1,938 research outputs found
Housing Assistance Payment: Potential impacts on financial incentives to work. ESRI WP610, January 2019
Since March 2017, a new income-related housing support for those with a long-term housing need called Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) has been available throughout the state. This paper examines the potential impact on financial work incentives of transferring long-run Rent Supplement recipients onto HAP with tenants’ rental contributions assessed through a national Differential Rents scheme, initially proposed by the Housing Agency but yet to be implemented. While such a system would strengthen the financial incentive for most long-term Rent Supplement claimants to be in full-time paid work, a small minority would continue to face quite weak incentives. This is driven by the receipt of multiple means-tested benefits – in particular, jobseekers allowance and one-parent family payment – which results in some low-income individuals facing very high effective marginal tax rates from relatively low levels of earnings
Log-periodic drift oscillations in self-similar billiards
We study a particle moving at unit speed in a self-similar Lorentz billiard
channel; the latter consists of an infinite sequence of cells which are
identical in shape but growing exponentially in size, from left to right. We
present numerical computation of the drift term in this system and establish
the logarithmic periodicity of the corrections to the average drift
Transport and dynamics on open quantum graphs
We study the classical limit of quantum mechanics on graphs by introducing a
Wigner function for graphs. The classical dynamics is compared to the quantum
dynamics obtained from the propagator. In particular we consider extended open
graphs whose classical dynamics generate a diffusion process. The transport
properties of the classical system are revealed in the scattering resonances
and in the time evolution of the quantum system.Comment: 42 pages, 13 figures, submitted to PR
Morphological variation of the newly confirmed population of the javelin sand boa, Eryx jaculus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Serpentes, erycidae) in Sicily, Italy
The presence of the Javelin sand boa in Sicily has recently been confirmed. Here the morphological characters and sexual dimorphism of the Sicilian population of Eryx jaculus are presented. Seven meristic and six metric characters in 96 specimens from Sicily were examined. The results show that tail length, snout-vent length, the distance between nostrils and the number of ventral and subcaudal scales are different between sexes. The characters found in the Sicilian population of the Javelin sand boa resemble those of the African population (ssp. jaculus) rather than the Eurasian population (ssp. turcicus), but biomolecular studies are necessary to understand its taxonomic identity
Equilibrium statistical mechanics on correlated random graphs
Biological and social networks have recently attracted enormous attention
between physicists. Among several, two main aspects may be stressed: A non
trivial topology of the graph describing the mutual interactions between agents
exists and/or, typically, such interactions are essentially (weighted)
imitative. Despite such aspects are widely accepted and empirically confirmed,
the schemes currently exploited in order to generate the expected topology are
based on a-priori assumptions and in most cases still implement constant
intensities for links. Here we propose a simple shift in the definition of
patterns in an Hopfield model to convert frustration into dilution: By varying
the bias of the pattern distribution, the network topology -which is generated
by the reciprocal affinities among agents - crosses various well known regimes
(fully connected, linearly diverging connectivity, extreme dilution scenario,
no network), coupled with small world properties, which, in this context, are
emergent and no longer imposed a-priori. The model is investigated at first
focusing on these topological properties of the emergent network, then its
thermodynamics is analytically solved (at a replica symmetric level) by
extending the double stochastic stability technique, and presented together
with its fluctuation theory for a picture of criticality. At least at
equilibrium, dilution simply decreases the strength of the coupling felt by the
spins, but leaves the paramagnetic/ferromagnetic flavors unchanged. The main
difference with respect to previous investigations and a naive picture is that
within our approach replicas do not appear: instead of (multi)-overlaps as
order parameters, we introduce a class of magnetizations on all the possible
sub-graphs belonging to the main one investigated: As a consequence, for these
objects a closure for a self-consistent relation is achieved.Comment: 30 pages, 4 figure
Conformal Dynamics of Precursors to Fracture
An exact integro-differential equation for the conformal map from the unit
circle to the boundary of an evolving cavity in a stressed 2-dimensional solid
is derived. This equation provides an accurate description of the dynamics of
precursors to fracture when surface diffusion is important. The solution
predicts the creation of sharp grooves that eventually lead to material failure
via rapid fracture. Solutions of the new equation are demonstrated for the
dynamics of an elliptical cavity and the stability of a circular cavity under
biaxial stress, including the effects of surface stress.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Criticality in diluted ferromagnet
We perform a detailed study of the critical behavior of the mean field
diluted Ising ferromagnet by analytical and numerical tools. We obtain
self-averaging for the magnetization and write down an expansion for the free
energy close to the critical line. The scaling of the magnetization is also
rigorously obtained and compared with extensive Monte Carlo simulations. We
explain the transition from an ergodic region to a non trivial phase by
commutativity breaking of the infinite volume limit and a suitable vanishing
field. We find full agreement among theory, simulations and previous results.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figure
The Ariel II (UK-2) International Satellite Environmental Test Program
An important new aspect of the space sciences is the associated field of reliability. The largest part of this effort on a space flight project is environmental testing. This paper presents, as an example, the successful environmental test program of the International Satellite Ariel II. Several specialized tests and unique techniques were employed to assure the quality necessary to accomplish the spacecraft mission. Valuable background information is provided on the mission, technical description, and launch of Ariel II. United Kingdom scientists have received data from more than 5000 orbits on: (a) galactic noise in the 0.75 to 3.0 Me region, (b) the vertical distribution of ozone in the earth\u27s atmosphere, and (c) micrometeoroid density
- …