Mathematics Commons^™

Genetic Algorithms: A Visual Search, Paul W. Jones

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

Genetic algorithms apply the biological principles of selection, mutation, and crossover to a population set containing individuals representing target solutions to a given problem. Using these principles genetic algorithms attempt to create a migration of the individuals in subsequent generations toward the optimal solution.

This project is an attempt to visually represent the progress of a genetic algorithm. The coordinate fitness program attempts to find the maximum or minimum value of a given function. It visually represents the progress of the algorithm by providing a plot of each individual in each generation in time. It is then possible to view …

The Role Of The Federal Aid In Sportfish Restoration Program In Promoting State Marine Artificial Reef Development Activities, Loren Clark Evans

Marine Affairs Theses and Major Papers

The passage of the Wallop-Breaux Amendments to the Federal Aid in Sportfish Restoration Program (FASRP), in 1984, significantly increased the funding available to states participating in the Program. Subsequently, the FASRP became the largest single source of funding for state marine artificial reef development activities. In recent years, there has been concern among program constituents that FASRP funds are not being utilized as intended. The principle question of the current research focused on how effective FASRP subsidies have been in providing meaningful benefits to state fisheries management programs. Specifically, the research focused on the application of FASRP monies in promoting …

Complex Dynamics And Multistability In A Damped Harmonic Oscillator With Delayed Negative Feedback, Sue Ann Campbell, Jacques Bélair, Toru Ohira, John Milton

WM Keck Science Faculty Papers

A center manifold reduction and numerical calculations are used to demonstrate the presence of limit cycles, two-tori, and multistability in the damped harmonic oscillator with delayed negative feedback. This model is the prototype of a mechanical system operating with delayed feedback. Complex dynamics are thus seen to arise in very plausible and commonly occurring mechanical and neuromechanical feedback systems.

Transitions In Masculinity And Hemingway's Developed "Code", Daniel Polk

Honors Theses

The "Hemingway Code" is much more than two words that fit nicely together for a scholar's usage; the words signify a much deeper championing of masculinity, almost a haunting presence. For Ernest Hemingway living life every day, every moment with its fullest masculine fervor, became an obsession, a never-ending quest to be at one with the attitude of never complaining, never crying out, panicking, thinking too much, or regretting. To live a manly life in a series of tactical victories, performed with steadfast ritualistic mannerisms, is to embody masculinity, and therefore the "Hemingway Code."

Approximation Methods For Singular Diffusions Arising In Genetics, Nacer E. Abrouk

Mathematical Sciences Technical Reports (MSTR)

Stochastic models in population genetics leading to diffusion equations are considered. When the drift and the square of the diffusion coefficients are polynomials, an infinite system of ordinary differential equations for the moments of the diffusion process can be derived using the Martingale property. An example is provided to show how the classical Fokker-Planck Equation approach may not be appropriate for this derivation. A Gauss-Galerkin method for approximating the laws of the diffusion, originally proposed by Dawson (1980), is examined. In the few special cases for which exact solutions are known, comparison shows that the method is accurate and the …

Mathematical Programming Applications In Agroforestry Planning, Laurence H. Reeves

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Agroforestry as a sustainable production system has been recognized as a land use system with the potential to slow encroachment of agriculture onto forested lands in developing countries. However, the acceptance of nontraditional agroforestry systems has been hampered in some areas due to the risk-averse nature of rural agriculturalists. By explicitly recognizing risk in agroforestry planning, a wider acceptance of agroforestry is possible. This thesis consists of a collection of three papers that explore the potential of modern stock portfolio theory to reduce financial risk in agroforestry planning.

The first paper presents a theoretical framework that incorporates modern stock portfolio …

Activator-Inhibitor Control Of Tissue Growth, John A. Adam

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

This note develops a simple model for the competition between activator and inhibitor control mechanisms in one-dimensional tissue growth. The pedagogic usefulness of such a model is that it is easily accessible to undergraduate applied mathematicians and is suggestive of behavior known to occur in more realistic biological systems (e.g., some types of cancer). The limitations of the model are obvious and can provide a basis for discussion of the applicability of complementary levels of description in mathematical modeling.

Rise To Power Of Senator Joseph R. Mccarthy: Reflections Of The Cold War Mccarthy Era In American Film, Scott Lainer

Honors Theses

The common bond between much of the film industry and Joseph McCarthy was insecurity and the drive for national approval. If one grasps the specific characteristics of McCarthy the man, and the methods of these politically "inspired" movies, we can to better place the period into context and acknowledge the fact that, if the citizenry is not aware, and is again caught by an ever-building wave of trickle down sentiment, the 1950s might not prove to be an isolated period in American history. Insecurity was not a fifties novelty. It still exists, and could potentially escalate anti-Communist policy and sentiment …

An Analysis Of The Massachusetts Inshore Lobster Fishery, Peter Robertson Hoar

Marine Affairs Theses and Major Papers

The purpose of this thesis was to explore the limited entry alternative of fishery management by examining the history of a particular limited entry scheme: the Massachusetts inshore commercial lobster fishery license limitation law. A review was made of existing limited entry theory, followed by a description of limited entry programs extant in U.S. fisheries. The legislative and political histories of the Massachusetts lobster fishery limited entry program was then examined. The limited entry law was then analyzed by comparing what actually occurred with what is supposed to occur according to limited entry theory. A quantitative analysis of changes in …

Sequence Alignment With Matched Sections, Jerrold R. Griggs, Philip J. Hanlon, Michael S. Waterman

Faculty Publications

In molecular biology, two finite sequences are compared by displaying one sequence written over another in an alignment. The number of alignments of two sequences is related to the Stanton-Cowan numbers. This paper gives asymptotics for the number of alignments of two sequences of length n with matching sections of size at least b.

Mathematical Programming Model Of Western Australian Dairy Farms, G R. Olney, D A. Falconer

Animal production and livestock research reports

A profit maximising mathematical programming dairy farm model has been developed which determines the most profitable management strategies for the full year. This model was initially an extension of the one used in the Western Australian Dairy Feed Management Service (DFMS) which determines the most profitable ration to feed for a specific period, the milk yield per cow and the number of cows to milk. The DFMS is useful for formulating a ration for a specific period, particularly during summer on non-irrigated farms in Western Australia when complete hand feeding is required, but it cannot be used to determine optimum …

Role And Responsibilities Of State Cooperative Extension Services For Wildlife Damage Control, James L. Byford

Wildlife Damage Management Conference

The Cooperative Extension Service was established by the Smith-Lever Act in 1914. It was designed to improve the lives of people, through education in: agriculture, natural resources, home economics and community development. Its audiences include both adult and youth. 4-H is the primary youth audience. The Cooperative Extension Service is an "extension" of the Land employees include university faculty (specialists) and professional agents in every county, in every state in the country. Extension's primary mission is to conduct an educational program, using research-based information. Research results are condensed into a form that the average person can understand. The role of …

An Iteration Formula For Finding Roots Of Equations, R. W. P. Masenge

Tanzania Journal of Science

We seek the roots of the equation f(x) = 0.