All issues

This paper considers the integrated approach to modeling the dynamics of genetic structure and the number of natural population. A set of dynamic models with different types of natural selection is used to describe a possible mechanism for the fixing of a genetic diversity in size of the litter in coastal, continental and farmed populations of arctic fox (Alopex lagopus, Canidae, Carnivora) observed now. The most interesting results have been obtained with the model of population consisting of two stages of development. At that with the frame of this model a dynamics of population genetic structure on genotypes was analyzed to consider different reproductive abilities and fitnesses of pups on the early stage of lifecycle which defined by the single diallelic gene. This model allows to receive a monomorphism for coastal populations of arctic fox, where food resources are practically constant. As well the model allows polymorphism with cyclical fluctuations in the number and frequency of the gene in the continental populations due to regular fluctuating of rodent number, the major component of its food. In farmed populations by selective selection carried out by farmers to increase the reproductive success, this gene is a pleiotropic one (i. e., determining the survival rate of individuals both early and late stages of their life cycle); so an application of appropriate model (with the selection of pleiotropic gene) allows to get an adequate rate of elimination for small litters allele.

Finding the global minimum of a nonconvex function is one of the key and most difficult problems of the modern optimization. In this paper we consider special classes of nonconvex problems which have a clear and distinct global minimum.

In the first part of the paper we consider two classes of «good» nonconvex functions, which can be bounded below and above by a parabolic function. This class of problems has not been widely studied in the literature, although it is rather interesting from an applied point of view. Moreover, for such problems first-order and higher-order methods may be completely ineffective in finding a global minimum. This is due to the fact that the function may oscillate heavily or may be very noisy. Therefore, our new methods use only zero-order information and are based on grid search. The size and fineness of this grid, and hence the guarantee of convergence speed and oracle complexity, depend on the «goodness» of the problem. In particular, we show that if the function is bounded by fairly close parabolic functions, then the complexity is independent of the dimension of the problem. We show that our new methods converge with a linear convergence rate $\log(1/\varepsilon)$ to a global minimum on the cube.

In the second part of the paper, we consider the nonconvex optimization problem from a different angle. We assume that the target minimizing function is the sum of the convex quadratic problem and a nonconvex «noise» function proportional to the distance to the global solution. Considering functions with such noise assumptions for zero-order methods is new in the literature. For such a problem, we use the classical gradient-free approach with gradient approximation through finite differences. We show how the convergence analysis for our problems can be reduced to the standard analysis for convex optimization problems. In particular, we achieve a linear convergence rate for such problems as well.

Experimental results confirm the efficiency and practical applicability of all the obtained methods.

The work is devoted to the development of a computational algorithm of the Cartesian grid method for studying the interaction of a shock wave with moving bodies with a piecewise linear boundary. The interest in such problems is connected with direct numerical simulation of two-phase media flows. The effect of the particle shape can be important in the problem of dust layer dispersion behind a passing shock wave. Experimental data on the coefficient of aerodynamic drag of non-spherical particles are practically absent.

Mathematical model is based on the two-dimensional Euler equations, which are solved in a region with varying boundaries. The defining system of equations is integrated using an explicit scheme and the Cartesian grid method. The computational algorithm at the time integration step includes: determining the step value, calculating the dynamics of the body movement (determining the force and moment acting on the body; determining the linear and angular velocities of the body; calculating the new coordinates of the body), calculating the gas parameters. At each time step, all cells are divided into two classes – external (inside the body or intersected by its boundaries) and internal (completely filled with gas). The solution of the Euler equations is constructed only in the internal ones. The main difficulty is the calculation of the numerical flux through the edges common to the internal and external cells intersected by the moving boundaries of the bodies. To calculate this flux, we use a two-wave approximation for solving the Riemann problem and the Steger-Warming scheme. A detailed description of the numerical algorithm is presented.

The efficiency of the algorithm is demonstrated on the problem of lifting a cylinder with a base in the form of a circle, ellipse and rectangle behind a passing shock wave. A circular cylinder test was considered in many papers devoted to the immersed boundary methods development. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of the trajectory of the cylinder center mass is carried out on the basis of comparison with the results of simulations presented in eight other works. For a cylinder with a base in the form of an ellipse and a rectangle, a satisfactory agreement was obtained on the dynamics of its movement and rotation in comparison with the available few literary sources. Grid convergence of the results is investigated for the rectangle. It is shown that the relative error of mass conservation law fulfillment decreases with a linear rate.

