In this thesis uniform asymptotic approximations of integrals are discussed. In order to derive these approximations, two well-known methods are used i.e., the saddle point method and the Bleistein method. To start with this, examples are given to demonstrate these two methods and a general idea of how to approach these techniques. The asymptotics of the hypergeometric functions with large parameters are discussed i.e., 2F1 (a + e1λ, b + e2λ c + e3λ ; z)where ej = 0,±1, j = 1, 2, 3 as |λ|→ ∞, which are valid in large regions of the complex z-plane, where a, b and c are fixed. The saddle point method is applied where the saddle point gives a dominant contributions to the integral representations of the hypergeometric functions and Bleistein’s method is adopted to obtain the uniform asymptotic approximations of some cases where the coalescence takes place between the critical points of the integrals. As a special case, the uniform asymptotic approximation of the hypergeometric function where the third parameter is large, is obtained. A new method to estimate the remainder term in the Bleistein method is proposed which is created to deal with new type of integrals in which the usual methods for the remainder estimates fail. Finally, using the asymptotic property of the hypergeometric function when the third parameter is large, the uniform asymptotic approximation of the monic Meixner Sobolev polynomials Sn(x) as n → ∞ , is obtained in terms of Airy functions. The asymptotic approximations for the location of the zeros of these polynomials are also discussed. As a limit case, a new asymptotic approximation for the large zeros of the classical Meixner polynomials is provided.

Orientador: Claudio Aguinaldo Buzzi / Banca: Maurício Firmino Silva Lima / Banca: Marcelo Messias / Resumo: Neste trabalho estudamos o Método Averaging. Este método é uma ferramenta extremamente útil para quantificar o número de ciclos limites que podem bifurcar de uma singularidade do tipo centro de um sistema de equações diferenciais. A parte inicial do trabalho apresenta a Teoria de Aproximação Assintótica e um primeiro contato com o Averaging. Posteriormente apresentamos uma versão do Averaging via a Teoria do Grau de Brouwer. Finalmente fizemos algumas aplicações do método apresentando uma cota superior para o número de ciclos limites que podem bifurcar a partir das órbitas periódicas de centros de um sistema de equações diferenciais. Além disso, mostramos através de exemplos concretos que esta cota superior pode ser realizada. / Abstract: In this work we study the Averaging Method. This method is a useful tool in order to give the maximum number of limit cycles that can bifurcate from a center type singularity of a di®erential equation system. In the first part of the work we present the Asymptotic Approximation Theory and a first view of the averaging. After that, we present a version of the averaging via Brouwer Degree Theory. Finally we give some applications of this method presenting an upper bound for the number of limit cycles that can bifurcate from a center type singularity of a di®erential equation system. Moreover, we show by presenting concrete examples that this upper bound can be realized. / Mestre

