Retirement Plan Participation in the United States: Do Public Sector Employees Save More?

This study examines retirement plan participation and savings behavior for American public and private sector employees using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) data set. This paper also examines the determinants of preference for a diversified portfolio within the retirement plans. The findings of this study indicate that the population’s plan participation increases with age, income, and education level. The public sector employees are more likely than others to participate in defined benefits plans. Conversely, they are less likely to participate in the defined contribution plans. Also, the public sector employees who participate in defined contribution plans hold lower amounts within their retirement accounts. The public sector employees are more likely to diversify their retirement portfolios or allocate them in bonds or annuities and are less likely to hold all or most of their wealth in stocks. Preference for diversification also increases with age, income and educational attainment.Retirement saving; IRA; Plan Participation; Asset Allocation

Distribution of Demand for School Quality: Evidence from Quantile Regression

Our results show that high-income families place significantly higher value on academic achievement than low-income families. High-income families are also more likely to penalize house price for non-desirable non-academic school quality. This paper uses quantile regression to examine the distribution of demand for school quality. For academic achievement, the average effects as estimated by OLS are biased toward zero due to “aggregation” of families’ willingness to pay. We take advantage of a court-ordered redistricting as a quasi-random assignment of school quality. Subdivision and school fixed-effects are used to control for unobserved characteristics.school quality, demand, house price, quantile regression, hedonic equation

Recognition of dementia with Lewy bodies. Prevalence of core signs, medical treatments and survival in Swedish nursing homes and short-term homes.

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is an underdiagnosed neurocognitive disorder thatincludes several complex neurological and psychological signs, which are challenging toclinical diagnostics. The recognition of this neurocognitive disorder should beimproved because people with DLB exhibit a good treatment response to anti-dementiamedications but experience severe adverse events if treated with anti-psychoticmedicine.The main aim of this thesis was to investigate the prevalence of DLB core signs andmedical treatments among older adults living in nursing homes (NHs) and short-termNHs in an entire Swedish city. A second aim was to compare the survival betweenresidents of NHs with 0–1 and 2–4 DLB core signs.Design: For all papers, I applied a specially designed form covering all four core DLBsigns. This form was administered to residents of 40 NHs (N=650, mean age 86 years,75% women) in 2012–2013 and to residents of three short-term NHs (N=141, meanage 83 years, 63% women) in 2018. The registered nurse at each NH/short-term NHcompleted the form and collected the study data, including medication lists. For PaperIV, data were obtained from short-term NHs, and the participating residents (N=112)were given a medical examination by physicians.Results: In Paper I, we found a prevalence of 2–4 DLB core signs in 16–20% of all610 NH residents. In Paper II, analysis of the rates of treatment with psychotropicsshowed use of anti-psychotics by 23% of residents, hypnotics/sedatives by 41% andanti-dementia medications by 33% of the entire study population. Use of antipsychoticsincreased from 25% to 43% in residents with an increasing number of DLBcore signs. In Paper III, the mean survival differed between residents according to thenumber of DLB signs; those with 0–1 DLB signs lived 8 months longer than thosewith 2–4 DLB signs. In Paper IV, we found a prevalence of 2–4 DLB core signs in32% of all short-term NH residents.Conclusion: In both NHs and short-term NHs, 16–32% of residents had 2–4 DLBcore signs. These “high-risk DLB residents” also received unfavourable medicaltreatment, as shown by the high use of anti-psychotic medicine and shorter survivalcompared with residents with 0–1 DLB core signs

Internal and External Obstacles to the Development of SMEs in Bosnia and Herzegovina

This article describes the small and medium enterprise (SME) sectors in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and other Western Balkan countries, and compares their development. The authors identify the levels of development achieved, remedial measures and activities for stimulating this sector. There is special emphasis on external and internal obstacles to small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises in BiH. The authors conclude that in respect to SMEs BiH lags behind other countries in the region, where this sector has achieved dynamic development and a majority share in the employment market, exports and GDP. That said, there remains a need across the whole region to resolve obstacles in the domestic market, alongside initiating intensive activities aimed at introducing the SMEs to the Single European Market. For BiH, primary research has been carried out to determine the external and internal obstacles to SMEs in the country’s manufacturing sector. The key obstacles are identified, their intensity and grade determined, and they are classified into three groups. Factor analysis was used in determining six factors explaining external obstacles and two factors for internal obstacles. It has also been confirmed that other companies apart from manufacturing SMEs face broadly similar external obstacles, and that these obstacles are more in evidence when compared to the situation in other Western Balkan countries. Recommendations are offered to the Government of BiH and SME managements for removing the obstacles which have been identified.SMEs, manufacturing, obstacles, factor analysis, Western Balkans, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)

