Major Metropolis Research Articles

Reciprocal Reflections: Nostalgia for the Present in Vladimir Nabokov’s “A Guide to Berlin” and Walter Benjamin’s “Moscow” Essay

Reciprocal ReflectionsNostalgia for the Present in Vladimir Nabokov’s “A Guide to Berlin” and Walter Benjamin’s “Moscow” Essay Pascale Lafountain (bio) Introduction Coincidences often occur in literature, but it is rare that two prominent authors trade places, traveling to each other’s homelands for a time and thus giving readers reciprocal images of the new places through the eyes of a foreigner. One might say that this happened in the mid-1920s: Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) wrote extensively about his life in exile in Berlin at a time when several German authors were traveling to Russia not as exiles, but as artists and political tourists, intrigued by the very Marxism that was so threatening to Nabokov’s family and personal livelihood. Almost simultaneously, in December 1926, Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) traveled to Moscow for two months to visit his “Communist girlfriend,” Asja Lacis.1 The other motivation for Benjamin’s trip to Moscow was to “get a closer look at the situation in Russia, and perhaps even to establish some sort of official tie with it,” as Benjamin’s friend Gershom Scholem describes in his preface to Benjamin’s Moscow Diary.2 It is perhaps not intuitive to bring together these two authors, whose work and politics are so different, and Will Norman, the only scholar to have treated this pairing in great depth, has acknowledged that for many Nabokov scholars in particular, this pairing must seem “unusual, if not perverse.”3 Two of Benjamin’s greatest influences, Marx and Freud, were at the same time Nabokov’s greatest intellectual nemeses, [End Page 93] and Nabokov’s and Benjamin’s views on Soviet culture could hardly be more disparate. There is, however, ample reason—and precedent—for this article’s emphasis on the implicit conversation between Nabokov’s and Benjamin’s work. The most superficial rationale is biographical: both spent time in Germany between the world wars; both directly experienced the effects of European anti-Semitism as Véra Nabokov as well as Walter Benjamin himself were Jewish; both struggled for success as they published short modernist works in Berlin; both eventually left Berlin for Paris (Benjamin in 1933, Nabokov in 1937); and both applied for visas to the United States, though Benjamin’s application was tragically denied, leading to his suicide in 1940. Both are heirs to French modernism and seem to respond to Proust and other authors exploring memory, even if these affinities carry differing implications.4 Both authors feature flâneurs strolling through major metropolises, though Nabokov’s Berlin narrator remains more distanced, as Norman puts it, “a figure consciously divorcing himself from the crowds, disdainful of purposeful activity, and ultimately defining himself in opposition to the bourgeois.”5 More important for the present inquiry is the shared interest in the material detail of urban surroundings and in the similar implications that these observations carry for their social critiques. Norman notes: Given the mutual interest in high modernist temporal aesthetics, the personal experience of an oppressive tyrannical regime, the incessant insecurity of political crisis and a marginalized social position as impoverished exiles, it should perhaps strike us as unsurprising that Nabokov and Benjamin took parallel steps in formulating a temporal perspective which aimed to redeem the present through the active reorganization of the past.6 Norman has fruitfully compared the “remarkably similar temporal constructions” and strategies of “historical resistance” in Nabokov’s Speak, Memory and Benjamin’s Berlin Childhood around 1900,7 emphasizing how their biographies inspire a “skepticism of nineteenth-century linear historicism and its attendant notions of civilized progress” as well as “how these two figures share a strategy to resist the progress of a determining, historical time by constructing a constellated temporal model [End Page 94] by which history can be disarmed and assimilated into personal experience.”8 Norman’s scholarship has thus pointed to some of the central dynamics of history and individuality in Nabokov’s and Benjamin’s work, but I would like to suggest both that these dynamics are already present much earlier than Norman observes and that the portrayal of the future in the present is just as important as the portrayal of the past.9 While Nabokov...

