Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Allee Effects Introduced By Density Dependent Phenology., Timothy James Pervenecki

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We consider both the nonspatial model and spatial model of a species that gives birth to eggs at the end of the year. It is assumed that the timing of emergence from eggs is controled by phenology, which is density dependent. In general, the solution maps for our models are implicit; When the solution map is explicit, it is extremely complex and it is easier to work with the implicit map. We derive integral conditions for which the nonspatial model exhibits strong Allee effect. We also provide a necessary condition and a sufficient condition for the existence of positive equilibrium …

Characterizing Majority Rule On Various Discrete Models Of Consensus., Trevor Leach

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In any social structure, there is often a need to reach decisions, not only within a group but between groups as well, sometimes even urgently so. Each of the individuals constituting these groups has their own preference for the decision to be made. We will discuss the problem of aggregating individual preferences into a collective preference and under what conditions we are required to select a collective majority. In this dissertation we will look at three models of consensus and show the conditions vary based on the model.

Krylov Subspace Spectral Methods With Non-Homogenous Boundary Conditions, Abbie Hendley

Master's Theses

For this thesis, Krylov Subspace Spectral (KSS) methods, developed by Dr. James Lambers, will be used to solve a one-dimensional, heat equation with non-homogenous boundary conditions. While current methods such as Finite Difference are able to carry out these computations efficiently, their accuracy and scalability can be improved. We will solve the heat equation in one-dimension with two cases to observe the behaviors of the errors using KSS methods. The first case will implement KSS methods with trigonometric initial conditions, then another case where the initial conditions are polynomial functions. We will also look at both the time-independent and time-dependent …

Radial Basis Function Finite Difference Approximations Of The Laplace-Beltrami Operator, Sage Byron Shaw

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Partial differential equations (PDEs) are used throughout science and engineering for modeling various phenomena. Solutions to PDEs cannot generally be represented analytically, and therefore must be approximated using numerical techniques; this is especially true for geometrically complex domains. Radial basis function generated finite differences (RBF-FD) is a recently developed mesh-free method for numerically solving PDEs that is robust, accurate, computationally efficient, and geometrically flexible. In the past seven years, RBF-FD methods have been developed for solving PDEs on surfaces, which have applications in biology, chemistry, geophysics, and computer graphics. These methods are advantageous, as they are mesh-free, operate on arbitrary …

An Application Of Conformal Mapping To The Boundary Element Method For Unconfined Steady Seepage With A Phreatic Surface, Jorge Eduardo Reyes

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this thesis, numerical results using the Boundary Element Method (BEM) for groundwater flow in a domain with a boundary that contains numerous singularities with a phreatic surface are developed. The flow in the domain is modeled using Darcy’s law for a homogeneous isotropic porous medium. The boundary conditions are a combination of Dirichlet and Neumann with the phreatic surface having both boundary conditions. Exact solutions by Conformal Mapping for simplified domains with the same singularity as the original domain allow for modifications to the BEM resulting in an improvement to the numerical solution.

An iterative process is used to …

Combating Tuberculosis: Using Time-Dependent Sensitivity Analysis To Develop Strategies For Treatment And Prevention, Kendall B. Clark, Mayleen Cortez, Cristian Hernandez, Beth E. Thomas, Allison L. Lewis

Spora: A Journal of Biomathematics

Although many organizations throughout the world have worked tirelessly to control tuberculosis (TB) epidemics, no country has yet been able to eradicate the disease completely. We present two compartmental models representing the spread of a TB epidemic through a population. The first is a general TB model; the second is an adaptation for regions in which HIV is prevalent, accounting for the effects of TB/HIV co-infection. Using active subspaces, we conduct time-dependent sensitivity analysis on both models to explore the significance of certain parameters with respect to the spread of TB. We use the results of this sensitivity analysis to …

Some Recent Developments On Pareto-Optimal Reinsurance, Wenjun Jiang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis focuses on developing Pareto-optimal reinsurance policy which considers the interests of both the insurer and the reinsurer. The optimal insurance/reinsurance design has been extensively studied in actuarial science literature, while in early years most studies were concentrated on optimizing the insurer’s interests. However, as early as 1960s, Borch argued that “an agreement which is quite attractive to one party may not be acceptable to its counterparty” and he pioneered the study on “fair” risk sharing between the insurer and the reinsurer. Quite recently, the question of how to strike a balance in risk sharing between an insurer and …

On Optimal Stopping And Impulse Control With Constraint, J. L. Menaldi, M. Robin

Mathematics Faculty Research Publications

The optimal stopping and impulse control problems for a Markov-Feller process are considered when the controls are allowed only when a signal arrives. This is referred to as control problems with constraint. In [28, 29, 30], the HJB equation was solved and an optimal control (for the optimal stopping problem, the discounted impulse control problem and the ergodic impulse control problem, respectively) was obtained, under suitable conditions, including a setting on a compact metric state space. In this work, we extend most of the results to the situation where the state space of the Markov process is locally compact.