School Quality, House Prices, and Liquidity: The Effects of Public School Reform in Baton Rouge

After a court imposed desegregation plan ended in 1996, the Baton Rouge, Louisiana school district created neighborhood attendance zones for its schools, followed by a series of attendance zone changes. We use data from 1994 to 2002 to examine the impact of changes in school characteristics on simultaneous determination of house prices and liquidity in the market. A simultaneous equations model of sales price and tine-on-market is adopted that extends the hedonic price model by controlling for localized neighborhood market conditions. Our empirical results show that improving and declining school performance can have asymmetric capitalization effects. Further, as indicated by the search-market model, liquidity absorbs part of the capitalization of school quality; for example, declining school performance prolongs houses’ marketing time

Insights on the kinematics of the India-Eurasia collision from global geodynamic models

The Eocene India-Eurasia collision is a first order tectonic event whose nature and chronology remains controversial. We test two end-member collision scenarios using coupled global plate motion-subduction models. The first, conventional model, invokes a continental collision soon after ∼60 Ma between a maximum extent Greater India and an Andean-style Eurasian margin. The alternative scenario involves a collision between a minimum extent Greater India and a NeoTethyan back-arc at ∼60 Ma that is subsequently subducted along southern Lhasa at an Andean-style margin, culminating with continent-continent contact at ∼40 Ma. Our numerical models suggest the conventional scenario does not adequately reproduce mantle structure related to Tethyan convergence. The alternative scenario better reproduces the discrete slab volumes and their lateral and vertical distribution in the mantle, and is also supported by the distribution of ophiolites indicative of Tethyan intraoceanic subduction, magmatic gaps along southern Lhasa and a two-stage slowdown of India. Our models show a strong component of southward mantle return flow for the Tethyan region, suggesting that the common assumption of near-vertical slab sinking is an oversimplification with significant consequences for interpretations of seismic tomography in the context of subduction reference frames

Mantle-induced subsidence and compression in SE Asia since the early Miocene

Rift basins developed extensively across Sundaland, the continental core of Southeast Asia, since the Eocene. Beginning in the early Miocene, basins in southern Sundaland experienced widespread synchronous compression (inversion) and marine inundation, despite a large drop in long-term global sea level. The mechanism for this large-scale synchronous regional sea level rise, basin inversion, and subsidence is not well understood and contrary to expectations from traditional basin models and eustatic sea level trends. We present geodynamic models of mantle convection with both deformable and rigid plate reconstructions to investigate this enigma. Models suggest that a slab stagnates within the transition zone beneath Southeast Asia before the Miocene. The stagnant slab penetrated through the 660 km mantle discontinuity during the early Miocene and formed a slab avalanche event, due to continuous subduction and accumulation of negatively buoyant slabs. This avalanche may have induced large-scale marine inundation, regional compression, and basin inversion across southern Sundaland. We argue mantle convection induced large-scale basin compression, in contrast to conventional plate margin-induced compression; this suggests mantle convection may exert a much stronger control on surface processes than previously recognized

