ABSTRACT When we look at artists in contemporary society it is unfortunate how many of them turn to drugs, alcohol, and suicide as a means to cope with and escape the world. Sadly, there are artists who never live long enough to have a career or share their brilliance with the world. This tragedy is the underlying motivation for this project. One of our goals at the school where I teach, Idyllwild Arts Academy, is to help prepare students for a life in the arts. For the most part we focus on the skills and concepts of their discipline. This focus inherently tends to eliminate or overlook some major concepts related to the physical, mental, and spiritual growth of the students. The purpose of this study was to discover the major concepts of health and longevity and address the best practices for creating an advanced curriculum that addressed these concepts in relation to the context of the students and school where I teach. The guiding questions for this project, in relation to the students at Idyllwild Arts Academy, were: What are the major ideas and concepts that support and promote positive personal growth for students at Idyllwild Arts Academy? What exercises will contribute to each student’s health and longevity. What skills are necessary for coping with the challenges and demands of being an artist in contemporary society? What will help each student achieve his or her full potential in life? To achieve the purpose of this study, I followed these steps: I reviewed literature about health and longevity that related to the context of my school and students, based on the findings of the literature review and my experience I created a draft of the curriculum, next I identified a group of experts and asked them to review the curriculum and complete a survey, once all the survey’s were returned I organized the data and looked for patterns, finally I compiled a list of recommendations based on the data to use when the curriculum is implemented. In addition to the list of recommendations, I have identified three major limitations that need to be addressed when implementing the curriculum. Please note, the curriculum will not be implemented as part of this project.

The high turnover rate of child welfare social workers has been a chronic issue that society has yet to mitigate. To understand this problem, the researchers looked at contributing factors in comparison to the factors that promote job longevity. The researchers reviewed the multidimensional theory of burnout, to explore the ongoing issue of high turnover rates. Also, organizational support theory was examined to determine if support from organizations contributed to job longevity. The post-positivist approach was used to gather qualitative data from this study as to the potential factors promoting job longevity through individual interviews with seasoned child welfare social workers. The study participants identified potential barriers in the workplace, the skills needed for professional development, and the benefit of having a support system to effectively do their job. In addition, the study participants demonstrated a strong sense of self-awareness and utilization of internal traits that promoted job longevity. It was discovered that child welfare social workers who possess emotional intelligence had the ability to cope with stress better, had less health issues, and were more likely to promote to higher level positions. By understanding the factors that contribute to job longevity, child welfare agencies can implement measures to promote job retention. Furthermore, when agencies invest in child welfare social workers by providing them support, it is reflected in the quality of their work and client engagement.

The child welfare sector has been dealing with the issue of turnover for many years and it has yet to implement effective solutions to mitigate the problem. In this study, the researcher used a post-positivist approach to examine contributing factors that affect job longevity in child welfare. The researcher reviewed literature as well as used motivation and organizational support theory to determine what potential factors influence job longevity among child welfare social workers. The researcher gathered demographic information and qualitative data from ten interviews with child welfare social workers employed by the County of Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) with five or more years of experience. The researcher conducted a content analysis of the data and identified three common themes that influence job longevity; supervisor support, self-gratification as a child welfare social worker, and self-care. Results showed that the impact of longevity at DCFS is strongly influenced by supervisor support and self-gratification suggesting a strong desire of child welfare social workers to willingly want to do the job and that supervisor support is one contributing factor to longevity. In addition, nearly all the participants identified self-care as having a positive impact on child welfare social workers. These findings suggest that child welfare social workers need additional training's, individual time with their supervisors, and self-care to increase longevity.

