The Dynamics of Child Poverty: Britain and Germany Compared

We compare patterns of movements into and out of poverty by children in Britain and Germany using data from the British Household Panel Survey and the German Socio- Economic Panel for the period 1992-7. Compared to Germany, in Britain poverty persistence is greater, and poverty exit rates in particular are lower. In both countries poverty is particularly persistent among children in lone parent households and households with a nonworking head. Events such as family formation and dissolution, and changes in household labour market attachment are associated with child poverty transitions in the direction expected, and in both countries. However a large fraction of the observed poverty transitions are not accounted for by these events.

Interaction of Public and Private Employment: Evidence from a German Government Move

We use the move of the seat of the German government from Bonn to Berlin in 1999 to test competing views about the impact of public employment on private sector activity in a local labor market. A relocated public sector job might create new jobs in an area as it increases demand for locally-produced goods and services, or crowd out existing jobs due to upward pressure on housing rents. Using employment data from a panel of a 50% sample of establishments across 190 Berlin postcodes, we apply a treatment intensity approach which takes the possibility of spillovers into account. Results indicate that the arrival of 100 public sector jobs into an area generates 55 additional jobs in the private sector. There is evidence of spillovers: relocations up to a distance of 1km from a postcode boundary increases employment in the private sector by 36 jobs. These effects are coming through job gains in the service sector, while manufacturing employment is not influenced by the relocation

The impact of public employment on private sector activity: Evidence from Berlin

We use the move of the seat of the German government from Bonn to Berlin in 1999 to test competing views about the impact of public employment on private sector activity in a local labor market. Using employment data from a 50% sample of establishments across 190 Berlin postcodes, we apply a treatment intensity approach which takes the possibility of spillovers into account. Results indicate that the arrival of 100 public sector jobs into an area generates 55 additional jobs in the private sector. There is evidence of spillovers: relocations up to a distance of 1km from a postcode boundary increases employment in the private sector by 36 jobs. These effects are coming through job gains in the service sector, while manufacturing employment is not influenced by the relocation

Is it time to talk? Interpreter services use in general practice within Canterbury

INTRODUCTION: Effective communication is fundamental to successful health care service delivery, and has a positive impact on access, quality of care, health outcomes, and patient satisfaction. Although there are a growing number of New Zealanders who do not speak English proficiently, underutilisation of trained interpreter services appears to be common in primary health care settings. AIMS: To describe the pattern of interpreter service need and utilisation by general practice services, and to identify key barriers and enabling factors to the use of trained interpreters. METHODS: A mixed methods study was employed. Census and Partnership Health Canterbury Te Kei o Te Waka (PHC) databases were combined, and quantitative analysis used to derive interpreter service need and utilisation patterns. Transcripts of focus groups and interviews from general practitioners, practice nurses and practice administration staff within the PHC were analysed, using qualitative methods to identify barriers and enablers to interpreter service use. RESULTS: For the years 2008-2010, approximately 10 742 consultations per year involved a non-Englishspeaking patient, yet in only approximately 74.8 (0.7%) consultations per year were interpreter services utilised. Analysis of focus groups and interviews identified four global themes that represented barriers for interpreter service utilisation; namely, practicalities, expectations, knowledge of service, and systems. DISCUSSION: The current use of interpreter services in PHC general practice appears to be significantly less than the need. In order to maximise health outcomes and reduce risk, strategies must be initiated to counter the barriers currently inhibiting interpreter service use, including adopting best practice policies

Adaptation to hummingbird pollination is associated with reduced diversification in Penstemon

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.A striking characteristic of the Western North American flora is the repeated evolution of hummingbird pollination from insect‐pollinated ancestors. This pattern has received extensive attention as an opportunity to study repeated trait evolution as well as potential constraints on evolutionary reversibility, with little attention focused on the impact of these transitions on species diversification rates. Yet traits conferring adaptation to divergent pollinators potentially impact speciation and extinction rates, because pollinators facilitate plant reproduction and specify mating patterns between flowering plants. Here, we examine macroevolutionary processes affecting floral pollination syndrome diversity in the largest North American genus of flowering plants, Penstemon. Within Penstemon, transitions from ancestral bee‐adapted flowers to hummingbird‐adapted flowers have frequently occurred, although hummingbird‐adapted species are rare overall within the genus. We inferred macroevolutionary transition and state‐dependent diversification rates and found that transitions from ancestral bee‐adapted flowers to hummingbird‐adapted flowers are associated with reduced net diversification rate, a finding based on an estimated 17 origins of hummingbird pollination in our sample. Although this finding is congruent with hypotheses that hummingbird adaptation in North American Flora is associated with reduced species diversification rates, it contrasts with studies of neotropical plant families where hummingbird pollination has been associated with increased species diversification. We further used the estimated macroevolutionary rates to predict the expected pattern of floral diversity within Penstemon over time, assuming stable diversification and transition rates. Under these assumptions, we find that hummingbird‐adapted species are expected to remain rare due to their reduced diversification rates. In fact, current floral diversity in the sampled Penstemon lineage, where less than one‐fifth of species are hummingbird adapted, is consistent with predicted levels of diversity under stable macroevolutionary rates