Tunable Filters and RF MEMS Variable Capacitors with Closed Loop Control

Multi-band and multi-mode radios are becoming prevalent and necessary in order to provide optimal data rates across a network with a diverse and spotty landscape of coverage areas (3G, HSPA, LTE, etc.). As the number of required bands and modes increases, the aggregate cost of discrete RF signal chains justi es the adoption of tunable solutions. Tunable fi lters are one of the pieces crucial to signal chain amalgamation. The main requirements for a tunable fi lter are high unloaded quality factor, wide tuning range, high tuning speed, high linearity, and small size. MEMS technology is the most promising in terms of tuning range, quality factor, linearity and size. In addition, a fi lter that maintains a constant passband bandwidth as the center frequency is tuned is preferred since the analog baseband processing circuitry tends to be tailored for a particular signal bandwidth. In this work, a novel design technique for tunable fi lters with controlled and predictable bandwidth variation is presented. The design technique is presented alongside an analysis and modeling method for predicting the final filter response during design optimization. The method is based on the well known coupling matrix model. In order to demonstrate the design and modeling technique, a novel coupling structure for stripline fi lters is presented that results in substantial improvements in coupling bandwidth variation over an octave tuning range when compared to combline and interdigitated coupled line fi lters. In order for a coupled resonator filter to produce an equal ripple Chebyshev response, each resonator of the fi lter must be tuned to precisely the same resonant frequency. Production tuned fi lters are routinely tuned in the lab and production environments by skilled technicians in order to compensate for manufacturing tolerances. However, integrated tunable filters cannot be tuned by traditional means since they are integrated into systems on circuit boards or inside front end modules. A fixed tuning table for all manufactured modules is inadequate since the required tuning accuracy exceeds the tolerance of the tuning elements. In this work, we develop tuning techniques for the automatic in-circuit tuning of tunable filters using scalar transmission measurement. The scalar transmission based techniques obviate the use of directional couplers. Techniques based on both swept and single frequency scalar transmission measurement are developed. The swept frequency technique, based on the Hilbert transform derived relative groupdelay, tunes both couplings and resonant frequencies while the single frequency technique only tunes the center frequency. High performance filters necessitate high resonator quality factors. Although fi lters are traditionally treated as passive devices, tunable fi lters need to be treated as active devices. Tuning elements invariably introduce non-linearities that limit the useful power handling of the tunable fi lter. RF MEMS devices have been a topic of intense research for many years for their promising characteristics of high quality factor and high power handling. Control and reliability issues have resulted in a shift from continuously tunable devices to discretely switched devices. However, fi lter tuning applications require fine resolution and therefore many bits for digital capacitor banks. An analog/digital hybrid tuning approach would enable the tuning range of a switched capacitor bank to be combined with the tuning resolution of an analog tunable capacitor. In this work, a device-level position control mechanism is proposed for piezoresistive feedback of device capacitance over the device's tuning range. It is shown that piezoresistve position control is ef ective at improving capacitance uncertainty in a CMOS integrated RF MEMS variable capacitor

Konsekvensene for Norge ved en liberalisering av jordbruket : Analyser og velferdsvirkninger av handelspolitikk

Temaet for oppgaven er konsekvensene for Norge av en mer liberal handelspolitikk innen jordbruket. I denne sammenhengen blir det naturlig å kartlegge hvilke handelspolitiske tiltak jordbrukspolitikken tar i bruk. Videre bruker jeg handelsteori og velferdsteori til å analysere de ulike handelspolitiske tiltakene. Disse analysene skal gjøres i rammen av en partiell likevektsmodell. Jordbruket har hatt og har fortsatt en sterk plass i norsk politikk og økonomi. Politikere har opp gjennom tiden favorisert jordbruket i forhold til andre næringer med statsstøtte og skjermingsstøtte på til sammen drøye 20 mrd kr. Dette har innebært enorme tollsatser på mellom 200-400 %. Konsumentene har bidratt og bidrar fortsatt både over skatteseddelen og gjennom direkte konsum. Det har således ført til at produsentoverskuddet har vokst på bekostning av konsumentoverskuddet. Ikke overraskende ligger Norge på toppen når det gjelder jordbruksproteksjonisme. Hvilke faktorer gjør at jordbrukspolitikken må endres? Norges medlemskap i verdens handelsorganisasjon (WTO), som ble stiftet i 1995, har hatt implikasjoner for norsk import og eksport. Det blir naturlig å se på WTO sitt regelverk når det gjelder beskyttelse av hjemmemarked, importforbud og eksportsubsidier. I oppgaven blir det sentralt å kartlegge dagens jordbrukspolitikk. Det blir også naturlig å belyse hvilke forhold som gjør at Norge ikke har komparative fortrinn i jordbruket. En viktig problemstilling blir også om det er riktig å bruke handelspolitikk som fordelingspolitikk? Hvilke endringer må til og hva skjer hvis Norge ikke utvikler seg i den retningen WTO krever? Det er ingen tvil om at WTO krever at framtidlig jordbruk skal være mer markedsorientert og kostnadseffektivt. Jeg kommer til å se på analyser Verdensbanken har gjort på gevinstene av en mer liberal handelspolitikk innenfor jordbruket. En av grunnene til at Norge har vært en bremsekloss når WTO ønsker å forhandle fram en enhetlig handelspolitikk, som kan omfavne all eksport- og importnæring, er at noen samfunnsgrupper alltid ”taper” på en liberal handelspolitikk, mens andre ”vinner”. Jeg ønsker å bruke Hekscher-Ohlin-teorien (HO) og Stolper-Samuelson- teoremet (SS) til å se på såkalte” vinnere” og ”tapere”. Disse analysene vil gjøres i rammen av en generell likevektsmodell

