XX XX-XX Research Articles

Elder Wealth, Cognition, and Abuse

As our populations grow older and more of us survive to very mature ages, the financial services industry is beginning to respond to the risks of financial exploitation. For example, money transfer companies like Western Union started working several years ago with law-enforcement and consumerprotection agencies around the world to educate people about the most common types of fraud, including “grandparent scams” (see, http://www.wu.com/fraudawareness). In January 2014, the financial world experienced a milestone event in its approach to aging. Cynthia Hutchins, a 30-year veteran of the financial services industry and a recent graduate of USC Davis School of Gerontology, was appointed as the first-ever Director of Financial Gerontology at Bank of America Merrill Lynch—the first person to work for a financial services company in that role (Franklin, 2014). It was also the year in which Wells Fargo revolutionized its operating procedures to take account of the potential risks to its older clients (Long, 2016) Many older people, with finances to manage, may face the prospect of declining mental capacity. As a result of this troubling confluence, recent years have seen a growing problem of elder financial abuse. Scammers and schemers— known to the elder victim or not—follow the Willie Sutton bank robber analogy: steal from affluent elders because that is where the money is. And that is where a lot of money is: Peter Laibson of Harvard reports that, in 2011, people over the age of 65—12% of the population—were in possession of one-third of the nation’s assets: $18 trillion out of a total of $53 trillion. Or, as put here by Daniel Marson (2016), the population that has amassed the greatest wealth is at the greatest risk. There are multiple risks and sources of such risks. In Europe and the United Kingdom, it is little different. As chronicled by Gilhooly et al. (2016), to have lost accumulated wealth can result in economic destitution, depression, embarrassment, isolation, and suicide with the perpetrators including malicious inheritance schemes, opportunistic intrusions, and duplicitous friendships. The vulnerabilities that invite these perpetrators range from neglect, misplaced moral justification, loss of financial skills, misjudgment, to significant cognitive decline. As seen here, much attention is now being paid to detection, prevention, and intervention around elder financial abuse. Elders, their families, and advocates have an obvious stake in eliminating these practices. Financial institutions that hold both elders’ assets and their trust (in multiple meanings) have both a communityand self-interest in protecting their clients. Government, charged with promoting the general welfare, cannot look aside, and the newfound prominence of adult protective services and other elder justice programs reflect a growing concern. Yet, the problem comes with a number of complexities. Most center on preventing, uncovering, and addressing fraudulent behaviors, and these can be addressed through research and experimentation as seen in several efforts below. But, as well, there are ethical issues that compound detection and intervention efforts. Values of privacy, autonomy, and choice come up against those of paternalism, supervision, and control. Who can and should “take away the financial keys” has clear moral, legal, and affective dimensions, which clearly complicate whatever empirical understandings of a given situation may suggest. In short, the problem is complex, but it is also a problem that unquestionably exists and is assuming remarkably large personal, monetary, and social dimensions. That being the case makes the articles below of great value. They deepen our understanding of the elder financial abuse problem, but present clear, tested, and promising strategies to detect and root out these malicious practices. The opening article by Mary Gilhooly and colleagues (2016) introduces the topic of financial elder abuse and reports on the development and promise of a bystander intervention model (BIM) to address the problem. The Manuscript received XXXX XX, XXXX; accepted XXXX XX, XXXX.

Ag Nanowire and Nanoplate Composite Paste for Low Temperature Bonding

Nanopastes based on noble metals for low temperature bonding are currently of great interest. We have developed Ag nanowire andnanoplate composite paste. Copper-copper joining has been achieved using solid state sintering of nanopastes. We show that an enhancedbonding strength can be achieved by integrating Ag nanoplates into Ag nanowire pastes. Ag nanowire and nanoplate composite pastes arecapable of being a low-temperature interconnect material potentially for interconnection in lead-free microcircuits, flexible electronic packagingand sensing applications. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.MI201414](Received December 15, 2014; Accepted January 13, 2015; Published XXXX XX, XXXX)Keywords: joining, diffusion bonding, Ag nanopaste, nanosintering

Isogeometric discretizations of the Stokes problem: stability analysis by the macroelement technique

[Received on xx xxxx xxxx; revised on xx xxxx xxxx] We propose and study high-regularity isogeometric discretizations of the Stokes problem. We address the Taylor‐Hoodisogeometric element, already known in this context, and a newSubgridelement which allows highest regularity velocity and pressure fields. Our stability analysis grounds on a characterization of full-rank scalar products for splines, which is the key theoretical result of this paper. We include numerical testing on two- and three-dimensional benchmarks.

Magnetic Sensor for Early Detection of Heart Valve Bioprostheses Failure

(Received: xx Xxxx xxxx.Accepted: xx Xxxx xxxx) Heart valve bioprostheses usually do not need anticoagulation; however they are threatened by an increasing with time risk of degeneration. The aim of this work is to find a magnetic sensor, which could be integrated in a bioprosthesis, monitoring the prosthesis in such a way that allows to confidently forecast the failure. Several models of magnetic sensors have been tested in a hydrodynamic setup specifically manufactured, where the heart pressure, frequency, and cardiac flow were simulated. Small pieces of amorphous soft magnetic material were stuck to the cusps of a bioprosthesis, and through a carefully designed electronic system, the movement of the cusps is detected at the same time that the image of the working valve is captured by a digital camera. The small pieces placed in the valve are under an external applied field of few Khz, and the magnetization signal of the pieces is acquired by means of two series connected coils. The movement of the pieces, at a cardiac simulated rhythm, induces a modulation in the amplitude of the signal detected in the secondary coils, with the same frequency as the valve movement. The modulated signal is analysed with a system consisting of an amplifier and a synchronous demodulator. The analysis of the electronic signal together with the image allows characterizing the signal changes when the valve begins to fail, preventing the bioprosthesis functional failure.

Reply to ‘‘Comment on ‘A cochlear model for acoustic emissions’ ’’ [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 85, 2217 (1989)

The predictions of the cochlear nonlinear transmission line model of Furst and Lapid [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 84, 222–229 (1988)] with respect to spontaneous otoacoustic emission (SOAE) are discussed. The experimental data, quoted in Wit’s comment [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 85, xx–xxxx (1989)] as an indication of the presence of a self‐sustained oscillator in the cochlea, are represented as obtained by the model. The model as it stands is shown to be capable of producing realistic SOAE.