Creating the National Classification of Census Output Areas: Data, Methods and Results

The purpose of this paper is to describe and explain the processes and decisions that were involved in the creation of the National Area Classification of 2001 Census Output Areas (OAs). The project was carried out on behalf of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) by Daniel Vickers of the School of Geography, University of Leeds as part of his PhD. thesis. The paper describes the creation of the classification: selection of the variables, assembly of the classification database, the methods of standardisation and the clustering procedures, some discussion of alternative methodologies that were considered for use. The processes used for creating the clusters, their naming and description are outlined. The classification is mapped and visualised in a number of different ways. The OA Classification fits into the ONS suite of area classifications complementing published classifications at Local Authority, Health Authority and Ward levels. The classification is freely available, and can be downloaded from the ONS Neighbourhood Statistics website at www.statistics.gov.uk

A New Classification Of UK Local Authorities Using 2001 Census Key Statistics

The 2001 Census has been successfully administered and the Census Organisations are currently engaged in processing the returns. A very large and rich dataset will be produced for the 58,789,194 people of the UK. The Census Area Statistics, for example, delivers 190 tables containing about 6 thousand unique counts relating to the characteristics of the UK population, for output areas and all higher geographies. This paper represents the first results of a project that aims to develop, in collaboration with the Office for National Statistics, a set of general purpose classifications at different geographic scales, including households, neighbourhoods, wards, local authorities and to link the classifications at different levels together. The paper reports on the methods used and results of a classification of the UK’s 434 Local Authorities, using the Key Statistics released in February 2003. This initial classification and description of methods will feed into the ONS/GROS/NISRA project to classify Local Authorities for the whole UK. Further data or digital versions of the classification system are available on request

Aesthetic complexity: practice and perception in art & design

My research investigates the aesthetics of visual complexity in the practice and perception of visual art and design. The aim is to understand visual complexity in terms of the relationship between the objective properties of images and subjective properties of perception. I take a computational and empirical approach to this subject, incorporating methods from information theory, computer graphics, complexity theory and experimental psychology. For testing, I create cellular automata programs to generate stimulus images, and borrow other types of visual material from students and professional artists, designers and craftspeople. Visual complexity is measured in two ways: Firstly, an objective measure of complexity is based on the compression of digital image files, which provides an information-based scale of order to randomness. Secondly, psychophysical techniques are employed to measure the subjective complexity of the images and other aesthetic judgements. Research in complex systems theory and experimental aesthetics suggests that we can expect an inverted ‘U’ correlation between the two measures of complexity

Using Hybrid Agent-Based Systems to Model Spatially-Influenced Retail Markets

One emerging area of agent-based modelling is retail markets; however, there are problems with modelling such systems. The vast size of such markets makes individual-level modelling, for example of customers, difficult and this is particularly true where the markets are spatially complex. There is an emerging recognition that the power of agent-based systems is enhanced when integrated with other AI-based and conventional approaches. The resulting hybrid models are powerful tools that combine the flexibility of the agent-based methodology with the strengths of more traditional modelling. Such combinations allow us to consider agent-based modelling of such large-scale and complex retail markets. In particular, this paper examines the application of a hybrid agent-based model to a retail petrol market. An agent model was constructed and experiments were conducted to determine whether the trends and patterns of the retail petrol market could be replicated. Consumer behaviour was incorporated by the inclusion of a spatial interaction (SI) model and a network component. The model is shown to reproduce the spatial patterns seen in the real market, as well as well known behaviours of the market such as the "rocket and feathers" effect. In addition the model was successful at predicting the long term profitability of individual retailers. The results show that agent-based modelling has the ability to improve on existing approaches to modelling retail markets.Agents, Spatial Interaction Model, Retail Markets, Networks

Art, work, and archives: performativity and the techniques of production

Work that takes place inside archives and work that is designated as art are often perceived as conceptually distinct practices, yet it is possible for the two to share common techniques and methodologies. A performative approach can be taken to the production of artworks that is comparable to that of the archive in terms of following a predetermined structure and controlled methodology, and with direct links to archival thinking. I will demonstrate how visual practice can work with, and in consideration of, prescribed standards and open up theoretical debate that is pertinent to archives yet lies outside of conventional archive or art theory. Whilst not wanting to initiate a discourse on specific artworks of my own in this limited space, there will be a detailed discussion as to how the associations between art, work, and archives have become central to my own practice and research. I will discuss how my appropriation of archival techniques of image description results in a “writing and reading” of the image that contests traditional art historical models of image analysis and appears radical when placed alongside them, if one is to understand “radical” as a departure from the norm. Such work does not constitute radical thinking in terms of the archive but becomes radicalized by way of its passage into the milieu of art research, where traditional hermeneutical analysis generally persists. It is a practice that does not oppose but instead utilizes and builds upon archival standards, and aspects of archival thinking permeate the various practices of artists cited in this essay, notably through the application of performative working methods that position their work within an established genre of indexing and categorization. It is also important to note that these works make space for complex and abstract thinking???around images and image sets, and around language itself, whilst still maintaining the structural discourse of the archive at some level. Although archive professionals may not be the expected audience for the practices discussed here, there may be an opportunity for the reverse flow of “work experience”: an unpicking of the methods and thinking of art research could be useful and constructive when taken back into the archive. The examples here, including my own, traverse material culture, cultural theory, performativity, and media archaeology—a thematic that is, after all, as pertinent to archives as it is to art

