An adaptive testing strategy for efficient utilization of healthcare resources during an epidemic

Lockdowns are found to be effective against rapidly spreading epidemics like COVID-19. Two downsides to strategies rooted in social distancing and lockdowns are that they adversely affect the economy and prolong the duration of the epidemic. The extended duration observed in these strategies is often due to the under-utilization of medical facilities. Even though an under-utilized health care system is preferred over an overwhelmed one, an alternate strategy could be to maintain medical facilities close to their capacity, with a factor of safety. We explore the practicality of this alternate mitigation strategy and show that it can be achieved by varying the testing rate. We present an algorithm to calculate the number of tests per day to maintain medical facilities close to their capacity. We illustrate the efficacy of our strategy by showing that it reduced the epidemic duration by 40% in comparison to lockdown-based strategies.

Analytical modelling of spatial deformation pathways in planar and spatial shallow bistable arches

We analyse spatial bistable arches and present an analytical model incorporating axial, two transverse bending and torsion energy components. We extend the St. Venant and Michell relationship used in flexural-torsional buckling of planar arches and use it in modelling spatial arches. We study deformation pathways in spatial arches and their effect on critical characteristics of bistability such as back and forth switching forces, and the distance travelled by a point of the arch. We show that not considering spatial deformation leads to incorrect inferences concerning the bistability of planar arches too. Thus, this model serves as a generalized framework for the existing analysis on planar arches since they belong to a subset of spatial arches. Additionally, the effects of eccentric loading on spatial deformations are explored for arches with a range of as-fabricated shapes and boundary conditions, and the results are validated with finite-element analysis.