Evaluation of Target Date Funds

Target date funds are an emerging class of investment products, designed for retirement savings. The project considered methodologies for ranking such funds

Evaluation of radiometric and geometric characteristics of LANDSAT-D imaging system

With vegetation masked and noise sources eliminated or minimized, different carbonate facies could be discriminated in a south Florida scene. Laboratory spectra of grab samples indicate that a 20% change in depth of the carbonate absorption band was detected despite the effects of atmospheric absorption. Both bright and dark hydrothermally altered volcanic rocks can be discriminated from their unaltered equivalents. A previously unrecognized altered area was identified on the basis of the TM images. The ability to map desert varnish in semi-arid terrains has economic significance as it defines areas that are less susceptible desert erosional process and suitable for construction development

A new type of propagation

H. Alfven and others have shown that when a conducting fluid is placed in a magnetic field the interaction of the electromagnetic and hydrodynamic forces generates a new type of wave, the nagneto-hydrodynamic wave. Using a description of these waves in an ideal fluid as a prototype, we briefly discuss their properties for various types of conducting fluids. A list of references is given

Optimal initiation of a GLWB in a variable annuity: no arbitrage approach

This paper offers a financial economic perspective on the optimal time (and age) at which the owner of a Variable Annuity (VA) policy with a Guaranteed Living Withdrawal Benefit (GLWB) rider should initiate guaranteed lifetime income payments. We abstract from utility, bequest and consumption preference issues by treating the VA as liquid and tradable. This allows us to use an American option pricing framework to derive a so-called optimal initiation region. Our main practical finding is that given current design parameters in which volatility (asset allocation) is restricted to less than 20%, while guaranteed payout rates (GPR) as well as bonus (roll-up) rates are less than 5%, GLWBs that are in-the-money should be turned on by the late 50s and certainly the early 60s. The exception to the rule is when a non-constant GPR is about to increase (soon) to a higher age band, in which case the optimal policy is to wait until the new GPR is hit and then initiate immediately. Also, to offer a different perspective, we invert the model and solve for the bonus (roll-up) rate that is required to justify delaying initiation at any age. We find that the required bonus is quite high and more than what is currently promised by existing products. Our methodology and results should be of interest to researchers as well as to the individuals that collectively have over \$1 USD trillion in aggregate invested in these products. We conclude by suggesting that much of the non-initiation at older age is irrational (which obviously benefits the insurance industry.

A multispecies comparison of the metazoan 3'-processing downstream elements and the CstF-64 RNA recognition motif

BACKGROUND: The Cleavage Stimulation Factor (CstF) is a required protein complex for eukaryotic mRNA 3'-processing. CstF interacts with 3'-processing downstream elements (DSEs) through its 64-kDa subunit, CstF-64; however, the exact nature of this interaction has remained unclear. We used EST-to-genome alignments to identify and extract large sets of putative 3'-processing sites for mRNA from ten metazoan species, including Homo sapiens, Canis familiaris, Rattus norvegicus, Mus musculus, Gallus gallus, Danio rerio, Takifugu rubripes, Drosophila melanogaster, Anopheles gambiae, and Caenorhabditis elegans. In order to further delineate the details of the mRNA-protein interaction, we obtained and multiply aligned CstF-64 protein sequences from the same species. RESULTS: We characterized the sequence content and specific positioning of putative DSEs across the range of organisms studied. Our analysis characterized the downstream element (DSE) as two distinct parts – a proximal UG-rich element and a distal U-rich element. We find that while the U-rich element is largely conserved in all of the organisms studied, the UG-rich element is not. Multiple alignment of the CstF-64 RNA recognition motif revealed that, while it is highly conserved throughout metazoans, we can identify amino acid changes that correlate with observed variation in the sequence content and positioning of the DSEs. CONCLUSION: Our analysis confirms the early reports of separate U- and UG-rich DSEs. The correlated variations in protein sequence and mRNA binding sequences provide novel insights into the interactions between the precursor mRNA and the 3'-processing machinery

Uses and General Educational Benefits of a Student Newspaper in the Elementary School

The purpose of this study was (1) to determine the utilization, supplementation, and general educational benefits derived from the student published newspapers of a selected group of elementary schools in the state of Washington; (2) to examine the position that the student publication now holds in the elementary curriculum; and (3) to determine the number of those selected elementary schools that have had and/or now have a pupil published newspaper

College Orientation Program for Alaskan Natives COPAN Education for Survival

The State of Alask