bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Equity from Equities in Bonus Distributions.
Authors: Arbaney A.
Published: August 2014

Many years ago the question of equitable distributions of surplus would have attracted much discussion. The subject received a full philosophical, financial and mathematical treatment, with the aim of getting it just right.

As time passed this subject became less precise. Wider variations in investment conditions and different investment strategies meant that the constraints of the usual bonus methods could only achieve rough justice. Premium rates and valuation bases remained fairly static (often quite rightly so), and the declared results seemed slightly arbitrary and perhaps a little conservative. The work of the traditional actuary seemed a little ‘stodgy’ and the challenge and activity turned to the field of unit linking.

Today the picture is different. Just as the introduction of banks to the personal mortgage market seems to have improved the service from Building Societies, so the advent of unit-linking seems to have spurred on the traditional actuary. The expectations of what can be achieved have increased. So, over the period that the methods for valuation, pricing and projection for unit linked contracts have achieved some measure of standardization, the traditional actuary has been pushed more into the role of the pioneer.
A Pension Scheme Wind-up: Legitimate Act or Smash-and-Grab?.
Authors: Southall S. M. , Punter J. D.
Published: August 2014

The last paper on the winding-up of pension schemes was presented to the Institute by Gilley in March 1972. Since that time it has justifiably been the standard work on the subject and it has only recently been withdrawn from the Institute's examination syllabus. This paper is an attempt to up-date Gilley's work and to describe a complex and practical field of actuarial operation.

Since 1972 there has been a substantial amount of pensions legislation which has inevitably changed the detailed procedures involved in a pension scheme dissolution. Nevertheless, many of the general considerations and ideas expressed in Gilley's paper are still valid today.
The Effects of Solvency Margins on U.K. Life Companies.
Authors: May W. P. , Newbury K. J.
Published: August 2014

The requirement for a United Kingdom life office to hold solvency margins in addition to its normal actuarial reserves took full effect on 15 March 1984. At the time of writing, solvency margins for U.K. life offices have therefore had an effective life of under two years.

Before the introduction of the regulations, many comments were made within the life insurance industry about the effects which the introduction of the life solvency margins would have on the financial position of U.K. life offices. This therefore seems an appropriate time to reflect on the theoretical financial consequences of solvency margins from the point of view of a U.K. life company, and comment on the practical effects which have been observed to date.
The Effect of Demographic Factors and Indexation on the Long term Financing of the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme.
Authors: Daykin C. D. , Young A. G.
Published: August 2014

In September 1974 Barbara Castle published her proposals for a new earnings-related State pension scheme in her White Paper “Better Pensions”. This followed a succession of attempts by previous Secretaries of State for Social Services to change State pension arrangements radically. Unlike the ill-fated Crossman and Joseph schemes, however, the Castle scheme succeeded both in reaching the statute book and in coming into operation. A Bill was introduced in February 1975 and on 7 August 1975 the Social Security Pensions Act 1975 received the Royal Assent.

The State earnings-related pension scheme (SERPS) came into operation on 6 April 1978. It provided State pensions related to earnings, but also offered to employers with good occupational pension schemes the possibility of ‘contracting-out’ and providing equivalent or better earnings-related benefits through their own scheme.
Does imaging of the olfactory tract change the clinical management of patients with olfactory disturbance? A case series of 100 consecutive patients
Authors: Powell J , Elbadawey M Reda , Zammit-Maempel I
Published: August 2014

Background:

Isolated olfactory dysfunction is a common complaint; the vast majority of cases are benign and untreatable. A common dilemma is whether to image the olfactory tract of affected patients.

Methods:

A case review of 100 consecutive patients who underwent magnetic resonance imaging for the primary complaint of olfactory dysfunction was performed. Patients with a diagnosis of chronic rhinosinusitis, with or without nasal polyps, were excluded.

Results:

Magnetic resonance imaging abnormalities that were considered clinically relevant to the presentation of olfactory dysfunction were found in only seven patients (7 per cent). Of these, only one patient (1 per cent) had an abnormality found that altered their clinical management. A comparison of the findings for children (less than 16 years old,n = 5) with those for adults (equal to or more than 16 years old,n = 95) revealed that 4 per cent of adults scanned had olfactory-related pathology diagnosed, as opposed to 60 per cent of children.

Conclusion:

Cross-sectional imaging may not be necessary in most patients with olfactory dysfunction. Imaging adds little to the patient history and clinical examination findings.
High jugular bulb in a cohort of patients with definite Ménière's disease
Authors: Redfern R E , Brown M , Benson A G
Published: August 2014

Objective:

To determine the incidence of high jugular bulb in a group of patients with definite Ménière's disease, and to investigate whether the position or size of the jugular bulb is significantly different in the affected ear than in the unaffected ear.

Methods:

Retrospective review of patient charts, audiograms, and computed tomography scans to determine the position and size of the jugular bulb in the affected and contralateral ears, as well as other abnormalities.

