In dieser Arbeit wird eine detaillierte Analysis des konsistenten kinetischen Modells zum Kornwachstum von Fradkov durchgeführt. Dieses Modell beschreibt - basierend auf dem von Neumann--Mullins Gesetz - die Flächenänderung eines Korns abhängig von seiner Topologieklasse, d.h. der Anzahl der Kanten. Topologieänderungen werden durch Kopplungsterme zwischen den Gleichungen für die Anzahldichten der verschiedenen Topologieklassen beschrieben. Daraus resultiert ein unendlich-dimensionales System von Transportgleichungen mit tridiagonaler Kopplungsstruktur. Durch eine spezielle Wahl des Kopplungsgewichts, welche die Gleichungen nichtlinear und räumlich nichtlokal macht, wird das Modell konsistent. Nach einer Einführung wird das Modell von Fradkov im zweiten Kapitel hergeleitet; formale Rechnungen zeigen die Konsistenz des Modells auf. Im dritten Kapitel wird das Kopplungsgewicht a priori beschränkt. Dadurch kann im ersten Teil des vierten Kapitels Existenz und Eindeutigkeit von Lösungen für endlich-dimensionale Systeme gezeigt werden. Weitere Schranken an die Anzahldichten im fünften Kapitel ermöglichen den Grenzübergang hinsichtlich der Anzahl der Gleichungen im zweiten Teil des vierten Kapitels. Die Existenz von Lösungen des unendlich-dimensionalen Systems wird somit über eine geeignete Approximation gezeigt. Energiemethoden liefern Eindeutigkeit und stetige Abhängigkeit von den Daten. Im sechsten Kapitel wird das Langzeitverhalten untersucht. Besonderes Augenmerk liegt dabei auf stationären Lösungen eines reskalierten Systems als Kandidaten für selbstähnliche Lösungen. Abschließend wird das Lewis''sche Gesetz asymptotisch verifiziert. / The subject matter of this thesis is a detailed analysis of the self--consistent kinetic model for grain growth introduced by Fradkov. The model is based on the von Neumann--Mullins law describing the change of area of grains according to their topological class, i.e. the number of edges they have. Topological events are performed by coupling terms between equations for the number densities of different topological classes. The resulting system of transport equations is infinite-dimensional with a tridiagonal coupling structure. Self-consistency of this kinetic model is achieved by introducing a coupling''s weight making the equations nonlinear and nonlocal in space. We start with an introduction in the first chapter. Afterwards in the second chapter we derive Fradkov''s model and carry out formal calculations to illustrate self-consistency. In the third chapter we present a priori calculations mainly allowing us to bound the nonlinearity. This enables us to prove existence and uniqueness of solutions to finite-dimensional systems in the first part of the fourth chapter. Further bounds on the number densities established in the fifth chapter allow for passing to the limit concerning the number of equations in the second part of the fourth chapter. Therefore we prove existence of solutions to the infinite-dimensional system by a suitable approximation procedure. Uniqueness and continuous dependence on the data is then provided by energy methods. The sixth chapter focusses on long-time behaviour and mainly on stationary solutions of a rescaled system as candidates for self-similar solutions. Finally we prove Lewis'' law asymptotically.