The quasistatic deformation problem for shape memory alloys is reviewed within the phenomenological mechanics of solids without microphysics analysis. The phenomenological approach is based on comparison of two material deformation diagrams. The first diagram corresponds to the active proportional loading when the alloy behaves as an ideal elastoplastic material; the residual strain is observed after unloading. The second diagram is relevant to the case when the deformed sample is heated to a certain temperature for each alloy. The initial shape is restored: the reverse distortion matches deformations on the first diagram, except for the sign. Because the first step of distortion can be described with the variational principle, for which the existence of the generalized solutions is proved under arbitrary loading, it becomes clear how to explain the reverse distortion within the slightly modified theory of plasticity. The simply connected surface of loading needs to be replaced with the doubly connected one, and the variational principle needs to be updated with two laws of thermodynamics and the principle of orthogonality for thermodynamic forces and streams. In this case it is not difficult to prove the existence of solutions either. The successful application of the theory of plasticity under the constant temperature causes the need to obtain a similar result for a more general case of variable external forces and temperatures. The paper studies the ideal elastoplastic von Mises model at linear strain rates. Taking into account hardening and arbitrary loading surface does not cause any additional difficulties.

The extended variational principle of the Reissner type is defined. Together with the laws of thermal plasticity it enables to prove the existence of the generalized solutions for three-dimensional bodies made of shape memory materials. The main issue to resolve is a challenge to choose a functional space for the rates and deformations of the continuum points. The space of bounded deformation, which is the main instrument of the mathematical theory of plasticity, serves this purpose in the paper. The proving process shows that the choice of the functional spaces used in the paper is not the only one. The study of other possible problem settings for the extended variational principle and search for regularity of generalized solutions seem an interesting challenge for future research.

We consider an application of the Message Passing Interface (MPI) technology for parallelization of the program code which solves equation of the linear elasticity theory. The solution of this equation describes the propagation of elastic waves in demormable rigid bodies. The solution of such direct problem of seismic wave propagation is of interest in seismics and geophysics. Our implementation of solver uses grid-characteristic method to make simulations. We consider technique to reduce time of communication between MPI processes during the simulation. This is important when it is necessary to conduct modeling in complex problem formulations, and still maintain the high level of parallelism effectiveness, even when thousands of processes are used. A solution of the problem of effective communication is extremely important when several computational grids with arbirtrary geometry of contacts between them are used in the calculation. The complexity of this task increases if an independent distribution of the grid nodes between processes is allowed. In this paper, a generalized approach is developed for processing contact conditions in terms of nodes reinterpolation from a given section of one grid to a certain area of the second grid. An efficient way of parallelization and establishing effective interprocess communications is proposed. For provided example problems we provide wave fileds and seismograms for both 2D and 3D formulations. It is shown that the algorithm can be realized both on Cartesian and on structured (curvilinear) computational grids. The considered statements demonstrate the possibility of carrying out calculations taking into account the surface topographies and curvilinear geometry of curvilinear contacts between the geological layers. Application of curvilinear grids allows to obtain more accurate results than when calculating only using Cartesian grids. The resulting parallelization efficiency is almost 100% up to 4096 processes (we used 128 processes as a basis to find efficiency). With number of processes larger than 4096, an expected gradual decrease in efficiency is observed. The rate of decline is not great, so at 16384 processes the parallelization efficiency remains at 80%.

Bistability is a fundamental property of nonlinear systems and is found in many applied and theoretical studies of biological systems (populations and communities). In the simplest case it is expressed in the coexistence of diametrically opposed alternative stable equilibrium states of the system, and which of them will be achieved depends on the initial conditions. Bistability in simple models can lead to quad-stability as models become more complex, for example, when adding genetic, age and spatial structure. This occurs in different models from completely different subject area and leads to very interesting, often counterintuitive conclusions. In this article, we review such situations. The paper deals with bifurcations leading to bi- and quad-stability in mathematical models of the following biological objects. The first one is the system of two populations coupled by migration and under the action of natural selection, in which all genetic diversity is associated with a single diallelic locus with a significant difference in fitness for homo- and heterozygotes. The second is the system of two limited populations described by the Bazykin model or the Ricker model and coupled by migration. The third is a population with two age stages and density-dependent regulation of birth rate which is determined either only by population density, or additionally depends on the genetic structure of adjacent generations. We found that all these models have similar scenarios for the birth of equilibrium states that correspond to the formation of spatiotemporal inhomogeneity or to the differentiation by phenotypes of individuals from different age stages. Such inhomogeneity is a consequence of local bistability and appears as a result of a combination of pitchfork bifurcation (period doubling) and saddle-node bifurcation.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused increased interest in mathematical models of the epidemic process, since only statistical analysis of morbidity does not allow medium-term forecasting in a rapidly changing situation.

Among the specific features of COVID-19 that need to be taken into account in mathematical models are the heterogeneity of the pathogen, repeated changes in the dominant variant of SARS-CoV-2, and the relative short duration of post-infectious immunity.

In this regard, solutions to a system of differential equations for a SIR class model with a heterogeneous duration of post-infectious immunity were analytically studied, and numerical calculations were carried out for the dynamics of the system with an average duration of post-infectious immunity of the order of a year.

