Despite pension fund managers being largely unconstrained in their investment decisions, this paper reports evidence of clustering in the performance of a large cross-section of UK pension fund managers around the median fund manager. This finding is explained in terms of the predominance of a single investment style (balanced management), the fee structures and incentives operating in the UK p...

We investigate the coupled axial–torsional vibration of pretwisted beams. The equations of motion governing the extension, torsion, and cross-sectional warping of pretwisted beams are derived from Hamiltons principle, and the common assumptions used to simplify the equations are carefully examined through scaling analysis. Inconsistencies in previous works—such as the neglect of spatial and tim...

The aim of the present study was to (i) develop a material affluence scale (MAS) for measuring adolescent SES in health inequality research in developing countries, (ii) compare the association of the MAS with the parental SES measures (parental occupation and education), and (iii) evaluate the association of parental SES and MAS with key health and health behaviour indicators. We used school-b...

Vessel diameter is an important factor for indicating retinal microvascular signs. In automated retinal image analysis, the measurement of vascular width is a complicated process as most of the vessels are few pixels wide. In this paper, we propose a new technique to measure the retinal blood vessel diameter which can be used to detect arteriolar narrowing, arteriovenous (AV) nicking, branching...

QUESTIONS UNDER STUDY Patient preference for their doctor's attire can influence their assessment of the quality of care. Most patients prefer specialists and hospital-based physicians to wear white coats, but evidence from general practitioner (GP) practices is lacking. We aimed to assess patient preference for GPs to wear white coats in Switzerland. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional su...

BACKGROUND The relationship between media exposure and school performance has not been studied extensively in adolescents. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this work was to test the relative effects of television, movie, and video game screen time and content on adolescent school performance. METHODS We conducted a population-based cross-sectional survey of middle school students (grades 5-8) in th...

Crossover of the dispersion of flexural waves recorded in borehole cross-dipole measurements is interpreted as an indicator of stress-induced anisotropy around a circular borehole in formations that are isotropic in the absence of stresses. We have investigated different factors that influence flexural wave dispersion. Through numerical modeling, we determined that for a circular borehole surro...

Although it is crucial to examine the environmental correlates of physical activity (PA) for developing more effective interventions for overweight populations, limited studies have investigated differences in the environmental correlates on body mass index (BMI). The purpose of the present study was to examine the perceived environmental correlates of PA among normal-weight and overweight Japa...

Vessel cross-sectional diameter is an important feature for analyzing retinal vascular changes. In automated retinal image analysis, the measurement of vascular width is a complex process as most of the vessels are few pixels wide or suffering from lack of contrast. In this paper, we propose a new method to measure the retinal blood vessel diameter which can be used to detect arteriolar narrowi...