The Center-periphery Dilemma and the Issue of Equity in Regional Development

Different regions are endowed with production factors and characteristics that offer different opportunities for specialization, which can be transform to a regional comparative advantage. Many outlying regions (peripheral regions) suffer from a high rate of unemployment, low level of per capita income and net out migration. Outlying areas attract less investment in comparison to central regions. This is because of the low marginal productivity of factors of production in the outlying areas. In order to alleviate these hardships, inflicted on outlying regions, central governments often devise incentive and investment programs whose main objective is to reduce the gap between regions in the country and thus reduce regional inequalities. To attract high tech industries to outlaying regions is now in vogue. In reality we observe a distinct geographical distribution between centers of R&D and large mass production plants. This is due primarily to agglomeration economies and industrial cluster in central regions. Mass production, because of their needs for a large number of relatively unskilled labors gravitates towards the edge of Metropolitan regions and the outlying areas. But then their contribution to the wellbeing of the population in these regions is limited. Public/private investment in large scale facilities (or infrastructures), like highways and railways, Technological Incubators, R&D Centers, universities and hospitals, are among the projects proposed in order to facilitates economic growth in outlying areas. However investing in these projects is not necessarily the panacea for outlaying areas. Because of scarce resources it is paramount to select the most cost-effective program which will take into account the profile of the region under consideration, its natural endowments, and the administrative and political structure of the local government and its ability, together with the region's population, to turn the chosen program to a success. In this paper we critically discuss the spatial implications of selected public investment programs design to facilitate the development of peripheral regions.

Technological incubators as creators of high-tech firms in Israel

The Israeli High-Tech industry boom in the past decade deserves a thorough study of the local reality as well as an appraisal of the efficiency of existing programs. This research sets as its main objective an analysis of the effectiveness of the Incubator Program in Israel. First we evaluate the High-Tech incubators as a filter of new technological ideas that subsequently become New-Technology-Based companies. Then we discuss their efficiency and contribution to the Israeli High-Tech industry. Second, we identify the kind of investors who are willing to participate in a project during and after the incubation period. This enables us to link the incubator with other private and public sources of venture capital. Finally we analyze the geographical dispersal oft the incubators and their contribution to local economic development. For this purpose, incubators were divided into two groups, ?peripheral? and ?metropolitan?, and an extensive comparison was made of the two groups: their efficiency, relocation, and investment patterns. Our general conclusion is that although technological incubators constitute an efficient program at both the national and the local level, their wide geographical dispersal negatively affects their performance, since it contrasts with the general tendency of High-Tech industries to agglomerate. It is our belief that the number of incubators should be reduced and be more precisely located. Moreover we argue that a comprehensive High-Tech policy that includes locational considerations is needed at the national level.

Modelling Joint Development of Light Rail Transit Stations and Land Use - The Case of Tel-Aviv

Light Rail Transit (LRT) has been gaining popularity as a means of decreasing private automobile dependency and thus reducing car pollutants, relieving congestion and enhancing community liveability. LRT is also perceived as an important generator of economic growth, mainly in old urban centers. Through the improvement of accessibility to CBDs (Central Business Districts) planners and decision makers expect to revitalize central cities' vis-a-vis the increasing competition from the growing suburban shopping malls. More specifically, the objective of this paper is to explore the complex relationship between transportation and land use by analyzing the optimal composition of land use around the proposed light rail stations. Density and diversity are the two most important characteristics of urban land use development. We examine changes in land use adjacent to the LRT stations in metropolitan Tel-Aviv, and their impact on the demand for total travel in particular. These changes include hypothetical scenarios of alternative land use compositions, densities and intensities of residential, employment, and commercial land uses. In order to measure the impact of these changes on travel, a demand model is calibrated. The traditional four-step transportation model is retrofitted with alternative land use density and diversity variables. Among these are: residential density, job-population balance etc. As such, the re¬structured model is more sensitive to the different hypothetical land use scenarios and is expected to predict ridership demand changes more accurately. The results have shown that some of the land use variables are extremely important for trip generation trends forecasts, especially trip attraction trends. Furthermore, the simulations of the various land use policies are able to display the spatial reaction of trip rates to land use function, density, degree of mix, and household characteristics. The results of this study could serve to better assess urban transportation ridership demands, especially since they serve as input for mode choice analyses. Moreover, by exploring this subject even further, planners and decision makers will be able to attain a clearer and more comprehensive picture of optimal land use patterns surrounding station areas, and in doing so, improving the quality of life of urban dwellers, commuters and visitors.

