Competitiveness in Urban Europe: research based, practice led

Metropolitan regions and cities are often coined as the ‘motors of the economy’. The performance of national economies – and even the EU in general – is increasingly dependent on the cumulative performance of metropolitan regions and/or cities. All around the world, cities are increasingly in competition with one another; interconnected in a network of criss-cross relations between firms and institutions. With respect to urban competitiveness, numerous activities of benchmarking and ‘best practises’ between cities exist. Many policies are based upon these evaluations leading to cherry-picking and the hasty copying of experiences from one specific urban context to another. A deeper understanding of the problems and structural mechanisms behind urban competitiveness is often lacking. This paper aims to analyse the competitiveness of European metropolitan regions via a comparative case study research, defining the main threats and challenges concerning the economic vitality of urban areas. It will be driven by the input of regions and cities with the aim to identify ‘best’ and ‘bad’ practices across Europe. In other words, we will set out the contours of a research framework on economic competitiveness that aims to bridge the gap between academic research and urban practices by means of a policy-driven research agenda. The competitiveness of five European regions will be discussed in more detail: Munich, Warsaw, Madrid, Bucharest and Stockholm. Based on roundtable discussions with stakeholders in these cities, the missing blanks in urban research will be defined. This paper will go beyond the ranking lists based solely on economic productivity figures by discussing cities’ competitiveness from an integral perspective. The underlying determinants of competitiveness (e.g. local economic sectoral structure, labour market) will be analysed to create a better understanding of the economic performance of cities. It is the aim of this study to make academic research on urban competitiveness applicable for urban practice by listing knowledge and research questions that are of interest for both researchers as well as urban practitioners.

Competitiveness in Urban Europe: research based, practice led

Metropolitan regions and cities are often coined as the ‘motors of the economy'. The performance of national economies - and even the EU in general - is increasingly dependent on the cumulative performance of metropolitan regions and/or cities. All around the world, cities are increasingly in competition with one another; interconnected in a network of criss-cross relations between firms and institutions. With respect to urban competitiveness, numerous activities of benchmarking and ‘best practises' between cities exist. Many policies are based upon these evaluations leading to cherry-picking and the hasty copying of experiences from one specific urban context to another. A deeper understanding of the problems and structural mechanisms behind urban competitiveness is often lacking. This paper aims to analyse the competitiveness of European metropolitan regions via a comparative case study research, defining the main threats and challenges concerning the economic vitality of urban areas. It will be driven by the input of regions and cities with the aim to identify ‘best' and ‘bad' practices across Europe. In other words, we will set out the contours of a research framework on economic competitiveness that aims to bridge the gap between academic research and urban practices by means of a policy-driven research agenda. The competitiveness of five European regions will be discussed in more detail: Munich, Warsaw, Madrid, Bucharest and Stockholm. Based on roundtable discussions with stakeholders in these cities, the missing blanks in urban research will be defined. This paper will go beyond the ranking lists based solely on economic productivity figures by discussing cities' competitiveness from an integral perspective. The underlying determinants of competitiveness (e.g. local economic sectoral structure, labour market) will be analysed to create a better understanding of the economic performance of cities. It is the aim of this study to make academic research on urban competitiveness applicable for urban practice by listing knowledge and research questions that are of interest for both researchers as well as urban practitioners

Phase Diagram for Self-assembly of Amphiphilic Molecule C12E6 by Dissipative Particle Dynamics Simulation

In a previous study, dissipative particle dynamics simulation was used to qualitatively clarify the phase diagram of the amphiphilic molecule hexaethylene glycol dodecyl ether (C12E6). In the present study, the hydrophilicity dependence of the phase structure was clarified qualitatively by varying the interaction potential between hydrophilic molecules and water molecules in a dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulation using the Jury model. By varying the coefficient of the interaction potential $x$ between hydrophilic beads and water molecules as x=-20, 0, 10, and 20, at a dimensionless temperature of T=0.5 and a concentration of amphiphilic molecules in water of phi=50% the phase structures grew to lamellar (x=-20), hexagonal (x=0), and micellar (x=10) phases. For x=20, phase separation occurs between hydrophilic beads and water molecules

THE INFLUENCE OF DISCUS MASS ON PERFORMANCE-DETERMINING VARIABLES

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of discus mass on two performance-determining variables; timing of acceleration and release velocity. Twelve male discus throwers performed 25 throws with 5 different masses as inertial sensors collected acceleration data of each throw. Release velocity, but not timing of acceleration, was influenced by discus mass. Large differences were seen between skilled and less skilled athletes with regard to timing of acceleration and release velocity. Skilled athletes demonstrated altered timing of acceleration with increased discus mass. No such differences, however, were found between more and less powerful athletes. As a result, the less skilled athletes were more affected by the varying discus mass than the skilled athletes

Consistent particle-based algorithm with a non-ideal equation of state

A thermodynamically consistent particle-based model for fluid dynamics with continuous velocities and a non-ideal equation of state is presented. Excluded volume interactions are modeled by means of biased stochastic multiparticle collisions which depend on the local velocities and densities. Momentum and energy are exactly conserved locally. The equation of state is derived and compared to independent measurements of the pressure. Results for the kinematic shear viscosity and self-diffusion constants are presented. A caging and order/disorder transition is observed at high densities and large collision frequency.Comment: 7 pages including 4 figure

Multiscale non-adiabatic dynamics with radiative decay, case study on the post-ionization fragmentation of rare-gas tetramers

