Comparing System Dynamics and Agent-Based Simulation for Tumour Growth and its Interactions with Effector Cells

There is little research concerning comparisons and combination of System Dynamics Simulation (SDS) and Agent Based Simulation (ABS). ABS is a paradigm used in many levels of abstraction, including those levels covered by SDS. We believe that the establishment of frameworks for the choice between these two simulation approaches would contribute to the simulation research. Hence, our work aims for the establishment of directions for the choice between SDS and ABS approaches for immune system-related problems. Previously, we compared the use of ABS and SDS for modelling agents' behaviour in an environment with nomovement or interactions between these agents. We concluded that for these types of agents it is preferable to use SDS, as it takes up less computational resources and produces the same results as those obtained by the ABS model. In order to move this research forward, our next research question is: if we introduce interactions between these agents will SDS still be the most appropriate paradigm to be used? To answer this question for immune system simulation problems, we will use, as case studies, models involving interactions between tumour cells and immune effector cells. Experiments show that there are cases where SDS and ABS can not be used interchangeably, and therefore, their comparison is not straightforward.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, International Summer Computer Simulation Conference 201

A Systemic Dynamics Model of Text Production

This paper introduces a quantitative model of text as it unfolds in time. The model conceptualizes text as a functional unit of language. This organization can be difficult to identify because it forms complex patterns of linguistic laws, probability and dynamics. These patterns are covert configurations and need complex methods to be investigated. One such method is to draw from qualitative frameworks derived from the quantitative properties of language. Previous studies (Plum & Cowling, 1987; Rybicki & Eder, 2011; Zhang & Liu, 2017) have shown that covert configurations can be obtained through qualitative frameworks. When dynamics is considered, however, a model of text production including the variable time is needed. This paper therefore aims at addressing this research gap by proposing a dynamics model of text unfolding. It draws from systemic theory and models its categories quantitatively. Time is introduced as variation of choice. The model is applied to a sample of text. Results show how individual choices contribute to text unfolding – describing the amount of meanings at any given moment in text time. In addition, the dynamic accumulation indicates core characteristics of a text, which can be further explored in text behavior and typology

System Dynamics Modelling of the Processes Involving the Maintenance of the Naive T Cell Repertoire

The study of immune system aging, i.e. immunosenescence, is a relatively new research topic. It deals with understanding the processes of immunodegradation that indicate signs of functionality loss possibly leading to death. Even though it is not possible to prevent immunosenescence, there is great benefit in comprehending its causes, which may help to reverse some of the damage done and thus improve life expectancy. One of the main factors influencing the process of immunosenescence is the number and phenotypical variety of naive T cells in an individual. This work presents a review of immunosenescence, proposes system dynamics modelling of the processes involving the maintenance of the naive T cell repertoire and presents some preliminary results.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, 9th Annual Workshop on Computational Intelligence (UKCI 2009), Nottingham, U

The Stellar Content of Obscured Galactic Giant HII Regions. VI: W51A

We present K-band spectra of newly born OB stars in the obscured Galactic giant H II region W51A and ~ 0.8'' angular resolution images in the J, H and K_S-bands. Four objects have been spectroscopically classified as O-type stars. The mean spectroscopic parallax of the four stars gives a distance of 2.0 \pm 0.3 kpc (error in the mean), significantly smaller than the radio recombination line kinematic value of 5.5 kpc or the values derived from maser propermotion observations (6--8 kpc). The number of Lyman continuum photons from the contribution of all massive stars (NLyc ~ 1.5 x 10^{50} s^{-1}) is in good agreement with that inferred from radio recombination lines (NLyc = 1.3 x 10^{50} s^{-1}) after accounting for the smaller distance derived here. We present analysis of archival high angular resolution images (NAOS CONICA at VLT and T-ReCS at Gemini) of the compact region W51 IRS2. The K_S--band images resolve the infrared source IRS~2 indicating that it is a very young compact HII region. Sources IRS2E was resolved into compact cluster (within 660 AU of projected distance) of 3 objects, but one of them is just bright extended emission. W51d1 and W51d2 were identified with compact clusters of 3 objects (maybe 4 in the case of W51d1) each one. Although IRS~2E is the brightest source in the K-band and at 12.6 \micron, it is not clearly associated with a radio continuum source. Our spectrum of IRS~2E shows, similar to previous work, strong emission in Br$\gamma$ and HeI, as well as three forbidden emission lines of FeIII and emission lines of molecular hydrogen (H_2) marking it as a massive young stellar object.Comment: 31 pages and 9 figures, submitted to A

Global positioning system technology (GPS) for psychological research: A test of convergent and nomological validity

