Higher order variational problems appear often in the engineering literature and in connection with the so-called gradient theories of phase transitions within elasto-plastic regimes. The study of equilibria of micromagnetic materials asks for mastery of second order energies (see [51], [91]; see also [31], [38], [44], [45], [61], [77], [78], [79], [108]), and the Blake-Zisserman model for imag...