Guaranteeing Defined Contribution Pensions: The Option to Buy-Back a Defined Benefit Promise

After a long commitment to defined benefit (DB) pension plans for US public sect or employees, many state legislatures have introduced defined contribution (DC) plans for their public employees. In this process, investment risk which was previously borne by state DB plans has now devolved to employees covered by the new DC plans. In light of this trend, some states have proposed a guarantee mechanism to help protect DC plan participants. One such guarantee takes the form of an option permitting DC plan participants to bu y back their DB benefit for a price. This paper develops a theoretical framewor k to analyze the option design and illustrate how employee characteristics influ ence the option's cost. We illustrate the potential magnitude of a buy-back opt ion value enacted recently by the State of Florida for its public employees. If employees were to exercise the buy-back option optimally, the market value of t his option could represent up to 100 percent of the DC contributions over the wo rklife.

Understanding Individual Account Guarantees

Demographic aging renders workers vulnerable to the inherent uncertainty of unfunded social security systems. This realization has set off a global wave of social security reforms, and more than 20 countries have set up Individual Accounts (IA) plans in response. Strengths of IAs are that participants gain ownership in their accounts, and they also may diversify their pension investments; additionally they produce a capitalized, funded system that enhances old-age economic security. While IAs reduce the risk participants face due to unfunded social security system, holding capital market investments in IAs could expose participants to fluctuations in the value of their pension assets. Concern over market volatility has prompted some to emphasize the need for “guarantees” of pension accumulations. This paper offers a way to think about guarantees in the context of a reform that includes Individual Accounts. We illustrate that guarantee costs can be important and they can vary significantly with time horizon, investment mix, and guarantee design. The findings indicate that plan designers and budget analysts would do well to recognize such costs and identify how they can be financed.

Understanding Individual Account Guarantees

Demographic aging renders workers vulnerable to the inherent uncertainty of unfunded social security systems. This realization has set off a global wave of social security reforms, and numerous countries have now set up Individual Accounts (IA) plans in response. Strengths of IAs are that participants gain ownership in their accounts, and they also may diversify their pension investments; additionally, they produce a capitalized, funded system that enhances old-age economic security. While IAs reduce the risk participants face due to unfunded social security systems, participants holding capital market investments in IAs are exposed to fluctuations in the value of their pension assets. Concern over market volatility has prompted some to emphasize the need for guarantees' of pension accumulations. This paper offers a way to think about guarantees in the context of a social security reform that includes Individual Accounts. When a pension guarantee has economic value to participants, it will have economic costs. We illustrate how these costs can be important and vary significantly with time horizon, investment mix, and guarantee design. Our findings indicate that plan designers and budget analysts would do well to recognize such costs and identify how they can be financed.

Understanding Employees\u27 Behavioral Reactions To Aggression In Organizations

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore employees\u27 behavioral reactions to the perceived aggression of others. Perceived aggression is defined as behavior that is perceived to be intentionally harmful by the intended target. A typology is developed that identifies two primary dimensions of behavioral reaction: (1) the form of the behavior (aggression/non-aggression) and (2) the direction of the behavior (toward the source of the harm/not toward the source of the harm). Based on these dimensions, the typology produces four categories of behavioral reactions: retaliatory aggression, displaced aggression, constructive problem-solving, and withdrawal. A model is then presented, which identifies various factors that influence employees\u27 reactions. The relationships are examined in two studies. The first study is a cross-sectional survey design, which investigates the reactions to perceived supervisor aggression and the moderating effects of various situational factors (fear of retaliation, aggressive modeling and absolute hierarchical status) and individual factors (trait anger and the need for social approval). The second study is a 2x2 experimental design that investigates the reactions to perceived aggression and the moderating effects of fear of retaliation and personality variables (trait anger, locus of control and the need for social approval). Participants of the experiment, 77 undergraduate students, were randomly assigned into conditions of perceived aggression (high/low) and fear of retaliation (high/low). Perceived aggression was manipulated through exam feedback and fear of retaliation was manipulated through anonymity of instructor evaluations. The results of both studies provide support for some of the predictions, as well as some contradictory findings. Conclusions are drawn from the theory, typology and findings of the studies, highlighting implications for future aggression and organizational behavior research

