Thesis (M.Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-76). Also available in electronic version.

Thesis (M.Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-110). Also available in electronic version.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Victoria University of Wellington, 2007. / "Version 1.1, 16 August 2007 (including corrections)" Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

No description available.

Systems composed of dynamical networks - such as the human body with its biological networks or the global economic network consisting of regional clusters - often exhibit complicated collective dynamics. Three fundamental processes that are typically present are failure, damage spread, and recovery. Here we develop a model for such systems and find phase diagrams for single and interacting networks. By investigating networks with a small number of nodes, where finite-size effects are pronounced, we describe the spontaneous recovery phenomenon present in these systems. In the case of interacting networks the phase diagram is very rich and becomes increasingly more complex as the number of interacting networks increases. In the simplest example of two interacting networks we find two critical points, four triple points, ten allowed transitions, and two forbidden transitions, as well as complex hysteresis loops. Remarkably, we find that triple points play the dominant role in constructing the optimal repairing strategy in damaged interacting systems. To test our model, we analyze an example of real interacting financial networks and find evidence of rapid dynamical transitions between well-defined states, in agreement with the predictions of our model.

The properties of conventional materials are inextricably linked with their molecular composition; to make water flow like wine would require changing its molecular identity. To circumvent this restriction, I have contstructed and characterized a two-dimensional metafluid, so-called because its constitutive dynamics are derived not from atoms and molecules but from macroscopic, chaotic surface waves excited on a vertically agitated fluid. Unlike in conventional fluids, the viscosity and temperature of this metafluid are independantly tunable. Despite this unconventional property, our system is surprisingly consistent with equilibrium thermodynamics, despite being constructed from macroscopic, non-equilibrium elements. As a programmable material, our metafluid represents a new platform on which to study complex phenomena such as self-assembly and pattern formation. We demonstrate one such application in our study of short-chain polymer analogs embedded in our system.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:32:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-04-15Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:02:29Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 sa_fl_dr_guara.pdf: 959483 bytes, checksum: c87343310d81c08c7b1efe7c7172b38c (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / No limite termodinâmico, os zeros da função de partição de modelos magnéticos de spins em muitos casos formam curvas contínuas no plano complexo de u, onde u=eH/KT, com H sendo o campo magnético externo. Quando a temperatura do sistema for maior que uma temperatura crítica (T>Tcr), os zeros ui da função de partição, tenderão a se acumular nas extremidades uE de tais curvas. A densidade llinear de zeros diverge com uma lei de potência p(u) ~{u-uE}, onde o expoente define uma classe de universalidade que depende somente da dimensão do espaço. O ponto crític u=uE é conhecido com singularidade de Yang-Lee. para modelos unidimensionais em geral o= -1/2 quando a matriz de transferência apresentar tripla degenerescência de seus auto valores (condição necessária, mas não suficiente), a densidade dos zeros p poderá divergi com o =-2/3. Neste trabalho, nós prevemos analiticamente a existência desse novo comportamento crítico para o modelo de Ising de spin 1/2 com interações de segundo vizinhos (modelo ANNNI) e para o modelo de Blume-Emery-Griffiths e confirmamos numericamente esse fato através de calculo numérico dos zeros com alta precisão. Verificamos a existência do novo comportamento crítico para os zeros no plano complexo de outros acoplamentos da hamiltoniana além do campo magnético. Encontramos também o- -2/3 para os modelos de spins multidimensionais sobre anéis conexos e desconexos. Especulamos que uma versão tricrítica da singularidade de Yang-Lee possa estar por trás de um resultado anômalo para o expoente o obtido na literatura a partir de medições da magnetização a baixa temperatura no FeCl2 / The partition function zeros of magnetic spin models usually form continuos curves on the complex u-plane above the critical temperatur (T>Ter), where u= eH/Kt and H is the exeternal magnetic field. The zeros ui, tend to accumulate at the edges of the zeros curves. The linear density at the edges diverges as a power law [u-uE], where the exponent o defines a universality class, wich depends only on the space dimension. For the one-dimensional models o= -1/2, but when we have the triple degeneracy of the transfer matriz eigenvalues (necessary but not sufficient condition), the linear density can diverge with 0= -2/3. In this work, we analytically predict the new critical behavior for the spin 1/2 ANNNI (axial-nest-to nearest-neighbor-Ising) model and Blume-Emery-Griffiths model and we numerically confirm the existence of the new dritical behavior with o=-2/3. In order to reinforce the exixtence of the new universality class, we verify the new critical behavior on the complex magnetic field plane and on the complex plane of other couplings in the Hamiltonian. We have found the new behavior o =-2/3 also for spin models in a connected and non-connected rings. We speculate that the tricritical version of the Yang-Lee edge singularity might explain some anomalous experimental result for the exponent o obtained in the literatur from magnetisation data at low temperatures in the FeCl2

