On existence and multiplicity of positive solutions to singular multi-point boundary value problems (Q596743)

The main result guarantees the existence and multiplicity of positive solutions for the multi-point boundary value problem \[ -\bigl(p(t)u'(t)\bigr)'+F\bigl(t,u(t)\bigl)=0,\quad 0<t<1,\quad u(0)=\sum^{m}_{j=1}a_ju(x_j),\quad \omega(1)=\sum^{m}_{j=1}b_j\omega (x_j), \] where \(\omega(t):=p(t)u'(t),\) the constants \(a_j,b_j\in[0,+\infty)\) are such that \(0<\sum^{m}_{j=1}a_j<1\) and \(\sum^{m}_{j=1}b_j<1,\;\) and \(x_j\in(0,1)\) with \(0<x_1<x_2<...<x_m<1.\) The authors assume that \(p(t)\) is a nonnegative measurable function defined on \((0,1]\) such that \(Q(t):=\int_0^1{ds\over p(s)}\) is absolutely continuous on \([0,1]\), \(F:(0,1)\times(0,+\infty)\to[0,+\infty)\) satisfies the Carathéodory conditions as well as some conditions depending on Green's function for the considered problem and there exist functions \(\xi(u),\eta(u)\in C(0,\infty)\) and nonnegative measurable functions \(A(t)\) and \(B(t)\) defined on \((0,1)\) such that \[ 0<\int_0^1Q(s)A(s)\,ds,\quad \int_0^1Q(s)B(s)\,ds<+\infty, \] \[ 0\leq F(t,u)\leq A(t)\xi(u)+B(t)\eta(u)\quad\text{for a. e.}\quad (t,u)\in(0,1)\times(0,\infty). \] The function \(F(t,u)\) may be singular at \(t=0\) and \(u=0\). The proofs are based on the properties of Green's function and on Krasnosel'skii's fixed-point theorem.