An Orientation to the United States

The main purpose of this text is to provide a format through which a foreign student can gain a better understanding of the United States and its people. A secondary goal is to encourage students to use and improve their aural/oral skills. Due to the nature of the topic of the lessons, students should find it easy to contribute to active discussions. At times, the students are forced to mix with the target culture through activities provided at the end of each lesson. The text consists of fifty lessons with each lesson having a single topic as focus of contrast, discussion and investigation. The topics fall into the following general categories: Home and Daily Activities, Social Customs, Transportation, Education and Miscellaneous. The first page of each lesson provides the student with a contrast between Iran and the United States. The second page of each lesson supplies additional information on the United States, and offers a variety of activities designed to further the students\u27 understanding of the United States. A majority of the lessons are accompanied by slides to be presented as an introduction to the topics. These slides serve to illustrate a particular aspect of the United States or its culture

Master of Science

thesisPosterior fossa malformations, large infantile hemangioma of the head neck or face, arterial cerebrovascular anomalies, cardiac anomalies, and eye anomalies define the acronym for PHACE syndrome. PHACE syndrome (OMIM no. 606519) is a neurocutaneous syndrome with unknown etiology and pathogenesis. We report on an individual with PHACE syndrome with a complete deletion of SLC35B4 in the 7q33 region. In order to further analyze this region, SLC35B4 was sequenced for 33 individuals with PHACE syndrome and one parental set. Common polymorphisms with a possible haplotype but no disease causing mutation were identified. Sixteen of 33 samples of the PHACE syndrome patients were also analyzed for copy number variations using high resolution oligo-Comparative Genomic Hybridization (CGH) microarray. A second individual in this cohort had a 26.5kb deletion approximately 80kb upstream of SLC35B4 with partial deletion of the AKR1B1 gene in the 7q33 region. The deletions observed on 7q33 are not likely the singular cause of PHACE syndrome; however, it is possible that this region provides a genetic susceptibility to phenotypic expression with other confounding genetic or environmental factors

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationEnvironmental signals, including cytokines, received by CD8+ T cells during the primary response to acute infection shape their commitment to effector and memory CD8+ T cell fates, as well as their ability to respond to future pathogen challenges. The common gamma chain (γc) cytokine interleukin-2 (IL-2) provides a memory differentiation signal during the primary response that programs CD8+ T cells for successful recall responses later. We find that although primary effector CTL development is modestly decreased in the absence of IL-2, the persistence of terminal effector phenotype and tissue residing memory CD8+ T cell populations after pathogen clearance is greatly diminished. Furthermore, memory CD8+ T cells generated in the absence of IL-2 signals are unable to undergo secondary effector CTL differentiation. We conclude that IL-2 promotes entry into and survival within an effector CD8+ T cell differentiation program. The role of IL-2 in promoting primary and secondary effector CTL differentiation is not shared by the highly related cytokine, IL-15. Although IL-15 supports the survival of effector phenotype CD8+ T cells after pathogen clearance, its absence does not impair either primary or secondary effector CTL differentiation, nor does it impact the differentiation of long-term effector memory CD8+ T cells. Thus, there is a unique role for IL-2, but not IL-15, in promoting the differentiation of effector CTL and programming memory CD8+ T cells capable of secondary effector differentiation. How CD8+ T cells integrate IL-2 signals and the molecular nature of these signals in the development of functional memory populations is not understood. Because IL-2 induces potent activation of the STAT5 transcription factor, we tested the role of STAT5 in CD8+ effector and memory differentiation. We find that STAT5 activity is broadly important for the expansion and effector functions of all effector CTL subsets during the primary response. Despite a broad role in expansion, the requirement for STAT5 was particularly important for survival of terminal effector phenotype and tissue residing memory CD8+ T cells after pathogen clearance. Surprisingly, although STAT5 was important in primary effector CTL responses, and unlike IL-2, STAT5 activity is not required for the development of memory CD8+ T cells capable of robust secondary expansion and secondary effector differentiation upon rechallenge. These findings highlight differential requirements for survival signals between primary and secondary effector CTL, and subsets of memory CD8+ T cells. Furthermore, we demonstrate that IL-2 dependent programming of memory CD8+ T cells capable of protective recall responses is STAT5 independent

