOH barriers, Arm 3 included this same information with offer of navigation from CHW/navigator;and Arm 4 included the offer of CHW educational video and support if needed. Six-month (approximate) outcomes include: 1) Engagement with FQHC resulting in ordered test;2) completed test. Results by intervention will be assessed at 12 months. RESULT(S): Of the 3,127 randomized patients, ages 50-75, 77% were Hispanic (33%) or Black (44%). At 6+ months, a preliminary look at EMR data show that a minimum of 1,275 (40.8%) patients "engaged" with providers resulting in an ordered FIT Kit (n= 1174) or COMPLETED screening colonoscopy that was not associated with a positive FIT result (n = 102). 217 (18.5%) individuals completed the FIT testing with 13 requiring confirmatory colonoscopy (31% completed at this time). Thus, a minimum of 319 (10%) of 3,127 individuals in the cohort completed CRC screening at approximately 6 months post intervention. DISCUSSION: Despite investments in community engagement, stakeholder input, and FIT kit capacity building, the pandemic presented unforeseen challenges. Flexibility and steadfast commitment from FQHC providers and staff were critical to successful implementation during multiple waves of COVID-19, resulting in CRC screening ordered for 41% of cohort within 6 months of intervention. SUMMARY: At 6 months follow up of 3,127 individual who were overdue for CRC screening, one or more of 4 EBIs, in addition to system level efforts to address CRC screening, resulted CRC screening tests ordered for 41% of cohort with at least 10% completed screening.

Implementing evidence-based interventions (EBI) to increase uptake of fecal immunochemical test (FIT) colorectal cancer (CRC) screening in Vulnerable Populations

Purpose: We partnered with a local Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) to test implementation of evidence-based interventions (EBI) promoting Fecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) CRC screening in an environment in which colonoscopy has been the prevailing screening strategy. We report on implementation adaptations and preliminary results. Background: Sociocultural and medical concerns are barriers to colonoscopy uptake in some populations. An additional barrier to CRC screening is system level capacity for colonoscopy that results in a back log of cases and long wait times. With Covid-19, the additional backlog in overdue CRC screening has underscored the need to expand FIT testing capacity to address screening needs and to pre-empt further racial/ethnic and SES disparities in CRC outcomes. This trial tests the unique and additive value of multiple EBIs for increasing CRC screening (primarily through FIT testing, but also colonoscopy when indicated) while evaluating the success of implementing these approaches. EBIs include the use of medical reminders, addressing the structural barriers (social determinants of health [SDOH]), and assistance from community health workers. Methods: Participants (3500), ages 45-75, were identified from a large FQHC in New Haven, CT and determined to be overdue for CRC screening. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the four arms of the study: 1) Provider reminder (overdue for CRC screening) only;2) Provider Reminder + SDOH short message and one-size-fits all link to resources;3) Provider Reminder + SDOH short message and offer for individualized navigation (trained navigators from local community) to address SDOH and other barriers;4) Provider Reminder + offer to participate in a CRC educational program as phase 2 of the NCI's Screen to Save program (not an EBI). Preliminary data on uptake of CRC screening will be presented. Results: With input from stakeholders, we have: 1) lowered age eligibility from 50 to 45 to align with new guidelines;2) expanded the target population to 2 additional satellite clinics, more than doubling the proposed study enrollment;3) incorporated design changes in the patient reminders. The collaboration between research team and clinician stakeholders has been critical in minimizing disruptions to clinical workflow while assuring fidelity to the evidence-based interventions. Preliminary outcomes (within one month of intervention) on uptake of intervention across the 4 arms of the study, i.e., referral for CRC screening and test completion will be presented. Conclusion: The unique challenges of this urban community of primarily African American/Black, Hispanic/Latinx and/or low socioeconomic status individuals stem from the disproportionate burden of SDOH barriers. Findings will inform primary care setting implementation of EBIs to address the anticipated increase in disparities in CRC screening, exacerbated by COVID-19 changes in health care access and utilization, as well as the increased demand associated with the change in guidelines.

Reimagining U.S. Strategy in the Middle East, Sustainable Partnerships, Strategic Investments

With the start of a new administration in the United States, the coming months might offer an opportune moment for Washington to rethink some of the fundamental premises underlying American policymaking in the Middle East and review how the United States engages the Middle East and - perhaps more fundamentally - for what purpose.

