Invitation to expert elicitation on syndromic surveillance in May 2014, Havanna, Cuba

Dear colleague,

We are contacting you on the basis of your expertise in syndromic surveillance and/or animal disease classification methods.

The lack of standardized recording of animal health data, and the consequent difficulties in setting up harmonized syndromic classification, are challenges often raised when syndromic surveillance is under discussion. We are well aware that a range of classification nomenclatures around animal disease exist, but currently there is little incentive for their adoption, especially considering the labour that would be required to recode data from individual institutions’ vocabularies.

Considering these challenges, we are planning to address the problem by gathering a number of experts interested in exploring potential solutions, and supplementing previous efforts with tools from the fields of computer/information science dedicated to the creation of functional ontologies. For more background on these subjects, please refer to the Semantic Web (http://semanticweb.org/wiki/Ontology) and the Web Ontology Language (OWL) (http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-features/) websites. Additionally, we plan to use machine learning methods to develop tools that will make the proposed ontologies more readily applicable; that is, to provide tools for translation of animal health data into the developed standardized classification system.

The work would consist of a series of iterations between expert knowledge elicitation and the application of machine learning methods. Details are provided in the summary work plan attached. The first instance of expert elicitation is planned to take place in conjunction with the ICAHS2 conference in Havana, Cuba (7-9th, May 2014), as a half-day post-conference workshop (therefore taking place on May 10th, 2014).

If you are interested in this initiative, we kindly ask you to reply to this email (mail to: fernanda.dorea@sva.se) confirming your interest, so that we can keep you on our list of experts for any future activities linked to this project. If, additionally, you will be able to attend the first workshop immediately after the ICAHS2 conference in Havana, in May 2014, please confirm your participation also by replying to this email, and we will send you a confirmation of your workshop registration. Lastly, please feel free to forward this email to any colleagues whose participation in this initiative you judge to be relevant.
Thank you for your attention, and we look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,
Fernanda C. Dórea, National Veterinary Institute-Sweden
Céline Dupuy, French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety-France
Ann Lindberg, National Veterinary Institute-Sweden
Crawford Revie, Canadian Veterinary Epidemiological Research-Canada
Flavie Vial, Veterinary Public Health Institute-Switzerland

Link to work plan

13th Crane Seminar: Risk assessment – improving public health and animal welfare in food production

[Information copied from the course website, please visit for additional information]

Seminar and postgraduate course (3 ECTS)

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Skara, Sweden, 31 March - 4 April 2014


Risk assessment is used increasingly as a science-based method to describe and quantify risks in human and animal populations, and to identify important determinants of such risks. This seminar addresses the application of risk assessment concepts and methods to improve public health and animal welfare in food production. The seminar includes 5 days on campus in Skara, Sweden.

The Crane Seminar is both a seminar open to anyone, and a postgraduate course (3 ECTS credits) for students on a PhD or residency programme in medicine, veterinary medicine, animal science, or biology. In case of a large number of applicants, PhD students will be given priority on a first-come, first-served basis.

Crane Seminars are recurrent interdisciplinary events organised by the Department of Animal Environment and Health every 2nd-3rd year to connect human and animal sciences under current themes of high societal relevance. Needless to say, the seminar includes an excursion to Lake Hornborga, host of thousands of Cranes at this time of the year.

Welcome to Crane Country in March!

Emerging parasitic zoonoses in Estonia, and why the Northern Big Brother should be concerned

On Thursday, October 17th, Brian Lassen will hold a seminar at Evira Headquarters, Mustialankatu 3, Viikki, in Kalevi lecture hall, at 15.00-16.00, about EMERGING PARASITIC ZOONOSES IN ESTONIA, AND WHY THE NORTHERN BIG BROTHER SHOULD BE CONCERNED.

The talk will be on emerging, re-emerging and endemic parasitic zoonoses in Estonia, some of them well-known also in Finland, some with evident potential to spread into Finland.

