Main description:

This edited volume contains a selection of chapters that are an outgrowth of the - ropean Conference on Mathematical and Theoretical Biology (ECMTB05, Dresden, Germany, July 2005). The peer-reviewed contributions show that mathematical and computational approaches are absolutely essential to solving central problems in the life sciences, ranging from the organizational level of individual cells to the dynamics of whole populations. The contributions indicate that theoretical and mathematical biology is a diverse and interdisciplinary ?eld, ranging from experimental research linked to mathema- cal modelling to the development of more abstract mathematical frameworks in which observations about the real world can be interpreted and with which new hypotheses for testing can be generated. Today, much attention is also paid to the development of ef?cient algorithms for complex computations and visualization, notably in molecular biology and genetics. The ?eld of theoretical and mathematical biology and medicine has profound connections to many current problems of great relevance to society. The medical, industrial, and social interests in its development are in fact undisputable. Insights and predictions from mathematical modelling are used increasingly in de- sion support in medicine (e.g., immunology and spread of infectious diseases, cancer research, cardiovascular research, neurological research, optimization of medical tre- ments,imaging),environmentalandnaturemanagement,climateproblems,agriculture and management of natural resources. Fast developments in areas such as biotechn- ogy (e.g., genome projects, genetic modi?cation, tissue engineering) continue to add new focal points of activity to the ?eld. The contributions of this volume capture some of these developments.

Feature:

Unified presentation of mathematical modeling in the biological sciences

Presents state-of-the-art mathematical modeling and simulation techniques needed to examine central problems in the life sciences

Covers a diverse range of subjects having real-world applications to epidemiology, evolution, ecology, immunology, and neurology

For a broad audience of researchers, practitioners, and advanced students in applied mathematics, experimental biology and medicine, computational biology, biochemistry, computer science, and physics

Back cover:

This two-volume, interdisciplinary work is a unified presentation of a broad range of state-of-the-art topics in the rapidly growing field of mathematical modeling in the biological sciences. Highlighted throughout both works are mathematical and computational approaches to examine central problems in the life sciences, ranging from the organizational principles of individual cells to the dynamics of large populations.

Volume I covers a number of areas, including:

* Cellular Biophysics

* Regulatory Networks

* Developmental Biology

* Biomedical Applications

* Data Analysis and Model Validation

Volume II examines a diverse range of subjects, including:

* Epidemiology

* Evolution and Ecology

* Immunology

* Neural Systems and the Brain

* Innovative Mathematical Methods and Education

Both volumes will be excellent reference texts for a broad audience of researchers, practitioners, and advanced students in this rapidly growing field at the intersection of applied mathematics, experimental biology and medicine, computational biology, biochemistry, computer science, and physics.

Contents:

Preface Part I. Epidemiology Could Low-Efficacy Malaria Vaccines Increase Secondary Infections in Endemic Areas? / Robert J. Smith? Modeling of the Invasion of a Fungal Disease over a Vineyard / J.-B. Burie, A. Calonnec, M. Langlais An Algorithm for Parameter Estimation in Nosocomial Infections / Nico Stollenwerk and Rafael Mikolajczyk Part II. Evolution and Ecology Evolutionarily Stable Investment in Anti-Predatory Defences and Aposematic Signalling / Mark Broom, Graeme D. Ruxton, Michael P. Speed The Tangled Nature Model of Evolutionary Ecology: An Overview / Simon Laird, Daniel Lawson, Henrik Jeldtoft Jensen Relative Advantage and Fundamental Theorems of Natural Selection / József Garay Competitive Exclusion Between Year-Classes in a Semelparous Biennial Population / Ryusuke Kon On the Impact of Winter Conditions on the Dynamics of an Isolated Population / Lev V. Nedorezov, E.V. Volkova, Alexandr M. Sadykov Planning for Biodiversity Conservation Using Stochastic Programming / Trevon Fuller, David P. Morton, Sahotra Sarkar A Diffusion-Reaction Model of a Mixed-Culture Biofilm Arising in Food Safety Studies / Hermann J. Eberl, Heidi Schraft The Periodical Population Dynamics of Lottery Models Including the Effect of Undeveloped Seeds / Shigehide Iwata, Ryusuke Kon, Yasuhiro Takeuchi Part III. Immunology An Automata-Based Microscopic Model Inspired by Clonal Expansion / Francesco Zanlungo, Sandro Rambaldi, Giorgio Turchetti Th1–Th2 Regulation and Allergy: Bifurcation Analysis of the Non-Autonomous System / Reinhard Vogel, Ulrich Behn Architecture of Randomly Evolving Idiotypic Networks / Holger Schmidtchen, Ulrich Behn Analysis of Infectious Mortality by Means of the Individualized Risk Model / Tatiana E.Sannikova Part IV. Neural Systems and the Brain Neuromorphological Phenotyping in Transgenic Mice: A Multiscale Fractal Analysis / Andreas Schierwagen, Luciano da Fontoura Costa, Alan Alpar, Ulrich Gärtner, Thomas Arendt A Quantitative Model of ATP-Mediated Calcium Wave Propagation in Astrocyte Networks / William G. Gibson, Les Farnell, Max R. Bennett Dynamics of Neural Fields with Distributed Transmission Speeds / Fatihcan M. Atay, Axel Hutt Estimation of Differential Entropy for Positive Random Variables and Its Application in Computational Neuroscience / David Hampel Dynamics of Integrate-and-Fire Models / Joanna Tyrcha A Monte Carlo Method Used for the Identification of the Muscle Spindle / Vassiliki K. Kotti, Alexandros G. Rigas Mechanisms of Coincidence Detection in the Auditory Brainstem: Examples / Petr Marsalek, Marek Drapal Multi-Scale Analysis of Brain Surface Data / Thomas Hübsch, Marc Tittgemeyer The Spike Generation Processes: A Case for Low Level Computation / Tjeerd olde Scheper Part V. Innovative Mathematical Methods and Education Offdiagonal Complexity: A Computationally Quick Network Complexity Measure—Application to Protein Networks and Cell Division / Jens Christian Claussen An Analytically Solvable Asymptotic Model of Atrial Excitability / Radostin D. Simitev, Vadim N. Biktashev A Bayesian Approach to the Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction / Nadia Lalam, Christine Jacob A Model of Poplar (Populus sp.) Physiology and Morphology Based on Relational Growth Grammars / Gerhard Buck-Sorlin, Ole Kniemeyer, Winfried Kurth Asymptotic Behavior of a Two-Dimensional Keller–Segel Model with and without Density Control / Vincent Calvez, Yasmin Dolak-Struß Saturation Effects in Population Dynamics: Use Branching Processes or Dynamical