Mapping London's Innovation Networks

A wide range of authors have highlighted the potential benefits for entrepreneurial companies that engage in effective networking along and across the supply-chain. As many organisations have downsized or outsourcedbasic research activities Universities have an increasingly important role within such networks. A number of UK initiatives have been established to encourage greater 'entanglement' between academia and commerce; the London Technology Network is one example which is intended to encourage interactions between London's leading research institutes and innovative businesses.Using the detailed data acquired by this network this paper is intended to presents an exploratory analysis of such activities with the aim of establishing the extent to which company size, sector and/or location play a significant role in participation in the network's activities. A wide range of authors have highlighted the potential benefits for entrepreneurial companies that engage in effective networking along and across the supply-chain. As many organisations have downsized or outsourced basic research activities Universities have an increasingly important role within such networks. A number of UK initiatives have been established to encourage greater 'entanglement' between academia and commerce; the London Technology Network is one example which is intended to encourage interactions between London's leading research institutes and innovative businesses.Using the detailed data acquired by this network this paper is intended to presents an exploratory analysis of such activities with the aim of establishing the extent to which company size, sector and/or location play a significant role in participation in the network's activities

The 1979 eclipse of zeta Aurigae

Observations of the system zeta Aurigae made around primary eclipse are described, and their significance is discussed in a preliminary fashion

Switching circuit Patent

Solid state circuit for switching alternating current input signal as function of direct current gating transisto

Producing a commentary slows concurrent hazard perception responses

Commentary driver training involves teaching drivers how to verbally acknowledge their perceptual and cognitive processes while driving, and has been shown to improve performance in driving-related tasks. However, those studies demonstrating benefits of commentary training have not done so under conditions of live commentary, which is the typical protocol used with advanced drivers. In the current study we present the results of two experiments that show that producing a commentary can actually slow responses to hazards on a concurrent hazard perception task. In Experiment 1 participants producing a live commentary showed significantly longer hazard response times than an untrained, silent, control group. In Experiment 2 a shorter, clipped commentary was introduced to attempt to reduce the demands placed upon participants. However, both the clipped and full commentary conditions showed reduced accuracy and longer response times, relative to a silent condition, and no difference was observed between the two types of commentary. Analysis of eye movements in both experiments revealed that fixation durations were shorter when a commentary was produced, but time to first fixate the hazard was not affected. This suggests that commentaries encourage more active interrogation of the visual scene, but that this can be detrimental to performance in average drivers

Sketching space

In this paper, we present a sketch modelling system which we call Stilton. The program resembles a desktop VRML browser, allowing a user to navigate a three-dimensional model in a perspective projection, or panoramic photographs, which the program maps onto the scene as a `floor' and `walls'. We place an imaginary two-dimensional drawing plane in front of the user, and any geometric information that user sketches onto this plane may be reconstructed to form solid objects through an optimization process. We show how the system can be used to reconstruct geometry from panoramic images, or to add new objects to an existing model. While panoramic imaging can greatly assist with some aspects of site familiarization and qualitative assessment of a site, without the addition of some foreground geometry they offer only limited utility in a design context. Therefore, we suggest that the system may be of use in `just-in-time' CAD recovery of complex environments, such as shop floors, or construction sites, by recovering objects through sketched overlays, where other methods such as automatic line-retrieval may be impossible. The result of using the system in this manner is the `sketching of space' - sketching out a volume around the user - and once the geometry has been recovered, the designer is free to quickly sketch design ideas into the newly constructed context, or analyze the space around them. Although end-user trials have not, as yet, been undertaken we believe that this implementation may afford a user-interface that is both accessible and robust, and that the rapid growth of pen-computing devices will further stimulate activity in this area

Asymptotic approximation of eigenvalues of vector equations

A vectorial extension of the Keller-Rubinow method of computing asymptotic approximations of eigenvalues in bounded domains is presented. The method is applied to the problem of a multimode step-profile cylindrical optical fibre, including the effects of polarisation. A comparison of the asymptotic results with the exact eigenvalues is made when these are available, and the agreement is shown to be good

Resummed thermodynamic perturbation theory for bond cooperativity in associating fluids with small bond angles: Effects of steric hindrance and ring formation

In this paper we develop a thermodynamic perturbation theory for two site associating fluids which exhibit bond cooperativity. We include both steric hindrance and ring formation such that the equation of state is bond angle dependent. Here the bond angle is the angle separating the centers of the two association sites. As a test, new Monte Carlo simulations are performed, and the theory is found to accurately predict the internal energy as well as the distribution of associated clusters as a function of bond angle and bond cooperativity.Comment: To appear in The Journal of Chemical Physic