Properly accounting for the uncertainties in predicting ground motion parameters is critical for Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analyses (PSHA). This is particularly important for critical facilities that are designed for long return period motions. Non-ergodic PSHA is a framework that allows for this proper accounting of uncertainties. This, in turn, allows for more informed decisions by designers, owners and regulating agencies. The ergodic assumption implies that the standard deviation applicable to a specific source-path-site combination is equal to the standard deviation estimated using a database with multiple source-path-site combinations. The removal of the ergodic assumption requires dense instrumental networks operating in seismically active zones so that a sufficient number of recordings are made. Only recently, with the advent of networks such as the Japanese KiK-net network has this become possible. This study contributes to the state of the art in earthquake engineering and engineering seismology in general and in non-ergodic seismic hazard analysis in particular. The study is divided in for parts. First, an automated protocol was developed and implemented to process a large database of strong ground motions for GMPE development. A comparison was conducted between the common records in the database processed within this study and other studies. The comparison showed the viability of using the automated algorithm to process strong ground motions. On the other hand, the automated algorithm resulted in narrower usable frequency bandwidths because of the strict criteria adopted for processing the data. Second, an approach to include path-specific attenuation rates in GMPEs was proposed. This approach was applied to a subset of the KiK-net database. The attenuation rates across regions that contains volcanoes was found to be higher than other regions which is in line with the observations of other researchers. Moreover, accounting for the path-specific attenuation rates reduced the aleatoric variability associated with predicting pseudo-spectral accelerations. Third, two GMPEs were developed for active crustal earthquakes in Japan. The two GMPEs followed the ergodic and site-specific formulations, respectively. Finally, a comprehensive residual analysis was conducted to find potential biases in the residuals and propose models to predict some components of variability as a function of some input parameters. / Ph. D.

This thesis is an account of our study of two branches of dynamical systems theory, namely the mean and pointwise ergodic theory. In our work on mean ergodic theorems, we investigate the spectral theory of integrable actions of a locally compact abelian group on a locally convex vector space. We start with an analysis of various spectral subspaces induced by the action of the group. This is applied to analyse the spectral theory of operators on the space generated by measures on the group. We apply these results to derive general Tauberian theorems that apply to arbitrary locally compact abelian groups acting on a large class of locally convex vector spaces which includes Fr echet spaces. We show how these theorems simplify the derivation of Mean Ergodic theorems. Next we turn to the topic of pointwise ergodic theorems. We analyse the Transfer Principle, which is used to generate weak type maximal inequalities for ergodic operators, and extend it to the general case of -compact locally compact Hausdor groups acting measure-preservingly on - nite measure spaces. We show how the techniques developed here generate various weak type maximal inequalities on di erent Banach function spaces, and how the properties of these function spaces in- uence the weak type inequalities that can be obtained. Finally, we demonstrate how the techniques developed imply almost sure pointwise convergence of a wide class of ergodic averages. Our investigations of these two parts of ergodic theory are uni ed by the techniques used - locally convex vector spaces, harmonic analysis, measure theory - and by the strong interaction of the nal results, which are obtained in greater generality than hitherto achieved. / PhD (Mathematics), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

This thesis is an account of our study of two branches of dynamical systems theory, namely the mean and pointwise ergodic theory. In our work on mean ergodic theorems, we investigate the spectral theory of integrable actions of a locally compact abelian group on a locally convex vector space. We start with an analysis of various spectral subspaces induced by the action of the group. This is applied to analyse the spectral theory of operators on the space generated by measures on the group. We apply these results to derive general Tauberian theorems that apply to arbitrary locally compact abelian groups acting on a large class of locally convex vector spaces which includes Fr echet spaces. We show how these theorems simplify the derivation of Mean Ergodic theorems. Next we turn to the topic of pointwise ergodic theorems. We analyse the Transfer Principle, which is used to generate weak type maximal inequalities for ergodic operators, and extend it to the general case of -compact locally compact Hausdor groups acting measure-preservingly on - nite measure spaces. We show how the techniques developed here generate various weak type maximal inequalities on di erent Banach function spaces, and how the properties of these function spaces in- uence the weak type inequalities that can be obtained. Finally, we demonstrate how the techniques developed imply almost sure pointwise convergence of a wide class of ergodic averages. Our investigations of these two parts of ergodic theory are uni ed by the techniques used - locally convex vector spaces, harmonic analysis, measure theory - and by the strong interaction of the nal results, which are obtained in greater generality than hitherto achieved. / PhD (Mathematics), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

