The One Dimensional Damped Forced Harmonic Oscillator Revisited

In this paper we give a general solution to the problem of the damped harmonic oscillator under the influence of an arbitrary time-dependent external force. We employ simple methods accessible for beginners and useful for undergraduate students and professors in an introductory course of mechanics.Comment: 4 Latex page

Creaming and parking in marketized employment services: an Anglo-German comparison

The delivery of public services by nonprofit and for-profit providers alters the nature of services and jobs, often in unintended and undesired ways. We argue that these effects depend on the degree to which the service is ‘marketised’, i.e. whether its funder subjects it to price-based competition. Using case studies of British and German employment services, this paper scrutinises the link between funding practices and service quality. Of particular concern in marketised employment services is the problem of ‘creaming and parking’, in which providers select job-ready clients for services and neglect clients more distant from the labour market. We explore three questions. What are the mechanisms through which marketization produces creaming and parking? What are the differences between these mechanisms in commercial and non-commercial service providers? Which national institutions might serve as a buffer for the landscape of service provision facing price-based competition

Insertion as an alternative to workfare: active labour-market schemes in the Parisian suburbs

Many governments have tightened the link between welfare and work by attaching conditionality to out-of-work benefits, extending these requirements to new client groups, and imposing market competition and greater managerial control in service delivery – principles typically characterised as ‘workfare’. Based on field research in Seine-Saint-Denis, we examine French ‘insertion’ schemes aimed at disadvantaged but potentially job-ready clients, characterized by weak conditionality, low marketization, strong professional autonomy, and local network control. We show that insertion systems have resisted policy attempts to expand workfare-derived principles, reflecting street-level actors’ belief in the key advantages of the former over the latter. In contrast with arguments stressing institutional and cultural stickiness, our explanation for this resistance thus highlights the decentralized network governance of front-line services and the limits to central government power

Nekton community of the Scotia Sea as sampled by the RMT 25 during austral summer

The nekton community was sampled by a Rectangular Midwater Trawl (RMT 25) over the upper 1000 m of the Scotia Sea dunng January 1991. A total of 81 nekton and micronekton species were collected from 2 sites, one in the oceanlc western Scotia Sea (Stn 1) and the other on the northwestern slope of the South Georgia shelf (Stn 2). Species composition, abundance, biomass and day/night vertical distribution were investigated. Crustaceans were the most important group in terms of species numbers (28 species) followed by mesopelagic fish (24), molluscs (15) and coelenterates (11). Species diversity increased with depth and was higher at Stn 2 (76 species) than at Stn 1 (62 specles). Biomass in the upper 1000 m was considerably higher at Stn 1 (94.6 g wet wt m-2 during daytime, 87 g wet wt m-2 during night) than at Stn 2 (10.2 and 23.7 g wet wt m-2, respectively), mostly due to dense concentrations of the tunicate Salpa thompsoni (41.6 g wet wt m-2 during night). The other main contributors to the high biomass at Stn 1 were coelenterates (28.3 g wet wt m-2 during night) and mesopelagic fish (4.9 g wet wt m-2 during night). Euphausiids (Euphausia triacantha and E. superba) accounted for 1.5 g wet wt m-2 at Stn 2 during night, with E. triacantha the more important of the two (1.4 g wet wt m-2). Except for Bathylagus antarcticus all common mesopelagic fishes showed a marked diurnal vertical migration (i.e. Electrona antarctica, Gymnoscopelus brauen, Krefftichthys anderssoni, Protomyctophum bolini). During daylight they stayed in the core of the Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW, 400 to 800 m) and at night they were mainly distnbuted in the Antarctic Surface Water (ASW, 0 to 400 m). Other species with pronounced vertical migration were the hydromedusa Calycopsis borchgrevinki, the squid Brachioteuthis ?picta, and the euphausiid Euphausia triacantha. The scyphomedusae Atolla wyvillei and Periphylla periphylla and the crustaceans Cyphocaris richardi, Gigantocypris mulleri and Pasiphaea scotiae did not appear to migrate and remained concentrated in the CDW. Spatial variability was analysed by multivariate data analyses (clustering techniques) and related to hydrography. Four main groups, characterised by different nekton communities, were derived: (1) a lower mesopelagic nekton community from the deeper layers of the CDW, apparent at both stations, (2) an upper mesopelagic nekton community from the core of the CDW, apparent at both stations, (3) an epipelagic nekton community from the ASW over the South Georgia slope (Stn 2) and finally (4) an epipelagic nekton community from the ASW of the oceanic Scotia Sea (Stn 1). The performance of the midwater trawl is discussed as it has a substantial impact on the catchability of the nekton. The presented data provide new information on the structure and spatial variability of Antarchc nekton communities and emphasise the geographical and vertical discontinuities between communities

Growth Effects of Non-Devolved Government Expenditure: Evidence from ARDL Approach to Co integration

