DH 1st floor SR

The notion of critical mass in research is one that has been around for a long time without proper definition. It has been described as some kind of threshold group size above which research standards significantly improve. However no evidence for such a threshold has been found and critical mass has never been measured -- until now.

We present a new, simple, sociophysical model which explains how research quality depends on research-group structure and in particular on size. Our model predicts that there are, in fact, two critical masses in research, the values of which are discipline dependent. Research quality tends to be linearly dependent on group size, but only up to a limit termed the 'upper critical mass'. The upper critical mass is interpreted as the average maximum number of colleagues with whom a given individual in a research group can meaningfully interact. Once the group exceeds this size, it tends to fragment into sub-groups and research quality no longer improves significantly with increasing size. There is also a

lower critical mass, which small research groups should strive to achieve for stability.

Our theory is tested using empirical data from RAE 2008 on the quantity and quality of research groups, for which critical masses are determined. For pure and applied mathematics, the lower critical mass is about 2 and 6, respectively, while for statistics and physics it is 9 and 13. The upper critical mass, beyond which research quality does not significantly improve with increasing group size, is about twice the lower value.

We develop a theory of impact of viscoelastic spheres with adhesive

interactions. We assume that the collision velocities are not large to

avoid the fracture and plastic deformation of particles material and

microscopic relaxation time is much smaller than the collision duration.

The adhesive interactions are described with the use of Johnson, Kendall

and Roberts (JKR) theory, while dissipation is attributed to the

viscoelastic behavior of the material. For small impact velocities we

apply the condition of a quasi-static collision and obtain the

inter-particle force. We show that this force is a sum of four

components, having in addition to common elastic, viscous and adhesive

force, the visco-adhesive cross term. Using the derived force we compute

the coefficient of normal restitution and consider the application of our

theory to the collisions of macro and nano-particles.

Non-linear backward stochastic differential equations (BSDEs in

short) were firstly introduced by Pardoux and Peng (\cite{PP1990},

1990), who proved the existence and uniqueness of the adapted solution, under smooth square integrability assumptions on the coefficient and the terminal condition, and when the coefficient $g(t,\omega ,y,z)$ is Lipschitz in $(y,z)$ uniformly in $(t,\omega

)$. From then on, the theory of backward stochastic differential equations (BSDE) has been widely and rapidly developed. And many problems in mathematical finance can be treated as BSDEs. The natural connection between BSDE and partial differential equations (PDE) of parabolic and elliptic types is also important applications. In this talk, we study a new developement of BSDE, 

BSDE with contraint and reflecting barrier.

The existence and uniqueness results are presented and we will give some application of this kind of BSDE at last.

Human behaviour can show surprising properties when looked at from a collective point of view. Data on collective behaviour can be gleaned from a number of sources, and mobile phone data are increasingly becoming used. A major challenge is combining behavioural data with health data. In this talk I will describe our approach to understanding behaviour change related to change in health status at a collective level.

How best to use the cellular Potts model? This is a boundary dynamic method for computational cell-based modelling, in which evolution of the domain is achieved through a process of free energy minimisation. Historically its roots lie in statistical mechanics, yet in modern day it has been implemented in the study of metallic grain growth, foam coarsening and most recently, biological cells. I shall present examples of its successful application to the Steinberg cell sorting experiments of the early 1960s, before examining the specific case of the colorectal crypt. This scenario highlights the somewhat problematic nuances of the CPM, and provides useful insights into the process of selecting a cell-based framework that is suited to the complex biological tissue of interest.

Abstract: Flagella and cilia are ubiquitous in biology as a means of motility and critical for male gametes migration in reproduction, to mucociliary clearance in the lung, to the virulence of devastating parasitic pathogens such as the Trypanosomatids, to the filter feeding of the choanoflagellates, which are constitute a critical link in the global food chain. Despite this ubiquity and importance, the details of how the ciliary or flagellar waveform emerges from the underlying mechanics and how the cell, or the environs, may control the beating pattern by regulating the axoneme is far from fully understood. We demonstrate in this talk that mechanics and modelling can be utilised to interpret observations of axonemal dynamics, swimming trajectories and beat patterns for flagellated motility impacts on the science underlying numerous areas of reproductive health, disease and marine ecology. It also highlights that this is a fertile and challenging area of inter-disciplinary research for applied mathematicians and demonstrates the importance of future observational and theoretical studies in understanding the underlying mechanics of these motile cell appendages.

This will be on the topic of the CASE project Thales will be sponsoring from Oct '11.

Due to illness the speaker has been forced to postpone at short notice. A new date will be announced as soon as possible.