Pension systems and reform conceptual framework

The WorldBank's conceptual framework to assess pension systems and reform options evaluates initial conditions and the capacity to improve the enabling environment, and then focuses on how best to work within these to achieve the core objectives of pension systems - protection against the risk of poverty in old age and smoothing consumption from one's work life into retirement. The Bank applies a multi-pillared approach towards pension system modalities to address the needs of target populations including: (i) a non-contributory'zero pillar'extending some level of old-age income security to all of the elderly; (ii) an appropriately sized mandatory'first pillar'with the objective of replacing some portion of lifetime pre-retirement income through contributions linked to earnings; (iii) a funded mandatory defined-contribution'second pillar'that typically provides privately-managed individual savings accounts; (iv) a funded voluntary'third-pillar;'and (v) a non-financial'fourth pillar.'The primary evaluation criteria are the ability of the system to maintain adequacy, affordability, sustainability, equity, predictability, and robustness. The secondary evaluation criteria are the system's capacity to: minimize labor market distortions; contribute to savings mobilization; and contribute to financial market development. Because pension benefits are claims against future economic output, it is essential that over time pension systems contribute to growth and output to support the promised benefits. Going forward, the Bank is focusing on strengthening its support in: (a) establishing a clearer results framework to assess pension systems and reforms; (b) enhancing knowledge management, including research and learning; and (c) improving implementation capacity.Emerging Markets,Debt Markets,Environmental Economics&Policies,Pensions&Retirement Systems,Banks&Banking Reform

Developing a multi-metric habitat index for wadeable streams in Illinois (T-25-P-001). Annual Segment Report to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Illinois Department of Natural Resources Grant/Contract No: (T-25-P-001)This project was initiated to describe key aquatic habitat characteristics and their association to anthropogenic disturbance by developing a field based, rapid assessment method for qualitatively monitoring instream conditions using a multi-metric habitat index. We have developed and applied a method for rating disturbance in wadeable streams throughout Illinois and collected information on physical habitat at 299 sites to date. Index development is in the preliminary stages with field work to continue during the summer of 2008. This report summarizes work performed for the period ending April 30, 2008 (Appendix A contains Eastern Illinois University subcontract annual report).INHS Technical Report Prepared for Illinois Department of Natural Resource

University of Utah visual, information and technology literacy task force report and recommendations

