Comparison of contact patterns relevant for transmission of respiratory pathogens in Thailand and the Netherlands using respondent-driven sampling

Understanding infection dynamics of respiratory diseases requires the identification and quantification of behavioural, social and environmental factors that permit the transmission of these infections between humans. Little empirical information is available about contact patterns within real-world social networks, let alone on differences in these contact networks between populations that differ considerably on a socio-cultural level. Here we compared contact network data that were collected in the Netherlands and Thailand using a similar online respondent-driven method. By asking participants to recruit contact persons we studied network links relevant for the transmission of respiratory infections. We studied correlations between recruiter and recruited contacts to investigate mixing patterns in the observed social network components. In both countries, mixing patterns were assortative by demographic variables and random by total numbers of contacts. However, in Thailand participants reported overall more contacts which resulted in higher effective contact rates. Our findings provide new insights on numbers of contacts and mixing patterns in two different populations. These data could be used to improve parameterisation of mathematical models used to design control strategies. Although the spread of infections through populations depends on more factors, found similarities suggest that spread may be similar in the Netherlands and Thailand

Inferring Epidemic Contact Structure from Phylogenetic Trees

Contact structure is believed to have a large impact on epidemic spreading and consequently using networks to model such contact structure continues to gain interest in epidemiology. However, detailed knowledge of the exact contact structure underlying real epidemics is limited. Here we address the question whether the structure of the contact network leaves a detectable genetic fingerprint in the pathogen population. To this end we compare phylogenies generated by disease outbreaks in simulated populations with different types of contact networks. We find that the shape of these phylogenies strongly depends on contact structure. In particular, measures of tree imbalance allow us to quantify to what extent the contact structure underlying an epidemic deviates from a null model contact network and illustrate this in the case of random mixing. Using a phylogeny from the Swiss HIV epidemic, we show that this epidemic has a significantly more unbalanced tree than would be expected from random mixing

Analysis of spectroscopic factors in Be 11 and Be 12 in the Nilsson strong-coupling limit

Spectroscopic factors in Be10, Be11, and Be12, extracted from (d,p), one-neutron knockout, and (p,d) reactions, are interpreted within the rotational model. Assuming that the ground state and first excited state of Be11 can be associated with the 12[220] and 12[101] Nilsson levels, the strong-coupling limit gives simple expressions that relate the amplitudes of these wave functions (in the spherical basis) with the measured cross sections and derived spectroscopic factors. We obtain good agreement with both the measured magnetic moment of the ground state in Be11 and the reaction data

Analysis of spectroscopic factors in Be 11 and Be 12 in the Nilsson strong-coupling limit

Spectroscopic factors in Be10, Be11, and Be12, extracted from (d,p), one-neutron knockout, and (p,d) reactions, are interpreted within the rotational model. Assuming that the ground state and first excited state of Be11 can be associated with the 12[220] and 12[101] Nilsson levels, the strong-coupling limit gives simple expressions that relate the amplitudes of these wave functions (in the spherical basis) with the measured cross sections and derived spectroscopic factors. We obtain good agreement with both the measured magnetic moment of the ground state in Be11 and the reaction data

Structure of 29F in the rotation-aligned coupling scheme of the particle-rotor model

Recent results from RIKEN/RIBF on the low-lying level structure of 29F are interpreted within the Particle-Rotor Model. We show that the experimental data can be understood in the Rotation-aligned Coupling Scheme, with the 5/2+ ground state as the bandhead of a decoupled band. In this picture, the energy of the observed 1/21+ state correlates strongly with the rotational energy of the core and provides an estimate of the 2+ energy in 28O. Our analysis suggests a moderate deformation, ϵ2∼0.16, and places the 2+ in 28O at ∼ 2.5 MeV

Structure of 29F in the rotation-aligned coupling scheme of the particle-rotor model

Recent results from RIKEN/RIBF on the low-lying level structure of F are interpreted within the Particle-Rotor Model. We show that the experimental data can be understood in the Rotation-aligned Coupling Scheme, with the 5/2 ground state as the bandhead of a decoupled band. In this picture, the energy of the observed 1/2 state correlates strongly with the rotational energy of the core and provides an estimate of the 2 energy in O. Our analysis suggests a moderate deformation, ϵ ∼0.16, and places the 2 in O at ∼ 2.5 MeV. 29 + + + 28 + 28 1