Trends in Smart City Development

This report examines the meanings and practices associated with the term 'smart cities.' Smart city initiatives involve three components: information and communication technologies (ICTs) that generate and aggregate data; analytical tools which convert that data into usable information; and organizational structures that encourage collaboration, innovation, and the application of that information to solve public problems

The Future of Work In Cities

The latest report in our City of the Future series examines societal shifts and advancements in technology that are impacting the rapidly changing American workforce. The report outlines solutions to help city leaders plan for the fast-approaching future, while forecasting the economic viability of two distinct sectors – retail and office administration – in which a quarter of Americans are currently employed

Cities and Drones: What Cities Need to Know about Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

NLC's municipal guide, Cities and Drones, is designed to serve as a primer on drones for local officials, providing insight into the recently released federal rules relating to drone operation, as well as offering suggestions for how local governments can craft their own drone ordinances to encourage innovation while also protecting their cities.Drones have the potential to revolutionize many industries and city services, particularly as their technology advances. There are many applications for drones within the public sector at the local and state level. Drones can be used for law enforcement and firefighting, as rural ambulances, and for inspections, environmental monitoring, and disaster management. Any commercial arena that involves outdoor photography or visual inspection will likely be experimenting with drones in the near future, as will retailers who want to speed up package delivery.However, drones also present challenges. There are some safety issues, for instance, when operators fly their drones over people or near planes. City residents often have privacy concerns when any small device hovering nearby could potentially be taking photos or video. The FAA's final rule on drones left some opportunity for city governments to legislate on this issue. Rather than ban them outright, city officials should consider how this new technology might serve residents or enhance city services

City Survey on the Sharing Economy: Shifting Perceptions of Collaborative Consumption

The growing sharing economy is impacting cities as innovative companies are providing improvements to service efficiency and on-demand information. The National League of Cities released the first national quantitative survey of local elected officials' views on the sharing economy. The report found that 71 percent of cities surveyed are supportive of growth in the sharing economy - particularly with ridesharing services such as Uber and Lyft - but many are concerned about the sharing economy's impact on public safety. On the whole, cities want to encourage economic development and accommodate the services their constituents want. The survey found that city leaders are open to integrating sharing economy services more fully within their communities - and they want to capitalize on this opportunity. When asked to identify the greatest benefit of the sharing economy, 22 percent of city leaders identified improved services, 20 percent identified increased economic activity, and 16 percent identified increased entrepreneurial activity. At the same time, the survey found that cities do have concerns with the sharing economy. By a large margin, 61 percent of city leaders were most concerned with public safety, specifically identifying the lack of comparable insurance coupled with general safety concerns. Other areas of concern included the protection of traditional service providers and industry participants (10 percent) and non-compliance with current standards (9 percent)

City Officials Guide to Policing in the 21st Century

City officials play significant roles in promoting transparency and fostering trust between the community and law enforcement agencies. This guide is designed for local elected leaders offering guidance on how law enforcement officials can implement the principles of community policing. More specifically, it provides an overview of the recommendations from the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing.Community policing is a law enforcement strategy that emphasizes the systematic use of community engagement, partnerships, and problem solving techniques to proactively address conditions that cultivate crime and social disorder. Community policing requires cooperation among police, citizens, and local decision-makers in order to forge effective partnerships that combat criminal activity.The President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing divides the recommendations into six pillars. They are:Building Trust and LegitimacyPolicy and OversightTechnology and Social MediaCommunity Policing and Crime ReductionOfficer Training and EducationOfficer Safety and WellnessIn addition to a detailed analysis of the Task Force recommendations, the guide includes short case examples from Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Montgomery County, Maryland. A list of resource agencies and funding sources, both public and nonprofit, are included by way of reference as is a sample of common community policing strategies.Important take-away ideas from the report include:Foster trustAlign policies with community valuesEmbrace new technologiesPrioritize community engagementInvest in trainingCultivate the well-being of officer

City Rights in an Era of Preemption: A State-by-State Analysis

In a new report, NLC finds that states limit city power through preemption in a number of policy areas, ranging from labor protections to taxing authority.Preemption is the use of state law to nullify a municipal ordinance or authority. In some cases, preemption can lead to improved policy statewide. However, preemption that prevents cities from expanding rights, building stronger economies, and promoting innovation can be counterproductive when decision-making is divorced from the core wants and needs of community members

Paying for Local Infrastructure in a New Era of Federalism: A State-By-State Analysis

Despite the fact that infrastructure is a critical part of daily life for all Americans, the infrastructure deficit in the United States grows with each passing day. The National League of Cities (NLC) today released a new report on the ability of cities to address the nation's growing infrastructure challenges. The costs of building, operating and maintaining road, transit and water/wastewater systems are falling increasingly to local governments with the decline of state and federal funding, an increase in mandates and a misalignment of priorities. In this era of "new federalism," local governments have assumed a greater responsibility to meet their infrastructure needs, but much of this devolution of responsibility has come without authority to raise funds locally."Paying for Local Infrastructure in a New Era of Federalism" shows that cities need a more deliberate approach that recognizes the central role of infrastructure in the success of our nation's economic engines. To achieve this, cities need strategic and predictable investment from federal and state governments; better communication between cities and states on funding priorities; and greater local authority to raise revenue and implement creative solutions with multi-sector partners."A new federalism - where cities are leading in addressing the nation's most critical challenges - is emerging," said Clarence E. Anthony, National League of Cities (NLC) CEO and executive director. "Despite the fact that cities have increased responsibility for our nation's infrastructure, most states limit the ability of localities to raise revenues to meet their communities' needs. It's critical that local governments have the funding and decision-making authority they need to bring our infrastructure into the 21st century, and enable American cities to be competitive on the global stage." The report presents a state-by-state analysis and comparison of local tools to fund infrastructure, including local taxes and fees and emerging mechanisms such as state infrastructure banks and public-private partnerships. It is the second annual collaborative project with the state municipal leagues, and is based on federal, state and local government data as well as a survey and interviews with state municipal leagues.

