Estimates of parameters in models under real conditions

• Grant number: 21/05499-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: June 01, 2021
• End date: November 22, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Mathematics - Applied Mathematics
• Principal Investigator: José Mário Martinez Perez
• Grantee: Alan Alves Santana Amad
• Host Institution: Instituto de Matemática, Estatística e Computação Científica (IMECC). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/24293-0 - Computational methods in optimization, AP.TEM

Abstract

The adjustment of the aviary simulation model provides the theme for a long-range postdoctoral project. The aviary simulation model was developed in a doctoral thesis in our research group and published in specialized journals. Depending on a set of approximately 10 parameters, the model simulates the life of (approximately 40 thousand) broilers in a typical aviary such as those existing in all Brazilian states, mainly in Paraná. In its original version, the model is "expensive", in the sense that it takes around 20 hours to produce a single 45-day simulation. On the other hand, parameter estimation requires many simulations if this is done using a standard derivative-free optimization algorithm. This means that, in computers compatible with those available in aviaries, naive adjustment is not feasible. The consequence is that the adjustment should proceed by simulating, not the real model, but reduced versions of it. The compatibility between the reduced versions and the real version of the model is a theoretical and practical theme of the greatest relevance. The dedication to estimating the model parameters in real conditions is a task for a postdoctoral researcher with strongly interdisciplinary characteristics for a period of at least 2 years. (AU)