In this thesis a method for studying the asymptotic behavior of solutions to dissipative partial differential equations is developed, motivated by the study of the compressible Navier-Stokes equations in the past works of Hoff and Zumbrun,1995, Hoff and Zumbrun, 1997. In its most basic form, this method allows one to compute n^th order approximations in terms of Hermite functions of solutions of the heat equation having n^th order moments. The main advantage is that these approximations can be efficiently computed, and are often given explicitly in terms of elementary functions. It is shown how this method can be extended to increasingly complicated systems, leading the way toward the asymptotic analysis of the compressible Navier-Stokes equations. A number of challenges must be overcome to apply this method to the compressible Navier-Stokes system. For technical reasons, the analysis is carried out on the divergence and curl of the velocity field, and hence a means of recovering the velocity field from these quantities is established first. The linear part of the evolution is then studied, and an extended version of the artificial viscosity decomposition previously developed (Kawashima, Hoff and Zumbrun1995) is introduced. This decomposition is in terms of the heat and combined heat-wave operators, and hence general estimates on their evolution in weighted L^p spaces are obtained. A modified compressible Navier-Stokes system is then introduced which captures the dominant behavior of the linear evolution and possesses similar nonlinear terms. Solutions to this modified system are proven to exist in weighted spaces, showing that solutions initially having a certain number of moments possess this same number of moments for all time. An analysis of the asymptotic behavior of the modified compressible Navier-Stokes system is then carried out, and it is shown that the method developed herein extends and unifies the approach of Hoff and Zumbrun with that of Gallay and Wayne, 2002a, Gallay and Wayne, 2002b, where it was originally developed to study the behavior of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. The thesis is concluded with a discussion of how the results obtained for the modified compressible Navier-Stokes system pave the way for an analysis of the true compressible Navier-Stokes system, the generalization of this asymptotic analysis to arbitrary order, and with a comparison of this asymptotic analysis to that found in the recent work of Kagei and Okita, 2017.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-06-03Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:47:52Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 silvajunior_jb_me_sjrp.pdf: 533913 bytes, checksum: 2ffa5488599336df8a97baf938757756 (MD5) / Neste trabalho estudamos o Método Averaging. Este método é uma ferramenta extremamente útil para quantificar o número de ciclos limites que podem bifurcar de uma singularidade do tipo centro de um sistema de equações diferenciais. A parte inicial do trabalho apresenta a Teoria de Aproximação Assintótica e um primeiro contato com o Averaging. Posteriormente apresentamos uma versão do Averaging via a Teoria do Grau de Brouwer. Finalmente fizemos algumas aplicações do método apresentando uma cota superior para o número de ciclos limites que podem bifurcar a partir das órbitas periódicas de centros de um sistema de equações diferenciais. Além disso, mostramos através de exemplos concretos que esta cota superior pode ser realizada. / In this work we study the Averaging Method. This method is a useful tool in order to give the maximum number of limit cycles that can bifurcate from a center type singularity of a di®erential equation system. In the first part of the work we present the Asymptotic Approximation Theory and a first view of the averaging. After that, we present a version of the averaging via Brouwer Degree Theory. Finally we give some applications of this method presenting an upper bound for the number of limit cycles that can bifurcate from a center type singularity of a di®erential equation system. Moreover, we show by presenting concrete examples that this upper bound can be realized.

Epidermal wound healing requires the coordinated involvement of complex cellular and biochemical processes. In the case of epidermal wounds associated with burns, the healing process may be less than optimal and may take a significant amount of time, possibly resulting in infection and scarring. An innovative method to assist in the repair of the epidermis (the outer layer of skin) is to use an aerosolised apparatus. This method involves taking skin cells from an area of the patient's undamaged skin, culturing the cells in a laboratory, encouraging them to rapidly proliferate, then harvesting and separating the cells from each other. The cells are then sprayed onto the wound surface. We investigate this novel treatment strategy for the healing of epidermal wounds, such as burns. In particular, we model the application of viable cell colonies to the exposed surface of the wound with the intent of identifying key factors that govern the healing process. Details of the evolution of the colony structure are explored in this two-dimensional model of the wound site, including the effect of varying the initial population cluster size and the initial distribution of cell types with different proliferative capacities. During injury, holoclones (which are thought to be stem cells) have a large proliferative capacity while paraclones (which are thought to be transient amplifying cells) have a more limited proliferative capacity. The model predicts the coverage over time for cells that are initially sprayed onto a wound. A detailed analysis of the underlying mathematical models yields novel mathematical results as well as insight into phenomena of healing processes under investigation. Two one-dimensional systems that are simplifications of the full model are investigated. These models are significant extensions of Fisher's equation and incorporate the mixed clonal population of quiescent and active cells. In the first model, an active cell type migrates and proliferates into the wound and undergoes a transition to a quiescent cell type that neither migrates nor proliferates. The analysis yields the identification of the key parameter constraints on the speed of the healing front of the cells on this model and hence the rate of healing of epidermal wounds. Approximations for the maximum cell densities are also obtained, including conditions for a less than optimal final state. The second model involves two active cell types with different proliferative capacity and a quiescent cell type. This model exhibits two distinct behaviours: either both cell types coexist or one of them dies out as the wound healing progresses leaving the other cell type to fill the wound space. Conditions for coexistence are explored.

