Evolution equations arising in the modelling of life sciences (Q1935208)

This book deals with modeling, analysis and simulation of problems arising in the life sciences, in particular, biological processes. Models and results obtained come from intensive discussions with microbiologists, medical personnel, physicists, chemists, and industrial engineers. The book consists of six chapters. Chapter 1 is dedicated to basic concepts of linear boundary value problems, Nemytskii operators in Sobolev spaces and Hölder spaces, which are used in the analysis of deriving models in later chapters. Chapter 2 deals with large term behavior of solutions of evolution equations in terms of the global attractor. In Chapter 3 a criterion is derived for the positivity of solutions for large classes of deterministic parabolic systems containing diffusion transport and interaction of species. Chapter 4 is devoted to the positivity of solutions of a class of semilinear parabolic systems of stochastic partial differential equations by considering random approximations. Chapter 5 consists of five sections. Sections 5.1 and 5.2 are concerned with single species/sub\-strate models. In Section 5.1 governing equations which describe spatial spreading mechanisms are derived. Section 5.2 is concerned with biofilm growth in a porous medium (e.g., soil) which changes the hydraulic conductivity of the medium (bioclogging) which in turn changes substrate transport, and, as a result, the food supply of bacteria. Sections 5.3--5.5 are devoted to multi-species, multi-substrate biofilm models. Section 5.3 discusses antibiotic disinfection of biofilms. Section 5.4 deals with a mathematical model that describes how a ``good'' bacterial film controls the growth of harmful pathogenic bacterial biofilms. Section 5.5 is concerned with the role of quorum sensing in biofilm formation. Chapter 6 illustrates the use of mathematical modeling in the pharmaceutical industry by an example from the development of a blood coagulation treatment with a coagulation factor. The model is solved using a finite element code in order to illustrate the influence of diffusion and convection on the coagulation cascade with dynamic boundary conditions modeling adhesion of blood platelets to a collagen coated surface.