We study hybrid systems with strong resets from the perspective of formal language theory. We define a notion of hybrid regular expression and prove a Kleene-like theorem for hybrid systems. We also prove the closure of these systems under determinisation and complementation. Finally, we prove that the reachability problem is undecidable for synchronized products of hybrid systems.

A modified version of the classical µ-operator as well as the first value operator and the operator of inverting unary functions, applied in combination with the composition of functions and starting from the primitive recursive functions, generate all arithmetically representable functions. Moreover, the nesting levels of these operators are closely related to the stratification of the arithmetical hierarchy. The same is shown for some further function operators known from computability and complexity theory. The close relationships between nesting levels of operators and the stratification of the hierarchy also hold for suitable restrictions of the operators with respect to the polynomial hierarchy if one starts with the polynomial-time computable functions. It follows that questions around P vs. NP and NP vs. coNP can equivalently be expressed by closure properties of function classes under these operators. The polytime version of the first value operator can be used to establish hierarchies between certain consecutive levels within the polynomial hierarchy of functions, which are related to generalizations of the Boolean hierarchies over the classes $\mbox{$\Sigma^p_{k}$}$.

Richomme asked the following question: what is the infimum of the real numbers α > 2 such that there exists an infinite word that avoids α-powers but contains arbitrarily large squares beginning at every position? We resolve this question in the case of a binary alphabet by showing that the answer is α = 7/3.

The theorem of Fraenkel and Simpson states that the maximum number of distinct squares that a word w of length n can contain is less than 2n. This is based on the fact that no more than two squares can have their last occurrences starting at the same position. In this paper we show that the maximum number of the last occurrences of squares per position in a partial word containing one hole is 2k, where k is the size of the alphabet. Moreover, we prove that the number of distinct squares in a partial word with one hole and of length n is less than 4n, regardless of the size of the alphabet. For binary partial words, this upper bound can be reduced to 3n.

Generalizing the results of Thue (for n = 2) [Norske Vid. Selsk. Skr. Mat. Nat. Kl. 1 (1912) 1–67] and of Klepinin and Sukhanov (for n = 3) [Discrete Appl. Math. 114 (2001) 155–169], we prove that for all n ≥ 2, the critical exponent of the Arshon word of order n is given by (3n–2)/(2n–2), and this exponent is attained at position 1.

We show that there are three types of infinite words over the two-letter alphabet {0,1} that avoid the pattern AABBCABBA. These types, P, E0, and E1, differ by the factor complexity and the asymptotic frequency of the letter 0. Type P has polynomial factor complexity and letter frequency $\frac{1}{2}$. Type E0 has exponential factor complexity and the frequency of the letter 0 is at least 0.45622 and at most 0.48684. Type E1 is obtained from type E0 by exchanging 0 and 1.

Among the various ways to construct a characteristic Sturmian word, one of the most used consists in defining an infinite sequence of prefixes that are standard. Nevertheless in any characteristic word c, some standard words occur that are not prefixes of c. We characterize all standard words occurring in any characteristic word (and so in any Sturmian word) using firstly morphisms, then standard prefixes and finally palindromes.

Threshold languages, which are the (k/(k–1))+-free languages over k-letter alphabets with k ≥ 5, are the minimal infinite power-free languages according to Dejean's conjecture, which is now proved for all alphabets. We study the growth properties of these languages. On the base of obtained structural properties and computer-assisted studies we conjecture that the growth rate of complexity of the threshold language over k letters tends to a constant $\hat{\alpha}\approx1.242$ as k tends to infinity.