Trends, directions for further research, and some open problems of fractional calculus

The area of fractional calculus (FC) has been fast developing and is presently being applied in all scientific fields. Therefore, it is of key relevance to assess the present state of development and to foresee, if possible, the future evolution, or, at least, the challenges identified in the scope of advanced research works. This paper gives a vision about the directions for further research as well as some open problems of FC. A number of topics in mathematics, numerical algorithms and physics are analyzed, giving a systematic perspective for future research.

Mothering against motherhood: doula work, xenohospitality and the idea of the momrade

Today, a new vein of queer Marxist-feminist family-abolitionist theorising is reviving contemporary feminists’ willingness to imagine, politically, what women's liberationists in the 1970s called ‘mothering against motherhood’. Concurrently, the jokey portmanteau ‘momrade’, i.e. mom + comrade, has circulated persistently in the twenty-first century on online forums maintained by communities of mothers and/or leftists. This article asks: what if, in the name of abolishing the family, we took the joke entirely seriously? What makes a ‘mom’ a ‘momrade’, or vice versa? In what ways does the work of reproduction, conceivably, actively participate in class struggles, producing new worlds (and un-producing others)? How do the collective arts of mothering unmake selves? And how does the verb ‘to mother’ work to abolish the present state of things? The chosen point of departure for exploring these questions is the concept of xenohospitality; a term I borrow from Helen Hester – one of the authors of the Xenofeminist Manifesto – who defines it as openness to the alien, a definition I link closely to ‘comradeliness’. Further, the meaning of the term ‘family abolition’, here, is aptly summed up by the formula ‘xenofam ≥ biofam’; to abolish the family is not to destroy relationships of care and nurturance, but on the contrary, to expand and proliferate them. Reflecting on the conditions of possibility for such universally xenofamilial – that is to say, comradely – kin relations, this article implicitly argues for utopia(nism) in feminist kinship studies. It grounds this utopianism, however, in first-hand experiences of informal ‘death doula’ labour. The labour of mothering one's mother is offered as a potential practice of un-mothering oneself and others. In fact, the argument pivots on these auto-ethnographic observations about maternal bereavement, because the event of the author's mother's death interrupted and intruded upon the feminist theorising involved.

Hybrid inflation and waterfall field in string theory from D7-branes

We present an explicit string realisation of a cosmological inflationary scenario we proposed recently within the framework of type IIB flux compactifications in the presence of three magnetised D7-brane stacks. Inflation takes place around a metastable de Sitter vacuum. The inflaton is identified with the volume modulus and has a potential with a very shallow minimum near the maximum. Inflation ends due to the presence of “waterfall” fields that drive the evolution of the Universe from a nearby saddle point towards a global minimum with tuneable vacuum energy describing the present state of our Universe.

The Good Friday oration ad intra ecclesiam in the context of the post-conciliar liturgical reforms

This paper aims to juxtapose the differences between the versions of the Good Friday oration ad intra ecclesiam and unveil the theological character behind these modifications by analysing the prayers. The source materials were Benedict XV’s Roman Missal, Ordo Hebdomadae Sanctae Instauratus, Variationes in ordinem Hebdomadae Sanctae inducendae, and two typical editions of the reformed Roman Missals from 1970 and 2002. The paper is divided into three parts. In the first, the orations from the ad intra ecclesiam collection are explained. In the second, the changes to the orations are analysed. Finally, the influence on the theological character of the orations is presented. The analyses lead to the conclusion that it is difficult to specify a single criterion for the modifications in the ad intra ecclesiam collection. Sometimes, the changes resulted in a new organisation of the Church (e.g., oration for the Clergy and Laity of the Church), a shift in a person’s present state (oration for Those Preparing for Baptism), or a new understanding of the role of the Church in the world (oration for the Church). Some modifications are difficult to explain (oration for the Pope, for Those in Special Need).

The Past and Present State of the Saint Petersburg School of Classic Mongolology

No abstract available

VANILLA YERSINIANA (ORCHIDACEAE), A NEW RECORD FOR PENINSULAR MALAYSIA

MAT ESA, M. I., NORDIN, F. A., GO, R. & RAFFI, A. 2021. Vanilla yersiniana (Orchidaceae), a new record for Peninsular Malaysia. Reinwardtia 20(2): 51−55. — The genus Vanilla Plum. ex Mill. from Peninsular Malaysia is now enriched with the discovery of a newly recorded species, Vanilla yersiniana that made up its regional diversity to eight taxa. This species was documented from two adjacent secondary lowland forests in Perak; further south to the southern tail of Thailand. This paper describes the first record of V. yersiniana in Peninsular Malaysia with some highlights of its morphology and ecology. The data presented will add to the present state of knowledge on the species botanical profile.

The Critical Break

With this chapter, the book’s major focus shifts from the whole world to Europe, where sustainable capitalist economic development first takes off. After Rome’s disintegration, due to Western Europe’s geography and level of military technology, no European state could gain a hegemony on power. The resulting intense and ever-present state competition fueled an arms race and technological innovation while keeping rulers in need of revenue. They found additional resources in the expanding commerce, manufacturing, and capitalist institutions that accompanied an emerging bourgeoisie. Consequently, uniquely in Europe a bourgeoisie sustainably managed to survive its own self-destructiveness and the hostility of a hereditary landed aristocracy. The growing muscle of the bourgeoisie expressed itself in increasingly successful demands for greater freedoms, privileges, status, and political power commensurable to their wealth. The unique sustainable success of the European bourgeoisie and capitalist institutions constitutes a historical singularity, paving the way for today’s riches and freedoms.

The Priority Given to Sustainability by Industrial Designers within an Industry 4.0 Paradigm

Industrial design is intrinsically linked to manufacturing; however, what is required of industrial design to adapt to new changes brought on by Industry 4.0 in manufacturing is unknown. Current literature gives little insight into how industrial designers need to evolve to the current developments in manufacturing to remain value drivers in an Industry 4.0 paradigm. There is minimal research describing the link between industrial design, Industry 4.0 and the effect this will have on sustainability. We conducted an extensive survey of 190 respondents from 53 countries to establish the present state of industrial design practice globally and to better understand the priority sustainability is given by practicing industrial designers. Qualitative data showed a desire for improved sustainable processes; however, quantitative data contradicted this, showing “sustainability” as one of the lowest ranked areas of importance in design practice for industrial designers. While sustainability—especially in manufacturing—demands more prominent change as industrial design adapts to an Industry 4.0 manufacturing paradigm, it seems that junior industrial designers do not currently see this as a priority.