The purpose of this study is to develop a model to simulate the behavior of the human cardiovascular system for use in medical education. The proposed model ensures that the output of the system is accurately represented in both equilibrium conditions and imbalance conditions including in the presence of adaptive agents. In this study, field experts develop an agent-based blood vessel model, i.e., a submodel for the stated purpose. In the proposed blood vessel model, vessels are represented by agents whereas blood flow is represented by the interaction between agents. Adaptive behavior shown by vessels in terms of resistance to the blood flow is defined by the agents' properties, which are used as the basis for calculating and graphically representing the physical parameters of blood flow, specifically blood pressure, blood flow velocity, and the resistance of the vessel. The adaptation of the vessel agents is supported by a case study, which demonstrates the adaptive behavior of the blood vessel agents through a negative feedback control mechanism. The blood vessel model proposed is flexible in nature such that it can be adapted to account for the behavior of the vessel sections in any vascular structure.

Agent-based modeling and simulation is a powerful technique in simulating and exploring phenomena that includes a large set of active components represented by agents. The agents are actors operating in a real system, influencing the simulated environment and influenced by the simulated environment. The agents are included in the simulation model as model components performing actions autonomously and interacting with other agents and the simulated environment to represent behaviors in the real system. In this chapter, we describe how to develop an agent-based model and simulation for biological systems in Repast Simphony platform, which is a Java-based modeling system. Repast Simphony helps developers to create a scenario tree including displays of agents, grid and continuous space, data sets, data loaders, histogram, and time charts. At the end of this chapter, we present case studies developed by our research group with references to demonstrate local behavior of biological system.

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The main objective of the present paper is to report two studies on mathematical and computational techniques used to model the behaviour of the aorta in the human cardiovascular system. In this paper, an account of the design and implementation of two distinct models is presented: a Windkessel model and an agent-based model. Windkessel model represents the left heart and arterial system of the cardiovascular system in the physiological domain. The agent-based model offers a simplified account of arterial behaviour by randomly generating arterial parameter values. This study has described the mechanism how and when the left heart contracts and pumps the blood out of the aorta, and it has taken the Windkessel model one step further. The results of this study show that the dynamics of the aorta can be explored in each modelling approaches as proposed and implemented by our research group. It is thought that this study will contribute to the literature in terms of development of the Windkessel model by considering its timing and redesigning it with digital electronics perspective.

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