Analysis of a mathematical model for tumor growth under indirect effect of inhibitors with time delay in proliferation

In this paper, a mathematical model for tumor growth with time delay in proliferation under indirect effect of inhibitor is studied. The delay represents the time taken for cells to undergo mitosis. Nonnegativity of solutions is investigated. The steady-state analysis is presented with respect to the magnitude of the delay. Existence of Hopf bifurcation is proved for some parameter values. Local and global stability of the stationary solutions are proved for other ones. The analysis of the effect of inhibitor's parameters on tumor's growth is presented. The results show that dynamical behavior of solutions of this model is similar to that of solutions for corresponding non-retarded problems for some parameter values.     

The EOQ with defective items and partially permissible delay in payments linked to order quantity derived algebraically

Most researchers established their inventory lot-size models under trade credit financing by assuming that the supplier offers the retailer fully permissible delay in payments and the products received are all non-defective. However, in the real business environment, it often can be observed that the supplier offers the retailer a fully permissible delay in payments only when the order quantity is greater than or equal to the predetermined quantity Q _d . In addition, an arriving order lot usually contains some defective items due to imperfect production processes or other factors. To capture this reality, the paper extends Huang (2007) economic order quantity (EOQ) model with partially permissible delay in payments to consider defective items. We formulate the proposed problem as a profit maximization EOQ model in which the replenishment cycle time is the decision variable. Then we use the arithmetic-geometric mean inequality approach to determine the optimal solution under various situations. An algorithm to obtain the optimal solution is also provided. Finally, the numerical examples and sensitivity analysis are given to illustrate the results.     

A mathematical model of vascular tumour growth and invasion

In this paper, we develop a simple mathematical model of the vascularization and subsequent growth of a solid spherical tumour. The key elements that are encapsulated in this model are the development of a central necrotic core due to the collapse of blood vessels at the centre of the tumour and a peak of tumour cells advancing towards the main blood vessels together with the regression of newly-formed capillaries. Diffusion alone cannot account for all observed behaviour, and hence, we include ‘taxis’ in our model, whereby the movement of the tumour cells is directed towards high blood vessel densities. This means that the growth of the tumour is accompanied by the invasion of the surrounding tissue. Invasion is closely linked to metastasis, whereby tumour cells enter the blood or lymph system and hence secondary tumours or metastases may arise. In the second part of the paper, we conduct a travelling wave analysis on a simplified version of the model and obtain bounds on the parameters such that the solutions are nonnegative and hence biologically relevant and also an estimate for the rate of invasion.     

一个耦合系统自由边界问题的整体古典解

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Quasi-stationary Distributions for a Class of Discrete-time Markov Chains

This paper is concerned with the circumstances under which a discrete-time absorbing Markov chain has a quasi-stationary distribution. We showed in a previous paper that a pure birth-death process with an absorbing bottom state has a quasi-stationary distribution—actually an infinite family of quasi-stationary distributions— if and only if absorption is certain and the chain is geometrically transient. If we widen the setting by allowing absorption in one step (killing) from any state, the two conditions are still necessary, but no longer sufficient. We show that the birth–death-type of behaviour prevails as long as the number of states in which killing can occur is finite. But if there are infinitely many such states, and if the chain is geometrically transient and absorption certain, then there may be 0, 1, or infinitely many quasi-stationary distributions. Examples of each type of behaviour are presented. We also survey and supplement the theory of quasi-stationary distributions for discrete-time Markov chains in general.      

A reaction–diffusion problem with a reaction front

We state a 1D model with quasi-stationary gas flows approximation for a carbon reactivity test in the production of silicon. The mathematical problem we formulate is a non-linear boundary value problem for a third-order ordinary differential equation with non-linear boundary conditions, which are non-local in time. We prove existence and uniqueness of a classical solution and provide a numerical example. © 1998 B. G. Teubner Stuttgart–John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Numerical computation of stability and detection of Hopf bifurcations of steady state solutions of delay differential equations

The characteristic equation of a system of delay differential equations (DDEs) is a nonlinear equation with infinitely many zeros. The stability of a steady state solution of such a DDE system is determined by the number of zeros of this equation with positive real part. We present a numerical algorithm to compute the rightmost, i.e., stability determining, zeros of the characteristic equation. The algorithm is based on the application of subspace iteration on the time integration operator of the system or its variational equations. The computed zeros provide insight into the system’s behaviour, can be used for robust bifurcation detection and for efficient indirect calculation of bifurcation points. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A Mathematical Model of Prostate Tumor Growth Under Hormone Therapy with Mutation Inhibitor

