In this paper we obtain existence conditions and a closed form of the general solution of higher order singular regular boundary value problems. The approach is based on the concept of co-solution of algebraic matrix equations of polynomial type that permits the treatment of the problem without considering an extended first order system as it has been done in the known literature.

Given a finitely generated subgroup G of the group of affine transformations acting on the complex line C, we are interested in the quotient Fix( G)/G. The purpose of this note is to establish when this quotient is finite and in this case its cardinality. We give an application to the qualitative study of polynomial planar vector fields at a neighborhood of a nilpotent singular point.

A couple ($\sigma ,\tau$) of lower and upper slopes for the resonant second order boundary value problem $$x^{\text{'}\text{'}}=f(t,x,x^{\text{'}}),x\left(0\right)=0,x^{\text{'}}\left(1\right)={\int }_0^1{x}^{\text{'}}\left(s\right)\mathrm{d}g\left(s\right),$$ with $g$ increasing on $[0,1]$ such that ${\int }_0^{1}dg=1$, is a couple of functions $\sigma ,\tau \in C^1\left([0,1]\right)$ such that $\sigma \left(t\right)\le \tau \left(t\right)$ for all $t\in [0,1]$, $$\begin{array}{c}{\sigma }^{\text{'}}\left(t\right)\ge f(t,x,\sigma \left(t\right)),\sigma \left(1\right)\le {\int }_0^1\sigma \left(s\right)\mathrm{d}g\left(s\right),\\ {\tau }^{\text{'}}\left(t\right)\le f(t,x,\tau \left(t\right)),\tau \left(1\right)\ge {\int }_0^1\tau \left(s\right)\mathrm{d}g\left(s\right),\end{array}$$ in the stripe ${\int }_0^t\sigma \left(s\right)\mathrm{d}s\le x\le {\int }_0^t\tau \left(s\right)\mathrm{d}s$ and $t\in [0,1]$. It is proved that the existence of such a couple $(\sigma ,\tau )$ implies the existence and localization of a solution to the boundary value problem. Multiplicity results are also obtained.

We show the location of so called critical points, i.e., couples of diffusion coefficients for which a non-trivial solution of a linear reaction-diffusion system of activator-inhibitor type on an interval with Neumann boundary conditions and with additional non-linear unilateral condition at one or two points on the boundary and/or in the interior exists. Simultaneously, we show the profile of such solutions.