Modeling adoption of innovations in agriculture using discrete choice models

This paper is concerned with the development of varieties and fertilization techniques of greenhouse tomatoes, and their spatial diffusion in the northwestern region of the Negev in Israel. The main objective of the paper is to identify the factors affecting the farmers’ decision to adopt innovations and the factors inducing the process of knowledge-diffusion in the rural region. The approach adopted is the use of discrete choice models based on random utility theory. Results of the empirical analysis when applying the disaggregate Logit Model indicate that the regional, local and individual attributes have a significant bearing on the farmers’ decision-making process in regard to choosing among alternative tomato varieties and fertilization techniques. The findings indicate that the models constructed for this study may be used as a planning tool for the purpose of evaluating the effect of different factors on the spatial diffusion of innovations in rural regions. The results of the research could also assist decision-makers in formulating development policies for rural regions. Keywords: Spatial diffusion; discrete choice models; greenhouse tomatoes; nested logit

On the accuracy of approximation of a small celestial body motion using intermediate perturbed orbits calculated from two position vectors and three observations

We examine intermediate perturbed orbits proposed by the first author previously, defined from the two position vectors and three angular coordinates of a small celestial body. It is shown theoretically, that at a small reference time interval covering the measurements the approximation accuracy of real movements by these orbits corresponds approximately to the third order of osculation. The smaller reference interval of time, the better this correspondence. Laws of variation of the methodical errors in constructing intermediate orbits subject to the length of reference time interval are deduced. According to these laws, the convergence rate of the methods to the exact solution (upon reducing the reference interval of time) is higher by two orders of magnitude than in the case of conventional methods using the Keplerian unperturbed orbit. The considered orbits are among the most accurate in set of orbits of their class determined by the order of osculation. The theoretical results are validated by numerical examples

Private vs. Public Technological Incubator Program - The lesson from Israel

The Public Technological Incubator Program (PTIP) was initiated by the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) in the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Israel in the wake of a large influx of immigrants from the former USSR, many of whom were scientists and engineers. This massive immigration of highly skilled labor bolstered the Israeli high-tech industry which in the early 1990’s blossomed in an unprecedented manner. Between 1990 and 1993, 28 incubators were established. Today there are 24 incubators that are still in operation and they can be found near metropolitan areas and in peripheral areas, as well. Since the year 2000, private technological incubators began operating in Israel. This development owes its activity to the rapidly growing private (venture) capital (VC) that traditionally did not funded such projects. This study examines the differences and similarities between these two types of technological incubators – public vs. private. It addresses the question weather there is still a need for PTIP. The study points to the unique role played by VC funds and private investment companies in sponsoring projects in the private and the public technological incubators. VC funds tend to invest more in projects within private incubators than in projects in public incubators. However, they are only of secondary in importance compare to the financial support rendered by the (CSO) to public incubators and to the owner/sponsor in the private incubators. Thus, these sources of funds serve as complementary rather than as a substitute of funding for projects. Based on our empirical analysis and our findings, the main conclusion is that private incubators cannot substitute public incubators program; even after the entrance of the private sector into the area of technological incubator activity, there is still justification for the continuation of the TPIP. Private incubators tend to concentrate in selected fields while public incubators sponsor a large variety of fields. The PTIP is found to be the only answer to advance national objectives such as the geographical distribution of economic activities and providing special incentives to some selected population groups (such as new immigrants) for whom such activities would otherwise be out of reach.

Old patterns, new meaning : the 1845 hospital of Bezm-i Alem in Istanbul

This paper discusses the history of an 1845 Ottoman hospital founded by Bezm-i Alem, mother of the reigning sultan Abdülmecit I (reigned 1839-1856), embedded in the medical and political contexts of the Middle East in the nineteenth century. The main focus of this paper is the Ottoman discourse of modernization, which identified progress with modernization and westernization and included a belief in the positive character of progress, with a high degree of optimism regarding the success of the process. The Bezm-i Alem hospital illustrates the medical reality of the 19th century, reconstructed through Ottoman eyes rather than from the perspective of foreigners with their own agenda and biases. In many respects it continued previous medical traditions; other aspects reveal brand new developments in Ottoman medicine and hospital management. Ottoman medical reality was one of coexistence and rivalry: traditional conceptions of medicine and health were believed and practiced side-byside with new western-like concepts and techniques

Editorial: Critical reflections on contemporary responses to gender violence within public, political, health and research contexts

No Abstrac

About the possibility of plasma partial enlightenment around the spacecraft to improve quality of ground and satellite telecommunications operation

Запропоновано спосіб просвітлення плазми в околі антенного відсіку КА. Він ґрунтується на генерації імпульсного штучного низькотемпературного плазмового середовища, котре сприяє проходженню електромагнітних хвиль.The way of plasma enlightenment inthevicinityof spacecraft antennacompartment is offered. Itisbasedon generating pulsedartificially created low temperature plasma environment which facilitates the electromagnetic waves passage