Twin positive solutions for quasi-linear multi-point boundary value problems (Q1781547)

The authors consider the second-order differential equation with \(p\)-Laplacian of the form \[ (\phi_p(u'))'+h(t)f(t,u)=0, \leqno (1) \] where \(\phi_p(u')=| u'| ^{p-2}u',\;p\in (1,\infty),\) \(h\) is continuous and positive on \([0,1]\) and \(f\) is continuous on \([0,1]\times [0,\infty)\) and \(f\) can change its sign. Equation (1) is investigated under one of the following multipoint boundary conditions \[ u'(0)=0, \quad u(1)=\sum_{i=1}^{m-2} \alpha_i u(\xi_i), \leqno (2) \] or \[ u(0)=\sum_{i=1}^{m-2} \alpha_iu(\xi_i),\quad u'(1)=0. \leqno (3) \] Here, \(\xi_i\in (0,1)\) with \(0<\xi_1<\xi_2<\dots < \xi_{m-2}<1,\) \(\alpha_i\geq 0\) with \(0<\sum_{i=1}^{m-2} \alpha_i <1,\) \(m\geq 3\). Constructing available operators and using the fixed-point index theory, the authors obtain sufficient conditions for the existence of two positive solutions of problems (1), (2) and (1), (3).