Banking Without Guarantees? Public Policy Considerations Concerning Insurance Company Retained Asset Accounts

During a child’s early years, many lessons are learned about the way the world operates. There are many lessons about language— schoolchildren learn how to write cursive, to write paragraphs, and also how to spell. There are lessons about the various continents and countries around the world, the various cultures, and the various careers one can pursue after entering into adulthood. Amidst these lessons, many will receive a piggy bank for the first time to learn the value of saving money. Over time, the value of the money in a piggy bank sometimes yields a surprise. Around a person’s teenage years, he or she often opens up a checking account for the first time. As part of having a checking account, one has to learn not only how to use but also how to balance a checkbook. Surprisingly, checkbooks are not only issued by Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insured banks, but also issued by life insurance companies through an account known as a “retained asset account” (RAA). With a retained asset account, a beneficiary under a life insurance contract does not receive a draft for the policy proceeds, but instead receives a checkbook or draft book to draw the policy proceeds from a retained asset account. While in the retained asset account, the money in the account typically earns a small percentage of interest, but the insurance company holding the account also earns interest through a spread

Radiation Transport: A Simulation and Analysis Project with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Radiation transport is the study of how particles such as electrons (beta radiation) and photons (gamma radiation) move through space and interact with matter. It is important to measure radiation to be able to predict the behavior of radioactive sources. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, having done a multitude of research on this topic, has provided simulated data for the project. To be able to analyze and to understand the behavior of radiation, computational methods for Reduced Order Modelling (ROM) are an appropriate approach for modelling radiation transport with the purpose of identifying what sources of radiation are emitted and their locations. Three of the different ways to perform ROM are Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Non-Negative Matrix Factorization (NNMF), and Tensor Rank Decomposition (CPT). The challenges in determining the most appropriate ROM for this problem arises from the fact that there is no conventional way to compare each of the three techniques. The objective of this research project is to show how each computational method models the radiation transport data, identify a common feature among each model to compare, and analyze the advantages and disadvantages of each method for this particular research topic

Late Holocene sea level variability and Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation

Pre-twentieth century sea level (SL) variability remains poorly understood due to limits of tide gauge records, low temporal resolution of tidal marsh records, and regional anomalies caused by dynamic ocean processes, notably multidecadal changes in Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). We examined SL and AMOC variability along the eastern United States over the last 2000 years, using a SL curve constructed from proxy sea surface temperature (SST) records from Chesapeake Bay, and twentieth century SL-sea surface temperature (SST) relations derived from tide gauges and instrumental SST. The SL curve shows multidecadal-scale variability (20–30 years) during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and Little Ice Age (LIA), as well as the twentieth century. During these SL oscillations, short-term rates ranged from 2 to 4 mm yr−1, roughly similar to those of the last few decades. These oscillations likely represent internal modes of climate variability related to AMOC variability and originating at high latitudes, although the exact mechanisms remain unclear. Results imply that dynamic ocean changes, in addition to thermosteric, glacio-eustatic, or glacio-isostatic processes are an inherent part of SL variability in coastal regions, even during millennial-scale climate oscillations such as the MCA and LIA and should be factored into efforts that use tide gauges and tidal marsh sediments to understand global sea level rise

Musculoskeletal Manifestations of COVID-19: A Systematic Search and Review

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) started its journey around the world from Wuhan, China and gradually became a pandemic. COVID-19 often affects the respiratory system, but symptoms may include fatigue, myalgia, arthralgia, arthritis, and spine and bone pain as presenting complaints. In the present systematic search and review, we aim to highlight the musculoskeletal manifestations during COVID-19. PubMed Central and Google Scholar search engines were searched for the key words “muscle pain”, “joint pain”, “body ache”, and “fatigue”, in Covid-19 patients. After screening, a total of 76 articles dated between January 1 and July 1, 2020 met the inclusion criteria and were included in the study. All articles were published in English comprising 36,558 COVID-19 cases. In cross-sectional studies, fatigue was found in 55%, myalgia in 26%, and arthralgia in 20% of cases, respectively. In cohort studies, fatigue was found in 35%, myalgia in 15%, and arthralgia in 5%, respectively. Sporadic case reports also mention back pain, bone pain, myositis, and arthritis as presenting symptoms of COVID-19. Fatigue was the most frequent musculoskeletal (MSK) manifestation of COVID-19 followed by myalgia and joint pain. The frequency of the different MSK manifestations in COVID-19 may vary widely among different geographic regions. MSK like fatigue, myalgia and arthralgia are frequent symptoms in COVID-19 patients and may vary in different countries

Ethnic Association in Primary Systemic Vasculitis: A Systematic Review

Background: Literature described wide disparities in incidence and prevalence between different types of vasculitis. There were no comprehensive studies on ethnic or racial associations in all types of primary systemic vasculitis (PSV) in any published article, until this review commenced in 2020. The purpose of the review is to synthesize the evidence regarding the relation of ethnicity and the incidence and/or prevalence of different types of PSV. Methods: A total of 52 selected articles which include Clinical trials, cohorts, cross-sectional studies, case series, and case studies and have been published within the last 10 years in the human population, were reviewed by searching The Medline, PubMed, and Google Scholars databases using predefined keywords. The PRISMA diagrams were followed to identify relevant articles. The methodological qualities of the studies were assessed using the EPHPP tool. Finally, a summary of the evidence on the association between ethnic origin and PSV was painstakingly compiled. Results: The connection between ethnicity and different types of PSV has been found to be significantly diverse in this research such as vasculitis is more common in Asians and Scandinavians, Kawasaki disease and periarteritis nodules are more prevalent in Japanese and Alaska-natives, ANCA-associated vasculitis is more frequent in Caucasians, whereas Henoch-Schonlein purpura and Cogan syndrome more usual in Caucasians and Asians. Furthermore, Behçet's disease more commonly occurs on the "Silk Road", especially in Turkey. Conclusion: Genetic susceptibility and environmental elements could be the contributing factors to the global variation in the incidence and prevalence of primary systemic vasculitis