1,840 research outputs found
Recommended from our members
One size fits all: How many default funds does a pension scheme need?
In this paper, we analyse the number of default investment funds appropriate for an occupational defined contribution pension scheme. Using a unique dataset of member risk attitudes and characteristics from a survey of a large UK pension scheme, we apply cluster analysis to identify two distinct groups of members in their 40s and 50s. Further analysis indicated that the risk attitudes of the two groups were not significantly different, allowing us to conclude that a single lifestyle default fund is appropriate
Recommended from our members
Grouping Individual Investment Preferences in Retirement Savings: A Cluster Analysis of a USS Members Risk Attitude Survey
Cluster analysis is used to identify homogeneous groups of members of USS in terms of risk attitudes. There are two distinct clusters of members in their 40s and 50s. One had previously ‘engaged’ with USS by making additional voluntary contributions. It typically had higher pay, longer tenure, less interest in ethical investing, lower risk capacity, a higher percentage of males, and a higher percentage of academics than members of the ‘disengaged’ cluster. Conditioning only on the attitude to risk responses, there are 18 clusters, with similar but not identical membership, depending on which clustering method is used. The differences in risk aversion across the 18 clusters could be explained largely by differences in the percentage of females and the percentage of couples. Risk aversion increases as the percentage of females in the cluster increases, while it reduces as the percentage of couples increases because of greater risk sharing within the household. Characteristics that other studies have found important determinants of risk attitudes, such as age, income and (pension) wealth, do not turn out to be as significant for USS members. Further, despite being on average more highly educated than the general population, USS members are marginally more risk averse than the general population, controlling for salary, although the difference is not significant
A redescription of Diogenes senex Heller, 1865, sensu stricto (Decapoda: Anomura: Paguridea: Diogenidae)
Diogenes senex Heller, 1865 sensu stricto is redescribed from specimens collected in Australia, particularly in and around the type locality of Sydney. A neotype has been designated. Comparisons of this material with other specimens identified as D. senex by a number of authors has shown that at present only the Australian material truly represents Heller's taxon
Efficient Single Photon Absorption by Optimized Superconducting Nanowire Geometries
We report on simulation results that shows optimum photon absorption by
superconducting nanowires can happen at a fill-factor that is much less than
100%. We also present experimental results on high performance of our
superconducting nanowire single photon detectors realized using NbTiN on
oxidized silicon.Comment: \copyright 2013 IEEE. Submitted to "Numerical Simulation of
Optoelectronic Devices - NUSOD 2013" on 19-April-201
Early Cretaceous biogeographic and oceanographic synthesis of Leg 123 (off Northwestern Australia)
Biogeographic observations made by Leg 123 shipboard paleontologists for Lower Cretaceous nannofossils, foraminifers,
radiolarians, belemnites, and inoceramids are combined in this chapter to evaluate the paleoceanographic history
of the northwestern Australian margin and adjacent basins. Each fossil group is characterized at specific intervals of
Cretaceous time and compared with data from Tethyan and Southern Hemisphere high-latitude localities. Special attention
is given to the biogeographic observations made for the Falkland Plateau (DSDP Legs 36 and 71) and the Weddell Sea
(ODP Leg 113). Both areas have yielded valuable Lower Cretaceous fossil records of the circumantarctic high latitudes.
In general, the Neocomian fossil record from DSDP and ODP sites off northwestern Australia has important southern
high-latitude affinities and weak Tethyan influence. The same is true for the pelagic lithofacies: radiolarian chert and/or
nannofossil limestone, dominant in the Tethyan Lower Cretaceous, are minor lithologies in the Exmouth-Argo sites.
These observations, together with the young age of the Argo crust and plate tectonic considerations, suggest that the Argo
Basin was not part of the Tethys Realm.
The biogeography of the Neocomian radiolarian and nannofossil assemblages suggests opening of a seaway during
the Berriasian that connected the circumantarctic area with the Argo Basin, which resulted in the influx of southern
high-latitude waters.
This conclusion constrains the initial fit and break-up history of Gondwana. Our results favor the loose fit of the
western Australian margin with southeast India by Ricou et al. (1990), which accounts for a deeper water connection with
the Weddell-Mozambique basins via drowned marginal plateaus as early as the Berriasian. In fits of the du Toit-type
(1937), India would remain attached to Antarctica, at least until the late Valanginian, making such a connection
impossible.
After the Barremian, increasing Tethyan influence is evident in all fossil groups, although southern high-latitude taxa
are still present. Biogeographic domains, such as the southern extension of Nannoconus and Ticinella suggest paleolatitudes
of about 50°S for the Exmouth-Argo area. Alternatively, if paleolatitudes of about 35° are accepted, these
biogeographic limits were displaced northward at least 15° along Australia in comparison to the southern Atlantic. In this
case, the proto-circumantarctic current was deflected northward into an eastern boundary current off Australia and carried
circumantarctic cold water into the middle latitudes.
Late Aptian/early Albian time is characterized by mixing of Tethyan and southern faunal elements and a significant
gradient in Albian surface-water temperatures over 10° latitude along the Australian margin, as indicated by planktonic
foraminifers. Both phenomena may be indicative of convergence of temperate and antarctic waters near the Australian
margin. High fertility conditions, reflected by radiolarian cherts, are suggestive of coastal upwelling during that time
The International Rehabilitation Forum: an academic consortium that builds medical rehabilitation in low resource regions through participation, mentoring, and disruptive innovation
Recommended from our members
How do savers think about and respond to risk? Evidence from a population survey and lessons for the investment industry
Asymmetric masks for large field-of-view and high-energy X-ray phase contrast imaging
We report on a large field of view, laboratory-based X-ray phase-contrast imaging setup. The method is based upon the asymmetric mask design that enables the retrieval of the absorption, refraction and scattering properties of the sample without the need to move any component of the imaging system. This can be thought of as a periodic repetition of a group of three (or more) apertures arranged in such a way that each laminar beam, defined by the apertures, produces a different illumination level when analysed with a standard periodic set of apertures. The sample is scanned through the imaging system, also removing possible aliasing problems that might arise from partial sample illumination when using the edge illumination technique. This approach preserves the incoherence and achromatic properties of edge illumination, removes the problems related to aliasing and it naturally adapts to those situations in clinical, industrial and security imaging where the image is acquired by scanning the sample relative to the imaging system. These concepts were implemented for a large field-of-view set of masks (20 cm × 1.5 cm and 15 cm × 1.2 cm), designed to work with a tungsten anode X-ray source operated up to 80–100 kVp, from which preliminary experimental results are presented
- …