La surface de Bolza est la surface hyperbolique orientable compacte la plus symétrique de genre 2. Pour tout genre supérieur à 2, il existe une surface orientable compacte construite de manière similaire à la surface de Bolza et ayant le même type de symétries. Nous appelons ces surfaces des surfaces hyperboliques symétriques. Cette thèse porte sur le calcul des triangulations de Delaunay (TD) de surfaces hyperboliques symétriques. Les TD de surfaces compactes peuvent être considérées comme des TD périodiques de leur revêtement universel (dans notre cas, le plan hyperbolique). Une TD est pour nous un complexe simplicial. Cependant, les ensembles de points ne définissent pas tous une décomposition simpliciale d'une surface hyperbolique symétrique. Dans la littérature, un algorithme a été proposé pour traiter ce problème avec l'utilisation de points factices : initialement une TD de la surface est construite avec un ensemble de points connu, puis des points d'entrée sont insérés avec le célèbre algorithme incrémental de Bowyer, et enfin les points factices sont supprimés, si la triangulation reste toujours un complexe simplicial. Pour la surface de Bolza, les points factices sont spécifiés. L'algorithme existant calcule une DT de la surface de Bolza comme une DT périodique du plan hyperbolique, ce qui nécessite de travailler dans un sous-ensemble approprié du plan hyperbolique. Nous étudions les propriétés des TD de la surface de Bolza définies par des ensembles de points contenants l'ensemble proposé de points factices, et nous décrivons en détail une implémentation de l'algorithme incrémentiel pour cette surface. Nous commençons par définir un représentant canonique unique qui est contenu dans un sous-ensemble borné du plan hyperbolique pour chaque face d'une TD de la surface. Nous donnons une structure de données pour représenter une TD de la surface de Bolza via les représentants canoniques de ses faces. Nous détaillons les étapes de la construction d'une telle triangulation et les opérations supplémentaires qui permettent de localiser les points et de retirer des sommets. Nous présentons également les résultats sur le degré algébrique des prédicats nécessaires pour toutes les opérations. Nous fournissons une implémentation entièrement dynamique pour la surface de Bolza, en offrant l'insertion de nouveaux points, la suppression des sommets existants, la localisation des points, et la construction d'objets duaux. Notre implémentation est basée sur la bibliothèque CGAL (Computational Geometry Algorithms Library), et est actuellement en cours de révision pour être intégrée dans la bibliothèque. L'intégration de notre code dans CGAL nécessite que tous les objets que nous introduisons soient compatibles avec le cadre existant et conformes aux standards adoptés par la bibliothèque. Nous donnons une description détaillée des classes utilisées pour représenter et traiter les triangulations hyperboliques périodiques et les objets associés. Des analyses comparatives et des tests sont effectués pour évaluer notre implémentation, et une application simple est donnée sous la forme d'une démonstration CGAL. Nous discutons une extension de notre implémentation à des surfaces hyperboliques symétriques de genre supérieur à 2. Nous proposons trois méthodes pour engendrer des ensembles de points factices pour chaque surface et présentons les avantages et les inconvénients de chaque méthode. Nous définissons un représentant canonique contenu dans un sous-ensemble borné du plan hyperbolique pour chaque face d'une TD de la surface. Nous décrivons une structure de données pour représenter une telle triangulation via les représentants canoniques de ses faces, et donnons des algorithmes pour l'initialisation de la triangulation. Enfin, nous discutons une implémentation préliminaire dans laquelle nous examinons les difficultés d'avoir des prédicats exacts efficaces pour la construction de TD de surfaces hyperboliques symétriques / The Bolza surface is the most symmetric compact orientable hyperbolic surface of genus 2. For any genus higher than 2, there exists one compact orientable surface constructed in a similar way as the Bolza surface having the same kind of symmetry. We refer to this family of surfaces as symmetric hyperbolic surfaces. This thesis deals with the computation of Delaunay triangulations of symmetric hyperbolic surfaces. Delaunay triangulations of compact surfaces can be seen as periodic Delaunay triangulations of their universal cover (in our case, the hyperbolic plane). A Delaunay triangulation is for us a simplicial complex. However, not all sets of points define a simplicial decomposition of a symmetric hyperbolic surface. In the literature, an algorithm has been proposed to deal with this issue by using so-called dummy points: initially a triangulation of the surface is constructed with a set of dummy points that defines a Delaunay triangulation of the surface, then input points are inserted with the well-known incremental algorithm by Bowyer, and finally the dummy points are removed, if the triangulation remains a simplicial complex after their removal. For the Bolza surface, the