Specifying a prior distribution for the large number of parameters in the linear statistical model is a difficult step in the Bayesian approach to the design and analysis of experiments. Here we address this difficulty by proposing the use of functional priors and then by working out important...

This dissertation consists of five independent projects. In each project, a novelstatistical method was developed to address a practical problem encountered in genomiccontexts. For example, we considered testing for constant nonparametric effectsin a general semiparametric regression model in...

Even simple, deterministic rules can generate interesting behavior in dynamical systems. This dissertation examines some real world systems for which fairly simple, locally defined rules yield useful or interesting properties in the system as a whole. In particular, we study routing in...