International Adverse Selection in Life Insurance and Annuities

This paper evaluates the extent of adverse selection in life insurance and annuities in international markets, for both group and individual products. We also compare results with prior analyses of adverse selection in international annuity markets, focusing on the US, the UK, and Japan. Our results help assess the extent to which life insurers can hedge mortality exposure by writing both life insurance and annuities, and they may be used to determine a normal range for adverse selection in international insurance markets.

Annuities for an Ageing World

Substantial research attention has been devoted to the pension accumulation process, whereby employees and those advising them work to accumulate funds for retirement. Until recently, less analysis has been devoted to the pension decumulation process -- the process by which retirees finance their consumption during retirement. This gap has recently begun to be filled by an active group of researchers examining key aspects of the pension payout market. One of the areas of most interesting investigation has been in the area of annuities, which are financial products intended to cover the risk of retirees outliving their assets. This paper reviews and extends recent research examining the role of annuities in helping finance retirement consumption. We also examine key market and regulatory factors.

Annuities for an ageing world

Substantial research attention has been devoted to the pension accumulation process, whereby employees and those advising them work to accumulate funds for retirement. Until recently, less analysis has been devoted to the pension decumulation process – the process by which retirees finance their consumption during retirement. This gap has recently begun to be filled by an active group of researchers examining key aspects of the pension payout market. One of the areas of most interesting investigation has been in the area of annuities, which are financial products intended to cover the risk of retirees outliving their assets. This paper reviews and extends recent research examining the role of annuities in helping finance retirement consumption. We also examine key market and regulatory factors

Lifetime Earnings Variability and Retirement Wealth

This paper explores how earnings variability is related to retirement wealth. Past research has demonstrated that the average American household on the verge of retirement would need to save substantially more, in order to preserve consumption flows in old age. While several socioeconomic factors have been examined that might explain such problems, prior studies have not assessed the role of earnings variability over the lifetime as a potential explanation for poor retirement prospects. Thus two workers having identical levels of average lifetime earnings might have had very different patterns of earnings variability over their lifetimes. Such differences could translate into quite different retirement wealth outcomes. This paper evaluates the effect of earnings variability on retirement wealth using information supplied by respondents to the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). This is a rich and nationally representative dataset on Americans on the verge of retirement, with responses linked to administrative records from the Social Security Administration. Our research illuminates the key links between lifetime earnings variability and retirement wealth.

The optical/X-ray connection: ICM iron content and galaxy optical luminosity in 20 galaxy clusters

X-ray observations of galaxy clusters have shown that the intra-cluster gas has iron abundances of about one third of the solar value. These observations also show that part (if not all) of the intra-cluster gas metals were produced within the member galaxies. We present a systematic analysis of 20 galaxy clusters to explore the connection between the iron mass and the total luminosity of early-type and late-type galaxies, and of the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs). From our results, the intra-cluster medium (ICM) iron mass seems to correlate better with the luminosity of the BCGs than with that of the red and blue galaxy populations. As the BCGs cannot produce alone the observed amount of iron, we suggest that ram-pressure plus tidal stripping act together to enhance, at the same time, the BCG luminosities and the iron mass in the ICM. Through the analysis of the iron yield, we have also estimated that SN Ia are responsible for more than 50% of the total iron in the ICM. This result corroborates the fact that ram-pressure contributes to the gas removal from galaxies to the inta-cluster medium, being very efficient for clusters in the temperature range 2 < kT (keV)< 10Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS (11 pg, 9 figures and 3 tables

The self-perceived knowledge, skills and attitudes of Australian practice nurses in providing nutrition care to patients with chronic disease

Background. Nutrition is important for the management of chronic diseases. While practice nurses have numerous roles in primary care, the expectations on practice nurses to provide nutrition care for chronic disease management are increasing. The self-perceived knowledge, skills and attitudes of practice nurses in providing nutrition care has not been widely investigated

Differences in Inflammatory Markers between Nulliparous Women Admitted to Hospitals in Preactive vs Active Labor