set of dummy points to initialize the triangulation is given. The existing algorithm computes a triangulation of the Bolza surface as a periodic triangulation of the hyperbolic plane and requires to identify a suitable subset of the hyperbolic plane in which to work. We study the properties of Delaunay triangulations of the Bolza surface defined by sets of points containing the proposed set of dummy points, and we describe in detail an implementation of the incremental algorithm for it. We begin by identifying a subset of the hyperbolic plane that contains at least one representative for each face of a Delaunay triangulation of the surface, which enables us to define a unique canonical representative in the hyperbolic plane for each face on the surface. We give a data structure to represent a Delaunay triangulation of the Bolza surface via the canonical representatives of its faces in the hyperbolic plane. We detail the construction of such a triangulation and additional operations that enable the location of points and the removal of vertices. We also report results on the algebraic degree of predicates needed for all operations. We provide a fully dynamic implementation for the Bolza surface, supporting insertion of new points, removal of existing vertices, point location, and construction of dual objects. Our implementation is based on CGAL, the Computational Geometry Algorithms Library, and is currently under revision for integration in the library. To incorporate our code into CGAL, all the objects that we introduce must be compatible with the existing framework and comply with the standards adopted by the library. We give a detailed description of the classes used to represent and handle periodic hyperbolic triangulations and related objects. Benchmarks and tests are performed to evaluate our implementation, and a simple application is given in the form of a CGAL demo. We discuss an extension of our implementation to symmetric hyperbolic surfaces of genus higher than 2. We propose three methods to generate sets of dummy points for each surface and present the advantages and shortcomings of each method. We identify a suitable subset of the hyperbolic plane that contains at least one representative for each face of a Delaunay triangulation of the surface, and we define a canonical representative in the hyperbolic plane for each face on the surface. We describe a data structure to represent such a triangulation via the canonical representatives of its faces, and give algorithms for the initialization of the triangulation with dummy points. Finally, we discuss a preliminary implementation in which we examine the difficulties of having efficient exact predicates for the construction of Delaunay triangulations of symmetric hyperbolic surfaces

Este trabalho trata das medidas de máxima entropia para certos difeomorfismos em nilvariedades. Considere um difeomorfismo parcialmente hiperbólico f definido em T3, dinamicamente coerente com folheação central compacta. Suponha ainda que a aplicação induzida por f no espaço das folhas centrais é um homeomorfismo de Anosov transitivo em T2. Mostramos que o conjunto das medidas ergódicas hiperbólicas de máxima entropia é enumerável. Usando o princípio de invariância, mostramos que se o primeiro retorno de f à alguma folha periódica tem número de rotação irracional, então, f tem no máximo duas medidas ergódicas de máxima entropia e ter apenas uma medida de máxima entropia equivale a ser extensão de rotação. Se a aplicação de primeiro retorno à alguma folha central periódica é Morse-Smale, então existe um su-toro periódico, ou temos uma cota superior para o número de medidas ergódicas de máxima entropia que depende do número de atratores da dinâmica nessa folha. Além disso, estudamos a topologia da bacia das medidas ergódicas de máxima entropia para uma outra classe de difeomorfismos especiais que são genéricos no espaço dos difeomorfismos absolutamente parcialmente hiperbólicos e denotada por SPH1(M). / This work is about maximal entropy measures for certain diffeomorphisms on nilmanifolds. Consider a partially hyperbolic diffeomorphism f on T3 , C2 , dinamically coherent with compact center foliation which is a circle bundle. Assume that the map induced by f on the space of center leaves is a transitive Anosov homeomorphism. We show that the set of hyperbolic ergodic maximal entropy measures of f is countable. Using the invariance principle, we show that if the first return map to some periodic leaf has irrational rotation number then f has at most two ergodic maximal entropy measures and, in this case, if f has only one maximal entropy measure then f is a rotation extension. If the first return map to some periodic leaf is Morse-Smale then either there exists some periodic su-torus or an upper bound for the number of ergodic maximal entropy measure depending on the number of the attractors of the dynamics in this leaf. Moreover, we study the topology of basin of ergodic maximal entropy measures of another set of special diffeomorphisms that are generic in the space of absolutely partially hyperbolic systems and denoted by SPH1(M).

