Search

This paper introduces a novel immuno-eco-epidemiological model of competition in which one of the species is affected by a pathogen. The infected individuals from species one are structured by time since- infection and the within-host dynamics of the pathogen and the immune response is also modelled. A novel feature of the model is the impact of the species two numbers on the ability of species one to mount an immune response. The within-host model has three equilibria: an extinction equilibrium, pathogen-only equilibrium and pathogen and immune response equilibrium which exists if the immune response reproduction number R0 > 1. The extinction equilibrium is always unstable, the pathogen-only equilibrium is stable if R0 < 1, and the coexistence equilibrium is stable whenever it exists. The between-host competition model has six equilibria: an extinction equilibrium, three disease-free equilibria: species one-only equilibrium, species two-only equilibrium and a disease-free species coexistence equilibrium. There are also two disease-present equilibria: species one-only disease equilibrium and disease coexistence equilibrium. The existence and stability of these equilibria are governed by six reproduction numbers. Results show that for a nonfatal disease, the disease coexistence equilibrium is stable whenever it exists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We re-visit the recently published paper on a generalization of the two-sex logistic model by Maxin and Sega [A generalized two-sex logistic model, J. Biol. Dyn. 7(1) (2013), pp. 302–318]. We show that the logistic assumption of a non-increasing birth rate can be replaced by a more general assumption of a non-increasing ratio between the female/male birth and mortality rate. In this note we indicate the changes necessary in the proofs of the theorems in [D. Maxin and L. Sega,A generalized two-sex logistic model, J. Biol. Dyn. 7(1) (2013), pp. 302–318] and discuss several situations where this new assumption is useful. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we propose and analyse a virus dynamics model with humoral immune response including latently infected cells. The incidence rate is given by Beddington–DeAngelis functional response. We have derived two threshold parameters, the basic infection reproduction numberand the humoral immune response activation numberwhich completely determined the basic and global properties of the virus dynamics model. By constructing suitable Lyapunov functions and applying LaSalle's invariance principle we have proven that if, then the infection-free equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable (GAS), if, then the chronic-infection equilibrium without humoral immune response is GAS, and if, then the chronic-infection equilibrium with humoral immune response is globally asymptotically stable. These results are further illustrated by numerical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, an Susceptible-Vaccines-Exposed-Infectious-Recovered model with continuous age-structure in the exposed and infectious classes is investigated. These two ages are assumed to have arbitrary distributions that are represented by age-specific rates leaving the exposed and the infectious classes. We investigate the global dynamics of this model in the sense of basic reproduction number via constructing Lyapunov functions. The asymptotic smoothness of solutions and uniform persistence of the system is shown from reformulating the system as a system of Volterra integral equations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates consequences of vaccine implementation strategies for infectious diseases by a mathematical model. For an infectious disease, the degree of infection may vary widely among the individuals. Reports show that individuals belonging to certain groups possess considerably higher risk to infection. Incorporating this phenomenon into vaccination strategies, the host is categorized into different groups to measure the outcome of the vaccination. A mathematical model is proposed and analysed to evaluate this measure. Our results suggest that vaccinating a group with certain priority may lead to elimination of the disease effectively. The strategy is cost-effective as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses a class of impulsive neural networks with the variable delay and complex deviating arguments. By using Mawhin's continuation theorem of coincidence degree and the Halanay-type inequalities, several sufficient conditions for impulsive neural networks are established for the existence and globally exponential stability of periodic solutions, respectively. Furthermore, the obtained results are applied to some typical impulsive neural network systems as special cases, with a real-life example to show feasibility of our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The release of sterile insects is an environment friendly pest control method used in integrated pest management programmes. Difference or differential equations based on Knipling's model often provide satisfactory qualitative descriptions of pest populations subject to sterile release at relatively high densities with large mating encounter rates, but fail otherwise. In this paper, I derive and explore numerically deterministic population models that include sterile release together with scarce mating encounters in the particular case of species with long lifespan and multiple matings. The differential equations account separately the effects of mating failure due to sterile male release and the frequency of mating encounters. When insects spatial spread is incorporated through diffusion terms, computations reveal the possibility of steady pest persistence in finite size patches. In the presence of density dependence regulation, it is observed that sterile release might contribute to induce sudden suppression of the pest population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we develop a second-order characteristic line scheme for a nonlinear hierarchical juvenile–adult population model of amphibians. The idea of the scheme is not to follow the characteristics from the initial data, but for each time step to find the origins of the grid nodes at the previous time level. