| Abstract: |
| It has been shown that, under suitable hypotheses, boundary value problems of the form, $Ly+\lambda y=f,$ $BC y =0$ where $L$ is a linear ordinary or partial differentiable operator and $BC$ denotes a linear boundary operator, then there exists $\Lambda >0$ such that $f\ge 0$ implies $\lambda y \ge 0$ for $\lambda\in [-\Lambda ,\Lambda ]\setminus\{0\},$ where $y$ is the unique solution of $Ly+\lambda y=f,$ $BC y =0$. So, the boundary value problem satisfies a maximum principle for $\lambda\in [-\Lambda ,0)$ and the boundary value problem satisfies an anti-maximum principle if $\lambda\in (0, \Lambda ]$. Let $\alpha\in (1,2].$ In an abstract result, we shall provide suitable hypotheses such that boundary value problems of the form, $D_{0}^{\alpha}y+\beta D_{0}^{\alpha -1}y=f,$ $BC y =0$ where $D_{0}^{\alpha}$ is a Riemann Liouville fractional differentiable operator of order $\alpha$ and $BC$ denotes a linear boundary operator, then there exists $\mathcal{B} >0$ such that $f\ge 0$ implies $\beta D_{0}^{\alpha -1}y \ge 0$ for $\beta \in [-\mathcal{B} ,\mathcal{B} ]\setminus\{0\},$ where $y$ is the unique solution of $D_{0}^{\alpha}y+\beta D_{0}^{\alpha -1}y =f,$ $BC y =0$. Two examples are provided in which the hypotheses of the abstract theorem are satisfied to obtain the sign property of $\beta D_{0}^{\alpha -1}y.$ The boundary conditions are chosen so that with further analysis a sign property of $\beta y$ is also obtained. One application of monotone methods is developed to illustrate the utility of the abstract result. |
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