Gradient Particle Magnetohydrodynamics

We introduce Gradient Particle Magnetohydrodynamics (GPM), a new Lagrangian method for magnetohydrodynamics based on gradients corrected for the locally disordered particle distribution. The development of a numerical code for MHD simulation using the GPM algorithm is outlined. Validation tests simulating linear and nonlinear sound waves, linear MHD waves, advection of magnetic fields in a magnetized vortex, hydrodynamical shocks, and three-dimensional collapse are presented, demonstrating the viability of an MHD code using GPM. The characteristics of a GPM code are discussed and possible avenues for further development and refinement are mentioned. We conclude with a view of how GPM may complement other methods currently in development for the next generation of computational astrophysics.Comment: 26 pages, 11 figure

Crater lake cichlids individually specialize along the benthic-limnetic axis

A common pattern of adaptive diversification in freshwater fishes is the repeated evolution of elongated open water (limnetic) species and high-bodied shore (benthic) species from generalist ancestors. Studies on phenotype-diet correlations have suggested that population-wide individual specialization occurs at an early evolutionary and ecological stage of divergence and niche partitioning. This variable restricted niche use across individuals can provide the raw material for earliest stages of sympatric divergence. We investigated variation in morphology and diet as well as their correlations along the benthic-limnetic axis in an extremely young Midas cichlid species, Amphilophus tolteca, endemic to the Nicaraguan crater lake Asososca Managua. We found that A. tolteca varied continuously in ecologically relevant traits such as body shape and lower pharyngeal jaw morphology. The correlation of these phenotypes with niche suggested that individuals are specialized along the benthic-limnetic axis. No genetic differentiation within the crater lake was detected based on genotypes from 13 microsatellite loci. Overall, we found that individual specialization in this young crater lake species encompasses the limnetic- as well as the benthic macro-habitat. Yet there is no evidence for any diversification within the species, making this a candidate system for studying what might be the early stages preceding sympatric divergence

Electronic interactions in fullerene spheres

The electron-phonon and Coulomb interactions inC$_{60}$, and larger fullerene spheres are analyzed. The coupling between electrons and intramolecular vibrations give corrections $\sim 1 - 10$ meV to the electronic energies for C$_{60}$, and scales as $R^{-4}$ in larger molecules. The energies associated with electrostatic interactions are of order $\sim 1 - 4$ eV, in C$_{60}$ and scale as $R^{-1}$. Charged fullerenes show enhanced electron-phonon coupling, $\sim 10$ meV, which scales as $R^{-2}$. Finally, it is argued that non only C$_{60}^{-}$, but also C$_{60}^{--}$ are highly polarizable molecules. The polarizabilities scale as $R^3$ and $R^4$, respectively. The role of this large polarizability in mediating intermolecular interactions is also discussed.Comment: 12 pages. No figure

The Lorentz force in atmospheres of CP stars: θ\theta Aurigae

Several dynamical processes may induce considerable electric currents in the atmospheres of magnetic chemically peculiar (CP) stars. The Lorentz force, which results from the interaction between the magnetic field and the induced currents, modifies the atmospheric structure and induces characteristic rotational variability of the hydrogen Balmer lines. To study this phenomena we have initiated a systematic spectroscopic survey of the Balmer lines variation in magnetic CP stars. In this paper we continue presentation of results of the program focusing on the high-resolution spectral observations of A0p star \aur (HD 40312). We have detected a significant variability of the H$\alpha$, H$\beta$, and H$\gamma$ spectral lines during full rotation cycle of the star. This variability is interpreted in the framework of the model atmosphere analysis, which accounts for the Lorentz force effects. Both the inward and outward directed Lorentz forces are considered under the assumption of the axisymmetric dipole or dipole+quadrupole magnetic field configurations. We demonstrate that only the model with the outward directed Lorentz force in the dipole+quadrupole configuration is able to reproduce the observed hydrogen line variation. These results present new strong evidences for the presence of non-zero global electric currents in the atmosphere of an early-type magnetic star.Comment: 10 figure