Chlamydia, caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis, is one of the most important sexually-transmitted infections globally. In addition to accounting for millions of cases every year, the disease causes numerous irreversible complications such as chronic pelvic pain, infertility in females and pelvic inflammatory disease. This thesis presents a number of mathematical models, of the form of deterministic systems of non-linear differential equations, for gaining qualitative insight into the transmission dynamics and control of Chlamydia within an infected host (in vivo) and in a population. The models designed address numerous important issues relating to the transmission dynamics of Chlamydia trachomatis, such as the roles of immune response, sex structure, time delay (in modelling the latency period) and risk structure (i.e., risk of acquiring or transmitting infection). The in-host model is shown to have a globally-asymptotically stable Chlamydia-free equilibrium whenever a certain biological threshold is less than unity. It has a unique Chlamydia-present equilibrium when the threshold exceeds unity. Unlike the in-host model, the two-group (males and females) population-level model undergoes a backward bifurcation, where a stable disease-free equilibrium co-exists with one or more stable endemic equilibria when the associated reproduction number is less than unity. This phenomenon, which is shown to be caused by the re-infection of recovered individuals, makes the effort to eliminate the disease from the population more difficult. Extending the two-group model to incorporate risk structure shows that the backward bifurcation phenomenon persists even when recovered individuals do not acquire re-infection. In other words, it is shown that stratifying the sexually-active population in terms of risk of acquiring or transmitting infection guarantees the presence of backward bifurcation in the transmission dynamics of Chlamydia in a population. Finally, it is shown (via numerical simulations) that a future Chlamydia vaccine that boosts cell-mediated immune response will be more effective in curtailing Chlamydia burden in vivo than a vaccine that enhances humoral immune response. The population-level impact of various targeted treatment strategies, in controlling the spread of Chlamydia in a population, are compared. In particular, it is shown that the use of treatment could have positive or negative population-level impact (depending on the sign of a certain epidemiological threshold).

Chlamydia, caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis, is one of the most important sexually-transmitted infections globally. In addition to accounting for millions of cases every year, the disease causes numerous irreversible complications such as chronic pelvic pain, infertility in females and pelvic inflammatory disease. This thesis presents a number of mathematical models, of the form of deterministic systems of non-linear differential equations, for gaining qualitative insight into the transmission dynamics and control of Chlamydia within an infected host (in vivo) and in a population. The models designed address numerous important issues relating to the transmission dynamics of Chlamydia trachomatis, such as the roles of immune response, sex structure, time delay (in modelling the latency period) and risk structure (i.e., risk of acquiring or transmitting infection). The in-host model is shown to have a globally-asymptotically stable Chlamydia-free equilibrium whenever a certain biological threshold is less than unity. It has a unique Chlamydia-present equilibrium when the threshold exceeds unity. Unlike the in-host model, the two-group (males and females) population-level model undergoes a backward bifurcation, where a stable disease-free equilibrium co-exists with one or more stable endemic equilibria when the associated reproduction number is less than unity. This phenomenon, which is shown to be caused by the re-infection of recovered individuals, makes the effort to eliminate the disease from the population more difficult. Extending the two-group model to incorporate risk structure shows that the backward bifurcation phenomenon persists even when recovered individuals do not acquire re-infection. In other words, it is shown that stratifying the sexually-active population in terms of risk of acquiring or transmitting infection guarantees the presence of backward bifurcation in the transmission dynamics of Chlamydia in a population. Finally, it is shown (via numerical simulations) that a future Chlamydia vaccine that boosts cell-mediated immune response will be more effective in curtailing Chlamydia burden in vivo than a vaccine that enhances humoral immune response. The population-level impact of various targeted treatment strategies, in controlling the spread of Chlamydia in a population, are compared. In particular, it is shown that the use of treatment could have positive or negative population-level impact (depending on the sign of a certain epidemiological threshold).

MGS / Institute for Gender and Youth Studies / ‘Gonyalelwa lapa’ is a form of a marriage whereby a family marries a woman to a deceased son who passed on without having biological children, for the purpose of restoring or reviving the deceased’s name. The woman is married with her existing children, or to bear children who will take the surname of the deceased man. Women find it difficult to leave such marriages for the fear of losing their children whom they signed off by accepting to be married under this type of marriage. This study employs the feminist standpoint methodological approach in order to explore experiences of women who are married for ‘lapa’. The study purposefully selected a sample of 8 women who are married under ‘Gonyalelwa lapa’ as well as 4 key informants. Findings demonstrate that women marry for ‘lapa’ mainly for economic reasons, to escape stigmatization, for the acquisition of the marital surname, which is tied to being acknowledged, respected and recognized by the community. Nevertheless, these women face multidimensional challenges within their in-laws’ households: they receive no support from the inlaws; their girl-children suffer discrimination based on ‘sex-preference’, boys are given more value on the basis that a boy will be able to perpetuate a deceased man’s name. Most women married under this type of marriage suffer from emotional and economic abuse at the hands of their in-laws. The study reveals that these challenges are attributed to lack of physical presence of the husband in the family. The study recommends that a large scale study be conducted on this or related topic, to build knowledge and create an awareness of such a marriage as to facilitate its inclusion in Customary Marriage Act.