P.0509 Emotion de-regulation in a cohort of young europeans during the spring 2020 lockdown

Introduction: The first lockdown response to the Covid-19 pandemic has been an unexpected public health stress, notably in Europe. Its putative effect on mental health in young people was rapidly emphasized, but thorough evaluation of its impact on emotional components are scarce. Therefore we investigated the emotion regulation in a sample of young europeans during the peri-lockdown period. Aim(s): i) to specify some emotional components assessed by a self-questionnaire in young adults and ii) to investigate the subjective perception of their degradation with the change in their social environment 3 months before and during the first lockdown period. Methods: a modified version of the Coronavirus Health Impact Survey (v.0.2;, was completed online by 447 22-23 years-old participants, part of the IMAGEN cohort (https://imagen-europe.com) in Paris, London, Nottingham, Berlin, and Mannheim areas. It assessed participants’ self-perception in life changes caused by the coronavirus crisis. Participants retrospectively rated their own levels of emotions and worries in the 3 months before the onset of the COVID-19 crisis in the participants’ local area (pre–COVID-19 symptoms), as well as in the past 2 weeks (peri–COVID-19 symptoms) with a Cronbach's alpha =.81 and.87 for the past 3 months and past 2 weeks, respectively. participants indicated their levels of 1) worry, 2) happiness versus sadness, 3) enjoyment in usual activities, 4) feeling relaxed versus anxious, 5) feeling fidgety or restless, 6) feeling fatigued or tired, 7) concentration, 8) irritability or anger, 9) loneliness, 10) experiences of negative thoughts and 11) suicide thoughts/self-harm. An exploratory factor analysis with Varimax rotation and using maximum likelihood method of estimation was performed on scored data. Thereafter, effects on mental health variables were searched with ANOVAs. Results: The factor analysis revealed three factors within the emotion/worries section of the questionnaire: valence, psychomotor, and attention. To investigate the effect of the lockdown on emotional health, a score for every participant has been determined in relation with each factor. Then, the difference between the value of factor score for each participant at three months before and during the last two weeks of the first lockdown was further used in the analyses. ANOVAs showed that the item markedly related to emotional deterioration was social distance, which had a deleterious effect on emotional valence (p=2.09e-06), psychomotricity (p=0.0167), and attention (p=8.99e-05) factor scores. The participants who had a poor emotional health as denoted by their valence scores and suicidal thoughts before the lockdown were in majority better during the lockdown, whereas the reverse was detected in those with initial low scores in those measures. In contrast, the socio-professional category, drug addiction diagnosis, closure of university/business building and financial problems had no statistical impact on the emotional state of this sample of young europeans during the first lockdown. Conclusion: The present participants’ self-evaluations further support that the social distancing was the major item related to emotional health deterioration during the first COVID-19 lockdown. No conflict of interest

2021 animal influenza: research review

In this report the authors combine comprehensive literature review with input from leading researchers in the field (for details of contributors see here) to assess progress in animal influenza research globally since 2014 to 2015. A literature-based update that identifies some of the areas were presented in which future research and research funding should be targeted for maximum impact. The gap analysis presented here is intended to be used as a tool to supplement future in-depth gap analyses that include additional factors. This report comes at a timely juncture for zoonotic virus research, as the 2019-2020 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic continues its deadly course around the globe. The incredible progress made in our understanding of this novel virus and the disease caused by it in the past eighteen months is testament to the advances that can be made when governments and the scientific community pull together. As well as the specific points detailed below, the broader question now is what animal influenza research can learn from the successes of SARS-CoV-2 research, most notably the development of highly-effective outbreak monitoring and control procedures alongside the design, testing, licensing and large-scale production of several potent vaccines that are proving instrumental in protecting from clinical disease and reducing viral spread.

Concurrent EBV positive CNS diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and peripheral T-cell lymphoma, NOS

Introduction: A 19-year-old woman with EBV mononucleosis presented for acute respiratory failure and sepsis. She represented three months later with headaches, blurred vision, and nausea with imaging showing leptomeningeal and multiple cranial nerve enhancement and multifocal hypermetabolic pulmonary nodules. Several months of clinical improvement were followed by exacerbation of pulmonary symptoms. A kidney biopsy showed an abnormal EBVnegative T-cell population without diagnostic immunophenotypic abnormalities, consistent with a peripheral T-cell lymphoma, NOS. Two cycles of CHOEP and several cycles of GDP were given for progression with interruption by a SARS-CoV-2 infection and a left parietal infarct. An Ommaya reservoir was placed and rituximab given. On follow-up, interval increased enhancement was noted along the genu of the corpus callosum and anterior to the right lateral ventricle with stable disease present in the anterior frontal lobes. Material and methods: A left frontal lobe biopsy was routinely fixed in 10% formalin and embedded in paraffin blocks. H&E staining, immunohistochemistry (CD3, CD20, MIB1) and EBV ISH were performed. Results: Histological sections showed a discohesive population of medium to large atypical lymphoid cells with areas of necrosis. These cells stained positive for CD20 and EBV by ISH with a MIB1 proliferation index of > 90%, consistent with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Unfortunately, the patient developed a significant postoperative hematoma with midline shift and passed away. Conclusion: Concurrent lymphomas are rare and represent less than 5% of all lymphomas. A state of immunosuppression associated with some T-cell lymphomas leads to a prominent EBV associated B-cell proliferation.