Coupling states bifurcation

This phenomenon of increased conversion, yield and productivity through deliberate unsteady-state operation of a fermentor has been known for some time. Deliberate unsteady-state operation is associated with nonautonomous or externally forced systems. The unsteady-state operation of the system (periodic operation) is an intrinsic characteristic of this system in certain regions of the parameters. Moreover, this system shows not only periodic attractors but also chaotic attractors. This static and dynamic bifurcation and chaotic behavior is due to the nonlinear coupling of the system which causes all of these phenomena. And this in turn gives us the ability to achieve higher conversion, yield and productivity rates. 

Here, w = m, n, and S. V represents the membrane potential, n is the opening probability of the potassium channels, and S accounts for the presence of a slow dynamics in the system. Ic and Ik are the calcium and potassium currents, gca = 3.6 and gx = 10.0 are the associated conductances, and Vca = 25 mV and Vk = -75 mV are the respective Nernst (or reversal) potentials. The ratio r/r s defines the relation between the fast (V and n) and the slow (S) time scales. The time constant for the membrane potential is determined by the capacitance and typical conductance of the cell membrane. With r = 0.02 s and ts = 35 s, the ratio ks = r/r s is quite small, and the cell model is numerically stiff. The calcium current Ica is assumed to adjust immediately to variations in V. For fixed values of the membrane potential, the gating variables n and S relax exponentially towards the voltage-dependent steady-state values noo (V) and S00 (V). Together with the ratio ks of the fast to the slow time constant, Vs is used as the main bifurcation parameter. This parameter determines the membrane potential at which the steady-state value for the gating variable S attains one-half of its maximum value. The other parameters are assumed to take the following values gs = 4.0, Vm = -20 mV, Vn = -16 mV, 9m = 12 mV, 9n = 5.6 mV, 9s = 10 mV, and a = 0.85. These values are all adjusted to fit experimentally observed relationships. In accordance with the formulation used by Sherman et al. [53], there is no capacitance in Eq. (6), and all the conductances are dimensionless. To eliminate any dependence on the cell size, all conductances are scaled with the typical conductance. Hence, we may consider the model to represent a cluster of closely coupled / -cells that share the combined capacity and conductance of the entire membrane area. 

Fig. 7.10 Computer simulation of two gap-junction coupled neurons which originally are operating at different dynamic states, one in the tonic firing regime and the other one in the bursting regime (also indicated in Fig. 6.8b by the points T and B, respectively with the arrow S pointing on the completely synchronized state), (a) Bifurcation diagrams of interspike intervals (ISI) of the originally...

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