<p dir="ltr">The twenty-first century is a data-driven era where human activities and behavior, physical phenomena, scientific discoveries, technology advancements, and almost everything that happens in the world resulting in massive generation, collection, and utilization of data. </p><p dir="ltr">Connectivity in data is a crucial property. A straightforward example is the World Wide Web, where every webpage is connected to other web pages through hyperlinks, providing a form of directed connectivity. Combinatorial data refers to combinations of data items based on certain connectivity rules. Other forms of combinatorial data include social networks, meshes, community clusters, set systems, and molecules.</p><p dir="ltr">This Ph.D. dissertation focuses on learning and computing with combinatorial data. We study and examine topological and connectivity features within and across connected data to improve the performance of learning and achieve high algorithmic efficiency.</p>

The purpose of this research study was to investigate the phenomenon of the conflicting roles, such as parent, spouse, employee, caregiver, and community member/volunteer, associated with the lives of nontraditional college students and to reveal how these conflicting role obligations influence these students' persistence toward the attainment of an undergraduate degree. This study provides a brief history of adult education in the United States as well as the study context, a continuing studies division of a privately endowed research institution located in the southern United States. The participants in this study were nontraditional students who were also recent graduates of this continuing studies unit. This study drew upon the literature of nontraditional students in higher education, as well as literature on role theory, adult development theory, adult learning theory, and student persistence theory. This study used a phenomenological qualitative approach as a means of discovering the lived experiences of nontraditional students as these experiences relate to the conflicting roles of nontraditional students and their decision to persist toward the attainment of a bachelor's degree. Several important findings were discovered. In order to negotiate their conflicting roles, these students used several strategies as a means of helping them to balance their roles. This study also found several motivational factors that prompted nontraditional students to pursue a bachelor's degree at this time in their lives. The obstacles and challenges that these students confronted were also revealed, and in order to overcome these obstacles and challenges these students relied on several support systems. The reputation and prestige of this university was also found to be an important factor in the students' decision to attend college at this stage in their lives. Additionally, the various forms of assistance that this continuing studies unit provided encouraged students to persist.

The thesis focuses on the qualitative analysis of a general class of SEIRS models in periodic and non-periodic environments. The classical SEIRS model, with standard incidence function, is, first of all, extended to incorporate multiple infectious stages. Using Lyapunov function theory and LaSalle's Invariance Principle, the disease-free equilibrium (DFE) of the resulting SEIⁿRS model is shown to be globally-asymptotically stable whenever the associated reproduction number is less than unity. Furthermore, this model has a unique endemic equilibrium point (EEP), which is shown (using a non-linear Lyapunov function of Goh-Volterra type) to be globally-asymptotically stable for a special case. The SEIⁿRS model is further extended to incorporate arbitrary number of latent stages. A notable feature of the resulting SE^mIⁿRS model is that it uses gamma distribution assumptions for the average waiting times in the latent (m) and infectious (n) stages. Like in the case of the SEIⁿRS model, the SE^mIⁿRS model also has a globally-asymptotically stable DFE when its associated reproduction threshold is less than unity, and it has a unique EEP (which is globally-stable for a special case) when the threshold exceeds unity. The SE^mIⁿRS model is further extended to incorporate the effect of periodicity on the disease transmission dynamics. The resulting non-autonomous SE^mIⁿRS model is shown to have a globally-stable disease-free solution when the associated reproduction ratio is less than unity. Furthermore, the non-autonomous model has at least one positive (non-trivial) periodic solution when the reproduction ratio exceeds unity. It is shown (using persistence theory) that, for the non-autonomous model, the disease will always persist in the population whenever the reproduction ratio is greater than unity. One of the main mathematical contributions of this thesis is that it shows that adding multiple latent and infectious stages, gamma distribution assumptions (for the average waiting times in these stages) and periodicity to the classical SEIRS model (with standard incidence) does not alter the main qualitative dynamics (pertaining to the persistence or elimination of the disease from the population) of the SEIRS model.

