Trustee Related Determinants of Scheme Design in Occupational Defined Contribution Schemes in Kenya

This paper aims to provide an understanding of trustee related determinants of scheme design in occupational defined contribution schemes (ODCS) in Kenya. ODCS involve no promises about the size of the benefits and no risk to the employer. The risk of ending up with low or no benefits falls entirely on the scheme members. It is necessary therefore, that determinants of scheme design are carefully considered in establishment and review of defined contribution schemes to deliver adequate benefits to members. Based on modern portfolio and the life cycle theories, the study investigated the key trustee related determinants of scheme design in ODCS in Kenya. Primary data were collected using a questionnaire administered to scheme administrators in the sample. Descriptive statistics were used to profile respondents, describe sample characteristics and a logistic econometric model was applied to evaluate the trustee related determinants of scheme design. The study showed that the key trustee related determinant of scheme design was investment strategy. From the findings, it was recommended that trustees should in addition consider investment returns, target pension, charges by service providers and annuity rates in designing schemes. This would guarantee members a reasonable standard of living after retirement. Keywords: Scheme Design, Occupational Defined Contribution Schemes, Trustees

Employer Related Determinants of Scheme Design in Occupational Defined Contribution Schemes in Kenya

This paper aims to provide an understanding of employer related determinants of scheme design in occupational defined contribution schemes (ODCS) in Kenya. ODCS involve no promises about the size of the benefits and no risk to the employer. The risk of ending up with low or no benefits falls entirely on the scheme members. It is necessary therefore, that determinants of scheme design are carefully considered in establishment and review of defined contribution schemes to deliver adequate benefits to members. Based on modern portfolio and the life cycle theories, the study investigated the key employer related determinants of scheme design in ODCS in Kenya. Primary data were collected using a questionnaire administered to scheme administrators in the sample. Descriptive statistics were used to profile respondents, describe sample characteristics and a logistic econometric model was applied to evaluate the employer related determinants of scheme design. The study showed that the key employer related determinants of scheme design were the employer’s budgetary constraint and recognition of the length of service of scheme members. From the findings, it was recommended that employers should in addition consider pensionable salary, retirement age and occupation in designing schemes. This would guarantee members a reasonable standard of living after retirement. Keywords: Scheme Design, Occupational Defined Contribution Schemes

Topological Defects, Orientational Order, and Depinning of the Electron Solid in a Random Potential

We report on the results of molecular dynamics simulation (MD) studies of the classical two-dimensional electron crystal in the presence disorder. Our study is motivated by recent experiments on this system in modulation doped semiconductor systems in very strong magnetic fields, where the magnetic length is much smaller than the average interelectron spacing $a_0$, as well as by recent studies of electrons on the surface of helium. We investigate the low temperature state of this system using a simulated annealing method. We find that the low temperature state of the system always has isolated dislocations, even at the weakest disorder levels investigated. We also find evidence for a transition from a hexatic glass to an isotropic glass as the disorder is increased. The former is characterized by quasi-long range orientational order, and the absence of disclination defects in the low temperature state, and the latter by short range orientational order and the presence of these defects. The threshold electric field is also studied as a function of the disorder strength, and is shown to have a characteristic signature of the transition. Finally, the qualitative behavior of the electron flow in the depinned state is shown to change continuously from an elastic flow to a channel-like, plastic flow as the disorder strength is increased.Comment: 31 pages, RevTex 3.0, 15 figures upon request, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B., HAF94MD

Analysis of the relationship between expenditure on oil imports and public spending on selected social services in Kenya

Abctract. Since independence, oil imports in Kenya have been rising mainly to sustain the nascent transport, manufacturing, energy, agriculture and maritime sectors among other uses in the country. The growth in the country’s oil import bill has however been closely related to public spending in the health and education sectors which experienced shocks owing to the growth in expenditures apportioned to the rising volume of oil imports. Given the significance of the social pillar of the Kenya Vision 2030 and the inconsistency in the progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, which is inherent in the Kenya Vision 2030, understanding the linkages between the aforementioned trends in expenditures can help in explaining the progress towards attaining the education and health facets of the social pillar. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between aggregate expenditure on oil imports and public spending on health and education. The data used was time series data sourced from Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, Central Bank of Kenya and World Bank. The study employed granger causality and correlation analysis. Based on standard Chi-square tests and F-tests, the findings of the study revealed that there exists bi-directional causality between government expenditure on health and aggregate expenditure on oil imports on one hand; and a unidirectional causality running from government spending on education to aggregate expenditure on oil imports on the other hand, both in the long-run and short-run. It is therefore recommended that the government should define what is deemed economically sustainable in regard to government expenditure on health as a proportion of the exchequer budget. It should also put in place policies that will institute reasonable margins for government expenditures on health and education to adjust as a measure to keep the rising oil import bill in check.Keywords. Public spending, Causality, Oil price shock.JEL. D61, H12, H51, H52, Q48

