Uncertainty in public health models treated by differential inclusions

Author(s):  
Stanislaw Raczynski

An application of differential inclusions in the epidemic spread models is presented. Some mostly used epidemic models are discussed here, and a brief survey of epidemic modeling is given. Most of the models are some modifications of the Susceptible–Infected–Recovered model. Simple simulations are carried out. Then, we consider the influence of some uncertain parameters. It is pointed out that the presence of some fluctuating model parameters can be treated by differential inclusions. The solution to such differential inclusion is given in the form of reachable sets for model variables. Here, we focus on the differential inclusion application rather than the model construction.

Author(s):  
Stanislaw Raczynski

Uncertain parameters are always present in models that include human factor. In marketing the uncertain consumer behavior makes it difficult to predict the future events and elaborate good marketing strategies. Sometimes uncertainty is being modeled using stochastic variables. Our approach is quite different. The dynamic market with uncertain parameters is treated using differential inclusions, which permits to determine the corresponding reachable sets. This is not a statistical analysis. We are looking for solutions to the differential inclusions. The purpose of the research is to find the way to obtain and visualise the reachable sets, in order to know the limits for the important marketing variables. The modeling method consists in defining the differential inclusion and find its solution, using the differential inclusion solver developed by the author. As the result we obtain images of the reachable sets where the main control parameter is the share of investment, being a part of the revenue. As an additional result we also can define the optimal investment strategy. The conclusion is that the differential inclusion solver can be a useful tool in market model analysis.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elimhan N. Mahmudov

The present paper studies the Mayer problem with higher order evolution differential inclusions and functional constraints of optimal control theory (PFC); to this end first we use an interesting auxiliary problem with second order discrete-time and discrete approximate inclusions (PFD). Are proved necessary and sufficient conditions incorporating the Euler–Lagrange inclusion, the Hamiltonian inclusion, the transversality and complementary slackness conditions. The basic concept of obtaining optimal conditions is locally adjoint mappings and equivalence results. Then combining these results and passing to the limit in the discrete approximations we establish new sufficient optimality conditions for second order continuous-time evolution inclusions. This approach and results make a bridge between optimal control problem with higher order differential inclusion (PFC) and constrained mathematical programming problems in finite-dimensional spaces. Formulation of the transversality and complementary slackness conditions for second order differential inclusions play a substantial role in the next investigations without which it is hardly ever possible to get any optimality conditions; consequently, these results are generalized to the problem with an arbitrary higher order differential inclusion. Furthermore, application of these results is demonstrated by solving some semilinear problem with second and third order differential inclusions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Zhu ◽  
Blanca Gallego

AbstractEpidemic models are being used by governments to inform public health strategies to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2. They simulate potential scenarios by manipulating model parameters that control processes of disease transmission and recovery. However, the validity of these parameters is challenged by the uncertainty of the impact of public health interventions on disease transmission, and the forecasting accuracy of these models is rarely investigated during an outbreak. We fitted a stochastic transmission model on reported cases, recoveries and deaths associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection across 101 countries. The dynamics of disease transmission was represented in terms of the daily effective reproduction number ($$R_t$$ R t ). The relationship between public health interventions and $$R_t$$ R t was explored, firstly using a hierarchical clustering algorithm on initial $$R_t$$ R t patterns, and secondly computing the time-lagged cross correlation among the daily number of policies implemented, $$R_t$$ R t , and daily incidence counts in subsequent months. The impact of updating $$R_t$$ R t every time a prediction is made on the forecasting accuracy of the model was investigated. We identified 5 groups of countries with distinct transmission patterns during the first 6 months of the pandemic. Early adoption of social distancing measures and a shorter gap between interventions were associated with a reduction on the duration of outbreaks. The lagged correlation analysis revealed that increased policy volume was associated with lower future $$R_t$$ R t (75 days lag), while a lower $$R_t$$ R t was associated with lower future policy volume (102 days lag). Lastly, the outbreak prediction accuracy of the model using dynamically updated $$R_t$$ R t produced an average AUROC of 0.72 (0.708, 0.723) compared to 0.56 (0.555, 0.568) when $$R_t$$ R t was kept constant. Monitoring the evolution of $$R_t$$ R t during an epidemic is an important complementary piece of information to reported daily counts, recoveries and deaths, since it provides an early signal of the efficacy of containment measures. Using updated $$R_t$$ R t values produces significantly better predictions of future outbreaks. Our results found variation in the effect of early public health interventions on the evolution of $$R_t$$ R t over time and across countries, which could not be explained solely by the timing and number of the adopted interventions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (14) ◽  
pp. 2811
Author(s):  
Choi ◽  
Yun ◽  
Kim ◽  
Jin ◽  
Kim