Results:

High jugular bulb was found in 57.1 per cent of affected ears. Encroachment of the cochlear and vestibular aqueducts was apparent in 39.3 per cent and 35.7 per cent, respectively, of affected ears. Diverticulum and dehiscence were observed in 28.6 per cent of affected ears. High jugular bulb was significantly associated with encroachment of the cochlear aqueduct (p = 0.003).

Conclusion:

The mediolateral and anteroposterior position of the jugular bulb determines encroachment of the surrounding structures. An abnormal position is postulated to contribute to the development of Ménière's disease.
Monte Carlo Collision method for low temperature plasma simulation
Authors: Taccogna Francesco
Published: August 2014

This work shows the basic foundation of the particle-based representation of low temperature plasma description. In particular, the Monte Carlo Collision (MCC) recipe has been described for the case of electron-atom and ion-atom collisions. The model has been applied to the problem of plasma plume expansion from an electric Hall-effect type thruster. The presence of low energy secondary electrons from electron-atom ionization on the electron energy distribution function (EEDF) have been identified in the first 3 mm from the exit plane where, due to the azimuthal heating the ionization continues to play an important role. In addition, low energy charge-exchange ions from ion-atom electron transfer collisions are evident in the ion energy distribution functions (IEDF) 1 m from the exit plane.
Marine benthic algal flora of Ascension Island, South Atlantic
Authors: Tsiamis Konstantinos , Peters Akira F. , Shewring Dawn M. , Asensi Aldo O. , Van West Pieter , Küpper Frithjof C.
Published: August 2014

This paper provides a comprehensive checklist of the marine benthic macroalgal flora of Ascension Island (tropical South Atlantic Ocean), based on both new collections and previous literature. 82 marine macroalgae were identified from our work, including 18 green algae (Ulvophyceae), 15 brown algae (Phaeophyceae) and 49 red algae (Rhodophyta). Among our collections, 38 species and infraspecific taxa are reported for the first time from Ascension Island, including seven green, three brown and 28 red macroalgae, raising the total number of seaweeds recorded in Ascension so far to 112 taxa in species and infraspecific level. No seagrasses have been recorded at Ascension Island.
Diagnostics for schistosomiasis in Africa and Arabia: a review of present options in control and future needs for elimination
Authors: STOTHARD J. RUSSELL , STANTON MICHELLE C. , BUSTINDUY AMAYA L. , SOUSA-FIGUEIREDO JOSÉ C. , VAN DAM GOVERT J. , BETSON MARTHA , WATERHOUSE DAVID , WARD STEVE , ALLAN FIONA , HASSAN AMIR A. , AL-HELAL MOHAMMAD A. , MEMISH ZIAD A. , ROLLINSON DAVID
Published: August 2014

Within the World Health Organization 2012–2020 roadmap for control and elimination of schistosomiasis, the scale-up of mass drug administration with praziquantel is set to change the epidemiological landscape across Africa and Arabia. Central in measuring progress is renewed emphasis upon diagnostics which operate at individual, community and environmental levels by assessing reductions in disease, infections and parasite transmission. However, a fundamental tension is revealed between levels for present diagnostic tools, and methods applied in control settings are not necessarily adequate for application in elimination scenarios. Indeed navigating the transition from control to elimination needs careful consideration and planning. In the present context of control, we review current options for diagnosis of schistosomiasis at different levels, highlighting several strengths and weaknesses therein. Future challenges in elimination are raised and we propose that more cost-effective diagnostics and clinical staging algorithms are needed. Using the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a contemporary example, embedding new diagnostic methods within the primary care health system is discussed with reference to both urogenital and intestinal schistosomiasis.
Functional brain-imaging correlates of negative affectivity and the onset of first-episode depression
Authors: Davey C. G. , Whittle S. , Harrison B. J. , Simmons J. G. , Byrne M. L. , Schwartz O. S. , Allen N. B.
Published: August 2014

Background.

The amygdala and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sACC) are key brain regions for the generation of negative affect. In this longitudinal fMRI study of adolescents we investigated how amygdala–sACC connectivity was correlated with negative affectivity (NA) both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, and examined its relationship to the onset of first-episode depression.

Method.

Fifty-six adolescents who were part of a larger longitudinal study of adolescent development were included. They had no history of mental illness at the time of their baseline scan (mean age 16.5 years) and had a follow-up scan 2 years later (mean age 18.8 years). We used resting-state functional-connectivity MRI to investigate whether cross-sectional and change measures of amygdala–sACC connectivity were (i) correlated with NA and its change over time, and (ii) related to the onset of first-episode depression.

Results.

The magnitude of amygdala connectivity with sACC showed significant positive correlation with NA at both time-points. Further analysis confirmed that change in amygdala–sACC connectivity between assessments was correlated with change in NA. Eight participants developed a first episode of depression between the baseline and follow-up assessments: they showed increased amygdala–sACC connectivity at follow-up.

Conclusions.

