Do Tax Incentives Increase 401(K) Retirement Saving? Evidence from the Adoption of Catch-Up Contributions

Retirement Research Consortium. The opinions and conclusions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not represent the opinions or policy of SSA, any agency of the federal government, or Boston College. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of the contents of this report. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply endorsement, recommendation or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The authors are indebted to the indispensable data analysis of Qi Guan, and would also like to thank Robin Jensen for excellent research assistance. The authors are grateful to Kelly Trageser, Gary Benedetto, and Martha Stinson for helping us access the SIPP synthetic data and re-running our code on the actual data

Visuomotor Entrainment and the Frequency-Dependent Response of Walking Balance to Perturbations

Visuomotor entrainment, or the synchronization of motor responses to visual stimuli, is a naturally emergent phenomenon in human standing. Our purpose was to investigate the prevalence and resolution of visuomotor entrainment in walking and the frequency-dependent response of walking balance to perturbations. We used a virtual reality environment to manipulate optical flow in ten healthy young adults during treadmill walking. A motion capture system recorded trunk, sacrum, and heel marker trajectories during a series of 3-min conditions in which we perturbed a virtual hallway mediolaterally with systematic changes in the driving frequencies of perceived motion. We quantified visuomotor entrainment using spectral analyses and changes in balance control using trunk sway, gait variability, and detrended fluctuation analyses (DFA). ML kinematics were highly sensitive to visual perturbations, and instinctively synchronized (i.e., entrained) to a broad range of driving frequencies of perceived ML motion. However, the influence of visual perturbations on metrics of walking balance was frequency-dependent and governed by their proximity to stride frequency. Specifically, we found that a driving frequency nearest to subjects' average stride frequency uniquely compromised trunk sway, gait variability, and step-to-step correlations. We conclude that visuomotor entrainment is a robust and naturally emerging phenomenon during human walking, involving coordinated and frequency-dependent adjustments in trunk sway and foot placement to maintain balance at the whole-body level. These findings provide mechanistic insight into how the visuomotor control of walking balance is disrupted by visual perturbations and important reference values for the emergence of balance deficits due to age, injury, or disease

Masses, luminosities, and orbital coplanarities of the µ Orionis quadruple-star system from phases differential astrometry

μ Orionis was identified by spectroscopic studies as a quadruple-star system. Seventeen high-precision differential astrometry measurements of μ Ori have been collected by the Palomar High-precision Astrometric Search for Exoplanet Systems (PHASES). These show both the motion of the long-period binary orbit and short-period perturbations superimposed on that caused by each of the components in the long-period system being themselves binaries. The new measurements enable the orientations of the long-period binary and short-period subsystems to be determined. Recent theoretical work predicts the distribution of relative inclinations between inner and outer orbits of hierarchical systems to peak near 40 and 140 degrees. The degree of coplanarity of this complex system is determined, and the angle between the planes of the A–B and Aa–Ab orbits is found to be 136.7 ± 8.3 degrees, near the predicted distribution peak at 140 degrees; this result is discussed in the context of the handful of systems with established mutual inclinations. The system distance and masses for each component are obtained from a combined fit of the PHASES astrometry and archival radial velocity observations. The component masses have relative precisions of 5% (component Aa), 15% (Ab), and 1.4% (each of Ba and Bb). The median size of the minor axes of the uncertainty ellipses for the new measurements is 20 micro-arcseconds (μas). Updated orbits for δ Equulei, κ Pegasi, and V819 Herculis are also presented

The Phases Differential Astrometry Data Archive. IV. The Triple Star Systems 63 Gem A and HR 2896

Differential astrometry measurements from the Palomar High-precision Astrometric Search for Exoplanet Systems (PHASES) are used to constrain the astrometric orbit of the previously known ≾2 day subsystem in the triple system 63 Gem A and have detected a previously unknown two-year Keplerian wobble superimposed on the visual orbit of the much longer period (213 years) binary system HR 2896. 63 Gem A was already known to be triple from spectroscopic work, and absorption lines from all three stars can be identified and their individual Doppler shifts measured; new velocities for all three components are presented to aid in constraining the orbit and measuring the stellar masses. In fact, 63 Gem itself is a sextuple system: the hierarchical triple (Aa1-Aa2)-Ab (in which Aa1 and Aa2 orbit each other with a rapid period just under 2 days, and Ab orbits these every two years), plus three distant common proper motion companions. The very small astrometric perturbation caused by the inner pair in 63 Gem A stretches the limits of current astrometric capabilities, but PHASES observations are able to constrain the orientation of the orbit. The two bright stars comprising the HR 2896 long-period (213 year) system have a combined spectral type of K0III and the newly detected object's mass estimate places it in the regime of being an M dwarf. The motion of the stars are slow enough that their spectral features are always blended, preventing Doppler studies. The PHASES measurements and radial velocities (when available) have been combined with lower precision single-aperture measurements covering a much longer time frame (from eyepiece measurements, speckle interferometry, and adaptive optics) to improve the characterization of the long-period orbits in both binaries. The visual orbits of the short- and long-period systems are presented for both systems and used to calculate two possible values of the mutual inclinations between inner and outer orbits of 152° ± 12° or a less likely value of 31° ± 11° for 63 Gem A and 10.°2 ± 2.°4 or 171.°2 ± 2.°8 for HR 2896. The first is not coplanar, whereas the second is either nearly coplanar or anti-coplanar

