Can State and Local Pensions Muddle Through?

The finances of state and local pension plans are headline news almost daily.1 Indeed, although these plans were moving toward prefunding their promised benefits, two financial crises in 10 years have thrown them seriously off course. Measured by the standards of the Government Accounting Standards Board, between 2008 and 2009 the ratio of assets to liabilities for our sample of 126 plans dropped from 84 percent to 79 percent. But this decline is only the beginning of the bad news that will emerge as the losses are spread over the next several years. Furthermore, the funded levels are closer to 50 percent if liabilities are discounted by a riskless rate, as recommended by economists and financial experts.2 What do these numbers imply for the future of these plans? Here’s what’s happening. States and localities have increased contributions and extended retirement ages for new employees, but these changes will take a long time to have any substantial effect. In most states, constitutional protections and court rulings have prohibited public employers from cutting benefits for existing employees. Thus, the only option for a quick fix would be an infusion of tax revenues. But the recession has decimated tax revenues and increased the demand for state and local services. Thus, the question is whether these plans have enough assets to muddle along until the economy and the stock market recover. Or do they face a liquidity crisis? That is the subject of this brief. The discussion is as follows. The first section looks at the simple ratio of assets to benefits over time and across plans in 2009. The second section moves to a more dynamic approach and investigates two concepts for estimating when plans would run out of money. Under a “termination” concept, where benefits earned to date and plan assets are put in an “old” plan and normal cost payments cover all future accruals, most plans have enough assets to last for at least 15 years. Under a more realistic “ongoing” framework, where normal costs are used to cover benefit payments, most plans have enough for at least 30 years.

Finite-element-analysis model and preliminary ground testing of controls-structures interaction evolutionary model reflector

Results of two different nonlinear finite element analyses and preliminary test results for the final design of the Controls-Structures Interaction Evolutionary Model are presented. Load-deflection data bases are generalized from analysis and testing of the 16-foot diameter, dish shaped reflector. Natural frequencies and mode shapes are obtained from vibrational analysis. Experimental and analytical results show similar trends; however, future test hardware modifications and finite element model refinement would be necessary to obtain better correlation. The two nonlinear analysis procedures are both adequate techniques for the analysis of prestressed structures with complex geometries

Fisheries impacts of the CBFM-2 project: final assessment of the impact of the CBFM project on community managed fisheries in Bangladesh

Following the recommendations of earlier investigations reported by Halls and Mustafa (2006), this study reports a final assessment to address the question: ôDoes CBFM bring sustainable benefits to fisher communities? Or in other words ôDoes the CBFM workö? It employs most of the methods described by Halls & Mustafa (2006) supported by additional statistical methods including unit slope tests using and an updated set of data containing additional observations made since the time of last reporting. The same performance indicators and explanatory variables were used for the analysis. Similar to the earlier study, it also aims to identify important explanatory factors to help inform future co- or communitybased management initiatives and programmes. It was intended that key findings and conclusions would be incorporated into evolving communications products, working documents and peer-reviewed publications.Fishery management, Impact study

Observation of surface isocyanate formation on the CeO2 and on Rh supported by CeO2

Infrared spectroscopic studies showed the formation of isocyanate surface complex in the NO + CO reaction on supported noble metal catalysts. As this surface complex plays decisive role in the undersived side reaction of the catalytic transformation of the auto exhaust gases, great attention should be payed to its properties and to the mechanism of its formation. For this purpose the interaction of NO + CO gas mixture with supported gold, palladium and rhodium catalysts was investigated.When the adsorption and reaction of NO with CO two absorption bands appeared in the FTIR spectra of Rh/Ce02 at 2180 and 2210 cm"1 , which were not observed following the adsorption of reactants and products. Adsorption of isocyanate acid on pure Ce02 yielded the same spectral features suggesting that these bands belong to adsorbed isocyanate, NCO, species bonded to the Ce02 . These results suggest that spillover process of NCO from the Rh onto support proceeds even in the case of Ce02 used as a solid oxidizer in the three-way catalyst. NCO attached to ceria reacts with H2 0 resulting in the release of NH3

