Exploring the relationship between working history, retirement transition and women's life satisfaction

How does the transition to retirement affect female subjective wellbeing? The major theoretical perspectives that have been applied as frameworks to study the heterogeneous adjustment to retirement include role theory and continuity theory. They have often been integrated with a lifecourse approach, which allows us to study retirement as a transition set inside a lifelong process. In this paper, I assess how working life courses are related to changes in subjective wellbeing before and after retirement, using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and concentrating on women. Firstly, I conduct sequence analysis and cluster analysis to identify groups of typical working lifecourses from ages 20 to 50. Secondly, regression models estimate how retirement transition is associated with changes in life satisfaction, according to the different working trajectories. The results show that some of the trajectories, constituted of discontinuity or part-time periods, exhibit a continuous increase in life satisfaction, passing from employment (or unemployment) to retirement. For other trajectories, such as the full-time one, retirement seems not to have implications for subjective wellbeing.

Singularity Analysis of Composite Laminated Piezoelectric Rectangular Plate Structure with 1 : 2 Internal Resonance

This study investigates the dynamical behavior of the composite laminated piezoelectric rectangular plate with 1 : 2 internal resonance near the singularity using the extended singularity theory method. Based on the previous four-dimensional averaged equations of polar coordinates where the partial derivative terms are not equal to zero, the universal unfolding with codimension 3 of the proposed system is given. The main material parameters that affect the dynamic behavior of the laminated piezoelectric rectangular composite plate near the singularity under transverse excitation are revealed by the transition set of universal unfolding with codimension 3. In addition, the plots of the transition set in three bifurcation parameters space are discussed. These numerical results can show that the stability near the singularity of the proposed system is better when period ratio is less than zero.

MEASUREMENT OF CORTISOL AND CORTISONE IN HUMAN SALIVA BY UPLC-MS/MS

Objective: To develop and validate a simple and rapid assay for simultaneous measurement of cortisol and cortisone in human saliva by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Methods: Chromatographic analysis was performed on an Atlantis dC18 column (2.1 x 100 mm, 3 µm) using a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile and 2 mmol ammonium-acetate (50:50, v; v) that was delivered at a flow rate of 0.3 ml/min. The eluents were monitored using electrospray ionization in the positive ion mode set at transition set of mass-to-charge (m/z): 363.11 → 121.00, 361.18 → 163.11, and 367.19 → 121.24 for cortisol, cortisone and internal standard (IS), respectively the method was validated for linearity, accuracy, precision, and recovery, according to international guidelines. Results: The retention times of cortisol, cortisone and internal were about 1.38, 1.43 and 1.38 min, respectively. Cortisol level and cortisone level relationship to the ratio of their respective peak-area to IS’s peak-area was linear (range of 0.5-100 ng/ml). Coefficients of variation and inaccuracy were, ≤9.9% and-0.3 to 6.9 for cortisol and ≤8.4 and-1.5 to 4.8 for cortisone, respectively. Extraction recoveries for cortisol, cortisone, and the IS were 90%, 94%, and 98%, respectively. Cortisol and cortisone stability was evaluated in processed saliva samples (stored at room temperature for 24 h) and unprocessed saliva samples (stored at room temperature for 24 h or at-20 °C for 10 w) and after 3 freeze-thaw cycles was ≥ 86%. Conclusion: The proposed method is simple, precise, and accurate for the rapid simultaneous measurement of cortisol and cortisone levels in saliva. The assay was successfully applied to determine levels of cortisol and cortisone in human saliva samples obtained from healthy volunteers.

Approaches to Social Innovation in Positive Energy Districts (PEDs)—A Comparison of Norwegian Projects

The Positive Energy District (PED) concept is a localized city and district level response to the challenges of greenhouse gas emission reduction and energy transition. With the Strategic Energy Transition (SET) Plan aiming to establish 100 PEDs by 2025 in Europe, a number of PED projects are emerging in the EU member states. While the energy transition is mainly focusing on technical innovations, social innovation is crucial to guarantee the uptake and deployment of PEDs in the built environment. We set the spotlight on Norway, which, to date, has three PED projects encompassing 12 PED demo sites in planning and early implementation stages, from which we extract approaches for social innovations and discuss how these learnings can contribute to further PED planning and implementation. We describe the respective approaches and learnings for social innovation of the three PED projects, ZEN, +CityxChange and syn.ikia, in a multiple case study approach. Through the comparison of these projects, we start to identify social innovation approaches with different scopes regarding citizen involvement, stakeholder interaction and capacity building. These insights are also expected to contribute to further planning and design of PED projects within local and regional networks (PEDs in Nordic countries) and contribute to international PED concept development.

