Housing benefit and financial returns to employment for tenants in the social sector

This paper examines the impact of the UK housing benefit system on the financial returns to employment of people in local authority or Housing Association accommodation. It outlines the current structure of housing benefit and examines its effects on the returns to employment using data from the Family Expenditure Survey. It analyses the consequences of a number of reforms to the current system — lowering social rents, increasing the levels of housing benefit received in work and restricting the amount of rent covered by housing benefit payments. This analysis highlights the trade-offs involved in various strategies available for restructuring the present system.

The Production of Designed Potential Protein Contrast Agents and their Encapsulation in Albumin Microspheres

Using protein design, a series of metal binding proteins have been designed, allowing the local factors that contribute to metal affinity and thermostability to be studied. Those proteins with the highest metal binding affinities had the lowest apo-form Tm and the largest ÄTm upon metal binding. In this thesis, major steps have been taken toward applying the engineered protein to MR imaging. The progress of magnetic resonance imaging is hindered by low specificity and rapid elimination of FDA-approved MRI contrast agents. The engineered protein contrast agent has been conjugated to a cancer-specific targeting peptide and encapsulated in albumin microspheres to provide tandem passive and active tumor targeting. Also, a simple, high-yield purification method has been developed

Application of the joined wing to tiltrotor aircraft

A study was made to determine the potential speed improvements and other benefits resulting from the application of the joined wing concept to tiltrotor aircraft. Using the XV-15 as a baseline, the effect of replacing the cantilever wing by a joined-wing pair was studied. The baseline XV-15 cantilever wing has a thickness/chord ratio of 23 percent. It was found that this wing could be replaced by a joined-wing pair of the same span and total area employing airfoils of 12 percent thickness/chord ratio. The joined wing meets the same static strength requirements as the cantilever wing, but increases the limiting Mach Number of the aircraft from M=0.575 to M=0.75, equivalent to an increase of over 100 knots in maximum speed. The joined wing configuration studied is lighter than the cantilever and has approximately 11 percent less wing drag in cruise. Its flutter speed of 245 knots EAS is not high enough to allow the potential Mach number improvement to be attained at low altitude. The flutter speed can be raised either by employing rotors which can be stopped and folded in flight at speeds below 245 knots EAS, or by modifying the airframe to reduce adverse coupling with the rotor dynamics. Several modifications of wing geometry and nacelle mass distribution were investigated, but none produced a flutter speed above 260 knots EAS. It was concluded that additional research is required to achieve a more complete understanding of the mechanism of rotor/wing coupling

Aggressive Displays in Male Betta splendens Based on Color Patterns

The traits of an opponent can influence how an individual uses aggressive displays to dissuade the opponent from physical conflict. Whereas one previous study found that conspecific aggression was less intense between differently-colored Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens), we felt that more evidence was needed to corroborate or dispute their findings. We hypothesized that B. splendens act less aggressively towards similarly- colored fish than to differently-colored fish, based on the notion that males would avoid conflict with a phenotypically similar opponent due to the costs of displaying. To test for differences in aggression due to coloration, we paired 10 fish in view of one another, as well as in view of a mirror reflection, and measured duration of gill flaring and the number of tail beats. We found that the duration of gill flaring and the number of tail beats were significantly lower between differently-colored pairs of fish compared to the other groups. While contrary to our predictions, our data corroborate previous studies on color bias in aggressive displays. Our findings indicate that, as with other species, coloration in B. splendens may influence interactions due to underlying phenotypic influences

Natural convection melting in a high temperature flat plate latent heat storage system: Parameter study of enclosure dimensions

The impact of natural convection melting in a high temperature flat plate latent heat thermal energy storage system is studied numerically. The storage material is the eutectic mixture of sodium nitrate and potassium nitrate (KNO3-NaNO3). A parameter study on storage material enclosure dimensions is conducted for various widths and heights. Low to very high aspect ratios between 0.5 and 40 and Rayleigh numbers from 1.2·10^4 to 1.6·10^6 are obtained. The liquid phase fraction evolution with time is scaled to non-dimensional form and the impact of natural convection on the heat flux is shown with a convective enhancement factor that is the ratio of heat flux to a hypothetical heat flux only by conduction. The results can be used for future design optimizations considering the effect of natural convection

Natural convection in high temperature flat plate latent heat thermal energy storage systems

The impact of natural convection on melting in high temperature flat plate latent heat thermal energy storage systems is studied with an experimentally validated numerical model in a parameter study with various widths and heights of enclosure dimensions. The storage material is the eutectic mixture of sodium nitrate and potassium nitrate (KNO3-NaNO3). The investigated half widths of the rectangular enclosures between two heated vertical flat plates are 5, 10 and 25 mm; their heights are 25, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 mm. These parameters result in low to very high aspect ratios between 0.5 and 40 and Rayleigh numbers between 1.2 · 10^4 and 1.6 · 10^6. The results are evaluated by dimensional analysis to find general dependencies between enclosure dimensions and natural convection occurrence and strength. To assess the influence of natural convection on the heat transfer enhancement, the convective enhancement factor is introduced. This non-dimensional number is defined as the ratio of actual heat flux by natural convection to a hypothetical heat flux by conduction only. The central findings of the present work are correlations for the mean convective enhancement factor and the critical liquid phase fraction for natural convection onset that are valid for a wide parameter range. The results indicate that heat transfer enhancement due to natural convection increases with greater widths and smaller heights of storage material enclosures. Hence, the vertical segmentation of high enclosures into smaller ones should be considered to enhance heat transfer during charging