A classification of european cities On the basis of e-images

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become a major enabling technology that is nowadays very much 'en vogue'. It has also become an important tool to promote a variety of business goals and public policies. The growing importance of ICT in daily life, business activities and governance prompts the need to consider ICT more explicitly in local policies. The expected benefits from ICT encourage urban policy-makers to formulate proper strategies for public ICT policies. But, what are the urban policy-makers' expectations about ICT? And how do they assess the future implications of ICT for their city? This paper is focusing on the way urban decision-makers perceive the opportunities of modern ICT and its related ICT policy. By highlighting the importance of understanding the decision-maker's 'black box' on ICT, we will address three crucial issues in European cities, viz. perception of the city, attitude towards ICT, and assessment of the relevance of ICT policy. We will give an operational meaning to these three variables by using a survey comprising more than 200 European cities as the basis for a classification of these cities by means of their e-images.ICT policy, public policy-making, urban policies, factor analysis, cluster analysis

ICT, the City and Society

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have become important tools to promote a variety of public goals and policies. In the past years much attention has been given to the expected social benefits from deploying ICT in different fields (transportation, education, public participation in planning etc.) and to its potential to mitigate various current or emerging urban problems. The growing importance of ICT in daily life, business activities and governance prompts the need to consider ICT more explicitly in urban policies. Alongside the expectation that the private sector will play a major role in the ICT field, the expected benefits from ICT encourage also urban authorities to formulate proper public ICT policies.Against this background, various intriguing research questions arise. What are the urban policy-makers' expectations about ICT? And how do they assess the future implications of ICT for their city? An analysis of these questions will provide us with a better understanding of the extent to which urban authorities are willing to invest in and adopt a dedicated ICT policy.This paper is focusing on the way urban decision-makers perceive the opportunities of ICT policy. First, a conceptual model is developed to explain the driving forces of urban ICT policies in European cities. Next, by highlighting the importance of understanding the decision-maker's "black box", we identify three crucial variables within this box. In the remaining of the paper we will give an operational meaning to these three variables by using a survey comprising more than 200 European cities . By using statistical multivariate methods (i.e., factor and cluster analysis), we were able to characterize the decision-makers according to the way they perceive their city (the "imaginable city"), their opinion about ICT and the way they asses the relevance of ICT policies to their city

Stad, IKT (ICT) en beleid: 'n kognitiewe benadering

This article is aimed at investigating the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in the city. After a broad overview of the possibilities of ICT from a geographical perspective, as well as of the impact thereof on urban policy with regard to the ICT sector, the investigation is focussed on urban public policy concerning the ICT sector. The hypothesis is made that urban ICT policy is, to a large extent, directed by 'soft' factors, like image and perception, which significantly influence the decisions made by municipal governments

Valery et Borges: Regards critiques sur la litterature

This research topic was selected because no in-depth comparative analysis has yet been published on these writers. Valery is one of the greatest French \u27philosophers\u27 and writers and Borges is an outstanding contemporary writer. The objective of this thesis is to further understanding of the density of their texts. This thesis will also concentrate on their original literary styles and a certain number of their unconventional and untraditional techniques. A comparative study of some of their works in prose and poetry will be studied in this thesis. We will also discuss their literary views and ideologies. Both had common influences such as Edgar Allan Poe, Descartes and Pascal amongst others. They both have in their turn influenced many contemporary authors and have contributed to developments in modern literature. This thesis will begin with a comparative study of La Soiree avec Monsieur Teste by Valery and Ia Mort et Ia Boussole , a short story by Borges. For most critics, Borges\u27 fictions are by far the most memorable and interesting part of his work. A study of Borges\u27 fiction requires a study of fiction as a genre. His fictions are similar to those written by Cervantes and contain lessons in human conduct. However Borges\u27 fictions are original. Borges\u27 character Lonnrot, for example, proceeds logically by deduction. On the other hand, Valery\u27s Monsieur Teste essentially depicts moments, instances of the functioning of the mind. Valery is interested in the complexity of different states of the mind. Monsieur Teste is a state of the intellect rather than a traditional character. Both Valery\u27s Monsieur Teste” and Borges\u27 “lonnrot are intellectual “monsters and have common origins in Edgar Allan Poe\u27s Inspector Dupin . We have limited ourselves in this study to Valery\u27s published works and the La Pleiade Edition of his Cahiers. A further study could be undertaken using the 29 volumes of photocopied manuscipts in the CNRS Edition. This is not our objective for a thesis at this particular level. As for Borges, the Emece Edition will mainly be used. Our work is essentially based on a textual and comparative analysis. A lot of the framework will be provided by the postmodernist ideologies which stem to a certain extent from these writers amongst others. This thesis will certainly not be a traditional reading of texts but one inspired by some of the critical tools derived from Derrida and other contemporary critics as exemplified in Jarrety\u27s study of Valery\u27s works. In this thesis, no attempt will be made to analyse the lives of Borges or Valery. We are concerned here with their texts and their influences on other texts. Valery and Borges objected in a certain number of ways to the Goncourt literary traditions of the novel and by doing so both influenced significantly the world of literature

