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Modeling Microbial Dynamics: Effects on Environmental and Human Health
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- Author / Creator
- Kong, Jude D
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This thesis focuses on formulating and analyzing non linear models for microbial dynamics vis-a-vis human and environmental health. Firstly, we develop and investigate a stoichiometric organic matter decomposition model in a chemostat culture that incorporates the dynamics of grazers. This mechanistic biodegradation model lead to reliable and suggestive ecological insights in the preservation and restoration of our fragile ecosystems. Questions we attempt to answer include: (i) What mechanisms allow microbes and resources to persist uniformly or go extinct? (ii) How do grazing and dead microbial residues affect decomposition? (iii) How can the rate of decomposition be maximized or minimized? Secondly, we designed a greenhouse gas biogenesis model, which may be used to (i) predict the volume of greenhouse gasses emitted at any given time in an oil sands tailing pond and an end pit lake, (ii) calculate the time required to produce a given volume of cumulative greenhouse gases from them and (iii) estimate how long it will take for an oil sands tailing pond and an end pit lake to stop emitting greenhouse gases. Lastly, we formulate and analyze directly and indirectly transmitted infectious disease models. The questions aim to answer include: (i) Why are there irregularities in seasonal patterns of outbreaks amongst different countries? (ii) How can we estimate the transmission function of an infectious disease from a given incidence or prevalence data set? (iii) What is the estimated value of the basic reproduction number in affected regions? (iv) How can we control the period and intensity of pathogenic disease outbreaks?
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- Subjects / Keywords
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- Ecological stoichiometry
- Sensitivity analysis
- Time-dependent transmission rate
- Mature fine tailings
- Methane emission
- Immunological threshold
- Shedding
- Contois model
- Inverse problem
- Global stability analysis
- Exponential model
- Environmental health
- Moser model
- Grasers elemental mismatch
- Persistence
- Microbial growth kinetic models
- Vaccinations
- Incidence algorithm
- Naphtha
- Haldane model
- Petroleum hydrocarbons
- End Pit lakes
- Chemostat
- Droop's cell quota model
- Microorganism
- Blackman model
- Infectious diseases
- Measles
- Fourier transform
- Biodegradation
- Prevalence algorithm
- Indirect transmission
- Oil sands
- Monod model
- Bifurcation
- Phage
- Greenhouse gases
- Organic matter
- Logarithmic model
- Cholera
- Paraffinic solvents
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- Graduation date
- Fall 2017
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Doctor of Philosophy
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- License
- This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.