11,993 research outputs found
Mitigating bias in estimating epidemic severity due to heterogeneity of epidemic onset and data aggregation
Outbreaks of infectious diseases, such as influenza, are a major societal burden. Mitigation policies during an outbreak or pandemic are guided by the analysis of data of ongoing or preceding epidemics. The reproduction number,
, defined as the expected number of secondary infections arising from a single individual in a population of susceptibles is critical to epidemiology. For typical compartmental models such as the Susceptible-Infected-Recovered (SIR)
represents the severity of an epidemic. It is an estimate of the early-stage growth rate of an epidemic and is an important threshold parameter used to gain insights into the spread or decay of an outbreak. Models typically use incidence counts as indicators of cases within a single large population; however, epidemic data are the result of a hierarchical aggregation, where incidence counts from spatially separated monitoring sites (or sub-regions) are pooled and used to infer
. Is this aggregation approach valid when the epidemic has different dynamics across the regions monitored? We characterize bias in the estimation of
from a merged data set when the epidemics of the sub-regions, used in the merger, exhibit delays in onset. We propose a method to mitigate this bias, and study its efficacy on synthetic data as well as real-world influenza and COVID-19 data
Extreme throat initial data set and horizon area--angular momentum inequality for axisymmetric black holes
We present a formula that relates the variations of the area of extreme
throat initial data with the variation of an appropriate defined mass
functional. From this expression we deduce that the first variation, with fixed
angular momentum, of the area is zero and the second variation is positive
definite evaluated at the extreme Kerr throat initial data. This indicates that
the area of the extreme Kerr throat initial data is a minimum among this class
of data. And hence the area of generic throat initial data is bounded from
below by the angular momentum. Also, this result strongly suggests that the
inequality between area and angular momentum holds for generic asymptotically
flat axially symmetric black holes. As an application, we prove this inequality
in the non trivial family of spinning Bowen-York initial data.Comment: 11 pages. Changes in presentation and typos correction
Simulation of an 1857-like Mw 7.9 San Andreas Fault Earthquake and the Response of Tall Steel Moment Frame Buildings in Southern California – A Prototype Study
In 1857, an earthquake of magnitude 7.9 occurred on the San Andreas fault, starting at Parkfield and rupturing
in a southeasterly direction for more than 360 km. Such a unilateral rupture produces significant directivity
toward the San Fernando and Los Angeles basins. The strong shaking in the basins due to this earthquake
would have had significant long-period content (2-8 s), and the objective of this study is to quantify the impact
of such an earthquake on two 18-story steel moment frame building models, hypothetically located at 636 sites
on a 3.5 km grid in southern California. End-to-end simulations include modeling the source and rupture of a
fault at one end, numerically propagating the seismic waves through the earth structure, simulating the damage
to engineered structures and estimating the economic impact at the other end using high-performance computing.
In this prototype study, we use an inferred finite source model of the magnitude 7.9, 2002 Denali fault
earthquake in Alaska, and map it onto the San Andreas fault with the rupture originating at Parkfield and
propagating southward over a distance of 290 km. Using the spectral element seismic wave propagation code,
SPECFEM3D, we simulate an 1857-like earthquake on the San Andreas fault and compute ground motions at
the 636 analysis sites. Using the nonlinear structural analysis program, FRAME3D, we subsequently analyze
3-D structural models of an existing tall steel building designed using the 1982 Uniform Building Code (UBC),
as well as one designed according to the 1997 UBC, subjected to the computed ground motion at each of these
sites. We summarize the performance of these structural models on contour maps of peak interstory drift.
We then perform an economic loss analysis for the two buildings at each site, using the Matlab Damage and
Loss Analysis (MDLA) toolbox developed to implement the PEER loss-estimation methodology. The toolbox
includes damage prediction and repair cost estimation for structural and non-structural components and allows
for the computation of the mean and variance of building repair costs conditional on engineering demand
parameters (i.e. inter-story drift ratios and peak floor accelerations). Here, we modify it to treat steel-frame
high-rises, including aspects such as mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, traction elevators, and the
possibility of irreparable structural damage. We then generate contour plots of conditional mean losses for the
San Fernando and the Los Angeles basins for the pre-Northridge and modern code-designed buildings, allowing
for comparison of the economic effects of the updated code for the scenario event. In principle, by simulating
multiple seismic events, consistent with the probabilistic seismic hazard for a building site, the same basic
approach could be used to quantify the uncertain losses from future earthquakes
Bubbling and bistability in two parameter discrete systems
We present a graphical analysis of the mechanisms underlying the occurrences
of bubbling sequences and bistability regions in the bifurcation scenario of a
special class of one dimensional two parameter maps. The main result of the
analysis is that whether it is bubbling or bistability is decided by the sign
of the third derivative at the inflection point of the map function.Comment: LaTeX v2.09, 14 pages with 4 PNG figure
Inhomogeneous elastic response of silica glass
Using large scale molecular dynamics simulations we investigate the
properties of the {\em non-affine} displacement field induced by macroscopic
uniaxial deformation of amorphous silica,a strong glass according to Angell's
classification. We demonstrate the existence of a length scale
characterizing the correlations of this field (corresponding to a volume of
about 1000 atoms), and compare its structure to the one observed in a standard
fragile model glass. The "Boson-peak'' anomaly of the density of states can be
traced back in both cases to elastic inhomogeneities on wavelengths smaller
than , where classical continuum elasticity becomes simply unapplicable
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