4,588 research outputs found
In Work Policies In Europe: Killing Two Birds With One Stone?
Earning an income is probably the best way to avoid poverty and social exclusion, hence the recent trend of promoting employment through in-work transfers in OECD countries. Yet, the relative consensus on the need for Ă«making work payĂ policies is muddied by a number of concerns relative to the design of the reforms and the treatment of the family dimension. Relying on EUROMOD, a EU-15 integrated tax-benefit microsimulation software, we simulate two types of in-work benefits. The first one is means-tested on family income, in the fashion of the British Working Family Tax Credit, while the second is a purely individualized low wage subsidy. Both reforms are built on the same cost basis (after behavioral responses) and simulated in three European countries which experience severe poverty traps, namely Finland, France and Germany. The potential labor supply responses to the reforms and the subsequent redistributive impacts are assessed for each country using a structural discrete-choice model. We compare how both reforms achieve poverty reduction and social inclusion (measured as the number of transitions into activity). All three countries present different initial conditions, including institutional environment, existing tax-benefit systems and distribution of incomes and wages. These sources of heterogeneity are exploited together with different labor supply sensitivities to explain the cross-country differences in the impact of the reforms.microsimulation, tax-benefit systems, in-work benefits, household labor supply, multinomial logit.
The unitary ability of IQ and indexes in WAIS-IV
Lichtenberger and Kaufman (2009, p. 167) defined unitary ability as âan ability [âŠ] that is represented by a cohesive set of scaled scores, each reflecting slightly different or unique aspects of the abilityâ. Flanagan and Kaufman (2009) and Lichtenberger and Kaufman (2012) used a difference of 23 IQ points between the highest score (Max) and the lowest score (Min) obtained by a subject in the four Indexes of the WAIS-IV to define unitarity of the total IQ score. A similar method has been used to assess the unitary ability of the four Indexes, with a threshold of 5 points. Such difference scores (of 23 for IQ and 5 for Indexes) are considered high and infrequent and the authors therefore conclude that the corresponding Full-Scale IQ score or Index score is uninterpretable. In this paper we argue that these thresholds are inappropriate because they are based on the wrong standard deviation. The main aim of this study was to establish variability thresholds for IQ and the WAIS-IV Indexes for the American standardization sample and to compare these thresholds with those for the Italian standardization sample. We also consider an alternative approach to determining whether an IQ score represents a unitary ability, based on the maximum difference score for the 10 core subtests that contribute to Full-Scale IQ scores
Strategies for improved yield and water use efficiency of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) through simplified soilless cultivation under semi-arid climate
Simplified soilless cultivation (SSC) systems have globally spread as growing solutions for low fertility soil regions, low availability of water irrigation, small areas and polluted environments. In the present study, four independent experiments were conducted for assessing the applicability of SSC in the northeast of Brazil (NE-Brazil) and the central dry zone of Myanmar (CDZ-Myanmar). In the first two experiments, the potentiality for lettuce crop production and water use efficiency (WUE) in an SSC system compared to traditional on-soil cultivation was addressed. Then, the definition of how main crop features (cultivar, nutrient solution concentration, system orientation and crop position) within the SSC system affect productivity was evidenced. The adoption of SSC improved yield (+35% and +72%, in NE-Brazil and CDZ-Myanmar) and WUE (7.7 and 2.7 times higher, in NE-Brazil and CDZ-Myanmar) as compared to traditional on-soil cultivation. In NE-Brazil, an eastern orientation of the system enabled achievement of higher yield for some selected lettuce cultivars. Furthermore, in both the considered contexts, a lower concentration of the nutrient solution (1.2 vs. 1.8 dS mâ1) and an upper plant position within the SSC system enabled achievement of higher yield and WUE. The experiments validate the applicability of SSC technologies for lettuce cultivation in tropical areas
Using XDAQ in Application Scenarios of the CMS Experiment
XDAQ is a generic data acquisition software environment that emerged from a
rich set of of use-cases encountered in the CMS experiment. They cover not the
deployment for multiple sub-detectors and the operation of different processing
and networking equipment as well as a distributed collaboration of users with
different needs. The use of the software in various application scenarios
demonstrated the viability of the approach. We discuss two applications, the
tracker local DAQ system for front-end commissioning and the muon chamber
validation system. The description is completed by a brief overview of XDAQ.Comment: Conference CHEP 2003 (Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics,
La Jolla, CA
XPOL-III: a New-Generation VLSI CMOS ASIC for High-Throughput X-ray Polarimetry
While the successful launch and operation in space of the Gas Pixel Detectors
onboard the PolarLight cubesat and the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer
demonstrate the viability and the technical soundness of this class of
detectors for astronomical X-ray polarimetry, it is clear that the current
state of the art is not ready to meet the challenges of the next generation of
experiments, such as the enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry mission,
designed to allow for a significantly larger data throughput.
In this paper we describe the design and test of a new custom,
self-triggering readout ASIC, dubbed XPOL-III, specifically conceived to
address and overcome these limitations. While building upon the overall
architecture of the previous generations, the new chip improves over its
predecessors in several, different key areas: the sensitivity of the trigger
electronics, the flexibility in the definition of the readout window, as well
as the maximum speed for the serial event readout. These design improvements,
when combined, allow for almost an order of magnitude smaller dead time per
event with no measurable degradation of the polarimetric, spectral, imaging or
timing capability of the detector, providing a good match for the next
generation of X-ray missions.Comment: accepted for publication at Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics
Research Section
Combining estimates of interest in prognostic modelling studies after multiple imputation: current practice and guidelines
Background: Multiple imputation (MI) provides an effective approach to handle missing covariate
data within prognostic modelling studies, as it can properly account for the missing data
uncertainty. The multiply imputed datasets are each analysed using standard prognostic modelling
techniques to obtain the estimates of interest. The estimates from each imputed dataset are then
combined into one overall estimate and variance, incorporating both the within and between
imputation variability. Rubin's rules for combining these multiply imputed estimates are based on
asymptotic theory. The resulting combined estimates may be more accurate if the posterior
distribution of the population parameter of interest is better approximated by the normal
distribution. However, the normality assumption may not be appropriate for all the parameters of
interest when analysing prognostic modelling studies, such as predicted survival probabilities and
model performance measures.
Methods: Guidelines for combining the estimates of interest when analysing prognostic modelling
studies are provided. A literature review is performed to identify current practice for combining
such estimates in prognostic modelling studies.
Results: Methods for combining all reported estimates after MI were not well reported in the
current literature. Rubin's rules without applying any transformations were the standard approach
used, when any method was stated.
Conclusion: The proposed simple guidelines for combining estimates after MI may lead to a wider
and more appropriate use of MI in future prognostic modelling studies
X-ray microscopy of living multicellular organisms with the Prague Asterix Iodine Laser System
Soft X-ray contact microscopy (SXCM) experiments have been performed
using the Prague Asterix Iodine Laser System (PALS). Laser wavelength
and pulse duration were λ = 1.314 ÎŒm and Ï (FWHM) = 450 ps,
respectively. Pulsed X rays were generated using teflon, gold, and
molybdenum targets with laser intensities I â„
1014 W/cm2. Experiments have been performed
on the nematodes Caenorhabditis elegans. Images were recorded
on PMMA photo resists and analyzed using an atomic force microscope
operating in contact mode. Our preliminary results indicate the
suitability of the SXCM for multicellular specimens
- âŠ