We consider a nonlinear periodic problem driven by a nonlinear nonhomogeneous differential operator and a Carathéodory reaction term $f(t,x)$ that exhibits a $(p-1)$-superlinear growth in $x \in \mathbb{R}$ near $\pm\infty$ and near zero. A special case of the differential operator is the scalar $p$-Laplacian. Using a combination of variational methods based on the critical point theory with Morse theory (critical groups), we show that the problem has three nontrivial solutions, two of which have constant sign (one positive, the other negative).

In this paper we investigate the existence of positive solutions for nonlinear elliptic problems driven by the $p$-Laplacian with a nonsmooth potential (hemivariational inequality). Under asymptotic conditions that make the Euler functional indefinite and incorporate in our framework the asymptotically linear problems, using a variational approach based on nonsmooth critical point theory, we obtain positive smooth solutions. Our analysis also leads naturally to multiplicity results.

This paper presents an approach to injectivity theorems via the Mountain Pass Lemma and raises an open question. The main result of this paper (Theorem~1.1) is proved by means of the Mountain Pass Lemma and states that if the eigenvalues of $F' (\x)F' (\x)^{T}$ are uniformly bounded away from zero for $\x \in \hbox{\Bbbvii R}^{n}$, where $F \colon \hbox{\Bbbvii R}^n \rightarrow \hbox{\Bbbvii R}^n$ is a class $\cC^{1}$ map, then $F$ is injective. This was discovered in a joint attempt by the authors to prove a stronger result conjectured by the first author: Namely, that a sufficient condition for injectivity of class $\cC^{1}$ maps $F$ of $\hbox{\Bbbvii R}^n$ into itself is that all the eigenvalues of $F'(\x)$ are bounded away from zero on $\hbox{\Bbbvii R}^n$. This is stated as Conjecture~2.1. If true, it would imply (via {\it Reduction-of-Degree}) {\it injectivity of polynomial maps} $F \colon \hbox{\Bbbvii R}^n \rightarrow \hbox{\Bbbvii R}^n$ {\it satisfying the hypothesis}, $\det F'(\x) \equiv 1$, of the celebrated Jacobian Conjecture (JC) of Ott-Heinrich Keller. The paper ends with several examples to illustrate a variety of cases and known counterexamples to some natural questions.