Liberal Democracy in Realizing the Traffic Circulation Plan in Groningen, the Netherlands
The City of Groningen, the Netherlands, introduced the Traffic Circulation Plan (Verkeerscirculatieplan, VCP) in 1977. This plan divided the inner city into four sectors by enforcing one-way traffic restrictions overall. It reduced car traffic by half there, while facilitating the use of public transport. This study examines the planning process of this plan in terms of politicization, polarization, and public participation, all of which were political creeds of the New Left who led the process. It turns out that the VCP was indeed the product of politicization and polarization, but by no means the product of public participation. Therefore, this case suggests the effectiveness of liberal democracy rather than participatory democracy in realizing sustainable transport policies.オランダ・フローニンゲン市は1977年、交通循環計画（VCP）に基づき中心市街地を4セクターに分割し、車がセクター間を移動するには一度、環状線に出なければならないようにした。これによって中心市街地の自動車交通量は半減した。本論文はこのVCP導入の政治的プロセスを分析することで、環境にやさしい交通政策の実現にとって必要な民主主義について、示唆を与えることを目的とする。当時導入を主導したニューレフトは、リベラル・デモクラシーの実現手段である政治化、対極化、及び参加民主主義の実現手段である市民参加を、政治信条として掲げていた。ところが実際のVCPの導入プロセスにおいては、政治化と対極化は明確に見て取ることができたが、市民が参加する機会は極めて限られていた。このことは、環境にやさしい交通政策を実現するうえでは、参加民主主義よりもむしろリベラル・デモクラシーが有効であることを示唆している。
Rationality and power
We produce an infinite family of transcendental numbers which, when raised to their own power, become rational. We extend the method, to investigate positive rational solutions to the equation $x^x = \alpha$, where $\alpha$ is a fixed algebraic number. We then explore the consequences of $x^{P(x)}$ being rational, if $x$ is rational and $P(x)$ is a fixed integer polynomial.
Positive Rational Solutions to X : a Number-theoretic Excursion
Late in the last millennium, the second author ran a seminar course for undergraduates which was intended to introduce them to problem-solving and questionasking in the context of mathematical research. He led them through the classic “difficult” equation x = y, x, y > 0, (1) whose solution is much easier than one would think at first glance. Solutions were sought, first over R, then over Z and finally over Q. In the context of this seminar, it was natural to consider the variant equation x = y, x, y > 0, (2) which does not seem to have appeared in the literature. It turns out that there are solutions to (2) which do not fit the well-known parametric pattern of (1); c.f. (5) below. For example,