On monotonicity of solutions of discrete-time nonnegative and compartmental dynamical systems

Abstract

Nonnegative and compartmental dynamical system models are widespread in biological, physiological, and pharmacological sciences. Since the state variables of these systems are typically masses or concentrations of a physical process, it is of interest to determine necessary and sufficient conditions under which the system states possess monotonic solutions. In this paper, we present necessary and sufficient conditions for identifying discrete-time nonnegative and compartmental dynamical systems that only admit monotonic solutions.