Applied Mathematics

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Foreword

Research Structures

Energy, Environment, and Biodiversity

Humanities and Ethics

Culture and Education

Society and Development

Information and Communication Technology

Biology and Health

Research Structures and Researchers

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Equations for the service of health

The Research Group on Applied Mathematics, created in 2006, is composed of investigators from different fields such as mathematicians and researchers on particle transport, a sub-area of mechanical engineering. In addition to professors and undergraduate students of PUCRS, the group also includes members from UFRGS, UFPEL, and Unisc for a total of 16 researchers.

Located within the School of Mathematics, the main activities of the group focus on human health and are developed along four lines of research: numerical and algebraic algorithms in mathematical modeling, qualitative features of neutron transport theory, finite elements for biomechanical analysis, and nodal and spectral methods in neutron transport theory

The second and fourth lines of the above-mentioned research comprise projects related to nuclear medicine within the context of a partnership with the Brain Institute of Rio Grande do Sul located at PUCRS. Using computer simulation of Boltzmann’s transport equation, the researchers aim to calculate the radiation and doses of radioactive drugs used in patients for the diagnosis or treatment of cancer. One of the techniques suggested involves testing a phantom brain simulator similar to a simulator developed for the heart by the Virginia Tech Research Center, where the group’s chair, Professor Eliete Biasotto Hauser, performed technical visits in 2011.

The line of research titled Finite elements for biomechanical analysis comprises studies related to the field of dentistry. Doctoral students from the School of Dentistry assess the quality of neoformed bone subjected to osteogenic distraction (an alternative for facial bone reconstruction). This line of research also includes studies on the efficiency of fixation systems for fractures of the zygomatic bone by analyzing models built from the three-dimensional reconstruction of tomographic images. These studies are conducted in partnership with the Renato Archer Center of Information Technology, Campinas (SP).