This paper describes the multi-pillar social security reform strategy that many countries have been adopting in recent years. This strategy includes a public pillar that provides a social safety net, a privately managed funded pillar that handles peoples' mandatory retirement savings, and a voluntary pillar for people who want more consumption in old age. The basic rationale is that relying to ...

Our study focuses on characterization of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons cultured on silicon micro-pillar substrates (MPS) with the ultimate goal of designing micro-electrode arrays (MEAs) for successful electrophysiological recordings of DRG neurons. Adult and neonatal DRG neurons were cultured on MPS and glass coverslips for 7 days in vitro. DRG neuronal distribution and morphometric analy...

The Analysis of Retreat Mining Pillar Stability (ARMPS) and the LaModel programs have been used successfully in the U.S. for designing safe pillar recovery operations for many years. However, the recent Crandall Canyon Mine collapse showed that further research is required to improve the pillar design for recovery under deep cover. To this end, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and...

A novel and highly stable inclusion complex was formed between per-butylated pillar[6]arene and a ferrocenium cation, while the reduced form ferrocene only showed extremely weak binding affinity with per-butylated pillar[6]arene in organic solvents.

This article experimentally shows that the wetting property of a micropatterned surface is a function of the center-to-center offset distance between successive pillars in a column, referred to here as eccentricity. Studies were conducted on square micropatterns which were fabricated on a silicon wafer with pillar eccentricity ranging from 0 to 6 μm for two different pillar diameters and spacin...

INTRODUCTION In the epidemiologic modeling of diseases, the epidemiologic problem oriented approach (EPOA) methodology facilitates the development of systematic and structured knowledge bases, which are crucial for development of models. A detailed understanding of the epidemiology of a given disease provides the essential framework for model development and enables the laying out of the compre...

We synthesize nonionic polymer-based polyrotaxanes in solvent systems based on pillar[5]arene cyclic host liquids. Using a reactive liquid, pillar[5]arene enabled synthesis of a nonionic topological gel.

a semi-batch crystallization system is used to determine growth kinetics and morphology of barium carbonate crystals, under a constant ph value and constant temperature in the various relative supersaturations. results show that crystal growth rate satisfies a first-order kinetic expression at high relative supersaturation, while at relative supersaturation values lower than 3,  the kinetic exp...

Arrays of elastic pillars are used in biophysical experiments as sensors for traction forces. The evaluation of the forces can be complicated if they are coupled to the pillar displacements over large distances. This is the case if many of the pillars are interconnected by elastic linkages as, for example, in fiber networks that are grown on top of pillars. To calculate the traction forces in s...