Anything becomes possible at the LSE

by Lisa Muggeridge, MSc student in the Department of Sociology at the LSE At long last inequality is the watchword on the lips of economists, academics, politicians, and media alike. The evolution of the financial crisis into social and political crisis, has left many wondering how they didn’t notice inequality widening. Leaving them to wonder what equality meant in the first place and how inequality actually shapes the economy and society. The London School of Economics recently formed the International Inequalities Institute as a response to the growing anxieties relating to inequality. Ironically the LSE is of one of the universities in the golden triangle at the apex of the higher education and class reproduction hierarchy in the UK

The Implications of Population Aging for Economic Growth

I use a reduced form regression model to determine the extent to which population aging accounts for economic growth in each of the nine regions of the world. Predominantly, I build upon the research of Bloom et al. (2010), which is central to formulating my regression equation. I separate the difference between each region’s average growth rate from the world average growth rate into demographic and non-demographic effects using the estimated coefficients. The results suggest that more economically developed regions have potentially benefited from population aging, while less economically developed regions have not.Honors Thesi

Analysis of viscous crossflow in polymer flooding

Polymer flooding improves oil recovery by improving flood front conformance compared with waterflooding as well as, in some cases, extracting more oil from lower permeability zones in the reservoir by viscous cross-flow. However viscous cross-flow of water from the low permeability zone may also adversely affect the polymer flood by causing the polymer slug to be diluted and possibly to lose its integrity. The extent to which viscous cross-flow improves or reduces recovery depends upon the permeability contrast between the low and high permeability zones, the viscosity ratios of the fluids (oil, water and polymer solution) and the geometry of the layers. This paper uses inspectional analysis to derive the minimum set of 6 dimensionless numbers that can be used to characterise a polymer flood in a two layered model. A series of finely gridded numerical simulations are then performed to determine the contribution of viscous crossflow to oil recovery from secondary and tertiary polymer flooding in this system. We show that viscous cross-flow will only make a positive impact on oil recovery from secondary polymer flooding when the viscosity ratio values of oil to polymer solution is less than 1 and permeability ratio between the layers is less than 50. Furthermore, we show that there is an inverse relationship between the permeability ratio between layers and the amount of degradation the polymer slug experiences due to viscous crossflow in the high permeability layer. As the permeability contrast between layers increases, the slug degradation decreases. Also, the results show that the desired positive impact from viscous crossflow is higher in secondary polymer foods when compared to tertiary polymer floods. Finally, the results can be used to make initial estimates of the contribution of both viscous cross-flow and mobility control in polymer flooding applications without the need to perform extensive and time consuming numerical simulations

The perceived impact of COVID-19 and associated restrictions on young people with epilepsy in the UK: Young people and caregiver survey.

PURPOSE: To garner the views of young people with epilepsy and caregivers regarding the impact of COVID-19 and subsequent restrictions in the UK. MEHODS: An online survey was used to explore the views of young people with epilepsy (n = 71) and caregivers (n = 130) in June 2020. It included questions on the impact of the pandemic and associated restrictions on the child's epilepsy and on child and parental wellbeing. RESULTS: One in three young people and 29 % of caregivers reported that the young person's seizures had increased during the pandemic (only 10 % of young people and 8% of caregivers reported a decrease). Half of young people reported that they were more reluctant to go to hospital. Thirty-one percent of young people and 20 % of parents reported difficulties getting epilepsy medication whilst a significant minority of young people (18 %) and caregivers (25 %) reported that the young person had investigations/assessments cancelled by their hospital. The majority of young people reported their sleep (72 %), mood (64 %) and levels of physical activity (53 %) had deteriorated. Caregivers experienced increases in stress (55 %) and anxiety (52 %). Epilepsy nurses were seen as the most helpful support CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that the pandemic and associated restrictions have had a negative impact on young people with epilepsy. Perceived increases in seizures, reluctance to go to hospital and cancelled investigations are likely to impact on epilepsy management. The wider psychosocial impact is also likely to be significant with increases in child and caregiver mental health problems in an already vulnerable group

Is Walking and Cycling Irresistible? Community Perceptions and Awareness of Active Travel in Hastings, New Zealand

Walking and cycling—commonly termed 'active travel‘ or 'active transport'—are fun, cheap, clean and healthy modes of transport. In June 2010, Hastings received central government funding from the New Zealand Transport Agency through its Model Communities Programme (MCP), to encourage active travel. The MCP was renamed iWay by the Hastings District Council, with a vision of 'making walking and cycling irresistible'. This study examines varying community perceptions and awareness levels of walking and cycling in Hastings at an early stage of the implementation of the iWay programme. Findings from focus groups, interviews, and a household questionnaire suggest that Hastings people generally have positive attitudes and opinions about walking and cycling, but these attitudes are not necessarily translated into high levels of active transport, or high intentions to walk and cycle more often in the near future. This is mainly due to other determining factors perceived by the Hastings community as barriers to walking and particularly to cycling. Cycling is generally not perceived as a safe activity, and the perceptions of risk and safety are a hindrance to both walking and cycling. The improvement of current infrastructure, the creation of new, dedicated, off-road facilities for cycling, and more education on driver and cyclist behaviour and cohabitation on the road are some of the key factors to work on to further improve perceptions of active transport in Hastings