For a SIR class model with a heterogeneous duration of post-infectious immunity, it was proven that any solution can be continued indefinitely in time in a positive direction without leaving the domain of definition of the system.

For the contact number $R_0 \leqslant 1$, all solutions tend to a single trivial stationary solution with a zero share of infected people, and for $R_0 > 1$, in addition to the trivial solution, there is also a non-trivial stationary solution with non-zero shares of infected and susceptible people. The existence and uniqueness of a non-trivial stationary solution for $R_0 > 1$ was proven, and it was also proven that it is a global attractor.

Also, for several variants of heterogeneity, the eigenvalues of the rate of exponential convergence of small deviations from a nontrivial stationary solution were calculated.

It was found that for contact number values corresponding to COVID-19, the phase trajectory has the form of a twisting spiral with a period length of the order of a year.

This corresponds to the real dynamics of the incidence of COVID-19, in which, after several months of increasing incidence, a period of falling begins. At the same time, a second wave of incidence of a smaller amplitude, as predicted by the model, was not observed, since during 2020–2023, approximately every six months, a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 appeared, which was more infectious than the previous one, as a result of which the new variant replaced the previous one and became dominant.

The most part of biological tasks coincide with temperature areas, where quantum and classical effects are equivalent, or the classical one is dominating. The extent of influence of quantum or classical effect was considered in the work in application to one of the most significant problems of biological activity: particle transition through non-stationary barriers. It is interesting that the results obtained using different approaches, quantum and classical, are the same. It seems that the particle dynamics is characterized by non-coherent relaxation with rate of diffusion.

A possible conformational change, which accompanies electron tranport in Rb. sphaeroides photosynthetic reaction center (RC), was studied using quantum-chemical approach. A kinetic model which takes into account two conformational states of RC is proposed. The model quantitatively describes experimental temperature dependencies of recombination reaction rate P⁺Q_A^- → PQ_A. Quantum-chemical modeling of primary quinone (Q_A) binding site permits one to propose a minor shift of Q_A as a conformational change of interest. The shift is accompanied by break of a hydrogen bond between 4–C=O group of Q_A and histidine M²¹⁹, and formation of a new hydrogen bond between Q_A and hydroxyl group of threonine M²²². Characteristics of this conformational change were obtained from quantum-chemical calculations and match parameters of kinetic model in qualitative fashion.

The paper proposes a mathematical model for the therapy of glioma, taking into account the blood-brain barrier, radiotherapy and antibody therapy. The parameters were estimated from experimental data and the evaluation of the effect of parameter values on the effectiveness of treatment and the prognosis of the disease were obtained. The possible variants of sequential use of radiotherapy and the effect of antibodies have been explored. The combined use of radiotherapy with intravenous administration of $mab$ $Cx43$ leads to a potentiation of the therapeutic effect in glioma.

Radiotherapy must precede chemotherapy, as radio exposure reduces the barrier function of endothelial cells. Endothelial cells of the brain vessels fit tightly to each other. Between their walls are formed so-called tight contacts, whose role in the provision of BBB is that they prevent the penetration into the brain tissue of various undesirable substances from the bloodstream. Dense contacts between endothelial cells block the intercellular passive transport.

The mathematical model consists of a continuous part and a discrete one. Experimental data on the volume of glioma show the following interesting dynamics: after cessation of radio exposure, tumor growth does not resume immediately, but there is some time interval during which glioma does not grow. Glioma cells are divided into two groups. The first group is living cells that divide as fast as possible. The second group is cells affected by radiation. As a measure of the health of the blood-brain barrier system, the ratios of the number of BBB cells at the current moment to the number of cells at rest, that is, on average healthy state, are chosen.

The continuous part of the model includes a description of the division of both types of glioma cells, the recovery of BBB cells, and the dynamics of the drug. Reducing the number of well-functioning BBB cells facilitates the penetration of the drug to brain cells, that is, enhances the action of the drug. At the same time, the rate of division of glioma cells does not increase, since it is limited not by the deficiency of nutrients available to cells, but by the internal mechanisms of the cell. The discrete part of the mathematical model includes the operator of radio interaction, which is applied to the indicator of BBB and to glial cells.

Within the framework of the mathematical model of treatment of a cancer tumor (glioma), the problem of optimal control with phase constraints is solved. The patient’s condition is described by two variables: the volume of the tumor and the condition of the BBB. The phase constraints delineate a certain area in the space of these indicators, which we call the survival area. Our task is to find such treatment strategies that minimize the time of treatment, maximize the patient’s rest time, and at the same time allow state indicators not to exceed the permitted limits. Since the task of survival is to maximize the patient’s lifespan, it is precisely such treatment strategies that return the indicators to their original position (and we see periodic trajectories on the graphs). Periodic trajectories indicate that the deadly disease is translated into a chronic one.