Objectives: This retrospective cohort study aimed to assess the survival time and factors associated with survival of anterior composite-resin restoration placed at the University of Iowa, College of Dentistry (UICOD). Methods: Patients at the UICOD who had anterior composite restorations placed between 1995-1997 and could be followed through 2013 were included in this study. Factors included: patient age and gender, tooth type (central or lateral incisor, or canine) and location (maxillary or mandibular), restoration size (1, 2, 3, 4 and more surfaces), provider type (dental student, graduate student, faculty), and clinic (operative, family, or other clinics) where the initial restoration placed. Survival time of a restoration was defined as how long a restoration lasted from the day of placement until the day of subsequent treatment. Subsequent treatment included: restorations, veneer and/or crowns, root canal therapy, and extraction. One restoration per patient was used for the study. Statistical analyses consisted of the Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression (alpha=0.05). Results: Of the 668 subjects (mean±SD age=55±13 years and 60.8% females) who fulfilled the inclusion criteria, the mean±SD survival time of composite resin restoration was 11±7 years and an overall survival rate was 43.3%. Patients' gender, age, tooth location, and clinic type were not significantly associated with the survival time of composite resin restoration. Cox regression model indicated that significant differences in the restoration hazards were found on tooth type (p=0.002), provider type (p=0.003) and restoration sizes (p=0.0072). Central (HR=1.59; CI=1.23-2.07) and lateral (HR=1.36; CI=1.03-1.79) incisors had a significantly higher hazard ratio (HR) than canines, and faculty had significantly lower HR than undergraduate students (HR=0.68, CI=0.55-0.85). Restorations sizes one surface (HR=0.6; CI=0.44-0.81) and two surfaces (HR=0.65; CI=0.48-0.88) had significantly lower HR than four and more surfaces restorations. Conclusion: The mean and median survival time of anterior composite restoration at UICOD was 11 and 13 years, respectively. Tooth type, provider type, and restoration size were significant predictors for the survival time of anterior composite-resin restoration.

隨著醫療技術進步、環境衛生改善與人類追求健康生活的趨勢，全世界人類的死亡率不斷地下降。在死亡率不斷的改善的情形下，保險公司可能在壽險商品上獲利，但在年金部份卻會因長壽風險而有所虧損。 自然避險則是保險公司可行的避險策略之一，即透過公司整體保單的組合，來達到規避死亡率風險和利率風險。此外，不同於之前的相關研究，我們所使用的資料，是由臺灣所有的保險公司提供的經驗死亡率，而不是國民生命表。目前保險公司在定價年金和壽險商品時，使用的死亡率是國民生命表，即假設買年金商品的被保險人和買壽險商品的被保險人的死亡率是相同的。但是從經驗死亡率的資料，我們發現購買年金商品的被保險人，其死亡率會低於買壽險商品的被保險人的死亡率。上述情形，會造成保險商品定價有誤;因此，我們考慮不同性別的年金、壽險的死亡率，並研究這些死亡率之間隨機變動項的相關性，以期在未來死亡率和利率變動下，可以藉由死亡率間的相關性，而抵消總價值變動的變異數和定價差異。 根據經驗資料，我們提出一個模型，可透過調整賣出年金和壽險的比例(年齡、性別)，使得保險公司能夠針對公司整體保單組合，找到並有效地運用的自然避險策略。文中最後進行模型敏感度分析，以及提出可能採用的保險商品配置策略，可作為目前保險公司進行死亡率和利率避險的參考。 / The mortality rate of human being has decreased year by year due to the improvement of medical and hygienic techniques. With the mortality improvement over time, life insurers may gain a profit and annuity insurers may suffer losses because of longevity risk. However, natural hedging is a feasible strategy to hedge mortality risk and interest risk at the same time. In this paper, we investigate the natural hedging strategy and try to find an optimal collocation of insurance products to deal with longevity risks for the insurance companies. Different from previous literatures, we use the experienced mortality rates from life insurance companies rather than population mortality rates. This experienced mortality data set includes more than 50,000,000 policies which are collected from the incidence data of the whole Taiwan life insurance companies. In general, insurance companies use population mortality rates to price life insurance and annuity products. Nevertheless, the mortality rate of annuity purchasers is averagely lower than that of life insurance purchasers. This situation leads to mispricing problem of both life insurance and annuity products. So in this paper, we can construct four mortality tables (gender, product) and investigate the correlation of these stochastic variation terms of four mortality rates. According to the correlation relation between these four mortality rates, we can offset the variance of portfolio’s change and difference of mispricing. On the basis of the experienced mortality rates, we demonstrate that the proposed model can lead to an optimal collocation of insurance products and effectively apply the natural hedging strategy to a more general portfolio for life insurance companies.

