We study an even order system boundary value problem with periodic boundary conditions. By establishing the existence of a positive eigenvalue of an associated linear system Sturm-Liouville problem, we obtain new conditions for the boundary value problem to have a positive solution. Our major tools are the Krein-Rutman theorem for linear spectra and the fixed point index theory for compact operators.

The well-known Falkner--Skan equation is one of the most important equations in laminar boundary layer theory and is used to describe the steady two-dimensional flow of a slightly viscous incompressible fluid past wedge shaped bodies of angles related to $\lambda\pi/2$, where $\lambda\in \mathbb R$ is a parameter involved in the equation. It is known that there exists $\lambda^{*}<0$ such that the equation with suitable boundary conditions has at least one positive solution for each $\lambda\ge \lambda^{*}$ and has no positive solutions for $\lambda<\lambda^{*}$. The known numerical result shows $\lambda^{*}=-0.1988$. In this paper, $\lambda^{*}\in [-0.4,-0.12]$ is proved analytically by establishing a singular integral equation which is equivalent to the Falkner--Skan equation. The equivalence result provides new techniques to study properties and existence of solutions of the Falkner--Skan equation.

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.