Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Boundary Homogenization And Capture Time Distributions Of Semipermeable Membranes With Periodic Patterns Of Reactive Sites, Andrew J. Bernoff, Daniel Schmidt, Alan E. Lindsay

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We consider the capture dynamics of a particle undergoing a random walk in a half- space bounded by a plane with a periodic pattern of absorbing pores. In particular, we numerically measure and asymptotically characterize the distribution of capture times. Numerically we develop a kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) method that exploits exact solutions to create an efficient particle- based simulation of the capture time that deals with the infinite half-space exactly and has a run time that is independent of how far from the pores one begins. Past researchers have proposed homogenizing the surface boundary conditions, replacing the reflecting (Neumann) …

Numerical Approximation Of Diffusive Capture Rates By Planar And Spherical Surfaces With Absorbing Pores, Andrew J. Bernoff, Alan E. Lindsay

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In 1977 Berg and Purcell published a landmark paper entitled Physics of Chemore- ception, which examined how a bacterium can sense a chemical attractant in the fluid surrounding it [H. C. Berg and E. M. Purcell, Biophys J, 20 (1977), pp. 193–219]. At small scales the attrac- tant molecules move by Brownian motion and diffusive processes dominate. This example is the archetype of diffusive signaling problems where an agent moves via a random walk until it either strikes or eludes a target. Berg and Purcell modeled the target as a sphere with a set of small circular targets (pores) that …

Social Aggregation In Pea Aphids: Experiment And Random Walk Modeling, Christa Nilsen, John Paige, Olivia Warner, Benjamin Mayhew, Ryan Sutley, Matthew Lam '15, Andrew J. Bernoff, Chad M. Topaz

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From bird flocks to fish schools and ungulate herds to insect swarms, social biological aggregations are found across the natural world. An ongoing challenge in the mathematical modeling of aggregations is to strengthen the connection between models and biological data by quantifying the rules that individuals follow. We model aggregation of the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum. Specifically, we conduct experiments to track the motion of aphids walking in a featureless circular arena in order to deduce individual-level rules. We observe that each aphid transitions stochastically between a moving and a stationary state. Moving aphids follow a correlated random walk. …

Nonlocal Aggregation Models: A Primer Of Swarm Equilibria, Andrew J. Bernoff, Chad M. Topaz

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Biological aggregations such as fish schools, bird flocks, bacterial colonies, and insect swarms have characteristic morphologies governed by the group members' intrinsic social interactions with each other and by their interactions with the external environment. Starting from a simple discrete model treating individual organisms as point particles, we derive a nonlocal partial differential equation describing the evolving population density of a continuum aggregation. To study equilibria and their stability, we use tools from the calculus of variations. In one spatial dimension, and for several choices of social forces, external forces, and domains, we find exact analytical expressions for the equilibria. …

Existence And Qualitative Properties Of Solutions For Nonlinear Dirichlet Problems, Alfonso Castro, Jorge Cossio, Carlos Vélez

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Sign-changing solutions to semilinear elliptic problems in connection with their Morse indices. To this end, we first establish a priori bounds for one-sign solutions. Secondly, using abstract saddle point principles we find large augmented Morse index solutions. In this part, extensive use is made of critical groups, Morse index arguments, Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction, and Leray-Schauder degree. Finally, we provide conditions under which these solutions necessarily change sign and we comment about further qualitative properties.

R₀ Analysis Of A Spatiotemporal Model For A Stream Population, H. W. Mckenzie, Y. Jin, Jon T. Jacobsen, M. A. Lewis

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Water resources worldwide require management to meet industrial, agricultural, and urban consumption needs. Management actions change the natural flow regime, which impacts the river ecosystem. Water managers are tasked with meeting water needs while mitigating ecosystem impacts. We develop process-oriented advection-diffusion-reaction equations that couple hydraulic flow to population growth, and we analyze them to assess the effect of water flow on population persistence. We present a new mathematical framework, based on the net reproductive rate R₀ for advection-diffusion-reaction equations and on related measures. We apply the measures to population persistence in rivers under various flow regimes. This work lays …

Squaring, Cubing, And Cube Rooting, Arthur T. Benjamin

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We present mentally efficient algorithms for mentally squaring and cubing 2-digit and 3-digit numbers and for finding cube roots of numbers with 2-digit or 3-digit answers.

