MATH 485/585 - Spring 2005 - Projects
Math 485 modeling projects should be on one of the topics listed below. The articles or web sites given as references must make the basis of each project.
- Modeling rotational position optimization for computer disks (project proposed by O. Yiparaki (IBM))
- Project description:
Rotational Position Optimization (RPO) is a set of similar algorithms whose
goal is to substantially improve hard drive performance. The bulk of the
delay involved in completing a Read or a Write operation on a hard drive is
due to the seek and rotational latency that is required for the head to
move from one position on the spinning disk to the next position. As more
and more Read/Write operations accumulate, these delays add up. RPO reduces
the average delays by rearranging these operations.
This project will involve the use of data from the Performance lab at IBM-Tucson. Students will be introduced to RPO and disk subsystems by IBM engineers and mathematicians and will go through performance data in order to answer questions such as: “Given a hard drive’s technical specifications, what is the average delay expected when RPO is enabled?”, “What is the distribution of these delays?”. This will involve generating an analytic model to approximate or provide exact answers to such questions. - Reading material
- Rotational Position Optimization (RPO) disk scheduling by W.A. Burkhard and J.D. Palmer
- Disk scheduling algorithms based on rotational position by D.M. Jacobson and J. Wilkes
- Rotational-Position-aware real-time disk scheduling using a dynamic active subset (DAS) by L. Reuther and M. Pohlack
- Scheduling algorithms for modern disk drives by B.L. Worthington, G.R. Ganger and Y.N. Patt
- Project description:
Rotational Position Optimization (RPO) is a set of similar algorithms whose
goal is to substantially improve hard drive performance. The bulk of the
delay involved in completing a Read or a Write operation on a hard drive is
due to the seek and rotational latency that is required for the head to
move from one position on the spinning disk to the next position. As more
and more Read/Write operations accumulate, these delays add up. RPO reduces
the average delays by rearranging these operations.
- Modeling predator-prey systems
- Prevention of Population Cycles by Parasite Removal by P.J. Hudson, A.P. Dobson & D. Newborn.
- Modeling excitable systems
- The Belouzov-Zhabotinsky chemical reaction
- Modeling diseases and epidemics
- Modelling how ribavirin improves interferon response rates in hepatitis C virus infection by N.M. Dixit, J.E. Layden-Almer, T.J. Layden, and A.S. Perelson
- Mathematical models for the spread of tuberculosis by C. Castillo-Chavez (from the Biomathematics Seminar page)
- An epidemiological model for West Nile virus: invaton analysis and control applications by M.J. Wonham, T. de-Camino-Beck, M.A. Lewis
- Public health vaccination policies for containing anthrax outbreak by R. Brookmeyer, E. Johnson and R. Bollinger
- Containing Bioterrorist Smallpox by M.E. Halloran, I.M. Longini Jr., A. Nizam & Y. Yang
- Emergent trade-offs and selection for outbreak frequency in spatial epidemics by W.M. van Ballegooijen and M.C. Boerlijst
- Modeling collective behaviors of living organisms
- Complexity, Pattern, and Evolutionary Trade-Off in Animal Aggregation by J.K. Parrish & L. Edelstein-Keshet
- Signalling and motility in Dictyostelium Discoideum
- Modeling traffic flow and car parking
- The physics of traffic, from Physics Web
- Modelling the gap size distribution of parked cars by S. Rawal and G.J. Rogers
- Modeling language learning
- Win-stay, lose-shift in language learning from peers by F.A. Matsen and M.A. Nowak
Math 585 modeling projects may either be on one of the topics listed above or be based on the student's graduate thesis work.