Wittgenstein on the Meaning of Life: From Theory to Therapy

In the philosophical Å’vre of Ludwig Wittgenstein explicitly ethical remarks appear as scattered islands within the ocean of logical and linguistic investigations. The fact that precisely these remarks motivate Wittgenstein's Denkbewegungen was articulated by the author himself several times.1 In the following article we attempt to provide hints for the ethical dimension of Wittgenstein's "authorial strategy" (Conant, 2000, 175) by reflecting on the importance of the question of the meaning of life for the development of Wittgenstein's philosophical style of thinking. When refering to the "close relationship between his life problems and his philosophical way of thinking" (DB, 8, my translation), we are not following the impulse of reductionist psychologization, but are offering an invitation to a reading of Wittgenstein"s philososophy that emphasizes the 'tone of voice" (Monk, 2001, 4) of his language

Optimal gradual annuitization : quantifying the costs of switching to annuities

We compute the optimal dynamic asset allocation policy for a retiree with Epstein-Zin utility. The retiree can decide how much he consumes and how much he invests in stocks, bonds, and annuities. Pricing the annuities we account for asymmetric mortality beliefs and administration expenses. We show that the retiree does not purchase annuities only once but rather several times during retirement (gradual annuitization). We analyze the case in which the retiree is restricted to buy annuities only once and has to perform a (complete or partial) switching strategy. This restriction reduces both the utility and the demand for annuities

Life-Cycle Asset Allocation with Annuity Markets: Is Longevity Insurance a Good Deal?

We derive the optimal portfolio choice over the life-cycle for households facing labor income, capital market, and mortality risk. In addition to stocks and bonds, households also have access to incomplete annuity markets offering a hedge against mortality risk. We show that a considerable fraction of wealth should be annuitized to skim the return enhancing mortality credit. The remaining liquid wealth (stocks and bonds) is used to hedge labor income risk during work life, to earn the equity premium, and to ensure estate for the heirs. Furthermore, we assess the importance of common explanations for limited participation in annuity markets.

Money in Motion: Dynamic Portfolio Choice in Retirement

Retirees confront the difficult problem of how to manage their money in retirement so as to not outlive their funds while continuing to invest in capital markets. We posit a dynamic utility maximizer who makes both asset location and allocation decisions when managing her retirement financial wealth and annuities, and we prove that she can benefit from both the equity premium and longevity insurance in her retirement portfolio. Even without bequests, she will not fully annuitize; rather, her optimal stock allocation amounts initially to more than half of her financial wealth and declines with age. Welfare gains from this strategy can amount to 40 percent of financial wealth (depending on risk parameters and other resources). In practice, it turns out that many retirees will do almost as well by purchasing a variable annuity invested 60/40 in stocks/bonds.

River Run Off Measurement With SAR Along Track Interferometry

The paper summarizes the need for global space borne river run-off measurements. It reports about an airborne SAR experiment aimed to measure the surface velocity of the river Isar in Bavaria / Germany. The results from two different SAR techniques, including Along Track Interferometry (ATI) show good correspondence. Finally suggestions for further studies are given

Indiana Lawyer\u27s Who\u27s Who (crossword puzzle)

A crossword puzzle created by Michael S. Maurer with questions related to prominent legal professionals in Indiana, including Dean Aman

Climate change and the Delta, San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science

Anthropogenic climate change amounts to a rapidly approaching, “new” stressor in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta system. In response to California’s extreme natural hydroclimatic variability, complex water-management systems have been developed, even as the Delta’s natural ecosystems have been largely devastated. Climate change is projected to challenge these management and ecological systems in different ways that are characterized by different levels of uncertainty. For example, there is high certainty that climate will warm by about 2°C more (than late-20th-century averages) by mid-century and about 4°C by end of century, if greenhouse-gas emissions continue their current rates of acceleration. Future precipitation changes are much less certain, with as many climate models projecting wetter conditions as drier. However, the same projections agree that precipitation will be more intense when storms do arrive, even as more dry days will separate storms. Warmer temperatures will likely enhance evaporative demands and raise water temperatures. Consequently, climate change is projected to yield both more extreme flood risks and greater drought risks. Sea level rise (SLR) during the 20th century was about 22cm, and is projected to increase by at least 3-fold this century. SLR together with land subsidence threatens the Delta with greater vulnerabilities to inundation and salinity intrusion. Effects on the Delta ecosystem that are traceable to warming include SLR, reduced snowpack, earlier snowmelt and larger storm-driven streamflows, warmer and longer summers, warmer summer water temperatures, and water-quality changes. These changes and their uncertainties will challenge the operations of water projects and uses throughout the Delta’s watershed and delivery areas. Although the effects of climate change on Delta ecosystems may be profound, the end results are difficult to predict, except that native species will fare worse than invaders. Successful preparation for the coming changes will require greater integration of monitoring, modeling, and decision making across time, variables, and space than has been historically normal

The Induced Heart Rate Response to Fish Kairomones in \u3ci\u3eDaphnia pulex\u3c/i\u3e

Daphnia pulex have been shown to respond to kairomones emitted by predatory Chaoborus and planktivorous fish, though these two groups of predators differ significantly in their predation styles. The effects of predation vary across Daphnia size range, and heart rate response to Chaoborus kairomones has been shown to vary across size. I found that heart rate of individuals in the small size class in a clonal population of Daphnia pulex respond more strongly to bluegill (Lepomismacrochirus) kairomones than heart rate of medium or large size classes. The two largest classes showed no difference in heart rate between control and fish kairomone treatments. This is possibly due to physiological differences between small and large Daphnia pulex, or it could be an adaptive response based on the futility of escape from fish predation for large Daphnia and the lower detection rates for small Daphnia