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In recent years, aging populations and growing pension costs have led to a number of concerns over existing retirement systems across much of the developed world. These concerns range from the macroeconomic effects of mandated retirement plans on national saving, labor supply, economic productivity, and intra- and intergenerational equity to more microeconomic issues and, notably, the efficiency of these systems as retirement savings vehicles. This article’s analysis explores the latter issue. It examines the mandatory retirement systems covering workers in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States and considers the marginal costs levied against workers’ earnings when they are covered under the respective programs and the benefits that they receive at retirement. The relative costs and benefits of retirement system participation for workers reaching retirement today are considered at three earnings levels across the four countries, and estimates are made of how the systems will treat the generations coming to retirement in 2025, 2035, and 2045 if current policies persist. The article also discusses briefly the possible effects of different reforms of Social Security on workers of different generations.

The research work investigates the dielectric properties (dielectric constant, dielectric loss and conductivity) of both diabetic and non-diabetic patients’ blood in order to enhance of low level laser therapy (LLLT). Knowing the dielectric properties of blood, profile dose threshold exposure duration can improve LLLT for diabetic mellitus disease. This was achieved, using impedance analyser 4294A, frequency range 40 kHz - 30 MHz. Measurements were taken before and after blood irradiated with a portable diode-pumped solid state laser of wavelength 532 nm at power of 60 mW in standard cuvettes. Control diabetic patient’s bloods were high in dielectric parameter compared with the control non-diabetic patient’s blood. After exposure for 5 and 10 minute’s duration, the value of dielectric loss for the blood exposed for 5 minutes duration appreciated significantly. This is attributed to the energy acquired by haemoglobin and oxygen activation that increased cell membrane resistance, protecting the K+ions efflux and thus prevent perilous balance of Ca+2 ions. Laser power of 60 mW for 5 minutes exposure proved effective in LLL diabetic mellitus therapy.

The evolution of Mobile communication over time have grown from second generation and still growing. Since LTE is a packet based all IP network, which cannot support terrestrial circuit switch call, therefore, Circuit switch fall back is needed to redirect this service to existing UMTS/GSM network. Customers' requirements for radio resources increases with the use of devices and smart phones, however, to satisfy this demand access to packet data services and voice are needed at all time. This work intends to analyze how user/subscriber latched on preferred technology, communicate while mobility takes places without facing drop calls both PS and CS between LTE and 3G network. Network Operators goal is to ensure optimal, seamless coverage for its users while roaming from one cluster/location area to another cluster without distortion. The demand for radio resources increases, hence optimizations (soft or physical adjustment) are carried out at interval to improve network quality and coverage.

The widely reported waning of the American Dream has been blamed on a litany of economic and cultural currents, but the cost of the U.S. health care system rarely makes the list. The U.S. spends at least 7 percent more of its GDP on health care than other rich countries, on average, leaving us with less to spend on infrastructure and defense, houses and education, and other worthwhile governmental and personal pursuits. And we have little to show for it, as the U.S. lags most other rich countries on many key health measures, including longevity. This analysis shows how since the 1980s, the cost growth of employer-provided health benefits has been shrinking workers’ wage growth, eroding their retirement benefits and becoming an increasingly important factor in growing income inequality. While the losses have been most painful for those across the bottom 60 percent of the earnings distribution, higher earners have not escaped the damage, especially when factoring in the total cost of employer-provided health insurance. The latter part of the analysis explores how the organization and delivery of health services in the U.S. sustain our abnormally high health costs, often without improving our health, and suggests several practical solutions that can both bring costs down and encourage evidence-based best practices. Failure to stanch the rising flow of compensation dollars into health benefits will close the door on the American Dream for an ever-increasing share of U.S. workers.

There has been a great deal of discussion in recent years regarding the implications of the shift from defined-benefit to defined-contribution retirement plans on workers’ ability to adequately provide for their retirement security needs. There has been almost no discussion about the changing economics of participation in the U.S. Social Security pension system and the implications for the burden on workers attempting to save for retirement. In its early years, Social Security benefits were highly subsidized and now present an implicit tax on retirement saving for many workers. The analysis here presents the magnitudes of these shifts for workers at different points in the earnings distribution.

This study examined the effect of peer assisted co-operative instructional strategy on the ability levels of students. Two research questions and hypotheses were developed to guide the study. A non-randomized pre-test and post -test control group design was adopted for the study. A total of 110 Senior Secondary 2 Chemistry students were used. Cognitive Ability Test (CAT) and Chemistry Performance Test (CPT) were the instruments used to generate data. Reliability coefficients of 0.82 and 0.80 were obtained for CAT and CPT respectively using Kuder-Richardson formula 21. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean, standard deviation, independent t-test and analysis of co-variance. From the findings of the study, it was observed that peer assisted co-operative instructional strategy had effect on cognitive ability levels of chemistry students. The result also showed that there was no significant difference existing among the academic performance of male and female students taught with peer assisted co-operative instructional strategy. Recommendations included that teachers should vary their instructional strategy to meet with students’ learning styles and cognitive ability levels instead of relying on the conventional method alone. Key words: Peer assisted, cooperative instructional strategy, cognitive ability levels.

Several recent assessments suggest that the majority of U.S. workers are at risk of suffering a fall in their standard of living in retirement. These assessments are often based on models that fail to reflect the way income and saving vary over workers’ life cycles. They extrapolate younger workers’ observed savings behavior into the future, ignoring workers’ capacity to boost saving after children leave home, the mortgage is paid off, and other early-life obligations have been discharged. The measurement of preretirement income and its spendable portion as an indicator of living standards in working years is often exaggerated by inappropriate indexing. This method leads to overestimates of earnings to be replaced in retirement and underestimates of the income replacement capacity of Social Security for various segments of the workforce. Although clearly some workers are not saving enough to maintain their standard of living throughout retirement, the situation is less dire than a number of studies have suggested. This general conclusion holds true even with a sensible consideration of healthcare costs.

Recently, much concern has been expressed about the U.S. retirement system. Social Security is underfunded, while supplemental plans reportedly provide benefits half only that of Social Security and have gained little ground over the last 40 years. The shift to defined contribution plans is often seen as problematic. Some analysts suggest scrapping tax preferences for retirement plans and expanding Social Security. Much evidence that supplemental plans are coming up short on enhancing retirement security comes from the Current Population Survey (CPS). The analysis here shows that most income from retirement plans is not captured by the CPS or the Social Security reports developed using it. Ignoring retirees’ growing private retirement savings and income distorts the role played by private pensions, resulting in inaccurate assessments of retirees’ economic status. This error may bias policymakers’ judgment as to the right policies for an aging population and underfunded pensions.

Wind turbines blades of propeller type are made according to various blade profiles such as NACA, LS, and LM. There are many factors for selecting a profile. One significant factor is the chord length, which depend on various values throughout the blade. In this work a NACA 4412 profile was created using DESIGN FOIL software to obtain the coordinates of a wind turbine blade in PRO/E. Aerodynamic analysis was done on the created design. Maximum lift to drag ratio was calculated by varying angle of attack of the blade. To find a suitable composite for wind turbine blade, Modal and Static analysis were performed on the modified design using Carbon fiber, E-Glass, S-Glass and Kevlar fiber composites in ANSYS APDL 12.0 software.