Amygdala–sACC connectivity is associated with NA in adolescence, with change in connectivity between these regions showing positive correlation with change in NA. Our observation that the onset of depression was associated with an increase in connectivity between the regions provides support for the neurobiological ‘scar’ hypothesis of depression.
Unintentional behaviour change
Authors: Aunger Robert , Curtis Valerie
Published: August 2014

We argue that the authors ignore a broad range of possible means of changing behaviour: unintentional change. Most of the behaviours that people seek to change – either in themselves or that are the subject of public health campaigns–are habitual, and hence not necessarily responsive to intentions. An evolutionary approach should take into account all kinds of evolved behavioural responses.
Which evolutionary process, and where do we want to go?
Authors: Grinde Bjørn
Published: August 2014

Taking an evolutionary perspective on human nature is highly commendable when the purpose is to improve society. Changing the course of human evolution is more questionable – in the biological sense of the term. The “science of intentional change” should preferably have a terminology that distinguishes between genetic changes and cultural transformation, and it needs a direction.
Domain-general mechanisms: What they are, how they evolved, and how they interact with modular, domain-specific mechanisms to enable cohesive human groups
Authors: MacDonald Kevin
Published: August 2014

Domain-general mechanisms are evolutionarily ancient, resulting from the evolution of affective cues signaling the attainment of evolutionary goals. Explicit processing is a particularly important set of domain-general mechanisms for constructing human groups – enabling ideologies specifying future goal states and rationalizing group aims, enabling knowledge of others' reputations essential to cooperation, understanding the rights and obligations of group membership, monitoring group members, and providing appropriate punishments to those who deviate from group aims.
The inevitability of normative analysis
Authors: Sarkar Sahotra
Published: August 2014

Wilson et al. make the case for taking control of our future using evolutionary analysis. However, they are entirely silent on the ethical questions that must be addressed. This piece emphasizes this problem and notes that the relevant answers will require nontrivial analysis. This is where the humanities become relevant – in particular, philosophy and cultural anthropology.
The perils of a science of intentional change
Authors: Khalidi Muhammad Ali
Published: August 2014

The attempt to construct an applied science of social change raises certain concerns, both theoretical and ethical. The theoretical concerns relate to the feasibility of predicting human behavior with sufficient reliability to ground a science that aspires to the management of social processes. The ethical concerns relate to the moral hazards involved in the modification of human social arrangements, given the unreliability of predicting human action.
The rationality of suicide bombers: There is a little bit of crazy in all of us
Authors: Hardcastle Valerie Gray
Published: August 2014

Despite Lankford's descriptions of escapist suicide victims as being unstable, they were making rational decisions, based on their current knowledge and values. Similarly, those who are allegedly indirectly suicidal are not different from other risk-takers. The psychological differences between those who engage in suicidal attacks and those who do not are less than most of us would prefer.
Martyrdom's would-be myth buster
Authors: Atran Scott
Published: August 2014

Lankford overgeneralizes individual psychology from limited, fragmentary and doubtful materials, and underplays strategic, ideological, and group dynamical factors. His speculative claims manifest a form of fundamental attribution error: the tendency – especially evident in popular attachment to moral presumptions of individual responsibility and volition – to overestimate effects of personality and underestimate situational effects in explaining social behavior. The book's appeal may owe more to ideological preference than to interests of science or national security.
A conceptual framework for the neurobiological study of resilience
Authors: Kalisch Raffael , Müller Marianne B. , Tüscher Oliver
Published: August 2014

The well-replicated observation that many people maintain mental health despite exposure to severe psychological or physical adversity has ignited interest in the mechanisms that protect against stress-related mental illness. Focusing on resilience rather than pathophysiology in many ways represents a paradigm shift in clinical-psychological and psychiatric research that has great potential for the development of new prevention and treatment strategies. More recently, research into resilience also arrived in the neurobiological community, posing nontrivial questions about ecological validity and translatability. Drawing on concepts and findings from transdiagnostic psychiatry, emotion research, and behavioral and cognitive neuroscience, we propose a unified theoretical framework for the neuroscientific study of general resilience mechanisms. The framework is applicable to both animal and human research and supports the design and interpretation of translational studies. The theory emphasizes the causal role of stimulus appraisal (evaluation) processes in the generation of emotional responses, including responses to potential stressors. On this basis, it posits that a positive (non-negative) appraisal style is the key mechanism that protects against the detrimental effects of stress and mediates the effects of other known resilience factors. Appraisal style is shaped by three classes of cognitive processes – positive situation classification, reappraisal, and interference inhibition – that can be investigated at the neural level. Prospects for the future development of resilience research are discussed.
ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF INTRAVENOUS IODINATED CONTRAST MEDIA IN ITALY – ERRATUM
Authors: Iannazzo S. , Vandekerckhov S. , De Francesco M. , Nayak A. , Ronco C. , Morana G. , Valentino M.
Published: August 2014

The affiliation listed for author Sergio Iannazzo for the article “Economic Evaluation of Intravenous Iodinated Contrast Media in Italy” was incorrect. The study and writeup were completed while Sergio Iannazzo was an IMS Health employee, and the author's correct affiliation for this paper is “IMS Health Italy.” The publisher regrets the error.
Segmentation of vowel-initial words is facilitated by function words
Authors: KIM YUN JUNG , SUNDARA MEGHA
Published: August 2014

