Positiveness conditions for the Cauchy function for differential equations with distributed delay (Q646813)

Positiveness conditions of the Cauchy function for the scalar first order functional differential equation \[ \dot{x}(t)+a(t)x(t)+\int_{t-\tau(t)-h(t)}^{t-\tau(t)} k(t,s)x(s)ds=0 \] are obtained. Connection between positiveness and asymptotic properties of solutions with applications to equations of Mathematical Biology are studied.