A Simple Approach to Project Extreme Old Age Mortality Rates and Value Mortality-Related Financial Instruments

This article shows how mortality models that involve age effects can be fitted to ages beyond the sample range using projections of age effects as replacements for age effects that might not be in the sample. This ‘projected age effect’ approach allows insurers to use age-effect mortality models to obtain valuations of financial instruments such as annuities that depend on projections of extreme old ag

Thin Films of AuCuAl Shape Memory Alloy for Use in Plasmonic Nano-actuators

Vijay Bhatia, Gordon Thorogood, Annette Dowd and Michael B. Cortie (2011). Thin Films of AuCuAl Shape Memory Alloy for Use in Plasmonic Nano-actuators. MRS Proceedings, 1295 , mrsf10-1295-n01-08 doi:10.1557/opl.2011.18

Linear optical properties of Ge nanocrystals in silica

The absorption and extinctionspectra of Genanocrystals in silica formed by ion implantation are studied using photothermal deflection and transmission spectroscopies. It is found that scattering makes a significant contribution to the extinction spectrum, damping the spectral features and resulting in a Rayleigh scattering-likeω⁴ dependence. In contrast, the spectra measured by photothermal deflection clearly show features such as the E1/E1+Δ1 transitions. The Tauc gap is extracted to be ∼0.7±0.1 eV

Inequality of Air Quality?: A Study of Air Quality within Housing Price Brackets in Gettysburg, PA

With the rise of cars and other motorized vehicles has come the rise of air pollution, which tends to have disproportionate environmental and health impacts on low-income and communities of color. This study analyzes car presence and air quality on a transect within Gettysburg, PA to determine if there is a relationship between air pollution and vehicle presence, and if there is a difference in air quality between higher price bracket housing compared to campus, commercial, and lower price bracket housing. To test our research questions, we identified nine sampling locations along a transect where we measured air pollutants, including particulate matter (2.5 um and 10 um), VOCs, and NO2, with Flow by Plume Labs and Atmotube Pro air quality monitors. Our hypotheses that car activity will increase the amount of air pollution in Gettysburg and that there will be a greater environmental justice disparity within lower housing price brackets were not supported. The air quality along the transect was not greatly affected by vehicle presence and was consistent with regional conditions, and while measurements of different pollutants changed with location, there was not one clear trend between these two variables. However, there were consistently higher levels of vehicle traffic in the commercial and low-income areas than in the high-income and campus areas. The main limitations of our study were the lack of functionality and accuracy of our air monitors, which reduced the sample size of our data. These results provide room for further study of racial and child health disparities caused by cars and air pollution, as well as the impact of higher traffic levels on the risk of car and pedestrian accidents

Seropositivity to cytomegalovirus, inflammation, all-cause and cardiovascular disease-related mortality in the United States

Background: Studies have suggested that CMV infection may influence cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and mortality. However, there have been no large-scale examinations of these relationships among demographically diverse populations. The inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP) is also linked with CVD outcomes and mortality and may play an important role in the pathway between CMV and mortality. We utilized a U.S. nationally representative study to examine whether CMV infection is associated with all-cause and CVD-related mortality. We also assessed whether CRP level mediated or modified these relationships. Methodology/Principal Findings: Data come from subjects ≥25 years of age who were tested for CMV and CRP level and were eligible for mortality follow-up on December 31st, 2006 (N = 14153) in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III (1988-1994). Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for all-cause and CVD-related mortality by CMV serostatus. After adjusting for multiple confounders, CMV seropositivity remained statistically significantly associated with all-cause mortality (HR 1.19, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.41). The association between CMV and CVD-related mortality did not achieve statistical significance after confounder adjustment. CRP did not mediate these associations. However, CMV seropositive individuals with high CRP levels showed a 30.1% higher risk for all-cause mortality and 29.5% higher risk for CVD-related mortality compared to CMV seropositive individuals with low CRP levels. Conclusions/Significance: CMV was associated with a significant increased risk for all-cause mortality and CMV seropositive subjects who also had high CRP levels were at substantially higher risk for both for all-cause and CVD-related mortality than subjects with low CRP levels. Future work should target the mechanisms by which CMV infection and low-level inflammation interact to yield significant impact on mortality

A Study of Alkaline-Based H2-Br2 and H2-I2 Reversible Fuel Cells

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