Helping families: childcare, early education and the work-life balance

Since Labour came to power in May 1997, there have been substantial increases in spending aimed at helping families with formal childcare, early education and the work-life balance. We look at the effects of these reforms and at the proposals of the parties in this area

The Global Rescue Alarm Net (GRAN): Concept and approaches

The GRAN Experiment is designed to prove a world-wide search and rescue (SAR) system utilizing Omega navigation system signals and geo-synchronous satellites. In order to develop a SAR system, the original NASA Omega Position Locating Equipment (OPLE) experiments have been expanded by the Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River. Specifically, a fourth frequency (10.880 KHz) has been added experimentally to two Omega transmitters. This will increase line of position (LOP) ambiguities from 72 nautical miles to 360 nmi apart. Algorithms have been developed to resolve the 360 nmi ambiguities. During September and October 1974, two series of tests were conducted with Lincoln Experimental Satellite 6 (LES-6) to demonstrate the position locating potential of the four-frequency Omega concept

Hydrologic Comparisons for Floods of June 1947 in Iowa

Man has always been plagued by floods and it is reasonable to expect that he will continue to be faced with a variety of flood problems in the years to come. The great floods of June 1947 in Iowa were a tragic reminder of the continuing danger which Man faces from excess rainfall and runoff. Those floods were outstanding, not only with respect to the depths and intensities of the rainfall which produced them, but also with regard to the maximum rates and total amounts of runoff which resulted and the tremendous quantities of soil which were washed from the land. This paper has been prepared for the Geology Section of the Iowa Academy of Sciences to bring together certain pertinent data on three aspects - rainfall, runoff, and sediment loads - and to illustrate the extent and especially the comparative features of the technical data which are becoming available through the State and Federal cooperative program of the United States Geological Survey

Ethnic parity in labour market outcomes for benefit claimants

A significant gap exists in the UK between the employment rate for Ethnic Minorities and that for Whites. From a policy perspective, it is important to know whether this gap is due to differences in the characteristics of White and Ethnic Minority groups (which reduce the employability of Ethnic Minority groups relative to Whites) or whether it results from some form of discriminatory behaviour in the labour market. In this paper, we use administrative data to estimate ethnic differences in employment and benefit receipt amongst individuals who began claiming a Jobcentre Plus benefit in 2003. In contrast to much of the previous UK literature, we use a number of different quantitative techniques to estimate this gap, and show that in a lot of cases the estimates obtained are very sensitive to the techniques used. We argue that for the questions we are interested in and the data we have, propensity score matching methods are the most robust approach to estimating ethnic parity. We compare this preferred approach with estimates derived using alternative approaches commonly used in the literature (generally regression-based techniques) to determine the extent to which more straightforward methods are able to replicate those produced by matching. In many cases, it turns out not to be possible to calculate satisfactory quantitative estimates even with matching techniques: the characteristics of Whites and Ethnic Minorities are simply too different before the Jobcentre Plus intervention to reliably estimate the parameters of interest. Moreover, for a number of the groups, results seem to be very sensitive to the methodology used. This calls into question previous results based on simple regression techniques, which are likely to hide the fact that observationally different ethnic groups are de facto being compared on the basis of parametric extrapolations. Two groups for which it was possible to calculate reasonably reliable results are incapacity benefit (IB) and income support (IS). For these groups we find that large and significant raw penalties almost always disappear once we appropriately control for pre-inflow background and labour market characteristics. There is also a good degree of consistency across methodologies

Calcium-independent inhibitory G-protein signaling induces persistent presynaptic muting of hippocampal synapses