This dissertation explores an analogue of the prime number theorem for polynomials over finite fields as well as its connection to the necklace factorization algorithm T-transform and the string complexity measure T-complexity. Specifically, a precise asymptotic expansion for the prime polynomial counting function is derived. The approximation given is more accurate than previous results in the literature while requiring very little computational effort. In this context asymptotic series expansions for Lerch transcendent, Eulerian polynomials, truncated polylogarithm, and polylogarithms of negative integer order are also provided. The expansion formulas developed are general and have applications in numerous areas other than the enumeration of prime polynomials. A bijection between the equivalence classes of aperiodic necklaces and monic prime polynomials is utilized to derive an asymptotic bound on the maximal T-complexity value of a string. Furthermore, the statistical behaviour of uniform random sequences that are factored via the T-transform are investigated, and an accurate probabilistic model for short necklace factors is presented. Finally, a T-complexity based conditional string complexity measure is proposed and used to define the normalized T-complexity distance that measures similarity between strings. The T-complexity distance is proven to not be a metric. However, the measure can be computed in linear time and space making it a suitable choice for large data sets. / Graduate / 0544 0984 0405 / nrebenich@gmail.com

A novel technique for measuring gas temperature and spectral particle emissivity in high-temperature gas-particle streams is presented. The main application of this optical sensor is to improve the process control of batch unit operations, such as steelmaking furnaces. The spectral emission profile of CO and CO2 and the continuous particle emission in the 3.5 to 5 μm wavelength region was recorded and analyzed in real time with a low-resolution passive sensor. The sensor consisted of light collecting optics, a dispersion element (grating spectrometer) and a 64-pixel pyroelectric array. Wavelength and radiance calibrations were performed. The temperature of the gas-particle medium (Tg+p) followed from the least-squares minimization of the difference between the measured radiance in the 4.56-4.7 μm region –which saturates due to the large CO2 concentrations and path lengths in industrial furnaces– and the corresponding blackbody radiance. Particle emissivity (εp) was calculated at 3.95 μm from an asymptotic approximation of the Radiative Transfer Equation that yields the emerging radiance from a semi-infinite particle cloud. The major source of error in the magnitude of Tg+p and εp could come from particle scattering. Through the method of embedded invariance an expression was developed to estimate the lowering effect of particle size and volume fraction on the saturation of the 4.56-4.7 μm CO2 emission region. An iterative procedure for correcting the values of the gas-particle temperature and particle emissivity was applied to the datasets from the two industrial tests. Results from the measurement campaigns with the infrared sensor prototype at two full-scale furnaces are presented. A proof-of-concept test at a coal-fired boiler for electricity production was followed by more extensive measurements at a Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) for steelmaking. The second test provided temperature and particle emissivity profiles for eight heats, which highlighted the simplicity of the technique in obtaining in-situ measurements for modeling studies. Through the analysis of the particle emissivity profile in the BOF and the definition of a new variable –the minimum carbon time– a novel end-point strategy to stop the injection of high-purity oxygen during low-carbon heats in BOF converters was proposed.

A novel technique for measuring gas temperature and spectral particle emissivity in high-temperature gas-particle streams is presented. The main application of this optical sensor is to improve the process control of batch unit operations, such as steelmaking furnaces. The spectral emission profile of CO and CO2 and the continuous particle emission in the 3.5 to 5 μm wavelength region was recorded and analyzed in real time with a low-resolution passive sensor. The sensor consisted of light collecting optics, a dispersion element (grating spectrometer) and a 64-pixel pyroelectric array. Wavelength and radiance calibrations were performed. The temperature of the gas-particle medium (Tg+p) followed from the least-squares minimization of the difference between the measured radiance in the 4.56-4.7 μm region –which saturates due to the large CO2 concentrations and path lengths in industrial furnaces– and the corresponding blackbody radiance. Particle emissivity (εp) was calculated at 3.95 μm from an asymptotic approximation of the Radiative Transfer Equation that yields the emerging radiance from a semi-infinite particle cloud. The major source of error in the magnitude of Tg+p and εp could come from particle scattering. Through the method of embedded invariance an expression was developed to estimate the lowering effect of particle size and volume fraction on the saturation of the 4.56-4.7 μm CO2 emission region. An iterative procedure for correcting the values of the gas-particle temperature and particle emissivity was applied to the datasets from the two industrial tests. Results from the measurement campaigns with the infrared sensor prototype at two full-scale furnaces are presented. A proof-of-concept test at a coal-fired boiler for electricity production was followed by more extensive measurements at a Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) for steelmaking. The second test provided temperature and particle emissivity profiles for eight heats, which highlighted the simplicity of the technique in obtaining in-situ measurements for modeling studies. Through the analysis of the particle emissivity profile in the BOF and the definition of a new variable –the minimum carbon time– a novel end-point strategy to stop the injection of high-purity oxygen during low-carbon heats in BOF converters was proposed.