Changes in a Shopping Street Area in the Center of a Major Metropolis: A Case Study of the Suidosuji Shopping Arcade in Nada Ward, Kobe

Changes in a Shopping Street Area in the Center of a Major Metropolis: A Case Study of the Suidosuji Shopping Arcade in Nada Ward, Kobe

A traffic monitoring stream-based real-time vehicular offence detection approach

ABSTRACTTraffic offences are becoming increasingly serious as traffic volume increases rapidly in large cities, causing serious property damage and threatening public safety. Existing traffic monitoring systems lack the capability of detecting various types of offences in real-time. This paper proposes a novel monitoring stream-based vehicular offence detection algorithm, which discovers various types of offences from high-throughput traffic monitoring stream in real-time. An offence detecting and monitoring system is also designed and implemented. In order to achieve real-time detection, parallel computing techniques are utilized. An optimized data structure, a one producer-multiple consumer model and a re-hash strategy are proposed to reduce the synchronization cost incurred by multiple threads in the parallel implementation. Both real-world data and synthetic data are applied in the experiments. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is able to discover three types of offences from high-throughput traffic monitoring stream in real-time. Scalability is also observed. The experimental results indicate that the proposed system is sufficiently efficient to provide real-time offence detection for major metropolises.

Single and combined effects of inflammatory markers on 10year diabetes incidence: The mediating role of adiposity-Results from the ATTICA cohort study.

The role of inflammation in diabetes development is not fully elucidated. The aim of this work was to investigate the independent effect of individual inflammatory markers and combinations of them on diabetes incidence and the potential mediating role of obesity. In 2001 to 2002, a random sample of 1514 men (18-87years old) and 1528 women (18-89years old) was selected to participate in the ATTICA study, where Athens is a major metropolis. Interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP), tumour necrosis factor-alpha, serum amyloid alpha, fibrinogen, and homocysteine were measured. Covariates included various clinical, demographic, and lifestyle characteristics, assessed with standard procedures. In 2012, the 10year follow-up was performed. Diabetes diagnosis was defined according to American Diabetes Association criteria among n=1485 participants. One hundred ninety-one incident cases of diabetes were documented, yielding an incidence of 12.9% (13.4% in men and 12.4% in women). After adjustments, only elevated IL-6 increased by 2.2 times the 10year diabetes risk (third vs first tertile, 95% CI: 1.13, 4.28). After investigating combinations of inflammatory markers, combined elevated levels of CRP and IL-6 or CRP and fibrinogen (both markers ≥75th percentile vs <75th percentile) increased the risk by 1.93 times (95% CI: 1.20, 3.08) and 2.37 times (95% CI: 1.37, 4.16), respectively. Body mass index was found to significantly mediate the aggravating effect of inflammation. The reported results underline the significant role of individual IL-6 or combinations of CRP-IL-6 and CRP-fibrinogen in diabetes prediction. Adiposity seems to be primarily responsible for an increase in inflammatory markers, leading through this mechanism to insulin resistance and increasing diabetes risk.

Race, schools and opportunity hoarding: evidence from a post-war American metropolis

Opportunity hoarding is a sociological concept first introduced by Charles Tilly. This article explores its utility for historians by examining efforts to exclude different groups of people in a major American metropolis during the 1960s and seventies. This was a period of significant social change, as the racial composition of big city schools shifted dramatically and suburban school districts grew substantially. An examination two such suburban districts finds sustained and effective measures undertaken to exclude African-Americans from moving into one of them. In the neighbouring district, resistance to low-income housing was initially successful but white residents were unable to prevent relatively affluent blacks from settling there. This eventually contributed to further white flight and the transition to a predominantly African-American district. Mechanisms of exclusion are discussed, along with the utility of opportunity hoarding as a concept for historians interested in studying similar issues in other settings.

Impacts of urban transformation on water footprint and sustainable energy in Shanghai, China

Abstract For the past three decades, the notion of sustainable cities has become central in planning and managing urban areas in the world and the large-scale city formation has been formed in big cities. As a result of economic growth and urban transformation, Shanghai, a major Chinese international metropolis, faces ongoing issues with resource waste and low energy utilization. Therefore, this paper aims to consider the availability of water for energy production from a consumption-based perspective and estimate the water footprint of the energy supply using a regional input-output analysis approach for Shanghai. As a result, we conclude that the water footprint of the energy supply of Shanghai is about 1.28 billion m 3 in 2007, with 46.1% of water used for electricity and heat supply. The total water withdrawal by the energy sector is about 2.35 billion m 3 and additional water withdrawal needed is about 35% of the total water withdrawals by the energy sector in Shanghai. Furthermore, an energy self-sufficiency scenario was developed, and the scenario analysis reveals that 55% more water would be required to ensure a self-sufficient energy sector. To guarantee future regional energy security, it is important to manage water resources effectively by allocating water resources among sectors.

