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Russia's Far North region, located mainly north of the Arctic Circle, is home to around seven million people. Living conditions are harsh and a combination of extreme climate, genetics, diet and behaviour mean delivering healthcare has multiple challenges [3.7]. Mathematical methods developed within the Unit have been used to monitor the health of the population of Russia's Far North, and thereby enabled Government bodies to improve the planning and provision of healthcare, resulting in increased well-being within the population, and efficiency gains for the administration.
What is the best way to organize firepower in war, and what weight should be placed on mathematical models? The oldest and simplest approach is dynamical-systems based and begins with Lanchester's models. Recent work has exposed some of the subtleties and limitations of these, and the dangers in the interplay between the models and organizational culture and doctrine. Above all it has been demonstrated that Lanchester's `square law' does not apply to the use of air power. The impact is in the form of knowledge transfer: the research has been used in the professional development of serving officers at the US Naval Postgraduate School (`America's national security research university' and the world leader in the subject) and in the community of military analysis practitioners.
In 2012, cod stocks in the North Sea were assessed as having recovered almost to a level at which their viability is considered to be safe. This recovery followed 3 decades of progressive depletion to only 50% of the safety threshold of abundance. Achieving this recovery required the EU to abandon an earlier `closed area' policy banning fishing in selected areas of the North Sea, and instead enforce drastic cuts in overall activity on national fishing fleets. The policy change was prompted in part by predictions from mathematical modelling of cod populations by researchers at Strathclyde, showing that the `closed area' policy was unlikely to be an effective strategy for recovery. The recovery has so far restored £17 million in annual value to the fishery.
Professor Sue Arrowsmith's research significantly influenced UNCITRAL's revised 2011 Model Law on Public Procurement. This is a model regulatory framework of global relevance that aims to help national governments avoid waste, secure adequate public services, and fight corruption in procurement. The UNCITRAL Secretariat's presentation of reform options to the Model Law Working Group was based directly on both the novel analytical templates and the detailed recommendations developed by Arrowsmith, and many of the revised Model Law's provisions on both existing and new subjects of regulation follow directly the specific recommendations in Arrowsmith's research.
Managing and conserving the marine environment requires defining what constitutes healthy ecosystems and understanding the effects of pollution. Edinburgh Napier University (ENU) research defining `undesirable disturbance' allowed the United Kingdom (UK) to mount a successful defence at the European Court of Justice in 2009 against alleged infraction of UK obligations under the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. This saved UK taxpayers £6 billion in estimated additional costs. The European Union (EU) Marine Strategy Framework Directive uses a definition of good status for pelagic habitats derived from work at ENU, which benefits policy makers and marine stakeholders by facilitating the establishment of Marine Protected Areas.
A dedicated specialist mathematical modelling unit in the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL, USA, was set up — the Integrated Mathematical Oncology Unit (IMO) — through the movement of three staff with expertise in cancer modelling from the UoA's Mathematical Biology (MB) research group. Clinical practice has been changed and patient treatment improved through the work of IMO.
Modelling by members of the MB research group and the move of a former PDRA led to Cyclacel Ltd. and AstraZeneca obtaining a better understanding of the link between drug-dose and drug-efficacy in a class of cell-cycle-specific anti-tumour drugs called Aurora kinase inhibitors and has led to enhanced business performance.