In this supplementary material, we recollect, for reader's convenience, the general scheme of suggested multiscale model (Sec. 1), and basic informations about approaches used for pilot study: a detailed description of the interaction model (Sec. 2) and dynamical methods used for the dark dynamics step (Sec. 3) reported previously in two preceding studies [1, 2]. In addition, a detailed description of the treatment of radiative processes is also given (Sec. 4).Comment: supplementary material for parent paper; 9 pages, 1 figure; corrected formulae and misleading notation in Sec.4 (pages 7 and 8

Results of measurements of PM10 at a kerbside location in Breda, the Netherlands

De gemeente Breda heeft geconstateerd dat de meetwaarden van fijn stof (PM10) bij de Tilburgseweg te Breda hoog zijn in vergelijking met de andere meetpunten van het Landelijk Meetnet Luchtkwaliteit (LML) van het RIVM. Dit is zichtbaar in de lijst met geconstateerde overschrijdingsdagen zoals die continu wordt bijgehouden op de website van het LML. Op verzoek van de gemeente Breda heeft de provincie Noord-Brabant de fijnstofconcentraties in de periode van augustus tot en met oktober 2006 gemeten. In de periode augustus tot en met oktober 2006 heeft het RIVM eveneens fijnstofreferentiemetingen verricht. Uit de referentiemetingen volgt dat de metingen van het RIVM en de provincie Noord-Brabant met elkaar in overeenstemming zijn. De meetresultaten van de automatische metingen zijn in overeenstemming met de in Europa geldende kwaliteitscriteria. Uit het equivalentieonderzoek dat in 2006 door het LML heeft plaatsgevonden, volgt dat het aantal gerapporteerde overschrijdingsdagen van het meetstation aan de Tilburgseweg te Breda is aangepast.The Breda local authority has ascertained a higher concentration of particulate matter on the kerbside of the Tilburgseweg (a road running through Breda) than concentrations measured at other locations across the country. These measurements were performed by the Dutch National Air Monitoring Network of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), which observed the highest concentrations at a kerbside location in the city itself. On the request of the Breda local authorities, the provincial authorities measured the particulate matter concentrations (PM10) from September till October 2006. In the same period, RIVM's Laboratory for Environmental Monitoring performed measurements on particulate matter (PM10) using reference techniques from the European guideline. According to the reference measurements, the measurements done by RIVM (with uncertainties taken into consideration) and the province of Noord-Brabant turned out to be in agreement. The routine measurements performed were shown to satisfy the European quality criteria for PM10 measurement. Finally, judging from the 2006 validation and equivalence study, it was obvious that the reported number of days in which concentrations were exceeded at the kerbside location of the Tilburgseweg in Breda had been adjusted.Gemeente Bred

Recognition of genetic predisposition in pediatric cancer patients: An easy-to-use selection tool

Genetic predisposition for childhood cancer is under diagnosed. Identifying these patients may lead to therapy adjustments in case of syndrome-related increased toxicity or resistant disease and syndrome-specific screening programs may lead to early detection of a further independent malignancy. Cancer surveillance might also be warranted for affected relatives and detection of a genetic mutation can allow for reproductive counseling.Here we present an easy-to-use selection tool, based on a systematic review of pediatric cancer predisposing syndromes, to identify patients who may benefit from genetic counseling. The selection tool involves five questions concerning family history, the type of malignancy, multiple primary malignancies, specific features and excessive toxicity, which results in the selection of those patients that may benefit from referral to a clinical geneticist

New Green-Kubo formulas for transport coefficients in hard sphere-, Langevin fluids and the likes

We present generalized Green-Kubo expressions for thermal transport coefficients $\mu$ in non-conservative fluid-type systems, of the generic form, $\mu$ $= \mu_\infty$ +\int^\infty_0 dt V^{-1} \av{I_\epsilon \exp(t {\cal L}) I}_0 where $\exp(t{\cal L})$ is a pseudo-streaming operator. It consists of a sum of an instantaneous transport coefficient $\mu_\infty$, and a time integral over a time correlation function in a state of thermal equilibrium between a current $I$ and its conjugate current $I_\epsilon$. This formula with $\mu_\infty \neq 0$ and $I_\epsilon \neq I$ covers vastly different systems, such as strongly repulsive elastic interactions in hard sphere fluids, weakly interacting Langevin fluids with dissipative and stochastic interactions satisfying detailed balance conditions, and "the likes", defined in the text. For conservative systems the results reduce to the standard formulas.Comment: 7 pages, no figures. Version 2: changes in the text and references adde

Mesoscopic model for the fluctuating hydrodynamics of binary and ternary mixtures

A recently introduced particle-based model for fluid dynamics with continuous velocities is generalized to model immiscible binary mixtures. Excluded volume interactions between the two components are modeled by stochastic multiparticle collisions which depend on the local velocities and densities. Momentum and energy are conserved locally, and entropically driven phase separation occurs for high collision rates. An explicit expression for the equation of state is derived, and the concentration dependence of the bulk free energy is shown to be the same as that of the Widom-Rowlinson model. Analytic results for the phase diagram are in excellent agreement with simulation data. Results for the line tension obtained from the analysis of the capillary wave spectrum of a droplet agree with measurements based on the Laplace's equation. The introduction of "amphiphilic" dimers makes it possible to model the phase behavior and dynamics of ternary surfactant mixtures.Comment: 7 pages including 6 figure