A Deep Learning Approach To Uncertainty Quantification, Mst Afroja Akter

Mathematics & Statistics ETDs

In this thesis we consider ordinary differential equations (ODEs) with random parameters. We focus on Monte Carlo (MC) sampling for computing the statistics of some quantities of interest (QoIs) given by the solution of the ODE problems. We use the 4th order accurate Runge-Kutta (RK4) method as the deterministic ODE solver. We then develop a hybrid MC sampling method that combines RK4 with neural network models to efficiently compute the statistics of QoIs within a desired accuracy. We present several numerical examples to verify the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed hybrid method compared to classical MC sampling. The hybrid …

Large And Small Data Blow-Up Solutions In The Trojan Y Chromosome Model, Rana D. Parshad, Matthew Beauregard, Eric M. Takyi, Thomas Griffin, Landrey Bobo

Faculty Publications

The Trojan Y Chromosome Strategy (TYC) is an extremely well investigated biological control method for controlling invasive populations with an XX-XY sex determinism. In [35, 36] various dynamical properties of the system are analyzed, including well posedness, boundedness of solutions, and conditions for extinction or recovery. These results are derived under the assumption of positive solutions. In the current manuscript, we show that if the introduction rate of trojan fish is zero, under certain large data assumptions, negative solutions are possible for the male population, which in turn can lead to finite time blow-up in the female and male populations. …

Graphicacy For Numeracy: Review Of Fundamentals Of Data Visualization: A Primer On Making Informative And Compelling Figures By Claus O. Wilke (2019), Christy M. Bebeau

Numeracy

Wilke, Claus O. 2019. Fundamentals of Data Visualization: A Primer on Making Informative and Compelling Figures. (Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media, Inc.). 390 pp. ISBN 978-1-492-03108-6. First edition. First release: 03-15-2019.

Claus O. Wilke has authored an excellent reference about producing and understanding static figures, figures used online, in print, and for presentations. His book is neither a statistics nor programming text, but familiarity with basic statistical concepts is helpful. Written in three parts, the book presents both the math and artistic design aspects of telling a story through figures. Wilke makes extensive use of examples, labels them good, bad, …

Quenching Estimates For A Non-Newtonian Filtration Equation With Singular Boundary Conditions, Matthew Beauregard, Burhan Selcuk

Faculty Publications

In this paper, the quenching behavior of the non-Newtonian filtration equation (φ(u))t = (|ux| r−2 ux)x with singular boundary conditions, ux (0, t) = u −p (0, t), ux (a, t) = (1 − u(a, t))−q is investigated. Various conditions on the initial condition are shown to guarantee quenching at either the left or right boundary. Theoretical quenching rates and lower bounds to the quenching time are determined when φ(u) = u and r = 2. Numerical experiments are provided to illustrate and provide additional validation of the theoretical estimates to the quenching rates and times.

L^{\Infty}-Estimates Of The Solution Of The Navier-Stokes Equations For Periodic Initial Data, Santosh Pathak

Mathematics & Statistics ETDs

In this doctoral dissertation, we consider the Cauchy problem for the 3D incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. Here, we are interested in a smooth periodic solution of the problem which happens to be a special case of a paper by Otto Kreiss and Jens Lorenz. More precisely, we will look into a special case of their paper by two approaches. In the first approach, we will try to follow the similar techniques as in the original paper for smooth periodic solution. Because of the involvement of the Fourier expansion in the process, we encounter with some intriguing factors in the periodic case …

Investigation Of Fundamental Principles Of Rigid Body Impact Mechanics, Khalid Alluhydan

Mechanical Engineering Research Theses and Dissertations

In impact mechanics, the collision between two or more bodies is a common, yet a very challenging problem. Producing analytical solutions that can predict the post-collision motion of the colliding bodies require consistent modeling of the dynamics of the colliding bodies. This dissertation presents a new method for solving the two and multibody impact problems that can be used to predict the post-collision motion of the colliding bodies. Also, we solve the rigid body collision problem of planar kinematic chains with multiple contacts with external surfaces.