Gudenes fall: En analyse av religiøse elementer i fire digitale spill

Dette er en oppgave om religion i digitale spill. I oppgaven ser jeg på fire foskjellige spill som bruker religion som kildematerialet sitt. Disse spillene har på en eller annen måte fått annerkjennelse ifra spillindustrien gjennom store salg, god kritikk eller generelt populært blant publikum. Jeg valgte spesifikk bort spill som er forkynnende, heller ønsket jeg ikke å studere spill som var obskure eller ukjent. De fire spillene jeg tar for meg er El Shaddai: Ascencsion of the Metatron (2011) og Binding of Isaac (2011) som bruker kristne/jødiske myter som sin kilde. El Shaddai: Ascencsion of the Metatron baserer seg rundt historien om Enok og Enoks Book (Furuli 2004) og Binding of Isaac bruker historien om Abraham og hans sønn Isak. De to andre spillene jeg ser på er Titan Quest: Immortal Throne (2007) og God of War (2005-2010). Begge er bruker diverse tekster fra oldtidens greske religion. I oppgaven er det to ting jeg ser på. Første er hvordan spillene bruker og presenterer kildene sine og hvordan denne presentasjonen forholder seg til den tradisjonelle fremstillingen av kildene sine. Det andre er hvordan spillmakernes forhold og tidligere erfaringer med de enkelte religionene har vært med å påvirke skapelsen av spillet og hvordan presentasjonen av det religiøse er blitt påvirket av dette. Jeg ser på dette gjennom det litteraturvitenskapelige begreper intertextualitet, som sier at verk (litterære verk, kunst, film osv.) skjer ikke i et vakuum, men heller at verk er påvirket av andre verk, kultur og erfaringer. Verk er formet av intertekstualitet. Jeg foreslår når man skal se på spill (eller hvilken som helst type verk) som bruker religiøse elementer, så kan man ikke ekskludere det at makerne av spillet har en eller annen form for påvirkning fra en religion. De kan også ha bli påvirket av andre spill. En kan heller ikke se på et spill uten å vite eller ekskludere makernes bakgrunn. Denne innflytelsen vil på en eller måte forme hvordan spill presenterer religion. Avhengig av hvilken grad av innflytelse så vil fremstillingen forandres. Noen vil forholde seg relativ tett til kildene, noen vil basere seg løst på materialet og noen vil presentere religion i et positivt eller negativt lys.This is a thesis about religion in digital games. In this thesis I look at four different games that uses religious source material as basis for the creation of the games. These games have some how gotten recognition from the game industry, in large sales, good critics or just generally popular by the audience. I specificly did not choose games that uses religion to procliam a religious message, nor did I want to choose games that are obscure or unknown. The four games are as follows: El Shaddai: Ascencsion of the Metatron (2011) and Binding of Isaac (2011) uses christian/jewish myths as its core. El Shaddai: Ascencsion of the Metatron bases around the story of Enoch and the Book of Enoch (Furuli 2004) and Binding of Isaac has it story influenced by the myth sorrounding Abraham and his son Isaac. The two other games i look upon is Titan Quest: Immortal Throne (2007) and God of War (2005- 2010). Both take influence from diverse ancient greek text to produce a game. In the thesis there are two issues that I look upon.The first one is how do the games use and present the religious source material and how is the presentation of those chosen elements reflected against the source material, also referred to traditional represantation in the thesis. The second issue concers about how the game producers affection, personal relationship and past experiences towards the certain religions, affect the production of the game and the depiction of the religious elements. This I connect with the literary theory of intertextuality, that basicly says that works (literary works, art, movies etc.) dont happen in a vacuum, works are affected by other works, culture and experiences. Works are shaped by intertextuality. I suggest when looking into games (or any type of work) that uses religious elements, one cannot exclude the fact that the makers of the games may have some sort of influence from the different religions, may it be significant or minor, but also from other games as well. Neither can you look at a game without knowing or excluding the gamemakers background. This influence will somehow shape how the video games portray religion. Depending on the degree of influence the portayal will differ. Some will choose to portray the elements closely to source material, some will chose to be losely based on it and some will portray religion in a positive or a critical manner.Master i ReligionsvitenskapMAHF-RELVRELV35