We will review some of the major results in random graphs and some of the more challenging open problems. We will cover algorithmic and structural questions. We will touch on newer models, including those related to the WWW.

Random graphs

BIOE 402. Medical Technology Assessment. 2 or 3 hours. Bioentrepreneur course. Assessment of medical technology in the context of commercialization. Objectives, competition, market share, funding, pricing, manufacturing, growth, and intellectual property; many issues unique to biomedical products. Course Information: 2 undergraduate hours. 3 graduate hours. Prerequisite(s): Junior standing or above and consent of the instructor.

“Bioinformatics” 특집을 내면서

Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) of free-living wild animals can be classified into three major groups on the basis of key epizootiological criteria: (i) EIDs associated with “spill-over” from domestic animals to wildlife populations living in proximity; (ii) EIDs related directly to human intervention, via host or parasite translocations; and (iii) EIDs with no overt human or domestic animal involvement. These phenomena have two major biological implications: first, many wildlife species are reservoirs of pathogens that threaten domestic animal and human health; second, wildlife EIDs pose a substantial threat to the conservation of global biodiversity.

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Emerging Infectious Diseases of Wildlife-- Threats to Biodiversity and Human Health

By Matthew James Keelingand Pejman RohaniPrinceton, NJ: Princeton University Press,2008.408 pp., Illustrated. $65.00 (hardcover).Mathematical modeling of infectious dis-eases has progressed dramatically over thepast 3 decades and continues to ﬂourishat the nexus of mathematics, epidemiol-ogy, and infectious diseases research. Nowrecognized as a valuable tool, mathemat-ical models are being integrated into thepublic health decision-making processmore than ever before. However, despiterapid advancements in this area, a formaltraining program for mathematical mod-eling is lacking, and there are very fewbooks suitable for a broad readership. Tosupport this bridging science, a commonlanguage that is understood in all con-tributing disciplines is required.

Modeling Infectious Diseases in Humans and Animals

We live amid a global wave of anthropogenically driven biodiversity loss: species and population extirpations and, critically, declines in local species abundance. Particularly, human impacts on animal biodiversity are an under-recognized form of global environmental change. Among terrestrial vertebrates, 322 species have become extinct since 1500, and populations of the remaining species show 25% average decline in abundance. Invertebrate patterns are equally dire: 67% of monitored populations show 45% mean abundance decline. Such animal declines will cascade onto ecosystem functioning and human well-being. Much remains unknown about this “Anthropocene defaunation”; these knowledge gaps hinder our capacity to predict and limit defaunation impacts. Clearly, however, defaunation is both a pervasive component of the planet’s sixth mass extinction and also a major driver of global ecological change.

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Defaunation in the Anthropocene

Context Bird damage to horticultural crops causes significant economic losses for growers around the globe. However, bird damage is unpredictable and pest-bird movements and abundance patterns are poorly understood. Aims To assess whether habitat management is likely to be an effective approach for controlling two pest-bird species (house sparrow, Passer domesticus, and greenfinch, Carduelis chloris) in New Zealand’s arable landscape. Methods Breeding- and winter-bird and habitat surveys were carried out over a 3-year period (2003–05) on 19 1-km × 1-km squares with arable crops on the Canterbury Plains, New Zealand. Bird abundance and/or distribution were analysed with respect to both temporal and spatial (crop- and boundary-habitat composition) variables. Results Estimated breeding-season densities for house sparrow were higher but more stable than those for greenfinch (which increased by 70% over a 3-year period), and for individual farms were more predictable across years than were winter densities. Boundary habitat was the best predictor of bird densities and distribution in the breeding season; features associated with enhanced seed abundance or access were important in the winter. However, habitat composition alone could not account for temporal and spatial variation in bird densities on farms. Conclusions Either habitat management or the reduction of key seed resources could potentially control pest-bird numbers. However, habitat management is likely to have adverse consequences for other important functions (such as the shelter and biodiversity benefits of shelterbelts), and any form of bird control applied at the farm scale is unlikely to be effective. Implications To make control actions both effective and economically viable, a coordinated program involving multiple farms is likely to be needed. We recommend investigating the effectiveness of an experimental manipulation of key food resources at the landscape scale.

Does farm-scale habitat composition predict pest-bird numbers and distribution?

Attempts to recover the infective third-stage larvae of Trichostrongylus tenuis from heather (Calluna vulgaris) vegetation in the field are rarely successful because the larvae may be: (i) concealed within heather leaflets; (ii) concentrated in dew droplets which are lost from the plants upon sampling; or (iii) simply highly aggregated in the field. Heather plants were exposed to T. tenuis larvae in the laboratory and kept under suitable conditions for larval migration. Few larvae were found in dew droplets or concealed within heather leaflets; most larvae were recovered from the plant surface. This suggests that the low larval recovery from vegetation in the field simply reflects a highly aggregated distribution of few larvae. In a second experiment, the efficiency with which infective larvae migrate up the structurally complex heather plants was compared with migration up two control plant species with simpler structures: a monocotyledon, wheat, and a dicotyledon, hebe. After constant exposure, significantly more larvae were recovered from heather than from either of the control plants. This implies that the structural complexity of heather causes no problems for the infective larvae.

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The dynamics of nematode transmission in the red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scoticus): studies on the recovery of Trichostrongylus tenuis larvae from vegetation

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New Alphacoronavirus in Mystacina tuberculata Bats

Just like humans, animals and plants suffer from infectious diseases, which can critically threaten biodiversity. This book describes key studies that have driven our understanding of the ecology and evolution of wildlife diseases. Each chapter introduces the host and disease, and explains how that system has aided our general understanding of the evolution and spread of wildlife diseases, through the development and testing of important epidemiological and evolutionary theories. Questions addressed include: How do hosts and parasites co-evolve? What determines how fast a disease spreads through a population? How do co-infecting parasites interact? Why do hosts vary in parasite burden? Which factors determine parasite virulence and host resistance? How do parasites influence the spread of invasive species? How do we best control infectious diseases in wildlife? This book will provide a valuable introduction to students new to the topic, and novel insights to professionals working in the field and policymakers.

Wildlife Disease Ecology:Linking Theory to Data and Application

AIM: To explore how the inclusion of multi-host dynamics affects the predicted prevalence of bovine tuberculosis (TB) in possums and other host species following the current best practice for control of TB in large difficult and remote areas, to identify which host species are responsible for changes in predicted prevalence, and whether TB can persist in possum-free host communities.METHODS: Multi-host TB models were constructed, comprising three host species with density-dependent population growth, density-dependent disease transmission and susceptible and infected classes. Models were parameterised for two case studies of current concern in New Zealand, namely chronic TB persistence in a possum-deer-pig complex in extensive forest, and in a possum-pig-ferret complex in unforested semi-arid shrub and grasslands. Persistence of TB in the face of best practice possum control was evaluated from model simulations, and the contribution of different hosts to persistence of TB was assessed by removing ...

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Daniel M. Tompkins

Papers

Does farm-scale habitat composition predict pest-bird numbers and distribution?

The dynamics of nematode transmission in the red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scoticus): studies on the recovery of Trichostrongylus tenuis larvae from vegetation

New Alphacoronavirus in Mystacina tuberculata Bats

Wildlife Disease Ecology:Linking Theory to Data and Application

The role of multiple wildlife hosts in the persistence and spread of bovine tuberculosis in New Zealand