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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Analysis Of Neuronal Sequences Using Pairwise Biases, Zachary Roth
Analysis Of Neuronal Sequences Using Pairwise Biases, Zachary Roth
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Sequences of neuronal activation have long been implicated in a variety of brain functions. In particular, these sequences have been tied to memory formation and spatial navigation in the hippocampus, a region of mammalian brains. Traditionally, neuronal sequences have been interpreted as noisy manifestations of neuronal templates (i.e., orderings), ignoring much richer structure contained in the sequences. This paper introduces a new tool for understanding neuronal sequences: the bias matrix. The bias matrix captures the probabilistic tendency of each neuron to fire before or after each other neuron. Despite considering only pairs of neurons, the bias matrix captures the best …
Local And Nonlocal Models In Thin-Plate And Bridge Dynamics, Jeremy Trageser
Local And Nonlocal Models In Thin-Plate And Bridge Dynamics, Jeremy Trageser
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
This thesis explores several models in continuum mechanics from both local and nonlocal perspectives. The first portion settles a conjecture proposed by Filippo Gazzola and his collaborators on the finite-time blow-up for a class of fourth-order differential equations modeling suspension bridges. Under suitable assumptions on the nonlinearity and the initial data, a finite-time blowup is demonstrated as a result of rapid oscillations with geometrically growing amplitudes. The second section introduces a nonlocal peridynamic (integral) generalization of the biharmonic operator. Its action converges to that of the classical biharmonic as the radius of nonlocal interactions---the ``horizon"---tends to zero. For the corresponding …
Bioinformatic Game Theory And Its Application To Cluster Multi-Domain Proteins, Brittney Keel
Bioinformatic Game Theory And Its Application To Cluster Multi-Domain Proteins, Brittney Keel
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
The exact evolutionary history of any set of biological sequences is unknown, and all phylogenetic reconstructions are approximations. The problem becomes harder when one must consider a mix of vertical and lateral phylogenetic signals. In this dissertation we propose a game-theoretic approach to clustering biological sequences and analyzing their evolutionary histories. In this context we use the term evolution as a broad descriptor for the entire set of mechanisms driving the inherited characteristics of a population. The key assumption in our development is that evolution tries to accommodate the competing forces of selection, of which the conservation force seeks to …