Associate Professorship / Assistant Professorship in Animal Welfare

Dear Colleagues Please see below announcement for a position in the field of Animal Welfare in the Population Biology Group at the Department of Large Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen in Denmark. Closing date is September 8, 2013 Kind regards Liza Rosenbaum Nielsen Associate Professorship, alternatively Assistant Professorship in Animal Welfare. The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen Department of Large Animal Sciences. The University seeks to appoint an associate professor, alternatively assistant professor in Animal Welfare at the Department of Large Animal Sciences to commence as soon as possible. Information about the Department is linked on www.sund.ku.dk Job description In considering applications for the associate or assistant professorship, the main emphasis will be on the applicant´s ability to document a high level of original scientific work on an international level within the area of animal welfare. The applicant is expected in collaboration with the existing staff to work in particular on two specific projects, the development of a Danish animal welfare index and animal welfare during transportation. In addition, they will also be involved in the other activities in Population Biology including applied ethology, animal welfare assessment, welfare epidemiology and veterinary jurisprudence. The position will be based in the group of Population Biology, which contains three research areas: Ethology, Veterinary Epidemiology and Bioethics. Each research area undertakes particular teaching and research activities, along with collaborations both within the group of Population Biology and externally. The group of Population Biology mainly employs methodological research approaches, which is relevant for all groups of animals, although the emphasis for research and teaching is production animals. The research in the Department of Large Animal Sciences is communicated to the industry,   authorities and the general public, and the leading researchers are involved in preparing legislation within animal welfare. Qualifications and experience within the following areas are desired: Knowledge of methods for evaluating animal welfare at herd or group level Knowledge of animal welfare legislation in Denmark and the EU Willingness /ability / experience in interdisciplinary collaboration The associate professor´s duties will primarily consist of:  research, including obligations with regard to publication/scientific communication research-based teaching with associated examination duties research leadership as well as educational guidance and supervision of assistant professors and PhD-students professional assessment work Qualification requirements The appointee should have qualifications within the following areas: research qualifications such as an assistant professor or equivalent within the subject area(s) teaching qualifications such as an assistant professor or equivalent within the subject area(s)*  documented experience in animal welfare research, by means of ethological and/or epidemiological methods, preferably within several species of animals *If the applicant has no previous teaching experience through employment as an assistant professor or has not achieved corresponding teaching experience, the appointment will be probationary for 1 ½ years. The associate professor is also required to be enterprising and to possess good interpersonal skills. If qualifications for associate professor are not obtained the position can be filled as assistant professor: The assistant professorship is a training post limited to 4 years. The assistant professor´s duties will primarily consist of: research, including obligations with regard to publication/scientific communication research-based teaching with associated examination duties  communication of research results to the public peer assessment To a limited extent, the assistant professorship may also involve other duties. The distribution of work time between the different functions may vary periodically according to the department´s requirements, but the position will qualify the assistant professor in both research and teaching. During the term of the employment, supervision will be provided, as well as possibilities of educational upgrading with a view to a final written evaluation of the assistant professor´s teaching qualifications. On appointment as assistant professor, merit is given for previous employment in a relevant area. Required Qualifications a PhD degree or similar qualifications in relation to the above subject area research and teaching experience within the field of the position established international scientific network The assistant professor is also required to be enterprising and to possess good interpersonal skills. Terms of employment The terms are set according to the Agreement between the Ministry of Finance and AC (Danish Confederation of Professional Associations) or other relevant professional organization. The post is covered by the Job Structure for Academic Staff at Universities (2007). Questions For further information, please contact Head of Section for Population Biology Hans Houe, tel.: +45 353 33014, e-mail: houe@sund.ku.dk or Head of Department Hans Henrik Dietz, tel.: +45 35 33 35 89, e-mail: hhd@sund.ku.dk Foreign applicants may find the following links useful: www.ism.ku.dk (International Staff Mobility) and www.workingconditions.ku.dk. Application The application must be submitted in English, by clicking on "Apply online" below, and must include the following: Application including reasons for applying for this post Curriculum vitae Diplomas - all relevant certificates List of publications Research plan Teaching portfolio Teaching plan Publications you wish to be considered in the assessment (max. 10) Applicants must state whether they wish to be assessed in relation to the associate professorship and/or the assistant professorship. The application will be assessed according to the Ministerial Order no. 242 of 13 March 2012 on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities. The University of Copenhagen encourages all interested in this post to apply. Please submit the application with the required attachments by clicking on "apply online" below. Only online applications will be accepted. The closing date for applications is 23.59pm, Sunday 8 September 2013. Apply online The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences comprises app. 7500 students, app. 1500 PhD students and app. 3200 employees. The Faculty creates new knowledge and recognition through its core activities: research, teaching, knowledge sharing and communication. With basic research fields ranging from molecular studies to studies of society, the Faculty contributes to a healthy future through its graduates, research findings and inventions for the benefit of patients and the community.