The Weighty World of a “Standard Bearer”: The Influence of Help-Seeking Behaviors on Feeling Pressure

ABSTRACTInterpersonal romantic relationships are heavily influenced by societal norms and beliefs. These beliefs can place a great deal of stress on a relationship’s capacity for self-efficacy and behavioral or emotional health. Risk factors associated with individuals’ feelings of “pressure to make their relationship look good to others” were investigated. Analyses were run using a nationally stratified sample (N = 1,112) randomly selected from 1 major metropolis within each of the 10 Administration for Children and Families regions. Results produced an overall theme showing increased pressures of “relationship standard bearing” as education or income levels increase. These results serve as a useful resource to construct relationship education curriculum components, while also providing contextual frames to clinicians and family practitioners.

Revelation of Coupling Biogenic with Anthropogenic Isoprene by Highly Time-Resolved Observations

ABSTRACTInter-annual variations of atmospheric isoprene in a major metropolis, Taipei, were reported based on a two-year continuous measurements of non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) with an hourly resolution. It is by far the largest dataset ever collected in the urban subtropical environment with thriving vegetation and traffic flows. The dataset revealed the detailed interplay between the two major sources of biogenic and vehicular throughout the year. To separate the vehicular contribution from the biogenic one for the ambient isoprene, ethylene was used as an indicator of traffic emissions. While dramatic surge of isoprene was observed at noontime in hot months with the highest average peak mixing ratio of 1.6 ppbv in August, its abundance decreased to 0.2 ppbv on average in cold months. The vehicular contribution to ambient isoprene was largely masked over by the noontime surge of isoprene in hot seasons, but was still able to be vaguely observed on the slopes of the isoprene peaks mimicking the rush-hour features of ethylene. In winter, the diurnal variations of isoprene were very similar to those of ethylene, which suggests that ambient isoprene in cold months was almost of traffic origin. This study based on the continuous dataset could enhance the key findings in previous flask studies in the same metropolis. While canister sampling had a major advantage of area coverage, the highly time-resolved fixed-site monitoring could better reveal the evolution process from a biogenically overwhelmed condition in hot months to the condition where the biogenic source weakened to reveal the traffic source in cold months.

ANALYSIS OF ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS IN ANTALYA PROVINCE (TURKEY) USING GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS

ABSTRACT In Turkey, about 4000 people each year die in traffic accidents and about 200,000 people each year are injured. For this reason, this problem of road traffic in Turkey is found a solution to an urgent. In this study, in ensuring of security of road traffic has been intended to introduce of the importance of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Antalya Province where is one of Turkey's major metropolises have the problem of heavy traffic. In this study has been made general statistical analysis in a GIS environment of road traffic accidents occurred in 2009 and 2010 years in Antalya Province Center. Also, traffic accidents has been analyzed by correlating environmental factors with parameters situated in a traffic accident data set. In the beginning of this study, by using ArcMap-10 software, the satellite map of Antalya Province has been digitized. A database has been created with Arcmap-10 software using fatal-injury traffic accident datas occurred in Antalya City Center between 2009 and 2010 years. Fatal-injury traffic accidents on Intersection and boulevard-highroad-street have seperated of each other and by using accident datas ( accident day, time interval of accident, occurrence type of accident, accident character, the number of dead, the number of injured ) belonging to accidents occurring in each one, on a satellite map in the ArcMap-10 software of accidents were conducted the statistical evaluations in both visual and graphics. In GIS, the regions where have intensive of intersection accidents have been determined. As a result, at the intersections in Antalya Province Center, it was identified 41 accident hot spots for the year 2009, and was identified 57 accident hot spots for the year 2010. A total of 23 intersections were defined as accident hot spot in both years. Also, on boulevards-highroads-streets on the satellite map in Arc-Map-10 software has been determined 29 accident-prone regions as the years.

