Patterns of Influenza Vaccination Coverage in the United States from 2009 to 2015

Background: Globally, influenza is a major cause of morbidity, hospitalization and mortality. Influenza vaccination has shown substantial protective effectiveness in the United States. We investigated state-level patterns of coverage rates of seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccination, among the overall population in the U.S. and specifically among children and the elderly, from 2009/10 to 2014/15, and associations with ecological factors. Methods and Findings: We obtained state-level influenza vaccination coverage rates from national surveys, and state-level socio-demographic and health data from a variety of sources. We employed a retrospective ecological study design, and used mixed-model regression to determine the levels of ecological association of the state-level vaccinations rates with these factors, both with and without region as a factor for the three populations. We found that health-care access is positively and significantly associated with mean influenza vaccination coverage rates across all populations and models. We also found that prevalence of asthma in adults are negatively and significantly associated with mean influenza vaccination coverage rates in the elderly populations. Conclusions: Health-care access has a robust, positive association with state-level vaccination rates across different populations. This highlights a potential population-level advantage of expanding health-care access.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

度態建築

postprin

A semismooth newton method for the nearest Euclidean distance matrix problem

The Nearest Euclidean distance matrix problem (NEDM) is a fundamentalcomputational problem in applications such asmultidimensional scaling and molecularconformation from nuclear magnetic resonance data in computational chemistry.Especially in the latter application, the problem is often large scale with the number ofatoms ranging from a few hundreds to a few thousands.In this paper, we introduce asemismooth Newton method that solves the dual problem of (NEDM). We prove that themethod is quadratically convergent.We then present an application of the Newton method to NEDM with $H$-weights.We demonstrate the superior performance of the Newton method over existing methodsincluding the latest quadratic semi-definite programming solver.This research also opens a new avenue towards efficient solution methods for the molecularembedding problem

Enhancement of shot noise due to the fluctuation of Coulomb interaction

We have developed a theoretical formalism to investigate the contribution of fluctuation of Coulomb interaction to the shot noise based on Keldysh non-equilibrium Green's function method. We have applied our theory to study the behavior of dc shot noise of atomic junctions using the method of nonequilibrium Green's function combined with the density functional theory (NEGF-DFT). In particular, for atomic carbon wire consisting 4 carbon atoms in contact with two Al(100) electrodes, first principles calculation within NEGF-DFT formalism shows a negative differential resistance (NDR) region in I-V curve at finite bias due to the effective band bottom of the Al lead. We have calculated the shot noise spectrum using the conventional gauge invariant transport theory with Coulomb interaction considered explicitly on the Hartree level along with exchange and correlation effect. Although the Fano factor is enhanced from 0.6 to 0.8 in the NDR region, the expected super-Poissonian behavior in the NDR regionis not observed. When the fluctuation of Coulomb interaction is included in the shot noise, our numerical results show that the Fano factor is greater than one in the NDR region indicating a super-Poissonian behavior

From creative to synthetic computational design 社會文化的運算化詮釋

總體運算化設計擴展了運算化設計的建築實踐，從關注形式，轉向整合設計資源，目標是做出更加可信賴的設計決定。這也許是第一次，建築行業在其自身內部尋求創新的動力。總體運算化設計提倡對於功能、適用性、創新、效率和美學的綜合性解決方案，這一過程以數字工具為基礎。我們應當放開眼界，把重心從對於形式的關注轉移到運算化工具在建築項目各個環節的綜合運用當中。創造力可以被表面的幾何形態所表達，也可以被不可見的建築內部機制所體現。Synthetic computational design extends the application of computation to architectural industry from focusing on creating innovative forms and spaces, to engaging with the entire process of an architectural project in order to make appropriate design decisions. Architectural industry is now driven by research within its own discipline. Synthetic computational design proposes comprehensive solutions to functions, fitness, innovation, efficiency and aesthetics through the embedding of digital design systems. We should shift our intentions from creating expressive forms, towards an immersion of computational apparatus into every aspect of architectural projects. Creativity does not need to be embodied only through visible forms, but can also be manifested in other less visible actions and procedures of architectural production.postprin

Numerical approximations for the tempered fractional Laplacian: Error analysis and applications

In this paper, we propose an accurate finite difference method to discretize the $d$-dimensional (for $d\ge 1$) tempered integral fractional Laplacian and apply it to study the tempered effects on the solution of problems arising in various applications. Compared to other existing methods, our method has higher accuracy and simpler implementation. Our numerical method has an accuracy of $O(h^\epsilon)$, for $u \in C^{0, \alpha+\epsilon} (\bar{\Omega})$ if $\alpha < 1$ (or $u \in C^{1, \alpha-1+\epsilon} (\bar{\Omega})$ if $\alpha \ge 1$) with $\epsilon > 0$, suggesting the minimum consistency conditions. The accuracy can be improved to $O(h^2)$, for $u \in C^{2, \alpha+\epsilon} (\bar{\Omega})$ if $\alpha < 1$ (or $u \in C^{3, \alpha - 1 + \epsilon} (\bar{\Omega})$ if $\alpha \ge 1$). Numerical experiments confirm our analytical results and provide insights in solving the tempered fractional Poisson problem. It suggests that to achieve the second order of accuracy, our method only requires the solution $u \in C^{1,1}(\bar{\Omega})$ for any $0<\alpha<2$. Moreover, if the solution of tempered fractional Poisson problems satisfies $u \in C^{p, s}(\bar{\Omega})$ for $p = 0, 1$ and $0<s \le 1$, our method has the accuracy of $O(h^{p+s})$. Since our method yields a (multilevel) Toeplitz stiffness matrix, one can design fast algorithms via the fast Fourier transform for efficient simulations. Finally, we apply it together with fast algorithms to study the tempered effects on the solutions of various tempered fractional PDEs, including the Allen-Cahn equation and Gray-Scott equations.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, 3 table

