Field cancerization, the process wherein prior insults corrupt the semiotic landscape through which immune cells detect and respond to “the other”, persists even after the precipitating conditions resolve and the tissue histologically appears normal. This exemplifies a broader explanatory problem: How can we account for biomedical phenomena whose pathology is constituted by a history that standard mechanistic accounts cannot recover? I argue that a comprehensive understanding of field cancerization requires us to supplement molecular mechanistic explanations with lineage-level accounts, developed through a dialogue among Derrida’s hauntology, ghost criminology, and von Uexküll’s Umwelt as formalized through Peirce’s triadic model of signs. This framework generates a three-ghost taxonomy of immune semiotic corruption, explains why treating the present condition without addressing historically constituted corruption fails, and suggests concrete therapeutic implications based on this framework. Keywords: field cancerization, immunology, biosemiotics, hauntology, ghost criminology, Umwelt, Derrida, Peirce
The debate over group and multilevel selection remains central to evolutionary biology, particularly in explanations of cooperation and social evolution. A persistent issue is whether group- and multilevel-selection models and kin-selection formulations are formally equivalent, that is, whether they can represent the same evolutionary change under specified assumptions, and what follows from such equivalence for explanation. We conducted a systematic review and thematic synthesis of 94 model-centered studies, characterized by explanatory orientation, Research Question, multilevel selection I/II classification, formal tool, decomposition role, causal interpretation, and equivalence claims. Explanatory orientations were heterogeneous, and formal-tool use overlapped substantially across them. Associations involving decomposition role weakened in sensitivity analyses, while predominant Research Question showed no detectable association with multilevel selection I/II classification. Among the 68 studies that substantively discussed equivalence, qualified positions predominated and categorical rejection was rare; most addressed multiple objects of equivalence. These results indicate that explanatory orientation, Research Questions, formal representations, causal interpretation, and equivalence claims are related but non-interchangeable dimensions of the debate. Formal equivalence can establish genuine relations between representations without determining that they identify the same causal structure, serve the same explanatory function, or support the same attribution of adaptation. Persistent disagreement is therefore better understood as concerning what formal translations preserve, which biological questions they answer, and what explanatory conclusions follow from them.
This paper discusses on the dynamics and bifurcations of a two-dimensional discrete prey-predator model with Bazykin functional response and linear harvesting in predator. Compared to Bazykin prey-predator model which focuses on competition for other resources, Bazykin functional response include predator competition for prey and predator saturation. Limited studies on Bazykin functional response especially in discrete model highlight the novelty of this research. A semi-discretisation method is applied to derive the model from continuous to discrete. The stability at each fixed point is summarised by applying related lemma and definition. The occurrences of Neimark-Sacker and flip bifurcations are established through the Centre Manifold Theorem and supported by numerical simulations. The coexistence fixed point first loses stability through Neimark-Sacker bifurcation before becoming stable over an intermediate parameter range. Then, the fixed point undergoes flip bifurcation giving rise to periodic and chaotic dynamics. Simulations by MATLAB and MATCONTM are included by providing the bifurcation, phase portrait and time series diagrams. The discrete model displays interesting dynamical behaviours such as transition of Neimark–Sacker to flip bifurcation, quasiperiodic oscillations, periodic solutions and chaos brought on by harvesting. This paper highlights that intensive harvesting leads to chaotic behaviour of prey population and subsequently lead to predator extinction. The results signifies that intensive harvesting combined with predator competition can drastically alter the system dynamics, offering crucial ecological insights into sustainable harvesting strategies.
Sericulture is an important socioeconomic sector in many developing countries; however, environmental temperature changes and Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus (NPV) epidemics significantly limit its output. A new nonlinear five compartmental mathematical model that integrates silkworm population dynamics, NPV transmission, environmental viral persistence, piezoelectric energy generation and temperature regulation is developed and analyzed in this work. Newtonian heat exchange controlled by piezoelectric-assisted thermal control, temperature-dependent viral transmission and mortality, Holling type II saturation in environmental virus accumulation and the logistic growth of healthy silkworms are all included in the model. Extensive analytical studies establish the existence and uniqueness of solutions, positivity and boundedness. Eigenvalue criteria and Jacobian analysis are used to determine local stability conditions and identify virus-free and endemic equilibrium points. The virus-free equilibrium is shown to be globally asymptotically stable under threshold conditions defined by fundamental reproduction number using a Lyapunov function. The main determinants of system behavior, according to sensitivity analysis, are infection rate, virus decay rate and temperature dependent mortality. According to numerical simulations, maintaining favorable thermal condition is associated with reduced NPV proliferation and improved silkworm survival, while suboptimal temperatures are associated with increased viral amplification and higher larval mortality. By using piezoelectric energy harvesting, rearing temperature may potentially be regulated, outbreak intensity may decrease and healthy silkworm persistence may improve under modeled conditions. In addition, three-dimensional phase trajectories illustrate the interdependent feedback between environmental regulatory mechanisms, viral load and host activity. The proposed framework connects epidemiological dynamics with temperature regulation based on renewable energy, may provide a theoretical basis for future studies on temperature-regulated and energy-assisted sericulture systems. This study presents a unified modeling approach that may support the development of more stable silk production systems in line with global sustainability goals by combining mathematical ecology, virology, and green energy technology.
