Coronary heart disease accounts for 18% of deaths in the United States every year. The disease results from a blockage of one or more arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle. This occurs as a result of a complex inflammatory condition called artherosclerosis, which leads to progressive buildup of fatty plaque near the surface of the arterial wall. Continue reading
Author Archives: SIAM
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SIAM’s final conference in the year of “Mathematics of Planet Earth” covers the analysis of partial differential equations. Continue reading
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Paleo-structure modeling of the Earth’s mantle will provide crucial information on the history of plate-driven forces, the material properties of the deep Earth, the temporal evolution of the core-mantle boundary. Continue reading
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Last week Philadelphia was a suburb of New Jersey. At least it seemed that way, with all the local news media coverage of hurricane Sandy on the one-year anniversary of its landing on the Jersey shore, on October 29, 2012. Continue reading
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I am normally a great fan of book reviews, but one which covered a book on a climate caught my attention. I was troubled with the review that appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer because of the way it treated climate science in general and modeling in particular. Continue reading
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SIAM News will feature two lead articles that are very relevant to the themes of Math of Planet Earth. One, by writer Dana Mackenzie, is about mathematical modeling of traffic flows; the other, by writer Barry Cipra, is about reducing energy consumption in buildings. Continue reading
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Mathematics has always responded to demands of applications, even as mathematics continued to develop its own internal structures. One need only look back to the mid-twentieth century to see the mathematics spawned by demands of the military needs of the time. Today we see a tremendous growth in applied mathematics related to biology and medicine. Continue reading
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Earlier this year, President Obama announced a major federal research initiative dubbed the “brain initiative.” According to the initial announcement, its goal was to develop and use imaging techniques to better understand neural processes and brain function. Continue reading
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The floods that occurred earlier this month in Colorado remind us once again of the increasing talk about extreme weather events. Continue reading
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Invasive species are a big deal today. One need only do a simple Google search and see all the exotic species that are hitching a ride on container cargo to find a niche on a new continent. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a web site devoted to invasive species; the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) also has a web site on this topic. Continue reading
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Biodiversity is a major concern today, with species vanishing at a high rate. Nations have launched efforts to preserve species by designating preserves or wilderness areas. Investments of money and resources are needed to establish and maintain such preserves. How does a nation or organization decide how to invest its funds and resources in order to maximize the goals of species preservation? Continue reading
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Ten years ago today (8/14/2003), the northeastern U.S. suffered the worst blackout in U.S. history, when about 15 million people lost power. The massive loss of power was attributed to a small event that cascaded through the complex power distribution system. Continue reading
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MPE2013 features a wealth of public lectures to highlight the year of Mathematics of Planet Earth. There is also a public lecture (the I.E. Block Community Lecture) associated with the SIAM Annual Meeting, and the topic of lecture this year follows an MPE theme. Continue reading
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MPE is a diverse subject, with respect to both applications and the mathematics itself. This was driven home to me at the recent SIAM Conference on Dynamical Systems in Snowbird, Utah, when I attended a session on “Supermodeling Climate.” Continue reading
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Uncertainty issues are paramount in the assessment of risks posed by natural hazards and in developing strategies to alleviate their consequences. In a paper published last month in the SIAM/ASA Journal on Uncertainty Quantification, Jerome and Seth Stein describe a model that estimates the balance between costs and benefits of mitigation following natural disasters, as well as rebuilding defenses in their aftermath. Continue reading
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The Earth is a giant dynamical system that evolves over time at various scales, depending on the state(s) of interest. Therefore, it is not surprising that a conference on applied dynamical systems would feature topics central to Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013. Continue reading
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Climate science relies on modeling and computational simulation. Improving the algorithms and codes related to climate modeling is an ongoing research effort. Continue reading