arXiv subjects

Sheshank Shankar

Publications and source records attributed to Sheshank Shankar.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Mobile Apps Prioritizing Privacy, Efficiency and Equity: A Decentralized Approach to COVID-19 Vaccination Coordination

In this early draft, we describe a decentralized, app-based approach to COVID-19 vaccine distribution that facilitates zero knowledge verification, dynamic vaccine scheduling, continuous symptoms reporting, access to aggregate analytics based on population trends and more. To ensure equity, our solution is developed to work with limited internet access as well. In addition, we describe the six critical functions that we believe last mile vaccination management platforms must perform, examine existing vaccine management systems, and present a model for privacy-focused, individual-centric solutions.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2024

CoDream: Exchanging dreams instead of models for federated aggregation with heterogeneous models

Federated Learning (FL) enables collaborative optimization of machine learning models across decentralized data by aggregating model parameters. Our approach extends this concept by aggregating "knowledge" derived from models, instead of model parameters. We present a novel framework called CoDream, where clients collaboratively optimize randomly initialized data using federated optimization in the input data space, similar to how randomly initialized model parameters are optimized in FL. Our key insight is that jointly optimizing this data can effectively capture the properties of the global data distribution. Sharing knowledge in data space offers numerous benefits: (1) model-agnostic collaborative learning, i.e., different clients can have different model architectures; (2) communication that is independent of the model size, eliminating scalability concerns with model parameters; (3) compatibility with secure aggregation, thus preserving the privacy benefits of federated learning; (4) allowing of adaptive optimization of knowledge shared for personalized learning. We empirically validate CoDream on standard FL tasks, demonstrating competitive performance despite not sharing model parameters. Our code: https://mitmedialab.github.io/codream.github.io/

cs.LG↗

arXiv2022

Challenges of Equitable Vaccine Distribution in the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a need for widespread and rapid vaccine development. As several vaccines have recently been approved for human use or are in different stages of development, governments across the world are preparing comprehensive guidelines for vaccine distribution and monitoring. In this early article, we identify challenges in logistics, health outcomes, user-centric matters, and communication associated with disease-related, individual, societal, economic, and privacy consequences. Primary challenges include difficulty in equitable distribution, vaccine efficacy, duration of immunity, multi-dose adherence, and privacy-focused record-keeping to be HIPAA compliant. While many of these challenges have been previously identified and addressed, some have not been acknowledged from a comprehensive view accounting for unprecedented interactions between challenges and specific populations. The logistics of equitable widespread vaccine distribution in disparate populations and countries of various economic, racial, and cultural constitutions must be thoroughly examined and accounted for. We also describe unique challenges regarding the efficacy of vaccines in specialized populations including children, the elderly, and immunocompromised individuals. Furthermore, we report the potential for understudied drug-vaccine interactions as well as the possibility that certain vaccine platforms may increase susceptibility to HIV. Given these complicated issues, the importance of privacy-focused, user-centric systems for vaccine education and incentivization along with clear communication from governments, organizations, and academic institutions is imperative. These challenges are by no means insurmountable, but require careful attention to avoid consequences spanning a range of disease-related, individual, societal, economic, and security domains.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2022

Paper card-based vs application-based vaccine credentials: a comparison

In this early draft, we provide an overview on similarities and differences in the implementation of a paper card-based vaccine credential system and an app-based vaccine credential system. A vaccine credential's primary goal is to regulate entry and ensure safety of individuals within densely packed public locations and workspaces. This is critical for containing the rapid spread of Covid-19 in densely packed public locations since a single individual can infect a large majority of people in a crowd. A vaccine credential can also provide information such as an individual's Covid-19 vaccination history and adverse symptom reaction history to judge their potential impact on the overall health of individuals within densely packed public locations and workspaces. After completing the comparisons, we believe a card-based implementation will benefit regions with less socioeconomic mobility, limited resources, and stagnant administrations. An app-based implementation on the other hand will benefit regions with equitable internet access and lower technological divide. We also believe an interoperable system of both credential systems will work best for regions with enormous working-class populations and dense housing clusters.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2021

