Skip to main content.
Arizona State University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Navigation:

Home

Search





Upcoming Seminars


TUESDAY, November 13, 2007


        GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH SEMINAR           PSA 206   12:00 p.m.
        Rosalyn Rael, University of Arizona
          "Evolutionary Games in Flour Beetle Populations"
        ABSTRACT: Natural selection can be viewed as a game where
        organisms are the players and the best strategies, or most fit
        characteristics, are inherited by subsequent generations. The
        fitnesses of particular traits, however, may depend on
        population densities. Population dynamics and evolution in the
        form of strategy dynamics are combined using evolutionary game
        theory. This modeling technique can be used to study the
        changes in the mean strategies of populations over time. It
        also provides a mechanism for exploring possible evolutionarily
        stable strategies (ESS). In this talk, I will give an
        introduction to evolutionary game theory and discuss
        applications to dynamical flour beetle systems, comparing model
        results to experimental data.
          Bagels, coffee and tea will be served in PSA 206 at 11:50 a.m.

        MATHEMATICS AND COGNITION SEMINAR         ISTB1 401   12:15 p.m.
        Peter Killeen, Department of Psychology
          "The St. Petersburg Paradox at 300: Roots, Ramifications,
          Resolutions and Resolution"
        ABSTRACT: I flip a fair coin until it lands tails, and give you
        2^n dollars ($2, 4, 8,…) where n is the number of flips: 1, 2,
        3, … etc. How much would you pay me for the opportunity to
        play? Answer here: _______.
          The disparity between ideal (optimal?) and real offers has
        constituted a paradox for 300 years. Initial attempts at
        resolution are relevant to the lifeworks of Bentham, Fechner,
        and Tversky. Most are flawed. I offer a resolution based on
        finitary mathematics, or the laws-of-not-so-large-numbers. I
        then apply this framework to other paradoxes, and as well as to
        more quotidian decisions. Bring money.

WEDNESDAY, November 14, 2007


        NUMBER THEORY SEMINAR                       PSH 552   10:40 a.m.
        Alejandra Alvarado, Department of Mathematics and Statistics
          "Integral Arithmetic Progressions on y^2=x^3+k"
        ABSTRACT: Consider elliptic curves of the form y^2=x^3+k over
        the rationals. We will investigate arithmetic progressions on
        these curves, of length three, four and five.

        SOCIETY FOR GRADUATE WOMEN IN MATHEMATICS
        MEETING                                     PSA 230   12:40 p.m.
        Nancy Childress, Department of Mathematics and Statistics
        AGENDA: The Society for Graduate Women in Mathematics invites
        graduate students, faculty members, and advanced undergraduates
        to join a discussion on a variety of issues relevant to women
        in mathematics, statistics, and other sciences. Dr. Nancy
        Childress will be leading the discussion. Please join us for a
        slice of pizza and to share your thoughts and experiences.
          Please e-mail patani@mathpost.asu.edu if you have any
        questions or comments.
                Pizza and drinks will be served at 12:40 p.m.

        COMPRESSIVE SENSING SEMINAR                  ECA 225   4:00 p.m.
          (In cooperation with Department of Electrical Engineering)
        Video Presentation by Emmanuel J. Candès,
                              California Institute of Technology
          "Modern Convex Optimization"
        ABSTRACT: The literature on interior point methods which are
        very efficient numerical algorithms for solving large scale
        convex optimization problems is surveyed. This week's moderator
        will be Hans Mittelmann.

FRIDAY, November 16, 2007


        C*-ALGEBRA SEMINAR                           PSA 307   9:40 a.m.
        Jacob Shotwell, Department of Mathematics and Statistics
          "Higher Order Graph Algebras II"
        ABSTRACT: In this talk, k-graphs and their C*-algebras will be
        introduced. Following the results of Robertson and Sims,
        equivalent conditions for simplicity will be presented for row-
        finite k-graphs without sources.

        DISSERTATION DEFENSE                        PSA 206   10:00 a.m.
        Eric Gehrig, Department of Mathematics and Statistics
          "Hopf Algebras, Projections, and Coordinates of the First
          Kind in Control Theory"
        ABSTRACT: The coordinates of the second kind are the iterated
        integrals in the directed product expansion of Sussman.
        Formulae have been given independently for these coordinates by
        Grossman and Larson, Melancon and Reutenauer, Schützenberger,
        and Sussman. The coordinates from the exponential of an
        infinite sum, due to Rees theorem a Lie series, are the
        coordinates of the first kind. At this time, there is no known
        product analogous to that for the coordinates of the second
        kind. This dissertation uses the canonical projection maps
        defined in terms of the convolution product to motivate the
        definition of adjoint maps that provide information about the
        geometry of the subspace that the coordinates of the first kind
        span. This space is the analogue of the subspaces given by
        Reutenauer in his book on Free Lie Algebras. Further, these
        coordinates are then defined to be the projections of the
        coordinates of the second kind under the adjoint projection
        maps and a formula is given for them. It is then proven that
        the higher powers of the adjoint projection need not actually
        be calculated. The language of combinatorics of words,
        coalgebras, bialgebras, and Hopf algebras primarily is used.

