A Levinson theorem is proved for a Dirac system with one singular endpoint. The number ofbound state is expressed in terms of the change in asymptotic phase of an appropriate solution and in terms of factors whose values depend on the presence of half-bound states. The behaviour of the asymptotic phase is used to determine the asymptotic behaviour of the Titchmarsh-Weyl m-function.

A 3-dimensional autonomous ordinary differential equation is studied which models certain cellular biochemical reactions. Extended Poincaré-Bendixson theory is used to obtain algebraic conditions on the parameters which are sufficient for the existence of at least one stable closed trajectory. Similar conditions are also obtained for the absence of chaos and for the global convergence of solutions to a critical point.

We study the class of polynomial vector fields of the form = αx — y + Pn(x, y), = x + αy + Qn(x, y), where Pn and Qn are homogeneous polynomials of degree n. If we define the functions f(x, y) = xPn(x, y) + yQn(x, y) and g(x, y) = xQn(x, y)−yPn(x, y), we characterise the number of limit cycles for this class when the function g(αg − f) does not change sign.