931 research outputs found
Adaptive solution of truss layout optimization problems with global stability constraints
Truss layout optimization problems with global stability constraints are nonlinear and nonconvex and hence very challenging to solve, particularly when problems become large. In this paper, a relaxation of the nonlinear problem is modelled as a (linear) semidefinite programming problem for which we describe an efficient primal-dual interior point method capable of solving problems of a scale that would be prohibitively expensive to solve using standard methods. The proposed method exploits the sparse structure and low-rank property of the stiffness matrices involved, greatly reducing the computational effort required to process the associated linear systems. Moreover, an adaptive ‘member adding’ technique is employed which involves solving a sequence of much smaller problems, with the process ultimately converging on the solution for the original problem. Finally, a warm-start strategy is used when successive problems display sufficient similarity, leading to fewer interior point iterations being required. We perform several numerical experiments to show the efficiency of the method and discuss the status of the solutions obtained
Determinants of vaccination coverage and consequences for rabies control in Bali, Indonesia
Maintaining high vaccination coverage is key to successful rabies control, but mass dog vaccination can be challenging and population turnover erodes coverage. Declines in rabies incidence following successive island-wide vaccination campaigns in Bali suggest that prospects for controlling and ultimately eliminating rabies are good. Rabies, however, has continued to circulate at low levels. In the push to eliminate rabies from Bali, high coverage needs to be maintained across all areas of the island. We carried out door-to-door (DTD) questionnaire surveys (n = 10,352 dog-owning households) and photographic mark–recapture surveys (536 line transects, 2,597 observations of free-roaming dogs) in 2011–2012 to estimate dog population sizes and assess rabies vaccination coverage and dog demographic characteristics in Bali, Indonesia. The median number of dogs per subvillage unit (banjar) was 43 (range 0–307) for owned dogs estimated from the DTD survey and 17 (range 0–83) for unconfined dogs (including both owned and unowned) from transects. Vaccination coverage of owned dogs was significantly higher in adults (91.4%) compared to juveniles (<1 year, 43.9%), likely due to insufficient targeting of pups and from puppies born subsequent to vaccination campaigns. Juveniles had a 10–70 times greater risk of not being vaccinated in urban, suburban, and rural areas [combined odds ratios (ORs): 9.9–71.1, 95% CI: 8.6–96.0]. Free-roaming owned dogs were also 2–3 times more likely to be not vaccinated compared to those confined (combined Ors: 1.9–3.6, 95% CI: 1.4–5.4), with more dogs being confined in urban (71.2%) than in suburban (16.1%) and rural areas (8.0%). Vaccination coverage estimates from transects were also much lower (30.9%) than household surveys (83.6%), possibly due to loss of collars used to identify the vaccination status of free-roaming dogs, but these unconfined dogs may also include dogs that were unowned or more difficult to vaccinate. Overall, coverage levels were high in the owned dog population, but for future campaigns in Bali to have the highest chance of eliminating rabies, concerted effort should be made to vaccinate free-roaming dogs particularly in suburban and rural areas, with advertising to ensure that owners vaccinate pups. Long-lasting, cheap, and quick methods are needed to mark vaccinated animals and reassure communities of the reach of vaccination campaigns
Coronal Shock Waves, EUV waves, and their Relation to CMEs. II. Modeling MHD Shock Wave Propagation Along the Solar Surface, Using Nonlinear Geometrical Acoustics
We model the propagation of a coronal shock wave, using nonlinear geometrical
acoustics. The method is based on the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) approach
and takes into account the main properties of nonlinear waves: i) dependence of
the wave front velocity on the wave amplitude, ii) nonlinear dissipation of the
wave energy, and iii) progressive increase in the duration of solitary shock
waves. We address the method in detail and present results of the modeling of
the propagation of shock-associated extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) waves as well as
Moreton waves along the solar surface in the simplest solar corona model. The
calculations reveal deceleration and lengthening of the waves. In contrast,
waves considered in the linear approximation keep their length unchanged and
slightly accelerate.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Solar Physic
Patient Preferences for Discussing and Acting on Health-Related Needs in Primary Care
Background: Addressing social needs, health behaviors, and mental health may help patients more than traditional medical care. However, these root causes of poor health are difficult to address and the role of primary care is unclear. This qualitative study assesses patient?s willingness and motivations to discuss and accept assistance for these needs from their primary care team. Methods: In July and August of 2020, semi-structured virtual interviews were conducted with family medicine patients (n=6) and residents of low resource neighborhoods (n=11) in Richmond, Virginia. Interviews were conducted over Zoom. We conducted a qualitative analysis of patient and resident interview transcripts. A rapid qualitative analysis approach and immersion-crystallization processes were used to identify themes and categories. Results: Interviewees reported varying degrees of comfort discussing topics with their health care team. They were less comfortable discussing needs they considered outside the realm of "traditional primary care" including finances, transportation, and housing, but interviewees expressed willingness to discuss these needs under certain conditions. Important factors were a strong patient-clinician relationship to create a trusted and safe space for discussion, adequate time for discussion during visits, communication of practices' ability to provide resources to help patients, and ensuring appropriate high quality referrals. Conclusions: Primary care provides opportunity for identifying and addressing needs that adversely impact health. Some needs are more sensitive for patients to work with their care team on, though, there was willingness to work on any need when a strong provider relationship and clinic structure for providing support were in place. This study highlights critical care delivery factors which may be used to enhance patient comfort accepting support for their needs and ultimately improve clinical care and chronic disease management
Synchronization of Hamiltonian motion and dissipative effects in optical lattices: Evidence for a stochastic resonance
We theoretically study the influence of the noise strength on the excitation
of the Brillouin propagation modes in a dissipative optical lattice. We show
that the excitation has a resonant behavior for a specific amount of noise
corresponding to the precise synchronization of the Hamiltonian motion on the
optical potential surfaces and the dissipative effects associated with optical
pumping in the lattice. This corresponds to the phenomenon of stochastic
resonance. Our results are obtained by numerical simulations and correspond to
the analysis of microscopic quantities (atomic spatial distributions) as well
as macroscopic quantities (enhancement of spatial diffusion and pump-probe
spectra). We also present a simple analytical model in excellent agreement with
the simulations
Maximal Neutrino Mixing from a Minimal Flavor Symmetry
We study a number of models, based on a non-Abelian discrete group, that
successfully reproduce the simple and predictive Yukawa textures usually
associated with U(2) theories of flavor. These models allow for solutions to
the solar and atmospheric neutrino problems that do not require altering
successful predictions for the charged fermions or introducing sterile
neutrinos. Although Yukawa matrices are hierarchical in the models we consider,
the mixing between second- and third-generation neutrinos is naturally large.
