In this dissertation, we derive and implement a new transport-diffusion hybrid algorithm for solving thermal radiative transfer (TRT) problems. Using the method of nonlinear elimination (NLEM), the TRT system of equations can be written in terms of a transport equation with the absence of scattering and a diffusion equation. The...
Spatial-temporal data arises in many applications, for example, environment sciences and disease mapping. This dissertation focuses on Gaussian spatial-temporal data. To make statistical inference for Gaussian spatial-temporal data, we developed a special class of spatial-temporal Gaussian state-space models in which the state vectors are constructed following spatial-temporal Gaussian autoregressions that...
Thermodynamic properties of systems are often investigated computationally. Traditionally, thermal physics simulations are limited by their very small energy ranges and slow convergence. Broad histogram algorithms are a class of Monte Carlo algorithms that can explore an entire energy (and temperature) range in one thermal physics simulation: potentially saving months...
The equation of state for a fluid described by the Weeks-Chandler-Andersen (WCA) potential was solved to determine at what pressures and temperatures the fluid will theoretically freeze. A Monte Carlo (MC) algorithm was used to sample a system of 256 spheres for a set of thermodynamic averages to locate and...
Honeybees and honey combs are good indicators of environmental contamination and can be important for dose calculations. In the event of reactor accidents and nuclear weapon testing, the released radioactive materials are likely to be transported through various environmental pathways as well as by humans and animals, including bees. Due...
Monte Carlo tree search (MCTS) is a class of online planning algorithms for Markov decision processes (MDPs) and related models that has found success in challenging applications. In the online planning approach, the agent makes a decision in the current state by performing a limited forward search over possible futures...
The implementation of advanced hybrid (Monte Carlo/Deterministic) transport methods for realistic test problems has been a challenge due to the overhead efforts associated with interfacing a solution generated by a deterministic solver with a Monte Carlo based radiation transport code. In this work, with the help of Transpire, Inc., a...
In recent years there have been many improvements in the reliability of critical infrastructure systems. Despite these improvements and despite targeted efforts to improve the operation and control of the electric grid, the power systems industry has seen relatively small advances in this regard. For instance, today's power system is...
Monte-Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) is an online-planning algorithm for decision-theoretic planning in domains with stochastic and combinatorial structure. The general applicability of MCTS makes it an ideal first choice to investigate when developing planners for complex applications requiring automated control and planning. The first contribution of this thesis is to...
Free energy is a fundamental property of a thermodynamic system, from which pressure, entropy, and other interesting properties can be derived. It is useful, then, to be able to accurately compute the free energy at various densities and temperatures in a way that can serve as the basis for further...