The problem on the existence of a positive in the interval $\mathopen ]a,b\mathclose [$ solution of the boundary value problem \[ u^{\prime \prime }=f(t,u)+g(t,u)u^{\prime };\quad u(a+)=0, \quad u(b-)=0 \] is considered, where the functions $f$ and $g\:\mathopen ]a,b\mathclose [\times \mathopen ]0,+\infty \mathclose [ \rightarrow \mathbb R$ satisfy the local Carathéodory conditions. The possibility for the functions $f$ and $g$ to have singularities in the first argument (for $t=a$ and $t=b$) and in the phase variable (for $u=0$) is not excluded. Sufficient and, in some cases, necessary and sufficient conditions for the solvability of that problem are established.
The two-point boundary value problem u ′′ + h(x)u p = 0, a < x < b, u(a) = u(b) = 0 is considered, where p > 1, h ∈ C 1 [0, 1] and h(x) > 0 for a ≤ x ≤ b. The existence of positive solutions is well-known. Several sufficient conditions have been obtained for the uniqueness of positive solutions. On the other hand, a non-uniqueness example was given by Moore and Nehari in 1959. In this paper, new uniqueness results are presented.