Producing place atmospheres digitally: Architecture, digital visualisations practices and the experience economy

Computer generated images have become the common means for architects and developers to visualise and market future urban developments. This article examines within the context of the experience economy how these digital images aim to evoke and manipulate specific place atmospheres to emphasize the experiential qualities of new buildings and urban environments. In particular, we argue that CGIs are far from ‘just’ glossy representations but are a new form of visualising the urban that captures and markets particular embodied sensations. Drawing on a two year qualitative study of architects’ practices that worked on the Msheireb project, a large scale redevelopment project in Doha (Qatar), we examine how digital visualisation technology enables the virtual engineering of sensory experiences using a wide range of graphic effects. We show how these CGIs are laboriously materialised in order to depict and present specific sensory, embodied regimes and affective experiences to appeal to clients and consumers. Such development has two key implications. Firstly, we demonstrate the importance of digital technologies in framing the ‘expressive infrastructure’ (Thrift 2012) of the experience economy. Secondly, we argue that although the Msheireb CGIs open up a field of negotiation between producers and the Qatari client, and work quite hard at being culturally specific, they ultimately draw “on a Westnocentric literary and sensory palette” (Tolia-Kelly 2006) that highlights the continuing influence of colonial sensibilities in supposedly postcolonial urban processes.This research was funded by the ESRC (RES-062-23-0223)

Immigration and Swiss House Prices

This study examines the behavior of Swiss house prices to immigration flows for 85 districts from 2001 to 2006. The results show that the nexus between immigration and house prices holds even in an environment of low house price inflation, nationwide rent control, and modest immigration flows. An immigration inflow equal to 1% of an area's population is coincident with an increase in prices for single-family homes of about 2.7%: a result consistent with previous studies. The overall immigration effect for single-family houses captures almost two-thirds of the total price increase.Immigration, Housing Prices

Radio-frequency magnetometry using a single electron spin

We experimentally demonstrate a simple and robust protocol for the detection of weak radio-frequency magnetic fields using a single electron spin in diamond. Our method relies on spin locking, where the Rabi frequency of the spin is adjusted to match the MHz signal frequency. In a proof-of-principle experiment we detect a 7.5 MHz magnetic probe field of 40 nT amplitude with <10 kHz spectral resolution over a T_1-limited noise floor of 0.3 nT/rtHz. Rotating-frame magnetometry may provide a direct and sensitive route to high-resolution spectroscopy of nanoscale nuclear spin signals

Low-Wage Import Competition, Inflationary Pressure, and Industry Dynamics in Europe

What is the impact of import competition from low-wage countries (LWCs) on inflationary pressure in Europe? This paper examines whether labor- intensive exports from emerging Europe, Asia, and other global regions have a uniform impact on producer prices in Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. In a panel covering 110 (4-digit) NACE industries from 1995 to 2008, instrumental variable estimations predict that LWC im- port competition is associated with strong price effects. More specifically, when LWC exporters capture 1% of European market share, producer prices decrease by about 3%. In contrast, no effect is present for import competition from low-wage countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Decomposing the mechanisms that underlie the LWC price effect on European industry, we show that import competition has a pronounced effect on average productivity with only a muted effect on wages or margins. Owing to the exit of firms and the increase in productivity, LWC import competition is shown to have substantially reduced employment in the European manufacturing sector.

Low-Wage Import Competition, Inflationary Pressure,and Industry Dynamics in Europe

What is the impact of import competition from low-wage countries (LWCs) on inflationary pressure in Europe? This paper examines whether labor-intensive exports from emerging Europe, Asia, and other global regions have a uniform impact on producer prices in Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. In a panel covering 110 (4-digit) NACE industries from 1995 to 2008, instrumental variable estimations predict that LWC import competition is associated with strong price effects. More specifically, when LWC exporters capture 1% of European market share, producer prices decrease by about 3%. In contrast, no effect is present for import competition from low-wage countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Next, decomposing the mechanisms that underlie the LWC price effect on European industry, we show that import competition has a pronounced effect on average productivity and only a muted effect on wages. Owing to the exit of firms and the increase in productivity, LWC import competition is shown to have substantially reduced employment in the European manufacturing sector.intra-industry trade, comparative advantage, globalization

Quantum sensing with arbitrary frequency resolution

Quantum sensing takes advantage of well controlled quantum systems for performing measurements with high sensitivity and precision. We have implemented a concept for quantum sensing with arbitrary frequency resolution, independent of the qubit probe and limited only by the stability of an external synchronization clock. Our concept makes use of quantum lock-in detection to continuously probe a signal of interest. Using the electronic spin of a single nitrogen vacancy center in diamond, we demonstrate detection of oscillating magnetic fields with a frequency resolution of 70 uHz over a MHz bandwidth. The continuous sampling further guarantees an excellent sensitivity, reaching a signal-to-noise ratio in excess of 10,000:1 for a 170 nT test signal measured during a one-hour interval. Our technique has applications in magnetic resonance spectroscopy, quantum simulation, and sensitive signal detection.Comment: Manuscript resubmitted to Science. Includes Supplementary Material

Spurious harmonic response of multipulse quantum sensing sequences

Multipulse sequences based on Carr-Purcell decoupling are frequently used for narrow-band signal detection in single spin magnetometry. We have analyzed the behavior of multipulse sensing sequences under real-world conditions, including finite pulse durations and the presence of detunings. We find that these non-idealities introduce harmonics to the filter function, allowing additional frequencies to pass the filter. In particular, we find that the XY family of sequences can generate signals at the 2fac, 4fac and 8fac harmonics and their odd subharmonics, where fac is the ac signal frequency. Consideration of the harmonic response is especially important for diamond-based nuclear spin sensing where the NMR frequency is used to identify the nuclear spin species, as it leads to ambiguities when several isotopes are present.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure