Thesis (M. Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 34). Also available in electronic version. Access restricted to campus users.

published_or_final_version / Mathematics / Master / Master of Philosophy

Covering maps and fibrations of spaces fulfilling certain technical conditions are known to satisfy a multiplicative formula relating the Euler characteristic of the domain to that of the codomain. An open question posed by Albrecht Dold in 1980 asks in general when this is true and can be stated as: for which classes of maps is it true that if χ(X) denotes the Euler characteristic of a space X, and if f : X → Y has the property that the Euler characteristic of the preimage of y is k for all y ∈ Y and for some integer k, the multiplicative formula χ(X) = k · χ(Y ) holds? A corroborative answer is given herein for simplicial maps of finite simplicial complexes, while counterexamples are constructed for cellular maps of finite CW complexes, continuous maps of closed topological manifolds, and even smooth maps of smooth manifolds. / 1 / Kelley Brook Johnson

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-70). Also available in print.

Let G be a finite group and V be an orthogonal four-dimensional real representation space of G where the action of G is non-free. We give necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a G-equivariant vector field on the representation sphere of V in the cases G is the dihedral group, the generalized quaternion group and the semidihedral group in terms of decomposition of V into irreducible representations. In the case G is abelian, where the solution is already known, we give a more elementary solution.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Mathematics / Master / Master of Philosophy

Cette thèse est composée de deux parties. La première partie utilise l’analyse stochastique pour fournir des bornes pour la probabilité de surcharge de différents systèmes grâce aux inégalités de concentration. Bien qu’ils soient généraux, nous appliquons ces résultats à des réseaux sans-fil réels tels que le WiMax et le traffic utilisateur multi-classe dans un système OFDMA. Dans la seconde partie, nous trouvons des liens entre la topologie de la couverture dans un réseau de capteur et celle du complexe simplicial correspondant. Cette analogie met en valeur de nouvelles facettes des certains objets mathématiques comme les nombres de Betti, le nombre de k-simplexes, et la caractéristique d’Euler. Puis, nous utilisons conjointement la topologie algébrique et l’analyse stochastique, en considérant que les positions des capteurs sont une réalisation d’un processus ponctuel de Poisson. Nous en déduisons les statistiques du nombre de k-simplexe et de la caractéristique d’Euler, ainsi que des bornes supérieures pour la distribution des nombres de Betti, le tout en d dimen- sions. Nous démontrons aussi que le nombre de k-simplexes converge vers une distribution Gaussienne quand la densité de capteurs tend vers l’infini à une vitesse de convergence connue. Enfin, nous nous limitons au cas unidimensionnel. Dans ce cas, le problème devient équivalent à résoudre une file M/M/1/1 préemptive. Nous obtenons ainsi des résultats analytiques pour des quantités telles que la distribution du nombre de composantes connexes et la probabilité de couverture totale. / This thesis has two main parts. Part I uses stochastic anlysis to provide bounds for the overload probability of different systems thanks to concentration inequalities. Although the results are general, we apply them to real wireless network systems such as WiMax and mutliclass user traffic in an OFDMA system. In part I I, we find more connections between the topology of the coverage of a sensor network and the topology of its corresponding simplicial complex. These connections highlight new aspects of Betti numbers, the number of k-simplices, and Euler characteristic. Then, we use algebraic topology in conjunction with stochastic analysis, after assuming that the positions of the sensors are points of a Point point process. As a consequence we obtain, in d dimensions, the statistics of the number of k-simplices and of Euler characteristic, as well as upper bounds for the distribution of Betti numbers. We also prove that the number of k-simplices tends to a Gaussian distribution as the density of sensors grows, and we specify the convergence rate. Finally, we restrict ourselves to one dimension. In this case, the problem becomes equivalent to solving a M/M/1/1 preemptive queue. We obtain analytical results for quantites such as the distribution of the number of connected components and the probability of complete coverage.

Esta dissertação expõe o estudo realizado sobre o artigo de R. Brown, citado na bibliografia, e sobre os conceitos necessários para a compreensão deste material. Entre os principais conceitos e resultados preliminares discutidos, podemos citar: topologia de espaços de funções, teoria de homotopia, espaços compactos ANR, característica de Euler de um compacto ANR, teorema de Lefschetz, espaços fibrados, e campos de caminhos. Os principais resultados discutidos na dissertação são os teoremas centrais do artigo de Brown: toda n-variedade topológica compacta admite um campo de caminhos com no máximo uma singularidade; e, uma n-variedade topológica compacta orientável admite um campo de caminhos sem singularidades se, e somente se, sua característica de Euler é zero. Discutimos também, suas respectivas consequências em teoria de ponto fixo / This essay has the purpose of exposing the studies on the paper by R. Brown, quoted on the references, and on the concepts necessary to the comprehension of it. Among the main concepts and preliminary results discussed, we can cite: topology of function spaces, homotopy theory, ANR compact spaces, Euler characteristic of a compact ANR, Lefschetz theorem, fiber spaces, and field paths. The main results discussed in the text are the central theorems presented on Brown\'s paper: every compact topological n-manifold admits a path field with at most one singularity, and a compact orientable topological n-manifold M admits a nonsingular path field if and only if the Euler characteristic of M is zero. We also discussed their consequences on fixed point theory

Eulerian chemical transport models are extensively used to steer environmental policy, forecast air quality and study atmospheric processes. However, the ability of these models to simulate concentrated atmospheric plumes, including fire-related smoke, may be limited. Wildland fires are important sources of air pollutants and can significantly affect air quality. Emissions released in wildfires and prescribed burns have been known to substantially increase the air pollution burden at urban locations across large regions. Air quality forecasts generated with numerical models can provide valuable information to environmental regulators and land managers about the potential impacts of fires. Eulerian models present an attractive framework to simulate the transport and transformation of fire emissions. Still, the limitations inherent to chemical transport models when applied to replicate smoke plumes must be identified and well understood to adequately interpret results and further improve the models' predictive skills. Here, a modeling framework centered on the Community Multiscale Air Quality modeling system (CMAQ) is used to simulate several fire episodes that occurred in the Southeastern U.S. and investigate the sensitivity of fine particulate matter concentration predictions to various model inputs and parameters. Significant sources of uncertainty in the model are identified and discussed, including the spatiotemporal allocation of fire emissions and meteorological drivers. In addition, special attention is given to model grid resolution. Adaptive grid modeling is explored as a strategy to simulate fire-related plumes. An adaptive version of CMAQ, capable of dynamically restructuring the grid on which solution fields are estimated and providing refinement at the regions where accuracy is most dependent on resolution, is presented. The fully adaptive three-dimensional modeling technique can be applied to reach unprecedented levels of grid resolution and provide insight into plume dynamics unattainable with static grid models. Through this work the capability of current chemical transport models to replicate fire-related air quality impacts is evaluated, key research needs to achieve effective simulations are identified, and numerical tools designed to improve model performance are developed.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:27:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-03-01Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:27:38Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 silva_mv_me_rcla.pdf: 927964 bytes, checksum: 1bf8757069fd7950b3ef35b7c13da6ba (MD5) / O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar uma demonstração combinatória dos teore- mas de Índice de Poincaré, a saber: Sejam D um disco e γ seu bordo. Seja V um campo vetorial contínuo sobre D com pontos críticos isolados P1, P2, . . . , Pn pertencentes ao interior de D. Se V nunca se anula em γ, então W(γ) = I(P1) + I(P2) + . . . + I(Pn), onde I(Pi) é o índice do ponto crítico Pi e W(γ) o número de voltas de V sobre γ. Seja V um campo vetorial tangente contínuo sobre uma superfície compacta, co- nexa e orientável S. Então a soma dos índices dos pontos críticos de V é igual à característica de Euler de S. / bstract In this work we present a combinatorial proof for the Poincaré index theorems. Let V be a continuous vector field. Let D be a cell and γ its boundary. Supposing that V is not zero on γ, then W(γ) = I(P1) + I(P2) + . . . + I(Pn) where P1, P2, . . . , Pn are the critical points of V inside D, I(Pi) is the index of Pi, and W(γ) is the winding number of V on γ. Let V be a continuous tangent vector field on a compact, connected, orientable surface S. Then the sum of the indexes of the critical points of V equals the Euler characteristic of S.