The International, Regional and Local Interaction in the Promotion of Cultural Tourism in Mozambique

This paper discusses the tourist promotion of the cultural and natural heritage in Mozambique, one of Africa’s poorest countries, whose strategy for the reduction of poverty highlights the role of tourism in supporting territorial development and implementing the Millennium/Sustainable Development Goals, the United Nation plan to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. The country has produced a national strategy for the development of tourism that is based on the integration at the national level of international and regional policies implemented through the territorial action of several subjects working at the local level. Among them, regional and international Ngos, that play an important role in promoting actions aimed at capacity-building, advocacy, empowerment. This strategy makes of Mozambique a very interesting example of the rescaling process in tourism development that guides the political agenda of both the international tourist organizations and the national governments

No. 11: Urban Food Security, Rural Bias and the Global Development Agenda

This discussion paper sets out the global, African, and South African contexts within which both urban development and food security agendas in Africa are framed. It argues that the pervasive rural bias and anti-urbanism identified in the international and regional food security agendas in the first decade of the 21st century have persisted into the second. In examining whether the last decade has brought any significant changes to the dominant discourse and its accompanying sidelining of urbanization and urban food security in policy debate and formulation, the authors find that there are promising signs for cracks in the edifice but that rural bias remains the dominant feature of current thinking about food security policies. Although researchers have begun to press for the urban to be included in the food security agenda, and food to be included in the urban agenda, there has been limited policy uptake to date at the international level and very little at the municipal level. If urban food security is addressed in a substantive manner, it will probably be indirectly, through the actions of the influential global nutrition lobby

Evaluation of the USDA Shafter cotton (Gossypium spp.) collection for agronomic and fiber traits

Many recent additions to the US Cotton Germplasm collection are uncharacterized for common germplasm descriptors. Our objective was to evaluate a subset of this germplasm for their potential to contribute to future plant improvement efforts. One hundred fifty four cotton germplasm lines from the former USDA cotton breeding program at Shafter, California were evaluated in the field (LSU AgCenter Northeast Research Station, Saint Joseph, LA) in 2003 along with three modern commercial varieties (Delta and Pine Land �Deltapearl�, �Fibermax 958�, and �Phytogen 355�). Due to limited seed availability, an unreplicated modified augmented statistical design-2 was used, with single row plots 6.14 m long sown at a rate of 7-10 plants m-1. The following descriptors were considered: leaf and calyx pubescence; flower maturity; leaf, pollen and petal color; petal spot; glanding; presence of extra floral nectarines; bract shape. High volume instrumentation (HVI) fiber properties: length, strength, micronaire uniformity, and elongation; and cotton fiber yield. Eleven germplasm lines had yields within 10% the check average, with the top three highest yielding germplasm lines being SA 1961, 1962 and 1960 yielding 1635, 1477, and 1439 lbs acre-1, respectively. SA 2085 could be used to reduce insect damage since it was nectariless. There were 26 germplasm lines graded as having smooth leaves which could be used to reduce the ovipositing of bollworm eggs and get cleaner lint at harvest. In this germplasm, 66 % evaluated had long fiber and the top three were SA 2093, 1983, and 2091, with fiber lengths of 1.27, 1.26, and 1.25 inches, respectively. Much of this germplasm evaluated (82%) had very strong fiber and the top three were SA 2036, 2085, and 2044, with 40.5, 40.0, and 39.7 G/tex, respectively. Six germplasm lines had very high elongation and the top three were SA 2092, 1968, and 2069, with 8.4, 8.1, and 8.1 %, respectively. Over half of the germplasm evaluated (55%) had fine micronaire of between 3.8 and 4.6. In summary, these recent additions to the US Cotton Germplasm Collection present a valuable resource for improving cotton varieties with resistance to insects, yield and fiber quality