This paper extends Jackson’s model describing the growth of a prostate tumor with hormone therapy to a new one with hypothetical mutation inhibitors. The new model not only considers the mutation by which androgen-dependent (AD) tumor cells mutate into androgen-independent (AI) ones but also introduces inhibition which is assumed to change the mutation rate. The tumor consists of two types of cells (AD and AI) whose proliferation and apoptosis rates are functions of androgen concentration. The mathematical model represents a free-boundary problem for a nonlinear system of parabolic equations, which describe the evolution of the populations of the above two types of tumor cells. The tumor surface is a free boundary, whose velocity is equal to the cell’s velocity there. Global existence and uniqueness of solutions of this model is proved. Furthermore, explicit formulae of tumor volume at any time t are found in androgen-deprived environment under the assumption of radial symmetry, and therefore the dynamics of tumor growth under androgen-deprived therapy could be predicted by these formulae. Qualitative analysis and numerical simulation show that controlling the mutation may improve the effect of hormone therapy or delay a tumor relapse.     

非定常Stokes方程的全离散稳定化有限元格式

本文研究二维非定常Stokes方程全离散稳定化有限元方法.首先给出关于时间向后一步Euler半离散格式,然后直接从该时间半离散格式出发,构造基于两局部高斯积分的稳定化全离散有限元格式,其中空间用P_1—P_1元逼近,证明有限元解的误差估计.本文的研究方法使得理论证明变得更加简便,也是处理非定常Stokes方程的一种新的途径.     

Stability of solutions to a mathematical model for necrotic tumor growth with time delays in proliferation

In this paper, a mathematical model for a solid avascular tumor growth is studied. The model describes tumor growth with a necrotic core and a time delay in proliferation process. The model was proposed by Byrne and Chaplain, and was studied by M. Bodnar and U. Fory? (see [2]). Sufficient conditions which guarantee existence, uniqueness and stability of steady state are given. The results show that the dynamical behavior of the solutions of the model is similar to that of the solutions for the corresponding non-retarded problem under some assumptions. Our results partially improve the corresponding results given by M. Bodnar and U. Fory?. The results make the research for this model more perfect.     

Hopf bifurcations in a reaction-diffusion population model with delay effect

A reaction-diffusion population model with a general time-delayed growth rate per capita is considered. The growth rate per capita can be logistic or weak Allee effect type. From a careful analysis of the characteristic equation, the stability of the positive steady state solution and the existence of forward Hopf bifurcation from the positive steady state solution are obtained via the implicit function theorem, where the time delay is used as the bifurcation parameter. The general results are applied to a “food-limited” population model with diffusion and delay effects as well as a weak Allee effect population model.     

A dynamic viscoelastic contact problem with normal compliance,finite penetration and nonmonotone slip rate dependent friction

We consider a mathematical model which describes the dynamic evolution of a viscoelastic body in frictional contact with an obstacle. The contact is modelled with normal compliance and unilateral constraint, associated to a rate slip-dependent version of Coulomb’s law of dry friction. In order to approximate the contact conditions, we consider a regularized problem wherein the contact is modelled by a standard normal compliance condition without finite penetrations. For each problem, we derive a variational formulation and an existence result of the weak solution of the regularized problem is obtained. Next, we prove the convergence of the weak solution of the regularized problem to the weak solution of the initial nonregularized problem. Then, we introduce a fully discrete approximation of the variational problem based on a finite element method and on a second order time integration scheme. The solution of the resulting nonsmooth and nonconvex frictional contact problems is presented, based on approximation by a sequence of nonsmooth convex programming problems. Finally, some numerical simulations are provided in order to illustrate both the behaviour of the solution related to the frictional contact conditions and the convergence result.     

Modelling of glioblastoma growth by linking a molecular interaction network with an agent-based model

In this work, a mathematical model of malignant brain tumour growth is presented. In particular, the growth of glioblastoma is investigated on the intracellular and intercellular scale.

The Go or Grow principle of tumour cells states that tumour cells either migrate or proliferate. For glioblastoma, microRNA-451 has been shown to be an energy dependent key regulator of the LKB1 (liver kinase B1) and AMPK (AMP-activated protein kinase) pathway that influences the signalling for migration or cell division.

We introduce a mathematical model that reproduces these biological processes. The intracellular molecular interaction network is represented by a system of nine ordinary differential equations. This is put into a multiscale context by applying an agent-based approach: each cell is equipped with this interaction network and additional rules to determine its new phenotype as either migrating, proliferating or quiescent.

The evaluation of the proposed model by comparison of the results with in vitro experiments indicates its validity.     