The University of Copenhagen actively influences current and future generations through excellent research, education and co-operation. UCPH is one of the highest ranked universities in Europe and is Denmark´s oldest university, founded in 1479. Today, the University has 37,000 students and 9,000 employees affiliated across six faculties: humanities, law, natural sciences, social sciences, health sciences and theology. www.ku.dk/english/.

Frist: 08-09-2013 Arbejdsgiver: Det Sundhedsvidenskabelige Fakultet

Course announcements from the UK

[submitted to NOSOVE by Huybert Groenendaal 24th July 2013]

Postgraduate Certificate in Risk Analysis in Health and Food Safety

&

Animal Agriculture and Food Safety Risk Analysis and Disease Modeling Course

The Royal Veterinary College and EpiX Analytics

Dear Colleagues,

We would like to make you aware of two upcoming opportunities for training in risk analysis, one is a Postgraduate Certificate course in Risk Analysis in Health and Food Safety starting March 2014, and the other is the short course “Animal Agriculture and Food Safety Risk Analysis and Disease Modeling” running from Sept. 2-13, 2013.

The Postgraduate Certificate in Risk Analysis in Health and Food Safety offered by the Royal Veterinary College and EpiX Analytics is now open for registrations. Register now to ensure you get a place in the course starting in March 2014. The program, among the first recognized academic qualifications in Risk Analysis in Health and Food Safety, aims at providing the skills for cutting-edge and in-depth practice in quantitative risk analysis in health and food safety. It builds on previously successful training programs delivered by the two institutions, and offers candidates the opportunity to develop hands-on work skills and tailor their studies to their own professional and development needs. Options are offered to accommodate the working schedule of participants including part-time study and online examinations. Applicants with prior knowledge in risk analysis and/or who have attended risk analysis training delivered by EpiX/RVC can also apply for an exemption from Module 1 (and discounted fees). For more information on the postgraduate certificate please visit: www.rvc.ad.uk/rahfs or www.epixanalytics.com/RAHFS.html or contact Barbara O’Neill at boneill@epixanalytics.com.

Candidates that cannot undertake the postgraduate certificate in 2014 may be interested in our course Animal Agriculture and Food Safety Risk Analysis and Disease Modeling, offered on September 2-13, 2013 at the Camden campus of the Royal Veterinary College in London, UK. This two-week course aims at providing participants with practical and critical risk analysis skills, and the course credits can be used for continuing professional development and selected postgraduate programs such as our postgraduate certificate. Details are available at http://www.epixanalytics.com/Animal-Agriculture-and-Food-Safety-Risk-Analysis.html.

Open for registration: Two upcoming training opportunities in risk analysis in health and food safety

The Postgraduate Certificate in Risk Analysis in Health and Food Safety offered by EpiX Analytics and the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), University of London is open for registrations. Register now to ensure you get a place on the course starting in March 2014!

Risk analysis is an increasingly important tool used by national and international agencies, veterinary services and the food industry to support decision around health and food safety. In this global context, the certificate is among the first recognized academic qualifications and aims at providing the skills for cutting-edge and in-depth practice in quantitative risk analysis in health and food safety.

