1,044 research outputs found
The Landscape Form of the Metropolis
When the city disintegrates into an archipelago of fragments a new role is imposed on the landscape as a carrier of topographical characterizations, cohesion and continuity. Patterns such as transportation corridors, settlement areas and landscape voids can be regarded as latent macro-landscape forms of the metropolitan territory. In the staging of the metropolis these forms need to be embedded in a compositional structure that addresses fragmentation and disorientation, without relapsing into utopian forms of the traditional city that have proven inadequate for the metropolitan condition.The potential basis to inform this structure is the landscape itself: permanent, neutral and ubiquitous. The underlying landscape also contains an annotated catalogue of situations, in which the genius loci is recorded and secured. These latent compositional elements are transformed into landscape architectural ‘narratives’ within the topography of the emerging metropolis. The enlargement and distortion of specific topographies result in a field of new topologies, drawn from the genius loci and from local cultures and customs. The question is not so much if metropolitan form is determined by landscape, but how we can use it to structure and give meaning to dispersed territories. This involves a delicate choreography of macro-landscape forms and the micro-topography of landscape places.
Crowding-out or crowding-in: The dynamics of different revenue streams
An important question in public economics is to what extent changes in government funding lead to changes in private donations. In this chapter we identify and summarize four theoretical perspectives answering this question: the micro-economic, institutional-political, institutional signaling, and organizational perspective. Reviewing the empirical support for each perspective, we find that none of the perspectives sufficiently explains the dispersed empirical evidence for the relationship between government financial support and individual philanthropic donations. We argue that the context in which nonprofit organizations operate is a relevant but often overlooked factor that influences how government support affects philanthropic giving. Research in this area should adopt a dynamic perspective, taking into account the dynamics of different nonprofit revenue streams (from governments, businesses, foundations, households) as well as contextual level factors like the subsector of the nonprofit sector and country characteristics.The work by Pamala Wiepking at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy is funded through a generous donation by the Stead Family, the work by Arjen de Wit and Pamala Wiepking at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is funded by the Dutch Charity Lotteries
The circumstellar disk, envelope, and bi-polar outflow of the Massive Young Stellar Object W33A
The Young Stellar Object (YSO) W33A is one of the best known examples of a
massive star still in the process of forming. Here we present Gemini North
ALTAIR/NIFS laser-guide star adaptive-optics assisted K-band integral-field
spectroscopy of W33A and its inner reflection nebula. In our data we make the
first detections of a rotationally-flattened outer envelope and fast bi-polar
jet of a massive YSO at near-infrared wavelengths. The predominant spectral
features observed are Br-gamma, H_2, and a combination of emission and
absorption from CO gas. We perform a 3-D spectro-astrometric analysis of the
line emission, the first study of its kind. We find that the object's Br-gamma
emission reveals evidence for a fast bi-polar jet on sub-milliarcsecond scales,
which is aligned with the larger-scale outflow. The hybrid CO features can be
explained as a combination of hot CO emission arising in a disk close to the
central star, while cold CO absorption originates in the cooler outer envelope.
Kinematic analysis of these features reveals that both structures are rotating,
and consistent with being aligned perpendicularly to both the ionised jet and
the large-scale outflow. Assuming Keplerian rotation, we find that the
circumstellar disk orbits a central mass of >10Msun, while the outer envelope
encloses a mass of ~15Msun. Our results suggest a scenario of a central star
accreting material from a circumstellar disk at the centre of a cool extended
rotating torus, while driving a fast bi-polar wind. These results therefore
provide strong supporting evidence for the hypothesis that the formation
mechanism for high-mass stars is qualitatively similar to that of low-mass
stars.Comment: 13 pages, 18 figs. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Prorenin accumulation and activation in human endothelial cells: importance of mannose 6-phosphate receptors
ACE inhibitors improve endothelial dysfunction, possibly by blocking
endothelial angiotensin production. Prorenin, through its binding and
activation by endothelial mannose 6-phosphate (M6P) receptors, may
contribute to this production. Here, we investigated this possibility as
well as prorenin activation kinetics, the nature of the
prorenin-activating enzyme, and M6P receptor-independent prorenin binding.
Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were incubated with
wild-type prorenin, K/A-2 prorenin (in which Lys42 is mutated to Ala,
thereby preventing cleavage by known proteases), M6P-free prorenin, and
nonglycosylated prorenin, with or without M6P, protease inhibitors, or
angiotensinogen. HUVECs bound only M6P-containing prorenin (K(d) 0.9+/-0.1
nmol/L, maximum number of binding sites [B(max)] 1010+/-50
receptors/cell). At 37 degrees C, because of M6P receptor recycling, the
amount of prorenin internalized via M6P receptors was >25 times B(max).
Inside the cells, wild-type and K/A-2 prorenin were proteolytically
activated to renin. Renin was subsequently degraded. Protease inhibitors
interfered with the latter but not with prorenin activation, thereby
indicating that the activating enzyme is different from any of the known
prorenin-activating enzymes. Incubation with angiotensinogen did not lead
to endothelial angiotensin generation, inasmuch as HUVECs were unable to
internalize angiotensinogen. Most likely, therefore, in the absence of
angiotensinogen synthesis or endocytosis, M6P receptor-mediated prorenin
internalization by endothelial cells represents prorenin clearance
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