The purpose of this paper is to examine the convergent and nomological validity of a GPS-based measure of daily activity, operationalized as Number of Places Visited (NPV). Relations among the GPS-based measure and two self-report measures of NPV, as well as relations among NPV and two factors made up of self-reported individual differences were examined. The first factor was composed of variables related to an Active Lifestyle (AL) (e.g., positive affect, extraversion…) and the second factor was composed of variables related to a Sedentary Lifestyle (SL) (e.g., depression, neuroticism…). NPV was measured over 4 days. This timeframe was made up of two week and two weekend days. A bi-variate analysis established one level of convergent validity and a Split-Plot GLM examined convergent validity, nomological validity, and alternative hypotheses related to constraints on activity throughout the week simultaneously. The first analysis revealed significant correlations among NPV measures- weekday, weekend, and the entire 4-day time period, supporting the convergent validity of the Diary-, Google Maps-, and GPS-NPV measures. Results from the second analysis, indicating non-significant mean differences in NPV regardless of method, also support this conclusion. We also found that AL is a statistically significant predictor of NPV no matter how NPV was measured. We did not find a statically significant relation among NPV and SL. These results permit us to infer that the GPS-based NPV measure has convergent and nomological validity

Biologia de Doru luteipes (Scudder) e sua capacidade predatória de ovos de Helicoverpa zea (Boddie).

O objetivo deste trabalho foi estudar a biologia e o potencial de Doru luteipes (Scudder) em laboratorio, como predador de ovos de Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), Ninfas de um dia de idade e adultos foram individualizados em placas de Petri, receberam como alimento, ovos de H. zea. O periodo de incubacao foi, em media, 7,6 dias. O periodo ninfal (quatro instares) foi de 34,4 dias. O ciclo do inseto foi, em media, 217,9 dias. O periodo pre-reprodutivo foi, em media, 30,7 dias, sendo que as femeas ovipositaram mais de uma vez, mesmo quando nao fecundadas. O numero de ovos por postura foi de 15,9, com a viabilidade chegando a 85,2%. A longevidade media do adulto, foi de 175,9 dias. Em media uma ninfa consumiu 23,7 ovos de H. zea por dia, num total de 812,9 ovos durante esta fase. Ja o adulto do predador consumiu 7457,4 ovos, com media diaria de 42,1 ovos. No geral, um predador se alimentou durante sua vida, de aproximadamente 8276 ovos de H. zea (39 ovos/dia)

Translating simulation approaches for immunology

This thesis presents a novel set of guidelines to convert between simulation modelling approaches, namely, Ordinary differential Equations (ODEs), System Dynamics (SD) and Agent-based Modelling and Simulation (ABMS). In our literature review we identify a gap in establishing translation techniques between these approaches. We therefore focus our research in developing these techniques and assessing the impact of these conversions in the simulation outcomes. In particular, our interest lies in investigating our techniques applied to simulation problems for the immune system, as we wish to aid immunologists with the choice of the most appropriate approach for a certain problem. The aims of this thesis are therefore defined as: (1) with no explicit guidelines available from the literature, we want to develop, test and validate our own set of guidelines for converting between approaches: from ODE models to SD, from SD to ABMS and from ABMS to SD; and (2) we seek to discuss the merits of SD and ABMS for Immunology to assist researchers with the choice between both approaches. The assessment of the effectiveness of the conversion guidelines is achieved by using a case study approach involving six cases of established mathematical models describing immunological phenomena. These case studies are chosen by considering aspects such as the behaviour of the entities of the model (whether they are static or interact with other entities and whether they have spatial representation or not), the type of hypothesis to be tested, the empirical embeddedness of real data, population sizes, number of elements involved and the modelling effort. In order to conduct our conversion for the case studies, we first convert their original ODE model into an SD model, and then perform the translation from SD to ABMS. For the last three case studies, we also test the conversion guidelines from ABMS to SD. Evidence from the experiments reveal that for all cases it was possible to obtain equivalent approaches by using the conversion guidelines developed. However, outcome differences occur given the intrinsic characteristics of each simulation modelling paradigm. By observing these differences we could conclude that (1) SD is incapable of reflecting exactly the same variability as that obtained from the agent-based simulation, as it is a deterministic approach; (2) SD variables change continuously in time and therefore population numbers over time might be different from those obtained by the agent-based simulation; (3) as the number of different agents and behaviours increase, the corresponding SD becomes very intricate and difficult to develop and understand; (4) there are cases where it is preferable not to convert from ABMS to SD, as the agent-based model is easier to conceptualise and implement; (5) For other circumstances, ABMS outcomes are the same as those produced by the ODEs and SD, with the disadvantage to be more resource consuming in terms of computational memory and processing capacity; and (6) For some cases SD is less informative than ABMS, as it does not produce multiple scenarios or variations over the course of more than one run within the same parameters