DOES THE CREATIVE ENGINE RUN? A CONSIDERATION OF THE EFFECT OF CREATIVE CLASS ON ECONOMIC STRENGTH AND GROWTH

ABSTRACT: Florida's book, The Rise of the Creative Class, ranks 276 U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) according to a creativity index. This article explores whether the creativity index or its subcomponents are related to the economic strength or growth in MSAs. Economic strength is operationalized using Gross Metropolitan Product (GMP) per capita for the year 2000. Economic growth is operationalized by the percent change in GMP from 1993 to 2003 and from 2000 to 2004. The first time period is used to test these economic measures against the distribution of the creative class from 1990 as presented in the hardcover edition of The Rise of the Creative Class. The second is used to test the economic measures against the components of the creativity index as defined in the softcover edition of the same work. Our results raise questions as to the whether the concentration of the creative class in an MSA acts as an economic engine.     

The application of information systems for the design and operation of flexible machining cells

The use of information systems in manufacturing applications has dramatically changed over the last few years. The design and implementation of somewhat dated relational databases has been replaced by the generation of information models, that can be simultaneously used for the development of information systems and satisfy their integration requirements. Over the last ten years the authors have been involved in a series of research programmes focusing on the design and operation of flexible machining cells. The use of information systems has been a central theme and the enabling technology to achieve a number of novel design concepts and operational strategies for such cells. The initial research was based on the utilization of relational databases to integrate a variety of modelling and design tools. However, the additional effort required to integrate such databases to manufacturing software tools, in the form of developing file translators, information gateways and interfac es, has made the authors adopt a new approach. With this approach the information requirements are represented in a neutral format within a data model, using a formal data specification language developed by the Standards for the Exchange of Product (STEP) committee. This paper describes these changes in the design and implementation of information systems in manufacturing applications, and provides an initial view of future research requirements.     

THE EFFECTS OF THE ANNOUNCEMENT AND OPENING OF LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT STATIONS ON NEIGHBORHOOD CRIME

ABSTRACT: The debate over crime and rail transit focuses on whether such investments “breed” criminal activities with new targets of opportunity or transport crime from the inner city to the suburbs. Yet, little empirical evidence exists on whether new rail transit actually does lead to increased crime rates around stations. In order to study this question, we test the relationship between crime and rail transit with the 2007 opening of the Charlotte light rail line. We use Geographical Information Systems software and micro‐level data on reported crimes to generate measures of criminal activity in and around light rail transit (LRT) stations. We then implement a quasi‐experimental before‐and‐after methodology using two alternate transit corridors to control for differences between neighborhoods that contain LRT stations and other neighborhoods. We find light rail does not actually increase crime around stations. Instead, we see a decrease in property crimes once the station locations are announced, which remains relatively stable after the light rail begins operating.     

ADAPTIVE NUCLEAR REACTOR CONTROL WITHOUT EXPLICIT IDENTIFICATION

Abstract

Adaptive control of a nulcear power plant, the parameters of which may vary slowly with time, is considered without requiring explicit identification. It is based on the use of a reference model representing the desired behavior of the system. Stability of the adaptive loop is guaranteed by Liapunov's second method. The scheme is applied to control the power level changes of the nuclear reactor and a two-level controller is designed using signal-synthesis adaptation. Extensive results of simulation using a realistic model of the reactor at the Douglas Point power station indicate that the performance of the scheme is satisfactory.     

Book Reviews

‘Mega‐events’, such as the Olympic Games, have emerged as an important tool of urban and regional renewal through their ability to justify redevelopment and enhancement, attract inward investment, promote tourism and create new images for host cities. This paper complements previous research into the urban effects of the Summer Games by focusing on the infrastructural legacy of hosting the Winter Games, 1924–2002. The discussion concentrates upon the growing intensity of the intra‐urban competition to host the event and identifies four phases in the changing infrastructural implications of staging the Games. As a component of urban and regional policy, the Winter Olympics present both major risks and clear opportunities for the effective transformation of host centres.     

Determination of molecular and free sulphur dioxide in foods by headspace gas chromatography

A study was made of the equilibria between SO2 in packaged liquid foods and gaseous SO2 in their headspace atmospheres as a basis for a new analytical method for the determination of molecular and free SO,. Using a gas-chromatographic method developed previously to determine SO2 at the 1 × 10⁻³ mg/l level in atmospheres saturated with water vapour, studies with aqueous solutions showed that headspace SO2 was directly proportional to molecular SOz in accordance with Henry's law.
Using the Henry's law constant for the S02/H20 system, determinations of molecular SOz were made on a white and a red wine and a fruit juice, each adjusted to five levels of pH to achieve different concentrations of molecular SO,. The results observed by the headspace method showed good agreement with those determined by a reference analytical method with white wine and fruit juice, but with red wine the reference method gave values which were more than 45% higher. Free SO2 was determined in a range of white wines by the headspace and reference methods, and the results showed high correlations.
The headspace method is rapid, precise and non-destructive. A major advantage is that, during the analysis, it does not change the complicated equilibria between SO, and its ionised species, hence complexes of SO2 and food constituents are not disturbed.     

Piezoelectric Biosensor for Detection of Salmonella typhimurium

A flow injection analysis (FIA) system was developed based on a piezoelectric biosensor for detection of Salmonella typhimurium. The anti-Salmonella spp antibody was immobilized onto the gold electrode coated quartz crystal surface through a polyethylenimine-glutaraldehyde (PEG) technique and dithiobis-succinimidyl propionate (DSP) coupling. The PEG technique proved more successful for FIA applications than the DSP coupling. The biosensor had responses of 23–7 Hz in 25 min when the PEG immobilization technique was employed, with R²0.94 for Salmonella typhimurium concentrations of 5.3.10⁵ to 1.2.10⁹ CFU/mL.     

Self-organization of Multiple Winner-take-all Neural Networks

In this paper, analysis of the information content of discretely firing neurons in unsupervised neural networks is presented, where information is measured according to the network's ability to reconstruct its input from its output with minimum mean square Euclidean error. It is shown how this type of network can self-organize into multiple winner-take-all subnetworks, each of which tackles only a low-dimensional subspace of the input vector. This is a rudimentary example of a neural network that effectively subdivides a task into manageable subtasks.     

Yield prediction from digital image analysis: A technique with potential for vineyard assessments prior to harvest

Digital photographs were taken of four 1 m × 1 m portions of canopy of Cabernet Sauvignon grapevines, as they were being progressively de-fruited close to harvest. The program EasyAccess version 6.3 was used to select 'fruit' pixels by visually setting red, green and blue threshold values and tolerances for the first image and applying these to all other images. The program was then used to automatically count 'fruit' pixels and the total number of pixels for each image. Even though two hours separated the first and last photographs, the ratio of 'fruit' pixels to total image pixels explained 85% of the variation in yield (kg per linear m of fruiting wire) for all 16 vine × de-fruiting combinations. This improved to between 94 and 99% for individual portions of canopy. Implications from our present digital image analysis for future development of both automated and spatially aware methods to predict vineyard yield are discussed.