Climate change and water resources management of Oran region

Our work aims to contribute to the literature on the prospective study of the water balance in the Oran region, a major southern Mediterranean metropolis, by considering the socioeconomic dimension of this region and the dynamic of its climate change through 2011–2030. These two dimensions are important for the analysis of future changes in water stress in the region because they affect both the demand and the supply of the water resources. Unlike other studies, our methodological approach is based on an explicit modeling of the socioeconomic evolution in the region as well as of the dynamic of climate change. For this, we used a time-series modeling framework to predict the effects of change in climate. In addition to the assessment of the effects of the socioeconomic and climate changes on the water balance of the region. Our results, based on simulations using the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) software, show that the current decoupling between the drinking sector from that of irrigation in the Oran region is not sustainable. Climate change will exacerbate this vulnerability. Only by integrating these two sectors, through a reuse of wastewater, can we consider the irrigation issue from a perspective of long-term sustainability in the region.

A comparative analysis of the medico-social characteristics of primary disability of the population of Saint Petersburg in comparison of periods: 2007-2009 and 2013-2015

The article presents the medical and social characteristics ofprimary disability in the period from 2007 to 2009 and from 2013 to 2015. In the article there are presented medical-social characteristics of the primary disability over the periods from 2007 to 2009 and from 2013 till 2015. There were analyzed extensive and intensive indices of the primary disability which manifest as dynamics characteristics of the public health ofthe adult population of St. Petersburg. There were revealed clear cut downward trends in the number ofpersons for the first time recognized as disabled and the level of the primary disability in a major metropolis. There is established a consistent trend of the increase of specific weight of working-age persons for the first time recognized as disabled in the total number of the disabled adult population. In the compared periods there were revealed trends of increasing of the specific gravity of cases for the first time recognized as disabled at a young age. The use of indices obtained in the study can serve as the basis for the analysis and evaluation of the activities of the Bureau of the Socio-Medical Expertise in the modern conditions.

Entry effect of low-cost carriers on airport-pairs demand model using market concentration approach

The trend of open sky policies and growth of low-cost airlines, the topic of airport-pairs demand is gradually being addressed in the golden aviation circle of Northeast Asia. The variety of flight services among the four major metropolises with dual-airport systems leads to a competition-cooperation relationship existing between various airports and airlines. Therefore, this study investigates the causal relationship between the route-level passenger demand and influential factors using aggregate data collected through website observations. The empirical study focuses on direct flights of airport-pair routes among Taipei, Shanghai, Seoul, and Tokyo. Results of the passenger regression model indicate that frequency, code-share, and morning flights have positive impacts on increasing passenger numbers for airlines. Further, the market concentration degree of Herfindahl-Hirschman Index and entry effect of low-cost carriers are important for the route-level passenger demand. In addition, routes with departures and arrivals in hub airports have a considerable attraction relative to other airport-pair routes. Finally, the proposed passenger model performs well in predicting market share, especially for routes with high demand.

Market heterogeneity and the determinants of Paris apartment prices: A quantile regression approach

In this paper, the heterogeneity of the Paris apartment market is addressed. For this purpose, quantile regression is applied – with market segmentation based on price deciles – and the hedonic price of housing attributes is computed for various price segments of the market. The approach is applied to a major data set managed by the Paris region notary office (Chambre des Notaires d’Île de France), which consists of approximately 156,000 transactions over the 2000–2006 period. Although spatial econometric methods could not be applied owing to the unavailability of geocodes, spatial dependence effects are shown to be adequately accounted for through an array of 80 location dummy variables. The findings suggest that the relative hedonic prices of several housing attributes differ significantly among deciles. In particular, the elasticity coefficient of the apartment size variable, which is 1.09 for the cheapest units, is down to 1.03 for the most expensive ones. The unit floor level, the number of indoor parking slots, as well as several neighbourhood attributes and location dummies all exhibit substantial implicit price fluctuations among deciles. Finally, the lower the apartment price, the higher the potential for price appreciation over time. While enhancing our understanding of the complex market dynamics that underlie residential choices in a major metropolis such as Paris, this research provides empirical evidence that the QR approach adequately captures heterogeneity among house price ranges, which simultaneously applies to housing stock, historical construct and social fabric.

