New East Manchester: urban renaissance or urban opportunism?

In this paper we ask how a shrinking city responds when faced with a perforated urban fabric. Drawing on Manchester’s response to its perforated eastern flank - and informed by a parallel study of Leipzig - we use the city’s current approach to critique urban regeneration policy in England. Urban renaissance holds out the promise of delivering more sustainable - that is more compact, more inclusive and more equitable - cities. However, the Manchester study demonstrated that the attempt to stem population loss from the city is at best fragile, despite a raft of policies now in place to support urban renaissance in England. It is argued here that Manchester like Leipzig is likely to face an ongoing battle to attract residents back from their suburban hinterlands. This is especially true of the family market that we identify as being an important element for long-term sustainable population growth in both cities. We use the case of New East Manchester to consider how discourses linked to urban renaissance – particularly those that link urbanism with greater densities - rule out some of the options available to Leipzig, namely, managing the long-term perforation of the city. We demonstrate that while Manchester is inevitably committed to the urban renaissance agenda, in practice New East Manchester demonstrates a far more pragmatic – but equally unavoidable – approach. This we attribute to the gap between renaissance and regeneration described by Amin et al (2000) who define the former as urbanism for the middle class and the latter as urbanism for the working class. While this opportunistic approach may ultimately succeed in producing development on the ground, it will not address the fundamental, and chronic, problem; the combination of push and pull that sees families relocating to suburban areas. Thus, if existing communities in East Manchester are to have their area buoyed up – or sustained - by incomers, and especially families, with greater levels of social capital and higher incomes urban policy in England will have to be challenged

The possible experts: how epistemic communities negotiate barriers to knowledge use in ecosystems services policy

notes: This paper is based on research carried out with the support of the European Research Council grant on Analysis of Learning in Regulatory Governance, ALREG http://centres.exeter.ac.uk/ceg/research/ALREG/index.php. The author wishes to thank the other authors in this special edition and in particular the issue editors Andy Jordan and Duncan Russel.publication-status: AcceptedClaire A Dunlop, 2014. The definitive, peer-reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 32(2), 2014.The increased saliency of how to value ecosystems services has driven up the demand for policy-relevant knowledge. It is clear that epistemic communities’ advice can show-up in policy outcomes, yet little systematic analysis exists prescribing how this can actually be achieved. This article draws on four decades of knowledge utilisation research to propose four types of ‘possible expert’ that might be influential on ecosystems services. The first section reports the broad findings of a literature review on knowledge use in public policy, and outlines the four-fold conceptualisation pioneered by Carol Weiss that defines the literature. Section two systematises the field by placing these four modes of knowledge use within an explanatory typology of policy learning. With how, when and why experts and their knowledge are likely to show-up in policy outcomes established, the article then proposes the boundaries of the possible in how the ecosystems services epistemic community might navigate the challenges associated with each learning mode. Four possible experts emerge. The expert with: political antenna and epistemic humility; the ability to speak locally and early to the hearts and minds of citizens; a willingness to advocate policy, and, finally, an enhanced institutional awareness and peripheral policy vision. The article concludes with a brief discussion of the utility of the analysis.European Research Counci

On the properties of tubes in a constant magnetic field

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/4618/5/bab4843.0001.001.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/4618/4/bab4843.0001.001.tx

Wirkung von UV-Strahlung auf marine Organismen. Teilprojekt C: Phytoplankton Schlussbericht

Detailed studies of the impact of UV radiation on the nitrogen metabolism of marine phytoplankton were mainly investigated by our group since 1982. A species-dependent response to UV irradiance of phytoplankton was found and could be proved by species from Antarctica and the North Sea, too. The impact of UV radiation of different wavelengths on the nitrogen metabolism, pigments and adenylate content was studied under field and laboratory conditions with phytoplankton of the North Sea and of isolated species. "1"5N and "1"4C techniques as well as separation and analysis by HPLC were used. Pattern of pigments, pools and "1"5N-labelling of free amino acids varied in dependence on the UV dose and the applied wavebands. Content of ATP increased while AMP/ADP contents decreased after UV exposure. Uptake of "1"5NH_4"+ was more reduced than that of "1"5NO_3"-. Synthesis of special proteins was observed after UV-B irradiance and might be due to adaptation to UV stress. The sensitive uptake of ammonium by marine diatoms can be used as a degree for UV load. (orig.)SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: F97B1494+a / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekBundesministerium fuer Bildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung und Technologie, Bonn (Germany)DEGerman

Dynamic and steady state current response to light excitation of multilayered organic photodiodes

Measurements of current transients are used to gain insight into the mechanism of charge transport and extraction of photodiodes based on bulk heterojunction blends of poly-3-hexyl-thiophene and [6,6]-phenyl C-61 butyric acid methyl ester. It is shown that the implementation of an appropriate hole conducting layer leads to a reduction of the dark current in the reverse direction. It is observed that the dynamic response to light excitation is strongly influenced by the thickness of the hole conducting layer, the light intensity, and the applied bias. Charge accumulation at the interface is assumed to result in the characteristic shape of the transients. The shape of the switch-off transient can be understood qualitatively by an equivalent circuit diagram. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics

Dielectric microcavities for THz radiation: identical mode spectrum and coupling in poly-ethylene disks

We report the fabrication and characterization of identical dielectric whispering gallery microcavites for teraherz (THz) radiation. The THz radiation is coupled via a tapered waveguide into the coupled cavities. Mode splitting is observed. (C) 2008 Optical Society of Americ

Design of highly transparent organic photodiodes

In this brief, various approaches for the realization of transparent photodiodes based on bulk heterojunction blends of poly-3-hexylthiophene and [6,6]-phenyl C-61-butyric acid methyl ester are studied. The choice of the constituents of the device is discussed concerning transmittance and light-detecting properties as dark current and external quantum efficiency (EQE). Blending several light-absorbing materials makes tailoring of the transmittance spectrum possible. Transmittance of 36% of the incident light together with 46% EQE at a wavelength of 530 nm are promising results and show the potential for highly transparent, photodiodes based on organic layers