Engineering Flow States With Localized Forcing In A Thin, Marangoni-Driven Inclined Film, Rachel Levy, Stephen Rosenthal '09, Jeffrey Wong '11

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Numerical simulations of lubrication models provide clues for experimentalists about the development of wave structures in thin liquid films. We analyze numerical simulations of a lubrication model for an inclined thin liquid film modified by Marangoni forces due to a thermal gradient and additional localized forcing heating the substrate. Numerical results can be explained through connections to theory for hyperbolic conservation laws predicting wave fronts from Marangoni-driven thin films without forcing. We demonstrate how a variety of forcing profiles, such as Gaussian, rectangular, and triangular, affect the formation of downstream transient structures, including an N wave not commonly discussed in …

Existence Of Solutions For A Semilinear Wave Equation With Non-Monotone Nonlinearity, Alfonso Castro, Benjamin Preskill '09

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For double-periodic and Dirichlet-periodic boundary conditions, we prove the existence of solutions to a forced semilinear wave equation with asymptotically linear nonlinearity, no resonance, and non-monotone nonlinearity when the forcing term is not flat on characteristics. The solutions are in L^∞ when the forcing term is in L^∞ and continous when the forcing term is continuous. This is in contrast with the results in [4], where the non-enxistence of continuous solutions is established even when forcing term is of class C^∞ but is flat on a characteristic.

Voting In Agreeable Societies, Deborah E. Berg '06, Serguei Norine, Francis E. Su, Robin Thomas, Paul Wollan

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No abstract provided in this article.

An Amazing Mathematical Card Trick, Arthur T. Benjamin

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A magician gives a member of the audience 20 cards to shuffle. After the cards are thoroughly mixed, the magician goes through the deck two cards at a time, sometimes putting the two cards face to face, sometimes back to back, and sometimes in the same direction. Before dealing each pair of cards into a pile, he asks random members of the audience if the pair should be flipped over or not. He goes through the pile again four cards at a time and before each group of four is dealt to a pile, the audience gets to decide whether …

Sex, Mixability, And Modularity, Adi Livnat, Christos Papadimitriou, Nicholas Pippenger, Marcus W. Feldman

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The assumption that different genetic elements can make separate contributions to the same quantitative trait was originally made in order to reconcile biometry and Mendelism and ever since has been used in population genetics, specifically for the trait of fitness. Here we show that sex is responsible for the existence of separate genetic effects on fitness and, more generally, for the existence of a hierarchy of genetic evolutionary modules. Using the tools developed in the process, we also demonstrate that in terms of their fitness effects, separation and fusion of genes are associated with the increase and decrease of the …

A Semilinear Wave Equation With Smooth Data And No Resonance Having No Continuous Solution, Jose F. Caicedo, Alfonso Castro

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We prove that a boundary value problem for a semilinear wave equation with smooth nonlinearity, smooth forcing, and no resonance cannot have continuous solutions. Our proof shows that this is due to the non-monotonicity of the nonlinearity.

Sum Rules And Universality In Electron-Modulated Acoustic Phonon Interaction In A Free-Standing Semiconductor Plate, Shigeyasu Uno, Darryl H. Yong, Nobuya Mori

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Analysis of acoustic phonons modulated due to the surfaces of a free-standing semiconductor plate and their deformation-potential interaction with electrons are presented. The form factor for electron-modulated acoustic phonon interaction is formulated and analyzed in detail. The form factor at zero in-plane phonon wave vector satisfies sum rules regardless of electron wave function. The form factor is larger than that calculated using bulk phonons, leading to a higher scattering rate and lower electron mobility. When properly normalized, the form factors lie on a universal curve regardless of plate thickness and material.

