Positive solutions for a class of nonlinear boundary value problems with Neumann-Robin boundary conditions (Q1304611)

The authors consider the two-point boundary value problems \[ -u''(x)= \lambda f(u(x));\quad 0<x< 1,\quad u'(0)= 0;\quad u'(1)+ \alpha u(1)= 0, \] where \(\lambda> 0\) and \(\alpha>0\) are parameters and \(f\in C^2[0,1]\). They establish the existence of a nonnegative solution under various assumptions on the function \(f\). They find a drastic difference between the cases \(f(0)> 0\) and \(f(0)< 0\). In the case \(f(s)> 0\) for \(s\geq 0\), \(f'(s)\geq 0\), \(f''(s)> 0\) they obtain the equation \[ \int^{u(x)}_{u(0)} {ds\over \sqrt{F(\rho)- F(s)}}= -\sqrt{2\lambda x} \] for \(x\in (0,1)\), where \(\rho= u(0)\) and \(F(s)= \int^s_0 f(t) dt\). This justifies calling the method they employ the method of quadrature.