Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Preliminary Investigation For The Development Of Surrogate Debris From Nuclear Detonations In Marine-Urban Environments, Adam G. Seybert

Masters Theses

No nuclear weapon has ever been detonated in a United States city. However, this also means the nuclear forensic community has no actual debris from which to develop analytical methods for source attribution, making the development of surrogate nuclear debris a vital undertaking. Moreover, the development of marine-urban debris presents an unusual challenge because unlike soil and urban structures, which remain compositionally consistent, the elemental composition of harbor and port waters fluctuates considerably due to natural phenomenon and human activity. Additionally, marine vessel composition and cargo can vary dramatically. While early US nuclear tests were carried out in shallow-water coastal …

Anthrax Models Involving Immunology, Epidemiology And Controls, Buddhi Raj Pantha

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is divided in two parts. Chapters 2 and 3 consider the use of optimal control theory in an anthrax epidemiological model. Models consisting system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and partial differential differential equations (PDEs) are considered to describe the dynamics of infection spread. Two controls, vaccination and disposal of infected carcasses, are considered and their optimal management strategies are investigated. Chapter 4 consists modeling early host pathogen interaction in an inhalational anthrax infection which consists a system of ODEs that describes early dynamics of bacteria-phagocytic cell interaction associated to an inhalational anthrax infection.

First we consider a …

A Computational Geometric And Graph Theoretic Approach To Reducing Dimensionality On Raster Data Problems, Matthew James Robert Bachstein

Masters Theses

Large scale mathematical models often involve a trade off between computational length and detail. In general, the more detailed the data, the more time it takes for the model to process. Models that use geographic scale data are particularly susceptible to this inflation; fine resolution data (on the order of m2 [meters squared]) brings great benefits, but demolishes the computation time. This thesis presents a method for reducing the dimensionality of large scale data in a systematic manner to maximize the benefits of fine resolution data while minimizing the computational time increase, then applying the method to a simulated invasive …

Convergence To Consensus In Heterogeneous Groups And The Emergence Of Informal Leadership, Sergey Gavrilets, Jeremy David Auerbach, Mark Van Vugt

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

When group cohesion is essential, groups must have efficient strategies in place for consensus decisionmaking. Recent theoretical work suggests that shared decision-making is often the most efficient way for dealing with both information uncertainty and individual variation in preferences. However, some animal and most human groups make collective decisions through particular individuals, leaders, that have a disproportionate influence on group decision-making. To address this discrepancy between theory and data, we study a simple, but general, model that explicitly focuses on the dynamics of consensus building in groups composed by individuals who are heterogeneous in preferences, certain personality traits (agreeability and …

Kinetic Monte Carlo Models For Crystal Defects, Kyle Louis Golenbiewski

Doctoral Dissertations

Kinetic Monte Carlo algorithms have become an increasingly popular means to simulate stochastic processes since their inception in the 1960's. One area of particular interest is their use in simulations of crystal growth and evolution in which atoms are deposited on, or hop between, predefined lattice locations with rates depending on a crystal's configuration. Two such applications are heteroepitaxial thin films and grain boundary migration. Heteroepitaxial growth involves depositing one material onto another with a different lattice spacing. This misfit leads to long-range elastic stresses that affect the behavior of the film. Grain boundary migration, on the other hand, describes …

Modeling Feral Hogs In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Benjamin Anthony Levy

Doctoral Dissertations

Feral Hogs (Sus scrofa) are an invasive species that have occupied the Great Smoky Mountains National Park since the early 1900s. Recent studies have revitalized interest in the pest and have produced useful data. The Park has kept detailed records on mast abundance as well as every removal since 1980 including geographic location and disease sampling. Data obtained via Lidar includes both overstory as well as understory vegetation information. In this dissertation, three models were created and analyzed using the detailed data on vegetation, mast, and harvest history. The first model is discrete in time and space and …

Non-Compact Solutions To Inverse Mean Curvature Flow In Hyperbolic Space, Brian Daniel Allen

Doctoral Dissertations

We investigate Inverse Mean Curvature Flow (IMCF) of non-compact hypersurfaces in hyperbolic space. Specifically, we look at bounded graphs over horospheres in Hyperbolic space and show long time existence of the flow as well as asymptotic convergence to horospheres. Along the way many important local estimates as well as global estimates are obtained. In addition, we develop a useful family of cutoff functions for IMCF as well as a non-compact ODE maximum principle at infinity which are integral tools used throughout the document.

Using Poincaré And Coefficient Analyses To Assess Changes In Variability In Respiration As A Function Of Leptin Status, Sex, And Buprenorphine In Mice, Wateen Hussein Alami

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.