Mon 04/02/13 14:15 Meeting Room A Mathematics Seminar | Dr. Karen Meyer (University of St. Andrews) A Non-Linear Force-Free Field Model for the Solar Magnetic Carpet | |
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Mon 18/02/13 14:15 Meeting Room A Mathematics Seminar | Dr. Lucia Scardia (University of Glasgow) Multiscale problems in dislocation theory | |
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Mon 25/02/13 14:15 Meeting Room A Mathematics Seminar | Dr. Sébastien Loisel (Heriot-Watt University) Domain decomposition methods | |
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Mon 04/03/13 14:15 Meeting Room A Mathematics Seminar | Dr. Bernhard Kliem (University College London, MSSL, University of Potsdam, Germany) MHD Instabilities in Solar Eruptions | |
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Tue 12/03/13 12:05 Meeting Room A Mathematics Seminar | Prof. Christina Kuttler (Technical University München, Germany) Modelling bacterial quorum sensing and effects of nutrient availability | abstractAbstractMany bacteria developed a possibility to recognise aspects of their environment or to com- municate with each other by chemical signals. The so-called Quorum sensing (QS) is a special case for such a communication, a regulatory system for gene expression. Nutrient availability does not only influence bacterial growth but also the gene regulatory system for QS. Further effects which cause e.g. detachment processes and heterogeneous behaviour within colonies appear. From a mathematical point of view, ODE, PDE and stochastic approaches are used to describe and analyse the qualitative behaviour of bacterial quorum sensing systems. hide |
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Mon 18/03/13 14:15 Meeting Room A Mathematics Seminar | Dr. David Bourne (University of Glasgow) Energy-Driven Pattern Formation in Block Copolyer Melts | abstractAbstractIf you zoom into the microstructure of materials called block copolymers you observe two phases forming a wide variety of patterns: lamellae, hexagonally-packed cylinders, gyroids and spheres. We studied the case where one phase has a much higher volume fraction
than the other. Starting from a nonlocal energy, where the nonlocal term is a Wasserstein distance, we proved a crystallisation result showing the optimality of the triangular lattice. This agrees with experimental observations.
This is joint work with Mark Peletier (Technische Universiteit Eindhoven), Florian Theil (University of Warwick) and Steven Roper (University of Glasgow). hide |
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Mon 25/03/13 14:15 Meeting Room A Mathematics Seminar | Dr. Stéphane Régnier (University of Central Lancashire) Observing the Solar Corona on 11 July 2012 | abstractAbstractThe solar corona is composed of a plasma at high temperature (above 1 MK) and is dom- inated by the magnetic field. To study in detail the solar corona, we need to consider a broad range of spatial scales and time scales: from tens of kilometer to above one solar radius, from seconds to days. During this seminar, I will present to opposite cases in term of scales and indeed show that the scales are coupled. The 11 July 2012 is a particular date owed to the possible combination of observations: the full solar disc observation from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), and the high spatial and time resolution instrument on a sounding rocket named Hi-C. I first study the structure and evolution of a pseudo- streamer, which is a large-scale structure from where the slow component of the solar wind is supposed to originate. Secondly, I will discuss the observation of small-scale brighten- ings, named EUV bright dots, which are one of the sources of the coronal heating. With the support of these observations, I discuss the coupling between the different spatial and time scales at play in the solar corona. hide |
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Mon 08/04/13 14:15 Meeting Room A Mathematics Seminar | Dr. Alain Goriely (University of Oxford) Instability and morphology in growing elastic tissues | |
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Mon 22/04/13 14:15 Meeting Room A Mathematics Seminar | Dr. Andrew Baggaley (University of Glasgow) Some recent results in quantum turbulence | abstractAbstractThis talk reviews the recent developments in the physics of quantum turbulence. Quantum turbulence was discovered in superfluid helium in the 1950s, and the research has tended toward a new direction since the mid 90s. The similarities and differences between quantum
and classical turbulence have become an important area of research. quantum turbulence is comprised of quantized vortices that are definite topological defects, representing a ’skeleton’ of turbulence. In particular we shall discuss the energy spectrum of quantum turbulence at very low temperatures. At low wavenumbers, the energy is transferred through the Richardson cascade of quantized vortices, and the spectrum obeys the Kolmogorov law, which is the most important statistical law in turbulence; this classical region shows the similarity to conventional turbulence. At higher wavenumbers, the energy is transferred by the Kelvin-wave cascade on each vortex. This quantum regime depends strongly on the nature of each quantized vortex. hide |
