Consider the general expression of such equations in the form

where Ai, Bj, ∊ ℝ, δo = 0 dn/ 0, dn are n-derivatives, n ≧ l, the σj'S and δj,'s respectively, are ordered as an increasing family with possibly positive and negative terms. These are the deviating arguments. In this paper, we provide a proof of this result based on the use of the Laplace transform. Our method involves new results regarding the exponential growth of positive solutions for such equations.

We present a new result on the existence of periodic solutions for the equation:

for all positive parameters λ sufficiently large. Our fundamental assumption is the following monotonicity property: if ø ≧ ψ (ø and ψ are data) then x(ø) ≧ x(ψ). The proof consists in applying the global Hopf bifurcation theorem. The main steps are: (i) a classical estimation of the periods; (ii) an a priori estimate for the solutions along a connected branch; (iii) a transformation acting on periodic solutions.

We consider a system of functional differential equations

where G: R × B → Rn is T periodic in t and B is a certain phase space of continuous functions that map (−∞, 0[ into Rn. The concepts of B-uniform boundedness and B-uniform ultimate boundedness are introduced, and sufficient conditions are given for the existence of a T-periodic solution to (1.1). Several examples are given to illustrate the main theorem.