The Changing Education Distribution and Income Inequality in Great Britain

Over the past years, education attainment has increased at an unprecedented rate in Great Britain. We analyse how the education expansion affected inequality in household net incomes since the early 2000s. We show that, all else being equal, education composition changes led to higher living standards mostly through higher wages. As education expansion led to larger income gains in the middle and top than at the bottom of the distribution, income inequality increased. Despite the increasing share of high-educated workers, we find limited evidence of a ‘compression’ effect on inequality, as the higher education wage premium remained broadly unchanged

Evaluating the performance of means-tested benefits in Bulgaria

Using household survey data and microsimulation techniques, we analyse the performance of three means-tested benefits in Bulgaria. We find that the transfers reach a small proportion of households with incomes below a relative poverty line, they have high non take-up rates, and large proportions of the recipients are neither poor nor entitled to receive the benefits. Unsurprisingly, although an important income source for poor households, the benefits have a very small impact on reducing the poverty rates. We show that our results are robust to potential underreporting of benefit receipt in the household survey. Finally, we analyse the effect of five reform scenarios, one of which fiscally neutral, on poverty and find that there is a large scope for policy improvement

Error analysis of digital panoramic radiographs taken at the wits oral health centre

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Dentistry. Johannesburg, 2016Aim: The aim of this research was to carry out a prospective analysis of digital panoramic positioning errors with a view to assessing how closely internationally recommended targets of Quality Assurance (QA) in Dental Radiology are met in the Radiology section of the Department of General Dental Practice (GDP), Wits Oral Health Centre (WOHC). Method and Materials: Six hundred digital panoramic radiographs, taken as a sequential sample, were visually examined and evaluated for eleven (11) categories of prevalent positioning errors. All positioning faults were recorded based on assessment criteria and the diagnostic quality of each radiograph was determined on a scale of 1 to 3 and compared to British Dental Association (BDA) internationally recommended targets. Random sub-samples of 20% were re-examined at two (2) weeks and four (4) weeks to determine intra-observer reliability, and once by an outside observer to determine inter-observer agreement. Results: The most common positioning error was that the tongue was not placed against the palate (34.3%). The percentage of “excellent” radiographs (34.5%) was significantly below the BDA standard of ≥ 70% (p<0.0001). The percentage of “diagnostically acceptable” radiographs (44.5%) was significantly above the BDA standard of ≤ 20% (p<0.0001). The percentage of “totally unacceptable” radiographs (21.0%) was significantly above the BDA standard of ≤ 10% (p<0.0001). In other words, the results for the quality of the digital panoramic radiographs for the Wits Oral Health Centre did not meet the BDA standards. In conclusion, more meticulous training of students and operators is recommended.MT201

The evolution of solar sigmoidal active regions

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston UniversityThe formation, evolution and eruption of solar active regions is a main theme in solar physics. Ultimately the goal is predicting when, where and how an eruption will occur, which will greatly aid space weather forecasting. Special kinds of S-shaped active regions (sigmoids) facilitate this line of research, since they provide conditions that are easier to disentangle and have a high probability for erupting as flares and/or coronal mass ejections (CME). Several theories have been proposed for the formation, evolution, and eruption of solar active regions. Testing these against detailed models of sigmoidal regions can provide insight into the dominant mechanisms and conditions required for eruption. This thesis explores the behavior of solar sigmoids via both observational and magnetic modeling studies. Data from the most modern space-based solar observatories are utilized in addition to state-of-the-art three-dimensional data-driven magnetic field modeling to gain insight into the physical processes controlling the evolution and eruption of solar sigmoids. We use X-ray observations and the magnetic field models to introduce the reader to the underlying magnetic and plasma structure defining these regions. By means of a large comprehensive observational study we investigate the formation and evolution mechanism. Specifically, we show that flux cancellation is a major mechanism for building the underlying magnetic structure associated with sigmoids, namely magnetic flux ropes. We make use of topological analysis to describe the complicated magnetic field structure of the sigmoids. We show that when data-driven models are used in sync with MHD simulations and observations we can arrive at a consistent picture of the scenario for CME onset, namely the positive feedback between reconnection at a generalized X-line and the torus instability. In addition we show that topological analysis is of great use in analyzing the post-eruption flare- and CME-associated observational features. Such analysis is used to extend the standard 2D flare/CME models to 3D and to find potentially large implications of topology to understanding 3D reconnection and the seed populations of energetic particles in CMEs

Did the UK policy response to Covid-19 protect household incomes?

We analyse the UK policy response to Covid-19 and its impact on household incomes in the UK in April and May 2020, using microsimulation methods. We estimate that households lost a substantial share of their net income of 6.9% on average. But policies protected household incomes to a substantial degree: compared to the drop in net income, GDP per capita fell by 18.9% between the first and second quarter of 2020. Earnings subsidies (the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme) protected household finances and provided the main insurance mechanism during the crisis. Besides subsidies, Covid-related increases to state benefits, as well as the automatic stabilisers in the tax and benefit system, played an important role in mitigating the income losses. However, analysing the impact of a near-decade of austerity on the UK safety net, we find that, compared to 2011 policies, the 2020 pre-Covid tax-benefit policies would have been less effective in insuring incomes against the shocks. We also assess the potential distributional impact of introducing a Universal Basic Income (UBI) instead of the Covid emergency measures and find that a UBI would have supported the incomes of different vulnerable groups but would have provided less protection to those hit hardest by the labour market shocks

Europe Through the Crisis: Discretionary Policy Changes and Automatic Stabilizers

Tax‐benefit policies affect changes in household incomes through two main channels: discretionary policy changes and automatic stabilizers. We study their role in the EU countries in 2007–14 using an extended decomposition approach. Our results show that the two policy actions often reduced rather than increased inequality of net incomes, and so helped offset the inequality‐increasing impact of growing disparities in gross market incomes. While inequality reductions were achieved mainly through benefits using both routes, policy changes to and the automatic stabilization response of taxes and contributions raised inequality in some countries and lowered it in others

EFFECT OF THE FLOOR MAINTEMENT SYSTEMS ON THE CONTENT OF PHOSPHORUS IN THE SOIL AND CHERRY TREES

The study was carried out in an experimental sweet cherry plantation, established in the spring of 1991 at the Institute of Agriculture - Kyustendil, Bulgaria on Chromic Luvisols (LVch), heavy loamy soil. It was found that with the application of considerable amounts of phosphorous and potassium (1200 kg/ha P2O5 and 1000 kg/ha K2O) with the pre-planting mineral fertilization was provided a moderate supply of the soil, up to the fourth year after planting. Afterwards soil phosphorous balance was with a negative value. With the green manuring after the rye-peas mixture growing, for the period of investigation 9.8-10.5 kg/m2 fresh plant matter was incorporated in the soil, containing 0.84-0.88% P2O5. Significantly higher quantity plant matter - about 28.5 kg/m2 was removed by the interrows crops and the phosphorous content was from 0.75 to 0.78% of the dry matter content. As a whole, average for the experimental period less supplied with phosphorous were the leaves of the cultivar Bing at the lower nitrogen (N100) fertilizer norm. This was most strongly manifested in the permanent fallow