The thesis focuses on the qualitative analysis of a general class of SEIRS models in periodic and non-periodic environments. The classical SEIRS model, with standard incidence function, is, first of all, extended to incorporate multiple infectious stages. Using Lyapunov function theory and LaSalle's Invariance Principle, the disease-free equilibrium (DFE) of the resulting SEIⁿRS model is shown to be globally-asymptotically stable whenever the associated reproduction number is less than unity. Furthermore, this model has a unique endemic equilibrium point (EEP), which is shown (using a non-linear Lyapunov function of Goh-Volterra type) to be globally-asymptotically stable for a special case. The SEIⁿRS model is further extended to incorporate arbitrary number of latent stages. A notable feature of the resulting SE^mIⁿRS model is that it uses gamma distribution assumptions for the average waiting times in the latent (m) and infectious (n) stages. Like in the case of the SEIⁿRS model, the SE^mIⁿRS model also has a globally-asymptotically stable DFE when its associated reproduction threshold is less than unity, and it has a unique EEP (which is globally-stable for a special case) when the threshold exceeds unity. The SE^mIⁿRS model is further extended to incorporate the effect of periodicity on the disease transmission dynamics. The resulting non-autonomous SE^mIⁿRS model is shown to have a globally-stable disease-free solution when the associated reproduction ratio is less than unity. Furthermore, the non-autonomous model has at least one positive (non-trivial) periodic solution when the reproduction ratio exceeds unity. It is shown (using persistence theory) that, for the non-autonomous model, the disease will always persist in the population whenever the reproduction ratio is greater than unity. One of the main mathematical contributions of this thesis is that it shows that adding multiple latent and infectious stages, gamma distribution assumptions (for the average waiting times in these stages) and periodicity to the classical SEIRS model (with standard incidence) does not alter the main qualitative dynamics (pertaining to the persistence or elimination of the disease from the population) of the SEIRS model.

