Micro-simulating child poverty in 2010 and 2020

The 2008 Pre-Budget Report (PBR) said that 'the Government will take stock of progress towards its 2010 and 2020 child poverty target in the [2009] Budget'. As background to that exercise, this paper updates our previous analysis of the prospects for child poverty in the UK in 2010-11 and 2020-21

Supersymmetry of Noncompact MQCD-like Membrane Instantons and Heat Kernel Asymptotics

We perform a heat kernel asymptotics analysis of the nonperturbative superpotential obtained from wrapping of an M2-brane around a supersymmetric noncompact three-fold embedded in a (noncompact) G_2-manifold as obtained in [1], the three-fold being the one relevant to domain walls in Witten's MQCD [2], in the limit of small "zeta", a complex constant that appears in the Riemann surfaces relevant to defining the boundary conditions for the domain wall in MQCD. The MQCD-like configuration is interpretable, for small but non-zero zeta as a noncompact/"large" open membrane instanton, and for vanishing zeta, as the type IIA D0-brane (for vanishing M-theory cicle radius). We find that the eta-function Seeley de-Witt coefficients vanish, and we get a perfect match between the zeta-function Seeley de-Witt coefficients (up to terms quadratic in zeta) between the Dirac-type operator and one of the two Laplace-type operators figuring in the superpotential. This is an extremely strong signature of residual supersymmetry for the nonperturbative configurations in M-theory considered in this work.Comment: 21 pages, LaTeX; v3: several clarifying remarks added, to appear in JHE

The mechanisms of pedestrian slip on flooring contaminated with solid particles

Statistics by the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) suggest that slips, trips and falls account for up to one in three major workplace accidents. The vast majority of these accidents are the result of contaminant (fluid or solid) within the shoe-floor contact. Though the lubrication mechanisms for liquid contaminants within the contact are well understood, the same cannot be said for particulate contaminants. This paper considers the key parameters controlling friction in a shoe-floor contact contaminated with various particles of different diameters and shape factors and floors with different roughness values (Rz). Experiments were conducted using a Stanley Pendulum Tester, which is the floor friction tester recommended by the HSE. Results suggest that the adhesive friction is significantly affected by particulate contaminants, while the hysteretic component is not. Three lubrication mechanisms identified as sliding, shearing and rolling have been observed depending on floor roughness, particle size and shape factor and have been plotted in a simple map to predict behaviour

Description and evaluation of the Acoustic Profiling of Ocean Currents (APOC) system used on R. V. Oceanus cruise 96 on 11-22 May 1981

The underway current profiling system which consists of a microprocessor controlled data logger that collects and formats data from a four beam Ametek-Straza 300 kHz acoustic Doppler current profiler, heading from the ship's gyrocompass, and navigation information from a Loran-C receiver and a satellite navigation unit is discussed. Data are recorded on magnetic tape and real time is calculated. Time averaging is required to remove effects of ship motion. An intercomparison is made with a moored vector measuring current meter (VMCM). The mean difference in hourly averaged APOC and VMCM currents over the four hour intercomparison is a few mm s minus including: two Gulf Stream crossings, a warm core ring survey, and shallow water in a frontal zone to the east of Nantucket Shoals

Hydrographic data from R/V endeavor cruise #90

The final cruise of the NSF sponsored Warm Core Rings Program studied a Warm Core Ring (WCR) in the Fall of 1982 as it formed from a large northward meander of the Gulf Stream. This ring, known as 82-H or the eighth ring identified in 1982, formed over the New England Seamounts near 39.5 deg N, 65 deg W. Surveys using Expendable Bathythermographs, Conductivity-Temperature-Depth-Oxygen stations and Doppler Current Profiling provide a look at the genesis of a WCR. These measurements reveal that WCR 82-H separated from the Gulf Stream sometime between October 2-5. This ring was a typical WCR with a diameter of about 200 km and speeds in the high velocity core of the 175 cm/sec. Satellite imagery of 82-H following the cruise showed that it drifted WSW in the Slope Water region at almost 9 km/day, had at least one interaction with the Gulf Stream and was last observed on February 8, 1983 at 39 deg N, 72 deg W

Evidence against the Detectability of a Hippocampal Place Code Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Individual hippocampal neurons selectively increase their firing rates in specific spatial locations. As a population, these neurons provide a decodable representation of space that is robust against changes to sensory- and path-related cues. This neural code is sparse and distributed, theoretically rendering it undetectable with population recording methods such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Existing studies nonetheless report decoding spatial codes in the human hippocampus using such techniques. Here we present results from a virtual navigation experiment in humans in which we eliminated visual- and path-related confounds and statistical limitations present in existing studies, ensuring that any positive decoding results would represent a voxel-place code. Consistent with theoretical arguments derived from electrophysiological data and contrary to existing fMRI studies, our results show that although participants were fully oriented during the navigation task, there was no statistical evidence for a place code

EXPORT ENHANCEMENT STRATEGIES FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL FIRMS

Literature reports that small and medium firms face greater difficulty in obtaining the necessary export market information and in obtaining financing than do larger firms. Accordingly, the United States has many export promotion and enhancement services, but there is little documentation on the impacts of these services on small and medium rural and agricultural firms. The objectives of this project were to 1) analyze the export assistance needs of small and medium rural and agricultural firms operating in the Northern Plains region at different stages of the export or internationalization process, 2) identify available export assistance and promotion services offered at the federal and state levels to meet the needs of these firms, and 3) identify factors that may increase the effectiveness of export assistance programs. The primary assistance these firms wanted from the government was help in documenting their exports. The primary reasons firms did not seek government assistance were a lack of knowledge of the service and the service is not useful. The most often used non-government information sources were trade or industry associations and banks. Accordingly, policy makers should emphasize programs that complement efforts of private organizations and that target the needs and interests of the firms.export, rural, agriculture, export assistance, Northern Plains, government, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Development,

The influence of the strength of bone on the deformation of acetabular shells : a laboratory experiment in cadavers

Date of Acceptance: 24/08/2014 ©2015 The British Editorial Society of Bone & Joint Surgery. The authors would like to thank N. Taylor (3D Measurement Company) for his work with regard to data acquisition and processing of experimental data. We would also like to thank Dr A. Blain of Newcastle University for performing the statistical analysis The research was supported by the NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre. The authors P. Dold, M. Flohr and R. Preuss are employed by Ceramtec GmbH. Martin Bone received a salary from the joint fund. The author or one or more of the authors have received or will receive benefits for personal or professional use from a commercial party related directly or indirectly to the subject of this article. This article was primary edited by G. Scott and first proof edited by J. Scott.Peer reviewedPostprin