11,560 research outputs found
Better prepared for retirement? Using panel data to improve wealth estimates of ELSA respondents
We compare the key assumptions underpinning estimates of the pension wealth of ELSA respondents to outcomes over the period from 2002â03 to 2004â05. We find that many of these assumptions have, on average, proved cautious or reasonable. Improving pension wealth calculations using this new evidence makes little difference to the distribution of pension wealth. Previous estimates of retirement resources also considered net financial, physical and housing wealth. Particularly cautious, ex-post, was the assumption that net housing wealth would remain constant in real terms. We find that average housing wealth has risen by almost 40% in nominal terms over just two years, which is in line with growth in the Nationwide House Price Index. This large increase in house prices boosts estimates of total wealth across the entire distribution of wealth. Previous research showed that once half of current net housing wealth was included as a retirement resource 12.6% of employees approaching retirement were estimated to have resources below the Pensions Commissionâs definition of adequacy. We show that taking into account the high growth in house prices between 2002â03 and 2004â05 reduces this to 10.9%, and that it would fall by a further 1.2 percentage points if house prices were to grow by 2Âœ% a year in real terms in the future
Retirement, health and relationships of the older population in England: The 2004 English Longitudinal Study Of Ageing (Wave 2)
Bimetric Gravity Theory, Varying Speed of Light and the Dimming of Supernovae
In the bimetric scalar-tensor gravitational theory there are two frames
associated with the two metrics {\hat g}_{\mu\nu} and g_{\mu\nu}, which are
linked by the gradients of a scalar field \phi. The choice of a comoving frame
for the metric {\hat g}_{\mu\nu} or g_{\mu\nu} has fundamental consequences for
local observers in either metric spacetimes, while maintaining diffeomorphism
invariance. When the metric g_{\mu\nu} is chosen to be associated with comoving
coordinates, then the speed of light varies in the frame with the metric {\hat
g}_{\mu\nu}. Observers in this frame see the dimming of supernovae because of
the increase of the luminosity distance versus red shift, due to an increasing
speed of light in the early universe. Moreover, in this frame the scalar field
\phi describes a dark energy component in the Friedmann equation for the cosmic
scale without acceleration. If we choose {\hat g}_{\mu\nu} to be associated
with comoving coordinates, then an observer in the g_{\mu\nu} metric frame will
observe the universe to be accelerating and the supernovae will appear to be
farther away. The theory predicts that the gravitational constant G can vary in
spacetime, while the fine-structure constant \alpha=e^2/\hbar c does not vary.
The problem of cosmological horizons as viewed in the two frames is discussed.Comment: 22 pages, Latex file. No figures. Corrected typos. Added reference.
Further references added. Further corrections. To be published in Int. J.
Mod. Phys. D, 200
Economical genotyping of little blue penguin (Eudyptula minor) clades from feather-based DNA
Determination of clade membership is a crucial requirement for many research questions addressing phylogeography, population structure, mating patterns, speciation, and hybridisation. The little blue penguin (Eudyptula minor) can be separated into two deeply divergent clades. However, assigning clade membership in little blue penguins requires molecular methods. Genetic sequencing can be used to identify clade membership but is expensive. Here, we present an economical alternative to the use of sequencing to determine little blue penguin clade membership. We extracted DNA from feathers using a method that produced reasonable quantities of DNA. We then amplified the D-loop section of the mitochondrial control region from total genomic DNA extracts, using the primers 'C L-tRNAglu' and 'D H-Dbox' followed by digestion with the restriction enzyme AluI. When visualised on a gel, distinctive banding patterns clearly indicated clade membership. We sequenced a subset of our samples and verified the accuracy of this method. The methods we present should facilitate little blue penguin research through a cost-effective approach to clade analysis as well as a successful technique to extract DNA from feathers when blood or tissue samples are not available
A Pyramid Scheme for Particle Physics
We introduce a new model, the Pyramid Scheme, of direct mediation of SUSY
breaking, which is compatible with the idea of Cosmological SUSY Breaking
(CSB). It uses the trinification scheme of grand unification and avoids
problems with Landau poles in standard model gauge couplings. It also avoids
problems, which have recently come to light, associated with rapid stellar
cooling due to emission of the pseudo Nambu-Goldstone Boson (PNGB) of
spontaneously broken hidden sector baryon number. With a certain pattern of
R-symmetry breaking masses, a pattern more or less required by CSB, the Pyramid
Scheme leads to a dark matter candidate that decays predominantly into leptons,
with cross sections compatible with a variety of recent observations. The dark
matter particle is not a thermal WIMP but a particle with new strong
interactions, produced in the late decay of some other scalar, perhaps the
superpartner of the QCD axion, with a reheat temperature in the TeV range. This
is compatible with a variety of scenarios for baryogenesis, including some
novel ones which exploit specific features of the Pyramid Scheme.Comment: JHEP Latex, 32 pages, 1 figur
Latitudinal distribution and mitochondrial DNA (COI) variability of Stereotydeus spp. (Acari: Prostigmata) in Victoria Land and the central Transantarctic Mountains
We examined mitochondrial DNA (COI) variability and distribution of Stereotydeus spp. in Victoria Land and the Transantarctic Mountains, and constructed Neighbour Joining (NJ) and Maximum Likelihood (ML) phylogenetic trees using all publicly available COI sequences for the three Stereotydeus species present (S. belli, S. mollis and S. shoupi). We also included new COI sequences from Miers, Marshall and Garwood valleys in southern Victoria Land (78°S), as well as from the Darwin (79°S) and Beardmore Glacier (83°S) regions. Both NJ and ML methods produced trees which were similar in topology differing only in the placement of the single available S. belli sequence from Cape Hallett (72°S) and a S. mollis haplotype from Miers Valley. Pairwise sequence divergences among species ranged from 9.5â18.1%. NJ and ML grouped S. shoupi from the Beardmore Glacier region as sister to those from the Darwin with pairwise divergences of 8%. These individuals formed a monophyletic clade with high bootstrap support basal to S. mollis and S. belli. Based on these new data, we suggest that the distributional range of S. shoupi extends northward to Darwin Glacier and that a barrier to dispersal for Stereotydeus, and possibly other arthropods, exists immediately to the north of this area
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