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Mon 29/04/13 10:00 Meeting Room A Mathematics Seminar | Dr. Mary McAlinden (Higher Education Academy) The Higher Education Academy | abstractAbstractA key emphasis of this seminar would be on the work which is going on within the Mathematics, Statistics and Operational Research discipline. I would also provide information on teaching development grants (of up to £60,000) and other funding opportunities which may be relevant to you and your colleagues. hide |
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Mon 29/04/13 14:15 Meeting Room A Mathematics Seminar | Prof. Martin J. Gander (University of Geneva, Switzerland) From Euler, Schwarz, Ritz, and Galerkin to Modern Computing | abstractAbstractThe origins of modern computing are dispersed over centuries, often in the work of pure mathematicians, who invented methods in order to understand mathematical objects and prove theorems. A typical example is the famous Schwarz method for parallel computing, whose origins lie in a problem in Riemann’s audacious proof of the Riemann mapping theorem. Another example is the finite element method, which has its origins in the variational calculus of Euler-Lagrange and in the thesis of Walther Ritz, who died just over 100 years ago at the age of 31 from tuberculosis. We will see in this talk that the path leading to modern computational methods and theory was a long struggle over three centuries requiring the efforts of many great mathematicians. hide |
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Tue 30/04/13 14:15 Meeting Room A Mathematics Seminar | Prof. Nick Trefethen (University of Oxford) How Chebfun solves ODEs and eigenvalue problems | abstractAbstractChebfun has become a remarkably powerful tool for solving differential equations and eigen- value problems in one dimension. This talk will demonstrate Chebfun and describe some of the algorithms underlying its ODE and eigenvalue capabilities, which are mainly due to Asgeir Birkisson, Toby Driscoll, and Nick Hale. In particular we will focus on:
- the “happiness iteration” underlying Chebfun adaptivity
- rectangular spectral collocation discretizations
- how EIGS selects its eigenfunctions
- Frechet derivative operators for nonlinear problems via AD
- the graphical user interface CHEBGUI
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Thu 02/05/13 10:00 Fulton G20 MHD workshop | Prof. Gunnar Hornig (University of Dundee) Relaxation of braided magnetic fields | |
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Mon 06/05/13 14:15 Meeting Room A Mathematics Seminar | Dr. Tibor Antal (Edinburgh University) Stochastic Models of Tumor Progression | abstractAbstractStochasticity is essential when modeling initiation of tumors, progression of tumors from benign to malignant states, or metastasis formation. Many aspects of these phenomena can be modeled by simple multi-type branching processes, and the results compare fairly well to experimental and clinical data. Models of developing resistance to chemotherapy, and modeling challenges related to spatial structure and sizes of tumors will also be discussed. hide |
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Wed 15/05/13 10:00 Meeting Room A Mathematics Seminar | Dr. Cesare Tronci (University of Surrey) Geometry and symmetry in multi-physics models for magnetized plasmas | abstractAbstractModeling magnetized plasmas often requires incorporating microscopic and macroscopic effects at the same time. This can be achieved by nonlinear multi-physics models coupling microscopic kinetic theories with the macroscopic effects of MHD fluid motion. Most often, these models are obtained by making physical assumptions on the equations of motion, although this operation may destroy fundamental properties such as exact energy conservation (even in the absence of dissipation). I will show how the use of symmetry in Hamiltonian/Lagrangian systems provides a unifying framework for coupling nonlinear kinetic and fluid theories in a consistent way. As a result, new Coriolis force terms appear in the equations of motion, thereby leading to the explicit form of exact helicity invariants. hide |
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Thu 16/05/13 14:15 Fulton G20 MHD Workshop | Prof. Gunnar Hornig (University of Dundee) Relaxation of braided magnetic fields: Part 2 | |
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Mon 20/05/13 14:15 Meeting Room A Mathematics Seminar | Dr. Jamie Wood (York University) The impact of social networks in collective motion | abstractAbstractHow does a mathematical physicist studying spin systems end up discussing leadership? I will given a short tour of how I have gone from looking at Ising models to modelling collective motion and on to social networks.
