Optimal Treatment Rate During an Influenza Pandemic in the Presence of Drug-Resistance Emergence

The problem was posed by Seyed Moghadas, from the National Research Council Institute for Biodiagnostics in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It concerns the optimization of the rate of treatment with antivirals during a pandemic of influenza, to achieve the following objectives: 1. Minimize the total number of deaths due to influenza. 2. Minimize the total number of infections with influenza. 3. Reduce the spread of resistance to antivirals. It is understood that not all the objectives above might be satisfied at the same time, and the purpose of the work is to consider the outcome in the different scenarios. The aim of the present project is to see if optimal control theory can contribute to a better formulation of the treatment intensity, in order to bring the epidemic under control while avoiding wide-spread resistance in the population

Comparison of Perron and Floquet eigenvalues in age structured cell division cycle models

We study the growth rate of a cell population that follows an age-structured PDE with time-periodic coefficients. Our motivation comes from the comparison between experimental tumor growth curves in mice endowed with intact or disrupted circadian clocks, known to exert their influence on the cell division cycle. We compare the growth rate of the model controlled by a time-periodic control on its coefficients with the growth rate of stationary models of the same nature, but with averaged coefficients. We firstly derive a delay differential equation which allows us to prove several inequalities and equalities on the growth rates. We also discuss about the necessity to take into account the structure of the cell division cycle for chronotherapy modeling. Numerical simulations illustrate the results.Comment: 26 page

Anti-dumping policies and safeguard measures in the context of Costa Rica's economic liberalization

This paper reviews the most important changes, both in the economy and in the legal and institutional framework, to deal with unfair trade practices that Costa Rica has experienced during its trade liberalization process. It also evaluates whether the sectors that as a result of such a process have been facing increased foreign competition, and may have attempted to use the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules adopted by Costa Rica as a protectionist instrument. Costa Rica's legal framework against unfair trade practices at the multilateral level emerged when the country adopted the WTO rules on antidumping policies and safeguard measures. That has been reinforced at the bilateral level through the subscription of free trade agreements with Central America, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Chile, and Canada. So far, only six antidumping petitions and five safeguards have been received by the government. In reviewing these petitions, the government has paid particular attention to the impact of any action on the competitiveness of the domestic market and on the possibility that it would support modernization of the industry. Behind the political acceptance of this disciplined approach lies widespread recognition of the social as well as economic progress that liberalization has supported.TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Access to Markets,Markets and Market Access

Les espaces de l'halieutique

A l'aide d'un exemple élémentaire, l'article introduit une question fondamentale en dynamique de population, celle de la structure asymptotique de la population. Il illustre ensuite sur deux cas l'apport de l'analyse mathématique à la résolution de cette équation. (Résumé d'auteur

Imkan Al-rukyat Mabims (Solusi Penyeragaman Kelender Hijriyah)

There has been a dispute among Indonesian Muslims over the determination of the beginning of Islamic lunar calendar. The problem stems from the different interpretation of the meaning of rukyah. Many Muslims perceive it literally as looking at the Moon by eyes. Other Muslims conceive of it metaphorically and contend that scientific counting is the best method to determine the beginning of the month. This article offers a method to resolve the problem. It argues that imkan al-rukyat is the best solution to unify the different views about rukyah. Astronomy Muslim relig ious scholars define hilal as the coming of the crescent witnessed by eyes. Other scholars define it as the sign of the coming of new lunar calendar or the alteration of the old month with the new month. If the second view is accepted, the new month can be scientifically proved, and consequently eye witness is no longer required. It is therefore mandatory to use science as the fixed criteria to decide hilal. Both Muhammadiyah and NU need to update their method of deciding the emergence of the crescent by using modern science. By using the same criteria, that is science, the unification of different views regarding the beginning of Islamic lunar calendar can be scientifically reached

Analisis Fatwa Mui Nomor 2 Tahun 2004 Tentang Penetapan Awal Ramadhan, Syawal dan Dzulhijjah dengan Pendekatan Hermeneutika Schleiermacher

This article examines MUI Fatwa No 2/2004 on the decision of the beginning of Ramadan, and two other Islamic lunar months of shawwal and dzulhijja and adopth Schleiermacher's grammatical hermeneutics to analyze it. The fatwa is an attempt to re-unite between two opposing groups of ru'ya (those who base the beginning of the moths on the basis of seeing) and hisab (those who base the beginning of the months on the basis of mathematic calculation). From Schleiermacher's psychological hermeneutics, the fatwa is an attempt to reconstruct the methods of deciding the beginning of Islamic lunar months which has become the vocal point of controversies amongst Muslims in Indonesia

Mediation In The Catalan Legal System: Special Reference To Its guiding Principles

Until the publication of the Catalan Family Mediation Law (CFML),\u27 France was the only European country with a specific law in effect regulating family mediation

Convergence in Asymptotically Autonomous Functional Differential Equations

AbstractIn this paper, we consider linear and nonlinear perturbations of a linear autonomous functional differential equation which has infinitely many equilibria. We give sufficient conditions under which the solutions of the perturbed equation tend to the equilibria of the unperturbed equation at infinity. As a consequence, we obtain sufficient conditions for systems of delay differential equations to have asymptotic equilibrium

Bayesian analysis of uncertainty in the GlobCover 2009 land cover product at climate model grid scale

Land cover data derived from satellites are commonly used to prescribe inputs to models of the land surface. Since such data inevitably contains errors, quantifying how uncertainties in the data affect a model’s output is important. To do so, a spatial distribution of possible land cover values is required to propagate through the model’s simulation. However, at large scales, such as those required for climate models, such spatial modelling can be difficult. Also, computer models often require land cover proportions at sites larger than the original map scale as inputs, and it is the uncertainty in these proportions that this article discusses. This paper describes a Monte Carlo sampling scheme that generates realisations of land cover proportions from the posterior distribution as implied by a Bayesian analysis that combines spatial information in the land cover map and its associated confusion matrix. The technique is computationally simple and has been applied previously to the Land Cover Map 2000 for the region of England and Wales. This article demonstrates the ability of the technique to scale up to large (global) satellite derived land cover maps and reports its application to the GlobCover 2009 data product. The results show that, in general, the GlobCover data possesses only small biases, with the largest belonging to non–vegetated surfaces. In vegetated surfaces, the most prominent area of uncertainty is Southern Africa, which represents a complex heterogeneous landscape. It is also clear from this study that greater resources need to be devoted to the construction of comprehensive confusion matrices