A NOTE ON COMONOTONICITY AND POSITIVITY OF THE CONTROL COMPONENTS OF DECOUPLED QUADRATIC FBSDE

In this small note we are concerned with the solution of Forward-Backward Stochastic Differential Equations (FBSDE) with drivers that grow quadratically in the control component (quadratic growth FBSDE or qgFBSDE). The main theorem is a comparison result that allows comparing componentwise the signs of the control processes of two different qgFBSDE. As a byproduct one obtains conditions that allow establishing the positivity of the control process.Comment: accepted for publicatio

Survey About the Use of Bacterial Inoculants in Brazil: Effects on Silage Quality and Animal Performance

Our objective was to report the effect of bacterial inoculants on silage quality and animal responses in Brazil. A survey of bacterial inoculants utilization in Brazil was made based on a total of 178 published articles assessing a widely varied crops (alfalfa, cabbage, cassava, corn, grass, high-moisture corn (HMC), high-moisture sorghum, millet, oat, orange bagasse, peanut forage, sorghum, soybean, stylosantes Campo Grande, sugarcane, and sunflower). Sugarcane and grass silages comprised 58.1% of the total crops investigated. Homolactic inoculation reduced dry matter (DM) losses in alfalfa silages, but not in corn, grass, HMC, and sorghum silages. Heterolactic inoculation enhanced the aerobic stability of corn and HMC silages. The use of heterofermentative lactic acid-bacteria (LAB) was more effective to improve fermentation of sugarcane silages compared to homofermentative LAB. Inoculation impaired the DM intake in cattle fed corn, grass, and sugarcane silages, but DM intake increased in sheep due to inoculation. In some cases, silage digestibility was affected by inoculation. Positive responses to inoculation occurred most often when the compatibility between the bacterial inoculant and crop was better understood (e.g., homolactic inoculation for grass silage and heterolactic inoculation for sugarcane silage). The performance of animals consuming inoculated silages has been investigated in Brazil only a few times, but the data suggest a greater impact of bacterial inoculants on DM intake and weight gain in cattle and sheep than that indicated in temperate conditions

A vote to leave will increase financial market volatility

In late February, UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the referendum on the country’s continued membership of the European Union (EU) would be held on 23 June. Over the following weekend, a number of leading Conservative MPs announced their support for the campaign to leave the EU – ‘Brexit’. The pound sterling declined as trading opened on the Monday morning, losing close to 2% of its value relative to the dollar and 1.5% relative to the euro on the first day of trading following these news stories

Is the era of central bank independence drawing to a close?

A survey of top European economists discusses central bank independence and inflation targeting, write Wouter Den Haan, Ethan Ilzetzki, Martin Ellison, Michael McMahon and Ricardo Rei

Is a loose monetary policy still appropriate for the Eurozone?

A survey of economic experts discusses quantitative easing and its impact on structural reforms in the EU - by Wouter Den Haan, Ethan Ilzetzki, Martin Ellison, Michael McMahon and Ricardo Rei

How to prepare a power system for 12% wind energy penetration: The Portuguese Case Study

The 2001/77/CE Renewable Energies European Directive together with Kyoto Protocol ratification supported by a Government vision and strong objective on the reduction of external oil dependence put Portugal in the front line to achieve one of the highest wind energy penetrations within ten years time. This paper gives a summarized overview of the Portuguese technical approaches and methodologies followed in order to plan and accomodate the ambitious wind power goals to 2010/2013, preserving the overall quality of the power system

Effect of solvent-dependent viscoelastic properties of chitosan membranes on the permeation of 2-phenylethanol

The viscoelastic behaviour of chitosan was followed by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) while the sample was immersed in gradient compositions of water/ethanol mixtures. The swelling equilibrium of chitosan membranes, both crosslinked with genipin or not, increased linearly with the water content. Increasing the water content, it was simultaneously observed a peak in the loss factor (around 25 vol.%) and a reduction of the storage modulus, which was attributed to the a-relaxation of chitosan. This was the first time that the glass transition dynamics in a polymer was monitored in immersion conditions where the composition of the plasticizer in the bath is changed in a controlled way. The water content at which tan d presented a maximum increased with both increasing frequency and increasing crosslinking density. The permeability decreased steadily with the ethanol content, reaching very low values around the glass transition. Therefore we hypothesize that conformational mobility of the polymeric chains may play an important role in the diffusion properties of molecules trough polymeric matrices.This work was partially supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), through funds from the POCTI and/or FEDER programmes and through the scholarship SFRH/BPD/34545/2007 granted to Ricardo M.P. da Silva. This work was carried out under the scope of the European NoE EXPERTISSUES (NMP3-CT-2004-500283) and also partially supported by the EU funded projects HIPPOCRATES (STREP - NMP3-CT-2003-505758) and PROTEUS (INTERREG III A - SP1.P151/03). The technical assistance of Ana Pinheiro in the execution of the DMA experiments is also acknowledged

Real world lessons that can assist construction organisations in implementing BIM to improve the OSH processes

Changing the way OSH management is performed with BIM is relevant. Several authors propose that real world cases need to be studied as there are few examples of studies covering BIM implementation for OSH. The UK PAS1192:6 introductory standard indicated some of the requisites and approaches to implementing BIM for OSH. Lessons from projects that have already implemented PAS 1192:6 will provide valuable inputs. This paper explores the stakeholders’ perceptions about benefits and barriers of adoption of BIM for OSH purposes using examples from a complex large project (Thames Tideway Tunnel). The methodology adopted was a survey of 39 project participants. The study focused on the following areas: collaboration, risk assessment, training and awareness, inspection of workplaces, work accidents, budget control, error detection, liaison between logistics and productivity. The implementation of the new BIM based approach to construction OSH management in this project shows that there is a very positive vision, namely in areas of risk assessment and training, in terms of the improvement of OSH management as well as of optimization of times and costs, better liaison between OSH and production, with increased production efficiency. This can potentially lead to a paradigm shift in OSH management in large projects