Options are offered to accommodate the working schedule of participants including part-time study and remote examinations. Applicants with prior knowledge in risk analysis can also apply for an exemption from Module 1 (and discounted fee).

More information available at http://www.epixanalytics.com/RAHFS.html or www.rvc.ac.uk/rahfs, or contact Barbara O’Neill at: BOneill@epixanalytics.com.

If unable to undertake the postgraduate certificate in 2014, you may be interested in our two-week course Animal Agriculture and Food Safety Risk Analysis and Disease Modeling, offered on September 2-13, 2013 at the Royal Veterinary College in London, UK. This course provides participants with practical and critical risk analysis skills. The course credits can be used for continuing professional development and selected postgraduate programs such as our postgraduate certificate. Details are available at http://www.epixanalytics.com/Animal-Agriculture-and-Food-Safety-Risk-Analysis.html.

Vacant position as Professor/Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark

Dear Colleagues,

we are looking for a new colleague in the Population Biology group:

Vacant position as Professor/Associate Professor is posted online at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

Professorship / Associate Professorship in Quantitative Veterinary Epidemiology and Biostatistics. 

Closing date is 15 September 2013

For a full description of this job posting please see 

http://www.ku.dk/english/available_positions/vip/

If you have any questions please contact group leader Professor Hans Houe: houe@sund.ku.dk

Best wishes,

Liza Rosenbaum Nielsen

Professor in Disease Control and Prevention

Future NOSOVE course - Social Network Analysis

The conclusion of local preferences of the future NOSOVE course in Estonia is that the course will be on Social Network Analysis.

The course will be in the summer of 2014. More information will follow on the blog.

Lecture by Sander Greenland in Helsinki 23rd September 2013

23 September 2013, 10-16, Tieteiden Talo, Kirkkokatu 6, Helsinki

[Organised by the Finnish Epidemiology Society]

Professor Sander Greenland (UCLA School of Public Health) is a biostatistician and epidemiologist known for his contributions to meta-analysis, Bayesian inference and causal inference, among other topics. Greenland has published over 300 scientific papers, two of which have been cited over 500 times. He is the co-author of one of the standard textbooks on epidemiology, Modern Epidemiology.

The day will include elements from Sander's recent international presentations such as:

“Overthrowing the Tyranny of Null Hypotheses in Health and Medical Sciences.”

“Is Epidemiology too Difficult for Statisticians?"

“Causal Inference: Much More Than Just Statistics.”

“Integrating Bayesian and frequentist statistics, or: Seeing both sides of the same biased coin.”.

Registration by 31. August 2013 to Laura Laakso, email laura.k.salonen@helsinki..fi

Seminar Day fee 60 eur

Day includes lunch and coffee

FES account

NORDEA

IBAN FI96 1078 3000 2224 88
BIC/SWIFT NDEAFIHH
Please type your name into the message field as a reference of payment

NOSOVE board meeting 28th May 2013

NOSOVE board meeting via Skype

28.05.2013; 13:00-13:39

Attending: Brian Lassen, Hanne Kongsted, Liza Rosenbaum Nielsen, Marit Stormoen, Outi Hälli, Arvo Viltrop

Apologies: Ann Lindberg; Aivars Berzins

Minutes (kept by Arvo):

1.       It was discussed, whether we should keep the NOSOVE website for one more year so that it could point to the NOSOVE blog. This would mean that we should pay a fee to the Univ. of Copenhagen for keeping the website.

It was decided to abandon the website and to keep the blog only from now on. As the internet search engines take you directly to the NOSOVE blog, there is no need for the website any more.

2.       On sponsoring the SVEPM 2014 meeting.

NOSOVE agrees to support the SVEPM annual meeting to be held in Dublin in March 2014 with 1000 euro.

When the program for the conference is ready, NOSOVE would like to specify an activity at the conference that the society will be advertised as sponsor of, e.g. a session or workshop with speakers from NOSOVE-countries or themes of special interest to the NOSOVE-countries (i.e. Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia).

