The Challenge of Urban Regeneration in Deprived European Neighbourhoods - a Partnership Approach

This paper sets out to critically examine the adoption of a partnership approach to urban regeneration at neighbourhood level across eight European cities. While all of the cities were committed to the idea of the socially integrated city, significant differences emerged in the conceptualisation and practice of partnership at neighbourhood level. This paper draws on case studies assembled in the course of an EU funded thematic network (ENTRUST) to illustrate, in particular, the challenges associated with (1) mobilising the private sector and (2) engaging the local population in the process. The paper concludes that the experience of partnership at neighbourhood level is largely determined by contextual factors such as local and national institutional structures, political culture and the relative power of potentially competing actors within the urban regeneration system.

Modeling the RXTE light curve of η\eta Carinae from a 3-D SPH simulation of its binary wind collision

The very massive star system $\eta$ Carinae exhibits regular 5.54-year (2024-day) period disruptive events in wavebands ranging from the radio to X-ray. There is a growing consensus that these events likely stem from periastron passage of an (as yet) unseen companion in a highly eccentric ($\epsilon \sim 0.9$) orbit. This paper presents three-dimensional (3-D) Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations of the orbital variation of the binary wind-wind collision, and applies these to modeling the X-ray light curve observed by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). By providing a global 3-D model of the phase variation of the density of the interacting winds, the simulations allow computation of the associated variation in X-ray absorption, presumed here to originate from near the apex of the wind-wind interaction cone. We find that the observed RXTE light curve can be readily fit if the observer's line of sight is within this cone along the general direction of apastron. Specifically, the data are well fit by an assumed inclination $i = 45^{\circ}$ for the orbit's polar axis, which is thus consistent with orbital angular momentum being along the inferred polar axis of the Homunculus nebula. The fits also constrain the position angle $\phi$ that an orbital-plane projection makes with the apastron side of the semi-major axis, strongly excluding positions $\phi < 9^{\circ}$ along or to the retrograde side of the axis, with the best fit position given by $\phi = 27^{\circ}$. Overall the results demonstrate the utility of a fully 3-D dynamical model for constraining the geometric and physical properties of this complex colliding-wind binary system.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted to MNRAS Letter

High School Choice in New York City: A Report on the School Choices and Placements of Low-Achieving Students

School choice policies, a fixture of efforts to improve public education in many cities. aim to enable families to choose a school that they believe will best meet their child's needs. In New York City, choice and the development of a diverse portfolio of options have played central roles in the Department of Education's high school reform efforts. This report examines the choices and placements of New York City's lowest-achieving students: those scoring among the bottom 20 percent on standardized state tests in middle school. Focusing on data from 2007 to 2011, the report looks at who these low-achieving students are, including how their demographics compare to other students in NYC, the educational challenges they face, and where they live. The bulk of the report reviews low-achieving students' most preferred schools and the ones to which they were ultimately assigned, assessing how these schools compare to those of their higher-achieving peers. The findings show that low-achieving students attended schools that were lower performing, on average, than those of all other students. This was driven by differences in students' initial choices: low-achieving students' first-choice schools were less selective, lower-performing, and more disadvantaged. Overall, lower-achievingand higher-achieving students were matched to their top choices at the same rate. Importantly, both low- and higher-achieving students appear to prefer schools that are close to home, suggesting that differences in students' choices likely reflect, at least in part, the fact that lower-achieving students are highly concentrated in poor neighborhoods, where options may be more limited

Depth from Monocular Images using a Semi-Parallel Deep Neural Network (SPDNN) Hybrid Architecture

Deep neural networks are applied to a wide range of problems in recent years. In this work, Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is applied to the problem of determining the depth from a single camera image (monocular depth). Eight different networks are designed to perform depth estimation, each of them suitable for a feature level. Networks with different pooling sizes determine different feature levels. After designing a set of networks, these models may be combined into a single network topology using graph optimization techniques. This "Semi Parallel Deep Neural Network (SPDNN)" eliminates duplicated common network layers, and can be further optimized by retraining to achieve an improved model compared to the individual topologies. In this study, four SPDNN models are trained and have been evaluated at 2 stages on the KITTI dataset. The ground truth images in the first part of the experiment are provided by the benchmark, and for the second part, the ground truth images are the depth map results from applying a state-of-the-art stereo matching method. The results of this evaluation demonstrate that using post-processing techniques to refine the target of the network increases the accuracy of depth estimation on individual mono images. The second evaluation shows that using segmentation data alongside the original data as the input can improve the depth estimation results to a point where performance is comparable with stereo depth estimation. The computational time is also discussed in this study.Comment: 44 pages, 25 figure

