Credit Equality Comes to Women: An Analysis of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act is an effort to eliminate credit discrimination based on sex or marital status. Because it specifically prohibits virtually all discriminatory creditor practices, the ECOA essentially eliminates the problems that prompted its enactment. However, the ECOA does more than merely protect the rights of women: It also requires creditors to educate women concerning those rights. Thus, creditors must be certain that any differentiations they make among consumers regarding credit standing are based on sound, provable experience or actuarial statistics. The denial of credit to a woman who, by all objective criteria, is as qualified as a man will no longer be tolerated under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act

Beyond the Ether: a Speculative and Original Story

Text on cover: Beyond the Ether: a Story of Wondrous Adventures by the author of Highest Heavens. Includes introductory text: Proem. This little book was written in the summer of 1893. It was the author\u27s purpose to create something radically original, something the like of which was never before written. Your pardon if we have the egotism to say that we think the departure, as far as originality goes, is a success. We leave it to the public to say whether it is interesting or uninteresting. Thine implicitly and sincerely, W. Cairns Johnston

The coupling of a hearing aid loudspeaker membrane to visco-thermal air layers

Hearing aids and their components are becoming smaller. This presents new problems for the acoustical components, such as the loudspeaker. A circular membrane of a hearing aid loudspeaker is modeled in this paper. Neglecting air influences, the membrane and its suspension behave as a mass spring system. However, under operating conditions, thin layers of air on both sides of the membrane influence its behavior. Air can enter and leave these layers at certain locations on the circular edge of the layer. Since these air layers are thin, visco-thermal effects may have to be taken into account. Therefore, the air layers are not modeled by the wave equation, but by the low reduced frequency model that takes these visco-thermal effects into account. The equations of this model are solved in a polar coordinate system, using a wave-based method. The other acoustical parts of the hearing aid loudspeaker, and the membrane itself are modeled by simple lumped models. The emphasis in this paper is on the coupling of the viscothermal air layer model to the mechanical model of the membrane. Coupling of the air layer to other acoustical parts by using an impedance as boundary condition for the layer model, is also described. The resulting model is verified by experiments. The model and the measurements match reasonably well, considering the level of approximation with lumped parts

Simultaneous multi-frequency single-pulse properties of AXP XTE J1810-197

We have used the 76-m Lovell, 94-m equivalent WSRT and 100-m Effelsberg radio telescopes to investigate the simultaneous single-pulse properties of the radio emitting magnetar AXP XTE J1810-197 at frequencies of 1.4, 4.8 and 8.35 GHz during May and July 2006. We study the magnetar's pulse-energy distributions which are found to be very peculiar as they are changing on time-scales of days and cannot be fit by a single statistical model. The magnetar exhibits strong spiky single giant-pulse-like subpulses, but they do not fit the definition of the giant pulse or giant micropulse phenomena. Measurements of the longitude-resolved modulation index reveal a high degree of intensity fluctuations on day-to-day time-scales and dramatic changes across pulse phase. We find the frequency evolution of the modulation index values differs significantly from what is observed in normal radio pulsars. We find that no regular drifting subpulse phenomenon is present at any of the observed frequencies at any observing epoch. However, we find a quasi-periodicity of the subpulses present in the majority of the observing sessions. A correlation analysis indicates a relationship between components from different frequencies. We discuss the results of our analysis in light of the emission properties of normal radio pulsars and a recently proposed model which takes radio emission from magnetars into consideration.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication by MNRA

Long-term weight loss effects on all cause mortality in overweight/obese populations

This systematic review assesses the long-term effectiveness of weight loss on all cause mortality in overweight/obese people. Medline, Embase and Cinahl were searched (1966–2005). Cohort studies and trials on participants with Body Mass Index ¡Ý25 kg/m2, with weight change and mortality with ¡Ý 2 years follow-up were included finally identifying 11 papers based on 8 studies. There may be gender differences in the benefits for all cause mortality. The impact of weight loss in men on mortality was not clear with some studies indicating weight loss to be detrimental, while a recent cohort study showed benefits, if it were a personal decision. Other studies with no gender separation had similarly mixed results. However, one study indicated that overweight/obese women with obesity related illness, who lost weight intentionally within one year, had significantly reduced mortality rates of 19% -25%. In contrast, studies of overweight/obese diabetics irrespective of gender, showed significant benefit of intentional weight loss on mortality in a metaanalysis, HR=0.75(0.67- 0.83). There is some evidence that intentional weight loss has long-term benefits on all cause mortality for women and more so for diabetics. Long-term effects especially for men are not clear and need further investigation.National Health Service (NHS) R&D Health Technology Assessment Board