Although it is theoretically expected that fiscal decentralization leads to efficient provision of local public services and induces economic growth, there is a mixed outcome of the non-devolved and devolved effect on economic expansion across earlier empirical studies. This could be due to non growth-enhancing expenditures that crowd-out outlays that are meant to boost economic growth. Further, devolved allocation is small, about 15 % of total revenue, to full stimulate economic growth in Kenya. However, national government spends a substantial amount in counties to complement devolved expenditure. Therefore, the issue of which non-devolved expenditure by national government can foster permanent movements in county economic growth becomes core. The panel ARDL and Kao co integration technique were used to test the linkage between non-devolved expenditure and economic growth in Kenya during the period, 2013-2017. The panel ARDL regression results revealed that the effect of non-devolved expenditure on economic growth was positive and significant in both long-run and short-run. The findings provide a basis for recommendation on the need for national government to increase budget allocation and execution in counties to complement devolved expenditure and also stimulate county economic growth in long-run. Keywords: Non-devolved, Economic growth, Kenya, ARDL, Expenditure, Panel DOI: 10.7176/JESD/10-14-12 Publication date:July 31st 201

Digi-housekeeping: the invisible work of flexibility

From an analysis of everyday practices of flexible working captured in video diaries, a form of pervasive but invisible support work is identified and presented. Labelled ‘digi-housekeeping’ this is work that is required to maintain the digital tools that enable flexible working, and incorporates the tasks of clearing, sorting, preparing, provisioning and trouble-shooting. Through the sociocultural processes of responsibilization, personalization and work extension, interpreted here as emblematic of wider neoliberal contemporary work arrangements, digi-housekeeping is devalued and made invisible, characterising these tasks as not ‘real’ work. Classifying these tasks as not ‘real’ work is a new kind of boundary work that supports the continuing displacement of work activities onto individual workers. It is argued that such tasks need to be made visible in order to address feelings of work intensification

Undergraduate student experience in dental service delivery in rural South Australia: An analysis of costs and benefits

The document attached has been archived with permission from the Australian Dental Association. An external link to the publisher’s copy is included.Background: Rural experience for dental students can provide valuable clinical education, change attitudes to rural practice, and make a valuable contribution to clinical service provision. The aim of this paper is to assess the costs and benefits of service delivery by students through rural training programmes. Methods: Groups of two students worked in the public dental clinics in adjacent rural centres where there had been long-term difficulties in recruiting staff. The costs and benefits of the programme were assessed by the impact on waiting lists, the total cost per patient of a course of care and by the marginal cost of adding service provision by students to existing arrangements. Results: The total costs of emergency and complete treatment provided by students were greater than the costs of treatment provided by public-sector dentists but less than the costs of private providers treating public patients. However, the value of services were greater when care was provided by students or private providers and the marginal cost of students providing services was 50-70 per cent of the cost of care provided by public dentists. Conclusion: This assessment suggests that the service benefits achieved compliment the primary objective of influencing the attitude of students to rural practice.L Richards, B Symon, D Burrow, A Chartier, G Misan and D Wilkinso

An integrative literature review of psychosocial factors in the transition to parenthood following non-donor-assisted reproduction compared with spontaneously conceiving couples

An integrative literature review of research into the psychosocial factors which shape the transition to parenthood in couples following non-donor in vitro fertilisation in comparison with spontaneously conceiving couples was undertaken following adapted PRISMA guidelines. Nineteen papers of non-donor IVF and SC mothers and fathers were included in the review. This is the first review to report on research comparing the transition to parenthood of couples following successful non-donor singleton AR and SC couples. The small number of studies were over reliant on survey methodologies. Differences between groups were reported on a range of psychosocial measures during the transition from pregnancy to parenthood: locus of control, parental adjustment and child behaviour, parental stress, parental investment in the child, self-esteem and self-efficacy, greater levels of protectiveness (separation anxiety) towards child, marital and family functioning, family alliance, marital satisfaction and communication as well anxiety, indirect aggression and less respect for child. We have conceptualised these differences as three substantive themes which reflect psychosocial factors shaping transition to parenthood in parents after non-donor AR: social support, relationships, and emotional well-being which are in turn intersected by gender differences. These findings have implications for health care professionals’ assessment of individual couples’ support needs

On the regular-geometric-figure solution to the N-body problem

The regular-geometric-figure solution to the $N$-body problem is presented in a very simple way. The Newtonian formalism is used without resorting to a more involved rotating coordinate system. Those configurations occur for other kinds of interactions beyond the gravitational ones for some special values of the parameters of the forces. For the harmonic oscillator, in particular, it is shown that the $N$-body problem is reduced to $N$ one-body problems.Comment: To appear in Eur. J. Phys. (5 pages

“The Reformation of the 21st Century?” Church of England clergy experiences of ministry during the Covid-19 Pandemic

The research reported here was conducted independently within the Diocese of Oxford by: Prof Gillian Symon, School of Business and Management, Royal Holloway University of London; Dr Rebecca Whiting, Department of Organizational Psychology, Birkbeck University of London; and Dr Rebecca Taylor, Department of Sociology, University of Southampton. The report is based on 40 open-ended interviews with clergy in the diocese which took place between June 2020 and October 2021. These interviews explored the experience of clergy as they delivered spiritual, psychological, and social care during the various stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, with a particular focus on the effects of the digitalisation of practice. The report summarises the perceptions and views of these participants