We first present a quantitative analysis of a minimal model proposed in earlier
work, consisting of a global fit to fermion masses and mixing angles, including
the most important renormalization group effects. We then propose two new
variant models: The first reproduces all important features of the SU(5)xU(2)
unified theory with neither SU(5) nor U(2). The second demonstrates that
discrete subgroups of SU(2) can be used in constructing viable supersymmetric
theories of flavor without scalar universality even though SU(2) by itself
cannot.Comment: 34 pages LaTeX, 1 eps figure, minor revisions and references adde
Large-scale Bright Fronts in the Solar Corona: A Review of "EIT waves"
``EIT waves" are large-scale coronal bright fronts (CBFs) that were first
observed in 195 \AA\ images obtained using the Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging
Telescope (EIT) onboard the \emph{Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)}.
Commonly called ``EIT waves", CBFs typically appear as diffuse fronts that
propagate pseudo-radially across the solar disk at velocities of 100--700 km
s with front widths of 50-100 Mm. As their speed is greater than the
quiet coronal sound speed (200 km s) and comparable to the
local Alfv\'{e}n speed (1000 km s), they were initially
interpreted as fast-mode magnetoacoustic waves ().
Their propagation is now known to be modified by regions where the magnetosonic
sound speed varies, such as active regions and coronal holes, but there is also
evidence for stationary CBFs at coronal hole boundaries. The latter has led to
the suggestion that they may be a manifestation of a processes such as Joule
heating or magnetic reconnection, rather than a wave-related phenomena. While
the general morphological and kinematic properties of CBFs and their
association with coronal mass ejections have now been well described, there are
many questions regarding their excitation and propagation. In particular, the
theoretical interpretation of these enigmatic events as magnetohydrodynamic
waves or due to changes in magnetic topology remains the topic of much debate.Comment: 34 pages, 19 figure
Phthalates and Perfluorooctanesulfonic Acid in Human Amniotic Fluid: Temporal Trends and Timing of Amniocentesis in Pregnancy
Background: Measures of prenatal environmental exposures are important, and amniotic fluid levels may directly reflect fetal exposures during hypothesized windows of vulnerability
Gauge-ready formulation of the cosmological kinetic theory in generalized gravity theories
We present cosmological perturbations of kinetic components based on
relativistic Boltzmann equations in the context of generalized gravity
theories. Our general theory considers an arbitrary number of scalar fields
generally coupled with the gravity, an arbitrary number of mutually interacting
hydrodynamic fluids, and components described by the relativistic Boltzmann
equations like massive/massless collisionless particles and the photon with the
accompanying polarizations. We also include direct interactions among fluids
and fields. The background FLRW model includes the general spatial curvature
and the cosmological constant. We consider three different types of
perturbations, and all the scalar-type perturbation equations are arranged in a
gauge-ready form so that one can implement easily the convenient gauge
conditions depending on the situation. In the numerical calculation of the
Boltzmann equations we have implemented four different gauge conditions in a
gauge-ready manner where two of them are new. By comparing solutions solved
separately in different gauge conditions we can naturally check the numerical
accuracy.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures, revised thoroughly, to appear in Phys. Rev.
International consensus recommendations on key outcome measures for organ preservation after (chemo)radiotherapy in patients with rectal cancer
Multimodal treatment strategies for patients with rectal cancer are increasingly including the possibility of organ preservation, through nonoperative management or local excision. Organ preservation strategies can enable patients with a complete response or near-complete clinical responses after radiotherapy with or without concomitant chemotherapy to safely avoid the morbidities associated with radical surgery, and thus to maintain anorectal function and quality of life. However, standardization of the key outcome measures of organ preservation strategies is currently lacking; this includes a lack of consensus of the optimal definitions and selection of primary end points according to the trial phase and design; the optimal time points for response assessment; response-based decision-making; follow-up schedules; use of specific anorectal function tests; and quality of life and patient-reported outcomes. Thus, a consensus statement on outcome measures is necessary to ensure consistency and facilitate more accurate comparisons of data from ongoing and future trials. Here, we have convened an international group of experts with extensive experience in the management of patients with rectal cancer, including organ preservation approaches, and used a Delphi process to establish the first international consensus recommendations for key outcome measures of organ preservation, in an attempt to standardize the reporting of data from both trials and routine practice in this emerging area.Patients with early-stage rectal cancer might potentially benefit from treatment with an organ-sparing approach, which preserves quality of life owing to avoidance of the need for permanent colostomy. Trials conducted to investigate this have so far been hampered by considerable inter-trial heterogeneity in several key features. In this Consensus Statement, the authors provide guidance on the optimal end points, response assessment time points, follow-up procedures and quality of life measures in an attempt to improve the comparability of clinical research in this area
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