Numerical Analysis of the Chebyshev Collocation Method for Functional Volterra Integral Equations

The collocation method based on Chebyshev basis functions, coupled Picard iterative process, is proposed to solve a functional Volterra integral equation of the second kind. Using the Banach Fixed Point Theorem, we prove theorems on the existence and uniqueness solutions in the L2-norm. We also provide the convergence and stability analysis of the proposed method, which indicates that the numerical errors in the L2-norm decay exponentially, provided that the kernel function is sufficiently smooth. Numerical results are presented and they confirm the theoretical prediction of the exponential rate of convergence.

Exponential stabilty for a Timoshenko system with nonlocal delay

The purpose of this paper is to study the Timoshenko system with nonlocal time-delayed condition. The well-posedness is proved by Hille-Yosida theorem. Exploring the dissipative properties of the linear operator associated to full damped model, we obtain the exponential stability by using Gearhart-Huang-Prüss theorem.

Behavior of a Model for Feedback-Controlled Reverberating Circuit and Immediate Memory Function

In this work we implement a mathematical model of synaptic transmission connecting neurons in a circuit of reverberating discharges in order to investigate its behavior in front of parametric variations. Using a program developed in C language, we verified if this model would behave as short-term memory circuit. In the simulation, we used neural parametric values from experimental measures in animal. Our model was able to reproduce polysynaptic activity of a neuronal group of rat brain (looping time of about 102 ms). On the other hand, we verified that the inhibitory feedback synapses in circuit with weight varying with presynaptic firing time and frequency is capable to change the circuit characteristic to reproduce the typical behavior of neural circuits. The results suggest that, differently from some recent considerations, the reverberating circuit model has great potential to reproduce the typical behavior of neural circuits and could be seen as a possible model for immediate memory.

On Equilibria Stability in an Epidemiological SIR Model with Recovery-dependent Infection Rate

We consider an epidemiological SIR model with an infection rate depending on the recovered population. We establish sufficient conditions for existence, uniqueness, and stability (local and global) of endemic equilibria and consider also the stability of the disease-free equilibrium. We show that, in contrast with classical SIR models, a system with a recovery-dependent infection rate can have multiple endemic stable equilibria (multistability) and multiple stable and unstable saddle points of equilibria. We establish conditions for the occurrence of these phenomena and illustrate the results with some examples.