Behavioral Biases in Annuity Choice: An Experiment

We conduct a neutral-context laboratory experiment to systematically investigate the role of the hit-by-bus concern in explaining the annuitization puzzle: the low rate of retirement-asset annuitization relative to the predictions of standard models. We vary endowed asset (annuity vs. stock of wealth vs. no explicit endowment), and find a strong endowment effect. Furthermore, we find that the ordering of survival risks matters. Compared to a frame in which a single draw from a known distribution determines survival outcome, annuity choice is lower when subjects must sequentially survive early periods to reach periods in which the annuity dominates. We conclude with policy implications.experimental economics, behavioral, retirement, annuities

A People-state Negotiation in a Borderland a Case Study of the Indonesia–Malaysia Frontier in Sebatik Island

This paper aims to show the dynamics of the Indonesian – Malaysian border area in Sebatik Island, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Take into account as a background is the territorial dispute between Indonesia and Malaysia over the Ligitan and Sipadan Islands which were awarded to Malaysia by the decision of the ICJ (International Court of Justice) in 2002, which was followed by the dispute over the Ambalat sea block in 2005. Sebatik Island is geographically very strategic since it faces the disputed areas. Therefore the concerns of the Indonesian state with regard to the island pertain to issues of nation-state sovereignty and territorial security, which she tries to safeguard through intensive campaigns. Research conducted in Sebatik in 2009 showed how people willingly reinforced the state by incorporating its programs, despite their ambiguous position as people in a border area, which support they used subsequently in negotiating with the state for their own local purpose

Dual-function injectable angiogenic biomaterial for the repair of brain tissue following stroke.

Stroke is the primary cause of disability due to the brain's limited ability to regenerate damaged tissue. After stroke, an increased inflammatory and immune response coupled with severely limited angiogenesis and neuronal growth results in a stroke cavity devoid of normal brain tissue. In the adult, therapeutic angiogenic materials have been used to repair ischaemic tissues through the formation of vascular networks. However, whether a therapeutic angiogenic material can regenerate brain tissue and promote neural repair is poorly understood. Here we show that the delivery of an engineered immune-modulating angiogenic biomaterial directly to the stroke cavity promotes tissue formation de novo, and results in axonal networks along thee generated blood vessels. This regenerated tissue produces functional recovery through the established axonal networks. Thus, this biomaterials approach generates a vascularized network of regenerated functional neuronal connections within previously dead tissue and lays the groundwork for the use of angiogenic materials to repair other neurologically diseased tissues

STG2Seq: Spatial-temporal Graph to Sequence Model for Multi-step Passenger Demand Forecasting

Multi-step passenger demand forecasting is a crucial task in on-demand vehicle sharing services. However, predicting passenger demand over multiple time horizons is generally challenging due to the nonlinear and dynamic spatial-temporal dependencies. In this work, we propose to model multi-step citywide passenger demand prediction based on a graph and use a hierarchical graph convolutional structure to capture both spatial and temporal correlations simultaneously. Our model consists of three parts: 1) a long-term encoder to encode historical passenger demands; 2) a short-term encoder to derive the next-step prediction for generating multi-step prediction; 3) an attention-based output module to model the dynamic temporal and channel-wise information. Experiments on three real-world datasets show that our model consistently outperforms many baseline methods and state-of-the-art models.Comment: 7 page

Estimation of Purcell factor from mode-splitting spectra in an optical microcavity

We investigate scattering process in an ultra-high-Q optical microcavity coupled to subwavelength scatterers by introducing "splitting quality" Qsp, a dimensionless parameter defined as the ratio of the scatterer-induced mode splitting to the total loss of the coupled system. A simple relation is introduced to directly estimate the Purcell factor from single-shot measurement of transmission spectrum of scatterer-coupled cavity. Experiments with polystyrene (PS) and gold (Au) nanoparticles, Erbium ions and Influenza A virions show that Purcell-factor-enhanced preferential funneling of scattering into the cavity mode takes place regardless of the scatterer type. Experimentally determined highest Qsp for single PS and Au nanoparticles are 9.4 and 16.19 corresponding to Purcell factors with lower bounds of 353 and 1049, respectively. The highest observed Qsp was 31.2 for an ensemble of Au particles. These values are the highest Qsp and Purcell factors reported up to date.Comment: 5 Pages, 4 Figures, 12 Reference

Liberation at Gunpoint: Deconstructing Politicized Representations of Afghan Women

Following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the United States waged its longest-running war on Afghanistan. Military intervention was justified through representations of oppressed Afghan women to frame the “War on Terror” as a war for women. The Bush administration\u27s war propaganda exploited the plight of Afghan women by co-opting a feminism-as-humanitarianism framework. This approach, cloaked in universalist language, was uncritically accepted by the Feminist Majority Foundation’s (FMF) campaign to stop gender apartheid. Through careful consideration of the Bush administration and the Feminist Majority Foundation\u27s Taliban-centered rhetoric, this thesis offers a critical analysis of the ahistorical and imperialist backdrop in which representations of Afghan women are embedded. Emphasizing the underlying geopolitical and economic motives of US military intervention in Afghanistan, I argue that the Feminist Majority Foundation is shaped by the discourse of modern US imperialism and appropriates a feminism-as-humanitarianism framework, which contradicts their mission. These contradictions reinforce the East versus West binary and are best articulated through images of the ubiquitous blue burqa. The Feminist Majority Foundation and the Bush administration’s rhetoric go beyond recycling the imagery and mentality of the “clash of civilizations.” The destructive consequences of US foreign policy and imperialism are justified by ideological constructions of the West versus the Islamic “Other.” This thesis raises relevant concerns of the role of feminist NGOs in 21st century imperial political projects. My findings insist that feminist solidarity should be based on geographically and culturally specific histories of struggle and understood through Muslim women’s interpretation of their identity and freedom, amidst and beyond the “War on Terror.