Using Financial Incentives and Improving Information to Increase Labour Market Success: A Non-Parametric Evaluation of the 'Want2Work' Programme

The `Want2Work´ programme was designed to help individuals back into work. This article uses propensity score matching to evaluate the success of a policy that cannot otherwise be evaluated using standard parametric techniques. Using a range of estimation methods, sub-samples and types of job, the scheme was successful. Our most conservative estimates indicate that participants were 4-7 percentage points more likely to find employment than a control group of non-treated job-seekers. Effects were even stronger for Incapacity Benefit recipients. Moreover, there is little evidence that participants were placed in low quality or temporary jobs

Cost-effective use of liquid nitrogen in cryogenic wind tunnels, phase 2

Cryogenic seal tests were performed and Rulon A was selected for the subject nutating positive displacement expander. A four-chamber expander was designed and fabricated. A nitrogen reliquefier flow system was also designed and constructed for testing the cold expander. Initial tests were unsatisfactory because of high internal friction attributed to nutating Rulon inlet and outlet valve plates. Replacement of the nutating valves with cam-actuated poppet valves improved performance. However, no net nitrogen reliquefaction was achieved due to high internal friction. Computer software was developed for accurate calculation of nitrogen reliquefaction from a system such as that proposed. These calculations indicated that practical reliquefaction rates of 15 to 19 percent could be obtained. Due to mechanical problems, the nutating expander did not demonstrate its feasibility nor that of the system. It was concluded that redesign and testing of a smaller nutating expander was required to prove concept feasibility

Solar activity during Skylab: Its distribution and relation to coronal holes

Solar active regions observed during the period of Skylab observations (May 1973-February 1974) were examined for properties that varied systematically with location on the sun, particularly with respect to the location of coronal holes. Approximately 90 percent of the optical and X-ray flare activity occurred in one solar hemisphere (136-315 heliographic degrees longitude). Active regions within 20 heliographic degrees of coronal holes were below average in lifetimes, flare production, and magnetic complexity. Histograms of solar flares as a function of solar longitude were aligned with H alpha synoptic charts on which active region serial numbers and coronal hole boundaries were added

OAO-3 end of mission tests report

Twelve engineering type tests were performed on several subsystems and experiment(s) of the OAO 3 spacecraft near its end of mission. The systems tested include: Princeton experiment package (PEP), fine error system guidance, inertial reference unit, star trackers, heat pipes, thermal control coatings, command and data handling, solar array; batteries, and onboard processor/power boost regulator. Generally, the systems performed well for the 8 1/2 years life of OAO 3, although some degradation was noted in the sensitivity of PEP and in the absorptivity of the skin coatings. Battery life was prolonged during the life of the mission in large part by carefully monitoring the charge-discharge cycle with careful attention not to overcharge

Image Training, Using Random Images of Melanoma, Performs as Well as the ABC(D) Criteria in Enabling Novices to Distinguish Between Melanoma and Mimics of Melanoma

Robust experimental evidence supporting many attempts to facilitate early melanoma diagnosis is lacking. In an experimental study using a browser interface we have examined diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of novices in distinguishing between melanomas and mimics of melanoma. We show that rule-based ABC methods and image training, based on random images of melanoma, improve specificity to similar degrees, with-out effects on sensitivity, leading to small improvements in overall accuracy. There was a significant effect of age with older subjects performing better. Although both the ABC method and image training groups showed improved performance over the control group, overall performance was poor. For instance, for a task in which 1 in 4 test images was a melanoma, and 3 out of 4 benign, both interventions (ABC or image training) increased accuracy from the control value of 53% to around 61%. For reference, dermatology trainees performed at a much higher level of accuracy. Our study provides little support for the use of such methods in public education, but suggests ways in which performance might be improved

Tidal effects and the Proximity decay of nuclei

We examine the decay of the 3.03 MeV state of $^8$Be evaporated from an excited projectile-like fragment following a peripheral heavy-ion collision. The relative energy of the daughter $\alpha$ particles exhibits a dependence on the decay angle of the $^8$Be$^*$, indicative of a tidal effect. Comparison of the measured tidal effect with a purely Coulomb model suggests the influence of a measurable nuclear proximity interaction.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Critiquing Variational Theories of the Anderson-Hubbard Model: Real-Space Self-Consistent Hartree-Fock Solutions

A simple and commonly employed approximate technique with which one can examine spatially disordered systems when strong electronic correlations are present is based on the use of real-space unrestricted self-consistent Hartree-Fock wave functions. In such an approach the disorder is treated exactly while the correlations are treated approximately. In this report we critique the success of this approximation by making comparisons between such solutions and the exact wave functions for the Anderson-Hubbard model. Due to the sizes of the complete Hilbert spaces for these problems, the comparisons are restricted to small one-dimensional chains, up to ten sites, and a 4x4 two-dimensional cluster, and at 1/2 filling these Hilbert spaces contain about 63,500 and 166 million states, respectively. We have completed these calculations both at and away from 1/2 filling. This approximation is based on a variational approach which minimizes the Hartree-Fock energy, and we have completed comparisons of the exact and Hartree-Fock energies. However, in order to assess the success of this approximation in reproducing ground-state correlations we have completed comparisons of the local charge and spin correlations, including the calculation of the overlap of the Hartree-Fock wave functions with those of the exact solutions. We find that this approximation reproduces the local charge densities to quite a high accuracy, but that the local spin correlations, as represented by , are not as well represented. In addition to these comparisons, we discuss the properties of the spin degrees of freedom in the HF approximation, and where in the disorder-interaction phase diagram such physics may be important

Molecular regulation of GLUT-4 targeting in 3T3-L1 adipocytes

Insulin stimulates glucose transport in muscle and adipose tissue by triggering the movement of the glucose transporter GLUT-4 from an intracellular compartment to the cell surface. Fundamental to this process is the intracellular sequestration of GLUT-4 in nonstimulated cells. Two distinct targeting motifs in the amino and carboxy termini of GLUT-4 have been previously identified by expressing chimeras comprised of portions of GLUT-4 and GLUT-1, a transporter isoform that is constitutively targeted to the cell surface, in heterologous cells. These motifs-FQQ1 in the NH terminus and LL in the COOH terminus-resemble endocytic signals that have been described in other proteins. In the present study we have investigated the roles of these motifs in GLUT-4 targeting in insulin-sensitive cells. Epitope-tagged GLUT-4 constructs engineered to differentiate between endogenous and transfected GLUT-4 were stably expressed in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Targeting was assessed in cells incubated in the presence or absence of insulin by subcellular fractionation. The targeting of epitope-tagged GLUT-4 was indistinguishable from endogenous GLUT-4. Mutation of the FQQI motif (F to A) caused GLUT-4 to constitutively accumulate at the cell surface regardless of expression level. Mutation of the dileucine motif (LL to AA) caused an increase in cell surface distribution only at higher levels of expression, but the overall cell surface distribution of this mutant was less than that of the amino-terminal mutants. Both NH- and COOH-terminal mutants retained insulin-dependent movement from an intracellular to a cell surface locale, suggesting that neither of these motifs is involved in the insulin-dependent redistribution of GLUT-4. We conclude that the phenylalanine-based NH-terminal and the dileucine-based COOH-terminal motifs play important and distinct roles in GLUT-4 targeting in 3T3-L1 adipocytes