1,783 research outputs found
Stability conditions for the non-linear McKendrick equations
Non-linear McKendrick equation with age-dependent mortality and fertility is considered. The author [Appl. Math. Comput. 131 (1) (2002) 107] deduced the characteristic equation whose roots determine the stability. We are able to give sufficient conditions for the stability of the stationary solutions of the system in some cases
A Recipe for State Dependent Distributed Delay Differential Equations
We use the McKendrick equation with variable ageing rate and randomly
distributed maturation time to derive a state dependent distributed delay
differential equation. We show that the resulting delay differential equation
preserves non-negativity of initial conditions and we characterise local
stability of equilibria. By specifying the distribution of maturation age, we
recover state dependent discrete, uniform and gamma distributed delay
differential equations. We show how to reduce the uniform case to a system of
state dependent discrete delay equations and the gamma distributed case to a
system of ordinary differential equations. To illustrate the benefits of these
reductions, we convert previously published transit compartment models into
equivalent distributed delay differential equations.Comment: 28 page
A jump-growth model for predator-prey dynamics: derivation and application to marine ecosystems
This paper investigates the dynamics of biomass in a marine ecosystem. A
stochastic process is defined in which organisms undergo jumps in body size as
they catch and eat smaller organisms. Using a systematic expansion of the
master equation, we derive a deterministic equation for the macroscopic
dynamics, which we call the deterministic jump-growth equation, and a linear
Fokker-Planck equation for the stochastic fluctuations. The McKendrick--von
Foerster equation, used in previous studies, is shown to be a first-order
approximation, appropriate in equilibrium systems where predators are much
larger than their prey. The model has a power-law steady state consistent with
the approximate constancy of mass density in logarithmic intervals of body mass
often observed in marine ecosystems. The behaviours of the stochastic process,
the deterministic jump-growth equation and the McKendrick--von Foerster
equation are compared using numerical methods. The numerical analysis shows two
classes of attractors: steady states and travelling waves.Comment: 27 pages, 4 figures. Final version as published. Only minor change
Transit times and mean ages for nonautonomous and autonomous compartmental systems
We develop a theory for transit times and mean ages for nonautonomous
compartmental systems. Using the McKendrick-von F\"orster equation, we show
that the mean ages of mass in a compartmental system satisfy a linear
nonautonomous ordinary differential equation that is exponentially stable. We
then define a nonautonomous version of transit time as the mean age of mass
leaving the compartmental system at a particular time and show that our
nonautonomous theory generalises the autonomous case. We apply these results to
study a nine-dimensional nonautonomous compartmental system modeling the
terrestrial carbon cycle, which is a modification of the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford
approach (CASA) model, and we demonstrate that the nonautonomous versions of
transit time and mean age differ significantly from the autonomous quantities
when calculated for that model
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