<p>Peat mosses (<i>Sphagnum</i>) are widely distributed and are a major component of mire vegetation and peat throughout the boreal and temperate regions. Most boreal <i>Sphagnum</i> species regularly produce sporophytes, but the ecological role of the spore has been questioned. This study shows that the spores can form a spore bank and have the ability to germinate and contribute to moss establishment whenever suitable conditions occur. The results suggest that spore production is important for explaining the wide distribution and omnipresence of <i>Sphagnum</i> in nutrient-poor wetlands. The results further imply that initial recruitment from spores predominates in <i>Sphagnum</i> after disturbance or formation of suitable habitats.</p><p> A series of experiments showed that addition of phosphorus-containing substrates, such as fresh plant litter or moose dung, resulted in spore establishment on bare, moist peat. A field experiment indicated establishment rates of about 1% of sown, germinable spores on peat with added substrates. Plant litter on moist soil, without a closed cover of bryophytes, is an important safe site for the establishment of <i>Sphagnum</i> spores. The results fit the observed pattern of colonisation by <i>Sphagnum</i> beneath <i>Eriophorum vaginatum</i> tussocks in mires severely disturbed by peat extraction. Successful long-distance dispersal was indicated by the occurrence of several regionally new or rare <i>Sphagnum</i> species in disturbed mires.</p><p>Spore number per sporophyte ranged among <i>Sphagnum</i> species from 18 500 to 240 000, with a trade-off between spore number and spore size. Annual spore production was estimated at 15 million spores per square metre on two investigated mires. Sporophyte production showed a large interannual variation. Sporophyte production was positively related to the amount of precipitation the preceding summer. This was probably because a high water level promoted gametangium formation. Spore dispersal occurred in July and August. The earlier timing of spore dispersal in the more drought-sensitive, hollow-inhabiting sphagna should reduce the risk of sporophytes drying out prematurely during summer droughts.</p><p>Spores kept refrigerated up to 13 years retained high germinability. A field experiment showed that <i>Sphagnum</i> can form a persistent spore bank, with a potential longevity of several decades.</p>

One of the classical problems in finance is that of an economic unit who aims at maximizing his expected life-time utility from consumption and/or terminal wealth by an effective asset-liability management. The purpose of this thesis is to determine the optimal investment strategies , from the point of view of their economic utility, for individual and institutional investors such pension funds.

Peat mosses (Sphagnum) are widely distributed and are a major component of mire vegetation and peat throughout the boreal and temperate regions. Most boreal Sphagnum species regularly produce sporophytes, but the ecological role of the spore has been questioned. This study shows that the spores can form a spore bank and have the ability to germinate and contribute to moss establishment whenever suitable conditions occur. The results suggest that spore production is important for explaining the wide distribution and omnipresence of Sphagnum in nutrient-poor wetlands. The results further imply that initial recruitment from spores predominates in Sphagnum after disturbance or formation of suitable habitats. A series of experiments showed that addition of phosphorus-containing substrates, such as fresh plant litter or moose dung, resulted in spore establishment on bare, moist peat. A field experiment indicated establishment rates of about 1% of sown, germinable spores on peat with added substrates. Plant litter on moist soil, without a closed cover of bryophytes, is an important safe site for the establishment of Sphagnum spores. The results fit the observed pattern of colonisation by Sphagnum beneath Eriophorum vaginatum tussocks in mires severely disturbed by peat extraction. Successful long-distance dispersal was indicated by the occurrence of several regionally new or rare Sphagnum species in disturbed mires. Spore number per sporophyte ranged among Sphagnum species from 18 500 to 240 000, with a trade-off between spore number and spore size. Annual spore production was estimated at 15 million spores per square metre on two investigated mires. Sporophyte production showed a large interannual variation. Sporophyte production was positively related to the amount of precipitation the preceding summer. This was probably because a high water level promoted gametangium formation. Spore dispersal occurred in July and August. The earlier timing of spore dispersal in the more drought-sensitive, hollow-inhabiting sphagna should reduce the risk of sporophytes drying out prematurely during summer droughts. Spores kept refrigerated up to 13 years retained high germinability. A field experiment showed that Sphagnum can form a persistent spore bank, with a potential longevity of several decades.

