Vacancy Reassessed

Since 1950, Philadelphia's population has been declining dramatically, by more than 30 percent. This rapid depopulation has led to the vacancy and abandonment of a large number of unmanaged residential lots and buildings. The future of Philadelphia rests on its ability to manage this decline, and in 1999, efforts were fragmented. This report highlights the barriers that many faced in trying to access vacant property and provides recommendations for a more strategic vision so that the city can create a significant and lasting impact

Over the Horizon: Jobs in the Suburbs of Major Metropolitan Areas

The 1990s saw a concentration of urban poverty while suburban job opportunities grew exponentially, prompting many antipoverty strategies to focus on policies that change the geography of where poor people live or work. This report examines the conditions that characterize contemporary urban poverty in the US; analyzes the changing locations of employment in a group of large metropolitan areas; and evaluates the implications for antipoverty strategies that address poverty concentration and job suburbanization. In essence, this report lays out the theoretical foundation for P/PV's Bridges to Work demonstration

Cell patterning on photolithographically defined parylene-C:SiO2 substrates

Cell patterning platforms support broad research goals, such as construction of predefined in vitro neuronal networks and the exploration of certain central aspects of cellular physiology. To easily combine cell patterning with Multi-Electrode Arrays (MEAs) and silicon-based ‘lab on a chip’ technologies, a microfabrication-compatible protocol is required. We describe a method that utilizes deposition of the polymer parylene-C on SiO(2 )wafers. Photolithography enables accurate and reliable patterning of parylene-C at micron-level resolution. Subsequent activation by immersion in fetal bovine serum (or another specific activation solution) results in a substrate in which cultured cells adhere to, or are repulsed by, parylene or SiO(2) regions respectively. This technique has allowed patterning of a broad range of cell types (including primary murine hippocampal cells, HEK 293 cell line, human neuron-like teratocarcinoma cell line, primary murine cerebellar granule cells, and primary human glioma-derived stem-like cells). Interestingly, however, the platform is not universal; reflecting the importance of cell-specific adhesion molecules. This cell patterning process is cost effective, reliable, and importantly can be incorporated into standard microfabrication (chip manufacturing) protocols, paving the way for integration of microelectronic technology

A lifelogging approach to automated market research

Market research companies spend large amounts of money carrying out time-intensive processes to gather information about peo- ple’s activities, such as the place they frequent and the activities in which they partake. Due to high costs and logistical difficulties, an automated approach to this practice is needed. In this work we present an automated market research system based on computer vision and machine learning algorithms with visual lifelogging data, developed in collaboration with Sponge It, a market research com- pany. Due to some image quality constraints associated with the Sense- cam, for our prototype system we developed a visual lifelogging device using an Android smartphone. This device can capture images at higher resolutions and with additional metadata, such as location information. The aim of this project is to analyse large collections of visual lifelogs and to support both ethnographic research and audience measurement for market research. Ethnographic research is supported by high level classification of images to capture the semantics of the users activities (e.g. socialising in bar, shopping, eating). Location, time and other con- texts are also analysed, and an interactive interface supports browsing and exploration of the data based on this analysis. The system can measure audience exposure to specific advertising cam- paigns, using object recognition algorithms to automatically detect the presence of known logos in life logging images. This combination of con- cept classification for ethnographic research and object recognition for audience exposure represents a very powerful tool from a market research perspective

Investigating keyframe selection methods in the novel domain of passively captured visual lifelogs

The SenseCam is a passive capture wearable camera, worn around the neck, and when worn continuously it takes an average of 1,900 images per day. It can be used to create a personal lifelog or visual recording of the wearer’s life which can be helpful as an aid to human memory. For such a large amount of visual information to be useful, it needs to be structured into “events”, which can be achieved through automatic segmentation. An important component of this structuring process is the selection of keyframes to represent individual events. This work investigates a variety of techniques for the selection of a single representative keyframe image from each event, in order to provide the user with an instant visual summary of that event. In our experiments we use a large test set of 2,232 lifelog events collected by 5 users over a time period of one month each. We propose a novel keyframe selection technique which seeks to select the image with the highest “quality” as the keyframe. The inclusion of “quality” approaches in keyframe selection is demonstrated to be useful owing to the high variability in image visual quality within passively captured image collections

