Synthetic indicators of mutual funds’ environmental responsibility: An application of the Reference Point Method

Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) is broadly defined as an investment process that integrates not only financial but also social, environmental, and ethical (SEE) considerations into investment decision making. SRI has grown rapidly around the world in the last decades. In the last years, given the causes of the 2008 financial crisis, ethical, social, environmental and governance concerns have become even more relevant investment decision criteria. However, while a diverse set of models have been developed to support investment decision-making based on financial criteria, models including also social responsibility criteria are rather scarce.     

Stabilization via parametric excitation of multi-dof statically unstable systems

The problem of re-stabilization via parametric excitation of statically unstable linear Hamiltonian systems is addressed. An n-degree-of-freedom dynamical system is considered, at rest in a critical equilibrium position, possessing a pair of zero-eigenvalues and n − 1 pairs of distinct purely imaginary conjugate eigenvalues. The response of the system to a small static load, making the zero eigenvalues real and opposite, simultaneous to a harmonic parametric excitation of small amplitude, is studied by the Multiple Scale perturbation method, and the stability of the equilibrium position is investigated. Several cases of resonance between the excitation frequency and the natural non-zero frequencies are studied, calling for standard and non-standard applications of the method. It is found that the parametric excitation is able to re-stabilize the equilibrium for any value of the excitation frequencies, except for frequencies close to resonant values, provided a sufficiently large excitation amplitude is enforced. Results are compared with those provided by a purely numerical approach grounded on the Floquet theory.     

On MHD flow of an incompressible viscous fluid

In this paper, we apply Homotopy Perturbation Method (HPM) to find the analytical solutions of nonlinear MHD flow of an incompressible viscous fluid through convergent or divergent channels in presence of a high magnetic field. The flow of an incompressible electrically conducting viscous fluid in convergent or divergent channels under the influence of an externally applied homogeneous magnetic field is studied both analytically and numerically. The graphs are presented to reveal the physical characteristics of flow by changing angles of the channel, Hartmann and Reynolds numbers.     

Heat conduction on the ring: Interface problems with periodic boundary conditions

The classical problem of heat conduction in one dimension on a composite ring is examined. The problem is formulated using the heat equation with periodic boundary conditions. We provide an explicit solution of this problem using the Method of Fokas. The location of the interfaces is known, but neither temperature nor heat flux are prescribed there. Instead, the physical assumption of continuity at the interface is imposed.     

Dual Reciprocity Boundary Element Method for Magnetohydrodynamic Flow Using Radial Basis Functions

A dual reciprocity boundary element method is given to obtain the solution in terms of velocity and induced magnetic field for the study of MHD (magnetohydrodynamic) flow through a rectangular duct having insulating walls. The equations are transformed to two types of nonlinear Poisson equations and the right-hand sides in these equations are approximated using combinations of two classes of radial basis functions (the value of the function and its normal derivatives are utilized for approximation). Computations are carried out for several values of the Hartman number (0 h M h 10) by using constant boundary elements. Comparisons are made for two types of formulations and for traditional and osculatory type approximations of the right-hand side functions. It is found that osculatory interpolation gives better results than traditional interpolation and the type of the Poisson equation, which contains derivative of the unknown function, is better than the other type, which contains unknown function only. The results for velocity and induced magnetic field are illustrated by some selected graphs.     

A simple solvothermal synthesis of MFe2O4 (M=Mn, Co and Ni) nanoparticles

Nanoparticles of MFe₂O₄ (M=Mn, Co and Ni), with diameters ranging from 5 to 10 nm, have been obtained through a solvothermal method. In this synthesis, an alcohol (benzyl alcohol or hexanol) is used as both a solvent and a ligand; it is not necessary, therefore, to add a surfactant, simplifying the preparation of the dispersed particles. We have studied the influence of the synthetic conditions (temperature, time of synthesis and nature of solvent) on the quality of the obtained ferrites and on their particle size. In this last aspect, we have to highlight that the solvent plays an important role on the particle size, obtaining the smallest diameters when hexanol was used as a solvent. In addition, the magnetic properties of the obtained compounds have been studied at room temperature (RT). These compounds show a superparamagnetic behaviour, as was expected for single domain nanoparticles, and good magnetization values. The maxima magnetization values of the MFe₂O₄ samples are quite high for such small nanoparticles; this is closely related to the high crystallinity of the particles obtained by the solvothermal method.     

Experimental caustics analysis in fracture mechanics of anisotropic materials

The originally developed reflection method of caustics is presented for application to cracks in mechanically anisotropic materials such as fiber-reinforced composites. The derived solutions for the combination of crack-opening modes I and II show that the size of the dark spot depends on the load intensity, whereas its shape depends strongly on the mechanical properties of the material, the orientation of the crack tip and the mixed-mode mixture. The evaluation of optical effects is possible using the diameter-measuring method or the advanced multipoint overdeterministic data reduction method. To find the exact position of caustics, the experimental images are analyzed by the simple boundary value method and a more sophisticated differential method, which is accomplished by shifting the real image onto the gradient image. The standard experimental testing procedure is performed for cracks oriented 0 deg, 45 deg and 90 deg to the material axes in carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer composites.     

An improved strongly sub-feasible SSLE method for optimization problems and numerical experiments

In this paper, the super-linearly and quadratically convergent strong sub-feasible method [J.L. Li, J.B. Jian, A superlinearly and quadratically convergent strongly subfeasible method for nonlinear inequality constrained optimization, OR Transactions, 7 (2) (2003) 21-34] for nonlinear inequality constrained optimization is improved, such that the iterative points can get into the feasible region after a finite number of iterations. As a result, a strict restricted condition can be overcome. Another two contributions of this paper are that a new bidirectional Armijo line search is presented and a lot of numerical comparison results are reported.     

A stabilized formulation for the advection–diffusion equation using the Generalized Finite Element Method

This paper presents a stable formulation for the advection–diffusion equation based on the Generalized (or eXtended) Finite Element Method, GFEM (or X‐FEM). Using enrichment functions that represent the exponential character of the exact solution, smooth numerical solutions are obtained for problems with steep gradients and high Péclet numbers in one‐ and two‐dimensions. In contrast with traditional stabilized methods that require the construction of stability parameters and stabilization terms, the present work avoids numerical instabilities by improving the classical Galerkin solution with enrichment functions (that need not be polynomials) using GFEM, which is an instance of the partition of unity framework. This work also presents a strategy for constructing enrichment functions for problems involving complex geometries by employing a global–local‐type approach. Representative numerical results are presented to illustrate the performance of the proposed method. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.