In the first part of this dissertation, we study planar collisions of Balls and …

Why Iq Test Scores Are Slightly Decreasing: Possible System-Based Explanation For The Reversed Flynn Effect, Griselda Acosta, Eric Smith, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Researchers who monitor the average intelligence of human population have reasonably recently made an unexpected observation: that after many decades in which this level was constantly growing (this is known as the Flynn effect), at present, this level has started decreasing again. In this paper, we show that this reversed Flynn effect can be, in principle, explained in general system-based terms: namely, it is similar to the fact that a control system usually overshoots before stabilizing at the desired level. A similar idea may explain another unexpected observation -- that the Universe's expansion rate, which was supposed to be decreasing, …

Why Experts Sometimes Do Not Perform Well In Unusual Situations, Julio C. Urenda, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

We expect that the quality of experts' decisions increases with their experience. This is indeed true for reasonably routine situations. However, surprisingly, empirical data shows that in unusual situations, novice experts make much better decisions than more experience ones. This phenomenon is especially unexpected for medical emergency situations: it turns out that the mortality rate of patients treated by novice doctors is a third lower than for patients treated by experience doctors. In this paper, we provide a possible explanation for this seemingly counterintuitive phenomenon.

Why Pink Noise Is Best For Enhancing Sleep And Memory: System-Based Explanation, Griselda Acosta, Eric Smith, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Several researchers found out that acoustic stimulation during sleep enhances sleep and enhances memory. An interesting -- and somewhat mysterious -- part of this phenomenon is that out of all possible types of noise, the pink noise leads to the most efficient stimulation. In this paper, we use general system-based ideas to explain why in this phenomenon, pink noise works best.

Unexpected Empirical Dependence Of Calf Gender On Insemination Time: System-Based Explanation, Griselda Acosta, Eric Smith, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

To improve the efficiency of artificial insemination, farmers equip cows with sensors, based on which a computer system determines the cow's insemination window. Analysis of the resulting calves showed an unexpected dependence of the calf's gender on the insemination time: cows inseminated earlier in their window mostly gave birth to female calves, while cows inseminated later in their window mostly gave birth to males. In this paper, we provide a general system-based explanation for this phenomenon.

How To Make A Decision Based On The Minimum Bayes Factor (Mbf): Explanation Of The Jeffreys Scale, Vladik Kreinovich, Olga Kosheleva, Nguyen Duc Trung

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many practical situations, we need to select a model based on the data. It is, at present, practically a consensus that the traditional p-value-based techniques for such selection often do not lead to adequate results. One of the most widely used alternative model selection techniques is the Minimum Bayes Factor (MBF) approach, in which a model is preferred if the corresponding Bayes factor -- the ratio of likelihoods corresponding to this model and to the competing model -- is sufficiently large for all possible prior distributions. Based on the MBF values, we can decide how strong is the evidence …

Why Beta Priors: Invariance-Based Explanation, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich, Kittawit Autchariyapanitkul

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In the Bayesian approach, to describe a prior distribution on the set [0,1] of all possible probability values, typically, a Beta distribution is used. The fact that there have been many successful applications of this idea seems to indicate that there must be a fundamental reason for selecting this particular family of distributions. In this paper, we show that the selection of this family can indeed be explained if we make reasonable invariance requirements.

Why The Obvious Necessary Condition Is (Often) Also Sufficient (Toncas): An Explanation Of The Phenomenon, Julio C. Urenda, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many graph-related problems, an obvious necessary condition is often also sufficient. This phenomenon is so ubiquitous that it was even named TONCAS, after the first letters of the phrase describing this phenomenon. In this paper, we provide a possible explanation for this phenomenon.

Beyond P-Boxes And Interval-Valued Moments: Natural Next Approximations To General Imprecise Probabilities, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

To make an adequate decision, we need to know the probabilities of different consequences of different actions. In practice, we only have partial information about these probabilities -- this situation is known as imprecise probabilities. A general description of all possible imprecise probabilities requires using infinitely many parameters. In practice, the two most widely used few-parametric approximate descriptions are p-boxes (bounds on the values of the cumulative distribution function) and interval-valued moments (i.e., bounds on moments). In some situations, these approximations are not sufficiently accurate. So, we need more accurate more-parametric approximations. In this paper, we explain what are the …

How To Reconcile Maximum Entropy Approach With Intuition: E.G., Should Interval Uncertainty Be Represented By A Uniform Distribution, Vladik Kreinovich, Olga Kosheleva, Songsak Sriboonchitta