Stability Of Traveling Waves In Thin Liquid Films Driven By Gravity And Surfactant, Ellen Peterson, Michael Shearer, Thomas P. Witelski, Rachel Levy

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A thin layer of fluid flowing down a solid planar surface has a free surface height described by a nonlinear PDE derived via the lubrication approximation from the Navier Stokes equations. For thin films, surface tension plays an important role both in providing a significant driving force and in smoothing the free surface. Surfactant molecules on the free surface tend to reduce surface tension, setting up gradients that modify the shape of the free surface. In earlier work [12, 13J a traveling wave was found in which the free surface undergoes three sharp transitions, or internal layers, and the surfactant …

Traveling Waves And Shocks In A Viscoelastic Generalization Of Burgers' Equation, Victor Camacho '07, Robert D. Guy, Jon T. Jacobsen

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We consider traveling wave phenomena for a viscoelastic generalization of Burgers' equation. For asymptotically constant velocity profiles we find three classes of solutions corresponding to smooth traveling waves, piecewise smooth waves, and piecewise constant (shock) solutions. Each solution type is possible for a given pair of asymptotic limits, and we characterize the dynamics in terms of the relaxation time and viscosity.

Gravity-Driven Thin Liquid Films With Insoluble Surfactant: Smooth Traveling Waves, Rachel Levy, Michael Shearer, Thomas P. Witelski

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The flow of a thin layer of fluid down an inclined plane is modified by the presence of insoluble surfactant. For any finite surfactant mass, traveling waves are constructed for a system of lubrication equations describing the evolution of the free-surface fluid height and the surfactant concentration. The one-parameter family of solutions is investigated using perturbation theory with three small parameters: the coefficient of surface tension, the surfactant diffusivity, and the coefficient of the gravity-driven diffusive spreading of the fluid. When all three parameters are zero, the nonlinear PDE system is hyperbolic/degenerateparabolic, and admits traveling wave solutions in which the …

As Flat As Possible, Jon T. Jacobsen

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How does one determine a surface which is as flat as possible, such as those created by soap film surfaces? What does it mean to be as flat as possible? In this paper we address this question from two distinct points of view, one local and one global in nature. Continuing with this theme, we put a temporal twist on the question and ask how to evolve a surface so as to flatten it as efficiently as possible. This elementary discussion provides a platform to introduce a wide range of advanced topics in partial differential equations and helps students …

Approximations Of Continuous Newton's Method: An Extension Of Cayley's Problem, Jon T. Jacobsen, Owen Lewis '05, Bradley Tennis '06

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Continuous Newton's Method refers to a certain dynamical system whose associated flow generically tends to the roots of a given polynomial. An Euler approximation of this system, with step size h=1, yields the discrete Newton's method algorithm for finding roots. In this note we contrast Euler approximations with several different approximations of the continuous ODE system and, using computer experiments, consider their impact on the associated fractal basin boundaries of the roots

Turing Patterns On Growing Spheres: The Exponential Case, Julijana Gjorgjieva, Jon T. Jacobsen

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We consider Turing patterns for reaction-diffusion systems on the surface of a growing sphere. In particular, we are interested in the effect of dynamic growth on the pattern formation. We consider exponential isotropic growth of the sphere and perform a linear stability analysis and compare the results with numerical simulations.

Strings, Chains, And Ropes, Darryl H. Yong

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Following Antman [Amer. Math. Mon., 87 (1980), pp. 359–370], we advocate a more physically realistic and systematic derivation of the wave equation suitable for a typical undergraduate course in partial differential equations. To demonstrate the utility of this derivation, three applications that follow naturally are described: strings, hanging chains, and jump ropes.

How Effective Is Security Screening Of Airline Passengers?, Susan E. Martonosi, Arnold Barnett

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With a simple mathematical model, we explored the antiterrorist effectiveness of airport passenger prescreening systems. Supporters of these systems often emphasize the need to identify the most suspicious passengers, but they ignore the point that such identification does little good unless dangerous items can actually be detected. Critics often focus on terrorists' ability to probe the system and thereby thwart it, but ignore the possibility that the very act of probing can deter attempts at sabotage that would have succeeded. Using the model to make some preliminary assessments about security policy, we find that an improved baseline level of screening …

Mean Field Effects For Counterpropagating Traveling Wave Solutions Of Reaction-Diffusion Systems, Andrew J. Bernoff, R. Kuske, B. J. Matkowsky, V. Volpert

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In many problems, e.g., in combustion or solidification, one observes traveling waves that propagate with constant velocity and shape in the x direction, say, are independent of y and z and describe transitions between two equilibrium states, e.g., the burned and the unburned reactants. As parameters of the system are varied, these traveling waves can become unstable and give rise to waves having additional structure, such as traveling waves in the y and z directions, which can themselves be subject to instabilities as parameters are further varied. To investigate this scenario we consider a system of reaction-diffusion equations with a …

