Xu, Ximing2013-11-072013-11-0720082008Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 47-04, page: 2209.http://hdl.handle.net/10393/27657http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-18824In this thesis I study a parametrized definition of gene clusters that permits control over the trade-off between increasing gene content versus conserving gene order within a cluster. This is based on the notion of generalized adjacency, which is the property shared by any two genes no farther apart, in the linear order of a chromosome, than a fixed threshold parameter theta. We discuss the the statistical properties of generalized adjacency ( GA) and derive the limiting probability distribution of the number of GA for random genomes. We also propose a test for gene clusters satisfying the generalized adjacency criterion under the null hypothesis that the genes are ordered randomly along the genomes.39 p.enMathematics.Statistics.Thesis