----------------------------------------------------
Subject: Society for Mathematical Biology Digest

SMB Digest  December 30, Volume 15  Issue 52
ISSN 1086-6566

Happy New Year!  ¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

Editor: Ray Mejía ray(at)smb(dot)org

Note:
Information about the Society for Mathematical Biology, including an
application for membership, may be found in the SMB Home Page,
http://www.smb.org/ .

Access the Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, the official journal of SMB, at
http://www.springer.com/11538 .

Inquiries about membership or BMB fulfillment should be sent to
membership(at)smb(dot)org .

Issue's Topics:
   International Conference on Computational Science, June 6-8, San Diego
   PhD Position: Modelling seed drying, Royal Holloway, U London
   SMBnet Reminders


----------------------------------------------------

From: Shiflet, Angela B. <ShifletAB@wofford.edu>
Date: Wed, Dec 23, 2015 at 10:13 AM
Subject: International Conference on Computational Science, June 6-8, San Diego

This year the International Conference on Computational Science (ICCS 2016)
will be held in San Diego, California, U.S.A., June 6 - 8 and The Workshop
on Teaching Computational Science will focus on education. We hope you
will consider submitting a paper for the workshop or the conference. The
abstract and paper submission deadlines are January 15, 2016. Please let
us know if you have any questions.

Hope to see you at ICCS,
Co-Chairs of "The Workshop on Teaching Computational Science":
Angela B. Shiflet, Ph. D. (shifletab@wofford.edu), Wofford College, USA
Alfredo Tirado-Ramos, Ph. D. (TiradoRamos@uthscsa.edu), U. of Texas Health
Science Center, USA


----------------------------------------------------

From: Jansen, Vincent <Vincent.Jansen@rhul.ac.uk>
Date: Wed, Dec 23, 2015 at 9:33 AM
Subject: PhD Position: Modelling seed drying, Royal Holloway, U London

How to dry seeds: developing a mathematical model for the seed drying
process and predicting the quality of dried seeds

A fully funded PhD studentship on the interface of mathematical modelling
and seed processing

Supervisory team: Prof. Vincent Jansen (RHUL), Prof. Michael Stumpf
(Imperial College), Dr Christophe Grosjean (Syngenta), Dr Tina Steinbrecher
(RHUL), Prof. Gerhard Leubner (RHUL)

The production of seeds is an important part of the growing crops. After
seeds are harvested, they are cleaned, dried, treated and stored, resulting
in a product that can then be passed on to growers. During the processing,
seeds can be damaged. The drying process, for instance, can cause significant
damage to seeds, resulting in reduced germination or vigour of the seeds. The
aim of this project is to provide a quantitative understanding of the damage
that occurs during seed processing through the formulation and analysis of
a mathematical model for the seed drying process, and to use this model as
a tool to predict damage during the drying process.

During the seed drying process water is removed. How long to dry for depends
on temperature and relative humidity. The longer the drying time to more
likely that the seed is damaged, either through microbiological infection,
or mechanical damage. Elevated temperature can have negative effects of seed
quality, and can lead to loss of vigour and reduced seed germination. The
combination of these factors means that there are optimal. How precisely
these factors interact is not known.

In this project we will conceptualize the seed drying process to develop a
mathematical model for the seed drying process, and formulate a quantitative
description of the rate of damage versus time and temperature, relative
humidity and drying rate. Currently very few models exist to describe this,
here we aim to develop approaches and provide a mechanistically underpinned
models for the seed drying process that will allow us to generate a
statistical description of the amount of damaged that occurs. With this we
aim to predict the quality of seeds at the end of the drying process. The
quantity we aim to predict is the probability that a seed will germinate,
and have sufficiently vigour at the end of the drying process. Once these
models are formulated we will confront them with data from the seed drying
process in order to develop it into a modelling tool that will allow us to
predict the seed quality as a function of the operating parameters during
the drying process. A particular challenge in estimating parameters is that
certain, so called sloppy, parameters, can be difficult to estimate. In
this project we will use build on recent insights in model selection and
on the identifiability of parameters to overcome the challenges to generate
predictions with parameters with limited identifiability.

In this project we will combine mathematical modelling (Jansen, RHUL),
Bayesian statistics (Stumpf, Imperial College) with process studies (Grosjean,
Syngenta) and seed biology (Leubner, Steinbrecher, RHUL) to further our
understanding of the seed drying process and to try to develop a statistical
rigorous predictive methodology for the damage occurred in seed drying and
for the optimisation of the drying process. This research will have potential
impact on the commercial production of seed for crops and vegetables.

This project is suitable for candidates with some background or experience
in mathematical modelling, or simulation at undergraduate level. We are
looking for candidates, either with a background in the life sciences,
and experience in mathematical or simulation modelling or Bayesian
statistics, or for candidates with a background in a quantitative subject
(e.g. mathematics, statistics, computer science, physics) and an affinity
for research in biology.

Funding Notes

This PhD studentship is funded for 3 years. Applicants are expected to hold,
or to be awarded a first class or a good upper second class BSc Degree,
Masters or an equivalent qualification in a relevant field by October 2016. An
additional year of fully funded Masters level training may be offered to
eligible BSc applicants. The course will commence in October 2016. Funding
includes an annual tax-free stipend at the standard Research Council rate
(£16,057 for 2015-2016, to be confirmed for 2016-2017 but typically increases
annually in line with inflation) and covers tuition fees at the UK/EU rate. To
be eligible for this studentship, applicant must either be a UK citizen or a
European Union national who has been resident in the UK for at least 3 years
prior to starting the degree. Please refer to BBSRC guide to studentship
eligibility for detailed description of residence and qualifications criteria:
http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/documents/studentship-eligibility-pdf

For further information email: vincent.jansen@rhul.ac.uk

To apply, see details on
https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/biologicalsciences/prospectivestudents/studentships/home.aspx

Application deadline: 31 January 2016


----------------------------------------------------

Subject: SMBnet Reminders

To subscribe to the SMB Digest please point your browser at
    https://list.auckland.ac.nz/sympa/info/math-smbnet
and complete the subscription information.  Alternatively, if you prefer
to simply receive notice when the next issue is available, send mail to
    LISTSERV@listserv.biu.ac.il  with  "subscribe SMBnet Your Name"
in the body of the mail (omit the quotes and include your name).
After you subscribe, you will receive a greeting with additional information.

Submissions to appear in the SMB Digest should be sent to
    SMBnet(at)smb(dot)org .

Items of interest to the mathematical biology community may be submitted
for inclusion in the SMBnet archive.  See instructions at
    http://smb.org/publications/SMBnet/pubs/fyi .

The SMB Digest is also available on the SMB Home Page at
    http://smb.org/publications/SMBnet/digest/ .

The contents of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part with
attribution.

End of SMB Digest
****************************************************

----------------------------------------------------