An oscillation criterion for Sturm-Liouville equations with Besicovitch almost-periodic coefficients (Q1191885)

The paper considers second order o.d.e.'s (1) \(d^ 2x/dt^ 2-\lambda p(t)f(x)=0\) where \(p\) is Besicovitch almost-periodic and \(\lambda\in\mathbb{R}\backslash\{0\}\). In case \(f(x):=x\), \textit{A. Dzurnak} and \textit{A. B. Mingarelli} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 106, No. 3, 647-653 (1989; Zbl 0688.34019)] obtained conditions for equation (1) to be oscillatory. For their proof they had used a comparison theorem by Levin which was generalized by \textit{C.-C. Yeh} [Math. Jap. 36, No. 4, 703-710 (1991; Zbl 0736.34021)] to nonlinear second order o.d.e.'s. The new comparison theorem is applied by the authors to prove an oscillation criterion for (1) when \(f\) belongs to a certain class of nonlinear functions, thus extending the result by Dzurnak and Mingarelli. Finally, equation (1) with \(p(t):=\sin t\), \(f(x):=\text{sgn}(x)\cdot\ln(1+| x|)\) is considered as an example. However, the result of the paper is not applicable in this case, since one of the conditions imposed on \(f\) is violated: There is no \(k>0\) such that \(f'(x)\geq k\) for all \(x\neq 0\).