        ALGEBRAIC COMBINATORICS "WORKING" SEMINAR    PSA 302   3:00 p.m.
        Hélène Barcelo, Department of Mathematics and Statistics
          "Associahedra and Mutations"
        ABSTRACT: In the last few years there has been a large number
       of papers devoted to the associahedron and its several
       generalizations. This is in part due to the fact that this
       polyhedron appears in so many contexts. For example, it was
       considered by Penner and Waterman (1993) in the context of
       mathematical biology, where it is used as an idealised model
       for secondary RNA structure. Before this, it was in fact
       introduced by Stasheff (1963) in the context of the theory of
       operads. More recently, it has appeared in the combinatorics
       community as well as in the algebra, geometry and category
       ones. Relations between the associahedron and other
       combinatorial objects include, restricted permutations, lattice
       paths, trees, permutahedron, generalization of the Catalan
       numbers, etc...

MATH BIOLOGY SEMINAR PSA 102 3:40 p.m.

        Raquel Lopez, Department of Mathematics and Statistics
          "Stochasticity in Vaccination"
        ABSTRACT: Fred Brauer (2004) developed a simple deterministic
        SIVS model to analyze vaccine effectivity on populations. His
        model predicted the existence of a backward bifurcation, which
        means that when the model is started with a sufficiently high
        number of infected individuals, the disease can persist even if
        (the mean number of secondary infections caused by a single
        infective introduced into the susceptible population) R0 < 1.
        This opposes the fact that if R0 < 1, there is a disease free
        equilibrium which is asymptotically stable and the disease dies
        out. Therefore, it is very difficult to control the spread of
        any infectious disease in the presence of this type of
        bifurcation. In this work we have considered a stochastic
        version of Brauers model. We will see how our stochastic model
        is related to Brauers deterministic model.

        Danielle Robbins & Daniel Rios-Doria, Department of Mathematics
        and Statistics
          "A Stochastic Model for Cholera Epidemics"
        ABSTRACT: Cholera is a water borne infectious disease that is
        endemic in developing regions. In these regions, data shows
        oscillations in the number of outbreaks, with a larger number
        of cases occurring during the summer season. Deterministic
        models have been studied showing the long-term effects of
        Cholera in a susceptible population do not reflect the
        oscillations in the data of the endemic case of the disease.
          The model exhibits damped oscillations around the endemic
        equilibrium. In this study, we propose a more realistic model
        by altering the previous model to a stochastic one. This
        alternate method allowed us to find parameter regimes that
        reflect sustained oscillatory behavior.

        Alicia Urdapilleta, Department of Mathematics and Statistics
          "Nosocomial Infections R0 a Joke!"
        ABSTRACT: The spread of diseases in hospitals is a considerable
        problem in many regions of the world. Even in countries with
        high standards of hygiene, such as Canada, an estimated number
        of 220,000 infections occur every year, resulting in 8,000
        deaths. Furthermore, intra-hospital transfers are very frequent
        in cities. With the rise of nosocomial infections in hospitals
        and the patient transfers from hospital to hospital, hospitals
        are admitting more than just patients. In this study, we wanted
        to assess the risk of nosocomial infection in these transferred
        patients. If we have a network of hospitals will the disease be
        maintained in the individual hospitals or will it spread
        throughout the network? For network models, the computation of
        the basic reproduction number, R0, becomes a challenge.
        However, we are able to find upper and lower bounds for R0 but
        the bounds are not a good indicator of whether or not the
        disease will persist or die out. A better indicator of the
        overall basic reproductive number is an approximation of the R0
        for the whole system. We obtained the approximation through an
        expansion of the next generation matrix. For the numerical
        simulations we considered a specific network, the star network.
        This network consists of one central hospital (hub) and five
        smaller hospitals (leaf). We ran some simulations which suggest
        that even if the disease is maintained in all hospitals and
        there is intra-hospital transfers, there is a disease emergence
        in the network. This suggests the possibility of some backward
        bifurcation.

                            UPCOMING EVENT
        Monday, November 19, 2007
        NONLINEAR DYNAMICS AND PDE MINI-CONFERENCE
                                                     PSA 206   8:00 a.m.
        Abstracts available at
                  http://math.asu.edu/conferences/ndpc-index.html

        8 a.m.   Welcome Reception
        8:40-9:30 a.m.   Igor Kukavica,
                         University of Southern California
          "Decay Properties of Solutions of the Navier-Stokes Equations"
        9:40-10:30 a.m.  Luan Thach Hoang,
                         University of Minnesota
          "Navier-Stokes Equations: The Normalization Map, Statistical
          Solutions and Fluid Dynamics"
        10:30-11 a.m.    Coffee Break
        11 a.m.-12 p.m.  Pablo Padilla, University of Mexico
          "A Variational Approach to Study Invariant Sets In Dynamical
           Systems"
        12-1:40 p.m.     Lunch
        1:40-2:30 p.m.   Edriss Titi, University of California, Irvine,
                         Weizmann Institute of Science
          "Global Regularity for Three-dimensional Navier-Stokes
           Equations and Other Relevant Geophysical Models"
        3:00 p.m.        Refreshments
        3:40-4:30 p.m.   Alp Eden, Bogazici University (Turkey)
          "Davey-Stewartson Equation Generalized: Global Existence vs.
          Blow-Up of Solutions"
        5:30 p.m.        Dinner
        8:00 p.m.        Reception at department chair's house