An Optimal Brain Can Be Composed Of Conflicting Agents, Adi Livnat, Nicholas Pippenger

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Many behaviors have been attributed to internal conflict within the animal and human mind. However, internal conflict has not been reconciled with evolutionary principles, in that it appears maladaptive relative to a seamless decision-making process. We study this problem through a mathematical analysis of decision-making structures. We find that, under natural physiological limitations, an optimal decision-making system can involve “selfish” agents that are in conflict with one another, even though the system is designed for a single purpose. It follows that conflict can emerge within a collective even when natural selection acts on the level of the collective only.

The Motion Of A Thin Liquid Film Driven By Surfactant And Gravity, Michael Shearer, Rachel Levy

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We investigate wave solutions of a lubrication model for surfactant-driven flow of a thin liquid film down an inclined plane. We model the flow in one space dimension with a system of nonlinear PDEs of mixed hyperbolic-parabolic type in which the effects of capillarity and surface diffusion are neglected. Numerical solutions reveal distinct patterns of waves that are described analytically by combinations of traveling waves, some with jumps in height and surfactant concentration gradient. The various waves and combinations are strikingly different from what is observed in the case of flow on a horizontal plane. Jump conditions admit new shock …

Communicating Applied Mathematics: Four Examples, Daniel E. Finkel, Christopher Kuster, Matthew Lasater, Rachel Levy, Jill P. Reese, Ilse C. F. Ipsen

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Communicating Applied Mathematics is a writing- and speaking-intensive graduate course at North Carolina State University. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief description of the course objectives and the assignments. Parts A–D of of this article represent the class projects and illustrate the outcome of the course:

• The Evolution of an Optimization Test Problem: From Motivation to Implementation, by Daniel E. Finkel and Jill P. Reese

• Finding the Volume of a Powder from a Single Surface Height Measurement, by Christopher Kuster

• Finding Oscillations in Resonant Tunneling Diodes, by Matthew Lasater

• …

Optimal Therapy Regimens For Treatment-Resistant Mutations Of Hiv, Weiqing Gu, Helen Moore

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In this paper, we use control theory to determine optimal treatment regimens for HIV patients, taking into account treatment-resistant mutations of the virus. We perform optimal control analysis on a model developed previously for the dynamics of HIV with strains of various resistance to treatment (Moore and Gu, 2005). This model incorporates three types of resistance to treatments: strains that are not responsive to protease inhibitors, strains not responsive to reverse transcriptase inhibitors, and strains not responsive to either of these treatments. We solve for the optimal treatment regimens analytically and numerically. We find parameter regimes for which optimal dosing …

Lower Bounds For Simplicial Covers And Triangulations Of Cubes, Adam Bliss '03, Francis E. Su

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We show that the size of a minimal simplicial cover of a polytope P is a lower bound for the size of a minimal triangulation of P, including ones with extra vertices. We then use this fact to study minimal triangulations of cubes, and we improve lower bounds for covers and triangulations in dimensions 4 through at least 12 (and possibly more dimensions as well). Important ingredients are an analysis of the number of exterior faces that a simplex in the cube can have of a specified dimension and volume, and a characterization of corner simplices in terms of their …

A Mathematical Model For Treatment-Resistant Mutations Of Hiv, Helen Moore, Weiqing Gu

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In this paper, we propose and analyze a mathematical model, in the form of a system of ordinary differential equations, governing mutated strains of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and their interactions with the immune system and treatments. Our model incorporates two types of resistant mutations: strains that are not responsive to protease inhibitors, and strains that are not responsive to reverse transcriptase inhibitors. It also includes strains that do not have either of these two types of resistance (wild-type virus) and strains that have both types. We perform our analysis by changing the system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) to …

A Liouville-Gelfand Equation For K-Hessian Operators, Jon T. Jacobsen

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In this paper we establish existence and multiplicity results for a class of fully nonlinear elliptic equations of k-Hessian type with exponential nonlinearity. In particular, we characterize the precise dependence of the multiplicity of solutions with respect to both the space dimension and the value of k. The choice of exponential nonlinearity is motivated by the classical Liouville-Gelfand problem from combustible gas dynamics and prescribed curvature problems.