Exchange of stability and finite-dimensional dynamics in a bifurcation problem with marginally stable continuous spectrum

We consider solutions bifurcating from a spatially homogeneous equilibrium under the assumption that the associated linearization possesses continuous spectrum up to the imaginary axis, for all values of the bifurcation parameter, and that a real eigenvalue crosses the imaginary axis. For a model we investigate the nonlinear stability of the trivial solution with respect to spatially localized perturbations, prove the occurrence of a pitchfork bifurcation of equilibria and the nonlinear stability of the bifurcating equilibria, again with respect to spatially localized perturbations.     

Exchange of stability and finite-dimensional dynamics in a bifurcation problem with marginally stable continuous spectrum

We consider solutions bifurcating from a spatially homogeneous equilibrium under the assumption that the associated linearization possesses continuous spectrum up to the imaginary axis, for all values of the bifurcation parameter, and that a real eigenvalue crosses the imaginary axis. For a model we investigate the nonlinear stability of the trivial solution with respect to spatially localized perturbations, prove the occurrence of a pitchfork bifurcation of equilibria and the nonlinear stability of the bifurcating equilibria, again with respect to spatially localized perturbations.     

Local stability of an SIR epidemic model and effect of time delay

We describe an SIR epidemic model with a discrete time lag, analyse the local stability of its equilibria as well as the effects of delay on the reproduction number and on the dynamical behaviour of the system. The model has two equilibria—a necessary condition for local asymptotic stability is given. The proofs are based on linearization and the application of Lyapunov functional approach. An upper bound of the critical time delay for which the model remains valid is derived. Numerical simulations are carried out to illustrate the effect of time delay which tends to reduce the epidemic threshold. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

具有饱和治疗的离散SEIS结核病模型的动力学性态

研究了一类具有饱和治疗的离散SEIS传染病模型的动力学性态.利用再生矩阵的方法定义了模型的基本再生数,直接计算得到了无病平衡点和地方病平衡点的存在性;利用线性化矩阵和Jury判据讨论了平衡点的稳定性;并讨论了模型可能发生的后向分支现象,也通过数值模拟展示了模型的动力学性态.     

Criteria for fourth-order ordinary differential equations to be linearizable by contact transformations

Solution of linearization problem of fourth-order ordinary differential equations via contact transformations is presented in the paper. We show that all fourth-order ordinary differential equations that are linearizable by contact transformations are contained in the class of equations which is at most quadratic in the third-order derivative. We provide the linearization test and describe the procedure for obtaining the linearizing transformations as well as the linearized equation. Moreover, we obtain the general form of ordinary differential equations of order greater than four linearizable via contact transformations.     

Towards a completion of Archimedes’ treatise on floating bodies

In the said treatise Archimedes determines the equilibrium positions of a floating paraboloid segment, but only in the case when the basis of the segment is either completely outside of the fluid or completely submerged. Here we give a mathematical model for the remaining case, i.e., two simple conditions which describe the equilibria in closed form. We provide tools for finding all equilibria in a reliable way and for the classification of these equilibria. This paper can be considered as a continuation of Rorres's article [C. Rorres, Completing book II of Archimedes's on floating bodies, Math. Intell. 26(3) (2004) 32–42].     

A Shared-Constraint Approach to Multi-Leader Multi-Follower Games

Multi-leader multi-follower games are a class of hierarchical games in which a collection of leaders compete in a Nash game constrained by the equilibrium conditions of another Nash game amongst the followers. The resulting equilibrium problem with equilibrium constraints is complicated by nonconvex agent problems and therefore providing tractable conditions for existence of global or even local equilibria has proved challenging. Consequently, much of the extant research on this topic is either model specific or relies on weaker notions of equilibria. We consider a modified formulation in which every leader is cognizant of the equilibrium constraints of all leaders. Equilibria of this modified game contain the equilibria, if any, of the original game. The new formulation has a constraint structure called shared constraints, and our main result shows that if the leader objectives admit a potential function, the global minimizers of the potential function over this shared constraint are equilibria of the modified formulation. We provide another existence result using fixed point theory that does not require potentiality. Additionally, local minima, B-stationary, and strong-stationary points of this minimization problem are shown to be local Nash equilibria, Nash B-stationary, and Nash strong-stationary points of the corresponding multi-leader multi-follower game. We demonstrate the relationship between variational equilibria associated with this modified shared-constraint game and equilibria of the original game from the standpoint of the multiplier sets and show how equilibria of the original formulation may be recovered. We note through several examples that such potential multi-leader multi-follower games capture a breadth of application problems of interest and demonstrate our findings on a multi-leader multi-follower Cournot game.     