SOS: A Quantile Estimation Procedure for Dynamic Lot-sizing Problems

This paper reviews some of the current approaches available for computing the demand quantiles required to plan the procurement of items with stochastic non-stationary demands. The paper first describes the stochastic single-item lot-sizing problem considered and then presents a practical solution approach based on a dynamic lot-sizing model. Three methods available to compute demand quantiles are then reviewed and a new procedure based on smoothed order statistics (SOS) is proposed. Finally, the behaviour of these estimation methods, when used to solve single-item lot-sizing problems with non-stationary stochastic demands, is studied by simulation.     

非定常Stokes方程的稳定化全离散有限体积元格式

本文研究非定常Stokes方程的有限体积元方法,给出一种基于两个局部高斯积分的稳定化全离散格式,并给其有限体积元解的误差分析.     

A functional partial differential equation arising in a cell growth model with dispersion

In this paper we solve an initial‐boundary value problem that involves a pde with a nonlocal term. The problem comes from a cell division model where the growth is assumed to be stochastic. The deterministic version of this problem yields a first‐order pde; the stochastic version yields a second‐order parabolic pde. There are no general methods for solving such problems even for the simplest cases owing to the nonlocal term. Although a solution method was devised for the simplest version of the first‐order case, the analysis does not readily extend to the second‐order case. We develop a method for solving the second‐order case and obtain the exact solution in a form that allows us to study the long time asymptotic behaviour of solutions and the impact of the dispersion term. We establish the existence of a large time attracting solution towards which solutions converge exponentially in time. The dispersion term does not appear in the exponential rate of convergence.     

Discrete vs. continuous time implementation of a ring car following model in which overtaking is allowed

Car following models seek to describe the interactions between individual vehicles as they move along a stretch of road where the behaviour of each vehicle is dependent on the motion of the vehicle directly in front and overtaking is typically not permitted. In this work we study a modified version of the traditional car following model in which the vehicles are travelling on a closed loop and the ‘no overtaking’ restriction has been removed. The resulting model is described firstly in terms of a set of coupled continuous time delay differential equations and then in terms of their discrete time equivalents and both forms of the model are then solved numerically to analyse their post transient behaviour under a periodic perturbation. For certain parameter choices both the continuous and discrete forms of the model can exhibit chaotic behaviour but a comparison of the behaviour of the two models over a wide range of parameter values shows that the discretization can dramatically affect the type of post transient behaviour exhibited. This becomes increasingly evident as the time step used in the discrete time model is increased.     

A new predator-prey model with a profitless delay of digestion and impulsive perturbation on the prey

In this paper, we formulate a robust prey-dependent consumption predator-prey model with a delay of digestion and impulsive perturbation on the prey. Using the discrete dynamical system determined by the stroboscopic map, we obtain a ‘predator-eradication’ periodic solution and show that the ‘predator-eradication’ periodic solution is globally attractive when harvesting for the prey is over certain value. Using a new qualitative analysis method for impulsive and delay differential equations, we prove the system is uniformly persistent when harvesting for the prey is under certain value. Further, we show the delay of digestion is a “profitless” time delay. Moreover, we show our theoretical results by numerical simulation. In this paper, the main feature is that we introduce a delay of digestion and impulsive effects into the predator-prey model and exhibit a new mathematical method which is applied to investigate the system which is governed by both impulsive and delay differential equations.     

On a phase-change problem arising from inductive heating

In this paper we study a phase-change problem arising from induction heating. The mathematical model consists of time-harmonic Maxwell’s system in a quasi-stationary field coupled with nonlinear heat conduction. The enthalpy form is used to characterize the phase-change in the material. It is shown that the problem has a global solution. Moreover, it is shown that the solution is unique and regular in one-space dimension even with an unbounded resistivity. This work is supported in part by a NSF grant: DMS-0102261     

Modelling the response of spatially structured tumours to chemotherapy: Drug kinetics

In this paper we consider the effects of a single anticancer agent on the growth of a solid tumour in the context of a simple mathematical model for the latter. The tumour is assumed to comprise a single cell population which reproduces and dies at a rate dependent on the local drug concentration. This causes cell movement and so establishes a velocity field within the tumour. We investigate the action of a single chemotherapeutic drug on the tumour and explore how different drug kinetics and treatment regimes may affect the final treatment outcome. A single infusion of drug is shown to be more effective than repeated short applications. We are able to construct asymptotic solutions to the model in the limit of a small drug degradation rate; these closely match solutions obtained numerically and provide additional insight into the behaviour of the tumour, in particular allowing the prediction of the strength of drug required to achieve tumour regression.