Objective To determine whether labor-associated inflammatory markers differ between low-risk, nulliparous women in preactive vs active labor at hospital admission and over time. Study Design Prospective comparative study of low-risk, nulliparous women with spontaneous labor onset at term (n = 118) sampled from 2 large Midwestern hospitals. Circulating concentrations of inflammatory markers were measured at admission and again 2 and 4 hours later: namely, neutrophil, and monocyte counts; and serum inflammatory cytokines (interleukin -1β, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-10) and chemokines (interleukin-8). Biomarker concentrations and their patterns of change over time were compared between preactive (n = 63) and active (n = 55) labor admission groups using Mann-Whitney U tests. Results Concentrations of interleukin-6 and interleukin-10 in the active labor admission group were significantly higher than concentrations in the preactive labor admission group at all 3 time points. Neutrophil levels were significantly higher in the active group at 2 and 4 hours after admission. The rate of increase in neutrophils and interleukin-10 between admission and 2 hours later was faster in the active group (P \u3c .001 and P = .003, respectively). Conclusion Circulating concentrations of several inflammatory biomarkers are higher and their rate of change over time since admission is faster among low-risk, nulliparous women admitted to hospitals in active labor, as compared with those admitted in preactive labor. More research is needed to determine if progressive changes in inflammatory biomarkers might be a useful adjunct to improving the assessment of labor progression and determining the optimal timing of labor admission

A concept analysis of befriending

Aim. To report an analysis of the concept of Befriending. Background. Befriending is an intervention used in a range of nursing, health and social care settings to provide support for individuals who are socially isolated or lack social support. However, in many cases befriending and its impact remains poorly understood and under researched. Concept analysis provides clarification of the concept and basis for further research and development. Design. Concept analysis. Data sources. AMED, Psyc Articles, Psych Info, Medline, MedlinePlus, Social Science Index and CINHAL databases were searched for literature published between 1993–2013 using the search term Befriending. Methods. Walker and Avant’s method of concept analysis was chosen. This combined with insights from Risjord’s work produced a theoretical concept analysis which focused on the concept in peer reviewed academic literature. Results. There are currently several ways the mechanisms of befriending and its effects on individuals and communities are understood. It is possible however to identify key attributes which define the concept and differentiate it from related concepts, such as peer support and mentoring. Key attributes are that it is an organised intervention, involving the creation of an emotionally connected friendlike relationship, where there is a negotiation of power. Conclusion. This concept analysis has clarified current understandings and uses of befriending. It provides the basis for widening the focus of research into the effectiveness and impact of befriending on those who are befriended, those who befriend and the communities where befriending takes place

Removal and mixing of the coronal gas from satellites in galaxy groups: cooling the intragoup gas

The existence of an extended hot gaseous corona surrounding clusters, groups and massive galaxies is well established by observational evidence and predicted by current theories of galaxy formation. When a small galaxy collides with a larger one, their coronae are the first to interact, producing disturbances that remove gas from the smaller system and settle it into the corona of the larger one. For a Milky-Way-size galaxy merging into a low-mass group, ram pressure stripping and the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability are the most relevant of these disturbances. We argue that the turbulence generated by the latter mixes the material of both coronae in the wake of the orbiting satellite creating a "warm phase" mixture with a cooling time a factor of several shorter than that of the ambient intragroup gas. We reach this conclusion using analytic estimates, as well as adiabatic and dissipative high resolution numerical simulations of a spherical corona subject to the ablation process of a constant velocity wind with uniform density and temperature. Although this is a preliminary analysis, our results are promising and we speculate that the mixture could potentially trigger in situ star formation and/or be accreted into the central galaxy as a cold gas flow resulting in a new mode of star formation in galaxy groups and clusters.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Higher education and employment in Australia the impact of internships

From the existing annual higher education graduate employment survey data we know that where students study and what they study both have a significant influence on their employment prospects when they graduate. Many of the fields of study that enjoy better employment outcomes are more vocationally oriented courses such as medicine, pharmacy and dentistry. Generalist degrees, such as many humanities and social science courses and science and mathematics courses, offer lower chances of a full-time job immediately after graduation. While the fact that what you study has an impact on employment outcomes is known, in this work we wanted to investigate what other features of courses are associated with better employment outcomes. Specifically, for example, do courses with a built-in internships or work component say for example within Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) have a better chance of leading to a job than those that don't?; To answer this question and others related to graduate employment we collected available feature data on all Australian higher education courses. We also gathered data on which courses have a work component, how long the courses are and where the course is located. This information came from the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS). We then linked the Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT) and CRICOS data sets and explored the relationship between the two using data analysis and statistical methods. We then looked at the ratio of work component courses by field of study at each institution and found that those fields of study with a higher proportion of work-component related courses were associated with significantly better graduate employment outcomes. These findings have major implications for future course design, especially for fundamental and nonvocational degrees in science, arts and humanities