Titles and Abstracts

13:00, LTA Itamar Oliveira - Some positive problems through an oscillatory perspective

Abstract: Some positive problems through an oscillatory perspective. Abstract: Informally, we say that a problem is positive if it only involves positive quantities (natural numbers, areas, etc). The goal of the talk is to present (in a very informal and friendly way) some positive problems that can be understood from an oscillatory perspective. This sounds very contradictory, since oscillatory problems are usually about exploiting some balance between positive and negative quantities. After seeing the power of such perspective in a couple of elementary situations, we plan to present some very deep (but easy to state!) positive questions in Analysis that are known to benefit from the oscillatory approach, and we will quickly go over some of our recent discoveries.

13:40, LTA Catherine Drysdale - Challenges Modelling the HPA Axis with Pseudospectra and DMD

Abstract: he HPA axis is the biological axis between the hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal glands. It is governed by two hormones namely ACTH and Cortisol that operate on circadian and ultradian rhythms. These rhythms are sensitive to different stressors but not in a way that is the same across all people. Additionally, misaligned rhythms have negative health effects. This can be seen in the case of shift workers who have misaligned rhythms owing to routinely disrupted sleep. Building a model for the HPA axis is difficult because the rhythmicity could come from different sources and there is not consensus in the literature regarding the underlying mechanism. In this talk, I will discuss the different suspected causes of rhythmicity and then how we have chosen to explore one of these models with pseudospectra, as well as consider the dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) of experimental data. I talk about the pros and cons of these different methods, which include interpretability and matching to experimental data.

14:20, LTA Mura Yakerson - In search for math-life balance

Abstract: In this talk, I would like to share some reflections on the psychological struggles of doing math, as well as share related ideas of my colleagues from the interviews that I made on my YouTube channel "Math-life balance". The talk aims to be relatable :)

15:20 -- 16:00 Coffee and tea in MLC

16:00, LTB Matt Westaway -  Modular Representations of Lie Algebras

Abstract:  Two of the crowning algebraic achievements of the last 150 years are the classification of complex semisimple Lie algebras and the proof of the Kazhdan-Lusztig conjecture, the latter giving a description of (some of) the simple representations of these semisimple Lie algebras. When we move away from the complex numbers, however, answering (or even formulating) both of these questions becomes much more complicated. This talk will be a gentle introduction to the representation theory of semisimple Lie algebras over fields of positive characteristic. I will highlight some of the major questions in the field and the tools we can use to approach them.

16:40, LTB Joseph Marsh - Integrating geostatistical maps with epidemiological models to inform disease resurgence in Malawi

Abstract: Lymphatic filariasis is a mosquito-borne infection that affects over 40 million individuals worldwide, with a target set out by the World Health Organisation (WHO) is to achieve global elimination as a public health problem by 2030 through mass drug treatment (MDA). Transmission Assessment Surveys (TAS) are conducted after at least 5 years of MDA to evaluate whether the goal has been reached, however questions remain regarding how suitable TAS is for detecting low-level transmission that may lead to disease resurgence. Recently, a methodology was developed by Touloupou et al. (2022) to integrate pre-MDA geostatistical maps with stochastic disease transmission models to provide robust sub-national level projections of progress towards the 2030 elimination as a public health problem goal. In this talk, I will describe how this methodology was expanded to integrate pre-MDA as well as TAS data in a single model. I will showcase the implementation in Malawi, where we first validated model projections before informing, at small spatial scales, the probability of achieving the 2030 goal and the likelihood of disease resurgence. These model projections are key to inform national-level policy and ensure those areas at risk of resurgence are monitored, with additional interventions taking place if required. 

Touloupou, P., Retkute, R., Hollingsworth, T. D., and Spencer, S. E. (2022). Statistical methods for linking geostatistical maps and transmission models: Application to lymphatic filariasis in east africa. Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology, 41:100391.

17:20, LTB Nataliya Balabanova -  Adaptive dynamics for Prisoner's Dilemma

Abstract:  We are going to talk about the connection between dynamical systems and the Prisoner's Dilemma (PD), as well as give some properties of dynamics for PD with memory N.