Positive solutions for (n − 1, 1) conjugate boundary value problems (Q3128490)

We are concerned with positive solutions of the nonlinear \((n-1,1)\) conjugate boundary value problem, \[ \begin{aligned} u^{(n)}+ a(t)f(u) &=0, \qquad 0<t<1,\\ u^{(k)}(0) &=0, \qquad 0\leq k\leq n-2,\\ u(1) &= 0,\end{aligned} \] where \(f:[0,\infty)\to [0,\infty)\) is continuous; and \(a:[0,1]\to [0,\infty)\) is continuous and does not vanish identically on any subinterval.