The Market for Reverse Mortgages among Older Americans

This paper examines the usage of reverse mortgages among mortgage borrowers, as well as rejected applicants for new mortgage credit who are age 62+. We find that 17-27 percent of actual and rejected borrowers would have qualified for a HECM reverse mortgage, or nine to 14 times the size of the actual HECM market. The existence of a large number of seniors with an existing mortgage or taking out a new mortgage with quite high LTVs (57-65%, depending on the product) suggests that many seniors do, in fact utilize home equity in order to fund their retirement. Yet they choose products that require monthly payments lasting decades into retirement and rising as a share of (declining) income as they age. We consider a number of possible explanations for why seniors in the US do not spend home equity and rely on loans with high payments, including precautionary savings for health shocks, bequest motives, high costs of reverse mortgages, and the lack of brand name institutions in the reverse mortgage business

Self-interacting Dark Matter and Invisibly Decaying Higgs

Self-interacting dark matter has been suggested in order to overcome the difficulties of the Cold Dark Matter model on galactic scales. We argue that a scalar gauge singlet coupled to the Higgs boson, which could lead to an invisibly decaying Higgs, is an interesting candidate for this self-interacting dark matter particle. We also present estimates on the abundance of these particles today as well as consequences to non-Newtonian forces.Comment: 4 pages, Revte

An Examination of the Relationship Between Undergraduate Debt and Graduate School Enrollment for STEM and Business-Related Fields

There is a major limitation in this field of literature with limited studies conducted on the factors influencing graduate school enrollment for STEM and business fields after the 2008 Great Recession. During the Great Recession of 2008, approximately 2.8 million students decided to go back to school and pursue a master’s degree. Since then, the cost of a four-year college degree increased by 25 percent and student debt increased by 107 percent (NCES, 2019). STEM and business fields increased by 15 percent during the Great Recession of 2008 in graduate degree programs, graduates, and workforce demand (Anderson, 2013; Okahana & Zhou, 2019; Pappano, 2011). Data drawn from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Baccalaureate and Beyond 2016-2017 survey (B&B:16-17), a multinomial logistic regression was used, and variables were measured within the alignment of the Undergraduate College Choice Theory and Iloh’s model. These variables included three major sections of variables: undergraduate student loan debt, student characteristics and college opportunity, and undergraduate institutional context. The sample used in this dissertation was focused on students that completed their baccalaureate requirements between 2015 and 2016, focused on enrollment to STEM and business-related fields. Major findings were focused on loans, age, race, regional location, and selectivity. There was little evidence of undergraduate loans remaining a major influence on graduate school enrollment. These finding provide support for the need to focus on issues in barriers based on race/ethnicity and financial factors towards enrollment in a graduate degree program in STEM and business-related fields

Using the ACRL Framework to Build Graduate Services: Librarian Experiences from Three Institutions

Description Graduate student time for professional development is limited, tightly controlled during coursework, and must be prioritized. It can be argued that new learning happens best in context and at the point of need. One panelist will discuss how the Framework can be used as a foundation for building a graduate student inventory of research skills designed to identify areas for growth and match those needs with planned programming that is aligned with the demands of their respective programs. Workshops and writing intensives for graduate students are typical pillars of graduate student programming at many academic libraries. Learn how one library used select Frames to develop outcomes for graduate programming on showing research impact, preparing to publish and author rights, teaching roles, and dissertation support. This panelist will reflect on successes and challenges regarding use of the Framework to design a variety of programs. Learn how one panelist’s library adopted the Course Assessment Matrix planning tool, that allows librarians to track forward from the Framework to develop course objectives, learning activities, and, finally, assessment. The tool also permits users to begin with course objectives and track backwards to connect course objectives to the Framework. The panelist will share the planning document for others to use, while also giving an overview of specific examples from recent online instruction for graduate students. Liaising with graduate students is distinct, as the needs of graduate students differ from those of other academic library constituents. Liaison work is an integral part of all academic librarian public services positions, and the work is often viewed as closely tied to teaching information literacy. No national-level standards exist to guide liaisons, though some institutions have such documents at the local level. ACRL’s Framework provides national-level standards for teaching which provides guidance for portions of liaison work. A panelist examines the possibility of using the Framework to guide liaison practices with graduate students in areas beyond classroom instruction

Assessment of model based (input) impedance, pulse wave velocity, and wave reflection in the Asklepios Cohort

