Positive solutions of semipositone higher-order differential equations on time scales (Q531697)

Applying the fixed point index theorem, the authors establish the existence of positive solutions of 2\(n\)-th-order differential equations on time scales \[ (-1)^ny^{\Delta^{2n}}(t)=g(t)f(t, y(t)) \] subject to \[ y^{\Delta^{2i}}(a)-\beta_{i+1}y^{\Delta^{2i+1}}(a)=\alpha_{i+1}y^{\Delta^{2i}}(\nu)\text{ and }\gamma_{i+1}y^{\Delta^{2i}}(\nu)=y^{\Delta^{2i}}(b),\quad 0\leq i\leq n-1, \] where \(\nu\in (a, b)\), \(n\geq 1\), \(\beta_i>0\), \(1<\gamma_i<\frac{b-a+\beta_i}{\nu-a+\beta_i}\), \(0\leq \alpha_i <\frac{b-\gamma_i\nu+(\gamma_i-1)(a-\beta_i)}{b-\nu}\), \(i=1, 2, \cdots, n\). The functions \(g: [a, b]\to [0, +\infty)\) and \(f: [a,b]\times [0, +\infty)\to (-\infty, \infty)\) are continuous. Moreover, the case that the function \(g\) may be singular at \(t=a\) and (or) \(t=b\) is considered.