The value of art: an investigation of the ‘value for money’ audit for the performing arts

Measuring the value of art and assessing the success of performing arts organizations have been a global concern in the creative industry for the past few decades (Pidd, 2012; Ellis, 2003; Reeves 2002). The complexity of art, by its nature, makes it difficult to come up with the ideal measuring system. The ‘value for money’ (VFM) audit has been widely introduced in many government departments and non-profit organizations. However, whether the VFM method can be proclaimed as an appropriate form of measurement of the value of a performing arts organization is yet to be explored. This leads to the objective of this project, that an investigation will be undertaken to see if the VFM method is appropriate and effective for the performing arts industry. Various research materials such as the VFM manual and reports were examined to enhance my understanding of VFM practice. Comparisons were made, reviewing local professional practice from the perspective of the HKCO and other practices on a global scale, and underpin this research. The VFM report of the HKCO, the first VFM study of a performing arts organization conducted in Hong Kong by the Audit Commission in 2009–10, serves as a case study of this research approach. Objective data were collected through surveys, focus group discussions and in-depth semi-structured interviews. With the use of a combination of qualitative and quantitative research, using both fieldwork and desk research methods, a balanced outlook on this matter was achieved. The contribution by a performing arts organization that operates in an innovative and creative industry is intangible and difficult to measure. Arguably, the value of art can be understood in many ways, not just in monetary terms. Currently, there is no specific format for reporting or conducting processes in a VFM audit. The design of the methodology and means of interpreting data in the context of the performing arts industry becomes a key issue in a VFM audit. It is vital for members of the audit team to have a thorough understanding of the arts, and also the operation of the arts industry, before drawing conclusions and recommendations. Otherwise, what is revealed to the public through the audit report may be filtered by misleading interpretations. This research has concluded that VFM audits fail to reflect a full picture of the value of a performing arts organization. The desired solution is an appropriate methodology for a VFM audit appropriate to context to avoid the public misjudging the value or success of a performing arts organization and undermining its reputation and the trust the public has placed in it. Should there be a VFM audit conducted on a performing arts company in the future, the term ‘management audit’ or ‘operational audit’ may be preferable to ‘value for money audit’

Exponential suppression of thermal conductance using coherent transport and heterostructures

We consider coherent thermal conductance through multilayer photonic crystal heterostructures, consisting of a series of cascaded non-identical photonic crystals. We show that thermal conductance can be suppressed exponentially with the number of cascaded crystals, due to the mismatch between photonic bands of all crystals in the heterostructure.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure

Harmonic oscillations and their switching in elliptical optical waveguide arrays

We have studied harmonic oscillations in an elliptical optical waveguide array in which the coupling between neighboring waveguides is varied in accord with a Kac matrix so that the propagation constant eigenvalues can take equally spaced values. As a result, long-living Bloch oscillation (BO) and dipole oscillation (DO) are obtained when a linear gradient in the propagation constant is applied. Moreover, we achieve a switching from DO to BO or vice versa by ramping up the gradient profile. The various optical oscillations as well as their switching are investigated by field evolution analysis and confirmed by Hamiltonian optics. The equally spaced eigenvalues in the propagation constant allow viable applications in transmitting images, switching and routing of optical signals.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure

Identifying Components in 3D Density Maps of Protein Nanomachines by Multi-scale Segmentation

Segmentation of density maps obtained using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is a challenging task, and is typically accomplished by time-intensive interactive methods. The goal of segmentation is to identify the regions inside the density map that correspond to individual components. We present a multi-scale segmentation method for accomplishing this task that requires very little user interaction. The method uses the concept of scale space, which is created by convolution of the input density map with a Gaussian filter. The latter process smoothes the density map. The standard deviation of the Gaussian filter is varied, with smaller values corresponding to finer scales and larger values to coarser scales. Each of the maps at different scales is segmented using the watershed method, which is very efficient, completely automatic, and does not require the specification of seed points. Some detail is lost in the smoothing process. A sharpening process reintroduces detail into the segmentation at the coarsest scale by using the segmentations at the finer scales. We apply the method to simulated density maps, where the exact segmentation (or ground truth) is known, and rigorously evaluate the accuracy of the resulting segmentations

Cytoplasmic Forkhead Box M1 (FoxM1) in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Significantly Correlates with Pathological Disease Stage

Abstract: Esophageal cancer is a deadly cancer with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) as the major type. Until now there has been a lack of reliable prognostic markers for this malignancy. This study aims to investigate the clinical correlation between Forkhead box M1 (FoxM1) and patients' parameters in ESCC. Methods: Immunohistochemistry was performed to investigate the expression and localization of FoxM1 in 64 ESCC tissues and 10 nontumor esophageal tissues randomly selected from 64 patients before these data were used for clinical correlations. Results: Cytoplasmic and nuclear expressions of FoxM1 were found in 63 and 16 of the 64 ESCC tissues, respectively. Low cytoplasmic expression of FoxM1 was correlated with early pathological stage in ESCC (P = 0.018), while patients with nuclear FoxM1 were younger in age than those without nuclear expression (P < 0.001). Upregulation of FoxM1 mRNA was found in five ESCC cell lines (HKESC-1, HKESC-2, HKESC-3, HKESC-4, and SLMT-1) when compared to non-neoplastic esophageal squamous cell line NE-1 using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Except for HKESC-3, all studied ESCC cell lines demonstrated a high expression of FoxM1 protein using immunoblot. A high mRNA level of FoxM1 was observed in all of the ESCC tissues examined when compared to their adjacent nontumor tissues using qPCR. Conclusion: Cytoplasmic FoxM1 was correlated with pathological stage and might be a biomarker for advanced ESCC. © 2011 The Author(s).published_or_final_versionSpringer Open Choice, 21 Feb 201

Quantitative analysis of cryo-EM density map segmentation by watershed and scale-space filtering, and fitting of structures by alignment to regions

Cryo-electron microscopy produces 3D density maps of molecular machines, which consist of various molecular components such as proteins and RNA. Segmentation of individual components in such maps is a challenging task, and is mostly accomplished interactively. We present an approach based on the immersive watershed method and grouping of the resulting regions using progressively smoothed maps. The method requires only three parameters: the segmentation threshold, a smoothing step size, and the number of smoothing steps. We first apply the method to maps generated from molecular structures and use a quantitative metric to measure the segmentation accuracy. The method does not attain perfect accuracy, however it produces single or small groups of regions that roughly match individual proteins or subunits. We also present two methods for fitting of structures into density maps, based on aligning the structures with single regions or small groups of regions. The first method aligns centers and principal axes, whereas the second aligns centers and then rotates the structure to find the best fit. We describe both interactive and automated ways of using these two methods. Finally, we show segmentation and fitting results for several experimentally-obtained density maps.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant PN2EY016525)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R01GM079429)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant P41RR02250)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (IIS-0705644