Cette thèse contient quatre articles qui étudient les phénomènes de rigidité des transforma- tions hamiltoniennes des variétés symplectiques. Le premier article, rédigé en collaboration avec Egor Shelukhin, examine les obstructions à l’existence de symétries hamiltoniennes d’ordre fini sur une variété symplectique fermée (M,ω); c’est-à-dire de torsion hamiltonienne. En d’autres termes, nous étudions les sous- groupes finis du groupe des difféomorphismes hamiltoniens Ham(M,ω). Nous identifions trois sources principales d’obstructions: Contraintes topologiques. Inspirés par un résultat de Polterovich montrant que les variétés symplectiques asphériques n’admettent pas de torsion hamiltonienne, nous établissons que la présence d’un sous-groupe fini non trivial de Ham(M, ω) implique l’existence d’une sphère A ∈ π2(M) avec ⟨[ω],A⟩ > 0 et ⟨c1(M),A⟩ > 0. En particulier, les variétés symplectiques négativement monotones et les variétés symplectiques Calabi-Yau n’admettent pas de torsion hamiltonienne. Présence de courbes J-holomorphes. De manière générale, il y a de nombreux exemples de torsion hamiltonienne, par exemple toute rotation de la sphère de dimension deux par une fraction irrationnelle de π. Lorsque (M,ω) est positivement monotone, nous montrons que l’existence de torsion hamiltonienne impose une condition géométrique qui implique que les sphères J-holomorphes non constantes sont présentes partout. Ce phénomène était prédit dans une liste de problèmes contenue dans la monographie d’introduction de McDuff et de Salamon. Rigidité métrique spectrale. Notre analyse révèle que, pour les variétés symplectiques posi- tivement monotones, il existe un voisinage de l’identité dans Ham(M,ω) dans la topologie induite par la métrique spectrale qui ne contient aucun sous-groupe fini non trivial. Le principal résultat du deuxième article établit que, pour une large classe de variétés sym- plectiques, le flux d’un lacet de difféomorphismes symplectiques est entièrement déterminé par la classe d’homotopie de ses orbites. Comme application, nous obtenons de nouveaux exemples où l’existence d’un point fixe d’une action symplectique du cercle implique qu’elle est hamiltonienne et de nouvelles conditions assurant que le groupe de flux est trivial. De plus, nous obtenons des obstructions à l’existence d’éléments non triviaux de Symp0(M,ω) ayant un ordre fini. Le troisième article, rédigé en collaboration avec Han Lou, démontre une version de la conjecture de Hofer-Zehnder pour les variétés symplectiques fermées semi-positives dont l’homologie quantique est semi-simple; ce résultat généralise le travail révolutionnaire de Shelukhin sur les variétés symplectiques monotones. Le résultat montre qu’un difféomor- phisme hamiltonien possédant plus de points fixes contractiles, comptés homologiquement, que le nombre total de Betti de la variété doit avoir une infinité de points périodiques. La composante clé de la preuve est une nouvelle étude de l’effet de la réduction modulo p, un nombre premier, sur les bornes de l’homologie de Floer filtrée qui proviennent de la semi- simplicité. Cette étude repose sur la théorie des extensions algébriques des corps équipés d’une norme non-archimédienne. Le quatrième article, écrit en collaboration avec Habib Alizadeh et Dylan Cant, examine la déplaçabilité d’une sous-variété lagrangienne fermée L d’une variété symplectique convexe á l’infini par un difféomorphisme hamiltonien à support compact. Nous concluons qu’un difféomorphisme hamiltonien φ dont la norme spectrale est plus petite qu’un ħ(L) > 0 ne dépendant que de L ⊆ W ne peut pas déplacer L. De plus, nous établissons une estimation du nombre de valeurs d’action en terme de la longueur du cup-produit pour le nombre de valeurs d’action; lorsque L est rationnelle, cela implique une estimation du nombre de points d’intersection L ∩ φ(L) en terme de la longueur du cup-produit. Ainsi, nous montrons que le nombre de points fixes d’un difféomorphisme hamiltonien d’une variété symplectique fermée rationnelle (M, ω) dont la norme spectrale est plus petite que la constante de rationalité est au moins de 1 plus la longueur du cup-produit de M. / This thesis comprises four articles that study rigidity phenomena of Hamiltonian transfor- mations of symplectic manifolds. The first article, co-authored with Egor Shelukhin, examines obstructions to the existence of Hamiltonian symmetries of finite order on a closed symplectic manifold (M,ω); Hamil- tonian torsion. In other words, we study the finite subgroups of the group of Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms Ham(M, ω). We identify three primary sources of obstructions: Topological constraints. Inspired by a result of Polterovich showing that symplectically aspherical symplectic manifolds do not admit Hamiltonian torsion, we establish that the presence of a non-trivial finite subgroup of Ham(M,ω) implies that there exists a sphere A ∈ π2(M) with ⟨[ω],A⟩ > 0 and ⟨c1(M),A⟩ > 0. In particular, symplectically Calabi-Yau, and spherically negative-monotone symplectic manifolds do not admit Hamiltonian torsion. The presence of J-holomorphic curves. For general closed symplectic manifolds, there are plenty of examples of Hamiltonian torsion, for instance, any rotation of the two-sphere by an irrational fraction of π. When (M, ω) is spherically positive-monotone, we show the existence of Hamiltonian torsion imposes geometrical uniruledness, which implies that non-constant J-holomorphic spheres are ubiquitous. This phenomenon was predicted in a list of problems contained in the introductory monograph of McDuff and Salamon. The spectral metric rigidity. Our study reveals that for spherically positive-monotone (M, ω), there exists a neighbourhood of the identity in Ham(M,ω), in the topology induced by the spectral metric, that does not contain any non-trivial finite subgroup. The main result of the second article establishes that for a broad class of symplectic manifolds the flux of a loop of symplectic diffeomorphisms is completely determined by the homotopy class of its orbits. As an application, we obtain a new vanishing result for the flux group and new instances where the existence of a fixed point of a symplectic circle action implies that it is Hamiltonian. Moreover, we obtain obstructions to the existence of non-trivial elements of Symp0(M,ω) that have finite order. The third article, co-authored with Han Lou, proves a version of the Hofer-Zehnder conjec- ture for closed semipositive symplectic manifolds whose quantum homology is semisimple; this result generalizes the groundbreaking work of Shelukhin in the spherically positive- monotone setting. The result shows that a Hamiltonian diffeomorphism possessing more contractible fixed points, counted homologically, than the total Betti number of the mani- fold, must have infinitely many periodic points. The key component of the proof is a new study of the effect of reduction modulo a prime on the bounds on filtered Floer homology that arise from semisimplicity. It relies on the theory of algebraic extensions of non-Archimedean normed fields. The fourth article, co-authored with Habib Alizadeh and Dylan Cant, investigates the dis- placeability of a closed Lagrangian submanifold L of a convex-at-infinity symplectic manifold by a compactly supported Hamiltonian diffeomorphism. We conclude that a Hamiltonian diffeomorphism φ whose spectral norm is smaller than some ħ(L) > 0, depending only on L ⊂ W , cannot displace L. Furthermore, we establish a cup-length estimate for the number of action values; when L is rational, this implies a cup-length estimate on the number of intersection points L ∩ φ(L). As a corollary, we demonstrate that the number of fixed points of a Hamiltonian diffeomorphism of a closed rational symplectic manifold (M,ω), whose spectral norm is smaller than the rationality constant, is bounded below by one plus the cup-length of M.