The management of de-cumulation risks in a defined contribution environment

The aim of the paper is to lay the theoretical foundations for the construction of a flexible tool that can be used by pensioners to find optimal investment and consumption choices in the distribution phase of a defined contribution pension scheme. The investment/consumption plan is adopted until the time of compulsory annuitization, taking into account the possibility of earlier death. The effect of the bequest motive and the desire to buy a higher annuity than the one purchasable at retirement are included in the objective function. The mathematical tools provided by dynamic programming techniques are applied to find closed form solutions: numer-ical examples are also presented. In the model, the trade-off between the different desires of the individual regarding consumption and final annuity can be dealt with by choosing appropriate weights for these factors in the setting of the problem. Conclusions are twofold. Firstly, we find that there is a natural time-varying target for the size of the fund, which acts as a sort of safety level for the needs of the pensioner. Secondly, the personal preferences of the pensioner can be translated into optimal choices, which in turn affect the distribution of the consumption path and of the final annuity

Undermining Tribal Land Use Regulatory Authority: \u3cem\u3eBrendale v. Confederated Tribes\u3c/em\u3e

The Allotment Act of 1887 diminished tribal regulatory authority over Indian reservation land use. While the Act provided for alienation of reservation land to non-Indians, it did not terminate the reservation status of alienated land. Hence, a question which repeatedly arises is whether Indians can control land use on non-Indian owned reservation land. This Note traces the historical basis of Indian regulatory authority over non-Indians, examines the Supreme Court\u27s latest decision in Brendale, and then exposes the weaknesses of that decision

Undermining Tribal Land Use Regulatory Authority: \u3cem\u3eBrendale v. Confederated Tribes\u3c/em\u3e

The Allotment Act of 1887 diminished tribal regulatory authority over Indian reservation land use. While the Act provided for alienation of reservation land to non-Indians, it did not terminate the reservation status of alienated land. Hence, a question which repeatedly arises is whether Indians can control land use on non-Indian owned reservation land. This Note traces the historical basis of Indian regulatory authority over non-Indians, examines the Supreme Court\u27s latest decision in Brendale, and then exposes the weaknesses of that decision

The Politics of Post-Qualitative Inquiry: History and Power

In this article, we offer a critical reading of the increasingly popular “post-qualitative” approach to research. We draw on insights from postcolonial theory to offer some provocations about the methodological and conceptual claims made by post-qualitative inquiry. The article considers how post-qualitative inquiry opens up possibilities for post-humanist social research. But, our critical reading of these “new” approaches argues that such research needs to attend to political and historical relations of social power, both in the worlds it constitutes and in the processes of its knowledge production. Without explicit attention to power and history, the (non)representational logics of post-qualitative inquiry risk operating less as “new” mechanisms for generative and subversive post-humanist research and more as processes of closure and erasure: closed-off from the worlds and people being researched

Phytoremediation of brine-affected soil with salt-tolerant plants: a screening study

Non-Peer ReviewedPhytoremediation is an attractive alternative to traditional soil remediation for brine-affected areas. Potential phytoremediation plants must possess several key characteristics including adaptation to semi-arid climate, moderate to high salt tolerance, accumulation of Na in above ground tissues and an extensive root system to obtain Na and improve soil structure. Eighteen salt-tolerant species were identified from literature and screened for sodium uptake ability in a sand culture experiment. Plants were treated with 0, 200, 400 and 600 mM NaCl and grown for 50 d. Plants were harvested and biomass analyzed for Na content. Sea blite (Suaeda calceoliformis) and salt grass (Distichlis stricta) showed promise for phytoremediation by surviving high levels of Na while developing extensive root systems. These species did not accumulate as much Na in their aboveground tissue as less tolerant plants. However, during this short screening study, cell wall integrity was maintained and a longer study would allow plants to accumulate more biomass and Na. These two species will be tested on contaminated saline sodic field soil to provide an understanding of sodium removal over the length of a Saskatchewan growing season

Reducing the number of miscreant tasks executions in a multi-use cluster.

Exploiting computational resources within an organisation for more than their primary task offers great benefits – making better use of capital expenditure and provides a pool of computational power. This can be achieved through the deployment of a cycle stealing distributed system, where tasks execute during the idle time on computers. However, if a task has not completed when a computer returns to its primary function the task will be preempted, wasting time (and energy), and is often reallocated to a new resource in an attempt to complete. This becomes exacerbated when tasks are incapable of completing due to excessive execution time or faulty hardware / software, leading to a situation where tasks are perpetually reallocated between computers – wasting time and energy. In this work we investigate techniques to increase the chance of ‘good’ tasks completing whilst curtailing the execution of ‘bad’ tasks. We demonstrate, through simulation, that we could have reduce the energy consumption of our cycle stealing system by approximately 50%

Innovations in pediatric drug formulations and administration technologies for low resource settings

© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Despite advances in regulations and initiatives to increase pediatric medicine development, there is still an unmet need for age-appropriate medicines for children. The availability of pediatric formulations is particularly lacking in resource poor areas, due to, for example, area-specific disease burden and financial constraints, as well as disconnected supply chains and fragmented healthcare systems. The paucity of authorized pediatric medicines often results in the manipulation and administration of products intended for adults, with an increased risk of mis-dosing and adverse reactions. This article provides an overview of the some of the key difficulties associated with the development of pediatric medicines in both high and low resource areas, and highlights shared and location specific challenges and opportunities. The utilization of dispersible oral dosage forms and suppositories for low and middle-income countries (LMICs) are described in addition to other platform technologies that may in the future offer opportunities for future pediatric medicine development for low resource settings

Two complete syntheses of (S)-aspartate semi-aldehyde and demonstration that Delta(2)-tetrahydroisophthalic acid is a non-competitive inhibitor of dihydrodipicolinate synthase

The document attached has been archived with permission from the publisher.We report, in full, two 3-step syntheses of (S)-aspartate semi-aldehyde, an important synthetic and biosynthetic precursor, from diprotected aspartic acid. The first synthesis proceeds via a thioester, the second via a Weinreb amide. Each route yields pure (S)-aspartate semi-aldehyde in excellent yield. The utility of (S)-aspartate semi-aldehyde prepared in this manner was demonstrated with an inhibition study of dihydrodipicolinate synthase, wherein Δ2- tetrahydroisophthalic acid is shown to be a non-competitive inhibitor with respect to both substrates.Sarah J. Roberts, Jonathan C. Morris, Renwick C.J. Dobson, Chris L. Baxter, and Juliet A. Gerrar

Ideal kink instability of a magnetic loop equilibrium

The force-free coronal loop model by Titov & D\'emoulin (1999} is found to be unstable with respect to the ideal kink mode, which suggests this instability as a mechanism for the initiation of flares. The long-wavelength ($m=1$) mode grows for average twists \Phi\ga3.5\pi (at a loop aspect ratio of $\approx$ 5). The threshold of instability increases with increasing major loop radius, primarily because the aspect ratio then also increases. Numerically obtained equilibria at subcritical twist are very close to the approximate analytical equilibrium; they do not show indications of sigmoidal shape. The growth of kink perturbations is eventually slowed down by the surrounding potential field, which varies only slowly with radius in the model. With this field a global eruption is not obtained in the ideal MHD limit. Kink perturbations with a rising loop apex lead to the formation of a vertical current sheet below the apex, which does not occur in the cylindrical approximation.Comment: Astron. Astrophys. Lett., accepte