773 research outputs found
The Trajectory of Wealth in Retirement
In this paper, we develop a measure of household resources that converts total financial, nonfinancial, and annuitized assets into an expected annual amount of wealth per person in retirement. We use this measure, which we call "annualized comprehensive wealth," to investigate spend-down behavior among a panel of older households in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) from 1998 to 2006. Our analysis indicates that for most retired households, comprehensive wealth balances decline much more slowly than their remaining life expectancies, so that the predominate trend is for real annualized wealth actually to rise significantly with age over the course of retirement. Comparing the estimated age profiles for annualized wealth with profiles simulated from several different life cycle models, we find that a model that takes into account uncertain longevity, random medical expenses, and intended bequests lines up best with the broad patterns of rising annualized wealth in the HRS.Retirement wealth, life-cycle saving, mortality risk, precautionary saving, bequests, risk and uncertainty.
A new study of an old sink of sulfur in hot molecular cores: the sulfur residue
Sulfur appears to be depleted by an order of magnitude or more from its
elemental abundance in star-forming regions. In the last few years, numerous
observations and experiments have been performed in order to to understand the
reasons behind this depletion without providing a satisfactory explanation of
the sulfur chemistry towards high-mass star-forming cores. Several
sulfur-bearing molecules have been observed in these regions, and yet none are
abundant enough to make up the gas-phase deficit. Where, then, does this hidden
sulfur reside? This paper represents a step forward in our understanding of the
interactions among the various S-bearing species. We have incorporated recent
experimental and theoretical data into a chemical model of a hot molecular core
in order to see whether they give any indication of the identity of the sulfur
sink in these dense regions. Despite our model producing reasonable agreement
with both solid-phase and gas-phase abundances of many sulfur-bearing species,
we find that the sulfur residue detected in recent experiments takes up only ~6
per cent of the available sulfur in our simulations, rather than dominating the
sulfur budget.Comment: 13 pages, 6 colourful figures, accepted by MNRA
A Probabilistic Distance Clustering Algorithm Using Gaussian and Student-t Multivariate Density Distributions
A new dissimilarity measure for cluster analysis is presented and used in the context of probabilistic distance (PD) cluster-ing. The basic assumption of PD-clustering is that for each unit, the product between the probability of the unit belonging to a cluster and the distance between the unit and the cluster is constant. This constant is a measure of the classifiability of the point, and the sum of the constant over units is called joint distance function (JDF). The parameters that minimize the JDF maximize the classifiability of the units. The new dissimilarity measure is based on the use of symmetric density functions and allows the method to find clusters characterized by different variances and correlation among variables. The multivariate Gaussian and the multivariate Student-t distributions have been used, outperforming classical PD clustering, and its variation PD clustering adjusted for cluster size, on simulated and real datasets
Measuring the Ellipticity of M 87* Images
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) images of the supermassive black hole at
the center of the galaxy M 87 provided the first image of the accretion
environment on horizon scales. General relativity predicts that the image of
the shadow should be nearly circular, given the inclination angle of the black
hole M 87*. A robust detection of ellipticity in the image reconstructions of M
87* could signal new gravitational physics on horizon scales. Here we analyze
whether the imaging parameters used in EHT analyses are sensitive to ring
ellipticity and measure the constraints on the ellipticity of M 87*. We find
that the top set is unable to recover ellipticity. Even for simple geometric
models, the true ellipticity is biased low, preferring circular rings.
Therefore, to place a constraint on the ellipticity of M 87*, we measure the
ellipticity of 550 simulated data sets of GRMHD simulations. We find that
images with intrinsic axis ratios of 2:1 are consistent with the ellipticity
seen from the EHT image reconstructions.Comment: accepted for publication to Ap
Catchment-scale assessments of the effects of abandoned metal mines on groundwater quality and stream ecology
This paper presents an overview of a British Geological Survey catchment-scale research project designed to quantify catchment-derived metal loading on surface water quality. This work is focused on the Rookhope Burn, a tributary of the River Wear in the North Pennines, UK. The river has been identified in the Water Framework Directive (WFD) River Basin Management report as being at risk of failing to achieve Good Status due to mines and minewater pressures. Although geologically relatively simple, the catchment is hydrogeologically complex in that it comprises an area of entrenched karst, characterised by Lower Carboniferous Limestone exposed in the base of valleys overlain by Namurian strata, comprising interbedded shales, sandstones and limestones, which are capped by drained blanket peat. Metal loadings in this catchment result from lead and zinc mineralization and its historic exploitation and processing, which have resulted in both point source and diffuse impacts within the catchment. There have been three main phases of research: (i) collection of hydrological and water chemistry data to enable loading and mass balance calculations to be undertaken; (ii) development of a conceptual understanding of the hydrology and hydrogeology of the catchment, and (iii) application of the hydrological understanding to more recent baseline monitoring of ecological impacts. This work has identified previously unreported mine and groundwater contributions to the catchment, which may have significant implications for the design of remedial measures in the catchment
Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Counseling and Testing Program in the Prenatal Setting
Objective: The objectives of this study were to ascertain the acceptance rate of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) testing in a high-prevalence area and to describe the sociodemographic
and clinical characteristics of seropositive women diagnosed in the prenatal setting
Dielectric Breakdown in Chemical Vapor Deposited Hexagonal Boron Nitride