Uma das caracterizações de medidas SRB é a de que a sua desintegração em relação as partições mensuráveis subordinadas as variedades instáveis são absolutamente continuas com respeito a medida Lebesgue nestas mesmas variedades. Este trabalho segue os passos de Segert [16] ao analisar a aplicabilidade da teoria de integração não comutativa de Alain Connes ao estudo de medidas SRB de sistemas dinâmicos hiperbólicos do tipo (M, f) com M uma variedade compacta e f um difeomorfismo \'C POT. 2\'. Nesta dissertação é realizada a demonstração do teorema da desintegração de Rokhlin utilizando o conceito de esperança condicional. É fornecida uma introdução a teoria de integração não comutativa de Alain Connes. E apresenta-se uma injeção entre medidas SRB de sistemas dinâmicos hiperbólicos e as medidas transversas definidas sobre este sistema / A characterization of SRB measures is that its disintegration in relation to measurable partitions subordinate to unstable manifolds is absolutely continous with respect to the Lesbesgue measures in the same manifolds. This work follows the footsteps of Segert [16] in the study of the applicability of the non commutative integration theory of Alain Connes to the analysis of SRB measures for hyperbolic dynamical systems of the type (M, f) with M a compact manifold and f a \'C POT. 2\' diffeomorphism. In this work the proof of Rokhlins disintegration theorem is presented using the concept of conditional expectation. An introduction to the theory of non commutative integration of Alain Connes is provided. Its shown the existence of a injection between SRB measures in hyperbolic dynamical systems and transverse measures defined on this system

L’analyse de sensibilité (AS) concerne la quantification des changements dans la solution d’un système d’équations aux dérivées partielles (EDP) dus aux varia- tions des paramètres d’entrée du modèle. Les techniques standard d’AS pour les EDP, comme la méthode d’équation de sensibilité continue, requirent de dériver la variable d’état. Cependant, dans le cas d’équations hyperboliques l’état peut présenter des dis- continuités, qui donc génèrent des Dirac dans la sensibilité. Le but de ce travail est de modifier les équations de sensibilité pour obtenir un syst‘eme valable même dans le cas discontinu et obtenir des sensibilités qui ne présentent pas de Dirac. Ceci est motivé par plusieurs raisons : d’abord, un Dirac ne peut pas être saisi numériquement, ce qui pourvoit une solution incorrecte de la sensibilité au voisinage de la discontinuité ; deuxièmement, les pics dans la solution numérique des équations de sensibilité non cor- rigées rendent ces sensibilités inutilisables pour certaines applications. Par conséquent, nous ajoutons un terme de correction aux équations de sensibilité. Nous faisons cela pour une hiérarchie de modèles de complexité croissante : de l’équation de Burgers non visqueuse au système d’Euler quasi-1D. Nous montrons l’influence de ce terme de correction sur un problème d’optimisation et sur un de quantification d’incertitude. / Sensitivity analysis (SA) concerns the quantification of changes in Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) solution due to perturbations in the model input. Stan- dard SA techniques for PDEs, such as the continuous sensitivity equation method, rely on the differentiation of the state variable. However, if the governing equations are hyperbolic PDEs, the state can exhibit discontinuities yielding Dirac delta functions in the sensitivity. We aim at modifying the sensitivity equations to obtain a solution without delta functions. This is motivated by several reasons: firstly, a Dirac delta function cannot be seized numerically, leading to an incorrect solution for the sensi- tivity in the neighbourhood of the state discontinuity; secondly, the spikes appearing in the numerical solution of the original sensitivity equations make such sensitivities unusable for some applications. Therefore, we add a correction term to the sensitivity equations. We do this for a hierarchy of models of increasing complexity: starting from the inviscid Burgers’ equation, to the quasi 1D Euler system. We show the influence of such correction term on an optimization algorithm and on an uncertainty quantification problem.

