In this paper real numbers A1, A2 are obtained which are such that for λ > A1 or λ < A2 there are no non-trivial solutions of the equation

which are in L2(a,∞) for some a>0. Precise values for A1 and A2 are obtained in certain cases.

Using a fixed point theorem on operators expanding a cone in a Banach space we prove the existence of positive solutions of superlinear boundary value problems

At the same time we get bounds (or even inclusions) of positive solutions.

Large time behaviour of solutions to a damped quasi-linear wave equation are studied. Conditions are obtained which guarantee the global existence of a classical solution. The asymptotic behaviour of this solution is studied in the case of a unique equilibrium solution and in the case of multiple equilibria. The results are applied to various special examples.

An elementary matrix has ones down the main diagonal and at most one element off the diagonal that differs from zero. We study the subgroups of SL2ℤ generated by sets of elementary matrices. Specifically, we give a stringent condition that the entries of a matrix belonging to such a group must satisfy.

For an ordinary differential operation Lλ of order 2N which depends differentiably on a parameter λ, we study the differentiability with respect to λ of all solutions to Lλf = 0 which are in L2[a,∞). Applications to spectral theory are given, including a formula for the rate of change with respect to the end-point a of the spectrum of the weighted eigenvalue problem Lf = λwf, f∈L2[a,∞), f[i](a) = 0 for i ≦N − 1. The weight w may be a function or an operator. The formula seems new even when w = 1.

Upper and lower bounds for the solutions of a nonlinear Dirichlet problem are given and isoperimetric inequalities for the maximal pressure of an ideal charged gas are constructed. The method used here is based on a geometrical result for two-dimensional abstract surfaces.

Some second order semilinear elliptic boundary value problems of the Ambrosetti-Prodi-type are studied. Existence and multiplicity of solutions is proved in dependence on a parameter. Constructing a global strongly increasing fixed point operator in a suitable function space, observing - under appropriate conditions, which are in some sense optimal–that the fixed point operator has some properties similar to a strongly positive linear endomorphism, one unifies and improves the treatment of such problems, whether the nonlinearity is dependent on the gradient or not, and obtains some new results.

This paper is concerned with the study of a mathematical model of the injection of fluid into a finite Hele–Shaw cell. The mathematical problem is one of solving Laplace's equation in an unknown region whose boundary changes with time. By a transformation of the dependent variable, an elliptic variational inequality formulation of the moving boundary problem is obtained. The variational inequality is shown to have a unique solution up to the time at which the cell is filled. Regularity results for the solution of the inequality are obtained by studying a penalty approximation of the inequality.

We study, in unbounded domains Ω⊂Rn, an elliptic semilinear problem with homogeneous boundary conditions. We assume that the nonlinear term f(x, u, Du) satisfies some condition of quadratic growth with respect to Du. We prove, in the framework of weighted Sobolev spaces, that, if and are respectively a subsolution and a supersolution of our problem, then there exists a least solution ū and a greatest solution û in the ordered interval and we obtain some multiplicity results.

Here we obtain the inequality

under very general conditions on the non-negative weight functions u, v, w, for general p, l≦p<∞ and for both bounded and unbounded intervals I.

Sufficient conditions for oscillation of solutions to third order hyperbolic characteristic initial value problems are established. The results generalize known oscillation criteria for second order hyperbolic problems.

The groups of units of indefinite ternary quadratic forms with rational integer coefficients contain subgroups of index two which are isomorphic to Fuchsian groups and which, for zero forms, are commensurable with the classical modular group. This is used to obtain a family of forms whose groups are representatives of the conjugacy classes of maximal groups associated with zero forms. The signatures of the groups of the forms in this family are determined and it is shown that the group associated to any zero form is isomorphic to a subgroup of finite index in the group of one of three particular forms. This last result should be compared with the corresponding result by Mennicke on non-zero forms.

As in an earlier paper by the author, three cardinal numbers, the shift, the defect and the collapse, are associated with each element of the full transformation semigroup ℑ(X), where X is an infinite set. It is shown that the elements of finite shift and non-zero defect form a subsemigroup F of ℑ(X). Moreover, if E(F) denotes the set of idempotents in F then 〈E(F)〉 = F, but (E(F))n ⊂F for every finite n. For each infinite cardinal m not exceeding ∣X∣ the set Qm of balanced elements of weight m, i.e. those with shift, defect and collapse all equal to m, forms a subsemigroup of ℑ(X). Moreover, (E(Qm))4=Qm,(E(Qm))3⊂Qm.

Let X be a set with infinite regular cardinality m. Within the full transformation semigroup ℑ(X) a subsemigroup Sm is described which is bisimple and idempotent-generated. Its minimum non-trivial homomorphic image has both these properties and is also congruence-free. The semigroup contains an isomorphic copy of every semigroup having order less than m.

Dirichlet, Neumann and mixed boundary value problems for the equation uxx −uyy = 0 are considered for a variety of rectangular domains. Uniqueness of solutions to these non-well-posed problems is considered by separation of variables methods. The question of uniqueness is also discussed for domains other than rectangles.