This paper studies a two-strain SIS epidemic model with a competing mechanism and a saturating incidence rate on complex networks. This type of incidence rate could be used to reflect the crowding effect of the infective individuals. We first obtain the associated reproduction numbers for each of the two strains which determine the existence of the boundary equilibria. Stability of the disease-free and boundary equilibria are further examined. Besides, we also show that the two competing strains can coexist under certain conditions. Interestingly, the saturating incidence rate can have specific effects on not only the stability of the boundary equilibria, but also the existence of the coexistence equilibrium. Numerical simulations are presented to support the theoretical results.

This work is concerned with zeta functions of two-dimensional shifts of finite type. A two-dimensional zeta function ζ0(s) which generalizes the Artin-Mazur zeta function was given by Lind for Z2-action φ. The n-th order zeta function ζn of φ on Zn×∞, n ≥ 1, is studied first. The trace operator Tn which is the transition matrix for x-periodic patterns of period n with height 2 is rotationally symmetric. The rotational symmetry of Tn induces the reduced trace operator τn and ζn = (det (I − snτn))−1. The zeta function ζ =∞ Qn=1 (det (I − snτn))−1 in the x-direction is now a reciprocal of an infinite product of polynomials. The zeta function can be presented in the y-direction and in the coordinates of any unimodular transformation in GL2(Z). Therefore, there exists a family of zeta functions that are meromorphic extensions of the same analytic function ζ0(s). The Taylor series at the origin for these zeta functions are equal with integer coefficients, yielding a family of identities which are of interest in number theory. The method applies to thermodynamic zeta functions for the Ising model with finite range interactions.

For two-sided topological Markov chains, we show that the set of points for which the two-sided Birkhoff averages of a continuous function diverge is residual. We also show that the set of points for which the Birkhoff averages have a given set of accumulation points other than a singleton is residual. A nontrivial consequence of our results is that the set of points for which the local entropies of an invariant measure on a locally maximal hyperbolic set does not exist is residual. This strongly contrasts to the Shannon–McMillan–Breiman theorem in the context of ergodic theory, which says that local entropies exist on a full measure set.

By constructing an infinite graph-directed iterated iterated function system associated with a finite iterated function system, we develop a new approach for proving the differentiability of the $L^q$-spectrum and establishing the multifractal formalism of certain self-similar measures with overlaps, especially those defined by similitudes with different contraction ratios. We apply our technique to a well-known class of self-similar measures of generalized finite type.

The commonly used spatial entropy hr(U) of the multi-dimensional shift space U is the limit of growth rate of admissible local patterns on finite rectangular sublattices which expands to whole space Zd, d ≥ 2. This work studies spatial entropy hΩ(U) of shift space U on general expanding system Ω = {Ω(n)}∞ n=1 where Ω(n) is increasing finite sublattices and expands to Zd. Ω is called genuinely d-dimensional if Ω(n) contains no lower-dimensional part whose size is comparable to that of its d-dimensional part. We show that hr(U) is the supremum of hΩ(U) for all genuinely two-dimensional Ω. Furthermore, when Ω is genuinely d-dimensional and satisfies certain conditions, then hΩ(U) = hr(U). On the contrary, when Ω(n) contains a lower-dimensional part, then hr(U) < hΩ(U) for some U. Therefore, hr(U) is appropriate to be the d-dimensional spatial entropy.