Vaccination Worldwide: Strategies, Distribution and Challenges

The Coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus represents an unprecedented crisis for our planet. It is a bane of the über connected world that we live in that this virus has affected almost all countries and caused mortality and economic upheaval at a scale whose effects are going to be felt for generations to come. While we can all be buoyed at the pace at which vaccines have been developed and brought to market, there are still challenges ahead for all countries to get their populations vaccinated equitably and effectively. This paper provides an overview of ongoing immunization efforts in various countries. In this early draft, we have identified a few key factors that we use to review different countries' current COVID-19 immunization strategies and their strengths and draw conclusions so that policymakers worldwide can learn from them. Our paper focuses on processes related to vaccine approval, allocation and prioritization, distribution strategies, population to vaccine ratio, vaccination governance, accessibility and use of digital solutions, and government policies. The statistics and numbers are dated as per the draft date [June 24th, 2021].

q-bio.PE↗

arXiv2021

Can Self Reported Symptoms Predict Daily COVID-19 Cases?

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted lives and economies across the globe, leading to many deaths. While vaccination is an important intervention, its roll-out is slow and unequal across the globe. Therefore, extensive testing still remains one of the key methods to monitor and contain the virus. Testing on a large scale is expensive and arduous. Hence, we need alternate methods to estimate the number of cases. Online surveys have been shown to be an effective method for data collection amidst the pandemic. In this work, we develop machine learning models to estimate the prevalence of COVID-19 using self-reported symptoms. Our best model predicts the daily cases with a mean absolute error (MAE) of 226.30 (normalized MAE of 27.09%) per state, which demonstrates the possibility of predicting the actual number of confirmed cases by utilizing self-reported symptoms. The models are developed at two levels of data granularity - local models, which are trained at the state level, and a single global model which is trained on the combined data aggregated across all states. Our results indicate a lower error on the local models as opposed to the global model. In addition, we also show that the most important symptoms (features) vary considerably from state to state. This work demonstrates that the models developed on crowd-sourced data, curated via online platforms, can complement the existing epidemiological surveillance infrastructure in a cost-effective manner. The code is publicly available at https://github.com/parthpatwa/Can-Self-Reported-Symptoms-Predict-Daily-COVID-19-Cases.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2021

COVID-19 Outbreak Prediction and Analysis using Self Reported Symptoms

It is crucial for policymakers to understand the community prevalence of COVID-19 so combative resources can be effectively allocated and prioritized during the COVID-19 pandemic. Traditionally, community prevalence has been assessed through diagnostic and antibody testing data. However, despite the increasing availability of COVID-19 testing, the required level has not been met in most parts of the globe, introducing a need for an alternative method for communities to determine disease prevalence. This is further complicated by the observation that COVID-19 prevalence and spread varies across different spatial, temporal, and demographics. In this study, we understand trends in the spread of COVID-19 by utilizing the results of self-reported COVID-19 symptoms surveys as an alternative to COVID-19 testing reports. This allows us to assess community disease prevalence, even in areas with low COVID-19 testing ability. Using individually reported symptom data from various populations, our method predicts the likely percentage of the population that tested positive for COVID-19. We do so with a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 1.14 and Mean Relative Error (MRE) of 60.40\% with 95\% confidence interval as (60.12, 60.67). This implies that our model predicts +/- 1140 cases than the original in a population of 1 million. In addition, we forecast the location-wise percentage of the population testing positive for the next 30 days using self-reported symptoms data from previous days. The MAE for this method is as low as 0.15 (MRE of 23.61\% with 95\% confidence interval as (23.6, 13.7)) for New York. We present an analysis of these results, exposing various clinical attributes of interest across different demographics. Lastly, we qualitatively analyze how various policy enactments (testing, curfew) affect the prevalence of COVID-19 in a community.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2021

COVID-19 Tests Gone Rogue: Privacy, Efficacy, Mismanagement and Misunderstandings

