MSc Projects - Warwick 2012

Modelling Defective Interference for Influenza

This project was motivated by the success of recent clinical trials invovling a technique known as 'defective interference' which acts as an anti-viral against influenza, in addition to the apparent lack of satisfactory theoretical models for the processes involved. Our aim was to attempt to model the interactions between healthy cells, viruses and 'defective' viruses - which can act to inhibit the replication of the parent influenza virus. The long -term goal was to find a model which could predict the behaviour of the virus at the cell population level, and to see if our model could support a phenomenon known as the Von Magnus effect.

Supervisors

Professor Andrew Easton

- Life Sciences, University of Warwick

Professor Matt Keeling - Mathematics Institute, University of Warwick

Optimising Gas Engineer Locations

This project was proposed and part-sponsored by National Grid Plc. The aim was to analyse the location of engineers in a British county, and find out if (and so how) their base locations could be altered to improve their response times to emergency gas escapes. We combined an advanced genetic algorithm in MatLab with a simulation in C++ in order to find the optimal locations and compare with the current situation. The simulation used data from over 15000 escapes from the daily high demand period during the preceeding winter. We were able to deliver applicable results, beneficial to National Grid for resource planning and recruitment.

Supervisors:

Professor Juergen Branke - Warwick Business School, University of Warwick
Bridget Hartley - National Grid Plc.

Please do not hesitate to email me if you would like any further information regarding any of my current or previous projects