Existence of positive solutions for second-order \(m\)-point boundary value problems on time scales (Q2431968)

This paper deals with the existence of positive solutions to the second-order dynamic equation on a time scale \(\mathbb{T}\) \[ u^{\triangle \nabla}(t) + a(t) f(t, u(t)) = 0, \quad t \in [0,T] \subset \mathbb{T}, \] satisfying the \(m\)-point boundary conditions \[ \beta u(0) - \gamma u^{\triangle}(0) = 0, \quad u(T) - \sum_{i=1}^{m-2} a_i u(\xi_i) = b, \] where \(f: [0,T] \times [0,\infty) \to [0,\infty)\) is continuous and \(f(t,\cdot)\) does not vanish identically on any subset of \([0,T]\) of positive measure, \(a: [0,T] \to [0,\infty)\) is left-dense continuous and does not vanish identically on any subset of \([0,T]\) of positive measure. The authors also impose the condition \[ \int_0^T (T-s) a(s) \nabla s < \infty, \] which is not needed since it follows from the \(ld\)-continuity of the function \(a\). The parameters in the boundary conditions satisfy \(m \geq 3\), \(b > 0\), \(\beta, \gamma \geq 0\), \(\beta + \gamma > 0\), \(0 < \xi_1 < \dots < \xi_{m-2} < \rho(T)\), \(a_i \geq 0\), \(i=1,..., m-3\), \(a_{m-2} > 0\), \(\sum_{i=1}^{m-2}a_i \xi_i < T\) and \(\beta \left(T - \sum_{i=1}^{m-2}a_i \xi_i \right) + \gamma \left(1 - \sum_{i=1}^{m-2}a_i \right) > 0\). The existence of at least one positive solution is based on an application of a cone-theoretic fixed-point theorem of functional type due to \textit{R. I. Avery} and \textit{D. R. Anderson} [J. Difference Equ. Appl. 8, No.11, 1073-1083 (2002; Zbl 1013.47019)].