22,400 research outputs found
The lone parent pilots after 12 to 24 months: an impact assessment of in-work credit, work search premium, extended schools childcare, quarterly work focused interviews and new deal plus for lone parents
From April 2004, a set of Government policies designed to help lone parents into work have been piloted in various combinations in a number of Jobcentre Plus districts in Great Britain. The five policies are: In Work Credit (IWC), Work Search Premium (WSP), Extended Schools Childcare (ESC) and Childcare Tasters, Quarterly Work Focused Interviews (QWFIs) for lone parents whose youngest child is aged 12 or over in Local Education Authorities (LEAs) in which an ESC pilot is operating (ESQWFI), and New Deal Plus for Lone Parents (ND+fLP), hereafter collectively referred to as 'the lone parent pilots' (LPPs or 'the pilots'). The pilots were rolled out in four Phases, the first three of which are analysed in this report.
This report estimates the impact of the LPPs on lone parents who have received Income Support (IS) or Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) for at least 12 months. It uses a difference-in-differences (DiD) estimator, and makes use of lone parents in districts not operating a pilot as a comparison group. The data covers the first 12 months (Phase 3 districts) to the first 24 months (Phase 1 districts) of the pilots' operation, and so should be seen as giving the early impacts. Impacts were estimated separately for the stock of lone parents who had been on benefit for at least 12 months when the pilots began, and the flow sample of lone parents whose claim of IS/JSA reached 12 months after the pilots began
The Possible Interstellar Anion CH2CN-: Spectroscopic Constants, Vibrational Frequencies, and Other Considerations
It is hypothesized that the A ^1B_1 <- X ^1A' excitation into the
dipole-bound state of the cyanomethyl anion (CH2CN-) is proposed as the carrier
for one diffuse interstellar band. However, this particular molecular system
has not been detected in the interstellar medium even though the related
cyanomethyl radical and the isoelectronic ketenimine molecule have been found.
In this study we are employing the use of proven quartic force fields and
second-order vibrational perturbation theory to compute accurate spectroscopic
constants and fundamental vibrational frequencies for ^1A' CH2CN- in order to
assist in laboratory studies and astronomical observations
A deep Chandra observation of the cluster environment of the z=1.786 radio galaxy 3C294
We report the results from a 200 ks Chandra observation of the z=1.786 radio
galaxy 3C294 and its cluster environment, increasing by tenfold our earlier
observation. The diffuse emission, extending about 100 kpc around the nucleus,
has a roughly hourglass shape in the N-S direction with surprisingly sharp
edges to the N and S. The spectrum of the diffuse emission is well fitted by
either a thermal model of temperature 3.5 keV and abundance <0.9 solar
(2-sigma), or a power-law with photon index 2.3. If the emission is due to hot
gas then the sharp edges mean that it is probably not in hydrostatic
equilibrium. Much of the emission is plausibly due to inverse Compton
scattering of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) by nonthermal electrons
produced earlier by the radio source. The required relativistic electrons would
be of much lower energy and older than those responsible for the present radio
lobes. This could account for the lack of detailed spatial correspondence
between the X-rays and the radio emission, the axis of which is at a position
angle of about 45 deg. Hot gas would still be required to confine the
relativistic plasma; the situation could parallel that of the radio bubbles
seen as holes in nearby clusters, except that in 3C294 the bubbles are bright
in X-rays owing to the extreme power in the source and the sixty fold increase
in the energy density of the CMB. The X-ray spectrum of the radio nucleus is
hard, showing a reflection spectrum and iron line. The source is therefore an
obscured radio-loud quasar.Comment: In press (MNRAS), 10 pages, 12 figures (2 colour
Ethnic parity in labour market outcomes for benefit claimants
A significant gap exists in the UK between the employment rate for Ethnic Minorities and that for
Whites. From a policy perspective, it is important to know whether this gap is due to differences in
the characteristics of White and Ethnic Minority groups (which reduce the employability of Ethnic
Minority groups relative to Whites) or whether it results from some form of discriminatory behaviour
in the labour market. In this paper, we use administrative data to estimate ethnic differences in
employment and benefit receipt amongst individuals who began claiming a Jobcentre Plus benefit
in 2003. In contrast to much of the previous UK literature, we use a number of different quantitative
techniques to estimate this gap, and show that in a lot of cases the estimates obtained are very
sensitive to the techniques used. We argue that for the questions we are interested in and the data
we have, propensity score matching methods are the most robust approach to estimating ethnic
parity. We compare this preferred approach with estimates derived using alternative approaches
commonly used in the literature (generally regression-based techniques) to determine the extent to
which more straightforward methods are able to replicate those produced by matching. In many
cases, it turns out not to be possible to calculate satisfactory quantitative estimates even with
matching techniques: the characteristics of Whites and Ethnic Minorities are simply too different
before the Jobcentre Plus intervention to reliably estimate the parameters of interest. Moreover, for
a number of the groups, results seem to be very sensitive to the methodology used. This calls into
question previous results based on simple regression techniques, which are likely to hide the fact
that observationally different ethnic groups are de facto being compared on the basis of parametric
extrapolations. Two groups for which it was possible to calculate reasonably reliable results are
incapacity benefit (IB) and income support (IS). For these groups we find that large and significant
raw penalties almost always disappear once we appropriately control for pre-inflow background
and labour market characteristics. There is also a good degree of consistency across
methodologies
New Hymenoptera from the Phillipine Islands
The species described in this paper were for the most part collected by the Rev. Robert E. Brown, S. J., although a few are from the material gathered by the Rev. William A. Stanton, S. J. Under each species credit has been given to the collector. In the Philippine Journal of Science a Father Brown has given a list of the species of Hymenoptera found in the islands and has cited several names sent him by the late Dr. W. H. Ashmead which are manuscript names. In describing these species, of which no manuscript has been found, the name used by Doctor Ashmead have been adopted
Some New American Hymenoptera
Below is given a table of the American genera, exclusive of Crelioxys, assigned by Ashmead to his subfamily Crelioxyinre. As Prof. Cockerell has long ago pointed out, these are not all closely related and must be split up into several groups, so my table is one of convenience only
Notes on Some Species of the Genus Prosopis
This is a valid species, and not a form of P. cressoni as it is given by Metz. Externally the two are easily seperable. P. cressoni has the propodeum coarsely sculptured, while Mesilla has it, very finely wrinkled. The eighth ventral plates of the males are quite different, and are therefore figured. In cressoni the apical lobes are much shorter than the pedicel attaching them to the plate; in Mesilla they are longer than the pedicel
On the Status of Some Species of the Genus Panurginus
In a paper on the bees of Nebraska, Messra Swenk and Cockerell say that a comparison of cotypes of Panurginus nebrascensis with specimens of P. ornatipes shows that the two are synonyms and that P. boylei is a subspecies. The types of all of the involved species being in the collections of the U.S. National Museum has led to a re-examination of them and the characters given show them to be abundantly distinct. In view of these characters, what Messrs. Swenck and Cockerell has under the name ornatipes is somewhat of a mystery
A New Halictus from Nebraska
Form rather slender, head and thorax black, segments 1-3 of abdomen red, segment r with a blotch of black at base, segments 4 and 5 black; apical margins pf segments lighter, of 4 almost hyaline
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