3,770 research outputs found
Tackling concentrated worklessness: integrating governance and policy across and within spatial scales
Spatial concentrations of worklessness remained a key characteristic of labour markets in advanced industrial economies, even during the period of decline in aggregate levels of unemployment and economic inactivity evident from the late 1990s to the economic downturn in 2008. The failure of certain localities to benefit from wider improvements in regional and national labour markets points to a lack of effectiveness in adopted policy approaches, not least in relation to the governance arrangements and policy delivery mechanisms that seek to integrate residents of deprived areas into wider local labour markets. Through analysis of practice in the British context, we explore the difficulties of integrating economic and social policy agendas within and across spatial scales to tackle problems of concentrated worklessness. We present analysis of a number of selected case studies aimed at reducing localised worklessness and identify the possibilities and constraints for effective action given existing governance arrangements and policy priorities to promote economic competitiveness and inclusion
Estimation of Effective Lens Position Using a Method Independent of Preoperative Keratometry Readings
Purpose
To evaluate the validity of a keratometry (K)-independent method of estimating effective lens position (ELP) before phacoemulsification cataract surgery. Setting
Institute of Eye Surgery, Whitfield Clinic, Waterford, Ireland. Design
Evaluation of diagnostic test or technology. Methods
The anterior chamber diameter and corneal height in eyes scheduled for cataract surgery were measured with a rotating Scheimpflug camera. Corneal height and anterior chamber diameter were used to estimate the ELP in a K-independent method (using the SRK/T [ELPrs] and Holladay 1 [ELPrh] formulas). Results
The mean ELP was calculated using the traditional (mean ELPs 5.59 mm ± 0.52 mm [SD]; mean ELPh 5.63 ± 0.42 mm) and K-independent (mean ELPrs 5.55 ± 0.42 mm; mean ELPrh ± SD 5.60 ± 0.36 mm) methods. Agreement between ELPs and ELPrs and between ELPh and ELPrh were represented by Bland-Altman plots, with mean differences (± 1.96 SD) of 0.06 ± 0.65 mm (range â0.59 to +0.71 mm; P=.08) in association with ELPrs and â0.04 ± 0.39 mm (range â0.43 to +0.35 mm; P=.08) in association with ELPrh. The mean absolute error for ELPs versus ELPrs estimation and for ELPh versus ELPrh estimation was 0.242 ± 0.222 mm (range 0.001 to 1.272 mm) and 0.152 ± 0.137 mm (range 0.001 to 0.814 mm), respectively. Conclusion
This study confirms that the K-independent ELP estimation method is comparable to traditional K-dependent methods and may be useful in post-refractive surgery patients
Evolution of low-mass star and brown dwarf eclipsing binaries
We examine the evolution of low-mass star and brown dwarf eclipsing binaries.
These objects are rapid rotators and are believed to shelter large magnetic
fields. We suggest that reduced convective efficiency, due to fast rotation and
large field strengths, and/or to magnetic spot coverage of the radiating
surface significantly affect their evolution, leading to a reduced heat flux
and thus larger radii and cooler effective temperatures than for regular
objects. We have considered such processes in our evolutionary calculations,
using a phenomenological approach. This yields mass-radius and effective
temperature-radius relationships in agreement with the observations. We also
reproduce the effective temperature ratio and the radii of the two components
of the recently discovered puzzling eclipsing brown dwarf system. These
calculations show that fast rotation and/or magnetic activity may significantly
affect the evolution of eclipsing binaries and that the mechanical and thermal
properties of these objects depart from the ones of non-active low-mass
objects. We find that, for internal field strengths compatible with the
observed surface value of a few kiloGauss, convection can be severely
inhibited. The onset of a central radiative zone for rapidly rotating active
low-mass stars might thus occur below the usual \sim 0.35 \msol limit.Comment: to appear in A&A Letter
The impact of the direct payment of housing benefit: evidence from Great Britain
In recent years, a number of welfare reforms have been introduced in the UK by Conservative-led governments. The most high profile of these is Universal Credit (UC), which is currently being rolled out across the country. A key feature of UC is a change in the way the income-related housing allowance for social housing tenants (Housing Benefit) is administered, as under UC, it is paid directly to tenants (direct payment), who are responsible for paying their rent. This represents a step change for them as for more than 30 years landlord payment has been the norm in the UK. There has been little research into direct payment. This paper seeks to address this gap in knowledge by presenting the key findings of an initiative designed to trial direct payment. It finds that many tenants experienced difficulties on direct payment. Reflecting this, landlords' arrears rose markedly
Improving energy efficiency in private rented housing : what makes landlords act?