Global persistence exponent of the two-dimensional Blume-Capel model

The global persistence exponent $\theta_g$ is calculated for the two-dimensional Blume-Capel model following a quench to the critical point from both disordered states and such with small initial magnetizations. Estimates are obtained for the nonequilibrium critical dynamics on the critical line and at the tricritical point. Ising-like universality is observed along the critical line and a different value $\theta_g =1.080(4)$ is found at the tricritical point.Comment: 7 pages with 3 figure

Universality and scaling study of the critical behavior of the two-dimensional Blume-Capel model in short-time dynamics

In this paper we study the short-time behavior of the Blume-Capel model at the tricritical point as well as along the second order critical line. Dynamic and static exponents are estimated by exploring scaling relations for the magnetization and its moments at early stage of the dynamic evolution. Our estimates for the dynamic exponents, at the tricritical point, are $z= 2.215(2)$ and $\theta= -0.53(2)$.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure

The equivalence theorem and the Bethe-Salpeter equation

We solve the Bethe-Salpeter equation for two-particle scattering in a field-theoretical model using two lagrangians related by a field transformation. The kernel of the equation consists of the sum of all tree-level diagrams for each lagrangian. The solutions differ even if all four external particles are put on the mass shell, which implies that observables calculated by solving the Bethe-Salpeter equation depend on the representation of the theory. We point out that this violation of the equivalence theorem has a simple explanation and should be expected for any Bethe-Salpeter equation with a tree-level kernel. Implications for dynamical models of hadronic interactions are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, using REVTeX. Fig. 2 corrected, results unchanged, to be published in Phys. Lett.

Dressing the nucleon in a dispersion approach

We present a model for dressing the nucleon propagator and vertices. In the model the use of a K-matrix approach (unitarity) and dispersion relations (analyticity) are combined. The principal application of the model lies in pion-nucleon scattering where we discuss effects of the dressing on the phase shifts.Comment: 17 pages, using REVTeX, 6 figure

Muon-Spin Rotation Spectra in the Mixed Phase of High-T_c Superconductors : Thermal Fluctuations and Disorder Effects

We study muon-spin rotation (muSR) spectra in the mixed phase of highly anisotropic layered superconductors, specifically Bi_2+xSr_2-xCaCu_2O_8+delta (BSCCO), by modeling the fluid and solid phases of pancake vortices using liquid-state and density functional methods. The role of thermal fluctuations in causing motional narrowing of muSR lineshapes is quantified in terms of a first-principles theory of the flux-lattice melting transition. The effects of random point pinning are investigated using a replica treatment of liquid state correlations and a replicated density functional theory. Our results indicate that motional narrowing in the pure system, although substantial, cannot account for the remarkably small linewidths obtained experimentally at relatively high fields and low temperatures. We find that satisfactory agreement with the muSR data for BSCCO in this regime can be obtained through the ansatz that this ``phase'' is characterized by frozen short-range positional correlations reflecting the structure of the liquid just above the melting transition. This proposal is consistent with recent suggestions of a ``pinned liquid'' or ``glassy'' state of pancake vortices in the presence of pinning disorder. Our results for the high-temperature liquid phase indicate that measurable linewidths may be obtained in this phase as a consequence of density inhomogeneities induced by the pinning disorder. The results presented here comprise a unified, first-principles theoretical treatment of muSR spectra in highly anisotropic layered superconductors in terms of a controlled set of approximations.Comment: 50 pages Latex file, including 10 postscript figure

A Systematic Literature Review of Emotion Regulation Measurement in Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder

DOI: 10.1002/aur.1426Emotion regulation (ER) difficulties are a potential common factor underlying the presentation of multiple emotional and behavioral problems in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). To provide an overview of how ER has been studied in individuals with ASD, we conducted a systematic review of the past 20 years of ER research in the ASD population, using established keywords from the most comprehensive ER literature review of the typically developing population to date. Out of an initial sampling of 305 studies, 32 were eligible for review. We examined the types of methods (self-report, informant report, naturalistic observation/ behavior coding, physiological, and open-ended) and the ER constructs based on Gross and Thompson’s modal model (situation selection, situation modification, attention deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation). Studies most often assessed ER using one type of method and from a unidimensional perspective. Across the 32 studies, we documented the types of measures used and found that 38% of studies used self-report, 44% included an informant report measure, 31% included at least one naturalistic observation/behavior coding measure, 13% included at least one physiological measure, and 13% included at least one open-ended measure. Only 25% of studies used more than one method of measurement. The findings of the current review provide the field with an in-depth analysis of various ER measures and how each measure taps into an ER framework. Future research can use this model to examine ER in a multicomponent way and through multiple methods.Spectrum of Hope Autism Foundation, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, NeuroDevNet, Sinneave Family Foundation, CASDA, Autism Speaks Canada, Health Canad