Quality of urban life among older adults in the world major metropolises: a cross-cultural comparative study

ABSTRACTThe concept of quality of urban life (QoUL) can be interpreted quite differently across different cultures. Little evidence has shown that the measure of QoUL, which is based on Western culture, can be applied to populations cross-culturally. In the current study, we use data from the 2006 Assessing Happiness and Competitiveness of World Major Metropolises study to identify underlying factors associated with QoUL as well as assess the consistency of the QoUL measurement among adults, aged 60 and older, in ten world major metropolises (i.e. New York City, Toronto, London, Paris, Milan, Berlin, Stockholm, Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul). Exploratory factor analysis and multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) are used to analyse the data. Findings of the study suggest that the measure of QoUL is sensitive to socio-cultural differences. Community factor and intrapersonal factor are two underlying structures that are related to QoUL among older adults in ten metropolises cross-culturally. Results from the CFA indicate that Toronto is comparable with Beijing, New York City, Paris, Milan and Stockholm in QoUL, while other cities are not. The results provide insights into the development of current urban policy and promotion of quality of life among older residents in major metropolitan areas. Future researchers should continue to explore the relationship between QoUL and socio-cultural differences within international urban settings, while remaining cautious when making cross-cultural comparisons.

Tracing lead contamination in foods in the city of Kolkata, India.

Lead isotopic ratios (LIR) of eight common food items, street dust, coal, diesel, sediments, lead ore and rainwater from India have been reported for the first time in this paper. This study characterized the source and extent of lead pollution in the different foodstuff consumed in Kolkata, a major metropolis of eastern India. The atmospheric lead input to the food items, sold openly in busy roadside markets of the city, has been quantified. The mean 207/206 and 208/206 LIRs of the eight food items ranged from 0.8847 to 0.8924 and 2.145 to 2.167, respectively. Diesel had the highest mean 207/206 and 208/206 values of 0.9015 and 2.1869, respectively, apart from the lead ore. The food items had a mean lead concentration between 3.78 and 43.35mgkg-1. The two ratio scatter plots of all the different environmental matrices were spread linearly between the uncontaminated Ichapur sediment and diesel. The 207/206 LIRs of the coal with a mean of 0.8777 did not fall in the linear trend, while the street dust and food samples overlapped strongly. The rainwater sample had a 207/206 LIR of 0.9007. Contaminated sediments in Dhapa, the repository of the city's municipal garbage, had a mean 207/206 LIR of 0.8658. The corresponding value obtained from the sewage-fed vegetable grown there was 0.8058. The present study indicated that diesel was one of the main contributor to Pb pollution. The atmospheric lead contribution to the food items was in the range of 68.48-86.66%.

Exploring the association between low socioeconomic status and cardiovascular disease risk in healthy Greeks, in the years of financial crisis (2002–2012): The ATTICA study

BackgroundDespite recent declines in mortality, cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of death in Europe today. Given the fact that many of the biological risk factors have already been identified, researchers still search for different modifiable factors that may influence CVD risk, among which SES gathers a great part of interest. AimsTo explore the effect of low socioeconomic status (SES) on a 10-year cardiovascular disease (CVD) incidence, in the years of financial crisis. MethodsThis population-based study was carried out in the province of Attica, where Athens is a major metropolis. During 2001–2002, information from 1528 men (18–87years old) and 1514 women (18–89years old) was collected. Educational level and annual income were used to define their SES. After a 10-year of follow-up period (2002–2012), CVD incidence was recorded. ResultsLow compared to high SES class, at the ages above 45years, was independently associated with increased 10-year CVD incidence [adjusted odds ratio and 95% confidence interval: 2.7 (1.5, 4.9)] but not among the younger participants. SES was also negatively associated with psychological components (all p-values<0.001), diabetes mellitus (p=0.002), obesity (p=0.087) and physical activity (p=0.056). ConclusionThere is evidence for a consistent reverse relation between SES and the incidence of CVD and for higher CVD risk factors among less privileged individuals. The striking differences by SES underscore the critical need to improve screening, early detection, and treatment of CVD-related conditions for people of lower SES, emphasizing in the middle-aged groups.

