Spatial job and residential mobility - the case of two-earner households

We test a number of hypotheses derived from search theory about spatial job and residential moving behaviour of two-earner households using data for Denmark. In line with theory, we demonstrate that residential mobility depends positively on the commuting distance of both spouses, but negatively on the distance between workplaces. Furthermore, job mobility depends positively on the worker's commuting distance, negatively on the spouse' s commuting distance and positively on the distance between workplaces

Retirement: Does individual unemployment matter? Evidence from Danish panel data 1980 - 2009

The paper studies the impact from variations in unemployment on retirement among older workers. We integrate unemployment variations with early retirement programs and other pathways out of the labor force. The paper describes retirement programs, policy changes, labor force participation among older workers and presents a new estimate of the trend in the average age of retirement. Individual panel data for the last 25 years are used in estimations of the impact from individual unemployment on the retirement decision. Unemployment is found highly significant and quantitatively important for the retirement decision. We conclude that there is a clear risk of a cyclical downturn resulting in a more long run reduction in productive capacity with negative consequences for the budget of the public sector

Labour market policy and the equity-efficiency trade-off

This paper studies labour market policy in a society where differently gifted individuals can invest in training to further increase their labour market productivity. Furthermore, the government seeks both efficiency and equity. Frictions in the matching process create unemployment and differently skilled workers face different unemployment risks. We show that in such an environment, training programmes targeted to the disadvantaged workers complement passive transfers (UI benefits), unlike a general training subsidy. Combining passive subsidies with a training subsidy conditioned on individual unemployment duration the typical Active Labour Market Programme implies a favorable trade-off between equity and efficiency which encourages relative high spending on training

Overcoming High Energy Backgrounds at Pulsed Spallation Sources

Instrument backgrounds at neutron scattering facilities directly affect the quality and the efficiency of the scientific measurements that users perform. Part of the background at pulsed spallation neutron sources is caused by, and time-correlated with, the emission of high energy particles when the proton beam strikes the spallation target. This prompt pulse ultimately produces a signal, which can be highly problematic for a subset of instruments and measurements due to the time-correlated properties, and different to that from reactor sources. Measurements of this background have been made at both SNS (ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN, USA) and SINQ (PSI, Villigen, Switzerland). The background levels were generally found to be low compared to natural background. However, very low intensities of high-energy particles have been found to be detrimental to instrument performance in some conditions. Given that instrument performance is typically characterised by S/N, improvements in backgrounds can both improve instrument performance whilst at the same time delivering significant cost savings. A systematic holistic approach is suggested in this contribution to increase the effectiveness of this. Instrument performance should subsequently benefit.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures. Proceedings of ICANS XXI (International Collaboration on Advanced Neutron Sources), Mito, Japan. 201

CEM03.03 and LAQGSM03.03 Event Generators for the MCNP6, MCNPX, and MARS15 Transport Codes

A description of the IntraNuclear Cascade (INC), preequilibrium, evaporation, fission, coalescence, and Fermi breakup models used by the latest versions of our CEM03.03 and LAQGSM03.03 event generators is presented, with a focus on our most recent developments of these models. The recently developed "S" and "G" versions of our codes, that consider multifragmentation of nuclei formed after the preequilibrium stage of reactions when their excitation energy is above 2A MeV using the Statistical Multifragmentation Model (SMM) code by Botvina et al. ("S" stands for SMM) and the fission-like binary-decay model GEMINI by Charity ("G" stands for GEMINI), respectively, are briefly described as well. Examples of benchmarking our models against a large variety of experimental data on particle-particle, particle-nucleus, and nucleus-nucleus reactions are presented. Open questions on reaction mechanisms and future necessary work are outlined.Comment: 94 pages, 51 figures, 5 tables, invited lectures presented at the Joint ICTP-IAEA Advanced Workshop on Model Codes for Spallation Reactions, February 4-8, 2008, ICTP, Trieste, Italy; corrected typos and reference

A next-generation inverse-geometry spallation-driven ultracold neutron source

The physics model of a next-generation spallation-driven high-current ultracold neutron (UCN) source capable of delivering an extracted UCN rate of around an-order-of-magnitude higher than the strongest proposed sources, and around three-orders-of-magnitude higher than existing sources, is presented. This UCN-current-optimized source would dramatically improve cutting-edge UCN measurements that are currently statistically limited. A novel "Inverse Geometry" design is used with 40 L of superfluid $^4$He (He-II), which acts as a converter of cold neutrons (CNs) to UCNs, cooled with state-of-the-art sub-cooled cryogenic technology to $\sim$1.6 K. Our design is optimized for a 100 W maximum heat load constraint on the He-II and its vessel. In our geometry, the spallation target is wrapped symmetrically around the UCN converter to permit raster scanning the proton beam over a relatively large volume of tungsten spallation target to reduce the demand on the cooling requirements, which makes it reasonable to assume that water edge-cooling only is sufficient. Our design is refined in several steps to reach $P_{UCN}=2.1\times10^9\,/$s under our other restriction of 1 MW maximum available proton beam power. We then study effects of the He-II scattering kernel as well as reductions in $P_{UCN}$ due to pressurization to reach $P_{UCN}=1.8\times10^9\,/$s. Finally, we provide a design for the UCN extraction system that takes into account the required He-II heat transport properties and implementation of a He-II containment foil that allows UCN transmission. We estimate a total useful UCN current from our source of $R_{use}=5\times10^8\,/$s from a 18 cm diameter guide 5 m from the source. Under a conservative "no return" approximation, this rate can produce an extracted density of $>1\times10^4\,/$cm$^3$ in $<$1000~L external experimental volumes with a $^{58}$Ni (335 neV) cut-off potential.Comment: Submitted to Journal of Applied Physic