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the accuracy of the scheme and its capability to handle solutions with singularity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a two-species hierarchical competition model with a strong Allee effect. The Allee effect is assumed to be caused by predator saturation. Moreover, we assume that there is a ‘silverback’ speciesxthat gets first choice of the resources and where growth is limited by its own intraspecific competition, while the second ‘inferior’ speciesygets whatever is left. Both speciesxandyare assumed to have the property of strong Allee effect. In this paper we determine the impact of the presence of the Allee effect on the global dynamics of both species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates consequences of vaccine implementation strategies for infectious diseases by a mathematical model. For an infectious disease, the degree of infection may vary widely among the individuals. Reports show that individuals belonging to certain groups possess considerably higher risk to infection. Incorporating this phenomenon into vaccination strategies, the host is categorized into different groups to measure the outcome of the vaccination. A mathematical model is proposed and analysed to evaluate this measure. Our results suggest that vaccinating a group with certain priority may lead to elimination of the disease effectively. The strategy is cost-effective as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses a class of impulsive neural networks with the variable delay and complex deviating arguments. By using Mawhin's continuation theorem of coincidence degree and the Halanay-type inequalities, several sufficient conditions for impulsive neural networks are established for the existence and globally exponential stability of periodic solutions, respectively. Furthermore, the obtained results are applied to some typical impulsive neural network systems as special cases, with a real-life example to show feasibility of our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The release of sterile insects is an environment friendly pest control method used in integrated pest management programmes. Difference or differential equations based on Knipling's model often provide satisfactory qualitative descriptions of pest populations subject to sterile release at relatively high densities with large mating encounter rates, but fail otherwise. In this paper, I derive and explore numerically deterministic population models that include sterile release together with scarce mating encounters in the particular case of species with long lifespan and multiple matings. The differential equations account separately the effects of mating failure due to sterile male release and the frequency of mating encounters. When insects spatial spread is incorporated through diffusion terms, computations reveal the possibility of steady pest persistence in finite size patches. In the presence of density dependence regulation, it is observed that sterile release might contribute to induce sudden suppression of the pest population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a two-species hierarchical competition model with a strong Allee effect. The Allee effect is assumed to be caused by predator saturation. Moreover, we assume that there is a 'silverback' species x that gets first choice of the resources and where growth is limited by its own intraspecific competition, while the second 'inferior' species y gets whatever is left. Both species x and y are assumed to have the property of strong Allee effect. In this paper we determine the impact of the presence of the Allee effect on the global dynamics of both species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we develop a second-order characteristic line scheme for a nonlinear hierarchical juvenile- adult population model of amphibians. The idea of the scheme is not to follow the characteristics from the initial data, but for each time step to find the origins of the grid nodes at the previous time level. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the accuracy of the scheme and its capability to handle solutions with singularity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the dynamics behaviour of a stratum of plant–herbivore which is modelled through the followingF(x, y)=(f(x, y),g(x, y)) two-dimensional map with four parameters defined bywherex≥0,y≥0, and the real parametersa, b, r, kare all positive. We will focus on the casea≠b. We study the stability of fixed points and do the analysis of the period-doubling and the Neimark–Sacker bifurcations in a standard way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper studies a periodic and delayed predator–prey system with non-monotonic functional responses and stage structure. In the system, both the predator and prey are divided into immature individuals and mature individuals by two fixed ages. It is assumed that the immature predators cannot attack preys, and the case of the mature predators attacking the immature preys is also ignored. Based on Mawhin's coincidence degree, sufficient conditions are obtained for the existence of two positive periodic solutions of the system. An example is presented to illustrate the feasibility of the main results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider a continuous