Within the first year of life, infants learn to segment words from fluent speech. Previous research has shown that infants at 0;7·5 can segment consonant-initial words, yet the ability to segment vowel-initial words does not emerge until the age of 1;1–1;4 (0;11 in some restricted cases). In five experiments, we show that infants aged 0;11 but not 0;8 are able to segment vowel-initial words that immediately follow the function word the [ði], while ruling out a bottom-up, phonotactic account of these results. Thus, function words facilitate the segmentation of vowel-initial words that appear sentence-medially for infants aged 0;11.
Acoustic-phonetic differences between infant- and adult-directed speech: the role of stress and utterance position
Authors: WANG YUANYUAN , SEIDL AMANDA , CRISTIA ALEJANDRINA
Published: August 2014

Previous studies have shown that infant-directed speech (IDS) differs from adult-directed speech (ADS) on a variety of dimensions. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether acoustic differences between IDS and ADS in English are modulated by prosodic structure. We compared vowels across the two registers (IDS, ADS) in both stressed and unstressed syllables, and in both utterance-medial and -final positions. Vowels in target bisyllabic trochees in the speech of twenty mothers of 4- and 11-month-olds were analyzed. While stressed and unstressed vowels differed between IDS and ADS for a measure of F0, and trended in similar directions for vowel peripherality, neither set differed in duration. These profiles held for both utterance-medial and -final words.
Have tropical deforestation's changing dynamics created conservation opportunities? A historical analysis
Authors: RUDEL THOMAS K.
Published: August 2014

During the past century, humans converted extensive areas of tropical forest into cultivated lands. Three distinct processes, each predominant during a different historical period, have driven the destruction of the forests. This review describes each of these deforestation dynamics: natural resource degrading poverty traps that predominated during the colonial era, new land settlement schemes that prevailed for two decades after decolonization, and finally, financialized, large enterprise dynamics that have predominated during the past quarter century. Each dynamic has, over time, given rise to different opportunities for conservation. Peasants emigrated from the sites of the poverty traps, and regrowth began to cover these degraded landscapes. Smallholders in the new land settlement areas became better acquainted with tropical tree species and allowed some trees to recolonize their fields, creating silvopastoral and agroforested landscapes. The heads of large enterprises relied on credit to clear land, so government regulators found that they could curb corporate-led deforestation by restricting access to credit when landowners failed to comply with laws against forest clearing. These links between deforestation's dynamics during past eras and conservation policies during the present era illustrate how a historical understanding of tropical deforestation can provide the basis for effective conservation policies.
An Uncertain Inheritance: The Imperial Travels of Legal Migrants, from British India to Ottoman Iraq
Authors: Stephens Julia
Published: August 2014

Like many nineteenth-century travelers, Iqbal al-Daulah, a cousin of the Nawab of the Indian princely state of Awadh, navigated multiple legal systems as he migrated across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Living through the absorption of Awadh into the expanding British Empire, he eventually joined a community of Indian Shias in Ottoman Iraq, who regularly used British consular courts. While still in India, Iqbal al-Daulah composed a tribute in Persian and English to British justice. He described British courts in the following laudatory terms: “What Ease is afforded to Petitioners! The Doors of the numerous Courts being open, if any by reason of his dark fate, should be disappointed in the attainment of his desire, in one Court, in another he may obtain the Victory and Succeed.” Iqbal al-Daulah secured a sizeable pension and knighthood from the British government. However, at the end of his life, he had lost faith in British courts. In his will he lamented: “British courts are uncertain, stock in trade of bribery, wrong, delay…the seekers of redress, are captives of the paw of the Court officials; and business goes on by bribery not to be counted or described.” Despite Iqbal al-Daulah's words of caution, his friends and relatives became enmeshed in legal battles over his inheritance in British courts in India and Ottoman Iraq. In doing so, they joined the crowds of colonial subjects who flooded the courts, enduring expense and annoyance despite the prospect of uncertain outcomes.
Imaging the first trimester heart: ultrasound correlation with morphology
Authors: Jansen Fenna A. R. , Calkoen Emmeline E. , Jongbloed Monique R. M. , Bartelings Margot M. , Haak Monique C.
Published: August 2014

First trimester sonography is a widely used technique to examine the foetus early in pregnancy. The desire to recognise complex anatomy already in early developmental stages stresses the need for a thorough knowledge of basic developmental processes as well as recognition of cardiac compartments based on their morphology. In this paper, we describe the possibilities and limitations of sonographic assessment of the foetal heart between 10 and 14 weeks of gestation and correlate this to morphology. Examples of the most commonly detected congenital anomalies are atrioventricular septal defects, transposition of the great arteries, and hypoplastic left heart, which are shown in this paper.
Extracardiac malformations: associations and importance: consequences for perinatal management of foetal cardiac patients
Authors: Oepkes Dick , Haak Monique
Published: August 2014