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:32:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-06-14Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:02:31Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 tilles_pfc_dr_ift.pdf: 2334716 bytes, checksum: 3a2abe6e3ff580d1fdaeb70e51080beb (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Este texto é dedicado ao estudo do fenômeno de sincronização no modelo de Kuramoto. Na primeira parte o foco reside na formulação original do modelo no limite termodinâmico de infinitos osciladores e na descrição da transição para a sincronização e estabilidade das soluções em sistemas com número finito de elementos. Mostra-se também que o acoplamento crítico de sincronização 'K IND s' é determinado por um par de equações, e a solução para um caso especial com simetria na configuração de frequências naturais é obtida de forma perturbativa. A segunda parte do texto é focada na descrição do modelo de Kuramoto com acoplamento local em 1 dimensão com condições periódicas de contorno. A estrutura de árvores de sincronização média é descrita, onde ocorrem transições entre regimes caóticos e periódicos dos movimentos individuais dos osciladores. A iminência da sincronização é explorada através uma série de aproximações que mostram o comportamento crítico característico de uma bifurcação sela-nó responsável pela sincronização. A partir da definição de uma função na região sincronizada é mostrado que o acoplamento crítico de sincronização é obtido exatamente através da minimização dessa função. Através de uma sequência de exemplos de configurações com simetria é mostrado que a região sincronizada do sistema apresenta uma estrutura de múltiplas soluções estáveis, sendo a sua caracterização, análise de estabilidade e descrição das bifurcações realizada para o caso com frequências aleatórias arbitrariamente distribuídas / This text is devoted to the study of the synchronization phenomena in the Kuramoto model. In its first part the focus lies on its original formulation of infinitely many oscillators and on the description of the synchronization transition and solutions’ stability for systems with a finite number of elements. It is shown that a pair of equations characterize the critical synchronization coupling Ks, and the solution for a special case with symmetry on its natural frequencies configuration is obtained in a perturbatively way. The second part of the text is focused on the 1-dimensional Kuramoto model with periodic boundary conditions. The synchronization tree structure is described, where it is observed several transitions between chaotic and periodic regimes among the individual oscillators. The onset on synchronization is explored through a series of approximations that show the characteristic critical behavior of a saddle node bifurcation, which is responsible for the synchronization. By defining a function on the synchronized region it is shown that the critical synchronization coupling is exactly determined by the function’s minimization process. Through a sequence of examples with symmetry on its configurations it is shown that the synchronized region presents a structure of multiple stable solutions. Its complete characterization, stability analysis and bifurcations’ description is carried through for the case with randomly distributed natural frequencies

Weigh scaling is a method of estimating the total volume of timber harvested from a given region. The implementation of statistical sampling techniques in weigh scaling is described, along with related issues. A review of ratio estimators, along with variance estimators of the classical ratio estimator is conducted. The estimation of the variance of the estimated total volume is considered using jackknife- and bootstrap-based variance estimators. Weighted versions of the jackknife and bootstrap variance estimators are derived using influence functions and Fisher Information matrices. Empirical studies of analytic and resampling-based variance estimators are conducted, with particular emphasis on small sample properties and on robustness with respect to both the homoscedastic variance and zero-intercept population characteristics. With a squared error loss function, the resampling-based variance estimators are shown to perform very well at all sample sizes in finite populations with normally distributed errors. These estimators are found to have small negative biases for small sample sizes and to be robust with respect to heteroscedasticity. / Science, Faculty of / Statistics, Department of / Graduate