mathematically tractable model and its discrete analogue for the tumour growth. The model formulation is based on stoichiometric principles considering tumour-immune cell interactions in potassium (K+)-limited environment. Our both continuous and discrete models illustrate ‘cancer immunoediting’ as a dynamic process having all three phases namely elimination, equilibrium and escape. The stoichiometric principles introduced into the model allow us to study its dynamics with the variation in the total potassium in the surrounding of the tumour region. It is found that an increase in the total potassium may help the patient fight the disease for a longer period of time. This result seems to be in line with the protective role of the potassium against the risk of pancreatic cancer as has been reported by Braviet al. [Dietary intake of selected micronutrients and risk of pancreatic cancer: An Italian case-control study, Ann. Oncol. 22 (2011), pp. 202–206]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the global existence and global asymptotic behaviour of positive solutions to a non-autonomous Nicholson's blowflies model with delays. By using a novel approach, sufficient conditions are derived for the existence and global exponential convergence of positive solutions of the model without any restriction on uniform positiveness of the per capita dead rate. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the obtained results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a dynamical model of cell cycles ofncells in a culture in which cells in one specific phase (Sfor signalling) of the cell cycle produce chemical agents that influence the growth/cell cycle progression of cells in another phase (Rfor responsive). In the case that the feedback is negative, it is known that subpopulations of cells tend to become clustered in the cell cycle; while for a positive feedback, all the cells tend to become synchronized. In this paper, we suppose that there is a gap between the two phases. The gap can be thought of as modelling the physical reality of a time delay in the production and action of the signalling agents. We completely analyse the dynamics of this system when the cells are arranged into two cell cycle clusters. We also consider the stability of certain important periodic solutions in which clusters of cells have a cyclic arrangement and there are just enough clusters to allow interactions between them. We find that the inclusion of a small gap does not greatly alter the global dynamics of the system; there are still large open sets of parameters for which clustered solutions are stable. Thus, we add to the evidence that clustering can be a robust phenomenon in biological systems. However, the gap does effect the system by enhancing the stability of the stable clustered solutions. We explain this phenomenon in terms of contraction rates (Floquet exponents) in various invariant subspaces of the system. We conclude that in systems for which these models are reasonable, a delay in signalling is advantageous to the emergence of clustering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we introduce a basic reproduction number for a multi-group SIR model with general relapse distribution and nonlinear incidence rate. We find that basic reproduction number plays the role of a key threshold in establishing the global dynamics of the model. By means of appropriate Lyapunov functionals, a subtle grouping technique in estimating the derivatives of Lyapunov functionals guided by graph-theoretical approach and LaSalle invariance principle, it is proven that if it is less than or equal to one, the disease-free equilibrium is globally stable and the disease dies out; whereas if it is larger than one, some sufficient condition is obtained in ensuring that there is a unique endemic equilibrium which is globally stable and thus the disease persists in the population. Furthermore, our results suggest that general relapse distribution are not the reason of sustained oscillations. Biologically, our model might be realistic for sexually transmitted diseases, such as Herpes, Condyloma acuminatum, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we study the two-phase size-structured population model with infinite states-at-birth and distributed delay in birth process. The model distinguishes individuals by two different status: the ‘reproductive’ stage and the ‘nonreproductive’ stage. We establish the well-posedness for this model and show that the solution of this model exhibits asynchronous exponential growth by means of semigroups. We also consider a special case in which the individuals in the ‘reproductive’ stage and the ‘nonreproductive’ stage have the same growth rates and give a comparison between this two-phase model with the classical one-phase model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, on the basis of the simplified two-dimensional virus infection dynamics model, we propose two extended models that aim at incorporating the influence of activation-induced apoptosis which directly affects the population of uninfected cells. The theoretical analysis shows that increasing apoptosis plays a positive role in control of virus infection. However, after being included the third population of cytotoxic T lymphocytes immune response in HIV-infected patients, it shows that depending on intensity of the apoptosis of healthy cells, the apoptosis can either promote or comfort the long-term evolution of HIV infection. Further, the discrete-time delay of apoptosis is incorporated into the pervious model. Stability switching occurs as the time delay in apoptosis increases. Numerical simulations are performed to illustrate the theoretical results and display the different impacts of a delay in apoptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]