On étudie le comportement topologique du flot horocyclique sur des surfaces hyperboliques géométriquement infinies. Cette étude est intimement liée à celle du flot géodésique sur ces surfaces. Le premier chapitre commence par introduire les objets de géométrie hyperbolique que nous utiliserons. Il présente ensuite une classe de surfaces, les flûtes hyperboliques, qui couvrent une grande partie de la complexité des surfaces géométriquement infinies. Enfin, il aborde la notion de finesse asymptotique d'une demi-géodésique, qui donne la limite inférieure du rayon d'injectivité de la surface le long de la demi-géodésique. Le deuxième chapitre est consacré aux propriétés classiques du flot horocyclique sur lesquelles nous baserons nos preuves. Le troisième chapitre concerne l'étude de l'intersection entre l'adhérence de l'orbite horocyclique issue d'un vecteur u d'une surface hyperbolique et la demi orbite géodésique issue de ce même vecteur. Nous montrons que si la finesse asymptotique de la demi-orbite géodésique issue de u est finie et si u n'est pas périodique pour le flot horocyclique, cette intersection contient une infinité divergente de points. Par ailleurs, si la finesse asymptotique est nulle, alors cette intersection est égale à toute la demi-orbite géodésique positive. Nous montrons cependant que même si la finesse asymptotique n'est pas nulle, la demi-orbite géodésique peut tout de même être contenue dans cette intersection. Le quatrième chapitre étudie les liens entre une orbite horocyclique issue d'un vecteur u et la feuille fortement stable associée. Nous commençons par montrer que les adhérences de ces deux ensembles coïncident toujours. Cependant, cette propriété ne s'étend pas aux ensembles eux-mêmes et nous donnons ensuite une condition suffisante pour que qu'ils ne coïncident pas. Nous montrons qu'alors la feuille fortement stable est une union d'une quantité non dénombrable d'orbites horocycliques. / We study the topological behavior of the horocycle flow on geometrically infinite hyperbolic surfaces. This study and that of the geodesic flow are deeply interwoven. The first chapter introduces the basic objects of hyperbolic geometry that we will use. Next, it presents a class of surfaces, the hyperbolic flutes, which carries most of the complexity of geometrically infinite surfaces. Then, it details the notion of asymptotic thinness for a half-geodesic, which determines the size of the most thin parts that this half-geodesic crosses. The second chapter focuses on the classical properties of the horocycle flow on which we will base our proofs. The third chapter presents the study of the intersection between the closure of a horocyclic orbit stemming from a vector u on a hyperbolic surface and the positive half-geodesic stemming from the same vector. We show that if the asymptotic thinness of the half-orbit stemming from u is finite and if u is not periodic for the horocycle flow, then this intersection contains an unbounded sequence of points. Moreover, if the asymptotic thinness is zero, then all the halfgeodesic orbit is included in the intersection. However, we also prove that the half-geodesic orbit can be included in the intersection and even if the asymptotic thinness is not zero. The fourth chapter studies the links between a horocyclic orbit starting from a vector u and the strong stable manifold associated to u. We first show that the closure of these two sets are always the same. However, we then give a sufficient condition for these two sets to be different and we prove that in this case, the strong stable manifold is a reunion of an uncountable number of horocyclic orbits.

