For the Keller–Segel model, it was conjectured by Childress and Percus (1984, Chemotactic collapse in two dimensions. InLecture Notes in Biomath. Vol. 55, Springer, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York, 1984, pp. 61–66) that in a two-dimensional domain there exists a critical numberCsuch that if the initial mass is strictly less thanC, then the solution exists globally in time and if it is strictly larger thanCblowup happens. For different versions of the Keller–Segel model, the conjecture has essentially been proved. The case of several chemotactic species introduces an additional question: What is the analogue for the critical mass obtained for the single species system? In this paper, we investigate for a two-species model for chemotaxis in ²the conditions on the initial data, which determine blowup or global existence in time. Specifically, we find a curve in the plane of masses such that outside of it there is blowup and inside of it global existence in time is proved when the initial masses satisfy a threshold condition. Optimality of this condition is discussed through an analysis in the radial case. Finally, we show in the case of blowup for general data how it is possible to obtain a balance between entropies and prove what species should aggregates first.

We introduce a concept of weak solution for a boundary value problem modelling the interactive motion of a coupled system consisting in a rigid body immersed in a viscous fluid. The fluid, and the solid are contained in a fixed open bounded set of R3. The motion of the fluid is governed by the incompresible Navier-Stokes equations and the standard conservation's laws of linear, and angular momentum rules the dynamics of the rigid body. The time variation of the fluid's domain (due to the motion of the rigid body) is not known apriori, so we deal with a free boundary value problem. Our main theorem asserts the existence of at least one weak solution for this problem. The result is global in time provided that the rigid body does not touch the boundary

For the parabolic–elliptic Keller–Segel system in ² it has been proved that if the initial mass is less than 8π/χ, a global solution exists, and in case the initial mass is larger than 8π/χ, blow-up happens. The case of several chemotactic species introduces an additional question: What is the analog for the critical mass obtained for the single species system? We find a threshold curve in the two species case that allows us to determine if the system is a blow-up or a global in time solution. No radial symmetry is assumed.

We consider the inverse problem of detecting the location and the shape of several obstacles immersed in a fluid flowing in a larger bounded domain $\Omega$ from partial boundary measurements in the two dimensional case. The fluid flow is governed by the steady-state Stokes equations. We use a topological sensitivity analysis for the Kohn-Vogelius functional in order to find the number and the qualitative location of the objects. Then we explore the numerical possibilities of this approach and also present a numerical method which combines the topological gradient algorithm with the classical geometric shape gradient algorithm; this blending method allows to find the number of objects, their relative location and their approximate shape.

Iron is essential for the maintenance of basic cellular processes. In the regulation of its cellular levels, ferritin acts as the main intracellular iron storage protein. In this work we present a mathematical model for the dynamics of iron storage in ferritin during the process of intestinal iron absorption. A set of differential equations were established considering kinetic expressions for the main reactions and mass balances for ferritin, iron and a discrete population of ferritin species defined by their respective iron content.

One of the main challenges in cancer modelling is to improve the knowledge of tumor progression in areas related to tumor growth, tumor-induced angiogenesis and targeted therapies efficacy. For this purpose, incorporate the expertise from applied mathematicians, biologists and physicians is highly desirable. Despite the existence of a very wide range of models, involving many stages in cancer progression, few models have been proposed to take into account all relevant processes in tumor progression, in particular the effect of systemic treatments and angiogenesis. Composite biological experiments, both in vitro and in vivo, in addition with mathematical modelling can provide a better understanding of theses aspects. In this work we proposed that a rational experimental design associated with mathematical modelling could provide new insights into cancer progression. To accomplish this task, we reviewed mathematical models and cancer biology literature, describing in detail the basic principles of mathematical modelling. We also analyze how experimental data regarding tumor cells proliferation and angiogenesis in vitro may fit with mathematical modelling in order to reconstruct in vivo tumor evolution. Additionally, we explained the mathematical methodology in a comprehensible way in order to facilitate its future use by the scientific community.