1,678,515 research outputs found
Predicting the extinction of Ebola spreading in Liberia due to mitigation strategies
The Ebola virus is spreading throughout West Africa and is causing thousands
of deaths. In order to quantify the effectiveness of different strategies for
controlling the spread, we develop a mathematical model in which the
propagation of the Ebola virus through Liberia is caused by travel between
counties. For the initial months in which the Ebola virus spreads, we find that
the arrival times of the disease into the counties predicted by our model are
compatible with World Health Organization data, but we also find that reducing
mobility is insufficient to contain the epidemic because it delays the arrival
of Ebola virus in each county by only a few weeks. We study the effect of a
strategy in which safe burials are increased and effective hospitalisation
instituted under two scenarios: (i) one implemented in mid-July 2014 and (ii)
one in mid-August---which was the actual time that strong interventions began
in Liberia. We find that if scenario (i) had been pursued the lifetime of the
epidemic would have been three months shorter and the total number of infected
individuals 80\% less than in scenario (ii). Our projection under scenario (ii)
is that the spreading will stop by mid-spring 2015
Lightweight refractory insulation and method of preparing the same Patent
Preparation and characteristics of lightweight refractory insulatio
Mesoscopic Thermovoltage Measurement Design
Quantitative thermoelectric measurements in the mesoscopic regime require
accurate knowledge of temperature, thermovoltage, and device energy scales. We
consider the effect of a finite load resistance on thermovoltage measurements
of InAs/InP heterostructure nanowires. Load resistance and ac attenuation
distort the measured thermovoltage therefore complicating the evaluation of
device performance. Understanding these effects improves experimental design
and data interpretation.Comment: 2 pages, 3 figure
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