Liapunov functions and boundedness and global existence of solutions

In this paper the properties of a Liapunov function and its derivatives are combined in obtaining sufficient conditions for the boundedness and global existence of solutions of the system of differential equations

x=f(t,x) (1)

where f: 0,∞)XRⁿ→ Rⁿ is continuous. The following terms are introduced: (i) a scalar function which is mildly unbounded relative to a subset of Rⁿ,(ii) a scalar function which is radially unbounded relative to a set, (iii) a Liapunov function with mildly negative definite derivative in a set, (iv) a Liapunov function with strongly negative definite derivative in a set, and (v) a set which is unbounded-departing with respect to system (1). As a special case the autonomous system of differential equations which corresponds to (1) is considered and the semi-invariance property of the positive limiting set of a solution is used in the results