Repor

Analysis of Social Behavior in Zebrafish

Tesis Doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada. Fecha de lectura: 03 de febrero de 2016En esta tesis, he estudiado una serie de aspectos de comportamiento social y colectivo en pez cebra. El pez cebra (Danio Rerio) es un organismo modelo que se usa en una variedad de campos de investigación. Mientras que el estado de larva se utiliza para estudios de neurociencia y genética, el adulto se usa como modelo para el comportamiento social y colectivo. Para poder combinar los dos aspectos y usar pez cebra para entender el fundamento neurológico del comportamiento social en vertebrados, el primer objetivo de esta tesis consiste en determinar si existe un periodo de tiempo en el desarrollo de pez cebra en el que los animales ya están lo suficientemente desarrollados para mostrar interacciones sociales, mientras que no hayan perdido las características presentes en larvas que permiten el uso de técnicas opto-genéticas y neurobiológicos. El segundo objetivo es el desarrollo y el estudio de métodos para la caracterización de cambios en el comportamiento que ocurren durante el desarrollo en grupos de pez cebra. Por último, propongo un modelo matemático que describe la aparición del comportamiento colectivo en larvas de pez cebra basándose en las interacciones entre cada individuo y el grupo. En el capítulo 1, presento id Social, una colección de herramientas de Matlab para el análisis de comportamiento individual y social. El pez cebra muestra un gran repertorio de comportamientos, incluyendo la agrupación social (’shoaling’), el movimiento coordinado (’schooling’), agresión y comportamiento dominante y territorial. idSocial incluye métodos para el análisis de una serie de aspectos diferentes de estos comportamientos. Presento ejemplos de la variedad y utilidad de los métodos disponibles usando datos reales de experimentos con peces que nadaban libremente: Comparo el comportamiento de una cepa de pez cebra con un grupo de controles usando medidas básicas como la velocidad y aceleración. Muestro la diferencia entre el movimiento libre (’shoaling’) y el movimiento coordinado (’schooling’) del grupo mediante resultados obtenidos para pez cebra y Medaka (Oryzias latipes). Presento un análisis de las relaciones líder-seguidor en el movimiento coordinado de Medaka. Como ejemplo para las reglas de interacción de individuos en un grupo, presento la atracción de un animal hacia un congénere en función de su posición relativa. Estudio la aparición de territorios en conexión con luchas y persecuciones entre individuos de un grupo de 5 animales. Por último, doy un ejemplo extenso del uso práctico de idSocial en el capítulo 2. En el capítulo 2, estudio el desarrollo del comportamiento social en larvas de pez cebra durante las primeras tres semanas de vida. Use un montaje experimental que minimizaba los estímulos externos y no sociales y ofrecía las condiciones necesarias para la extracción automática de las coordenadas usando el software idTracker. Aplicando una serie de métodos, he mostrado que a nivel de la población se aprecia comportamiento social robusto en larvas de pez cebra a partir de una edad de 8 dias post-fertilización, y que se puede detectar incluso antes para algunos individuos. A esta edad, aun se pueden aplicar técnicas neuro-geneticas para la visualización y manipulación con el fin de estudiar los procesos neurológicos involucrados en el comportamiento social en vertebrados. Los resultados muestran que el comportamiento social en pez cebra aumenta gradualmente a lo largo de las primeras semanas del desarrollo. Ese aumento se caracteriza por una disminución de las distancias entre los individuos, un aumento de la probabilidad de que un individuo gire y acelere hacia un congénere, y periodos crecientes del tiempo que los individuos pasan cerca sin salir del grupo. Las técnicas que he usado no solo permiten medir el comportamiento social de un grupo entero, sino también de cada individuo por separado, y tan temprano como el día 6 postfertilización se encuentran individuos que muestran una atracción social significativa más fuerte que la que se esperaría a base de los datos control.In this thesis, I have studied a number of aspects of social and collective behavior in zebrafish. Zebrafish (Danio Rerio) is a model organism used in a variety of different fields of research. While larval zebrafish are used in neurobiology and genetics, adult animals serve as a model for social and collective behavior. In order to combine these two applications and use zebrafish for the study of the neurological basis of social behavior in vertebrates, the first objective of this thesis was to determine if there is a period of time in the development of zebrafish during which animals have already developed sufficiently to show clear social interactions, while at the same time they have not lost the larval characteristics which allow opto-genetic and neurobiological manipulation and imaging techniques. The second objective was the development and study of methods for the characterization of behavioral changes which occur during development in groups of zebrafish. Finally, I propose a mathematical model which describes the emergence of collective behavior in zebrafish larva on the basis of social interactions between each individual and the group. In Chapter 1, I present idSocial, a MatlabR toolbox for the analysis of individual and social behavior. Zebrafish shows a great behavioral repertoire ranging from shoaling and schooling behavior over aggression and dominance to territorial behavior. idSocial includes methods for the analysis of a number of different aspects of these behaviors. Examples of the variety and the utility of available methods are given using real data from free-swimming fish: The behavior of a zebrafish strain is compared to a control group using basic measures like individual speed and acceleration. The difference between shoaling and schooling behavior is shown presenting results from zebrafish and Medaka fish. Leader-Follower hierarchies in schooling behavior are presented for Medaka. The attraction of an animal towards a conspecific depending on its relative position is given as an example of how to determine individual rules of interaction of individuals in a group. The emergence of territories, connected with fights and chases between individuals, is presented for a group of five zebrafish. Finally, an extensive example of the practical use of idSocial is given in Chapter 2. In Chapter 2, I study the development of social behavior in zebrafish larvae during the first three weeks of their life. I used an experimental setup which minimizes external, non-social stimuli and provides the conditions necessary for the automated extraction of coordinates using the software idTracker. By applying a series of methods, I have shown that on the population level robust social behavior is present in zebrafish larvae from 8 days post-fertilization on, and can be detected even earlier for single individuals. At this age, neurogenetic imaging and manipulation techniques can still be applied in order to study the neurological processes involved in social behavior in vertebrates. The results show that social behavior in Zebrafish increases gradually over the course of the first weeks of development. This increase in social behavior is characterized by a decrease in inter-individual distance, an increasing probability of an individual turning and accelerating towards a conspecific, and increasingly long periods of time which animals spend close to each other without leaving the group. The techniques that I used do not only allow the measurement of social behavior for the group as a whole but for each individual in the group separately, and already at an age of 6 days post fertilization I find individuals which show significant attraction towards their conspecifics

Design of the iLocater Acquisition Camera Demonstration System

Existing planet-finding spectrometers are limited by systematic errors that result from their seeing-limited design. Of particular concern is the use of multi-mode fibers (MMFs), which introduce modal noise and accept significant amounts of background radiation from the sky. We present the design of a single-mode fiber-based acquisition camera for a diffraction-limited spectrometer named "iLocater." By using the "extreme" adaptive optics (AO) system of the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT), iLocater will overcome the limitations that prevent Doppler instruments from reaching their full potential, allowing precise radial velocity (RV) measurements of terrestrial planets around nearby bright stars. The instrument presented in this paper, which we refer to as the acquisition camera "demonstration system," will measure on-sky single-mode fiber (SMF) coupling efficiency using one of the 8.4m primaries of the LBT in fall 2015

Auslegung einer mobilen Profil-Messanlage (MoProMa) nach aktuellen Gesichtspunkten

In dieser Arbeit wird untersucht inwiefern eine Anlage zur Berechnung vom Profilwiderstand über den Nachlauf eines Flügels weiterentwickelt werden kann. Anhand Vergleichen von bereits bestehenden Konstruktionen und der Untersuchung von einwirkenden Parametern zur Beschreibung eines Nachlaufrechens, wird eine Auswahl der Messanlage vorgeschlagen. Der Schwerpunkt liegt bei der Verbesserung der Messgenauigkeit und Minimierung der Größe, zusammen mit der Komplexität der Messanlage. Durch die Integration von MEMS-Drucksensoren (Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems) des Typs Bosch BMP280 wäre dies möglich. Die Größe und Genauigkeit dieser Sensoren erlauben Messungen an Positionen nahe der zu untersuchenden Drücke. Eine Messanlage, bestehend aus einem Nachlaufrechen, könnte dadurch kompakt gebaut werden und an jedes gängige Segel- und/oder Motorflugzeug zur Bestimmung des Profilwiderstands im Flugversuch montiert werden