Applied Mathematics

Matheuristics: Optimization, Simulation and Control

by Antonio Bolufé

Morphometrical Variations of Malaysian Hipposideros Species. 2012

by M.T. Abdullah, PhD

Read Vijaya et al (2012)

A study on the morphometrical variations among four Malaysian Hipposideros species was conducted using voucher... more A study on the morphometrical variations among four Malaysian Hipposideros species was conducted using voucher specimens deposited in Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) Zoological Museum and the Department of Widlife and National Park (DWNP) Kuala Lumpur. Twenty two individuals from four species of Hipposideros ater, H. bicolor, H. cineraceus and H. dyacorum were morphologically measured, in which a total of 27 linear parameters of body, skull and dentals of each were appropriately recorded. The statistical data were later subjected to discriminant function analysis (DFA) and canonical variate analysis (CVA) using SPSS version 15.0 and unweighted pair-group method average (UPGMA) cluster analysis using Minitab version 14.4. The highest character loadings observed in Function l, Function 2 and Function 3 were the forearm length (FA), the third digit second phalanx length (D3P2L) and the palatal length (PL) with standardised canonical discriminant function coefficient values of 21.910, 5.770 and 5.095, respectively. These three characters were identified as the best diagnostic features for discriminating these closely related species of Hipposideros. Hence, this morphometric approach could be a promising tool as an alternative to the molecular
DNA analysis for identification of Chiroptera species.

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF DOLLAR COST AVERAGING VS. VALUE AVERAGING

by Pawel Stefan Benedykcinski

AUTHOR: PAWEL STEFAN BENEDYKCINSKI and ADVISOR: St. Olaf College ECONOMICS PROF. RICHARD GOEDDE

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF DOLLAR COST AVERAGING VS. VALUE AVERAGING
Pawel S. Benedykcinski and Prof. Rick Goedde... more A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF DOLLAR COST AVERAGING VS. VALUE AVERAGING
Pawel S. Benedykcinski and Prof. Rick Goedde (Advisor)
Economics Department
St. Olaf College
Northfield, MN

My research compares three investment techniques, fixed and variable dollar cost averaging and value averaging to determine if any of the methods yield superior investment returns in the long run. Mutual funds, stocks, and exchange-traded funds were used to test the methods. Value averaging is a formula-based investment technique using a mathematical formula to guide the investment of money into a portfolio over time. With this method investors contribute to their portfolios in such a way that the portfolio balance increases by a set amount, regardless of market fluctuations. Dollar cost averaging invests equal amounts regularly and periodically over specific time periods in a particular investment or portfolio. By doing so more shares are purchased when prices are low, and fewer shares are purchased when prices are high.

After testing many mutual funds, ETFs, and individual stocks, I concluded that Value Averaging yields better Internal Rates of Return than fixed and variable Dollar Cost Averaging. The results also indicate that the three methods provide superior investment returns over extended investment time periods with little increase in risk, even if prices are volatile. One important difference between these three formula investment techniques is that value averaging requires larger sums of money to be invested at regular time intervals than fixed or variable dollar cost averaging do.

Modelling the Acidification of Milk

by Peter Mellalieu

Morison, K., & Mellalieu, P. J. (1989). Modelling the Acidification of Milk. In H. Morton (Ed.), Industrial Problem Solving Consultancy Workshop, Occasional Publications in Mathematics and Statistics. Palmerston North, NZ: Massey University.

Provides illustration of one problem brought to an industrial problem solving consultancy workshop held at Massey... more Provides illustration of one problem brought to an industrial problem solving consultancy workshop held at Massey University. The particular problem concerned the manufacture of casein using the process of acidifying milk using a bacterial colony. For production planning purposes it was desirable to either reduce the variation in total acidification time, or predict when the acidification process would compete. The paper identifies sources of variation, such as milk temperature, milk quality, and initial bacterial concentration. The paper is a comprehensive, practical example of how experimental observations and mathematics can be applied to achieve the objectives of an industrial process.