Submitted by Jorge Silva (jorgelmsilva@ufrrj.br) on 2017-10-17T16:30:00Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2016 - Maur?cio de Carvalho.pdf: 8945176 bytes, checksum: 4b68e7d4395ffbaee8b4d17639d8a28e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-10-17T16:30:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2016 - Maur?cio de Carvalho.pdf: 8945176 bytes, checksum: 4b68e7d4395ffbaee8b4d17639d8a28e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-04-12 / CAPES / In this work we consider the injection of water with dissolved ions into a linear horizontal porous rock cylinder with constant porosity and absolute permeability initially containing oil and water in several proportions. The water is assumed to have low salinity concentration, where some ions are dissolved. We disregard that there is in the rocks some possible minerals that can dissolve or precipitate in water phase. There are two chemical fluid components as well as two immiscible phases: water and oil, (w, o). The dissolved ions are: positive divalent ions: calcium ions, Ca2+ and magnesium ions, Mg2+; negative divalent ions: sulphate ions, SO42?; positive monovalent ions: sodium ions, Na+; negative monovalent ions: cloride ions, Cl?. The cations are modeled to be involved in fast ion exchange process with a surface negative X? which can absorb the positive ions, Ca2+, Mg2+ and Na+. We use simple mixing rules and we disregard any heat of precipitation/dissolution of substance reactions or ion desorption. Moreover we disregard any volume contraction efects resulting from mixing and reactions in any phase. We are going to solve in this work, the Riemann problem and we are going to discuss some features about the studied model. / Neste trabalho consideramos a inje??o de ?gua com ?ons dissolvidos em um meio po-roso linear horizontal cil?ndrico com porosidade e permeabilidade absoluta constantes, inicialmente, contendo ?leo e ?gua em v?rias propor??es. A ?gua ? assumida ter baixa concentra??o de sais, onde alguns ?ons est?o dissolvidos. Desconsideramos a exist?ncia de alguns poss?veis minerais na rocha que possam dissolver ou precipitar na fase da ?gua. Existem dois componentes qu?micos fluidos assim como duas imisc?veis fases: ?gua e ?leo,(w, o). Os ?ons dissolvidos s?o: ?ons divalentes positivos: ?ons c?lcio, Ca2+ e ?ons magn?sio, Mg2+; ?ons negativos divalentes: ?ons sulfato, SO42?; ?ons positivos monovalentes: ?ons s?dio, Na+; ?ons negativos monovalentes: ?ons cloro, Cl?. Os c?tions est?o envolvidos em um processo r?pido de troca de ?ons com a superf?cie do meio poroso carregada eletronega-tivamente X?, onde o meio absorver? os ?ons positivos Ca2+, Mg2+ e Na+. Usando regras simples de misturas e desconsiderando qualquer calor de precipita??o ou dissolu??o de rea??es de subst?ncias ou dessor??o de ?ons. Al?m disso, desconsideramos quaisquer efeitos de contra??o de volume resultante das misturas e rea??es em qualquer fase. Resolveremos neste trabalho, o Problema de Riemann e discutiremos algumas caracter?sticas do modelo estudado.

Deux groupes sont dits élémentairement équivalents s'ils satisfont les mêmes énoncés du premier ordre dans le langage des groupes. Aux environs de l'année 1945, Tarski posa la question suivante, connue désormais comme le problème de Tarski : les groupes libres non abéliens sont-ils élémentairement équivalents ? Une réponse positive à cette fameuse question fut apportée plus d'un demi-siècle plus tard par Sela, et en parallèle par Kharlampovich et Myasnikov, comme le point d'orgue de deux volumineuses séries de travaux. Dans la foulée, Sela généralisa aux groupes hyperboliques sans torsion, dont les groupes libres sont des représentants emblématiques, les méthodes de nature géométrique qu'il avait précédemment introduites à l'occasion de son travail sur le problème de Tarski. Les résultats rassemblés ici s'inscrivent dans cette lignée, en s'en démarquant toutefois dans la mesure où ils traitent des théories du premier ordre des groupes hyperboliques en présence de torsion. Dans un premier chapitre, on démontre, entre autres, que tout groupe de type fini qui est élémentairement équivalent à un groupe hyperbolique est lui-même hyperbolique. On démontre ensuite que les groupes virtuellement libres sont presque homogènes, ce qui signifie que deux éléments qui sont indiscernables du point de vue de la logique du premier ordre sont dans la même orbite sous l'action du groupes des automorphismes du groupe ambiant, à une indétermination finie près. Enfin, on donne une classification complète des groupes virtuellement libres de type fini du point de l'équivalence élémentaire à deux quantificateurs. / Two groups are said to be elementarily equivalent if they satisfy the same first-order sentences in the language of groups, that is the same mathematical statements whose variables are only interpreted as elements of a group. Around 1945, Tarski asked the following question : are non-abelian free groups elementarily equivalent? An affirmative answer to this famous Tarski's problem was given in 2006 by Sela and independently by Kharlampovich and Myasnikov, as the culmination of two voluminous series of papers. Then, Sela gave a classification of all finitely generated groups that are elementarily equivalent to a given torsion-free hyperbolic group. The results contained in the present thesis fall into this context and deal with first-order theories of hyperbolic groups with torsion. In the first chapter, we prove that any finitely generated group that is elementarily equivalent to a hyperbolic group is itself a hyperbolic group. Then, we prove that virtually free groups are almost homogeneous, meaning that elements are almost determined up to automorphism by their type, i.e. the first-order formulas they satisfy. In the last chapter, we give a complete classification of finitely generated virtually free groups up to elementary equivalence with two quantifiers.

