arXiv subjects

Rossana Vermiglio

Publications and source records attributed to Rossana Vermiglio.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Behavior-induced oscillations in epidemic outbreaks with distributed memory: beyond the linear chain trick using numerical methods

We considered a model for an infectious disease outbreak, when the depletion of susceptible individuals is negligible, and assumed that individuals adapt their behavior according to the information they receive about new cases. In line with the information index approach, we supposed that individuals react to past information according to a memory kernel that is continuously distributed in the past. We analyzed equilibria and their stability, with analytical results for selected cases. Thanks to the recently developed pseudospectral approximation of delay equations, we studied numerically the long-term dynamics of the model for memory kernels defined by gamma distributions with a general non-integer shape parameter, extending the analysis beyond what is allowed by the linear chain trick. In agreement with previous studies, we showed that behavior adaptation alone can cause sustained waves of infections even in an outbreak scenario, and notably in the absence of other processes like demographic turnover, seasonality, or waning immunity. Our analysis gives a more general insight into how the period and peak of epidemic waves depend on the shape of the memory kernel and how the level of minimal contact impacts the stability of the behavior-induced positive equilibrium.

q-bio.PE↗

arXiv2025

New functionalities in MatCont: delay equations and Lyapunov exponents

MatCont is a powerful toolbox for numerical bifurcation analysis focussing on smooth ODEs. A user can study equilibria, periodic and connecting orbits, and their stability and bifurcations. Here, we report on additional features in version 7p6. The first is a delay equation importer enabling MatCont users to study a much larger class of models, namely delay equations with finite delay (including delay differential and renewal equations). This importer translates the delay equation into a system of ODEs using a pseudospectral approximation with an order specified by the user. We also implemented Lyapunov exponent computations, event functions for Poincaré maps, and enhanced homoclinic continuation. We demonstrate these features with test cases, such as the Mackey-Glass equation and a renewal equation, and provide additional examples in online tutorials.

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arXiv2024

Exponential Runge-Kutta methods for delay equations in the sun-star abstract framework

Exponential Runge-Kutta methods for semilinear ordinary differential equations can be extended to abstract differential equations, defined on Banach spaces. Thanks to the sun-star theory, both delay differential equations and renewal equations can be recast as abstract differential equations, which motivates the present work. The result is a general approach that allows us to define the methods explicitly and analyze their convergence properties in a unifying way.

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arXiv2024

On the convergence of the pseudospectral approximation of reproduction numbers for age-structured models

We rigorously investigate the convergence of a new numerical method, recently proposed by the authors, to approximate the reproduction numbers of a large class of age-structured population models with finite age span. The method consists in reformulating the problem on a space of absolutely continuous functions via an integral mapping. For any chosen splitting into birth and transition processes, we first define an operator that maps a generation to the next one (corresponding to the Next Generation Operator in the case of R0). Then, we approximate the infinite-dimensional operator with a matrix using pseudospectral discretization. In this paper, we prove that the spectral radius of the resulting matrix converges to the true reproduction number, and the (interpolation of the) corresponding eigenvector converges to the associated eigenfunction, with convergence order that depends on the regularity of the model coefficients. Results are confirmed experimentally and applications to epidemiology are discussed.

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arXiv2024

Equations with infinite delay: pseudospectral discretization for numerical stability and bifurcation in an abstract framework

We consider nonlinear delay differential and renewal equations with infinite delay. We extend the work of Gyllenberg et al, Appl. Math. Comput. (2018) by introducing a unifying abstract framework, and derive a finite-dimensional approximating system via pseudospectral discretization. For renewal equations, we consider a reformulation in the space of absolutely continuous functions via integration. We prove the one-to-one correspondence of equilibria between the original equation and its approximation, and that linearization and discretization commute. Our most important result is the proof of convergence of the characteristic roots of the pseudospectral approximation of the linear(ized) equations when the collocation nodes are chosen as the family of scaled zeros or extrema of Laguerre polynomials. This ensures that the finite-dimensional system correctly reproduces the stability properties of the original linear equation if the dimension of the approximation is large enough. The result is illustrated with several numerical tests, which also demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach for the bifurcation analysis of equilibria of nonlinear equations. The new approach used to prove convergence also provides the exact location of the spectrum of the differentiation matrices for the Laguerre zeros and extrema, adding new insights into properties that are important in the numerical solution of differential equations by pseudospectral methods.

