Procedure for improving wildfire simulations using observations

This report suggests a variational update method for improving wildfire simulations using observations as feedback to update information. We first assume a onedimensional fire model for simplicity and present numerical simulations obtained in this case. As possible alternative approaches, we also discuss two other update methods: a particle filter method and an optimal control method

Whose Modernity? Revolution and the Rights of Woman

Did Western modernity—the economic, political, and social developments featuring political liberalism and industrial capitalism, along with new modes of thinking and communicating that emerged around the 19th century—make society more equal? Which aspects of the modern transformation encouraged shifts in (in)equality, and along which social dimensions did they do so? This dissertation seeks to provide nuanced answers to these questions with a focus on women's rights across a nearly five-hundred-year period that is punctuated in the middle by modern institutional change, most notably democratization and private law reform. How do these moments of institutional change alter women's rights to participate in politics, engage in economic activities, and act autonomously? This project combines qualitative and quantitative analyses to argue that modern institutional development marked a decline in women's rights. It presents a sobering origin story of a distinctively modern form of gender inequality and a cautionary tale of the fragility of rights. It reverses popular progressive narratives about women's rights, demonstrating with extensive archival records that some women in early modern France possessed and exercised rights to participate in politics, to own and control property, and to engage in economic activities. Counterintuitively, it was liberal reforms in the late 18th and early 19th centuries—most notably those brought by the 1789 French Revolution, which were marked by a process of institutional rationalization—that curtailed women's access to the public sphere, especially their ability to participate in politics. The effects of these reforms persisted for well over a century and influenced many women inside and outside of France

Global Impact of COVID-19 on Stroke Care and IV Thrombolysis

Objective To measure the global impact of COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of IV thrombolysis (IVT), IVT transfers, and stroke hospitalizations over 4 months at the height of the pandemic (March 1 to June 30, 2020) compared with 2 control 4-month periods. Methods. We conducted a cross-sectional, observational, retrospective study across 6 continents, 70 countries, and 457 stroke centers. Diagnoses were identified by their ICD-10 codes or classifications in stroke databases. Results. There were 91,373 stroke admissions in the 4 months immediately before compared to 80,894 admissions during the pandemic months, representing an 11.5% (95% confidence interval [CI] −11.7 to −11.3, p \u3c 0.0001) decline. There were 13,334 IVT therapies in the 4 months preceding compared to 11,570 procedures during the pandemic, representing a 13.2% (95% CI −13.8 to −12.7, p \u3c 0.0001) drop. Interfacility IVT transfers decreased from 1,337 to 1,178, or an 11.9% decrease (95% CI −13.7 to −10.3, p = 0.001). Recovery of stroke hospitalization volume (9.5%, 95% CI 9.2–9.8, p \u3c 0.0001) was noted over the 2 later (May, June) vs the 2 earlier (March, April) pandemic months. There was a 1.48% stroke rate across 119,967 COVID-19 hospitalizations. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection was noted in 3.3% (1,722/52,026) of all stroke admissions. Conclusions. The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a global decline in the volume of stroke hospitalizations, IVT, and interfacility IVT transfers. Primary stroke centers and centers with higher COVID-19 inpatient volumes experienced steeper declines. Recovery of stroke hospitalization was noted in the later pandemic months