The private rented sector in England contains some of the least energy efficient properties in the
country and houses more vulnerable households than any other sector. Occupants endure dangerously
cold homes and fuel poverty but have no direct influence over the energy performance of their homes.
The choices that occupants make regarding energy are constrained by the material characteristics of a
property: something only the landlord can alter. Enduringly poor conditions in the sector indicate that
an initiative that convinces landlords of the benefits of improving energy efficiency remains elusive.
Based on a review of existing research and 30 interviews with landlords, this paper identifies factors
which deter landlords from acting to improve energy efficiency. Factors include lack of knowledge
regarding the consequences of energy inefficiency and possible solutions, the absence of direct financial
incentives (the principalâagent problem), local housing market and cultural factors. It also identifies
a number of motivating factors that may encourage landlords to invest in energy efficiency. It is argued
that policies to tackle energy inefficiency in the sector should take account of these factors in order to
improve effectiveness.
Keywords
Private rented sector, Domestic energy efficiency, Principalâagent, The Green Deal, Private landlords,
Split incentiv
The pupil's response to affective pictures: Role of image duration, habituation, and viewing mode
The pupil has been shown to be sensitive to the emotional content of stimuli. We examined this phenomenon by comparing fearful and neutral images carefully matched in the domains of luminance, image contrast, image color, and complexity of content. The pupil was more dilated after viewing affective pictures, and this effect was (a) shown to be independent of the presentation time of the images (from 100â3,000 ms), (b) not diminished by repeated presentations of the images, and (c) not affected by actively naming the emotion of the stimuli in comparison to passive viewing. Our results show that the emotional modulation of the pupil is present over a range of variables that typically vary from study to study (image duration, number of trials, free viewing vs. task), and encourages the use of pupillometry as a measure of emotional processing in populations where alternative techniques may not be appropriate
Putting the squeeze on "Generation Rent": housing benefit claimants in the private rented sector - transitions, marginality and stigmatisation
The term 'Generation Rent' has gained currency in recent years to reflect the fact that more 25 to 34 year olds in Britain now live in rented accommodation rather than owner-occupation. The term also conveys the extent to which age-related divisions in the housing market are becoming as significant as longer standing tenure divisions. However, this portmanteau term covers a wide array of different housing circumstances - from students, young professionals and transient households to the working and non-working poor. This paper focuses on the position of a specific category of this age cohort - those 25 to 34 year olds living in self-contained accommodation in the private rented sector who are in receipt of Housing Benefit. On the basis of survey evidence and qualitative interviews with landlords and housing advisers, the paper considers how the marginal economic and housing market position of this age group is being reinforced by the stigmatising attitudes of landlords which formerly applied to tenants in their late teens and early 20s and are now being extended further along the age band. The paper suggests that the use of a 'housing pathways' approach to signify the housing transitions of young adults needs to be revisited, to give greater weight to collective and creative responses to constraints in the housing market and to recognise the key role played by gatekeepers such as landlords in stigmatising groups according to assumed age-related attributes
Interpretation of radio continuum and molecular line observations of Sgr B2: free-free and synchrotron emission, and implications for cosmic rays
Recent ammonia (1,1) inversion line data on the Galactic star forming region
Sgr B2 show that the column density is consistent with a radial Gaussian
density profile with a standard deviation of 2.75 pc. Deriving a formula for
the virial mass of spherical Gaussian clouds, we obtain a virial mass of 1.9
million solar masses for Sgr B2. For this matter distribution, a reasonable
magnetic field and an impinging flux of cosmic rays of solar neighbourhood
intensity, we predict the expected synchrotron emission from the Sgr B2 giant
molecular cloud due to secondary electrons and positrons resulting from cosmic
ray interactions, including effects of losses due to pion production collisions
during diffusive propagation into the cloud complex.
We assemble radio continuum data at frequencies between 330 MHz and 230 GHz.
From the spectral energy distribution the emission appears to be thermal at
all frequencies. Before using these data to constrain the predicted synchrotron
flux, we first model the spectrum as free-free emission from the known ultra
compact HII regions plus emission from an envelope or wind with a radial
density gradient. This severely constrains the possible synchrotron emission by
secondary electrons to quite low flux levels. The absence of a significant
contribution by secondary electrons is almost certainly due to multi-GeV energy
cosmic rays being unable to penetrate far into giant molecular clouds. This
would also explain why 100 MeV--GeV gamma-rays (from neutral pion decay or
bremsstrahlung by secondary electrons) were not observed from Sgr B2 by EGRET,
while TeV energy gamma-rays were observed, being produced by higher energy
cosmic rays which more readily penetrate giant molecular clouds.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures. New section on diffusion of primary and
secondary cosmic ray electrons into and within the Sgr B2 Giant Molecular
Cloud added. Main corrections to proofs made in this versio
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