3.       NOSOVE meeting and course 2014:

a.       Place and venue: Arvo and Brian (with the support from Outi) persuaded everyone that the meeting should be kept out of Tallinn. Arvo has suggested a little town with great history at west coast of Estonia called Haapsalu. It is located ~100 km from Tallinn, with very  good bus connections (1 hour 50 min drive). It was decided to go to Haapsalu. Arvo will start looking for the venue.

b.      Topic of the course: The poll in blog had serious technical problems, so it is not possibel to get any result out of it. So it was decided that the board members will  make personal inquiries during two following weeks among potential participants and try to figure out which of the two topics (Social network analysis or Sundromic surveillance) is prefered and would collect more participants. Decision will be made there after.

NOSOVE is looking for a new logo

NOSOVE has decided to update our logo. 

The need became apparent during the last GA where the point was raised that our current logo is not representing the Baltic States that have become present and active in the NOSOVE activites. 

We have already received one submission by Marie Nöremark that will be considered. 

We invite anyone interested to participate in illustrating a new logo for NOSOVE, please send it to brian.lassen[at]gmail.com. 

The competition will close 1st August 2013.
The submissions are considered highly appreciated but voluntary work.

All logo's will be listed in this post and we welcome comments from members on this blog post that we can take into account when making the final decision.

Submission by Maria Nöremark

Illustrators comments for logo: The basis of the logo is a compass with a needle pointing north, to represent the Nordic part of NOSOVE.  In the middle is a graph to represent epidemiology. The logo is made up of the letters of NOSOVE; the two Os are the ring of the compass, the N is north on the compass, the V (upside down) is both the compass arrow and part of the graph, the E is the x-axis of the graph, the S is a curve in the graph.

Search for risk modeller in Weybridge, UK

Do you want to put your mathematical modelling and/or quantitative risk assessment skills to good use? Are you interested in biological systems, animal health and food safety and would you find the challenge of these complex issues stimulating?
 If so, you could be part of a team that’s helping to judge the threat to animal and human health posed by everything from bovine TB to climate change.
 Defra is the UK government department responsible for policy and regulations on the environment, food and rural affairs. The department was established to protect the environment for future generations, make our economy more environmentally sustainable and improve our quality of life and well-being.
 In this key role, you will join DEFRA’s Animal Health & Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA). You’ll be part of AHVLA’s internationally recognised risk analysis workgroup that provides the UK government and EU with risk assessments that inform policies and contingency plans, as well as guidance on animal health and food safety.  As part of this team you will apply your quantitative skills to many high-profile topics such as bovine TB, avian influenza, vector-borne disease and antibiotic resistance. You will be involved in the entire risk assessment process, from defining the risk question and model design, to model implementation and the delivery of results.  Your efforts will help to shape future policies concerning animal health and food safety, while advancing the science of risk assessment. It is therefore essential that you have a degree in a subject with a significant mathematical or statistical component and also experience of applying quantitative risk assessment, mathematical modelling or simulation modelling, ideally in the field of biological systems, within a research environment.  If you have the expertise, communication skills and self-motivation we’re looking for, you could help the country to combat a wide range of possible threats.

Salary: £27,548 - £34,584.  Location: Weybridge, Surrey, UK.

To view a full job description visit www.civilservice.gov.uk/jobs/ and enter vacancy reference: 1299840. Alternatively contact us on 0845 603 7262 or email: ssd.applications@defra.gsi.gov.uk for a copy, quoting the reference.

Closing date: 21^st June 2013.

Emma L. Snary B.Sc. PhD.Risk Analysis Workgroup Leader Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA)Epidemiology, Surveillance and Risk GroupNew Haw,Addlestone,Surrey,KT15 3NB T: +44(0) 1932 357317GTN: 3956 2317F: +44(0) 1932 349983
E: emma.snary@ahvla.gsi.gov.uk www.defra.gov.uk/ahvla Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) This email and any attachments is intended for the named recipient only. If you have received it in error you have no authority to use, disclose, store or copy any of its contents and you should destroy it and inform the sender. Whilst this email and associated attachments will have been checked for known viruses whilst within AHVLA systems we can accept no responsibility once it has left our systems. Communications on AHVLA computer systems may be monitored and/or recorded to secure the effective operation of the system and for other lawful purposes.

