A macroscopic study of the Swedish human population

dc.contributor.advisor Jonathan Smith
dc.contributor.advisor Zhijun Wu
dc.contributor.author Zhang, Chaoliang
dc.contributor.department Mathematics
dc.date 2018-08-11T09:54:18.000
dc.date.accessioned 2020-06-30T02:43:28Z
dc.date.available 2020-06-30T02:43:28Z
dc.date.copyright Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 UTC 2010
dc.date.embargo 2012-11-18
dc.date.issued 2010-01-01
dc.description.abstract <p>The thesis research studies the Swedish human population with Smith's macroscopic approach. In demographic statics, a couple of plots are drawn for each time point (period) of the human populations of Sweden and five other countries namely Belgium, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. One plot is for the probability distribution of a random newborn's mother's age. Another is for the net maternity function. These plots can be used to identify past historical information from the agreement and discrepancy of related curves.</p> <p>In demographic kinetics, important macroscopic parameters are tracked over time for the Swedish human population. Entropy, reproductive potential, logarithmic maternity, and generation times T and t are studied as separate parameters. From their trends of changes, important conclusions are drawn. Entropy has the overall trend to decrease. This is the response of the increasing level of human societal organization. Reproductive potential, logarithmic maternity, T, and t also reveal this kind of information. The important results from them are that many extreme points are significant in history.</p> <p>More important results are obtained from the combinations of macroscopic parameters. Two relations concern the (t, u) vector, where t is the logarithmic generation time and u is a standard deviation: (a) u will decrease as t increases, and vice versa, and (b) a proper scaling factor can make the formula t+ku be constant. The first relation holds for the Swedish human population with a brief exception, but does not apply to the U.S. population. The second relation works for the Swedish human population before 1930.</p> <p>Most importantly, intensive cycles are found with the (r, s) vector, where r is the Malthusian parameter, the rate of natural increase, and s is the perturbation, measuring the deviation from Lotka stability. As separate parameters, it is difficult to find patterns from their trajectories. But nearly regular cycles appear in the tracking of the (r, s) vector. Three intensive cycles are found from the Swedish human population and modeled with Kepler's second law. Further investigation shows that intensive cycles exist in most of the human populations under study. Their structures are diverse.</p> <p>The intensive cycles of this kind are thought to be related to human population development. A cycle covers at least four five-year periods or twenty years. This is a relatively long time. In the Leslie matrix model, the maximum eigenvalue represents a long term growth rate. Is there some relation between these intensive cycles of the Swedish human population and their maximum eigenvalues? Explorations are made and appear to be intriguing. The maximum eigenvalue changes at similar steps in each of the terms which correspond to the three intensive cycles. Subdominant eigenvalues have a similar performance, with some exceptions.</p>
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
dc.identifier archive/lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/12550/
dc.identifier.articleid 3555
dc.identifier.contextkey 3475372
dc.identifier.doi https://doi.org/10.31274/etd-180810-4302
dc.identifier.s3bucket isulib-bepress-aws-west
dc.identifier.submissionpath etd/12550
dc.identifier.uri https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/handle/20.500.12876/26739
dc.language.iso en
dc.source.bitstream archive/lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/12550/Zhang_iastate_0097M_11419.pdf|||Fri Jan 14 19:24:14 UTC 2022
dc.subject.disciplines Bioinformatics
dc.subject.disciplines Developmental Biology
dc.subject.disciplines Evolution
dc.subject.keywords intensive cycle
dc.subject.keywords Kepler's second law
dc.subject.keywords Leslie matrix model
dc.subject.keywords population dynamics
dc.subject.keywords Smith's macroscopic approach
dc.subject.keywords the Swedish human population
dc.title A macroscopic study of the Swedish human population
dc.type article
dc.type.genre thesis
dspace.entity.type Publication
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication 82295b2b-0f85-4929-9659-075c93e82c48
thesis.degree.discipline Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
thesis.degree.level thesis
thesis.degree.name Master of Science
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