Existence of solutions for a 1-D boundary value problem coming from a model for burglary (Q2451841)

The authors study the problem of existence of positive solutions for an ordinary differential systems of the form \[ \eta(x)(A - A^0 (x))'' - A + A^0 (x) + Nf(x,A) = 0, \] \[ N'' + [g(x,A,A')N]' - \omega^2 (N-1) = 0, \] with either Neumann or periodic boundary conditions. Here, \(\eta (\cdot)\) is a continuous positive function and \(A^0\) is a positive function of class \(C^2.\) On the other hand, \(f\) is continuous, \(g\) is of class \(C^1\) and they satisfy some additional restrictions motivated by the special case where \(f(x,A) = \psi (x)A(1-A)\) with \(\psi (\cdot)\) a continuous function and \(g(x,A,A') = -2 \frac{A'}{A}.\) This special case is a one dimensional version of a problem that arises in mathematical modelling for burglary of houses (in most of these models \(A\) represents attractiveness for a house to be burgled and \(N\) density of burglars). In the proof, Leray-Schauder degree theory is used (the requested a priori estimates are obtained by some unusual combination of pointwise estimates based upon maximum or minimum properties and of \(L^1\)-estimates).