This thesis is constituted of three chapters. he first part of my Ph.D. dissertation develops a Bayesian stochastic model for computing the reserves of a non-life insurance company. The first chapter is the product of my research experience as an intern at the Risk Management Department of Fondiaria-Sai S.p.A.. I present a short review of the deterministic and stochastic claims reserving methods currently applied in practice and I develop a (standard) Over-Dispersed Poisson (ODP) Bayesian model for the estimation of the Outstanding Loss Liabilities (OLLs) of a line of business (LoB). I present the model, I illustrate the theoretical foundations of the MCMC (Markov Chain Monte Carlo) method and the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm used in order to generate the non-standard posterior distributions. I apply the model to the Motor Third Party Liabil- ity LoB of Fondiaria-Sai S.p.A.. Moreover, I explore the problem of computing the prudential reserve level of a multi-line non-life insurance company. In the second chapter, then, I present a full Bayesian model for assessing the reserve requirement of multiline Non-Life insurance companies. The model combines the Bayesian approach for the estimation of marginal distribution for the single Lines of Business and a Bayesian copula procedure for their aggregation. First, I consider standard copula aggregation for different copula choices. Second, I present the Bayesian copula technique. Up to my knowledge, this approach is totally new to stochastic claims reserving. The model allows to "mix" own-assessments of dependence between LoBs at a company level and market wide estimates. I present an application to an Italian multi-line insurance company and compare the results obtained aggregating using standard copulas and a Bayesian Gaussian copula. In the second part of my Dissertation I propose a theoretical model that studies optimal capital and organizational structure choices of financial groups which incorporate two or more business units. The group faces a VaR-type regulatory capital requirement. Financial conglomerates incorporate activities in different sectors either into a unique integrated entity, into legally separated divisions or in ownership-linked holding company/subsidiary structures. I model these different arrangements in a structural framework through different coinsurance links between units in the form of conditional guarantees issued by equityholders of a firm towards the debtholders of a unit of the same group. I study the effects of the use of such guarantees on optimal capital structural and organizational form choices. I calibrate model parameters to observed financial institutions' characteristics. I study how the capital is optimally held, the costs and benefits of limiting undercapitalization in some units and I address the issues of diversification at the holding's level and regulatory capital arbitrage. The last part of my Ph.D. Dissertation studies the hedging problem of life insurance policies, when the mortality rate is stochastic. The field developed recently, adapting well-established techniques widely used in finance to describe the evolution of rates of mortality. The chapter is joint work with my supervisor, prof. Elisa Luciano and Elena Vigna. It studies the hedging problem of life insurance policies, when the mortality and interest rates are stochastic. We focus primarily on stochastic mortality. We represent death arrival as the first jump time of a doubly stochastic process, i.e. a jump process with stochastic intensity. We propose a Delta-Gamma Hedging technique for mortality risk in this context. The risk factor against which to hedge is the difference between the actual mortality intensity in the future and its "forecast" today, the instantaneous forward intensity. We specialize the hedging technique first to the case in which survival intensities are affine, then to Ornstein-Uhlenbeck and Feller processes, providing actuarial justifications for this restriction. We show that, without imposing no arbitrage, we can get equivalent probability measures under which the HJM condition for no arbitrage is satisfied. Last, we extend our results to the presence of both interest rate and mortality risk, when the forward interest rate follows a constant-parameter Hull and White process. We provide a UK calibrated example of Delta and Gamma Hedging of both mortality and interest rate risk.

Taiwan has an ageing population, with more people in the concern of not having sufficient income stream during retired life. This study investigates the ageing issue through socioeconomic perspectives. It is recommended that apart from low interest-bearing term deposits, Interest-Sensitive Annuity is the most suitable solution for countering longevity risk. Through case studies, it has been found that 1, due to Annuity Puzzle sentiment, term depositors will continue to invest in Interest-Sensitive Annuities, regardless of the low interest rate environment. 2, Interest-Sensitive Annuity investors are as risk-averse as term depositors, implying that they do not necessarily choose the surrender option upon expiry. 3, due to customer sentiment, the Interest-Sensitive Annuity policy fees charged are inversely correlated to customers¡¦ willingness to invest. 4, by selling low-commission products, namely one- and two-year Interest-Sensitive Annuities through bancassurance channel, insurance companies enjoy the benefit of low cost capital and are able to reduce interest spread risk through efficient investments. Moreover, customers have their retirement needs covered while insurance salespeople of different channels are able to meet respective sales targets. It is therefore shown that Interest-Sensitive Annuities have the following benefits. For investors, it is the product type that best meets their needs. For insurance salespeople, they enjoy a diverse and complete product portfolio and for insurance companies, it maximizes operation efficiency. Unfortunately, after the termination of one- and two-year Interest-Sensitive Annuities on the market, insurance company capital costs have been negatively impacted, with retirement and longevity risks unsatisfied and insurance salespeople having less products to choose from. It is suggested that the regulator considers re-introducing one- and two-year Interest-Sensitive Annuities, using Risk-Based Capital as a complement in monitoring insurance companies.