Stochastic transition behaviors in a generalized Van der Pol oscillator with fractional damping under Gaussian white noise

The stochastic P-bifurcation behavior of bi-stability in a generalized Van der Pol oscillator with a fractional damping under multiplicative Gaussian white noise excitation is investigated. Firstly, using the principle of minimal mean square error, the nonlinear stiffness terms can be equivalent to a linear stiffness which is a function of the system amplitude, and the original system is simplified to an equivalent integer order Van der Pol system. Secondly, the system amplitude?s stationary Probability Density Function (PDF) is obtained by stochastic averaging. And then according to the singularity theory, the critical parametric conditions for the system amplitude?s stochastic P-bifurcation are found. Finally, the types of the system?s stationary PDF curves of amplitude are qualitatively analyzed by choosing the corresponding parameters in each area divided by the transition set curves. The consistency between the analytical results and the numerical results obtained from Monte Carlo simulation verifies the theoretical analysis in this paper and the method used in this paper can directly guide the design of the fractional order controller to adjust the response of the system.

Evaluating Basic Income, Basic Service, and Basic Voucher for Social and Ecological Sustainability

This paper discusses the restructuring of the social protection system in the changing labor market by comparing and critically reviewing policy ideas of Universal Basic Income (UBI), Universal Basic Voucher (UBV), and Universal Basic Service (UBS) with a focus on how the Social and Ecological Transition (SET) can be achieved. UBS is a concept often paired with UBI, and UBV is considered a middle way between UBI (cash) and UBS (in-kind). This study first analyzes Korea’s basic income, basic service, and basic voucher cases, according to Bohnenberger’s nine types of social benefits through Standing’s policy evaluation principles. Additionally, we evaluated how each of the benefits included in basic income, basic service, and basic voucher can contribute to social and ecological sustainability in the Korean context. Through this evaluation, to pursue SET in the future, what kind of policy efforts should be accompanied with basic income through a Korean case analysis was discussed. The paper focuses on Korea in particular, as all three policies have been initiated here.

Bifurcation study on fractional non-smooth oscillator containing clearance constraints

Bifurcation characteristics of a fractional non-smooth oscillator containing clearance constraints under sinusoidal excitation are investigated. First, the bifurcation response equation of the fractional non-smooth system is obtained via the K–B method. Second, the stability of the bifurcation response equation is analyzed, and parametric conditions for stability are acquired. The bifurcation characteristics of the fractional non-smooth system are then studied using singularity theory, and the transition set and bifurcation diagram under six different constrained parameters are acquired. Finally, the analysis of the influence of fractional terms on the dynamic characteristics of the system is emphasized through numerical simulation. Local bifurcation diagrams of the system under different fractional coefficients and orders verify that the system will present various motions, such as periodic motion, multiple periodic motion, and chaos, with the change in fractional coefficient and order. This manifestation indicates that fractional parameters have a direct effect on the motion form of this non-smooth system. Thus, these results provide a theoretical reference for investigating and repressing oscillation problems of similar systems.

Bifurcation Characteristic Research on the Load Vertical Vibration of a Hydraulic Automatic Gauge Control System

As the core control system of a rolling mill, the hydraulic automatic gauge control (HAGC) system is key to ensuring a rolling process with high speed, high precision and high reliability. However, a HAGC system is typically a mechanical-electric-hydraulic coupling system with nonlinear characteristics. The vertical vibration of the load easily occurs during the working process, which seriously affects the stability of the system and the causes are difficult to determine. In this work, the theory and method of nonlinear dynamics were employed. The load vertical vibration model of the HAGC system was established. Then, the multi-scale method was utilized to solve the obtained model, and the singularity theory was further applied to derive the transition set. Moreover, the research object of this article focused on some nonlinear factors such as excitation force, elastic force and damping force. The effects of the above feature parameters on bifurcation behavior were emphatically explored. The bifurcation characteristic of the load vertical vibration of the HAGC system was revealed. The research results indicate that the bifurcation curves in each sub-region, divided by the transition set, possess their own topological structure. The changes of the feature parameters, such as the nonlinear stiffness coefficient, liquid column height, nonlinear damping coefficient, and external excitation have an influence on the vibration amplitude of the HAGC system. By reasonably adjusting the nonlinear stiffness coefficient to effectively avoid the resonance region, the stability of the system will be facilitated. Furthermore, this is conducive to the system’s stability as it properly controls the size of the liquid column height of the hydraulic cylinder. The appropriate nonlinear damping coefficient can decrease the unstable area, which is beneficial to the stability of the system. However, large external excitation is not conducive to the stability of the system.