Ilona Nagy

We carry out qualitative analysis of a fourth‐order tumor growth control model using ordinary differential equations. We show that the system has one positive equilibrium point, and its stability is independent of the feedback gain. Using a Lyapunov function method, we prove that there exist realistic parameter values for which the systems admit limit cycle oscillations due to a supercritical Hopf bifurcation. The time evolution of the state variables is also represented.

We search for limit cycles in the dynamical model of two-species chemical reactions that contain seven reaction rate coefficients as parameters and at least one third-order reaction step, that is, the induced kinetic differential equation of the reaction is a planar cubic differential system. Symbolic calculations were carried out using the Mathematica computer algebra system, and it was also used for the numerical verifications to show the following facts: the kinetic differential equations of these reactions each have two limit cycles surrounding the stationary point of focus type in the positive quadrant. In the case of Model 1, the outer limit cycle is stable and the inner one is unstable, which appears in a supercritical Hopf bifurcation. Moreover, the oscillations in a neighborhood of the outer limit cycle are slow-fast oscillations. In the case of Model 2, the outer limit cycle is unstable and the inner one is stable. With another set of parameters, the outer limit cycle can be made stable and the inner one unstable.

Classes of kinetic differential equations are delineated which do have a quadratic first integral, and classes which can not have one. Example reactions corresponding to the obtained kinetic differential equations are shown, and a few figures showing the trajectories of the corresponding systems are also included. Connections to other areas are mentioned and unsolved problems collected. The new results are theoretical, although computational tools are heavily used. Applications from biology and combustion theory will come later.

Mass action type deterministic kinetic models of ion channels are usually constructed in such a way as to obey the principle of detailed balance (or, microscopic reversibility) for two reasons: first, the authors aspire to have models harmonizing with thermodynamics, second, the conditions to ensure detailed balance reduce the number of reaction rate coefficients to be measured. We investigate a series of ion channel models which are asserted to obey detailed balance, however, these models violate mass conservation and in their case only the necessary conditions (the so-called circuit conditions) are taken into account. We show that ion channel models have a very specific structure which makes the consequences true in spite of the imprecise arguments. First, we transform the models into mass conserving ones, second, we show that the full set of conditions ensuring detailed balance (formulated by Feinberg) leads to the same relations for the reaction rate constants in these special cases, both for the original models and the transformed ones.

The most general change of variables theorem for the Riemann integral of functions of a single variable has been published in 1961 (by Kestelman). In this theorem, the substitution is made by an `indefinite integral', that is, by a function of the form (t\mapsto c+\int_a^tg=:G(t)) where (g) is Riemann integrable on ([a,b]) and (c) is any constant. We prove a multidimensional generalization of this theorem for the case where (G) is injective -- using the fact that the Riemann primitives are the same as those Lipschitz functions which are almost everywhere strongly differentiable in ((a,b)). We prove a generalization of Sard's lemma for Lipschitz functions of several variables that are almost everywhere strongly differentiable, which enables us to keep all our proofs within the framework of the Riemannian theory which was our aim.