Master level course in Disease Control and Dynamics - in a One Health setting 2013 at University of Copenhagen

Dear colleagues,

we offer a course in Disease Control and Dynamics - in a One Health setting at master level at Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen starting August 19, 2013.

The course consists of three parts
Part 1 is a distance learning part that takes place between August 19th and 23rd. It mainly involves reading up on principles and concepts of diagnostic test evaluation and prevalence estimation and finalizes with an online test.

Part 2 takes place at Frederiksberg Campus, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences as a 5 day period from August 26th to 30th 2013. It is planned as a series of lectures with interspersed group and individual exercises and assignments. Relevant literature will be supplied or suggested before and during the course.

Part 3 is conducted electronically during a 5 week long period from September 2nd to October 10th 2013 as distance learning. Activities that will be assessed include weekly short assignments, participation in discussion forums and a final 24 hour examination. The time needed to participate in this part of the course is estimated at 2 hours per day, on average.

During the course we will be working with basic methods to map and investigate spatiotemporal patterns of disease and model dynamics of infections in human and animal populations.

Find a pdf-flyer with a full description of the course by clicking this link.

If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact me:
Liza Rosenbaum Nielsen
Course coordinator
liza@sund.ku.dk

NOSOVE General Assembly minutes, 2013

Tuesday 15th of 2013, Copenhagen, Denmark

Election of chairman of the AGM: Maria Nöremark

Election of secretary: Liza Rosenbaum Nielsen

Election of keeper of minutes:  Liza Rosenbaum Nielsen

The chairman of NOSOVE, Maria Nöremark, gave a report of the time since the last NOSOVE meeting in 2010:

The report covered the period since the latest election (i.e. since last meeting 2010).
Chairman: Maria Nöremark (Statens Veterinärmedicinska Anstalt, Sweden) Treasurer: Ann Lindberg (Statens Veterinärmedicinska Anstalt, Sweden)
Member: Marit Stormoen (Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, Norway) Member: Outi Hälli (University of Helsinki, Finland) Member: Brian Lassen (Estonian University of Life Sciences, Estonia) Substitute: Britt Bang Jensen (National Veterinary Institute, Norway) Substitute: Liza Rosenbaum Nielsen (KU LIFE, Denmark) Auditor: Marianne Sandberg (Landbrug & Fødevarer, Denmark) Auditor: Trude Lyngstadt (National Veterinary Institute, Norway) Substitute for auditors: Nina Otten (KU LIFE, Denmark)


The board has had four meetings (teleconferences) discussing the outcome of the survey and planning the 2013 meeting. The format of the 2013, including a workshop for discussion on education within veterinary epidemiology is a result of the wishes expressed by the members through the survey. To provide a background for the workshop the board has also done a survey among PhD-students in Veterinary Epidemiology to ask them; where and how they find information about PhD-courses in Veterinary Epidemiology, hinders to participate in such courses, needs for courses, advantages and disadvantages with e-learning vs. meeting in person and if there are courses that they have been extra satisfied with. The results were presented at the 2013 meeting.  Work has been done with the NOSOVE webpage/blogspot (thank you, Brian) and discussions are ongoing on how the page can be further improved, e.g. if it could be used for spreading information on upcoming courses or for suggesting topics for future courses.’

The board has had four meetings (teleconferences) discussing the outcome of the survey and planning the 2013 meeting. The format of the 2013, including a workshop for discussion on education within veterinary epidemiology is a result of the wishes expressed by the members through the survey. To provide a background for the workshop the board has also done a survey among PhD-students in Veterinary Epidemiology to ask them; where and how they find information about PhD-courses in Veterinary Epidemiology, hinders to participate in such courses, needs for courses, advantages and disadvantages with e-learning vs. meeting in person and if there are courses that they have been extra satisfied with. The results were presented at the 2013 meeting.  Work has been done with the NOSOVE webpage/blogspot (thank you, Brian) and discussions are ongoing on how the page can be further improved, e.g. if it could be used for spreading information on upcoming courses or for suggesting topics for future courses.’