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arXiv2024

Approximating reproduction numbers: a general numerical method for age-structured models

In this paper, we introduce a general numerical method to approximate the reproduction numbers of a large class of multi-group, age-structured, population models with a finite age span. To provide complete flexibility in the definition of the birth and transition processes, we propose an equivalent formulation for the age-integrated state within the extended space framework. Then, we discretize the birth and transition operators via pseudospectral collocation. We discuss applications to epidemic models with continuous and piecewise continuous rates, with different interpretations of the age variable (e.g., demographic age, infection age and disease age) and the transmission terms (e.g., horizontal and vertical transmission). The tests illustrate that the method can compute different reproduction numbers, including the basic and type reproduction numbers as special cases.

q-bio.PE↗

arXiv2023

A numerical method for the stability analysis of linear age-structured models with nonlocal diffusion

We numerically address the stability analysis of linear age-structured population models with nonlocal diffusion, which arise naturally in describing dynamics of infectious diseases. Compared to Laplace diffusion, models with nonlocal diffusion are more challenging since the associated semigroups have no regularizing properties in the spatial variable. Nevertheless, the asymptotic stability of the null equilibrium is determined by the spectrum of the infinitesimal generator associated to the semigroup. We propose a numerical method to approximate the leading part of this spectrum by first reformulating the problem via integration of the age-state and then by discretizing the generator combining a spectral projection in space with a pseudospectral collocation in age. A rigorous convergence analysis proving spectral accuracy is provided in the case of separable model coefficients. Results are confirmed experimentally and numerical tests are presented also for the more general instance.

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arXiv2022

A practical guide to piecewise pseudospectral collocation for Floquet multipliers of delay equations in MATLAB

In recent years we provided numerical methods based on pseudospectral collocation for computing the Floquet multipliers of different types of delay equations, with the goal of studying the stability of their periodic solutions. The latest work of the series concerns the extension of these methods to a piecewise approach, in order to take the properties of numerically computed solutions into account. In this chapter we describe the MATLAB implementation of this method and provide practical usage examples.

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arXiv2022

Piecewise discretization of monodromy operators of delay equations on adapted meshes

Periodic solutions of delay equations are usually approximated as continuous piecewise polynomials on meshes adapted to the solutions' profile. In practical computations this affects the regularity of the (coefficients of the) linearized system and, in turn, the effectiveness of assessing local stability by approximating the Floquet multipliers. To overcome this problem when computing multipliers by collocation, the discretization grid should include the piecewise adapted mesh of the computed periodic solution. By introducing a piecewise version of existing pseudospectral techniques, we explain why and show experimentally that this choice is essential in presence of either strong mesh adaptation or nontrivial multipliers whose eigenfunctions' profile is unrelated to that of the periodic solution.

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arXiv2021

Bivariate collocation for computing $R_{0}$ in epidemic models with two structures

Structured epidemic models can be formulated as first-order hyperbolic PDEs, where the "spatial" variables represent individual traits, called structures. For models with two structures, we propose a numerical technique to approximate $R_{0}$, which measures the transmissibility of an infectious disease and, rigorously, is defined as the dominant eigenvalue of a next-generation operator. Via bivariate collocation and cubature on tensor grids, the latter is approximated with a finite-dimensional matrix, so that its dominant eigenvalue can easily be computed with standard techniques. We use test examples to investigate experimentally the behavior of the approximation: the convergence order appears to be infinite when the corresponding eigenfunction is smooth, and finite for less regular eigenfunctions. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the technique for more realistic applications, we present a new epidemic model structured by demographic age and immunity, and study the approximation of $R_{0}$ in some particular cases of interest.

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arXiv2021

Numerical bifurcation analysis of renewal equations via pseudospectral approximation

We propose an approximation of nonlinear renewal equations by means of ordinary differential equations. We consider the integrated state, which is absolutely continuous and satisfies a delay differential equation. By applying the pseudospectral approach to the abstract formulation of the differential equation, we obtain an approximating system of ordinary differential equations. We present convergence proofs for equilibria and the associated characteristic roots, and we use some models from ecology and epidemiology to illustrate the benefits of the approach to perform numerical bifurcation analyses of equilibria and periodic solutions. The numerical simulations show that the implementation of the new approximating system is ten times more efficient than the one originally proposed in [Breda et al, SIAM Journal on Applied Dynamical Systems, 2016], as it avoids the numerical inversion of an algebraic equation.

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arXiv2020

Efficient numerical computation of the basic reproduction number for structured populations

As widely known, the basic reproduction number plays a key role in weighing birth/infection and death/recovery processes in several models of population dynamics. In this general setting, its characterization as the spectral radius of next generation operators is rather elegant, but simultaneously poses serious obstacles to its practical determination. In this work we address the problem numerically by reducing the relevant operators to matrices through a pseudospectral collocation, eventually computing the sought quantity by solving finite-dimensional eigenvalue problems. The approach is illustrated for two classes of models, respectively from ecology and epidemiology. Several numerical tests demonstrate experimentally important features of the method, like fast convergence and influence of the smoothness of the models' coefficients. Examples of robust analysis of instances of specific models are also presented to show potentialities and ease of application.

math.NA↗

arXiv2010

Semigroup discretization and spectral approximation for linear nonautonomous delay differential equations

This paper deals with the approximation of the spectrum of linear and nonautonomous delay differential equations through the reduction of the relevant evolution semigroup from infinite to finite dimension. The focus is placed on classic collocation, even though the requirements that a numerical scheme has to fulfill in order to allow for a correct approximation of the spectral elements are recalled. This choice, motivated by the analyticity of the underlying eigenfunctions, allows for a convergence of infinite order, as rigorously demonstrated through a priori error bounds when Chebyshev nodes are adopted. Fundamental applications such as determination of asymptotic stability of equilibria (autonomous case) and limit cycles (periodic case) follow at once.

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