Endogenous biosynthesis of n-3 long-chain PUFA in Atlantic salmon

A more efficient utilisation of marine derived sources of dietary omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LC PUFA) in cultured Atlantic salmon could, amongst other strategies, be facilitated by nutritional strategies that maximise endogenous n-3 LC PUFA synthesis. The objective of the current study was to quantify the extent of n-3 LC PUFA biosynthesis and the resultant effect on fillet nutritional quality in large, market size Atlantic salmon. Four diets were manufactured providing altered levels of dietary omega-3 substrate, namely 18:3n-3, and end-products, namely, 20:5n-3 and 22:6n-3. After 283 days of feeding, fish grew to in excess of 3000g and no differences in growth performance or biometrical parameters were recorded. An analysis of fatty acid composition and in vivo metabolism revealed that post-smolt Atlantic salmon have the potential to endogenously produce n-3 LC PUFA when provided with a substantial amount of dietary omega-3 substrate. Moreover, the extent of endogenous production resulted in fillet levels of n-3 LC PUFA comparable to fish fed a diet with added fish oil. Another major finding was that the presence of abundant dietary omega-3 substrate with the addition of dietary omega-3 end-product (i.e. fish oil) had a positive effect on final fillet levels of n-3 LC PUFA. This was likely the result of the preferential β-oxidation of dietary C18 n-3 PUFA resulting in an apparent conservation of n-3 LC PUFA from catabolism. Ultimately, this study highlights the potential for endogenous synthesis of n-3 LC PUFA to, at least partially, support a substantial reduction, in the amount of dietary fish oil in diets for market sized Atlantic salmon reared in seawater

New insight into the molecular control of bacterial functional amyloids.

New insight into the molecular control of bacterial functional amyloids. Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol. 5:33. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2015.00033 New insight into the molecular control of bacterial functional amyloid

The impact of dietary protein: lipid ratio on growth performance, fatty acid metabolism, product quality and waste output in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)

A common strategy for aquafeed manufacturers has been the utilisation of relatively large amounts of terrestrial, both animal and plant, oil sources to produce diets with a high energy content. The provision of high fat diets is aimed at promoting the utilisation of energy from lipid, thus increasing the amount of dietary protein used for tissue synthesis. However, in recent years the cost of marine sourced dietary lipids has risen, at the same time, farming operations are under increasing pressure to limit environmental degradation associated with nitrogenous waste effluent. Currently there is limited information available regarding the environmental and economic impacts of an altered dietary protein: lipid ratio in diets for large Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) reared in seawater, presenting a potential impediment for nutritional based solutions. Accordingly the present study compared two isoenergetic diets with varied protein: lipid ratios via an assessment of growth, fatty acid utilisation, human nutritional quality, nitrogenous waste output and economic considerations. The trial diets were fed to the fish for the final 150 days of an on-farm grow-out period and resulted in minimal differences in fish growth, fatty acid utilisation and fillet quality. A decreased dietary protein: lipid ratio resulted in a more efficient protein utilisation both in terms of digestibility and assimilation into fish and, therefore, nitrogenous waste output was reduced. However, due to small differences in feed utilisation, the cost of fish production was numerically higher

Altered levels of shorter vs long-chain omega-3 fatty acids in commercial diets for market-sized Atlantic salmon reared in seawater – Effects on fatty acid composition, metabolism and product quality

There is a growing trend of ‘replacing’ long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-3 LC PUFA) rich oils with C18 shorter-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid rich oils in Atlantic salmon aquafeed formulations. n-3 LC PUFA, including 20:5n-3 and 22:6n-3, play contrasting physiological roles and are metabolised differently in comparison to C18 PUFA. Accordingly, the present study recorded the effect of replacing n-3 LC PUFA rich dietary fish oil with C18 n-3 PUFA rich camelina oil at two inclusion levels in commercial-like diets fed to market-sized Atlantic salmon. This assessment was achieved by an analysis of industry relevant production parameters including growth performance, fatty acid composition and metabolism, nutrient digestibility and consumer acceptance (liking and attribute analysis of fillet). The trial was conducted over the final 150 days of an on-farm grow-out period in seawater. The dietary replacement of n-3 LC PUFA with C18 n-3 PUFA resulted in a significant decrease in fillet n-3 LC PUFA and a poorer growth performance. However, in the absence of fish oil, the inclusion of camelina oil at high levels (40%) contributed to an improved n-6/n-3 ratio and partially ameliorated low dietary n-3 LC PUFA by providing added substrate for endogenous n-3 LC PUFA synthesis in comparison to a 20% camelina oil inclusion. Furthermore, consumer acceptance of Atlantic salmon was unaffected by the dietary addition of camelina oil