The smartphone as a platform for wearable cameras in health research

Background: The SenseCam, a small camera that is worn on the chest via a lanyard, is increasingly being deployed in a health research. However, the SenseCam is not yet in widespread use due to a variety of factors. It is proposed that the ubiquitous smartphone can provide a more accessible alternative to the SenseCam. Purpose: To perform an initial evaluation of the potential of the smartphone to become an alternative to the SenseCam. Methods: Adults were supplied with a smartphone running lifelogging software which they wore on a lanyard. Participants wore the smartphone for up to a day and the resulting lifelog data was both manually annotated and automatically analyzed for the presence of visual concepts. The results were compared to prior work using the SenseCam. Results: In total 166,000 smartphone photos were gathered from 47 individuals, along with associated sensor readings. The average time spent wearing the device across all users was 5 hours and 39 minutes (± 4 hours 11 minutes SD). A subset of 36,698 photos was selected for manual annotation by 5 researchers. Software analysis of these photos supports the automatic identification of activities to a similar level of accuracy as for SenseCam images in a previous study. Conclusions: Many aspects of the functionality of a SenseCam can largely be replicated, and in some cases enhanced, by the ubiquitous smartphone platform. This makes the smartphone a good candidate for a new generation of wearable sensing devices in health research, due to its widespread use across many populations. It is envisioned that the smartphone will provide a compelling alternative to the dedicated SenseCam hardware for a number of users and application areas. This will be achieved by integrating new types of sensor data, leveraging the smartphone’s real-time connectivity and rich user interface, and providing support for a range of relatively sophisticated applications

Development and Implementation of a High Throughput Screen for the Human Sperm-Specific Isoform of Glyceraldehyde 3-Phosphate Dehydrogenase (GAPDHS)

Glycolytic isozymes that are restricted to the male germline are potential targets for the development of reversible, non-hormonal male contraceptives. GAPDHS, the sperm-specific isoform of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, is an essential enzyme for glycolysis making it an attractive target for rational drug design. Toward this goal, we have optimized and validated a high-throughput spectrophotometric assay for GAPDHS in 384-well format. The assay was stable over time and tolerant to DMSO. Whole plate validation experiments yielded Z’ values >0.8 indicating a robust assay for HTS. Two compounds were identified and confirmed from a test screen of the Prestwick collection. This assay was used to screen a diverse chemical library and identified fourteen small molecules that modulated the activity of recombinant purified GAPDHS with confirmed IC50 values ranging from 1.8 to 42 µM. These compounds may provide useful scaffolds as molecular tools to probe the role of GAPDHS in sperm motility and long term to develop potent and selective GAPDHS inhibitors leading to novel contraceptive agents

Tele-branding in TVIII: the network as brand and the programme as brand

In the era of TVIII, characterized by deregulation, multimedia conglomeration, expansion and increased competition, branding has emerged as a central industrial practice. Focusing on the case of HBO, a particularly successful brand in TVIII, this article argues that branding can be understood not simply as a feature of television networks, but also as a characteristic of television programmes. It begins by examining how the network as brand is constructed and conveyed to the consumer through the use of logos, slogans and programmes. The role of programmes in the construction of brand identity is then complicated by examining the sale of programmes abroad, where programmes can be seen to contribute to the brand identity of more than one network. The article then goes on to examine programme merchandising, an increasingly central strategy in TVIII. Through an analysis of different merchandising strategies the article argues that programmes have come to act as brands in their own right, and demonstrates that the academic study of branding not only reveals the development of new industrial practices, but also offers a way of understanding the television programme and its consumption by viewers in a period when the texts of television are increasingly extended across a range of media platforms

Nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of the I-mode high confinement regime and comparisons with experimenta)

For the first time, nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of I-mode plasmas are performed and compared with experiment. I-mode is a high confinement regime, featuring energy confinement similar to H-mode, but without enhanced particle and impurity particle confinement [D. G. Whyte et al., Nucl. Fusion 50, 105005 (2010)]. As a consequence of the separation between heat and particle transport, I-mode exhibits several favorable characteristics compared to H-mode. The nonlinear gyrokinetic code GYRO [J. Candy and R. E. Waltz, J Comput. Phys. 186, 545 (2003)] is used to explore the effects of E × B shear and profile stiffness in I-mode and compare with L-mode. The nonlinear GYRO simulations show that I-mode core ion temperature and electron temperature profiles are more stiff than L-mode core plasmas. Scans of the input E × B shear in GYRO simulations show that E × B shearing of turbulence is a stronger effect in the core of I-mode than L-mode. The nonlinear simulations match the observed reductions in long wavelength density fluctuation levels across the L-I transition but underestimate the reduction of long wavelength electron temperature fluctuation levels. The comparisons between experiment and gyrokinetic simulations for I-mode suggest that increased E × B shearing of turbulence combined with increased profile stiffness are responsible for the reductions in core turbulence observed in the experiment, and that I-mode resembles H-mode plasmas more than L-mode plasmas with regards to marginal stability and temperature profile stiffness.United States. Department of Energy (Contract No. DE-FC02-99ER54512-CMOD)United States. Department of Energy. Office of Science (Contract No. DE-AC02- 05CH11231