Good financial situation in NOSOVE (current balance 112.686 SEK). Main expenses over the last couple of years have been sponsorships for SVEPM and ISVEE. Auditors recommended that the treasurer’s report could be approved. It was decided to introduce a routine where NOSOVE meeting budgets are approved by the board prior to committing to cover any deficits.

Discussion on the practice of supporting significant scientific meetings or participation in meetings followed. We do not have a lot of money for people to apply for all sorts of things, but will decide from time to time when requests come in. A few bursaries may be offered to participate in NOSOVE-meetings/courses in the future.

The following board was elected for the next period: For 1 year: Chairman: Arvo Viltrop (ES). Ordinary members: Marit Stormoen (N), Liza Rosenbaum Nielsen (DK), Aivars Berzins (LV) For 2 years: Treasurer Ann Lindberg (SE). Ordinary members: Brian Lassen (ES), Outi Hälli (F)

NOSOVE website:  We discussed whether we should have “a real website” with a ‘.org’ address rather than a dk-address. It was decided to keep NOSOVE.org and make it point to the blogspot, and there was general agreement that the blogspot works well. The blogspot works with different endings (nosove.blogspot.dk, nosove.blogspot.fi, nosove.blogspot.no, .com, etc.)

Lis Alban will find the statutes and Jens Frederik Agger will find a short description of the history of NOSOVE and a list of course to upload on the blogspot. If others have other documents of relevance, they can send it to the board to upload on the blogspot.

A meeting was planned in Iceland in 2011, but was cancelled due to few participants. (For the future it is important to remember to advertise the courses well enough).

Due to the cancelled meeting, in 2011 a survey was done among NOSOVE members concerning the future of NOSOVE; if NOSOVE should continue and if so in what way. The survey also asked for topics that could be of interest for future courses if it was decided to continue with NOSOVE. There was a support for continuing NOSOVE. The latest board was also elected through this survey since there was no meeting in 2011:

Treasurer Ann Lindberg’s report

The account was settled and the administration during the last election period approved (since the last meeting 2010).

Election of the new board members.

Election of substitutes for the board (1 year): Hanne Kongstad (DK) and Britt Bang Jensen (N)

Election of auditors: Marcus Doherr (CH) and Jenny Frössling (SE)

Determination of membership fee for the coming year to be zero

Any other business:  

Historical documents of NOSOVE:

A suggestion was made that the board makes a new-NOSOVO-logo to include all countries

Closing of the meeting

Syndromic Surveillance – monitoring animal health data to detect temporal aberrations in near real-time using free software

 [Proposal for next NOSOVE course in June 2014, please vote in the poll] 

Teacher: Dorea Fernanda

Syndromic surveillance can be characterised as a process involving the continuous analysis of health data to provide immediate feedback.

The increasing amount of health data recording in electronic format presents extra challenges for data analysis, but also new opportunities to extract information from data in real and near-real time. In this course participants will have a chance to learn, through several hands-on exercises, how to use freely available software to set up automated, autonomous routines of data analysis.

The theory and exercises will cover all the basic steps to successfully develop, evaluate and implement a syndromic surveillance system capable of detecting temporal aberrations (which may indicate the occurrence of outbreaks) when monitoring cases load from a given animal health data source, such as laboratory submissions, clinical cases, etc. These steps can be summarized as:

• basic text mining methods for automated classification of records into syndromes;
• retrospective evaluation of data to create baseline profiles following the removal of excessive noise and aberrations, and the identification of temporal effects;
• prospective evaluation of detection algorithms; and finally
• real-time monitoring and implementation.

As all software used are freely available, participants will be able to readily apply the skills learned into their work or research.

Course specifications

Participants are expected to have a basic knowledge of biostatistics. No previous knowledge of the software to be used is expected.