Foetal echocardiography has become an established subspecialty in paediatric cardiology. The skills to perform detailed assessment of foetal cardiac anomalies in a tiny, moving foetus surrounded by sometimes challenging layers of maternal tissue are not easy to obtain, and require prolonged periods of specific training and supervised scanning in expert centres. The goal of this overview is to discuss the importance of the awareness of the fact that expert examination of the foetal heart and in-depth knowledge of newborn surgical interventions are only a part of the picture; many cardiac abnormal foetuses do not just have an isolated cardiac defect. The extracardiac malformations, when present, play a major role in determining the treatment and prognosis. The challenge of providing optimal prenatal care to the pregnant woman, who remains the primary patient at least until the umbilical cord is cut, carrying a foetus with a cardiac malformation is to organise rapid, effective, and complete evaluation of all possible foetal anomalies in a multidisciplinary team approach, followed by clear and honest non-directive counselling on all possible options. Only then, with the maximum involvement of the parents, decisions on perinatal management can be taken by the team. Controversies do exist in view of various obstetric, paediatric, and other specialists on how to best organise this multidisciplinary care programme. In this paper, we provide a practical, logical, and efficient path of care for the pregnant woman suspected to carry a foetus with a heart defect.
Cancer diagnosis disclosure from Portuguese physicians
Authors: Oliveira Lucília , Fernandes Marta , Santos Zulmira , Bastos Hugo , Cabral Ana
Published: August 2014

Objective:

Doctor–patient communication in oncology, particularly concerning diagnostic disclosure, is a crucial factor related to the quality of the doctor–patient relationship and the psychological state of the patient. The aims of our study were to investigate physicians' opinions and practice with respect to disclosure of a cancer diagnosis and to explore potential related factors.

Method:

A self-report questionnaire developed for our study was responded to by 120 physicians from Coimbra University Hospital Centre and its primary healthcare units.

Results:

Some 91.7% of physician respondents generally disclosed a diagnosis, and 94.2% were of the opinion that the patient knowing the truth about a diagnosis had a positive effect on the doctor–patient relationship. A need for training about communicating with oncology patients was reported by 85.8% of participants. The main factors determining what information to provide to patients were: (1) patient intellectual and cultural level, (2) patient desire to know the truth, and (3) the existence of family.

Significance of results:

Our results point to a paradigm shift in communication with cancer patients where disclosure of the diagnosis should be made part of general clinical practice. Nevertheless, physicians still experience difficulties in revealing cancer diagnoses to patients and often lack the skills to deal with a patient's emotional responses, which suggests that more attention needs to be focused on communication skills training programs.
The assessment of telemedicine to support outpatient palliative care in advanced cancer
Authors: Hennemann-Krause Lilian , Lopes Agnaldo José , Araújo Janete Alves , Petersen Elisabeth Martins , Nunes Rodolfo Acatauassú
Published: August 2014

Objective:

We aimed to examine telemedicine as a form of home and additional support for traditional outpatient care as a way to remotely monitor and manage the symptoms of patients with advanced cancer.

Method:

In total, 12 patients were monitored through monthly consultations with a multidisciplinary healthcare team and weekly web conferences. To evaluate and treat pain and other symptoms, the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) was applied during all remote or in-person interviews.

Results:

During monitoring, the team contacted the patients on 305 occasions: there were 89 consultations at the hospital, 19 in-person assistances to the family (without the patient), 77 web conferences, 38 telephone calls, 80 emails, and 2 home visits. The mean monitoring time until death was 195 ± 175.1 days. Eight patients who completed the ESAS in all interviews had lower mean distress symptom scores according to web conferences than in person.

Significance of results:

Telemedicine allowed greater access to the healthcare system, reduced the need to employ emergency services, improved assessment/control of symptoms, and provided greater orientation and confidence in the care given by family members through early and proactive interventions. Web conferencing proved to be a good adjuvant to home monitoring of symptoms, complementing in-person assistance.
Next steps toward an economics for a creative world: a comment
Authors: FOSTER JOHN
Published: August 2014

In this comment I discuss the excellent contribution of Koppl et al. (2014) to our understanding of the role of institutions in the economic system. Much that is offered by them reinforces and extends previous analysis by institutional and evolutionary economists. However, I argue that there are areas of evolutionary economics and complex economic system analysis that need to be integrated into their evolutionary economic perspective to make it more complete. Also, I argue that they are too kind to mainstream economists who purport to deal with institutions and complexity and that they should consider where the boundaries of science should lie in economics.
Bandwidth-enhanced lumped-element absorptive bandstop filter topology and its application to LTCC bandstop filter design
Authors: Lee Juseop , Kim Byungguk , Lee Kangho , Chappell William J.
Published: August 2014