Social networks are an area of active research in animals both in the wild and in domestic settings. Aided by novel theoretical models developed to capture details of the latest data from collective motion, myself and colleagues have been investigating the opposite question; how does social network structure affect collective motion? I will pose a series of questions regarding social structure and present theoretical predictions of how it can affect group level behaviours. I will conclude with a brief presentation of some recent work on the interactions of geese groups and wind farms.
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Fri 24/05/13 16:30 St. Andrews EMS Seminar | Prof. R Möller (University of Reykyavik) Visualizing the shape of a group | abstractAbstractGraphs can be used in many ways to make the structure of a group visible. The best known construction is that of the Cayley-graph of a finitely generated group. A whole branch of group theory, geometric group theory, is founded on this concept. In this talk I want to describe related constructions that can be used in wider context, in particular the study of compactly generated locally compact groups. Various results, old and new, about concepts like accessibility, Willis's structure theory and hyperbolic groups and graphs will be used to show the uses of these constructions. hide |
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Thu 20/06/13 11:00 Harris Foyer Celebration | Graduation Reception (Harris Foyer) Champagne, Bucks Fizz and Strawberries for all to celebrate the graduands | |
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Mon 24/06/13 14:00 Small Lec. Th. Comp & Sys-Bio Seminar | Prof. Julian Gough (University of Bristol) Predicting the Functional Outcomes of Genomic Variation | abstractAbstractI will present extensions to the "Functional Analysis Through Hidden Markov Models" (FATHMM) tool including cancer-associated variants, indels, predictions for variants in non-coding regions of the human genome and pre-computed results for all possible missense variants in human and other ENSEMBL genomes.
FATHMM is a tool for variant analysis. The central component of FATHMM is the prediction of whether protein missense variants will have a significant impact or not. Also included is a prediction of the functional and phenotypic outcome of the variant. FATHMM performs very well compared to other popular methods such as SIFT and PolyPhen (and other less common methods). FATHMM works on all species and is very fast (high-throughput).
· Shihab, H.A., Gough, J., Cooper, D.N., Barker, G.L.A., Edwards, K.J., Day, I.N.M., Gaunt, T. (2012) Predicting the consequences of amino acid substitutions: A Functional Analysis Through Hidden Markov Models (FATHMM). Human mutation 34(1), 57-65.
· Shihab. H.A., Gough, J., Cooper, D.N., Day, I.N.M. and Gaunt, T.R. (2013) Predicting the functional consequences of cancer-associated amino acid substitutions. Bioinformatics in press.
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Mon 15/07/13 14:15 MSI Small LT Mathematics Seminar | Dr. Rafael Macatangay (University of Dundee) Possible collaborations with CEPMLP | abstractAbstractPossible collaboration with the Centre for Engery, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy. hide |
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Tue 30/07/13 14:00 Fulton J20 Mathematics Seminar | Dr. Agissilaos Athanassoulis (University of Crete) Recent results in semiclassical limits with multivalued flows | |
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Thu 29/08/13 11:00 Fulton G20 MHD Seminar | Dr. Andreas Kopp (Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel) Magnetic interaction in planetary magnetospheres and extrasolar planetary systems | abstractAbstractEven before the spaceflight era, radio signals from Jupiter revealed not only
the fact that other planets are magnetised, too, but also that there is a
magnetic interaction between the planet and its innermost Galilean satellite,
Io. Today all planets of the Solar System except for Venus and Mars are known
to be magnetised, forming magnetospheres as a result of the interaction of the
planetary magnetic fields with the Solar wind. As shown, using the example of
the weakly magnetised Mercury, the Solar wind with the embedded interplanetary
magnetic field can directly interact with the magnetospheres. This interaction
can lead to events like substorms known from the magnetosphere of the Earth.
The magnetospheres of the gas planets, on the other hand, are dominated
rather by internal processes like the rapid rotation of their planets.
Moreover, their satellites move around their planets on much smaller orbits,
if measured in planetary radii, leading to the above-mentioned possibility of
a magnetic interaction between satellite and planet. In addition to a
presentation of the magnetospheres of the gas planets, this interaction is
exemplified in detail. The search for extrasolar planets has led to the
detection of so-called "hot Jupiters", giant planets on extremely close orbits
around their host stars. In contrast to the planets of the Solar system, some
of these stars do magnetically interact with their stars. In the last part it
will be shown how these observations can be explained qualitatively and
quantitatively by transferring the model of the Jupiter-Io scenario to these
systems. hide |
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