A stochastic operator is a positive linear contraction, P : L1 --+ L1, such that llPfII2 = llfll1 for f > 0. It is called asymptotically stable if the iterates pn f of each density converge in the norm to a fixed density. Pf(x) = f K(x,y)f(y)dy, where K( ·, y) is a density, defines a stochastic kernel operator. A general probabilistic/ deterministic model for biological systems is considered. This leads to the LMT operator P f(x) = Jo - Bx H(Q(>.(x)) - Q(y)) dy, where -H'(x) = h(x) is a density. Several particular examples of cell cycle models are examined. An operator overlaps supports iffor all densities f,g, pn f APng of 0 for some n. If the operator is partially kernel, has a positive invariant density and overlaps supports, it is asymptotically stable. It is found that if h( x) > 0 for x ~ xo ~ 0 and ["'" x"h(x) dx < liminf(Q(A(x))" - Q(x)") for a E (0, 1] lo x-oo then P is asymptotically stable, and an opposite condition implies P is sweeping. Many known results for cell cycle models follow from this. / Mathematical Science / M. Sc. (Mathematics)

Le théorème ergodique de Birkhoff nous renseigne sur la convergence de suites de fonctions. Nous nous intéressons alors à étudier la convergence en moyenne et presque partout de ces suites, mais dans le cas où la suite est une suite strictement croissante de nombres entiers positifs. C’est alors que nous définirons les suites uniformes et étudierons la convergence presque partout pour ces suites. Nous regarderons également s’il existe certaines suites pour lesquelles la convergence n’a pas lieu. Nous présenterons alors un résultat dû en partie à Alexandra Bellow qui dit que de telles suites existent. Finalement, nous démontrerons une équivalence entre la notion de transformatiuon fortement mélangeante et la convergence d'une certaine suite qui utilise des “poids” qui satisfont certaines propriétés. / Birkhoff’s ergodic theorem gives us information about the convergence of sequences of functions. We are then interested in studying the mean and pointwise convergence of these sequences, but in the case the sequence is a strictly increasing sequence of positive integers. With that goal in mind, we will define uniform sequences and study the pointwise convergence for these sequences. We will also explore the possibility that there exists some sequences for which the convergence of the sequence does not occur. We will present a result of Alexandra Bellow that says that such sequences exist. Finally, we will prove a result which establishes an equivalence between the notion of a strongly mixing transformation and the convergence of a sequence that uses “weights” which satisfies certain properties.

Dado um processo de Poisson d-dimensional, construímos funções harmônicas na triangulação de Delaunay associada, com comportamento assintótico linear, como limite de um processo de harness sem ruído. Tais funções permitem que construamos uma nova imersão da triangulação de Delaunay, que denominaremos de deformação harmônica. / Given a d-dimensional Poisson point process, we construct harmonic functions on the associated Delaunay triangulation, with linear assymptotic behaviour, as the limit of a noiseless harness process. These mappings allow us to find a new embedding for the Delaunay triangulation. We call it harmonic deformation of the graph.

Dado um processo de Poisson d-dimensional, construímos funções harmônicas na triangulação de Delaunay associada, com comportamento assintótico linear, como limite de um processo de harness sem ruído. Tais funções permitem que construamos uma nova imersão da triangulação de Delaunay, que denominaremos de deformação harmônica. / Given a d-dimensional Poisson point process, we construct harmonic functions on the associated Delaunay triangulation, with linear assymptotic behaviour, as the limit of a noiseless harness process. These mappings allow us to find a new embedding for the Delaunay triangulation. We call it harmonic deformation of the graph.

