Inequality Measures, Equivalence Scales and Adjustment for Household Size and Composition

Total household income inequality can be very different from inequality measured at the income per-capita level but only in recent years has the pattern of this divergence been investigated. In this paper, results from Coulter et al. (1992) using a one-parameter equivalence scale are updated using data for Ireland, Italy, the UK and the US. A class of two-parameter equivalence scales, representing relative weights for adults and children, is then analysed. Results are shown to depend on the distribution of household size and composition among deciles of the population. Inequality generally increases with children's weight and decreases with adults' weight. OECD and other two-parameter equivalence scales empirically used show similar results to the one-parameter equivalence scale with elasticity around 0.5.

High-Frequency Voronoi Noise Reduced by Smoothed Mesh Motion

We describe a technique for improving the performance of hydrodynamics codes which employ a moving Voronoi mesh. Currently, such codes are susceptible to high-frequency noise produced by rapid adjustments in the grid topology on the smallest scales. The treatment for this grid noise is simple; instead of moving the mesh-generating marker points with the local fluid velocity, this velocity field is smoothed on small scales, so that neighboring marker points generally have similar velocities. We demonstrate significant improvement gained by this adjustment in several code tests relevant to the physics which moving-mesh codes are designed to capture.Comment: MNRAS Accepte

Higgs-free confinement hierarchy in five colour QCD

I consider the monopole condensate of five color QCD. The naive lowest energy state is unobtainable at one-loop for five or more colors due to simple geometric considerations. The consequent adjustment of the vacuum condensate generates a hierarchy of confinement scales in a natural Higgs-free manner. The accompanying symmetry hierarchy contains hints of standard model phenomenology.Comment: 9 pages, PTP class file, discussion at bottom of page 5 correcte

Development and preliminary testing of the psychosocial adjustment to hereditary diseases scale

Background: The presence of Lynch syndrome (LS) can bring a lifetime of uncertainty to an entire family as members adjust to living with a high lifetime cancer risk. The research base on how individuals and families adjust to genetic-linked diseases following predictive genetic testing has increased our understanding of short-term impacts but gaps continue to exist in knowledge of important factors that facilitate or impede long-term adjustment. The failure of existing scales to detect psychosocial adjustment challenges in this population has led researchers to question the adequate sensitivity of these instruments. Furthermore, we have limited insight into the role of the family in promoting adjustment. Methods: The purpose of this study was to develop and initially validate the Psychosocial Adjustment to Hereditary Diseases (PAHD) scale. This scale consists of two subscales, the Burden of Knowing (BK) and Family Connectedness (FC). Items for the two subscales were generated from a qualitative data base and tested in a sample of 243 participants from families with LS. Results: The Multitrait/Multi-Item Analysis Program-Revised (MAP-R) was used to evaluate the psychometric properties of the PAHD. The findings support the convergent and discriminant validity of the subscales. Construct validity was confirmed by factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha supported a strong internal consistency for BK (0.83) and FC (0.84). Conclusion: Preliminary testing suggests that the PAHD is a psychometrically sound scale capable of assessing psychosocial adjustment. We conclude that the PAHD may be a valuable monitoring tool to identify individuals and families who may require therapeutic interventions

Hydrologic evaluation of satellite precipitation products over a mid-size basin

Since the past three decades a great deal of effort is devoted to development of satellite-based precipitation retrieval algorithms. More recently, several satellite-based precipitation products have emerged that provide uninterrupted precipitation time series with quasi-global coverage. These satellite-based precipitation products provide an unprecedented opportunity for hydrometeorological applications and climate studies. Although growing, the application of satellite data for hydrological applications is still very limited. In this study, the effectiveness of using satellite-based precipitation products for streamflow simulation at catchment scale is evaluated. Five satellite-based precipitation products (TMPA-RT, TMPA-V6, CMORPH, PERSIANN, and PERSIANN-adj) are used as forcing data for streamflow simulations at 6-h and monthly time scales during the period of 2003-2008. SACramento Soil Moisture Accounting (SAC-SMA) model is used for streamflow simulation over the mid-size Illinois River basin.The results show that by employing the satellite-based precipitation forcing the general streamflow pattern is well captured at both 6-h and monthly time scales. However, satellites products, with no bias-adjustment being employed, significantly overestimate both precipitation inputs and simulated streamflows over warm months (spring and summer months). For cold season, on the other hand, the unadjusted precipitation products result in under-estimation of streamflow forecast. It was found that bias-adjustment of precipitation is critical and can yield to substantial improvement in capturing both streamflow pattern and magnitude. The results suggest that along with efforts to improve satellite-based precipitation estimation techniques, it is important to develop more effective near real-time precipitation bias adjustment techniques for hydrologic applications. © 2010 Elsevier B.V