Celebrating Memory and Belonging: Young Russian Israelis Claim Their Unique Place in Tel-Aviv’s Urban Space

Drawing on the theoretical concept of collective memory and migration, and politics of belonging, this article explores performative belonging enacted in the series of holidays and commemorative rites organized by young Russian immigrants in Israel’s major metropolis. Our ethnography is based on 18 months of participant observation at the cultural association Fishka in South Tel-Aviv. As part of our field work, we documented public celebrations of Jewish and Russian-Soviet holidays organized by Fishka as acts of public performance seeking to elevate the prestige of Russian culture in Israel. These events reinforced visibility of Russian Israelis in Israel’s cultural capital and helped reach out to other urban communities, both native and immigrant. The article discusses the unique contribution of these bicultural young adults to Tel-Aviv’s diverse and dynamic urban scene. Our main argument is about the importance of collective memory in migration, whereby holidays and commemorative rites reinforce feelings of belonging and fortify the immigrants’ claim on the respectable place in the receiving society.

Book Review: Dangerous Neighbors: Volcanoes and Cities

Dangerous Neighbors: Volcanoes and Cities. By Grant Heiken (2013) Cambridge University Press, $30, 196 pages, ISBN: 9781107039230. Grant Heiken, a world-renowned volcanologist, has written a book based on his long history investigating volcanic hazards that is absolutely riveting. Eight of the ten chapters focus on the interplay between major metropolises and destructive volcanoes. The introductory chapter sets the stage for the remainder of the book. This chapter touches on various types of volcanic events; from Nyiragongo lava flows that disrupted the city of Goma, DRC, to debris flows from Nevado del Ruiz that killed 23,000 residents in Armero, Columbia, to the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland which spewed an ash column into the jet stream and disrupted air travel to 32 European countries for 6 days. Other issues weaved into …

Bridging Institutional Voids at the Urban Base of the Pyramid

Much of the BoP literature has focused on rural settings, yet urban poverty is rapidly growing in scale and importance. The urban poor in developing countries inhabit informal settlements characterized by significant institutional voids. This paper examines the strategies used to address these voids by companies that operate in such settings, through in-depth comparisons of the approaches used by three companies providing basic services in a major emerging-country metropolis. The paper shows that institutional voids at the urban BoP are characterized by their instability, diversity, and incompleteness. In this context, companies have no choice but to engage in institutional entrepreneurship to bridge the unfilled voids and to bring some stability and uniformity. In Rio de Janeiro, some utilities are attempting to do so through a combination of technology, which offers a stable and uniform basis of operation, and the engagement of multiple stakeholders along the lines of the collaborative governance concept. In order to implement these actions, however, the companies first have to gain a measure of legitimacy at the local level, overcoming the liability associated with their outsider status.

Modern Malaysian-Based Students Perceive Southeast Asian Jungle Environments as Places of High Risk and Discomfort

While the interaction between people and their environments has long been a focus of psychological research, there is need for more understanding of how non-Westerners relate to natural and urban environments, including areas of dense jungle. For this study we conducted focus group discussions with 19 individuals from the urban Southeast Asian city of Kuala Lumpur and 19 individuals from the rural Malaysian state of Terengganu centered on their experiences of both urban and natural environments. Three themes relating to the natural and urban settings' potential to promote a sense of restoration emerged, namely: “risk perception,” “comfort,” and “place attachment.” While individual preferences varied, participants from both settings described a strong sense of dependence on the conveniences of the modern world. Elements from within each environment, sociocultural factors, and the temporal dimension seemed important for determining whether the environment was considered restorative. In this regard, these participants' views of the natural environment seem broadly analogous to those of people living in major Western metropolises such as Chicago, New York City, or London. A new nonlinear approach to understanding restoration in tropical environments is proposed. Key Words: Urban environments—Natural environments—Preference—Restoration—Place attachment—Risk perception—Comfort.