In this paper, we show a second-order (four-resonator) absorptive bandstop filter circuit topology which gives a larger bandwidth compared to a first-order topology. Due to the absorptive characteristic, it creates a large attenuation at the center frequency using low-Q resonators. Since low-Q resonators can be used in generating a large attenuation, small-size resonators can be employed in bandstop filter design. Analytic design equations are provided so that a higher-order absorptive bandstop filter can be designed analytically. It is also shown that the second-order filter topology exhibits a better frequency selectivity having a same bandwidth. The proposed filter topology has been applied to a design of a miniaturized low-temperature co-fired ceramic bandstop filter with low-Q resonators. The Q-factor of the lumped-element resonators has been chosen to be 5 for demonstration.
Actuarial Aspects of PHI in the U.K.
Authors: Sanders A. J. , Silby N. F.
Published: August 2014

Schedule 1 of the Insurance Companies Act 1982 defines Permanent Health Insurance (PHI) as a class of Long Term insurance business being “… contracts of insurance providing specified benefits against risks of persons becoming incapacitated in consequence of sustaining injury as a result of an accident or of an accident of a specified class or of sickness or infirmity being contracts that:

(a) are expressed to be in effect for a period of not less than five years, or until the normal retirement age for the persons concerned or without limit of time, and

(b) either are not expressed to be terminable by the insurer, or are expressed be so terminable only in special circumstances mentioned in the contract.”

The fundamental features of PHI as developed in the U.K. are therefore:

(a) It provides specified benefits in the event of ill health.

(b) Cover may not be cancelled by the insurer (except under special circumstances described in the policy document) and hence the insurance is ‘permanent’.
The Valuation of With-Profits Business and the Estate
Authors: Bunch T. S.
Published: August 2014

The subject of valuation is one of the most important, and at the same time most difficult, of all the problems faced by actuaries.

The traditional approach to the subject has centred on discussion of the relative merits of the net premium and bonus reserve methods of valuation, and on the inherent conflict between valuation as a means of demonstrating solvency and valuation as a tool for ensuring a smooth emergence of surplus in accordance with the need to declare uniform reversionary bonuses. This approach is covered in the well-known papers by Redington (2) and Skerman (3) (4) and forms a significant part of the course of reading for examination subject 8 (formerly B2).

Bonus reserve methods are, typically, ‘active’ methods of valuation in which all relevant parameters, including expenses and future bonuses, are given values close to their expected values. The premium valued is the office premium, and assets are usually valued at market value or by discounting expected investment income. Because actual conditions are always changing, an active valuation method tends to lead to frequent changes of basis and this introduces an element of volatility to the results which can, in consequence, be difficult to interpret. Nevertheless, because of the emphasis on using realistic values for all parameters, it is commonly believed that bonus reserve methods are particularly appropriate for investigations into solvency, especially when external conditions are changing rapidly, and in determining appraisal values.
Demutualization
Authors: Franklin N. A. M. , Lee W. E.
Published: August 2014

As far as we are aware there have been no life insurance demutualizations in the U.K. in recent times, that is conversions from mutual to proprietary form. There has been movement in the other direction: in the 1960's a number of U.K. proprietary companies converted to mutual form to escape the unwelcome attentions of the corporate raiders of the time.

In the U.S. and South Africa however, the two countries which give us the demutualization examples in this paper, there have been in recent years a number of significant demutualizations. In the next chapter we give a sketch of the background to demutualization in these countries.

In Section 3 we explore why a mutual might wish to undergo such a lengthy, costly and probably painful process. The motivation will vary from country to country, depending on the particular economic and institutional background. We have tried to be as general as possible.
Insights from Neuroenergetics into the Interpretation of Functional Neuroimaging: An Alternative Empirical Model for Studying the Brain's Support of Behavior
Authors: Shulman Robert G , Hyder Fahmeed , Rothman Douglas L
Published: August 2014

Functional neuroimaging measures quantitative changes in neurophysiological parameters coupled to neuronal activity during observable behavior. These results have usually been interpreted by assuming that mental causation of behavior arises from the simultaneous actions of distinct psychological mechanisms or modules. However, reproducible localization of these modules in the brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) imaging has been elusive other than for sensory systems. In this paper, we show that neuroenergetic studies using PET, calibrated functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), 13C magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and electrical recordings do not support the standard approach, which identifies the location of mental modules from changes in brain activity. Of importance in reaching this conclusion is that changes in neuronal activities underlying the fMRI signal are many times smaller than the high ubiquitous, baseline neuronal activity, or energy in resting, awake humans. Furthermore, the incremental signal depends on the baseline activity contradicting theoretical assumptions about linearity and insertion of mental modules. To avoid these problems, while making use of these valuable results, we propose that neuroimaging should be used to identify observable brain activities that are necessary for a person's observable behavior rather than being used to seek hypothesized mental processes.
Spreading Depolarization-Induced Adenosine Accumulation Reflects Metabolic Status In Vitro and In Vivo
Authors: Lindquist Britta E , Shuttleworth C William
Published: August 2014