Le spectacle de la Flèche : la réinvention de la rue O’Connell à Dublin

Comme bien des villes britanniques et nord-américaines, Dublin a souffert d’une piètre planification urbanistique dans les années 1960 et 1970. La majeure partie de la structure du centre-ville passa au bulldozer afin de créer un semblant de ville entrepreneuriale. La réimagination de la ville proposée par le conseil de ville de Dublin est étudiée ici à travers la reconstitution et la représentation récente de la rue O’Connell, et plus particulièrement par l’insertion d’un monument spectaculaire comme pièce de résistance du spectacle et de l’expérience qu’offre cette rue. L’auteur argumente que la municipalité poursuit trois stratégies – ayant trait au renouvellement commercial, civique et artistique de l’espace – qui se chevauchent et qui sont parfois antagonistes dans son projet de redéfinir symboliquement cet espace public. Ces stratégies fonctionnent parfois à l’unisson, mais elles entrent fréquemment en conflit les unes avec les autres. Dans ce contexte, la Flèche constitue le point central d’une stratégie où culture et économie sont reliées, et qui vise à la fois à renverser les stéréotypes des places urbaines ainsi qu’à inciter les Dublinois à considérer différemment l’organisation spatiale de la ville.Like many other British and North American cities, Dublin suffered from poor urban planning in the 1960s and 70s. Most of the down-town area was bulldozed in order to create a sort of business city. The replanning of the city proposed by the Dublin City Council is studied here through the recent rebuilding and reinventing of O’Connell Street, and more particularly by the addition of a spectacular monument as the pièce de résistance of the spectacle and experience that street has to offer. The author argues that the municipality is pursuing three strategies in its project of redefining this public space symbolically, These strategies relating to the commercial, civic and artistic renewal of the space sometimes harmonize but often conflict with one another. In this context, the Spire constitutes the central point of a strategy in which culture and the economy are interrelated, and which aims at both reversing the stereotypes of urban spaces (squares ?) as well as encouraging Dubliners to consider the spatial organization of their city in a different way.Como muchas ciudades británicas y nord-americanas, Dublín sufrió una pobre planificación urbanística en los años 1960 y 1970. La mayor parte de la estructura del centro de la ciudad fue remodelada con el fin de crear una apariencia de ciudad empresarial. La re-imaginación de la ciudad propuesta por el Concejo de la ciudad de Dublín se estudia aquí a través de la reconstitución y la reciente representación de la calle O’Connell, y más concretamente por el levantamiento de un monumento espectacular como parte de resistencia del espectáculo y de la experiencia que ofrece esta calle. El autor argumenta que el municipio pretende tres estrategias – habiendo hecho la renovación comercial, cívica y artística del espacio – estrategias que se superponen y que son a veces antagónicas en su proyecto de redefinir simbólicamente este espacio público. Estas estrategias funcionan a veces al unísono, pero entran frecuentemente en conflicto las unas con las otras. En este contexto, la Flecha constituye el punto central de una estrategia donde la cultura y la economía están interrelacionadas, y apuntan a la vez a invertir los estereotipos de los lugares urbanos así como a incitar a los dublineses a considerar diferentemente la organización espacial de la ciudad

3-D SPH simulations of colliding winds in eta Carinae

We study colliding winds in the superluminous binary eta Carinae by performing three-dimensional, Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations. For simplicity, we assume both winds to be isothermal. We also assume that wind particles coast without any net external forces. We find that the lower density, faster wind from the secondary carves out a spiral cavity in the higher density, slower wind from the primary. Because of the phase-dependent orbital motion, the cavity is very thin on the periastron side, whereas it occupies a large volume on the apastron side. The model X-ray light curve using the simulated density structure fits very well with the observed light curve for a viewing angle of i=54 degrees and phi=36 degrees, where i is the inclination angle and phi is the azimuth from apastron.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, To be published in Proceedings of IAU Symposium 250: Massive Stars as Cosmic Engines, held in Kauai, Hawaii, USA, Dec 2007, edited by F. Bresolin, P.A. Crowther & J. Puls (Cambridge University Press

The promoter of the human interleukin-2 gene contains two octamer-binding sites and is partially activated by the expression of Oct-2

The gene encoding interleukin-2 (IL-2) contains a sequence 52 to 326 nucleotides upstream of its transcriptional initiation site that promotes transcription in T cells that have been activated by costimulation with tetradecanoyl phorbol myristyl acetate (TPA) and phytohemagglutinin (PHA). We found that the ubiquitous transcription factor, Oct-1, bound to two previously identified motifs within the human IL-2 enhancer, centered at nucleotides -74 and -251. Each site in the IL-2 enhancer that bound Oct-1 in vitro was also required to achieve a maximal transcriptional response to TPA plus PHA in vivo. Point mutations within either the proximal or distal octamer sequences reduced the response of the enhancer to activation by 54 and 34%, respectively. Because the murine T-cell line EL4 constitutively expresses Oct-2 and requires only TPA to induce transcription of the IL-2 gene, the effect of Oct-2 expression on activation of the IL-2 promoter in Jurkat T cells was determined. Expression of Oct-2 potentiated transcription 13-fold in response to TPA plus PHA and permitted the enhancer to respond to the single stimulus of TPA. Therefore, both the signal requirements and the magnitude of the transcription response of the IL-2 promoter can be modulated by Oct-2

The Cost Of Fast Cash For Students: Payday Loans Versus Credit Card Cash Advances

When asked if they, a friend or a family member has borrowed cash quickly, spur-of-the-moment, with little or no credit checking or collateral, many respond affirmatively.&nbsp; Twenty-one of eighty- two students (25.6%) from my Spring, 2007, Personal Finance course&nbsp; have first-hand knowledge of a credit card cash advance, while seven of eighty-two students (8.5%) have first-hand knowledge of a payday loan transaction.&nbsp; Two of eighty-two students (2.4%) claim to know of instances of both methods of obtaining cash quickly.&nbsp; While both methods of borrowing should be avoided, should an emergency loan be necessary, the cost of a credit card cash advance is significantly lower than the cost of a payday loan