Correlation effects in a simple model of small-world network

We analyze the effect of correlations in a simple model of small world network by obtaining exact analytical expressions for the distribution of shortest paths in the network. We enter correlations into a simple model with a distinguished site, by taking the random connections to this site from an Ising distribution. Our method shows how the transfer matrix technique can be used in the new context of small world networks.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Asymptotic behavior of the order parameter in a stochastic sandpile

We derive the first four terms in a series for the order paramater (the stationary activity density rho) in the supercritical regime of a one-dimensional stochastic sandpile; in the two-dimensional case the first three terms are reported. We reorganize the pertubation theory for the model, recently derived using a path-integral formalism [R. Dickman e R. Vidigal, J. Phys. A 35, 7269 (2002)], to obtain an expansion for stationary properties. Since the process has a strictly conserved particle density p, the Fourier mode N^{-1} psi_{k=0} -> p, when the number of sites N -> infinity, and so is not a random variable. Isolating this mode, we obtain a new effective action leading to an expansion for rho in the parameter kappa = 1/(1+4p). This requires enumeration and numerical evaluation of more than 200 000 diagrams, for which task we develop a computational algorithm. Predictions derived from this series are in good accord with simulation results. We also discuss the nature of correlation functions and one-site reduced densities in the small-kappa (large-p) limit.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure

Area-wide eradication of the invasive European grapevine moth Lobesia botrana in California, USA

17openBothIn the fall of 2009, the first confirmed North American detection of the European grapevine moth (EGVM) Lobesia botrana (Denis & Schiffermüller) occurred in Napa County, California, USA. Based on its status as a significant grape pest in other parts of the world, the establishment of EGVM in California presented significant production and export issues for grapes, as well as for other fresh market agricultural commodities. Over the following seven years, an intensive California state-wide survey and area-wide eradication campaign was undertaken in partnership with agricultural officials at local, state and federal levels, university scientists and the wine, table grape and raisin industries. These efforts resulted in a dramatic decline in moth captures in pheromone traps from over 100 000 moths in 2010, to one in 2014, and none in 2015. In August of 2016, eradication was declared for all previously infested areas in California. The decision to pursue the eradication effort was based on the limited host range and geographic area of the EGVM infestation, the availability of effective tools for monitoring and control, and the strong support of the affected grape production and export industries. The eradication campaign employed coordinated logistical, regulatory, and technical efforts that included: 1) state-wide-monitoring using a network of pheromone-baited traps and in field monitoring; these findings were recorded in a geographic information system that was used to regularly communicate survey results to programme officials; 2) an area-wide application of mating disruption dispensers to infested vineyards, including use in urban environments within infested zones; 3) implementation by coordinators of area-wide insecticide treatments with application timing determined by degree-day modelling for each infested region; 4) a robust regulatory programme that initiated and maintained a quarantine of infested areas that regulated movement of fruit, farming equipment and winery processing waste; 5) an extensive outreach programme to grape growers, wineries, pest control specialists and the public; 6) formation of a technical working group that provided recommendations to the operational programme. An extensive methods development effort supported the programme. This included developing enhanced detection methods for vineyards under mating disruption, testing efficacy and residual control of insecticides, testing mating disruption formulations, evaluating the impacts of winery processing methods on EGVM mortality, developing methods to determine the timing of the development of successive EGVM generations (or biofix) under California conditions to improve degree-day models, developing EGVM rearing methods, testing the quality of pheromone lures and trap monitoring; and a spatial analysis of trapping data to determine programme effectiveness and to analyse invasion pathwaysopenSimmons, G.S.; Varela, L.; Daugherty, M.; Cooper, M.; Lance, D.; Mastro, V.; Carde, R.T.; Lucchi, A.; Ioriatti, C.; Bagnoli, B.; Steinhauer, R.; Broadway, R.; Stone Smith, B.; Hoffman, K.; Clark, G.; Whitmer, D.; Johnson, R.Simmons, G.S.; Varela, L.; Daugherty, M.; Cooper, M.; Lance, D.; Mastro, V.; Carde, R.T.; Lucchi, A.; Ioriatti, C.; Bagnoli, B.; Steinhauer, R.; Broadway, R.; Stone Smith, B.; Hoffman, K.; Clark, G.; Whitmer, D.; Johnson, R

BMQ

BMQ: Boston Medical Quarterly was published from 1950-1966 by the Boston University School of Medicine and the Massachusetts Memorial Hospitals

A Genome-Wide Screening and SNPs-to-Genes Approach to Identify Novel Genetic Risk Factors Associated with Frontotemporal Dementia

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is the second most prevalent form of early onset dementia after Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We performed a case-control association study in an Italian FTD cohort (n = 530) followed by the novel SNPs-to-genes approach and functional annotation analysis. We identified two novel potential loci for FTD. Suggestive SNPs reached p-values ~10-7 and OR > 2.5 (2p16.3) and 1.5 (17q25.3). Suggestive alleles at 17q25.3 identified a disease-associated haplotype causing decreased expression of -cis genes such as RFNG and AATK involved in neuronal genesis and differentiation, and axon outgrowth, respectively. We replicated this locus through the SNPs-to-genes approach. Our functional annotation analysis indicated significant enrichment for functions of the brain (neuronal genesis, differentiation and maturation), the synapse (neurotransmission and synapse plasticity), and elements of the immune system, the latter supporting our recent international FTD-GWAS. This is the largest genome-wide study in Italian FTD to date. Although our results are not conclusive, we set the basis for future replication studies and identification of susceptible molecular mechanisms involved in FTD pathogenesis

Are Damage Spreading Transitions Generically in the Universality Class of Directed Percolation?

We present numerical evidence for the fact that the damage spreading transition in the Domany-Kinzel automaton found by Martins {\it et al.} is in the same universality class as directed percolation. We conjecture that also other damage spreading transitions should be in this universality class, unless they coincide with other transitions (as in the Ising model with Glauber dynamics) and provided the probability for a locally damaged state to become healed is not zero.Comment: 10 pages, LATE

Analysis of a spatial Lotka-Volterra model with a finite range predator-prey interaction

We perform an analysis of a recent spatial version of the classical Lotka-Volterra model, where a finite scale controls individuals' interaction. We study the behavior of the predator-prey dynamics in physical spaces higher than one, showing how spatial patterns can emerge for some values of the interaction range and of the diffusion parameter.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

PRM38 Estimation of a Markov Chain for Crohn's Disease and Classification of Patients Into Disease Phenotypes, in Eight Countries Using Individual Longitudinal Data Aggregated Over Time

n/