We consider the following problem

where for all ≦f(x,u)≦c1up-1 + c2u for all x ∈ℝN,u≧0 with c1>0,c2∈(0, 1), 2<p<(2N/(N – 2)) if N ≧ 3, 2 ≧ + ∝ if N = 2. We prove that (*) has at least two positive solutions if

and h≩0 in ℝN, where S is the best Sobolev constant and

It is shown that spectral properties of Sturm–Liouville eigenvalue problems with indefinite weights are related to integral inequalities studied by Everitt. A result of Beals on indefinite problems leads to a sufficient condition for the validity of such an inequality. A Baire category argument is used to show that, in general, the inequality under consideration does not hold.

This paper examines the Cauchy problem for a viscoelastic model with relaxation

with discontinuous, large initial data, where ½ ≦ μ <1, δ > 0 are constants. We first give a definition of admissible (or entropic) solutions to the system. Under this definition, we prove the existence, uniqueness and continuous dependence of the global admissible solution for the system. Our methods are essentially due to Kruzkov, and the requirement that f(u) is not badly degenerate (more precisely, meas {x: f″(x) = 0} = 0), needed previously when considering the global existence problem for the same system, is removed.