Spreading depolarization (SD), a pathologic feature of migraine, stroke and traumatic brain injury, is a propagating depolarization of neurons and glia causing profound metabolic demand. Adenosine, the low-energy metabolite of ATP, has been shown to be elevated after SD in brain slices and under conditions likely to trigger SD in vivo. The relationship between metabolic status and adenosine accumulation after SD was tested here, in brain slices and in vivo. In brain slices, metabolic impairment (assessed by nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (phosphate) autofluorescence and O2 availability) was associated with prolonged extracellular direct current (DC) shifts indicating delayed repolarization, and increased adenosine accumulation. In vivo, adenosine accumulation was observed after SD even in otherwise healthy mice. As in brain slices, in vivo adenosine accumulation correlated with DC shift duration and increased when DC shifts were prolonged by metabolic impairment (i.e., hypoglycemia or middle cerebral artery occlusion). A striking pattern of adenosine dynamics was observed during focal ischemic stroke, with nearly all the observed adenosine signals in the periinfarct region occurring in association with SDs. These findings suggest that adenosine accumulation could serve as a biomarker of SD incidence and severity, in a range of clinical conditions.
Bilirubin and its Oxidation Products Damage Brain White Matter
Authors: Lakovic Katarina , Ai Jinglu , D'Abbondanza Josephine , Tariq Asma , Sabri Mohammed , Alarfaj Abdullah K , Vasdev Punarjot , Macdonald Robert Loch
Published: August 2014

Brain injury after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) occurs in cortex and white matter and may be mediated by blood breakdown products, including hemoglobin and heme. Effects of blood breakdown products, bilirubin and bilirubin oxidation products, have not been widely investigated in adult brain. Here, we first determined the effect of bilirubin and its oxidation products on the structure and function of white matter in vitro using brain slices. Subsequently, we determined whether these compounds have an effect on the structure and function of white matter in vivo. In all, 0.5 mmol/L bilirubin treatment significantly damaged both the function and the structure of myelinated axons but not the unmyelinated axons in brain slices. Toxicity of bilirubin in vitro was prevented by dimethyl sulfoxide. Bilirubin oxidation products (BOXes) may be responsible for the toxicity of bilirubin. In in vivo experiments, unmyelinated axons were found more susceptible to damage from bilirubin injection. These results suggest that unmyelinated axons may have a major role in white-matter damage in vivo. Since bilirubin and BOXes appear in a delayed manner after ICH, preventing their toxic effects may be worth investigating therapeutically. Dimethyl sulfoxide or its structurally related derivatives may have a potential therapeutic value at antagonizing axonal damage after hemorrhagic stroke.
A simple model clarifies the complicated relationships of complex networks
Authors: Zheng Bojin , Wu Hongrun , Kuang Li , Qin Jun , Du Wenhua , Wang Jianmin , Li Deyi
Published: August 2014

Real-world networks such as the Internet and WWW have many common traits. Until now, hundreds of models were proposed to characterize these traits for understanding the networks. Because different models used very different mechanisms, it is widely believed that these traits origin from different causes. However, we find that a simple model based on optimisation can produce many traits, including scale-free, small-world, ultra small-world, Delta-distribution, compact, fractal, regular and random networks. Moreover, by revising the proposed model, the community-structure networks are generated. By this model and the revised versions, the complicated relationships of complex networks are illustrated. The model brings a new universal perspective to the understanding of complex networks and provide a universal method to model complex networks from the viewpoint of optimisation.
Development and Use of Catalytic Hydropyrolysis (HyPy) as an Analytical Tool for Organic Geochemical Applications
Authors: Meredith Will , Snape Colin E. , Love Gordon D.
Published: August 2014

Continuous-flow pyrolysis conducted at high hydrogen gas pressures (typically 15 MPa) and with a suitable catalyst (termed catalytic hydropyrolysis or HyPy) was first used as a means to produce liquid products in high yields from solid fossil fuels. It was later realised that HyPy could be harnessed to function as an analytical technique for a variety of organic geochemical applications involving the fragmentation of geomacromolecules or functionalised lipids, and the release of diagnostic lipid biomarker structures. HyPy possesses the unique ability to produce high yields of hydrocarbon biomarkers from source rock kerogens, recent sediments, and petroleum asphaltenes, while minimising structural alteration by isomerisation andcracking. This has enabled the technique to be used in petroleum geochemistry for important applications where conventional biomarkers fail:for example, for characterising heavily biodegraded oils, samples contaminated by oil-based drilling mud, or oil field solids such as tar mats/pyrobitumens, and for deciphering basin filling history of migrated petroleum fluids. HyPy hasalso gained prominence in geobiologicalstudies related to ancient biomarker detection informing the evolution of microbial and animal life across Earth's history. The technique has expanded the lipid biomarker toolbox via the screening of extant microbial cultures and sponges to quickly elucidate the relative abundance and variety of lipid biomarker hydrocarbon skeletons that they biosynthesise. HyPy has also been used for the detailed characterisation of the insoluble macromolecular material in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. In addition, HyPy has recently been applied as a reductive method for the isolation and quantification of black carbon in soils, coals, and charcoals.
Radioactive Carbon in Environmental Science
Authors: Dodson John
Published: August 2014