We develop novel numerical methods for optimization problems subject to constraints given by nonlinear hyperbolic systems of conservation and balance laws in one space dimension. These types of control problems arise in a variety of applications, in which inverse problems for the corresponding initial value problems are to be solved. The optimization method can be seen as a block Gauss-Seidel iteration. The optimization requires one to numerically solve the hyperbolic system forward in time and the corresponding linear adjoint system backward in time. We test the optimization method on a number of control problems constrained by nonlinear hyperbolic systems of PDEs with both smooth and discontinuous prescribed terminal states. The theoretical foundation of the introduced scheme is provided in the case of scalar hyperbolic conservation laws on an unbounded domain with a strictly convex flux. In addition, we empirically demonstrate that using a higher-order temporal discretization helps to substantially improve both the efficiency and accuracy of the overall numerical method. / acase@tulane.edu

<p>The thesis consists of a summary and four papers, concerned with food consumption, behavior associated with overconsumption of food and analysis of the economic policy reforms designed to improve health.</p><p>Paper [I] estimates a hedonic price model on breakfast cereal, crisp bread and potato product data. The purpose is to examine the marginal implicit prices for food characteristics associated with health. A trade-off exists between health and taste. For instance, sugar, salt and fat are tasty but can be unhealthy if overconsumed; whereas fiber is unhealthy if underconsumed. If the marginal implicit price for sugar is negative, consumers value health over its taste. Our results are the marginal implicit price for sugar is negative for breakfast cereals and crisp bread—consumers value health over the taste of sugar. For salt, we find the opposite—a positive marginal implicit price, suggesting people value its taste over health. For fat, we find a negative marginal implicit price of fat in breakfast cereals and potato products containing salt, whereas we find a positive marginal implicit price of fat in hard bread and potato products that contain no salt. For the one healthy characteristic, fiber, we find a negative marginal implicit price in breakfast cereals and a positive implicit price in hard bread.</p><p>Paper [II] uses a general equilibrium model to derive the optimal policy if people overconsume unhealthy food due to self-control problems. Individuals lacking self-control have a preference for immediate gratification, at the expense of future health. We show the optimal policy to help individuals with self-control problems to behave rationally is a combination of subsidies for the health capital stock and the physical capital stock.</p><p>Paper [III] estimates a demand system for grain consumption based on household panel data and detailed product characteristics, and simulate the effect on grain consumption of economic policy reforms designed to encourage a healthier grain diet. Our results imply it is more cost-efficient to subsidize the fiber content than to subsidize products rich in fiber given the goal to increase the fiber intake of the average Swedish household. Our results also imply subsidies alone give rise to an increase in fiber, and to other unhealthy nutrients. Also, subsidies alone have negative effects on the budget. We therefore simulate the effect of policy reforms in which the subsidies are funded either by taxes on the content of unhealthy nutrients or by taxes on products that are overconsumed. Our results suggest that price instruments need to be substantial to change consumption. For instance, removing the VAT on products rich in fiber has little effect on consumption.</p><p>Paper [IV] explores habit persistence in breakfast cereal purchases. To perform the analysis, we use a mixed multinomial logit model, on household panel data on breakfast cereal purchases. If habit persistence in consumption is strong, short and long-run responses to policy reforms will differ. Our results are breakfast cereal purchases are strongly associated with habit persistence. Our results also imply preferences for breakfast cereals are heterogeneous over households and the strength of habit persistence is similar over educational and income groups.</p>