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many practical situations, we only have partial information about the probabilities; this means that there are several different probability distributions which are consistent with our knowledge. In such cases, if we want to select one of these distributions, it makes sense not to pretend that we have a small amount of uncertainty -- and thus, it makes sense to select a distribution with the largest possible value of uncertainty. A natural measure of uncertainty of a probability distribution is its entropy. So, this means that out of all probability distributions consistent with our knowledge, we select the one whose …

In Alsina Et Al. Derivation Of Min-Max Fuzzy Logic From Distributivity, All Conditions Are Necessary: A Proof, Vladik Kreinovich, Ildar Batyrshin, Nailya Kubysheva

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In their 1983 paper, C. Alsina, E. Trillas, and L. Valverde proved that distributivity, monotonicity, and boundary conditions imply that the "and"-operation is min and the "or"-operation is max. In this paper, we show that all these conditions are necessary for Alsina et al. result to be true.

Mittag–Leffler Stability Of Systems Of Fractional Nabla Difference Equations, Paul W. Eloe, Jaganmohan Jonnalagadda

Mathematics Faculty Publications

Mittag-Leffler stability of nonlinear fractional nabla difference systems is defined and the Lyapunov direct method is employed to provide sufficient conditions for Mittag-Leffler stability of, and in some cases the stability of, the zero solution of a system nonlinear fractional nabla difference equations. For this purpose, we obtain several properties of the exponential and one parameter Mittag-Leffler functions of fractional nabla calculus. Two examples are provided to illustrate the applicability of established results.

Dynamic Triggering Of Earthquakes: Symmetry-Based Geometric Analysis, Laxman Bokati, Richard Alfaro, Aaron A. Velasco, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

It is known that seismic waves from a remote earthquake can trigger a small local earthquake. Recent analysis has shown that this triggering occurs mostly when the direction of the incoming wave is orthogonal to the direction of the local fault, some triggerings occur when these directions are parallel, and very few triggerings occur when the angle between these two directions is different from 0 and 90 degrees. In this paper, we propose a symmetry-based geometric explanation for this unexpected observation.

Why 7 Plus Minus 2? A Possible Geometric Explanation, Laxman Bokati, Vladik Kreinovich, Jordan Katz

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

It is known that, in general, a person keeps in mind between 5 and 9 objects -- this is known as the 7 plus minus 2 law. In this paper, we provide a possible simple geometric explanation for this psychological feature.

Extending Statistical Learning For Aneurysm Rupture Assessment To Finnish And Japanese Populations Using Morphology, Hemodynamics, And Patient Characteristics, Felicitas J. Detmer, Sara Hadad, Bong Jae Chung, Fernando Mut, Martin Slawski, Norman Juchler, Vartan Kurtcuoglu, Sven Hirsch, Philippe Bijlenga, Yuya Uchiyama, Soichiro Fujimura, Makoto Yamamoto, Yuichi Murayama, Hiroyuki Takao, Timo Koivisto, Juhana Frösen, Juan R. Cebral

Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

OBJECTIVE: Incidental aneurysms pose a challenge for physicians, who need to weigh the rupture risk against the risks associated with treatment and its complications. A statistical model could potentially support such treatment decisions. A recently developed aneurysm rupture probability model performed well in the US data used for model training and in data from two European cohorts for external validation. Because Japanese and Finnish patients are known to have a higher aneurysm rupture risk, the authors' goals in the present study were to evaluate this model using data from Japanese and Finnish patients and to compare it with new models …

Ranking-Based Voting Revisited: Maximum Entropy Approach Leads To Borda Count (And Its Versions), Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich, Guo Wei

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many practical situations, we need to make a group decision that takes into account preferences of all the participants. Ideally, we should elicit, from each participant, a full information about his/her preferences, but such elicitation is usually too time-consuming to be practical. Instead, we only elicit, from each participant, his/her ranking of different alternatives. One of the semi-heuristic methods for decision making under such information is Borda count, when for each alternative and each participant, we count how many alternatives are worse, and then select the alternatives for which the sum of these numbers is the largest. In this …

Neutron Lifetime Puzzle And Nuclear Stability: A Possible Relation, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

It is known that a free neutron decays into a proton, an electron, and an anti-neutrino. Interesting, recent attempts to measure the neutron's lifetime has led to two slightly different estimates: namely, the number of decaying neutrons is somewhat larger than the number of newly created protons. This difference is known as the neutron lifetime puzzle. A natural explanation for this difference is that in some cases, a neutron decays not into a proton, but into some other particle. If this explanation is true, this implies that nuclei with a sufficiently large number of neutrons will be unstable. Based on …