Significant life experiences of naturalists

This research study addressed a current topic of interest in the environmental education community: How can people of non-European origin be recruited into the field of outdoor and environmental education

Canadian Audiovisual Archives: The Politics of Preservation and Access

In 2005, in the spirit of Canadas total archives philosophy, the Western University Archives in London, Ontario acquired over ninety regional films on 8mm. Archival staff digitized the films in a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) fashion: they were simply repaired, projected, and captured off the wall with a digital camera. The raw files were then processed and given basic titling before being exported onto DVDs for public and institutional sale. While digitization was quite rudimentary, the public has access to a forgotten regional history. This dissertation analyzes the tensions and politics of audiovisual acquisition, preservation, and dissemination by recounting steps taken by DIY archivists to bring films from a personal archive to an institutional archive. I trace this collection of amateur itinerant films as they move from the filmmakers home in Dundee, New York, to the Western Archives. Reverend Leroy (Roy) Massecar (1918-2003) was a Baptist Minister and itinerant filmmaker who between 1947-1949 visited over ninety towns throughout Central and Southwestern Ontario, documenting daily life, screening films in these towns as Stars of the Town See Yourself and Your Friends on the Screen! and capturing the fleeting energy of small town rural Ontario. The dissertation mobilizes what Canadian archivist Terry Cook calls, archival contextual knowledge, a history from the bottom-up, and uses this case study to highlight larger issues facing Canadian audiovisual collections in the early 21st century: the shifting value in antiquated audiovisual formats and marginal film collections; the tension between professional preservation and public access; the hidden labour of audiovisual archivists; and the politics of DIY audiovisual discourse. I make the labour and bureaucracy of traditional archives visible by examining the discourses of the Archive not only within a theoretical space, but also in actual archive spaces whether physical or digital. I argue that bringing transparency to the roles and actions of donors, artists, archivists, scholars, and the public will allow for the larger ecology of Canadian audiovisual preservation to be activated, allowing actors in each point of the cycle to collectively move towards a holistic and networked audiovisual preservation strategy

A Historical Analysis of the Creation of a Cabinet-Level Department of Education

This dissertation uses historical analysis to understand the political and social conditions that allowed for the creation of a cabinet-level Department of Education when many congressional representatives, state governments, and citizens of the United States were ideologically against federal involvement in education. A cabinet-level Department of Education posed problems for the United States because nowhere in the nation’s Constitution is education mentioned, thus leaving education to be a function of the states according to the 10th Amendment. This dissertation looks at calls for a department of education leading up to and including the one initiated by Jimmy Carter. Conducting a historical analysis of the creation of a cabinet-level Department of Education allows for the analysis not only of educational policies but also of culture and society both outside of and within the political sphere. This study relies on documents from the Carter presidency, the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, Congressional records, education polls, and the New York Times and Washington Post, as well as secondary sources related to the various calls for a creation of a cabinet-level Department of Education and policy pieces associated with the creation. The study concludes that while the legislation for the creation of a cabinet-level Department of Education was politically motivated, it would have been difficult to pass if the groundwork for federal involvement in education had not already been put in place through previous congressional legislation and court decisions. By easing public sentiment and creating a need for managerial and administrative reform these prior acts of Congress and the courts paved the way for a cabinet-level Department of Education