Differential And Difference Equations With Applications

Dynamic Systems Biology Modeling and Simuation consolidates and unifies classical and contemporary multiscale methodologies for mathematical modeling and computer simulation of dynamic biological systems - from molecular/cellular, organ-system, on up to population levels.

The subject of differential and difference equations is an old and much-honored chapter in science, one which germinated in applied fields such as celestial mechanics, nonlinear oscillations, and fluid dynamics. In recent years, due primarily to the proliferation of computers, dynamical systems has once more turned to its roots in applications with perhaps a more mature look.

The study of oscillatory phenomena is an important part of the theory of differential equations. Oscillations naturally occur in virtually every area of applied science including, e.g., mechanics, electrical, radio engineering, and vibrotechnics. This Special Issue includes 19 high-quality papers with original research results in theoretical research, and recent progress in the study of applied problems in science and technology. This Special Issue brought together mathematicians with physicists, engineers, as well as other scientists. Topics covered in this issue: Oscillation theory; Differential/difference equations; Partial differential equations; Dynamical systems; Fractional calculus; Delays; Mathematical modeling and oscillations.

On becoming familiar with difference equations and their close re­ lation to differential equations, I was in hopes that the theory of difference equations could be brought completely abreast with that for ordinary differential equations. [HUGH L. TURRITTIN, My Mathematical Expectations, Springer Lecture Notes 312 (page 10), 1973] A major task of mathematics today is to harmonize the continuous and the discrete, to include them in one comprehensive mathematics, and to eliminate obscurity from both. [E. T. BELL, Men of Mathematics, Simon and Schuster, New York (page 13/14), 1937] The theory of time scales, which has recently received a lot of attention, was introduced by Stefan Hilger in his PhD thesis [159] in 1988 (supervised by Bernd Aulbach) in order to unify continuous and discrete analysis. This book is an intro­ duction to the study of dynamic equations on time scales. Many results concerning differential equations carryover quite easily to corresponding results for difference equations, while other results seem to be completely different in nature from their continuous counterparts. The study of dynamic equations on time scales reveals such discrepancies, and helps avoid proving results twice, once for differential equa­ tions and once for difference equations. The general idea is to prove a result for a dynamic equation where the domain of the unknown function is a so-called time scale, which is an arbitrary nonempty closed subset of the reals.