Integrative Public Transport in a Segmented City: Reflections from Jerusalem

Jerusalem is perhaps an extreme case of residential and travel market segmentation. It is comprised of four different \u27cities\u27, which partially overlap in space: The Jewish-Zionist city; the Palestinian city; the Jewish ultra-orthodox city and the global-tourist city. While the specific delineation of these cities is unique, Jerusalem can be seen as representative of other cities where ethnic and religious tensions create highly segmented urban spaces and travel markets. In recent years particular emphasis has been placed on integrating transport systems, both across modes and with land use, in order to facilitate and encourage the use of public transport. Spatial integration suggests overcoming cultural and social differences that may be reflected with the units that are to be coordinated. Spatial integration calls for minimizing differences among geographical unites in order to create a comprehensive, full network transport system with economy of scale. Therefore, there might be tradeoffs between integration and another highly recognized transport goal: responsiveness. Responsiveness in highly segmented cities often involves political intervention that limits the integrative approach.https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/trec_seminar/1099/thumbnail.jp

Sustainable Mobility in Cities

The objective of the project 'Sustainable Mobility in Cities' was to advance an approach for identifying policy packages for sustainable mobility. The study combined qualitative and quantitative methodological components: In the qualitative part of the analysis, market segmentation techniques were used to identify groups and locations positively or negatively affected by transport-related policy instruments. In the quantitative part of the study, a method for developing a synthetic population as the basis for a microsimulation of urban travel demand and traffic was developed. The project was a co-operation between the Department of Geography of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Institute of Spatial Planning. The reports presents the results of the study

Burnout in Israeli medical students:a national survey

INTRODUCTION: Professional burnout is characterized by loss of enthusiasm for work, cynicism, and a low sense of personal efficacy. Burnout may adversely affect medical professionalism. Burnout is common in clinicians and varying rates have been reported in medical students. No data exist regarding the prevalence of burnout among Israeli medical students. The aims of this study were to assess the rate of burnout in Israeli medical students and to identify students who were particularly susceptible to burnout. METHODS: A cross-sectional questionnaire design was employed, gathering data from medical students in all years of study across three medical schools. Burnout was measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory Student Survey (MBI-SS), translated into Hebrew. RESULTS: Of the 2160 students in the participating medical schools, 966 (44.7%) completed MBI-SS and demographic questionnaires. The overall burnout rate was 50.6%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis yielded that female gender, age under 25, advanced year of study, studying at a specific medical school and not being a parent are all significantly correlated with higher levels of burnout. CONCLUSIONS: A high rate of burnout was found. The identification of young women who are not parents during advanced years of studies as being at-risk is important, in order to guide the development of burnout prevention interventions

Phenomenological Constraints on Supersymmetric Models with an Anomalous U(1) Flavor Symmetry

We investigate supersymmetric models in which an anomalous $U(1)_{X}$ symmetry explains the Yukawa hierarchy, and the related $D_{X}$-term plays a role in supersymmetry breaking. We use a bottom-up approach to model building. Phenomenological viability leads to a scenario with degenerate squark and slepton spectra and with heavy gauginos. Features of a K\"ahler potential that allows for such a scenario are described.Comment: 13 pages, LaTeX; analysis limited to phenomenological constraints, version accepted for publication in Phys. Lett.

Antigen Load and Viral Sequence Diversification Determine the Functional Profile of HIV-1–Specific CD8+ T Cells

Marcus Altfeld and colleagues suggest that the exhaustion of virus-specific CD8+ T cells during chronic HIV infection likely results from the persistence of antigen