Objectives : Arterial stiffness and wave reflection parameters assessed from both invasive and non-invasive pressure and flow readings are used as surrogates for ventricular and vascular load. They have been reported to predict adverse cardiovascular events, but clinical assessment is laborious and may limit widespread use. This study aims to investigate measures of arterial stiffness and central hemodynamics provided by arterial tonometry alone and in combination with aortic root flows derived by echocardiography against surrogates derived by a mathematical pressure and flow model in a healthy middle-aged cohort. Methods : Measurements of carotid artery tonometry and echocardiography were performed on 2226 ASKLEPIOS study participants and parameters of systemic hemodynamics, arterial stiffness and wave reflection based on pressure and flow were measured. In a second step, the analysis was repeated but echocardiography derived flows were substituted by flows provided by a novel mathematical model. This was followed by a quantitative method comparison. Results : All investigated parameters showed a significant association between the methods. Overall agreement was acceptable for all parameters (mean differences: -0.0102 (0.033 SD) mmHg*s/ml for characteristic impedance, 0.36 (4.21 SD) mmHg for forward pressure amplitude, 2.26 (3.51 SD) mmHg for backward pressure amplitude and 0.717 (1.25 SD) m/s for pulse wave velocity). Conclusion : The results indicate that the use of model-based surrogates in a healthy middle aged cohort is feasible and deserves further attention

Downscaling an intense precipitation event in complex terrain: the importance of high grid resolution

Floods due to intense rainfall are a major hazard to both people and infrastructure in western Norway. Here steep orography enhances precipitation and the complex terrain channels the runoff into narrow valleys and small rivers. In this study we investigate a major rainfall and flooding event in October 2014. We compare high-resolution numerical simulations with measurements from rain gauges deployed in the impacted region. Our study has two objectives: (i) to understand the dynamical processes that drove the high rainfall and (ii) the importance of high grid resolution to resolve intense rainfall in complex terrain. This is of great interest for numerical weather prediction and hydrological modelling. Our approach is to dynamically downscale the ERA-Interim reanalysis with the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF). We find that WRF gives a substantially better representation of precipitation both in terms of absolute values as well as spatial and temporal distributions than a coarse resolution reanalysis. The largest improvement between the WRF simulations is found when we decrease the horizontal model grid spacing from 9 km to 3 km. Only minor additional improvements are obtained when downscaling further to 1 km. We believe that this is mainly related to the orography in the study area and its representation in the model. Realistic representations of gravity waves and the seeder–feeder effect seem to play crucial roles in reproducing the precipitation distribution correctly. An analysis of associated wavelengths shows the importance of the shortest resolvable length scales. On these scales our simulations also show differences in accumulated precipitation of up to 300 mm over four days, further emphasising the need for resolving short wavelengths. Therefore, our results clearly demonstrate the need for high-resolution dynamical downscaling for extreme weather impact studies in regions with complex terrain.publishedVersio

Students\u27 Knowledge Regarding the Dynamics of HPV at Secular and Christian Colleges

Purpose: No studies have been identified that analyze the association between religious affiliation and college students\u27 awareness of human papillomavirus (HPV) and its possible consequences. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between knowledge of HPV and the type of college (Christian or secular) a student attends. Methods: The study sample included 195 college students, 18 years of age or older, attending either La Sierra University, Loma Linda University, San Bernardino Valley College, or University of La Verne. The survey assessed six areas of know ledge of HPV including general know ledge, natural history and symptoms, risk and transmission, sequelae and consequences, the role of Pap smears and viral detection, and treatment of HPV. The survey consisted of 31 questions with response categories based on a five-point Likert scale. Results: Forty percent of the students were Seventh-day Adventist, 23% were nondenominational Christians, and 17% were Catholics. Only 29% of the respondents indicated they knew how HPV is transmitted and only 23% of the students were familiar with the risk factors of contracting HPV. The majority of college students are poorly educated about the risk factors and routes of transmission ofHPV. Forty-five percent of students surveyed were not aware that HPV can be transmitted through sexual contact. Students attending Christian colleges had more knowledge regarding HPV than students at secular colleges (p=.02). Conclusion: Results of this study indicated a significant lack of knowledge among college students regarding the risks of transmission of HPV, the relationship between Pap smears and cervical cancer, and the consequences ofHPV

Diagnostics of Damages in Reinforced Concrete by the Parameters of Electric Response to Mechanical Impact

A method for non-destructive testing of reinforced concrete based on thephenomenon of mechano-electric transformations is proposed in this work. The procedure forassessing damage in concrete is based on the measurement of an electric response to a weakelastic impact. It was found that the moments of crack formation and growth during bendingare accompanied by a significant decrease in the correlation coefficient of the electricresponses spectra and by a stepwise change in spectrum shift (at frequency domain) at whichthe maximum correlation coefficient is observed. It was determined that the increase of energyattenuation coefficient of the electric response can serve as a forerunner of a catastrophicdestruction in concrete. The diagnostic criteria proposed in this work can be used formonitoring the damage processes in reinforced concrete under bending conditions