Mayoral views on economic incentives: valuable tools or a bad use of resources?

Mayoral Views on Economic Incentives: Valuable Tools or a Bad Use of Resources? explores which types of cities and mayors embrace – or reject – tax concessions and subsidies to attract or retain business. The authors find considerable variation in how individual mayors think about these issues; personal traits of the mayor (e.g., party and time in office) and city level characteristics (e.g., economic performance) do not predict their views on economic incentives. The absence of clear patterns suggests to the authors that the supposedly omnipresent pressure to provide inducements to business investment is not the recurring, vivid presence in the lives of mayors that we might expect.Citi Community Development and The Rockefeller Foundatio

Multi-Moji: Combining Thermal, Vibrotactile and Visual Stimuli to Expand the Affective Range of Feedback

This paper explores the combination of multiple concurrent modalities for conveying emotional information in HCI: temperature, vibration and abstract visual displays. Each modality has been studied individually, but can only convey a limited range of emotions within two-dimensional valencearousal space. This paper is the first to systematically combine multiple modalities to expand the available affective range. Three studies were conducted: Study 1 measured the emotionality of vibrotactile feedback by itself; Study 2 measured the perceived emotional content of three bimodal combinations: vibrotactile + thermal, vibrotactile + visual and visual + thermal. Study 3 then combined all three modalities. Results show that combining modalities increases the available range of emotional states, particularly in the problematic top-right and bottom-left quadrants of the dimensional model. We also provide a novel lookup resource for designers to identify stimuli to convey a range of emotions

Towards a Multimodal Adaptive Lighting System for Visually Impaired Children

Visually impaired children often have difficulty with everyday activities like locating items, e.g. favourite toys, and moving safely around the home. It is important to assist them during activities like these because it can promote independence from adults and helps to develop skills. Our demonstration shows our work towards a multimodal sensing and output system that adapts the lighting conditions at home to help visually impaired children with such tasks

Automatically Adapting Home Lighting to Assist Visually Impaired Children

For visually impaired children, activities like finding everyday items, locating favourite toys and moving around the home can be challenging. Assisting them during these activities is important because it promotes independence and encourages them to use and develop their remaining visual function. We describe our work towards a system that adapts the lighting conditions at home to help visually impaired children with everyday tasks. We discuss scenarios that show how they may benefit from adaptive lighting, report on our progress and describe our planned future work and evaluation

Radioactively driven colloids: A special case of anomalous diffusion

Citation: Wilson, G., Bahadori, A. A., & Bindra, H. (2019). Radioactively driven colloids: A special case of anomalous diffusion. Journal of Applied Physics, 126(12), 124308. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5116220A novel concept of self-propelled, radioactively driven colloids is introduced. The focus of this paper is on assessing the impact of alpha emissions on colloidal kinematics. Using Langevin dynamics and a random walk model, a theory has been developed to describe this motion. This theory shows a special case of anomalous diffusion. Numerical simulations have substantiated the theory. It is shown that alpha-particle emission can significantly affect the motion of colloidal particles, although a very short-lived radioisotope is required

Candidates for historical supernovae and their comparison against known Chinese records

In this MSc thesis, possible/probable supernova remnants associated with possible/probable historical supernovae are discussed and advancements in knowledge surrounding possible remnants associated with historical supernovae older than about a thousand years are presented. Supernovas in 1006, 1054, 1181, 1572 and 1604 are all discussed for completeness, although these supernovae have been extensively researched and there is little reason to doubt previous work. The historical supernovae of 185, 386, 393 and 837 are all discussed in more detail. In the opinion of the author, supernova of 185 is linked with the remnant 315.3-2.3 in the light of recent research. The supernova of 386 is linked with G11.2-0.3 and a possible record linking G11.2-0.3 with a supernova in 45BC is dismissed. An association of a remnant supernova of 393 remains unsatisfactorily resolved, with CTB37A and CTB37B remaining candidates, and the author has suggested the remnants G343.1-0.7 and G351.7+0.8 as alternatives given a new I-D relation. The age and suitability of GRO/RX J0852 for historical association is discussed, and political reasons for the lack of historical records for an apparent supernova in -1200AD suggested. G292.0+1.8 is discussed as a candidate for a historical supernova and dismissed due to its invisibility in China. The supernova of 837AD is discussed and the link between this and the remnant IC443 remains unconfirmed due to conflicting astrophysical evidence