Reduction,Linearization, and Stability of Relative Equilibria for Mechanical Systems on Riemannian Manifolds

Consider a Riemannian manifold equipped with an infinitesimal isometry. For this setup, a unified treatment is provided, solely in the language of Riemannian geometry, of techniques in reduction, linearization, and stability of relative equilibria. In particular, for mechanical control systems, an explicit characterization is given for the manner in which reduction by an infinitesimal isometry, and linearization along a controlled trajectory “commute.” As part of the development, relationships are derived between the Jacobi equation of geodesic variation and concepts from reduction theory, such as the curvature of the mechanical connection and the effective potential. As an application of our techniques, fiber and base stability of relative equilibria are studied. The paper also serves as a tutorial of Riemannian geometric methods applicable in the intersection of mechanics and control theory. F. Bullo’s research supported in part by grant CMS 0442041 from the USA National Science Foundation. A.D. Lewis’ research supported in part by grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.     

Nash equilibrium in a pay-as-bid electricity market: Part 1 – existence and characterization

We consider a model of a pay-as-bid electricity market based on a multi-leader-common-follower approach where the producers as leaders are at the upper level and the regulator as a common follower is at the lower level. We fully characterize Nash equilibria for this model by describing necessary and sufficient conditions for their existence as well as providing explicit formulas of such equilibria in the market.     

Analysis of stability for a discrete ratio-dependent predator-prey system

The paper investigated the dynamical behaviors of a two-species discrete ratio-dependent predator-prey system. The local stability of the equilibria is obtained by using the linearization method. Further, a new sufficient condition on the global asymptotic stability of the positive equilibrium is established by using an iteration scheme and the comparison principle of difference equations.     

An SIS epidemic model with diffusion

The aim of this paper is to study the dynamics of an SIS epidemic model with diffusion. We first study the well-posedness of the model. And then, by using linearization method and constructing suitable Lyapunov function, we establish the local and global stability of the disease-free equilibrium and the endemic equilibrium, respectively. Furthermore, in view of Schauder fixed point theorem, we show that the model admits traveling wave solutions connecting the disease-free equilibrium and the endemic equilibrium when R_0 1 and c c~*. And also, by virtue of the two-sided Laplace transform, we prove that the model has no traveling wave solution connecting the two equilibria when R_0 1 and c ∈ [0, c~*).     

Computing pure Nash and strong equilibria in bottleneck congestion games

Bottleneck congestion games properly model the properties of many real-world network routing applications. They are known to possess strong equilibria—a strengthening of Nash equilibrium to resilience against coalitional deviations. In this paper, we study the computational complexity of pure Nash and strong equilibria in these games. We provide a generic centralized algorithm to compute strong equilibria, which has polynomial running time for many interesting classes of games such as, e.g., matroid or single-commodity bottleneck congestion games. In addition, we examine the more demanding goal to reach equilibria in polynomial time using natural improvement dynamics. Using unilateral improvement dynamics in matroid games pure Nash equilibria can be reached efficiently. In contrast, computing even a single coalitional improvement move in matroid and single-commodity games is strongly NP-hard. In addition, we establish a variety of hardness results and lower bounds regarding the duration of unilateral and coalitional improvement dynamics. They continue to hold even for convergence to approximate equilibria.     

Separable and low-rank continuous games

In this paper, we study nonzero-sum separable games, which are continuous games whose payoffs take a sum-of-products form. Included in this subclass are all finite games and polynomial games. We investigate the structure of equilibria in separable games. We show that these games admit finitely supported Nash equilibria. Motivated by the bounds on the supports of mixed equilibria in two-player finite games in terms of the ranks of the payoff matrices, we define the notion of the rank of an n-player continuous game and use this to provide bounds on the cardinality of the support of equilibrium strategies. We present a general characterization theorem that states that a continuous game has finite rank if and only if it is separable. Using our rank results, we present an efficient algorithm for computing approximate equilibria of two-player separable games with fixed strategy spaces in time polynomial in the rank of the game. This research was funded in part by National Science Foundation grants DMI-0545910 and ECCS-0621922 and AFOSR MURI subaward 2003-07688-1.     