Adaptive forms of synaptic plasticity that reduce excitatory synaptic transmission in response to prolonged increases in neuronal activity may prevent runaway positive feedback in neuronal circuits. In hippocampal neurons, for example, glutamatergic presynaptic terminals are selectively silenced, creating mute synapses, after periods of increased neuronal activity or sustained depolarization. Previous work suggests that cAMP-dependent and proteasome-dependent mechanisms participate in silencing induction by depolarization, but upstream activators are unknown. We, therefore, tested the role of calcium and G-protein signaling in silencing induction in cultured hippocampal neurons. We found that silencing induction by depolarization was not dependent on rises in intracellular calcium, from either extracellular or intracellular sources. Silencing was, however, pertussis toxin sensitive, which suggests that inhibitory G-proteins are recruited. Surprisingly, blocking four common inhibitory G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) (adenosine A(1) receptors, GABA(B) receptors, metabotropic glutamate receptors, and CB(1) cannabinoid receptors) and one ionotropic receptor with metabotropic properties (kainate receptors) failed to prevent depolarization-induced silencing. Activating a subset of these GPCRs (A(1) and GABA(B)) with agonist application induced silencing, however, which supports the hypothesis that G-protein activation is a critical step in silencing. Overall, our results suggest that depolarization activates silencing through an atypical GPCR or through receptor-independent G-protein activation. GPCR agonist-induced silencing exhibited dependence on the ubiquitin-proteasome system, as was shown previously for depolarization-induced silencing, implicating the degradation of vital synaptic proteins in silencing by GPCR activation. These data suggest that presynaptic muting in hippocampal neurons uses a G-protein-dependent but calcium-independent mechanism to depress presynaptic vesicle release

"Even in an age of wonders": radio as an information resource in 1920s America

Purpose – The paper aims to analyse the development of broadcast radio in the USA during the 1920s, focusing on the legislative and regulatory background, considering the broadcasting spectrum, programme content, and nature of radio as an information resource at that time. Design/methodology/approach – An analysis of primary materials, and of recent secondary materials, is carried out. Findings – The legislative and regulatory framework failed to take note of the unique attributes of information resources, and attempted to treat them in the same manner as more traditional resources. Records of the early days of USA radio are very limited. More positively, radio information resources played a major part in developing several aspects of society, including education, agriculture, and jazz culture. Research limitations/implications – The study shows lessons for development of current information society. The research is limited to one communication medium, in one country, in one decade. It is not a full historical analysis of the development of radio broadcasting, rather it is limited to information resource aspects, largely of public sector broadcasting. Originality/value – The paper is the first study of the early development of radio broadcasting from an information perspective. It shows the value of the “information-as-resource” model for analysing developments in the communication of information

How did a Previously Unscrupulous Tactic Become a Popular Corporate Strategy?….. Time to Discuss the Impact of an Excise Tax on Treasury Stock

The problematic history of stock buybacks, known more familiarly as Treasury Stock acquisitions, has at times been described as unscrupulous transactions resulting in stock manipulation tactics engaged in by corporate America (Kotter, 1952). However, when the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) passed rule 10b-18, the definition of share buybacks changed from problematic manipulative strategies to brilliant corporate maneuvers (SEC Act 1934.). The SEC’s enactment of Rule 10b-18 opened Pandora’s Box for corporations to engage in unfettered access of their own issued stock shares. The 10b-18 SEC Rule provided a pathway for corporations to buyback their own previously sold stock shares within an accepted legal framework. Unfortunately, the SEC Rule 10b-18 has been viewed as sanctioning the use of corporate funds for valueless purchases depleting the liquidity of the corporate balance sheet. But should these transactions, be subject to tax as a means to rectify the problematic buyback mania

A Matter of Equity- The Taxation of Private Equity General Partners “Carried Interest”

The carried interest tax loophole has helped private equity to become one of the most lucrative sectors of the financial Industry. As private equity general partners are taxed at long term capital gains rates on partnership profits allocated to a carried interest, while the same amount of compensation structured as salary would be taxed at ordinary income rates. Thus, General Partners pay a top tax rate of 20% on their carried interest instead of the 37% they would pay if the compensation were structured as salary, which many economists and tax experts believe it actually is