Mathematical Problems in Biology: Victoria Conference(2 Lecture Notes in Biomathematics)

A conference on "Some Mathematical Problems in Biology" was held at the University of Victoria, Victoria, B. C., Canada, from May 7 - 10, 1973. The participants and invited speakers were mathematicians interested in problems of a biological nature, and scientists actively engaged in developing mathematical models in biological fields. One aim of the conference was to attempt to assess what the recent rapid growth of mathematical interaction with the biosciences has accomplished and may accomplish in the near future. The conference also aimed to expose the problems of communication bet ", een mathematicians and biological scientists, and in doing so to stimulate the interchange of ideas. It was recognised that the topic spans an enormous breadth, and little attempt was made to balance the very diverse areas. Widespread active interest was shown in the conference, and just over one hundred people registered. The varied departments and institutions across North America from which the participants came made it both academically and geographically mixed. The chief activity of the conference was the presentation of papers. Nine invited guest speakers (see table of contents) each gave a one hour talk. These covered a wide range of topics. There were twenty-five shorter (twenty minute) contributed papers, and almost all papers l, rere followed by a five minute question and discussion period. Duplicated abstracts of presented papers were available at the meeting. An evening informal discussion meeting of participants, chaired by Dr. A. B. Tayler, and led by Drs. E. M. Hagmeier, E. C.

Table of Contents:
Measurement processes and hierarchical organization.- Analysis of wave propagation in cilia and flagella.- Mathematical bioeconomics.- Models of large-scale nervous activityr.- Strategy for a predator with a mimicking prey.- Finite difference methods for the numerical solution of the Nernst-Planck-Poisson equations.- Habitat selection and a Liapunov function.- Aspects of evolutionary theory and the theory of games.- Coexistence of species in a discrete system.- Asymptotic behavior and stability in epidemic models.- Resilience and stability as shown by models of ecological systems.- Thresholds for deterministic epidemics.- Dynamic analysis in “soft science” studies: In defense of difference equations.- Probabilistic limit cycles.- Oscillations in biochemistry.- A simple test for tag recapture estimation.- Are species association coefficients really necessary?.- A model of morphogenesis.- Flagellar growth.- Some remarks on random sets mosaics.- Qualitative behavior of stochastic epidemics.- Stochastic models for cell proliferation.- Instructional lecture on mathematical techniques.- Anomalous diffusion through membranes.- The role of age structure in the dynamics of interacting populations.- Some consequences of stochasticizing an ecological system model.- Competition on an environmental gradient.- Morphogenesis in sand dollar embryos.- Ecological and economic markets.- Some stochastic growth processes.- Derivation of the equation for concentration profiles in a binary diffusing system.- An economic model of population growth and competition in natural communities.- Wavelike activity in biological and chemical media.- Mathematics and Biology.- Some Problems Posed at the Conference.- A Bibliography of Mathematical Biology.