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This paper presents a new mathematical model of vehicular traffic, based on the methods of the generalized kinetic theory, in which the space of microscopic states (position and speed) of the vehicles is genuinely discrete. While in the recent literature discrete-velocity kinetic models of car traffic have already been successfully proposed, this is, to our knowledge, the first attempt to account for all aspects of the physical granularity of car flow within the formalism of the aforesaid mathematical theory. Thanks to a rich but handy structure, the resulting model allows one to easily implement and simulate various realistic scenarios giving rise to characteristic traffic phenomena of practical interest (e.g., queue formation due to roadwork or to a traffic light). Moreover, it is analytically tractable under quite general assumptions, whereby fundamental properties of the solutions can be rigorously proved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The key model for particle populations in statistical mechanics is the Bogolyubov–Born–Green–Kirkwood–Yvon (BBGKY) equation chain. It is derived mainly from the Hamilton ordinary differential equation (ODE) system for the particle states in the position-momentum phase space. Many problems beyond physics or chemistry, for instance, in the living-matter sciences (biology, medicine, ecology, and sociology) make it necessary to extend the notion of a particle to an individual, or active particle. This challenge is met by the generalized kinetic theory. The corresponding dynamics of the state vector can also be regarded to be described by an ODE system. The latter, however, need not be the Hamilton one. The question is how one can derive the analogue of the BBGKY paradigm for the new settings. The present work proposes an answer to this question. It applies a very limited number of carefully selected tools of probability theory and common statistical mechanics. It also uses the well-known feature that the maximum number of the individuals which can mutually interact directly is bounded by a fixed value of a few units. The proposed approach results in the finite system of equations for the reduced many-individual distribution functions thereby eliminating the so-called closure problem inevitable in the BBGKY theory. The thermodynamic-limit assumption is not needed either. The system includes consistently derived terms of all of the basic types known in kinetic theory, in particular, both the “mean-field” and scattering-integral terms, and admits the kinetic equation of the form allowing a direct chemical-reaction reading. The approach can deal with Hamilton’s model which is nonmonogenic. The results may serve as the basis of the generalized kinetic theory and contribute to stochastic mechanics of populations of individuals. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The settling of a polydisperse suspension with a continuous particle size distribution (PSD) can be modeled by an equation of the generalized kinetic theory, which represents the limit case of a system of conservation laws for a finite number of size classes. A previous model of gravity settling of such a mixture is extended to settling in a rotating tube or basket centrifuge. A numerical scheme to approximate solutions of the generalized kinetic equation is defined and simulations are presented, illustrating the formation of sediment and the effect of various centrifuge geometries. In particular, the model predicts the radial variation of the composition of the sediment forming at the outer wall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Homeorhesis is a necessary feature of any living system. If a system does not perform homeorhesis, it is nonliving. The present work develops the sufficient conditions for the ODE model to describe homeorhesis and suggests the structure of the model. The proposed homeorhesis model is fairly general. It treats homeorhesis as piecewise homeostasis. The model can be specified in different ways depending on the specific system and specific purposes of this analysis. An example of the specification is the PhasTraM model, the homeorhesis-aware nonlinear reaction–diffusion model for hyperplastic oncogeny in the previous works of the author. The qualitative agreement of the developed homeorhesis model with the living-system experimental results is noted. The work also shows that the basic mathematical models (such as the active-particle generalized kinetic theory) are substantially more important for the living-matter studies than in the case of nonliving matter. A few directions for future research are suggested as well. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Many features of living systems prevent the application of fundamental statistical mechanics (FSM) to study such systems. The present work focuses on some of these features. After discussing all the basic approaches of FSM, the work formulates an extension of the kinetic theory paradigm (based on the reduced one-particle distribution function) that exhibits all of the living-system properties considered. This extension appears to be a model within the generalized kinetic theory developed by N. Bellomo and his co-authors. In connection with this model, the work also stresses some other features necessary for making the model relevant to living systems. A mathematical formulation of homeorhesis is also derived. An example discussed in the work is a generalized kinetic equation coupled with a probability-density equation representing the varying component content of a living system. The work also suggests a few directions for future research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

As it follows from the results of C. H. Waddigton, F. E. Yates, A. S. Iberall, and other well-known bio-physicists, living fluids cannot be modelled within the frames of the fundamental assumptions of the statistical-mechanics formalism. One has to go beyond them. The present work does it by means of the generalized kinetics (GK), the theory enabling one to allow for the complex stochasticity of internal properties and parameters of the fluid particles. This is one of the key features which distinguish living fluids from the nonliving ones. It creates the disparity of the particles and hence breaks the each-fluid-component-uniformity requirement underlying statistical mechanics. The work deals with the corresponding modification of common kinetic equations which is in line with the GK theory and is the complement to the latter. This complement allows a subdivision of a fluid into the fluid components in terms of nondiscrete probability distributions. The treatment leads to one more equation that describes the above internal parameters. The resulting model is the system of these two equations. It appears to be always nonlinear in case of living fluids. In case of nonliving fluids, the model can be linear. Moreover, the living-fluid model, as a whole, cannot have the thermodynamic equilibrium, only partial equilibriums (such as the motional one) are possible. In contrast to this, in case of nonliving fluids, the thermodynamic equilibrium is, of course, possible. The number of the fluid components is treated as the number of the modes of the particle-characteristic probability density. In so doing, a fairly general extension of the notion of the mode from the one-dimensional case to the multidimensional case is proposed. The work also discusses the variety of the time-scales in a living fluid, the simplest quantum-mechanical equation relevant to living fluids, and the non-equilibrium nonlinear stochastic hydrodynamics option. The latter is simpler than, but conceptually comparable to, stochastic kinetic equations. A few directions for future research are suggested. The work notes a cohesion of mathematical physics and fluid mechanics with the living-fluid-related fields as a complex interdisciplinary problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]