Quasi-geostrophic dynamics in the presence of moisture gradients

The derivation of a quasi-geostrophic (QG) system from the rotating shallow water equations on a midlatitude beta-plane coupled with moisture is presented. Condensation is prescribed to occur whenever the moisture at a point exceeds a prescribed saturation value. It is seen that a slow condensation time scale is required to obtain a consistent set of equations at leading order. Further, since the advecting wind fields are geostrophic, changes in moisture (and hence, precipitation) occur only via non-divergent mechanisms. Following observations, a saturation profile with gradients in the zonal and meridional directions is prescribed. A purely meridional gradient has the effect of slowing down the dry Rossby waves, through a reduction in the "equivalent gradient" of the background potential vorticity. A large scale unstable moist mode results on the inclusion of a zonal gradient by itself, or in conjunction with a meridional moisture gradient. For gradients that are are representative of the atmosphere, the most unstable moist mode propagates zonally in the direction of increasing moisture, matures over an intraseasonal timescale and has small phase speed.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, DOI:10.1002/qj.2644, 201

Optimal alarm systems for count processes

In many phenomena described by stochastic processes, the implementation of an alarm system becomes fundamental to predict the occurrence of future events. In this work we develop an alarm system to predict whether a count process will upcross a certain level and give an alarm whenever the upcrossing level is predicted. We consider count models with parameters being functions of covariates of interest and varying on time. This article presents classical and Bayesian methodology for producing optimal alarm systems. Both methodologies are illustrated and their performance compared through a simulation study. The work finishes with an empirical application to a set of data concerning the number of sunspot on the surface of the sun

Update of membership and mean proper motion of open clusters from UCAC5 catalog

We present mean proper motions and membership probabilities of individual stars for optically visible open clusters, which have been determined using data from the UCAC5 catalog. This follows our previous studies with the UCAC2 and UCAC4 catalogs, but now using improved proper motions in the GAIA reference frame. In the present study results were obtained for a sample of 1108 open clusters. For five clusters, this is the first determination of mean proper motion, and for the whole sample, we present results with a much larger number of identified astrometric member stars than on previous studies. It is the last update of our Open cluster Catalog based on proper motion data only. Future updates will count on astrometric, photometric and spectroscopic GAIA data as input for analyses.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, 4 equations; accepted for publication in 2018 May 25 in the MNRA

Can an Industry Voluntary Agreement on Food Traceability Minimize the Cost of Food Safety Incidents?

In the recent past the United States has had a number of severe food-safety outbreaks in the produce, vegetable and beef industry that greatly disrupted the food system. In all these outbreaks here were severe disruptions on sales that affected the whole industry, and it took an extended period of time to correctly locate the source of the outbreak. Traceability can be an effective tool to reduce the impact of food safety incidents my expediting the search for the origin of outbreaks. This paper investigates to what extent an industry-led voluntary agreement for providing traceability can reduce the cost of a food-safety outbreak. We find that a voluntary agreement on traceability can successfully reduce the cost of a food-safety outbreak but will unlikely achieve the optimal social level of traceability because of significant free riding.Traceability, voluntary agreements, food safety, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Construction of a non-standard quantum field theory through a generalized Heisenberg algebra

We construct a Heisenberg-like algebra for the one dimensional quantum free Klein-Gordon equation defined on the interval of the real line of length $L$. Using the realization of the ladder operators of this type Heisenberg algebra in terms of physical operators we build a 3+1 dimensional free quantum field theory based on this algebra. We introduce fields written in terms of the ladder operators of this type Heisenberg algebra and a free quantum Hamiltonian in terms of these fields. The mass spectrum of the physical excitations of this quantum field theory are given by $\sqrt{n^2 \pi^2/L^2+m_q^2}$, where $n= 1,2,...$ denotes the level of the particle with mass $m_q$ in an infinite square-well potential of width $L$.Comment: Latex, 16 page

Periodically-driven cold atoms: the role of the phase

Numerous theoretical and experimental studies have investigated the dynamics of cold atoms subjected to time periodic fields. Novel effects dependent on the amplitude and frequency of the driving field, such as Coherent Destruction of Tunneling have been identified and observed. However, in the last year or so, three distinct types of experiments have demonstrated for the first time, interesting behaviour associated with the driving phase: i.e. for systems experiencing a driving field of general form $V(x)\sin (\omega t + \phi)$, different types of large scale oscillations and directed motion were observed. We investigate and explain the phenomenon of Super-Bloch Oscillations (SBOs) in relation to the other experiments and address the role of initial phase in general. We analyse and compare the role of $\phi$ in systems with homogeneous forces ($V'(x)= const$), such as cold atoms in shaken or amplitude-modulated optical lattices, as well as non-homogeneous forces ($V'(x)\neq const$), such as the sloshing of atoms in driven traps, and clarify the physical origin of the different $\phi$-dependent effects.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figur

Optimal control of a dengue epidemic model with vaccination

We present a SIR+ASI epidemic model to describe the interaction between human and dengue fever mosquito populations. A control strategy in the form of vaccination, to decrease the number of infected individuals, is used. An optimal control approach is applied in order to find the best way to fight the disease.Comment: This is a preprint of a paper accepted for presentation at ICNAAM 2011, Halkidiki, Greece, 19-25 September 2011, and to appear in AIP Conference Proceedings, volume 138