Research Article
AFractionalEpidemiologicalModelforBoneRemodelingProcess
Muath Awadalla ,
1
Yves Yannick Yameni Noupoue ,
2
and Kinda Abuasbeh
1
1
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, College of Science, King Faisal University, Hafuf, Al Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia
2
Institute of Statistics, Biostatistics and Actuarial Sciences (ISBA), Universite Catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain),
Louvain-la-Neuve 1348, Belgium
Correspondence should be addressed to Kinda Abuasbeh; kabuasbeh@kfu.edu.sa
Received 10 May 2021; Revised 14 September 2021; Accepted 22 October 2021; Published 10 November 2021
Academic Editor: Jos´ e Francisco G´ omez Aguilar
Copyright © 2021 Muath Awadalla et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
is article focuses on modeling bone formation process using a fractional differential approach, named bones remodeling
process. e first goal of the work is to investigate existence and uniqueness of the proposed fractional differential model. e next
goal is to investigate how similar is the proposed approach to the method based on system classical differential equations. e
dynamical system of equations used is built upon three main parameters. ese are chemical substances, namely, calcitonin
secretion, osteoclastic and osteoblastic, which are involved in the bone’s formation process. We implement some numerical
simulations to graphically show the impact of an arbitrary fractional order of derivative. We finally obtained that modeling bone
formation process using fractional differential equations yielded comparable results with those obtained through a system of
classical differential equations. Flexibility in the choice of the fractional order of derivative is an advantage as it helps in selecting
the best fractional order of derivative.
1. Introduction
Modeling natural phenomena through differential equation
has long been used by scientists. In the early days, differential
equations with integer order of derivative were commonly
used. en several fractional order derivatives have been
implemented. In earlier days of fractional differential
equations, researchers mainly focused on theoretical
concepts, investigating existence and uniqueness of so-
lution of built models. A sample of such theoretical works
is found in [1–5]. In general, researchers build models
based on fractional differential by analogy to the approach
that would be used in the case of classical differential [6–8].
Hence, in many cases, authors will try to compare models’
performances from both approaches. Despite analogies that
might exist between classical and fractional models upon a
given problem, both models might not have common
properties. For instance, the Carleman embedding technique
[9] applicable in the studies of classical differential equations
does not hold for the fractional differential equations for
instance. Beside theoretical study of fractional differential
equations, a lot have been done by researchers concerning
possible application to real life phenomena. One can
mention a nonexhaustive field of study with examples for
which fractional differential has been successfully per-
formed. In biology, modeling dynamics in human tissues
was proposed in [10]. Alcohol can be dangerous when its
concentration in high human blood exceeds a certain
threshold. In [11], a fractional-based model of alcohol level
in blood was proposed.
Following the aims to prove the use of fractional dif-
ferential equations, we decided to investigate how efficient it
will be in modeling bone formation process. Before going
into details, we will provide an overview of human bone
formation process. Human bone formation and develop-
ment are a complex process that starts from when a fetus is 3
months old and ends during teenage years, 13–18 years old.
However, bone formation never ends in practice. Indeed,
bones are living tissue made up of protein, calcium, and
other minerals, as well as water. In this regard, bones’ tissue
constantly renews itself, by breaking down older tissue and
replacing it with new tissue. is process is called “bone
Hindawi
Journal of Mathematics
Volume 2021, Article ID 1614774, 11 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/1614774