Irreducible Highest Weight Representations Of The Simple n-Lie Algebra

A. Dzhumadil'daev classified all irreducible finite dimensional representations of the simple n-Lie algebra. Using a slightly different approach, we obtain in this paper a complete classification of all irreducible, highest weight modules, including the infinite-dimensional ones. As a corollary we find all primitive ideals of the universal enveloping algebra of this simple n-Lie algebra.Comment: 24 pages, 24 figures, mistake in proposition 2.1 correcte

港珠澳大橋-香港口岸國際概念設計大賽參賽作品

這是一個港澳珠跨海大橋香港口岸的概念設計，基地位於比鄰香港國際機場的填海人工島上，四下空曠，因為地處飛機起落的航線上，它有嚴格的高度限制。我們的初衷是創造一個地標光塔，它光彩斑斕、形態舞動，無論從陸地還是海上，空中還是山上，看上去它都會成為一個令人過目難忘的香港門戶。This entry to the Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities (HKBCF) International Design Ideas Competition proposes an iconic beacon of dazzling light, colour and geometrical dynamics, visible as a gateway to Hong Kong, from the approach of both directions of the HKZM Bridge, from the air along the flight paths to HK airport, and the hills of Lantau Island and the New Territories.published_or_final_versio

Coverage of harm reduction services and HIV infection: A multilevel analysis of five Chinese cities

__Background:__ Since 2003, a harm reduction program for injecting drug users has been rolled out countrywide in China. It entails services for condom promotion, a needle and syringe program (NSP), and methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). However, it remains unknown if and to what extent the coverage of these services at city level is related to a reduced risk of HIV infection among drug users. __Methods:__ We wished to quantify the extent to which city-level characteristics (such as NSP and MMT service coverage) and individual-level determinants (e.g., self-reported exposure to NSP and MMT services, knowledge, motivation, and skills) were associated with the risk of HIV infection among drug users. In 2006, we conducted an integrated serological and behavioral survey among drug users in five cities of Yunnan Province, China (N = 685), constructing a multilevel logistic regression model with drug users clustered within these cities. __Results:__ Drug users who reported having received NSP or MMT services were about 50% less likely to be infected with HIV than those who reported not having received them (OR 0.45, 95% CI, 0.26-0.83 for NSP and 0.48, 95% CI, 0.31-0.73 for MMT). Despite a between-city variation of HIV infection risk (ICC 0.24, 95% CI 0.08-0.54), none of the city-level factors could explain this difference. Individual-level determinants such as perceived risk of infection and use of condoms were not associated with HIV infection. __Conclusions:__ Although people who had used NSP or MMT services were less likely to be HIV infected, this study found no relationship between city-level coverage of HIV prevention programs and variations in HIV infection between cities. This may have been due to the low number of cities in the analysis. Future research should include the analysis of data from a larger number of cities, which are collected widely in China through integrated behavioral and serological surveys

RESEARCH ON EFFICIENT INDEXING OF LARGE-SCALE GEOSPATIAL DATA BASED ON MULTI-LEVEL GEOGRAPHIC GRID

With the implementation of unified natural resource management in China, national geographic conditions monitoring data have been identified as fundamental data for natural resource survey and monitoring. The efficiency of information extraction from massive spatio-temporal data to support natural resource management has emerged as a critical indicator for maximizing the value of geographic conditions monitoring data and enhancing data-driven decision management. Traditional spatial indices are computationally intensive, and when confronted with immense data volume or uneven data scale, issues such as extensive index computations and poor scale adaptability arise, impeding the efficient retrieval of complex geospatial data. In response to the need for efficient indexing of massive geospatial monitoring data at a scale of 100 million, a multi-level geographic spatial index framework based on geographic grids is proposed. Within the geographic conditions spatio-temporal database, a three-level spatial index of "zone-grid-space" is constructed, utilizing massive land cover data for analysis and testing. The results demonstrate that the multi-level spatial index method exhibits excellent scale adaptability, and grid coding dimensionality reduction and numerical operations effectively reduce the computational load of spatial retrievals of complex vector patches. This method significantly improves the retrieval efficiency of large-scale national geographic conditions data, providing an efficient technique for lightweight information extraction of large-scale monitoring geospatial data within spatial computing systems. The method holds reference value for on-demand retrieval, analysis, and decision-making of natural resource spatio-temporal big data