Effect of Human Behavior on the Evolution of Viral Strains During an Epidemic.

It is well known in the literature that human behavior can change as a reaction to disease observed in others, and that such behavioral changes can be an important factor in the spread of an epidemic. It has been noted that human behavioral traits in disease avoidance are under selection in the presence of infectious diseases. Here, we explore a complementary trend: the pathogen itself might experience a force of selection to become less "visible," or less "symptomatic," in the presence of such human behavioral trends.

How much of the storage in the ecosystem is due to cycling?

Cycling is the process of reutilization of matter or energy in the ecosystem. As it is not directly measurable, the strength of cycling is calculated based on mathematical models of the ecosystem. For a storage-flow type ecosystem model, throughflow is the total amount of material flowing through all system compartments per unit of time, while storage represents the total standing stock in the system.

Deterministic and stochastic simulation and analysis of biochemical reaction networks the lactose operon example.

A brief introduction to mathematical modeling of biochemical regulatory reaction networks is presented. Both deterministic and stochastic modeling techniques are covered with examples from enzyme kinetics, coupled reaction networks with oscillatory dynamics and bistability. The Yildirim-Mackey model for lactose operon is used as an example to discuss and show how deterministic and stochastic methods can be used to investigate various aspects of this bacterial circuit.