The course exercises will use the statistical programming environment R, and  RapidMiner, the world-leading open-source system for data mining available freely from Rapid-I (http://rapid-i.com/content/view/26/84/). Participants will receive download and installation instructions upon registration, and they should bring their own laptop computer. Datasets will be provided as part of the course, but participants are welcome to bring a dataset of their own to explore some of the techniques learned.

Workshop Content

Day 1 – Introduction to the tools:  Basics of using R and Rapid Miner.

Day2 – Syndromic surveillance, Step 1: Automated classification of records into syndromes. Participants will learn the basics of text-mining and will practice implementing supervised (rule-based) and unsupervised (naïve Bayes, Decision Trees) machine learning methods in order to create automated routines to classify records into syndromes.

Day3 – Syndromic surveillance, Step 2: Retrospective evaluation of data available. Basic concepts of time series analysis will be covered. Participants will practice on a dataset in order to learn how to identify statistical characteristics of the time series which can impact aberration detection, in special temporal effects such as day of week and seasonal patterns. Step 3: Prospective evaluation of data. Participants will practice the use of basic temporal aberration detection algorithms, such as control charts (cumulative sums, Shewhart type control charts and Exponentially Weighted Moving Average). More advanced methods (such as Holt-Winters exponential smoothing and removal of temporal effects using regression models) will then be employed to deal with specific characteristics that can be found when monitoring different data sources.

Day4 – Syndromic surveillance, Step 4: Implementation. Participants will learn how to combine tools (Rapid Miner and R) in order to implement a syndromic surveillance system, from data acquisition to final reports.

 

Network Analysis Workshop

 [Proposal for next NOSOVE course in June 2014, please vote in the poll] 

Rob Christley

Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology

Head of Epidemiology & Public Health

School of Veterinary Science

University of Liverpool,

UK

Provisional Outline

The course will introduce the terminology, methods and some of the software available to analyse networks. The workshop will be a combination of short lectures, discussions and hands-on analysis (half of each day will be spent completing exercises designed to give participants practical experience of network analysis). By the end of the workshop participants will be able to design and undertake studies appropriate for the collection of network data, and use such data to create network images, describe important features of the network and identify important individuals and subgroups within the network. In addition, we will cover aspects of the statistical analysis of network data and the impact of networks on infectious disease dynamics..

Data will be provided for the practical sessions; however, participants will be encouraged to bring their own data to work on during the workshop. In addition, participants are encouraged to discuss their ideas for network analysis with the group.

The course outline below provides the basic course structure and topics to be covered. This may be subject to some modification.

DAY 1

a.m.	Theory	INTRODUCTION Overview of the course What is network analysis? -   What is a network? -   The network paradigm -   History Applications of network analysis -   Veterinary -   Other applications Network topology; types and properties of networks Books, references, and other useful information!
p.m.	Practical	FROM DATA TO ILLUSTRATION Introduction to data sets Introduction to the software Data entry Viewing and editing data Data manipulation Importing attribute data Visualising a network Saving NetDraw files

DAY 2

a.m.	Theory	FROM ILLUSTRATION TO ANALYSIS §   Analysis of individual nodes -    Centrality §   Analysis of a network -    Cohesion §   Analysis of groups and regions -    Components, cohesive sub-groups -    Structural & regular equivalence, blockmodelling
p.m.	Practical	FROM ILLUSTRATION TO ANALYSIS §   Analysis of individual nodes §   Analysis of networks §   Analysis of sub-groups

DAY 3

a.m.	Theory	FURTHER TOPICS IN NETWORK ANALYSIS §   Network data collection §   Networks and disease dynamics §   Discussion session -    Presentation of research ideas or data by the participants (if they choose)
p.m.	Practical	FURTHER TOPICS IN NETWORK ANALYSIS §   Brief overview of other network software §   Statistical analysis of network data §   Continue working on exercises from day 1 and 2 §   Work on your own data

Requirements:

·      Course material with notes, practicals and solutions to the exercises will be provided during the first session of the workshop.

·      Participants will be required to bring their own laptop.

·      Software required: UCINET. A free trial version will be provided for the course.