Spatial and Temporal Scales of Sverdrup Balance

Sverdrup balance underlies much of the theory of ocean circulation and provides a potential tool for describing the interior ocean transport from only the wind stress. Using both a model state estimate and an eddy-permitting coupled climate model, this study assesses to what extent and over what spatial and temporal scales Sverdrup balance describes the meridional transport. The authors find that Sverdrup balance holds to first order in the interior subtropical ocean when considered at spatial scales greater than approximately 5°. Outside the subtropics, in western boundary currents and at short spatial scales, significant departures occur due to failures in both the assumptions that there is a level of no motion at some depth and that the vorticity equation is linear. Despite the ocean transport adjustment occurring on time scales consistent with the basin-crossing times for Rossby waves, as predicted by theory, Sverdrup balance gives a useful measure of the subtropical circulation after only a few years. This is because the interannual transport variability is small compared to the mean transports. The vorticity input to the deep ocean by the interaction between deep currents and topography is found to be very large in both models. These deep transports, however, are separated from upper-layer transports that are in Sverdrup balance when considered over large scales

Singularity-sensitive gauge-based radar rainfall adjustment methods for urban hydrological applications

Gauge-based radar rainfall adjustment techniques have been widely used to improve the applicability of radar rainfall estimates to large-scale hydrological modelling. However, their use for urban hydrological applications is limited as they were mostly developed based upon Gaussian approximations and therefore tend to smooth off so-called "singularities" (features of a non-Gaussian field) that can be observed in the fine-scale rainfall structure. Overlooking the singularities could be critical, given that their distribution is highly consistent with that of local extreme magnitudes. This deficiency may cause large errors in the subsequent urban hydrological modelling. To address this limitation and improve the applicability of adjustment techniques at urban scales, a method is proposed herein which incorporates a local singularity analysis into existing adjustment techniques and allows the preservation of the singularity structures throughout the adjustment process. In this paper the proposed singularity analysis is incorporated into the Bayesian merging technique and the performance of the resulting singularity-sensitive method is compared with that of the original Bayesian (non singularity-sensitive) technique and the commonly used mean field bias adjustment. This test is conducted using as case study four storm events observed in the Portobello catchment (53 km2) (Edinburgh, UK) during 2011 and for which radar estimates, dense rain gauge and sewer flow records, as well as a recently calibrated urban drainage model were available. The results suggest that, in general, the proposed singularity-sensitive method can effectively preserve the non-normality in local rainfall structure, while retaining the ability of the original adjustment techniques to generate nearly unbiased estimates. Moreover, the ability of the singularity-sensitive technique to preserve the non-normality in rainfall estimates often leads to better reproduction of the urban drainage system's dynamics, particularly of peak runoff flows

The Distributional Impact of Public Services When Needs Differ

Despite a broad consensus on the need to take into account the value of public services in distributional analysis, there is little reliable evidence on how the inclusion of such non-cash income actually affects poverty and inequality estimates. In particular, the equivalence scales applied to cash income are not necessarily appropriate when including non-cash income, because the receipt of public services is likely to be associated with particular needs. In this paper, we propose a theory-based framework designed to provide a coherent evaluation of the distributional impact of local public services. The valuation of public services, identification of target groups, allocation of expenditures to target groups, and adjustment for differences in needs are derived from a model of local government spending behaviour. Using Norwegian data from municipal accounts and administrative registers we find that the inclusion of non-cash income reduces income inequality by about 15 percent and poverty rates by almost one-third. However, adjusting for differences in needs for public services across population subgroups offsets about half the inequality reduction and some of the poverty decrease.income distribution, poverty, public services, non-cash income, needs adjustment, equivalence scales