Evaluation of the Job Outcome Target Pilots: findings from the qualitative study

This report presents the results of a qualitative evaluation of the pilot of the Job Outcome Target (JOT) in seven Jobcentre Plus Districts, covering the first six months of the pilot's operation from January to July 2005. The research comprised interviews and focus groups with Jobcentre Plus managers and staff, employers, providers and customers in the JOT pilot districts in three stages, beginning one month before the start of the pilots. The evaluators' conclusion is that the qualitative evidence supports the view that JOT is a feasible alternative approach to the Job Entry Target (JET) as a system for performance measurement and management for Jobcentre Plus. Many of the desired behavioural changes among Jobcentre Plus staff were observed, including greater team working, an enhanced focus on the quality rather than quantity of interventions with customers and encouragement of appropriate customers to use self-help channels. In addition, JOT led almost immediately to the reduction or discontinuation of activities that were felt to be wasteful of resources under JET, notably the extensive use of the Adviser Discretion Fund and speculative submissions to ensure that job entries are validated. No evidence was found of negative impacts of JOT on customers, providers or employers, a finding corroborated by quantitative analysis. The report suggests that, should JOT be rolled out nationally, a programme of communication, training and support, building on the lessons of the pilot, would be necessary in order to ensure that behavioural changes associated with JOT develop into more deep-seated cultural change within Jobcentre Plus

Jet array impingement flow distributions and heat transfer characteristics. Effects of initial crossflow and nonuniform array geometry

Two-dimensional arrays of circular air jets impinging on a heat transfer surface parallel to the jet orifice plate are considered. The jet flow, after impingement, is constrained to exit in a single direction along the channel formed by the jet orifice plate and the heat transfer surface. The configurations considered are intended to model those of interest in current and contemplated gas turbine airfoil midchord cooling applications. The effects of an initial crossflow which approaches the array through an upstream extension of the channel are considered. Flow distributions as well as heat transfer coefficients and adiabatic wall temperatures resolved to one streamwise hole spacing were measured as a function of the initial crossflow rate and temperature relative to the jet flow rate and temperature. Both Nusselt number profiles and dimensionless adiabatic wall temperature (effectiveness) profiles are presented and discussed. Special test results which show a significant reduction of jet orifice discharge coefficients owing to the effect of a confined crossflow are also presented, along with a flow distribution model which incorporates those effects. A nonuniform array flow distribution model is developed and validated

On negative higher-order Kerr effect and filamentation

As a contribution to the ongoing controversy about the role of higher-order Kerr effect (HOKE) in laser filamentation, we first provide thorough details about the protocol that has been employed to infer the HOKE indices from the experiment. Next, we discuss potential sources of artifact in the experimental measurements of these terms and show that neither the value of the observed birefringence, nor its inversion, nor the intensity at which it is observed, appear to be flawed. Furthermore, we argue that, independently on our values, the principle of including HOKE is straightforward. Due to the different temporal and spectral dynamics, the respective efficiency of defocusing by the plasma and by the HOKE is expected to depend substantially on both incident wavelength and pulse duration. The discussion should therefore focus on defining the conditions where each filamentation regime dominates.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figures. Submitted to Laser physics as proceedings of the Laser Physics 2010 conferenc