Higher-order conservative interpolation between control-volume meshes: Application to advection and multiphase flow problems with dynamic mesh adaptivity

© 2016 .A general, higher-order, conservative and bounded interpolation for the dynamic and adaptive meshing of control-volume fields dual to continuous and discontinuous finite element representations is presented. Existing techniques such as node-wise interpolation are not conservative and do not readily generalise to discontinuous fields, whilst conservative methods such as Grandy interpolation are often too diffusive. The new method uses control-volume Galerkin projection to interpolate between control-volume fields. Bounded solutions are ensured by using a post-interpolation diffusive correction. Example applications of the method to interface capturing during advection and also to the modelling of multiphase porous media flow are presented to demonstrate the generality and robustness of the approach

Back Home? Refugees’ experiences of the first visit back to their country of origin

This paper argues that the first visit ‘back home’ is important for refugees because it acts as a catalyst for renewed engagements with host country and country of origin. The study shows that conditions in both countries impact on decision-making and ultimately that integration and return can coexist. The first re-connection with ‘home’ is described as a memorable event in and of itself. Marked by an awareness of the passing of time, it provides both an end to waiting and worrying and a measure of one's progress (or lack of) in life, thus enabling participants to move on. Establishment of safety nets in both host and home countries as a condition for permanent return distinguishes the predicament of these refugees from that of other migrants. As the meeting between imagination and reality, the first visit contributes to the re-examination of the refugee cycle, the myth of return and the meaning of home in a context where return encompasses one discrete experience, the visit, and subsequent events. Overall, the paper provides a link between the literature on return as imagined while in exile and accounts of the reality of post-return

Income Inequality, Voter Turnout and Employment in 2005 – 2014 Elections in New Zealand

As Robert Dahl put it in 1971, ―a key characteristic of a democracy is the continued responsiveness of the government to the preferences of its citizens, considered as political equals‖. Democracy is thought to break down when equality diminishes. This paper explores the causal relation between an independent variable, income inequality, and a potential dependent variable, voter turnout (as a measure of democratic participation), at the local level in 13 electoral districts in New Zealand over 4 national elections. For Bühlmann, the three fundamental principles of democracy are equality, freedom and control. Equality usually ranks at the top of most democratic criteria. New Zealand, once regarded as one of the most egalitarian societies in the world, was ranked 23rd out of 34 countries on the OECD measure of income inequality in 2012, and has continued to drop since then, with ―New Zealand [having] the largest increase in income inequality of all the OECD countries since the mid 1980‘s…‖. Of the top 20% of income earners, 86% voted in the New Zealand national elections, compared to the bottom 20% of income earners, where only 75% voted. Goodin and Dryzek argue that the more that economic power is concentrated within the elite, the more the bottom income earners will withdraw from electoral voting. Participation in politics, in this interpretation, tends to be driven by relative income. Income inequality, in this view, hinders democracy by blocking full participation in society and limiting a sense of belonging. This study has tested these presumptions with a cursory longitudinal analysis of 13 comparative and contrasting local electoral districts in New Zealand, once the most egalitarian and, arguably, most democratic country in the world. The research shows that household income inequality has an inverse effect on voter turnout, taken as a whole. With the voting that has occurred, there is a clear preference for right-of-centre parties. Regardless of economic standing, citizens are apparently continuing to vote against their immediate interests. The results also suggest that while employment rates are currently high in New Zealand, voter turnout is decreasing and voters perhaps have previously blamed the government for their lack of employment even when they have seemingly lost the bases of their grievances

‘Work in the Housewives’ Service, like that of a household, seems never to be done’: the ‘practical politics’ of the Women’s Voluntary Service in the Second World War

The Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS) was established in 1938, toencourage women into civil defence ahead of the anticipatedconflict. Once war began, it quickly expanded, with membersengaging in a wide range of duties. Historians have characterisedthe WVS as an organisation dominated by middle-class women,but, while leadership was typically middle-class, at local level,membership was often more diverse. This article draws on theinternal records of thirteen WVS Centres in the Black Country tosuggest that the organisation was arguably more inclusive of awider range of social classes than has previously beenconsidered. It argues that working-class women were able to takeon roles within the local public sphere through the very specific,localised and practical nature of the work the WVS undertook inthis area. As such, it argues that the organisation played animportant role in allowing women’s activism toflourish in themid-twentieth century