COVID-19 testing, the cornerstone for effective screening and identification of COVID-19 cases, remains paramount as an intervention tool to curb the spread of COVID-19 both at local and national levels. However, the speed at which the pandemic struck and the response was rolled out, the widespread impact on healthcare infrastructure, the lack of sufficient preparation within the public health system, and the complexity of the crisis led to utter confusion among test-takers. Invasion of privacy remains a crucial concern. The user experience of test takers remains low. User friction affects user behavior and discourages participation in testing programs. Test efficacy has been overstated. Test results are poorly understood resulting in inappropriate follow-up recommendations. Herein, we review the current landscape of COVID-19 testing, identify four key challenges, and discuss the consequences of the failure to address these challenges. The current infrastructure around testing and information propagation is highly privacy-invasive and does not leverage scalable digital components. In this work, we discuss challenges complicating the existing covid-19 testing ecosystem and highlight the need to improve the testing experience for the user and reduce privacy invasions. Digital tools will play a critical role in resolving these challenges.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2021

MIT SafePaths Card (MiSaCa): Augmenting Paper Based Vaccination Cards with Printed Codes

In this early draft, we describe a user-centric, card-based system for vaccine distribution. Our system makes use of digitally signed QR codes and their use for phased vaccine distribution, vaccine administration/record-keeping, immunization verification, and follow-up symptom reporting. Furthermore, we propose and describe a complementary scanner app system to be used by vaccination clinics, public health officials, and immunization verification parties to effectively utilize card-based framework. We believe that the proposed system provides a privacy-preserving and efficient framework for vaccine distribution in both developed and developing regions.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2020

Proximity Sensing: Modeling and Understanding Noisy RSSI-BLE Signals and Other Mobile Sensor Data for Digital Contact Tracing

As we await a vaccine, social-distancing via efficient contact tracing has emerged as the primary health strategy to dampen the spread of COVID-19. To enable efficient digital contact tracing, we present a novel system to estimate pair-wise individual proximity, via a joint model of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) signals with other on-device sensors (accelerometer, magnetometer, gyroscope). We explore multiple ways of interpreting the sensor data stream (time-series, histogram, etc) and use several statistical and deep learning methods to learn representations for sensing proximity. We report the normalized Decision Cost Function (nDCF) metric and analyze the differential impact of the various input signals, as well as discuss various challenges associated with this task.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2020

Digital Landscape of COVID-19 Testing: Challenges and Opportunities

The COVID-19 Pandemic has left a devastating trail all over the world, in terms of loss of lives, economic decline, travel restrictions, trade deficit, and collapsing economy including real-estate, job loss, loss of health benefits, the decline in quality of access to care and services and overall quality of life. Immunization from the anticipated vaccines will not be the stand-alone guideline that will help surpass the pandemic and return to normalcy. Four pillars of effective public health intervention include diagnostic testing for both asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals, contact tracing, quarantine of individuals with symptoms or who are exposed to COVID-19, and maintaining strict hygiene standards at the individual and community level. Digital technology, currently being used for COVID-19 testing include certain mobile apps, web dashboards, and online self-assessment tools. Herein, we look into various digital solutions adapted by communities across universities, businesses, and other organizations. We summarize the challenges experienced using these tools in terms of quality of information, privacy, and user-centric issues. Despite numerous digital solutions available and being developed, many vary in terms of information being shared in terms of both quality and quantity, which can be overwhelming to the users. Understanding the testing landscape through a digital lens will give a clear insight into the multiple challenges that we face including data privacy, cost, and miscommunication. It is the destiny of digitalization to navigate testing for COVID-19. Block-chain based systems can be used for privacy preservation and ensuring ownership of the data to remain with the user. Another solution involves having digital health passports with relevant and correct information. In this early draft, we summarize the challenges and propose possible solutions to address the same.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2020

Clinical Landscape of COVID-19 Testing: Difficult Choices

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has spread rapidly across the world, leading to enormous amounts of human death and economic loss. Until definitive preventive or curative measures are developed, policies regarding testing, contact tracing, and quarantine remain the best public health tools for curbing viral spread. Testing is a crucial component of these efforts, enabling the identification and isolation of infected individuals. Differences in testing methodologies, time frames, and outcomes can have an impact on their overall efficiency, usability and efficacy. In this early draft, we draw a comparison between the various types of diagnostic tests including PCR, antigen, and home tests in relation to their relative advantages, disadvantages, and use cases. We also look into alternative and unconventional methods. Further, we analyze the short-term and long-term impacts of the virus and its testing on various verticals such as business, government laws, policies, and healthcare.

q-bio.OT↗