Existence and uniqueness of positive solutions for fourth-order \(m\)-point boundary value problems with two parameters (Q370850)

In this paper, the authors investigate the existence and uniqueness of positive solutions for the following fourth-order \(m\)-point boundary value problem with two parameters \[ \begin{aligned} & u^{(4)} + \alpha u'' - \beta u = f(t, u), \quad 0 < t < 1,\\ & u(0) = \sum_{i=1}^{m-2} a_{i}u(\xi_{i}),\;u(1) = \sum_{i=1}^{m-2} b_{i}u(\xi_{i}), \\ & u''(0) = \sum_{i=1}^{m-2} a_{i} u''(\xi_{i}),\;u''(1) = \sum_{i=1}^{m-2} b_{i} u''(\xi_{i}), \end{aligned} \] where \(\alpha,\beta\in\mathbb{R}\), \(\xi_{i}\in (0,1)\), \(a_{i}, b_{i}\in\mathbb{R}^{+}\) for \(i\in\{1,2,\dots,m-2\}\) are given constants, \(\mathbb{R}^{+}=[0, +\infty)\), and \(\alpha,\beta, f\) satisfy \[ \begin{aligned} & f:[0,1]\times\mathbb{R}^{+}\to\mathbb{R}^{+} \text{ is continuous}, \\ & \alpha, \beta\in\mathbb{R} \text{ and } \alpha < 2\pi^{2},\;\beta\geq -\alpha^{2}/4,\;(\alpha/\pi^{2}) + (\beta/\pi^{4}) < 1. \end{aligned} \] The main tool used in the proofs of existence results is a fixed point theorem in a cone due to Krasnoselskii and Zabreiko. These results extend and complement the main results in [\textit{Y. Li}, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 281, No. 2, 477--484 (2003; Zbl 1030.34016)] and in [\textit{H. Ma}, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 321, No. 1, 37--49 (2006; Zbl 1101.34014)].