518 research outputs found
Falling Incapacity Benefit claims in a former industrial city: policy impacts or labour market improvement?
This article provides an in-depth study of Incapacity Benefit (IB) claims in a major city and of the factors behind their changing level. It relates to the regime prior to the introduction of the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) in 2008. Glasgow has had one of the highest levels of IB in Britain with a peak of almost one fifth of the working age population on IB or Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA). However, over the past decade the number of IB claimants in Glasgow, as in other high claiming areas, has fallen at a faster rate than elsewhere, and Glasgow now has twice the national proportion of working-age people on IB/SDA rather than its peak of three times. The rise in IB in Glasgow can be attributed primarily to deindustrialisation; between 1971 and 1991, over 100,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in the city. Policy response was belated. Lack of local statistics on IB led to a lengthy delay in official recognition of the scale of the issue, and targeted programmes to divert or return IB claimants to work did not begin on any scale until around 2004. Evidence presented in the article suggests that the reduction in claims, which has mainly occurred since about 2003, has been due more to a strengthening labour market than to national policy changes or local programmes. This gives strong support to the view that excess IB claims are a form of disguised unemployment. Further detailed evaluation of ongoing programmes is required to develop the evidence base for this complex area. However, the study casts some doubt on the need for the post-2006 round of IB reforms in high-claim areas, since rapid decline in the number of claimants was already occurring in these areas. The article also indicates the importance of close joint working between national and local agencies, and further development of local level statistics on IB claimants
The string wave function across a Kasner singularity
A collision of orbifold planes in eleven dimensions has been proposed as an
explanation of the hot big bang. When the two planes are close to each other,
the winding membranes become the lightest modes of the theory, and can be
effectively described in terms of fundamental strings in a ten dimensional
background. Near the brane collision, the eleven-dimensional metric is an
Euclidean space times a 1+1-dimensional Milne universe. However, one may expect
small perturbations to lead into a more general Kasner background. In this
paper we extend the previous classical analysis of winding membranes to Kasner
backgrounds, and using the Hamiltonian equations, solve for the wave function
of loops with circular symmetry. The evolution across the singularity is
regular, and explained in terms of the excitement of higher oscillation modes.
We also show there is finite particle production and unitarity is preserved.Comment: 28 pages, 10 figure
Stability of an electroweak string with a fermion condensate
A solution of the standard electroweak theory with a single lepton family is
constructed, consisting of a cosmic string and a fermion condensate within its
core. The stability of this system to small perturbations is examined, and it
is found that stability is not enhanced relative to the bare electroweak
string. The presence of quark zero modes is shown to violate the existence
criteria for embedded defects.Comment: 13 pages, preprint DAMTP 94-9, SWAT/2
Collapse of topological texture
We study analytically the process of a topological texture collapse in the
approximation of a scaling ansatz in the nonlinear sigma-model. In this
approximation we show that in flat space-time topological texture eventually
collapses while in the case of spatially flat expanding universe its fate
depends on the rate of expansion. If the universe is inflationary, then there
is a possibility that texture will expand eternally; in the case of exponential
inflation the texture may also shrink or expand eternally to a finite limiting
size, although this behavior is degenerate. In the case of power law
noninflationary expansion topological texture eventually collapses. In a cold
matter dominated universe we find that texture which is formed comoving with
the universe expansion starts collapsing when its spatial size becomes
comparable to the Hubble size, which result is in agreement with the previous
considerations. In the nonlinear sigma-model approximation we consider also the
final stage of the collapsing ellipsoidal topological texture. We show that
during collapse of such a texture at least two of its principal dimensions
shrink to zero in a similar way, so that their ratio remains finite. The third
dimension may remain finite (collapse of cigar type), or it may also shrink to
zero similar to the other two dimensions (collapse of scaling type), or shrink
to zero similar to the product of the remaining two dimensions (collapse of
pancake type).Comment: 23 pages, LaTeX, to be published in Phys. Rev.
A smooth bouncing cosmology with scale invariant spectrum
We present a bouncing cosmology which evolves from the contracting to the
expanding phase in a smooth way, without developing instabilities or
pathologies and remaining in the regime of validity of 4d effective field
theory. A nearly scale invariant spectrum of perturbations is generated during
the contracting phase by an isocurvature scalar with a negative exponential
potential and then converted to adiabatic. The model predicts a slightly blue
spectrum, n_S >~ 1, no observable gravitational waves and a high (but model
dependent) level of non-Gaussianities with local shape. The model represents an
explicit and predictive alternative to inflation, although, at present, it is
clearly less compelling.Comment: 20 pages, 1 fig. v2: references added, JCAP published versio
Towards a developmental state? Provincial economic policy in South Africa
This paper explores the meaning of the developmental state for spatial economic policy in South Africa. Two main questions are addressed: do provincial governments have a role to play in promoting economic prosperity, and to what extent do current provincial policies possess the attributes of a developmental state? These attributes are defined as the ability to plan longer term, to focus key partners on a common agenda, and to mobilise state resources to build productive capabilities. The paper argues that the developmental state must harness the power of government at every level to ensure that each part of the country develops to its potential. However, current provincial capacity is uneven, and weakest where support is needed most. Many provinces seem to have partial strategies and lack the wherewithal for sustained implementation. Coordination across government appears to be poor. The paper concludes by suggesting ways provincial policies could be strengthened
Are Textures Natural?
We make the simple observation that, because of global symmetry violating
higher-dimension operators expected to be induced by Planck-scale physics,
textures are generically much too short-lived to be of use for large-scale
structure formation.Comment: 9p
On rolling, tunneling and decaying in some large N vector models
Various aspects of time-dependent processes are studied within the large N
approximation of O(N) vector models in three dimensions. These include the
rolling of fields, the tunneling and decay of vacua. We present an exact
solution for the quantum conformal case and find a solution for more general
potentials when the total change of the value of the field is small.
Characteristic times are found to be shorter when the time dependence of the
field is taken into account in constructing the exact large N effective
potentials. We show that the different approximations yield the same answers in
the regions of the overlap of the validity. A numerical solution of this
potential reveals a tunneling in which the bubble that separates the true
vacuum from the false one is thick
Ekpyrotic collapse with multiple fields
A scale invariant spectrum of isocurvature perturbations is generated during
collapse in the scaling solution in models where two or more fields have steep
negative exponential potentials. The scale invariance of the spectrum is
realised by a tachyonic instability in the isocurvature field. We show that
this instability is due to the fact that the scaling solution is a saddle point
in the phase space. The late time attractor is identified with a single field
dominated ekpyrotic collapse in which a steep blue spectrum for isocurvature
perturbations is found. Although quantum fluctuations do not necessarily to
disrupt the classical solution, an additional preceding stage is required to
establish classical homogeneity.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figur
Topological Defects and Cosmology
Many particle physics models of matter admit solutions corresponding to
stable or long-lived topological defects. In the context of standard cosmology
it is then unavoidable that such defects will form during phase transitions in
the very early Universe. Certain types of defects lead to disastrous
consequences for cosmology, others may play a useful role, as possible seeds
for the formation of structure in the Universe, or in mediating baryon number
violating processes. In all cases, topological defects lead to a fruitful
interplay between particle physics and cosmology.Comment: 17 pages, no figures; Invited lectures at WHEPP-5, IUCAA, Pune,
India, Jan. 12 - 26 199
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