Insulating films are essential in multiple electronic devices because they can provide essential functionalities, such as capacitance effects and electrical fields. Two-dimensional (2D) layered materials have superb electronic, physical, chemical, thermal, and optical properties, and they can be effectively used to provide additional performances, such as flexibility and transparency. 2D layered insulators are called to be essential in future electronic devices, but their reliability, degradation kinetics, and dielectric breakdown (BD) process are still not understood. In this work, the dielectric breakdown process of multilayer hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is analyzed on the nanoscale and on the device level, and the experimental results are studied via theoretical models. It is found that under electrical stress, local charge accumulation and charge trapping/detrapping are the onset mechanisms for dielectric BD formation. By means of conductive atomic force microscopy, the BD event was triggered at several locations on the surface of different dielectrics (SiO2, HfO2, Al2O3, multilayer h-BN, and monolayer h-BN); BD-induced hillocks rapidly appeared on the surface of all of them when the BD was reached, except in monolayer h-BN. The high thermal conductivity of h-BN combined with the one-atom-thick nature are genuine factors contributing to heat dissipation at the BD spot, which avoids self-accelerated and thermally driven catastrophic BD. These results point to monolayer h-BN as a sublime dielectric in terms of reliability, which may have important implications in future digital electronic devices.Fil: Jiang, Lanlan. Soochow University; ChinaFil: Shi, Yuanyuan. Soochow University; China. University of Stanford; Estados UnidosFil: Hui, Fei. Soochow University; China. Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Estados UnidosFil: Tang, Kechao. University of Stanford; Estados UnidosFil: Wu, Qian. Soochow University; ChinaFil: Pan, Chengbin. Soochow University; ChinaFil: Jing, Xu. Soochow University; China. University of Texas at Austin; Estados UnidosFil: Uppal, Hasan. University of Manchester; Reino UnidoFil: Palumbo, Félix Roberto Mario. Comisión Nacional de EnergÃa Atómica; Argentina. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientÃficas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Lu, Guangyuan. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Wu, Tianru. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Wang, Haomin. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Villena, Marco A.. Soochow University; ChinaFil: Xie, Xiaoming. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de China. ShanghaiTech University; ChinaFil: McIntyre, Paul C.. University of Stanford; Estados UnidosFil: Lanza, Mario. Soochow University; Chin
Persistent overall survival benefit and no increased risk of second malignancies with bortezomib-melphalan-prednisone versus melphalan-prednisone in patients with previously untreated multiple myeloma
Presented as an oral presentation at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology, San Diego, CA, December 10-13, 2011.-- et al.[Purpose]: This final analysis of the phase III VISTA trial (Velcade As Initial Standard Therapy in Multiple Myeloma: Assessment With Melphalan and Prednisone) was conducted to determine whether the overall survival (OS) benefit with bortezomib-melphalan-prednisone (VMP) versus melphalanprednisone (MP) in patients with myeloma who were ineligible for transplantation was maintained after 5 years of follow-up and to explore the risk of second primary malignancies. [Patients and Methods]: In all, 682 patients received up to nine 6-week cycles of VMP or MP and were then observed every 12 weeks or less. Data on second primary malignancies were collected by individual patient inquiries at all sites from 655 patients. [Results]: After median follow-up of 60.1 months (range, 0 to 74 months), there was a 31% reduced risk of death with VMP versus MP (hazard ratio [HR], 0.695; P < .001; median OS 56.4 v 43.1 months). OS benefit with VMP was seen across prespecified patient subgroups (age ≥ 75 years, stage III myeloma, creatinine clearance < 60 mL/min). Sixty-three percent of VMP patients and 73% of MP patients had received subsequent therapy. Time to next therapy (median, 30.7 v 20.5 months; HR, 0.557; P < .001) was longer with VMP than with MP. Among patients who received subsequent therapies, survival from start of subsequent therapy was similar following VMP (median, 28.1 months) or MP (median, 26.8 months; HR, 0.914). Following VMP/MP, incidence proportions of hematologic malignancies (1%/1%) and solid tumors (5%/3%) and exposure-adjusted incidence rates (0.017/0.013 per patient-year) were similar and were consistent with background rates. [Conclusion]: VMP resulted in a significant reduction in risk of death versus MP that was maintained after 5 years' follow-up and despite substantial use of novel-agent-based salvage therapies. There is no emerging safety signal for second primary malignancies following VMP.Supported by Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Janssen Research & Development, and Janssen Global Services.Peer Reviewe
Bayesian Accretion Modeling: Axisymmetric Equatorial Emission in the Kerr Spacetime
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has produced images of two supermassive
black holes, Messier~87* (M 87*) and Sagittarius~A* (Sgr A*). The EHT
collaboration used these images to indirectly constrain black hole parameters
by calibrating measurements of the sky-plane emission morphology to images of
general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations. Here, we develop
a model for directly constraining the black hole mass, spin, and inclination
through signatures of lensing, redshift, and frame dragging, while
simultaneously marginalizing over the unknown accretion and emission
properties. By assuming optically thin, axisymmetric, equatorial emission near
the black hole, our model gains orders of magnitude in speed over similar
approaches that require radiative transfer. Using 2017 EHT M 87* baseline
coverage, we use fits of the model to itself to show that the data are
insufficient to demonstrate existence of the photon ring. We then survey
time-averaged GRMHD simulations fitting EHT-like data, and find that our model
is best-suited to fitting magnetically arrested disks, which are the favored
class of simulations for both M 87* and Sgr A*. For these simulations, the
best-fit model parameters are within of the true mass and within
for inclination. With 2017 EHT coverage and 1\% fractional
uncertainty on amplitudes, spin is unconstrained. Accurate inference of spin
axis position angle depends strongly on spin and electron temperature. Our
results show the promise of directly constraining black hole spacetimes with
interferometric data, but they also show that nearly identical images permit
large differences in black hole properties, highlighting degeneracies between
the plasma properties, spacetime, and most crucially, the unknown emission
geometry when studying lensed accretion flow images at a single frequency.Comment: Accepted to ApJ, 16 pages, 10 figure
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