Exploring Isospectral Spring-Mass Systems with Firefly Algorithm

by Ranjan Ganguli

Dutta, R., Ganguli, R., Mani, V., “Exploring Isospectral Spring-Mass Systems with Firefly Algorithm”, Proceedings of the Royal Society A, Vol. 467, No. 2135, 2011, pp. 3222-3240.

This paper investigates in-line spring–mass systems (An), fixed at one end and free at the other, with n-degrees of... more This paper investigates in-line spring–mass systems (An), fixed at one end and free at the other, with n-degrees of freedom (d.f.). The objective is to find feasible in-line systems (Bn) that are isospectral to a given system. The spring–mass systems, An and Bn, are represented by Jacobi matrices. An error function is developed with the help of the Jacobi matrices An and Bn. The problem of finding the isospectral systems is posed as an optimization problem with the aim of minimizing the error function. The approach for creating isospectral systems uses the fact that the trace of two isospectral Jacobi matrices An and Bn should be identical. A modification is made to the diagonal elements of the
given Jacobi matrix (An), to create the isospectral systems. The optimization problem is solved using the firefly algorithm augmented by a local search procedure. Numerical results are obtained and resulting isospectral systems are shown for 4 d.f. and 10 d.f.
systems.

A Decision Support System for Corporate Planning in the New Zealand Dairy Industry

by Peter Mellalieu

Mellalieu, P. J. (1982). A Decision Support System for Corporate Planning in the New Zealand Dairy Industry, Doctor of Philosophy in mathematics, statistics and operations research,. Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.

A Decision Support System (DSS) is described, the prime objective of which is to aid in the location of new... more A Decision Support System (DSS) is described, the prime objective of which is to aid in the location of new investments in a multi-site, multi-product dairy processing company. A network program model is described which optimises the collection of milk from farm groups (netcells) and the allocation of the milk to a range of final products and byproducts through consideration of product prices, Process costs and transport costs. Constraints include process capacities, overtime capacities, and final product demands. Site dependant product yields are considered through use of an iteration procedure surrounding the network model. This procedure updates estimates of the mean company yield used to set upper and lower arc constraints in the product demand phase of the network model. Milk tanker collection distances are estimated by an expected travelling salesman distance method in conjunction with accurately measured netcell to factory 'bridging distances' and an inter-factory diversion network of road distances. To cope with daily fixed cost charges, a heuristic procedure employing cost relaxations and a number of pre-solution feasibility tests is used. Seasonally varying factors (milk supply, product yield and farms visited per tanker trip) are accommodated by solving the network model for the average day in each month for twelve months, then summing the results multiplied by the number of production days in each month. Implementation as a DSS was facilitated through use of an interactive computer system incorporating computer-generated graphic displays. Applications of the DSS to location planning, industry rationalization and other corporate planning activities are described. Recommendations on the use of the model to identify the feasible set of candidates for location studies are made, and methods for identifying the appropriate timing of investments are considered.
Keyword: Corporate planning; Network program system; Operations research; Corporate support; Dairy processing; Dairying planning; 230117 Operations Research; 230299 Statistics

Fast Inexact Graph Matching with Applications in Statistical Connectomics

by Joshua Vogelstein

"Advice to the Humanities scholar: Do some math!"

by William J. Urban

presentation delivered April 8, 2011

"Advice to the Humanities scholar: Do some math!"

by William J. Urban

presentation delivered April 8, 2011

An interactive planning model for the New Zealand dairy industry

by Peter Mellalieu

Mellalieu, P. J., & Hall, K. R. (1983). An Interactive Planning Model for the New Zealand Dairy Industry. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 34, 521–532. doi:10.1057/jors.1983.119

For subsequent papers related to this work see:
Mellalieu, P. J. (1982). A Decision Support System for Corporate Planning in the New Zealand Dairy Industry (Doctor of Philosophy in mathematics, statistics and operations research). Victoria University of Wellington. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10063/568