Real wars involve a considerable number of uncertainties when determining firing scheduling. This study proposes a robust optimization model that considers uncertainties in wars. In this model, parameters that are affected by enemy’s behavior and will, i.e., threats from enemy targets and threat time from enemy targets, are assumed as uncertain parameters. The robust optimization model considering these parameters is an intractable model with semi-infinite constraints. Thus, this study proposes an approach to obtain a solution by reformulating this model into a tractable problem; the approach involves developing a robust optimization model using the scenario concept and finding a solution in that model. Here, the combinations that express uncertain parameters are assumed by scenarios. This approach divides problems into master and subproblems to find a robust solution. A genetic algorithm is utilized in the master problem to overcome the complexity of global searches, thereby obtaining a solution within a reasonable time. In the subproblem, the worst scenarios for any solution are searched to find the robust solution even in cases where all scenarios have been expressed. Numerical experiments are conducted to compare robust and nominal solutions for various uncertainty levels to verify the superiority of the robust solution.


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 731-746 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sangeetika Ruchi ◽  
Svetlana Dubinkina

Abstract. Over the years data assimilation methods have been developed to obtain estimations of uncertain model parameters by taking into account a few observations of a model state. The most reliable Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods are computationally expensive. Sequential ensemble methods such as ensemble Kalman filters and particle filters provide a favorable alternative. However, ensemble Kalman filter has an assumption of Gaussianity. Ensemble transform particle filter does not have this assumption and has proven to be highly beneficial for an initial condition estimation and a small number of parameter estimations in chaotic dynamical systems with non-Gaussian distributions. In this paper we employ ensemble transform particle filter (ETPF) and ensemble transform Kalman filter (ETKF) for parameter estimation in nonlinear problems with 1, 5, and 2500 uncertain parameters and compare them to importance sampling (IS). The large number of uncertain parameters is of particular interest for subsurface reservoir modeling as it allows us to parameterize permeability on the grid. We prove that the updated parameters obtained by ETPF lie within the range of an initial ensemble, which is not the case for ETKF. We examine the performance of ETPF and ETKF in a twin experiment setup, where observations of pressure are synthetically created based on the known values of parameters. For a small number of uncertain parameters (one and five) ETPF performs comparably to ETKF in terms of the mean estimation. For a large number of uncertain parameters (2500) ETKF is robust with respect to the initial ensemble, while ETPF is sensitive due to sampling error. Moreover, for the high-dimensional test problem ETPF gives an increase in the root mean square error after data assimilation is performed. This is resolved by applying distance-based localization, which however deteriorates a posterior estimation of the leading mode by largely increasing the variance due to a combination of less varying localized weights, not keeping the imposed bounds on the modes via the Karhunen–Loeve expansion, and the main variability explained by the leading mode. A possible remedy is instead of applying localization to use only leading modes that are well estimated by ETPF, which demands knowledge of which mode to truncate.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mouffak Benchohra ◽  
Juan J. Nieto ◽  
Abdelghani Ouahab

AbstractIn this paper, we establish several results about the existence of second-order impulsive differential inclusion with periodic conditions. By using critical point theory, several new existence results are obtained. We also provide an example in order to illustrate the main abstract results of this paper.


2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 191-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyed M Moghadas ◽  
Margaret Haworth-Brockman ◽  
Harpa Isfeld-Kiely ◽  
Joel Kettner

BACKGROUND: Despite significant research efforts in Canada, real application of modelling in public health decision making and practice has not yet met its full potential. There is still room to better address the diversity of the Canadian population and ensure that research outcomes are translated for use within their relevant contexts.OBJECTIVES: To strengthen connections to public health practice and to broaden its scope, the Pandemic Influenza Outbreak Research Modelling team partnered with the National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases to hold a national workshop. Its objectives were to: understand areas where modelling terms, methods and results are unclear; share information on how modelling can best be used in informing policy and improving practice, particularly regarding the ways to integrate a focus on health equity considerations; and sustain and advance collaborative work in the development and application of modelling in public health.METHOD: The Use of Mathematical Modelling in Public Health Decision Making for Infectious Diseases workshop brought together research modellers, public health professionals, policymakers and other experts from across the country. Invited presentations set the context for topical discussions in three sessions. A final session generated reflections and recommendations for new opportunities and tasks.CONCLUSIONS: Gaps in content and research include the lack of standard frameworks and a glossary for infectious disease modelling. Consistency in terminology, clear articulation of model parameters and assumptions, and sustained collaboration will help to bridge the divide between research and practice.


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