Monotone positive solutions of second-order nonlinear differential equations. (Q1395855)

The author considers the second-order nonlinear differential equation \[ u''+f(t,u,u')=0,\;t\geq 0, \tag{1} \] where \(f:\mathbb{R}_0\times\mathbb{R}\times \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}\) is continuous, \(\mathbb{R}_0=[0,+\infty).\) The following result is obtained: If \(| f(t,u,u')| \leq F(t,| u| ,| u'| ),\) where \(F\in C(\mathbb{R}_0\times \mathbb{R}_0\times \mathbb{R}_0,\mathbb{R}_0),\) \(F(t,r,s)\) is nondecreasing in both \(r\) and \(s\) for each fixed \(t\in \mathbb{R}_0,\) and \(\int_0^\infty F(t,2ct,2c)dt<c\) for some \(c>0,\) then (1) has at least an increasing positive solution \(u_c\) with \(u_c(0)=0,\) \(u_c(t)>0\) for \(t>0,\) \(u'_c(t)>0\) for \(t\geq 0,\) and \(\lim_{t\to \infty}\frac{u_c(t)}{t}=c.\) This result is applied to prove the existence of a positive solution of semilinear elliptic equation in \(\mathbb{R}^n,\) \(n\geq 3.\)