[pt] Os resultados fundamentais da teoria ergódica – o teorema de Birkhoff e o teorema de Kingman – se referem a convergência em quase todo ponto de um processo ergódico aditivo e subaditivo, respectivamente. É bem conhecido que dado um sistema unicamente ergódico e um observável contínuo, as médias de Birkhoff correspondentes convergem em todo ponto e uniformemente. Desta forma, é natural também se perguntar o que acontece com o teorema de Kingman quando o sistema é unicamente ergódico. O primeiro objetivo desta dissertação é responder a essa pergunta utilizando o trabalho de A. Furman. Mais ainda, apresentamos algumas extensões e aplicações desse resultado para cociclos lineares, que foram obtidas por S. Jitomirskaya e R. Mavi. Nosso segundo objetivo é provar um novo resultado sobre taxas de convergências de médias de Birkhoff, para um certo tipo de processo unicamente ergódico: uma translação diofantina no toro com um observável Holder contínuo. / [en] The fundamental results in ergodic theory – the Birkhoff theorem and the Kingman theorem – refer to the almost everywhere convergence of additive and respectively subadditive ergodic processes. It is well known that given a uniquely ergodic system and a continuous observable, the corresponding Birkhoff averages converge everywhere and uniformly. It is therefore natural to ask what happens with Kingman s theorem when the system is uniquely ergodic. The first objective of this dissertation is to answer this question following the work of A. Furman. Moreover, we present some extensions and applications of this result for linear cocycles, which were obtained by S. Jitomirskaya and R. Mavi. Our second objective is to prove a new result regarding the rate of convergence of the Birkhoff averages for a certain type of uniquely ergodic process: a Diophantine torus translation with Holder continuous observable.

Le théorème ergodique de Birkhoff nous renseigne sur la convergence de suites de fonctions. Nous nous intéressons alors à étudier la convergence en moyenne et presque partout de ces suites, mais dans le cas où la suite est une suite strictement croissante de nombres entiers positifs. C’est alors que nous définirons les suites uniformes et étudierons la convergence presque partout pour ces suites. Nous regarderons également s’il existe certaines suites pour lesquelles la convergence n’a pas lieu. Nous présenterons alors un résultat dû en partie à Alexandra Bellow qui dit que de telles suites existent. Finalement, nous démontrerons une équivalence entre la notion de transformatiuon fortement mélangeante et la convergence d'une certaine suite qui utilise des “poids” qui satisfont certaines propriétés. / Birkhoff’s ergodic theorem gives us information about the convergence of sequences of functions. We are then interested in studying the mean and pointwise convergence of these sequences, but in the case the sequence is a strictly increasing sequence of positive integers. With that goal in mind, we will define uniform sequences and study the pointwise convergence for these sequences. We will also explore the possibility that there exists some sequences for which the convergence of the sequence does not occur. We will present a result of Alexandra Bellow that says that such sequences exist. Finally, we will prove a result which establishes an equivalence between the notion of a strongly mixing transformation and the convergence of a sequence that uses “weights” which satisfies certain properties.

A stochastic operator is a positive linear contraction, P : L1 --+ L1, such that llPfII2 = llfll1 for f > 0. It is called asymptotically stable if the iterates pn f of each density converge in the norm to a fixed density. Pf(x) = f K(x,y)f(y)dy, where K( ·, y) is a density, defines a stochastic kernel operator. A general probabilistic/ deterministic model for biological systems is considered. This leads to the LMT operator P f(x) = Jo - Bx H(Q(>.(x)) - Q(y)) dy, where -H'(x) = h(x) is a density. Several particular examples of cell cycle models are examined. An operator overlaps supports iffor all densities f,g, pn f APng of 0 for some n. If the operator is partially kernel, has a positive invariant density and overlaps supports, it is asymptotically stable. It is found that if h( x) > 0 for x ~ xo ~ 0 and ["'" x"h(x) dx < liminf(Q(A(x))" - Q(x)") for a E (0, 1] lo x-oo then P is asymptotically stable, and an opposite condition implies P is sweeping. Many known results for cell cycle models follow from this. / Mathematical Science / M. Sc. (Mathematics)