Studies of the pathological anatomy and physiology of some peripheral circulatory disorders

A summary has been included at the end of each section, but the scope of the thesis may be reviewed by way of conclusion. Attention has chiefly been directed to a study of anatomical and physiological abnormalities in the peripheral arterial circulation.Methods of investigation were described in the first two sections. The pathological anatomy was studied by gross dissection of amputated limbs supplemented by histological and injection technique. Physiological disturbances were observed by performing exercise tolerance tests and by measuring circulation .times by the reactive hyperaemia and fluorescein methods. Particular attention was paid to the use of the Greenfield and Scarborough type of hand calorimeter and of plethysmographs for the upper and lower limbs. The majority of the observations have been made with these two instruments and the precautions necessary to obtain accurate readings were accordingly detailed. An electrical capacitance manometer designed for the direct recording of pressure in the peripheral arteries was described.The pathological anatomy of peripheral vascular disease in the lower limbs was investigated and the changes found in younger subjects with thromboangiitis obliterans and in older subjects with atherosclerosis were described.Thromboangiitis involved chiefly the small distal arteries of the extremity while atherosclerosis affected the larger more proximal arteries. In each disease the development of thromboses obstructing the arteries and spreading to occlude the origins of collateral vessels was responsible for the onset of ischaemic gangrene. The recamalisation of obstructed arteries was studied in detiaii, particulary with regard to the development and function on of the elastic-coated vessels seen penetrating the organised thrombus. The changes in blood flow and blood pressure resulting from these anatomical abnormalities were described. In diabetes mellitus of long standing it was shown not only that there was a premature atherosclerosis of the arteries in the limbs, but also that the smaller vessel were affected. Damage to the latter might, in many cases, be chiefly responsible for the development of symptoms of ischsaemia.The blood flow distal to a coarctation of the aorta was investigated and it was shown that the presence of this congenital abnormality did not reduce the maximal circulatory capacity of the limbs applied by the collateral arteries.Popliteal aneurysms of atherosclerotic origin were not associated with an unobstructed distal arterial pathway. Clotting within the aneurysm was a dangerous complication and the effect of such an aneurysm was to reduced the distal circulation. On the other hand, a pulsating syphilitic aneurysm on the axillary artery with the distal arteries unobstructed augmented the peripheral blood flow. This increase beyond the reç±uirements of the distal tissues led to the development of unilateral clubbing of the fingers.The blood flow distal to a coarctation of the aorta was investigated and it was shown that the prescence of this congenital abnormality did not reduce the maximal circulatory capacity of the limbs applied by the collateral arteries.The circulatory changes associated with clubbing were investigated in selected cases and it was shown that an increased peripheral circulation above the volume normally required by the tissues was essential for the development of clubbing. The excess blood was shunted through arteriovenous anastomoses situated in the finger and to a lesser degree in the toes and lobes of the ears. The central mechanisms that might give rise to this excessive peripheral blood flow were considered. Tn general they led either to an output of blood from the left ventricle greater in volume than the requirements of the tissues supplied by the systemic arterial circulation, or to an increase in blood volume. The grossest degrees of clubbing were seen when both factors together were operative.The circulatory, changes brought about by the infusion of noradrenaline into healthy subjects were described. Three cases of phaeochromocytoma were investigated particularly with regard to the associated abnormalities in the peripheral circulation. It was shown that persistent arterial hypertension was not due to the continuous release of noradrenaline into the circulation.The investigations have thus been mainly concerned with the study of arterial disease and 211 hypertension, the two major problems confronting medicine today. They have been directed largely towards the mechanism of the development of these diseases and thus throw little light on their underlying aetiology. No apology is, however, reouired for this fact for elucidation of the mechanism is the first logical step towards the investigation of the fundamental underlying cause