Difference Equations, Discrete Dynamical Systems and Applications: Preface

These proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Difference Equations and Applications cover the areas of difference equations, discrete dynamical systems, fractal geometry, difference equations and bio-medical models, and discrete models in the natural sciences, social sciences and engineering. The conference was held at the Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Hubei, China), under the auspices of the International Society of Difference Equations (ISDE) in July 2014. Its purpose was to bring together renowned researchers working actively in the respective fields, to discuss the latest developments, and to promote international cooperation on the theory and applications of difference equations. The main topics in ICDEA 2014 were difference equations, discrete dynamical systems, fractal geometry, difference equations and bio-medical models, and discrete models in natural science and social sciences. More than 100 participants attended the 48 talks of the conference, including 10 plenary talks given by invited speakers. These proceedings contain articles written by participants at ICDEA 2014 that were selected by our panel of referees to ensure quality of the scientific content. Four of the articles are prepared by the plenary speakers Martin Bohner, Aihua Fan, Peter Kloeden, and Kenneth Palmer. This book will appeal to researchers and scientists working in the fields of difference equations, discrete dynamical systems and their applications. We would like to take this opportunity to give our special thanks to all the participants for their active contributions to the success of ICDEA 2014. Our gratitute and appreciation go to the organizers for their efforts that made possible the success of the conference, the members of the scientific committee who ensured the high standards of the conference’s scientific activities, the administration of Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics for providing at the Chinese Academy of Sciences for providing its facilities and resources to the conference participants, and last but not least the sponsors for their generous financial contributions. Rolla, USA: Martin BohnerWuhan, China: Yiming DingBrno, Czech Republic: Ondřej DošlýAugust 201