Research
Since 2004, my main research interest is Complex Systems modelling. Over the years, it has been applied to several fields, such as wind energy, viral modelling and epigenetics.
Epigenetics
More details on this study will appear here shortly. In the meantime, please refer to the publication list. Alternatively, you may also contact me directly.
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Viral modelling
The principal aim of this work is to try to understand why the range of experience with respect to HIV infection is so diverse. Hence, why does one individual experience a long latency period (or relatively low success of antipathetic mutation) compared to another.
The answer, it is felt, lies in the priming and level of fitness of the immune response of the individual and the various factors which influence this. If such "priming patterns" can be recognised, even anticipated, then in the long term we may have a way of typing and intervening for the individual. Unfortunately, understanding how the immune system is "imprinted" by experience of antigenic invasion and diversity is not straightforward. What assumptions can we make about the nature of this that can be modelled, tested, argued and what is the best way to grow a picture of the cell interactions and see how the endpoints might arise. What exactly is involved in antigenic diversity? How variable is the mutation rate and the viral load? What is the importance of cell mobility and how realistic is this in terms of cross-infection and sub-system involvement? How important then is the cross-reactivity?
To investigate these questions an agent-based approach is used. A large-scale, parallel, implementation is necessary, to explicitly account for lymph nodes and the connection between these. Simulations with hundreds of lymph nodes and more than one billion immune cells permit investigation of localised effects such as early HIV infection in the GI tract.
This work was mainly carried out during my Ph.D., supervised by Prof. Heather J. Ruskin and Dr. Martin Crane.
For the latest details on this work, please refer to the publication list. Alternatively, you may also contact me directly.
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The answer, it is felt, lies in the priming and level of fitness of the immune response of the individual and the various factors which influence this. If such "priming patterns" can be recognised, even anticipated, then in the long term we may have a way of typing and intervening for the individual. Unfortunately, understanding how the immune system is "imprinted" by experience of antigenic invasion and diversity is not straightforward. What assumptions can we make about the nature of this that can be modelled, tested, argued and what is the best way to grow a picture of the cell interactions and see how the endpoints might arise. What exactly is involved in antigenic diversity? How variable is the mutation rate and the viral load? What is the importance of cell mobility and how realistic is this in terms of cross-infection and sub-system involvement? How important then is the cross-reactivity?
To investigate these questions an agent-based approach is used. A large-scale, parallel, implementation is necessary, to explicitly account for lymph nodes and the connection between these. Simulations with hundreds of lymph nodes and more than one billion immune cells permit investigation of localised effects such as early HIV infection in the GI tract.
This work was mainly carried out during my Ph.D., supervised by Prof. Heather J. Ruskin and Dr. Martin Crane.
For the latest details on this work, please refer to the publication list. Alternatively, you may also contact me directly.
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Wind energy
The power output of a typical wind turbine is a function of the cube of the wind-speed. Accurate wind-speed measurements are, therefore, critical in assessing wind turbine performance. In order to obtain a representative wind-speed, that is the wind-speed at turbine height, anemometers are located atop hollow meteorological towers. These meteorological towers, however, create distortions in the flow: there is significant acceleration of the airflow over the top of such a tower. This wind-speed increase, or "speed-up", can cause poorly positioned top-mounted anemometers to overestimate the actual wind-speed.
The aim of the study was to model the flow around the top of a typical meteorological tower and to investigate the relationship between the speed-up at the top of the tower and the free-stream wind-speed. We used the computational fluid dynamics commercial code FLUENT, consisting of the FLUENT solver and the GAMBIT meshing tool. Our simulations account for hollow towers and towers situated on slopes.
This study was a collaboration between Airtricity, DCU and INCA funded by SEI. Some results were presented at DEWEK and EWEC, and the complete study is published in Applied Energy (see publication list).
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The aim of the study was to model the flow around the top of a typical meteorological tower and to investigate the relationship between the speed-up at the top of the tower and the free-stream wind-speed. We used the computational fluid dynamics commercial code FLUENT, consisting of the FLUENT solver and the GAMBIT meshing tool. Our simulations account for hollow towers and towers situated on slopes.
This study was a collaboration between Airtricity, DCU and INCA funded by SEI. Some results were presented at DEWEK and EWEC, and the complete study is published in Applied Energy (see publication list).
Back to top.