Case 4 : Opioid Crisis in the Windsor-Essex Community: Time for Responsible Opioid Prescribing?

Canada is in the midst of an opioid crisis, with the number of opioid-related harms and overdose cases increasing rapidly over the past few years. The opioid crisis involves a rising number of opioid-related deaths and overdoses, either from prescription opioids or from the increased availability of illegal, adulterated forms of potent opioids such as fentanyl. Today, fentanyl and fentanyl analogues have been reported to be the major drivers of the opioid crisis in the country, accounting for approximately 73% of accidental opioid-related deaths. Opioid-use disorders are increasingly prevalent in patients with chronic pain who have received opioids for management of their condition. Canadians are often overprescribed opioids for chronic pain conditions, which has, in part, led to the higher number of opioid addictions in the country. Unfortunately, with the increase in opioid-related harms across Ontario, the burden of opioid use in the Windsor-Essex region has increased even faster than in other regions in the province. In response to the growing opioid crisis in the Windsor-Essex community, a multipronged initiative - the Windsor Essex Community Opioid and Substance Strategy - was developed and adopted to address the increases in opioid-related harms in the county. As a result of the increasing number of opioids prescribed by healthcare providers in Windsor-Essex County, and after consulting community partners and key stakeholders, it was decided that educating patients about opioids and supporting healthcare providers through appropriate opioid prescribing practices should be the main components of the strategy. Enhancing the education of health care providers has been identified as a key strategy to prevent opioid addiction and overdose in Ontario. To implement the healthcare providers’ education program, it is important to gather information on the best practices and guidelines for opioid prescribing, and to understand healthcare provider knowledge/knowledge gaps in relation to best practices. This will inform the planning and development of tools and resources for educating patients and healthcare providers on opioid use and chronic pain management

Na(V)1.5 sodium channel window currents contribute to spontaneous firing in olfactory sensory neurons

Olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) fire spontaneously as well as in response to odor; both forms of firing are physiologically important. We studied voltage-gated Na+ channels in OSNs to assess their role in spontaneous activity. Whole cell patch-clamp recordings from OSNs demonstrated both tetrodotoxin-sensitive and tetrodotoxin-resistant components of Na+ current. RT-PCR showed mRNAs for five of the nine different Na+ channel α-subunits in olfactory tissue; only one was tetrodotoxin resistant, the so-called cardiac subtype NaV1.5. Immunohistochemical analysis indicated that NaV1.5 is present in the apical knob of OSN dendrites but not in the axon. The NaV1.5 channels in OSNs exhibited two important features: 1) a half-inactivation potential near −100 mV, well below the resting potential, and 2) a window current centered near the resting potential. The negative half-inactivation potential renders most NaV1.5 channels in OSNs inactivated at the resting potential, while the window current indicates that the minor fraction of noninactivated NaV1.5 channels have a small probability of opening spontaneously at the resting potential. When the tetrodotoxin-sensitive Na+ channels were blocked by nanomolar tetrodotoxin at the resting potential, spontaneous firing was suppressed as expected. Furthermore, selectively blocking NaV1.5 channels with Zn2+ in the absence of tetrodotoxin also suppressed spontaneous firing, indicating that NaV1.5 channels are required for spontaneous activity despite resting inactivation. We propose that window currents produced by noninactivated NaV1.5 channels are one source of the generator potentials that trigger spontaneous firing, while the upstroke and propagation of action potentials in OSNs are borne by the tetrodotoxin-sensitive Na+ channel subtypes.This work was aided by support from Boston University, the Rocky Mountain Taste and Smell Center Core for Cellular Visualization and Analysis [National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) P30 DC-04657; D. Restrepo, principal investigator], and NIDCD Grants DC-04863 to V. Dionne and DC-006070 to D. Restrepo and T. E. Finger. (Boston University; P30 DC-04657 - Rocky Mountain Taste and Smell Center Core for Cellular Visualization and Analysis [National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)]; DC-04863 - Rocky Mountain Taste and Smell Center Core for Cellular Visualization and Analysis [National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)]; DC-006070 - Rocky Mountain Taste and Smell Center Core for Cellular Visualization and Analysis [National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)])https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4122723/Accepted manuscrip

Functional role of ɛ-tubulin in the assembly of the centriolar microtubule scaffold

Centrioles and basal bodies fascinate by their spectacular architecture, featuring an arrangement of nine microtubule triplets into an axial symmetry, whose biogenesis relies on yet elusive mechanisms. However, the recent discovery of new tubulins, such as δ-, ɛ-, or η-tubulin, could constitute a breakthrough for deciphering the assembly steps of this unconventional microtubule scaffold. Here, we report the functional analysis in vivo of ɛ-tubulin, based on gene silencing in Paramecium, which demonstrates that this protein, which localizes at the basal bodies, is essential for the assembly and anchorage of the centriolar microtubules