Positivity preserving high order schemes for angiogenesis models

Hypoxy induced angiogenesis processes can be described by coupling an integrodifferential kinetic equation of Fokker–Planck type with a diffusion equation for the angiogenic factor. We propose high order positivity preserving schemes to approximate the marginal tip density by combining an asymptotic reduction with weighted essentially non oscillatory and strong stability preserving time discretization. We capture soliton-like solutions representing blood vessel formation and spread towards hypoxic regions.

Reduced biomechanical models for precision-cut lung-slice stretching experiments

Precision-cut lung-slices (PCLS), in which viable airways embedded within lung parenchyma are stretched or induced to contract, are a widely used ex vivo assay to investigate bronchoconstriction and, more recently, mechanical activation of pro-remodelling cytokines in asthmatic airways. We develop a nonlinear fibre-reinforced biomechanical model accounting for smooth muscle contraction and extracellular matrix strain-stiffening. Through numerical simulation, we describe the stresses and contractile responses of an airway within a PCLS of finite thickness, exposing the importance of smooth muscle contraction on the local stress state within the airway. We then consider two simplifying limits of the model (a membrane representation and an asymptotic reduction in the thin-PCLS-limit), that permit analytical progress. Comparison against numerical solution of the full problem shows that the asymptotic reduction successfully captures the key elements of the full model behaviour. The more tractable reduced model that we develop is suitable to be employed in investigations to elucidate the time-dependent feedback mechanisms linking airway mechanics and cytokine activation in asthma.

Analysis and asymptotic reduction of a bulk-surface reaction-diffusion model of Gierer-Meinhardt type

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>We consider a Gierer-Meinhardt system on a surface coupled with a parabolic PDE in the bulk, the domain confined by this surface. Such a model was recently proposed and analyzed for two-dimensional bulk domains by Gomez, Ward and Wei (<i>SIAM J. Appl. Dyn. Syst. 18</i>, 2019). We prove the well-posedness of the bulk-surface system in arbitrary space dimensions and show that solutions remain uniformly bounded in parabolic Hölder spaces for all times. The cytosolic diffusion is typically much larger than the lateral diffusion on the membrane. This motivates to a corresponding asymptotic reduction, which consists of a nonlocal system on the membrane. We prove the convergence of solutions of the full system towards unique solutions of the reduction.</p>

A Saint-Venant Model for Overland Flows with Precipitation and Recharge

We propose a one-dimensional Saint-Venant (open-channel) model for overland flows, including a water input–output source term modeling recharge via rainfall and infiltration (or exfiltration). We derive the model via asymptotic reduction from the two-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations under the shallow water assumption, with boundary conditions including recharge via ground infiltration and runoff. This new model recovers existing models as special cases, and adds more scope by adding water-mixing friction terms that depend on the rate of water recharge. We propose a novel entropy function and its flux, which are useful in validating the model’s conservation or dissipation properties. Based on this entropy function, we propose a finite volume scheme extending a class of kinetic schemes and provide numerical comparisons with respect to the newly introduced mixing friction coefficient. We also provide a comparison with experimental data.

Reducing Delay in Retrial Queues by Simultaneously Differentiating Service and Retrial Rates

Customer retrials commonly occur in many service systems, such as healthcare, call centers, mobile networks, computer systems, and inventory systems. However, because of their complex nature, retrial queues are often more difficult to analyze than queues without retrials. In “Reducing Delay in Retrial Queues by Simultaneously Differentiating Service and Retrial Rates”, J. Wang, Z. Wang, and Y. Liu develop a service grade differentiation policy for queueing models with customer retrials. They show that the average waiting time can be reduced through strategically allocating the rates of service and retrial times without needing additional service capacity. Counter to the intuition that higher service variability usually yields a larger delay, the authors show that the benefits of this simultaneous service-and-retrial differentiation (SSRD) policy outweigh the impact of the increased service variability. To validate the effectiveness of the new SSRD policy, the authors provide (i) conditions under which SSRD is more beneficial, (ii) closed-form expressions of the optimal policy, (iii) asymptotic reduction of customer delays when the system is in heavy traffic, and (iv) insightful observations/discussions and numerical results.

On a consistent rod theory for a linearized anisotropic elastic material: I. Asymptotic reduction method

An asymptotic reduction method is introduced to construct a rod theory for a linearized general anisotropic elastic material for space deformation. The starting point is Taylor expansions about the central line in rectangular coordinates, and the goal is to eliminate the two cross-section spatial variables in order to obtain a closed system for displacement coefficients. This is first achieved, in an ‘asymptotically inconsistent’ way, by deducing the relations between stress coefficients from a Fourier series for the lateral traction condition and the three-dimensional (3D) field equation in a pointwise manner. The closed system consists of 10 vector unknowns, and further refinements through elaborated calculations are performed to extract bending and torsion terms and to obtain recursive relations for the first- and second-order displacement coefficients. Eventually, a system of four asymptotically consistent rod equations for four unknowns (the three components of the central-line displacement and the twist angle) are obtained. Six physically meaningful boundary conditions at each edge are obtained from the edge term in the 3D virtual work principle, and a one-dimensional rod virtual work principle is also deduced from the weak forms of the rod equations.

Reduced biomechanical models for precision-cut lung-slice stretching experiments

Precision-cut lung-slices (PCLS), in which viable airways embedded within lung parenchyma are stretched or induced to contract, are a widely used ex vivo assay to investigate bronchoconstriction and, more recently, mechanical activation of pro-remodelling cytokines in asthmatic airways. We develop a nonlinear fibre-reinforced biomechanical model accounting for smooth muscle contraction and extracellular matrix strain-stiffening. Through numerical simulation, we describe the stresses and contractile responses of an airway within a PCLS of finite thickness, exposing the importance of smooth muscle contraction on the local stress state within the airway. We then consider two simplifying limits of the model (a membrane representation and an asymptotic reduction in the thin-PCLS-limit), that permit analytical progress. Comparison against numerical solution of the full problem shows that the asymptotic reduction successfully captures the key elements of the full model behaviour. The more tractable reduced model that we develop is suitable to be employed in investigations to elucidate the time-dependent feedback mechanisms linking airway mechanics and cytokine activation in asthma.

Homogenization of Perforated Elastic Structures

The paper is dedicated to the asymptotic behavior of $\varepsilon$ ε -periodically perforated elastic (3-dimensional, plate-like or beam-like) structures as $\varepsilon \to 0$ ε → 0 . In case of plate-like or beam-like structures the asymptotic reduction of dimension from $3D$ 3 D to $2D$ 2 D or $1D$ 1 D respectively takes place. An example of the structure under consideration can be obtained by a periodic repetition of an elementary “flattened” ball or cylinder for plate-like or beam-like structures in such a way that the contact surface between two neighboring balls/cylinders has a non-zero measure. Since the domain occupied by the structure might have a non-Lipschitz boundary, the classical homogenization approach based on the extension cannot be used. Therefore, for obtaining Korn’s inequalities, which are used for the derivation of a priori estimates, we use the approach based on interpolation. In case of plate-like and beam-like structures the proof of Korn’s inequalities is based on the displacement decomposition for a plate or a beam, respectively. In order to pass to the limit as $\varepsilon \to 0$ ε → 0 we use the periodic unfolding method.