Carbon is a very abundant element in biological and earth materials and it is widely distributed in the atmosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere, and in soil and rock systems. The isotope 14C is unstable and decays at a known rate. Plants absorb some of the trace 14CO2 during photosynthesis, with this passing through the biosphere through eating relationships; most plants and animals are therefore in approximate equilibrium with atmospheric 14CO2. Once the living organism dies, the gradually declining 14C provides the basis for a chronometer to calculate the time since death. Improvements in the technique have been made through better understanding of the carbon cycle, cosmogenic flux rates, and the dynamics of Earth systems; improvements in measurement technology; calibration of the radiocarbon time scale and quantification of reservoir effects; and a reduction in sample size requirements. Radiocarbon dating techniques have been applied to sediment sequences to provide chronologies for proxy analyses of climate and environmental changes; to understand the spatial and temporal variability of fires and their impact on the ecology of vegetation systems; to date groundwater systems and investigate recharge rates; and to provide an accurate chronology for ancient societies and their activities.
Development and Initial Biogeochemical Applications of Compound-Specific Sulfur Isotope Analysis
Authors: Greenwood P. F. , Amrani A. , Sessions A. , Raven M. R. , Holman A. , Dror G. , Grice K. , McCulloch M. T. , Adkins J. F.
Published: August 2014

Compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA) has been extended to the 32S and 34S stable isotopes of sulfur (δ34S) through the combination of gas chromatography (GC) and multi-collector inductively coupled mass spectrometry (ICPMS). The molecular level resolution of sulfur-CSIA is greatly expanding the biogeochemical applications ofexisting sulfur isotope methods, particularly with respect to organic sulfur compounds. Sulfur participates in a variety of important biogeochemical and redox processes, with distinctive isotopic fractionations accompanying many of these. For example, hydrogen sulfideproduced duringmicrobial sulfate reduction can be strongly depleted in 34S (up to 66‰ in δ34S) compared to the source sulfate. An improved understanding of sulfur biogeochemistry at the molecular level will assist in the interpretation of studies of sulfur cycling associated with the modern and paleo-environments. A comparison of δ34S values between organic and inorganic sulfurspecies mayhelp to illuminate the complex role of sulfur in sedimentary organic diagenesis and the pathways of organic sulfurformation. The δ34S values of individual organic sulfur compounds from natural settings can be currently measured by GC-ICPMS with impressive accuracy, precision (<0.5‰) and sensitivity (≥20 pmol S) over a broad range of analyte volatility. The new sulfur-CSIA capability has already been used to study pathways of early diagenetic organic sulfurisation, volatile sulfur emission from the oceans, oil correlations, thermochemical sulfate reduction of petroleum hydrocarbons, and the relationship between OSCs and mineralising sulfides of large metal deposits.
Applications of Liquid Chromatography–Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry in Geochemistry and Archaeological Science
Authors: Blyth Alison J. , Smith Colin I.
Published: August 2014

Liquid chromatography–isotope ratio mass spectrometry (LC-IRMS) is a relatively recent analytical development in the field of compound-specific isotope analysis. Its main advantage lies in allowing the analysis of compounds which are either not amenable to GC-IRMS, or which require derivatisation to be resolved on a gas chromatography column. A second advantage of an LC-IRMS system is the ability to use a flow injection mode to analyse bulk samples. A limitation of the technique is the restriction of analysis to compounds that are soluble in inorganic aqueous phases. Since the first commercial units became available in 2004, the technique has been applied in diverse fields including nutritional and biomedical research, food authentication, archaeology, and geo- and environmental sciences. Compound-specific analyses are available for amino acids, for example analysing bone and tooth collagen in archaeological science; volatile fatty acids used when investigating biogeochemical processes, particularly in extreme environments; plant carbohydrates, important to the study of carbon cycling as they are central to many food webs as substrates; and amino sugars, significant because microbial communities in soil play a vital role in carbon cycling and sequestration. Bulk isotope analyses can be conducted on water and δ13C of organic matter preserved in speleothems.
Determination and quantitative analysis of designer drugs in human urine by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry
Authors: Chen Xueguo , Zhang Ting
Published: August 2014

A robust liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-ion trap mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-ITMS) method was developed and utilized for the determination and quantitative analysis of four designer drugs in human urine.
Aerobic oxygenative cleavage of electron deficient C–C triple bonds in the gold-catalyzed cyclization of 1,6-enynes
Authors: Patil Dilip V. , Park Hyun-Sub , Koo Jaeyoung , Han Jin Wook , Shin Seunghoon
Published: August 2014

Gold-catalyzed aerobic oxygenative cleavage of triple bonds that occurs under the ambient pressure of air and at room temperature is reported; radical inhibition tests suggest that oxygenation occurs via a gold-bound metalloradical intermediate.
Visualized discrimination of ATP from ADP and AMP through collapse of supramolecular gels
Authors: Yang Dong , Liu Changxia , Zhang Li , Liu Minghua
Published: August 2014

Supramolecular PUDG–MO gel used for the visualized discrimination of the ATP from ADP and AMP.