Kearney, T. D., Hall, K. R., & Mellalieu, P. J. (1984). Recent Advances in Network Optimization Methods and Applications. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the United Kingdom Operational Research Society. Presented at the Annual Conference of the United Kingdom Operational Research Society. Retrieved from http://unitec.academia.edu/PeterMellalieu/Papers/1569500/Recent_Advances_in_Network_Optimization_Methods_and_Applications

A long-term planning model for a large New Zealand dairy company is described. The model presents an integrated view... more A long-term planning model for a large New Zealand dairy company is described. The model presents an integrated view of the company's operation, including transportation and processing. The model used is based on a network formulation, NETPLAN, developed by the authors to carry out the optimisation. NETPLAN is highly flexible, interactive and provides graphical output of the results. The optimisation maximises net revenue based on product prices, variable process costs and variable transport costs subject to factory capacity, product demand and raw material supply constraints.

'Unweaving the rainbow': The Semantic Organisation of the Lyric

by James Carney

Published in the Journal of Literary Semantics, 2008

Quantification of the effects of vasomotion on mass transport to tissue from axisymmetric blood vessels

by Tharindi Hapuarachchi

A Reduced Multiple Gabor Frame for Local Time Adaptation of the Spectrogram

by Marco Liuni

Rényi information measures for spectral change detection

by Marco Liuni

Sound Analysis and Synthesis Adaptive in Time and Two Frequency Bands

by Marco Liuni

An entropy based method for local time-adaptation of the spectrogram

by Marco Liuni

Infini-rien: infinite utilities in Pascal's wager

by Toby Wardman

MA level submission (long, c.7500 words)

This essay is about Pascal’s wager, a practical argument for belief in God. I start by giving both an informal gloss... more This essay is about Pascal’s wager, a practical argument for belief in God. I start by giving both an informal gloss of the wager and a more detailed exposition of its various formulations. Having thus established a canonical version of the wager, I briefly clear up two common misunderstandings of Pascal’s position. I then proceed to the main theme of my essay: is the wager’s use of the concept of infinite utility problematic? I describe several problems arising from this concept, arguing that each could be solved were it not for the notion of infinite utility. I finish by offering a non-Pascalian version of the wager which avoids such problems by relying only on finite numbers.

On Least Squares Euclidean Distance Matrix Approximation and Completion

by Hunter Brown

A systems algebra and its applications

by Shrisha Rao

IEEE Systems Conference 2008, Montreal, Canada

Since every system of any significant size is created by composition from
smaller sub-systems or components, an... more Since every system of any significant size is created by composition from
smaller sub-systems or components, an attempt is made to analyze the
properties of a system as a function of its composition. Using a
partial ordering of system states based on reachability, system states
are classified in the abstract into bad, hazardous, unsafe and safe
states, and a safety function that separates these is derived.
Two basic types of system composition are described, and an algebra to
describe the safety and fault tolerance of composed systems is obtained.
The set of systems forms monoids under the two composition
operators, and a semiring when both are concerned. A partial
ordering relation between systems is used to compare their
fault-tolerance behaviors.

ANN BASED RIVER STAGE – DISCHARGE MODELLING FOR GODAVARI RIVER, INDIA

by Dinesh Bisht

The present study was carried out to develop river stage discharge modelling using artificial neural network (ANN) and... more The present study was carried out to develop river stage discharge modelling using artificial neural network (ANN) and Linear Multiple Regression (LMR) methods. From the literature and the developed models, it is clear that ANN models for river stagedischarge are more efficient than the other traditional modelling methods. Twenty ANN models were developed in the study in which ten models were one hidden layer models and ten models with two hidden layers. The best five ANN models were selected in each one hidden layer methodology and two hidden layers methodology. Finally five best ANN models out of all the developed ANN models were selected.
The developed models were trained, tested & validated on the data of Godavari River at Rajahmundry, Dhawalaishwaram
Barrage site in Andhra Pradesh. Comparing observed data and the estimated data through developed ANN models, it has been
proved that the developed ANN models show good results and are better than the traditional models, like LMR.