Template-Based Stabilization of Relative Equilibria in Systems with Continuous Symmetry

We present an approach to the design of feedback control laws that stabilize relative equilibria of general nonlinear systems with continuous symmetry. Using a template-based method, we factor out the dynamics associated with the symmetry variables and obtain evolution equations in a reduced frame that evolves in the symmetry direction. The relative equilibria of the original systems are fixed points of these reduced equations. Our controller design methodology is based on the linearization of the reduced equations about such fixed points. We present two different approaches of control design. The first approach assumes that the closed loop system is affine in the control and that the actuation is equivariant. We derive feedback laws for the reduced system that minimize a quadratic cost function. The second approach is more general; here the actuation need not be equivariant, but the actuators can be translated in the symmetry direction. The controller resulting from this approach leaves the dynamics associated with the symmetry variable unchanged. Both approaches are simple to implement, as they use standard tools available from linear control theory. We illustrate the approaches on three examples: a rotationally invariant planar ODE, an inverted pendulum on a cart, and the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation with periodic boundary conditions.     

Dynamics and bifurcations of a modified Leslie‐Gower–type model considering a Beddington‐DeAngelis functional response

In this paper, a planar system of ordinary differential equations is considered, which is a modified Leslie‐Gower model, considering a Beddington‐DeAngelis functional response. It generates a complex dynamics of the predator‐prey interactions according to the associated parameters. From the system obtained, we characterize all the equilibria and its local behavior, and the existence of a trapping set is proved. We describe different types of bifurcations (such as Hopf, Bogdanov‐Takens, and homoclinic bifurcation), and the existence of limit cycles is shown. Analytic proofs are provided for all results. Ecological implications and a set of numerical simulations supporting the mathematical results are also presented.     

Dynamics of SIR epidemic models with horizontal and vertical transmissions and constant treatment rates

We investigate the dynamics and bifurcations of SIR epidemic model with horizontal and vertical transmissions and constant treatment rates. It is proved that such SIR epidemic model have up to two positive epidemic equilibria and has no positive disease-free equilibria. We find all the ranges of the parameters involved in the model under which the equilibria of the model are positive. By using the qualitative theory of planar systems and the normal form theory, the phase portraits of each equilibria are obtained. We show that the equilibria of the epidemic system can be saddles, stable nodes, stable or unstable focuses, weak centers or cusps. We prove that the system has the Bogdanov-Takens bifurcations, which exhibit saddle-node bifurcations, Hopf bifurcations and homoclinic bifurcations.     

Role of toxin producing phytoplankton on a plankton ecosystem

In this paper, a mathematical model is proposed to study the role of toxin producing phytoplankton on a phytoplankton–zooplankton system with nutrient cycling. The model includes three state variables, viz., nutrient concentration, phytoplankton biomass and zooplankton biomass. It is assumed in the model that phytoplankton biomass is producing toxicant harmful for the zooplankton biomass. All the feasible equilibria of the system are obtained and the conditions for the existence of the interior equilibrium are determined. The local stability analysis of all the feasible equilibria are carried out and the possibility of Hopf-bifurcation of the interior equilibrium is studied. The threshold value in terms of constant input rate of nutrient is determined both analytically and numerically.     

Why Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows: Dynamic Model with DNS Curves

We analyze a two-dimensional system of political behavior which has three equilibria in the uncontrolled version. After adding a control variable, two more equilibria occur and Skiba curves (also called DNS curves) can be analyzed. In this model, it is possible to derive under what conditions each of the different equilibria is a saddle point, a node, or a focus. In particular, for certain parameter ranges, all five equilibria have real eigenvalues. In this case, the Skiba curves can be computed in a more straightforward way than usual. The curves spiral outward, so any ray extending from the origin crosses these curves arbitrarily many times, as it alternately crosses regions for which it is optimal to approach each of the three equilibria.     

Dynamic analysis for a stage-structure competitive system with mature population harvesting

In this paper, a stage-structured model of two-species competitive system with mature population harvesting is formulated. Mathematical analysis of the model equations with regard to invariance of positivity, boundedness of solutions and the conditions for the existence of equilibria is analyzed. The dynamical properties of equilibria are investigated, and conditions of globally asymptotically stable and absolutely stable for the equilibria are obtained.     

Two-tier equilibria for supply chains with a single manufacturer and multiple asymmetric retailers

We derive sufficient conditions for the existence and uniqueness of the Stackelberg–Nash–Cournot equilibria for a supply chain problem with a single manufacturer and multiple asymmetric retailers and characterize the first and second order derivatives of the total equilibrium quantities. The Stackelberg manufacturer is assumed to supply a homogeneous product to all retailers with the retail price determined by a general nonlinear inverse demand function. We provide several extensions of our previous results [G.J. Kyparisis, C. Koulamas, A note on equilibria for two-tier supply chains with a single manufacturer and multiple retailers, Operations Research Letters 39 (2011) 471–474] obtained for a similar supply chain with symmetric retailers.