The dynamics and ISM properties of high-redshift dusty star-forming galaxies

In this thesis we present a range of observations of submillimetre galaxies (SMGs), a subclass of dust-obscured star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) at redshifts of z~1-5. SMGs are among the most actively star forming sources ever observed, believed to contribute significantly to the star-formation rate density (SFRD) at its peak, so-called 'cosmic noon', at z~2. Given their extreme nature, SMGs provide a strong test of galaxy formation and evolution models. Advancements in instrumentation, in particular with the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Area 2 (SCUBA-2) and the Atacama Large (sub-)Millimeter Array (ALMA), have driven significant progress in SMGs studies over the last decade. We have now identified samples of hundreds of SMGs in survey fields with a plethora of photometric coverage, such as the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS), the UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey (UDS) and the Extended Chandra Deep Field Survey (ECDFS). Indeed, the main motivation of this thesis is to exploit these samples of SMGs, with a particular focus on the molecular and ionised gas properties, using state-of-the-art instrumentation such as ALMA and the Northern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) for the former, and the K-band Multi-Object Spectrograph (KMOS) mounted on the Very Large Telescope for the latter. Firstly, in Chapter 2 we present CO observations of 47 SMGs, providing one of the largest and highest quality samples of its kind. With this study we demonstrate the capability of ALMA and NOEMA to undertake blind redshift scans in the 3mm waveband, and in doing so add significantly to the number of SMGs with spectroscopic redshifts, which prior to the work presented in this thesis was small. We also exploit the multi-wavelength coverage of the samples, together with the robust new spectroscopic redshifts, to model their spectral energy distributions (SEDs) with the MAGPHYS code and subsequently estimate key physical properties such as stellar masses and star-formation rates. Perhaps more importantly, this survey has allowed us to characterise the molecular gas content in the SMG population, along with its excitation properties, results from which we present in Chapter 3. We also show that the gas depletion timescale in SMGs remains constant, and given that SMGs are significant contributors to the star-formation rate density (SFRD) at z~2, the global evolution of star-formation in SMGs appears to coincide with the evolution of the molecular gas content, as opposed to any variation in star-formation efficiency. We provide a new test of the SMG population as descendants of massive local early-type galaxies, using the derived CO linewidths and baryonic masses. In Chapter 4 we present our Large Programme with KMOS which, when completed, will have observed ~400 SMGs in the COSMOS, UDS and ECDFS fields. Expanding on the work of Chapters 2 and 3 this is designed to further add to the catalog of SMGs with spectroscopic redshifts by detecting the H_alpha and/or [OIII] emission, which probes ionised gas and can also be used to estimate star-formation rates. We detail the target selection and observing strategy of this survey, before presenting early results for 43 emission line-detected sources, including the H_alpha-derived star-formation rates, the mass-metallicity relation and BPT diagram. We also compare the H_alpha, rest-frame optical/near-infrared and dust sizes where available, finding median radii of R_e = 3.6+/-0.3 kpc, R_Halpha = 4.2+/-0.4 kpc and R_dust = 1.2+/-0.3 kpc. Additionally, the sample are consistent with a median Sersic index of n=1, i.e. with an exponential disc-like light profile. The integral field spectrograph (IFS) capabilities of KMOS allow us to spatially resolve the H_alpha/[OIII] emission when it is sufficiently bright and extended, and this provides valuable diagnostics of the galaxy kinematics. Therefore, in Chapter 5 we present resolved H_alpha/[OIII] velocity and velocity dispersion maps for 36 SMGs, from which we derive rotation curves and dispersion profiles. We compare the derived kinematics of our SMGs with less active galaxies at lower redshifts, and divide the sample into 28 'ordered' sources with clear velocity gradients, and rotation curves which can be modelled as Freeman disks, and eight 'disordered' sources with much more messy velocity maps, from which little reliable kinematic information can be obtained. We measure a median rotational velocity of v_rot = 190+/-20 km/s and a median intrinsic velocity dispersion of sigma_0 = 87+/-5 km/s from the 'ordered' subset, both of which are significantly higher than the less actively star-forming galaxies to which we compare. The median ratio of rotational velocity to intrinsic velocity dispersion in the 'ordered' sample is v_rot/sigma_0 = 2.2+/-0.5, indicating that our sources are somewhat rotationally supported, and we therefore suggest that our SMG sample likely represents 'scaled-up' versions of more 'normal' star-forming galaxies, rather than merger-dominated systems

Nonresonant self-injection seeding of a gain-switched diode laser

We demonstrate step-tunable single-mode operation of a gain-switched diode laser by nonresonant self-injection seeding from an uncoated glass slide used as an external cavity reflector. A spectral bandwidth reduction from 11 mn to 0.05 nm and wavelength tunability has been achieved for picosecond (near-transform-limited) pulses with little effect on other laser characteristics. Good agreement with numerical simulations based on a compound-cavity laser model is also reported