190 CHAPTER 5. EPIDEMICS, IMAGES AND MONEY
ulations depend on both time and space will generate a system of nonlinear
equations that must be solved at each time step. In populations that move
in one direction such as along a river or a beach, Newton’s method can easily
be implemented and the linear subproblems will be solved by the M
ATLAB
command A\b. In the following section dispersion in two directions will be
considered. Here the linear subproblems in Newton’s method can be solved by
a sparse implementation of the preconditioned conjugate gradient method.
5.1.2 Application
Populations move in space for a number of reasons including search of food,
mating and h erding instincts. So they may tend to disperse or to group to-
gether. Dispersion can have the form of a random walk. In this case, if the
population size and time duration are suitably large, then this can be modeled
by Fick’s motion law, which is similar to Fourier’s heat law. Let F = F({> w)
be the concentration (amount per volume) of matter such as spores, pollutant,
molecules or a population.
Fick Motion Law. Consider the concentration
F({> w) as a function of space
in a single direction whose cross-sectional area is
D. The change in the matter
through
D is given by
(a). moves from high concentrations to low concentrations
(b). change is proportional to the
change in time,
the cross section area and
the derivative of the concentration with respect to
{.
Let
G be the proportionality constant, which is called the dispersion, so
that the change in the amount via
D at { + {@2 is
G w DF
{
({ + {@2> w + w)=
The dispersion from both the left and right of the volume D{ gives the ap-
proximate ch ange in the amount
(
F({> w + w) F({> w))D{ G w DF
{
({ + {@2> w + w)
G w DF
{
({ {@2> w + w)=
Divide by D{w and let { and w go to zero to get
F
w
= (GF
{
)
{
= (5.1.1)
This is analogous to the heat equation where concentration is replaced by tem-
perature and dispersion is replaced by thermal conductivity divided by density
and specific heat. Because of this similarity the term di
usion is often associ-
ated with Fick’s motion law.
© 2004 by Chapman & Hall/CRC