Information-based instruments for improved urban management

The task of urban managers is to ensure the provision of basic urban services, such as water, waste removal, security, transport, and an environment conducive to economic activity, while maintaining fiscal sustainability of city operations. City managers in developing countries face increasing pressure in achieving these goals because of rapid urbanization, the larger responsibilities following decentralization, and the economic challenges of globalization. Based on experience in Bangalore, India, the authors argue that effective, forward-looking urban management requires a much better information infrastructure than is currently available in most cities.Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Health Promotion,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Decentralization,ICT Policy and Strategies,Environmental Economics&Policies,ICT Policy and Strategies,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Municipal Financial Management,Banks&Banking Reform

Transport and Magnetic Properties of R1-xAxCoO3 (R=La, Pr and Nd; A=Ba, Sr and Ca)

Transport and magnetic measurements have been carried out on perovskite Co-oxides R1-xAxCoO3 (R=La, Pr, and Nd; A=Ba, Sr and Ca; 0<x<0.5: All sets of the R and A species except Nd1-xBaxCoO3 have been studied.). With increasing the Sr- or Ba-concentration x, the system becomes metallic ferromagnet with rather large magnetic moments. For R=Pr and Nd and A=Ca, the system approaches the metal- insulator phase boundary but does not become metallic. The magnetic moments of the Ca-doped systems measured with the magnetic field H=0.1 T are much smaller than those of the Ba- and Sr-doped systems. The thermoelectric powers of the Ba- and Sr-doped systems decrease from large positive values of lightly doped samples to negative ones with increasing doping level, while those of Ca-doped systems remain positive. These results can be understood by considering the relationship between the average ionic radius of R1-xAx and the energy difference between the low spin and intermediate spin states. We have found the resistivity-anomaly in the measurements of Pr1-xCaxCoO3 under pressure in the wide region of x, which indicates the existence of a phase transition different from the one reported in the very restricted region of x~0.5 at ambient pressure [Tsubouchi et al. Phys. Rev. B 66 (2002) 052418.]. No indication of this kind of transition has been observed in other species of R.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures. J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 72 (2003) No.

Class based dynamic priority scheduling for uplink to support M2M communications in LTE

Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication has emerged as a key technology with huge market potential for cellular service providers deploying LTE networks. Addition of enormous number of M2M devices into the cellular networks poses a heavy competition to existing Human-to-Human (H2H) devices for getting radio resources, thereby affecting the performance of the H2H communications. But, one can not treat all M2M flows as low priority and schedule them after H2H flows, as there are many M2M applications like healthcare and tracking which are of high importance and delay-intolerant. Hence, there is a need for class based priority scheduling of the traffic of M2M and H2H sessions in the network. In this paper, we propose a class based dynamic priority scheduling algorithm for uplink transmission of M2M and H2H traffic in LTE. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated by various metrics such as H2H throughput and system throughput and also compared with existing scheduler

Spin state equilibria and localized versus collective d-electron behaviour in neodymium and gadolinium trioxocobaltate(III)

Magnetic susceptibility measurements and mossbauer spectra show that NdCoO<SUB>3</SUB> and GdCoO<SUB>3</SUB> contain predominantly low-spin Co<SUP>III</SUP> ions at low temperatures which transform partially to high-spin Co<SUP>3+</SUP> until a certain temperature. Beyond this temperature, there is a transfer of e<SUB>g</SUB> electrons from Co<SUP>3+</SUP> to Co<SUP>III</SUP> giving rise to di- and tetra-valent Co species followed by short-range ordering. Co<SUP>3+</SUP> ions completely disappear at about 1000 K where there is a gradual transition from localized electron behaviour to collective behaviour. The cobaltates are semi-metals beyond this transition. The spin state equilibria and the electronic transition described here find support from electron transport properties, mossbauer parameters as well as differential thermal analysis and x-ray data

Itinerant-electron ferromagnetism in La<SUB>1-x</SUB>Sr<SUB>x</SUB>CoO<SUB>3</SUB>: a Mossbauer study

Mossbauer and other studies establish that in La<SUB>1-x</SUB>Sr<SUB>x</SUB>CoO<SUB>3</SUB> (x&gt;0.125), ferromagnetic Sr<SUP>2+</SUP>-rich clusters coexist with paramagnetic La<SUP>3+</SUP>-rich regions in the same crystallographic phase, with the ferromagnetic component increasing with increasing x and decreasing T. The 3d holes created by Sr<SUP>2+</SUP> substitution are itinerant both above and below T<SUB>C</SUB>. All the experimental observations on this system can be explained on the basis of itinerant-electron ferromagnetism

Mossbauer studies of the high-spin-low-spin equilibria and the localized-collective electron transition in LaCoO<SUB>3</SUB>

Mossbauer studies combined with magnetic-susceptibility data on well-characterized LaCoO<SUB>3</SUB> in the 4.2-1200-K region show that cobalt ions exist predominantly in the low-spin Co<SUP>III</SUP> state at low temperatures which transform partially to high-spin Co<SUP>3+</SUP> ions up to 200 K. Above 200 K, Co<SUP>3+</SUP> and Co<SUP>III</SUP> ion pairs transform to Co<SUP>II</SUP> and Co<SUP>4+</SUP> pairs. At high temperatures, the population of Co<SUP>3+</SUP> decreases significantly and completely disappears at the localized-electron-collective-electron transition temperature at 1210 K. The variations of the lamb-mossbauer factor and the center shift with temperature provide valuable information on the high-spin-low-spin equilibria, as well as on the nature of the phase transitions and symmetry changes in LaCoO<SUB>3</SUB>. All these changes are reflected in the transport properties of LaCoO<SUB>3</SUB>. There appears to be little doubt that the first-order localized-electron-collective-electron transition in LaCoO<SUB>3</SUB> is caused essentially by the change in entropy of the d electrons

Spin-state equilibria in holmium cobaltate

Mossbauer and magnetic susceptibility studies of HoCoO<SUB>3 </SUB>have shown that there is coexistence of low-spin Co(III) ions and high-spin Co<SUP>3+</SUP> ions; Co(III) being more predominant at low temperatures. The population of Co(III) and Co<SUP>3+</SUP> equalizes above a particular temperature with these ions occupying alternate oxygen octahedra, leading to an ordered phase. The ordering transition is evidenced by the temperature variation of Lamb-Mossbauer factor, x-ray Debye-Waller factor, and inverse susceptibility. Electrical-conductivity data reflect these changes in the spin-state equilibria and show that at around 1080 K, HoCoO3 becomes metallic. At this temperature, a first-order localized electron-collective electron transition seems to occur. Co(II) and Co<SUP>4+</SUP> are not formed by electron transfer from Co<SUP>3+</SUP> to Co(III) as in LaCoO<SUB>3</SUB>. This behavior is correlated with the variation of covalency in the cobaltates

Localized-to-itinerant electron transitions in rare-earth cobaltates

Mossbauer studies show that cobalt ions in LaCoO<SUB>3</SUB> exist predominantly in the low-spin Co<SUP>III </SUP>state at low temperatures and partially transform to the high-spin Co<SUB>3+</SUB> state up to 200 K. Above 200 K, Co<SUP>II</SUP> and Co<SUP>4+</SUP> ions are formed by the transfer of d electrons from Co<SUP>3+</SUP> to Co<SUP>III</SUP>; Co<SUP>3+</SUP> ions completely disappear at the first-order localized-to-itinerant electron transition temperature

Rare earth cobaltite catalysts: relation of activity to spin and valence states of cobalt

Catalytic activities of rare earth cobaltites and related compounds are shown to be related to the spin and valence states of cobalt