The nation's physical infrastructure facilitates movement of people and goods; provides safe water; provides energy when and where needed; removes wastes; enables rapid communications; and generally supports our economy and quality of life. Developing a framework for guiding attempts at measuring the performance of infrastructure systems and grappling with the concept of defining good performance are the major themes of this book. Focusing on urban regions, within a context of national policy, the volume provides the basis for further in-depth analysis and application at the local, regional, state, and national levels.

Highlights the growing demand for accurate, complete and continuous disclosure of information related to management activities, expenditures, stock availability and shadow prices. This book also presents theoretical and practical advances as well as concepts and paradigms in infrastructure systems.

Infrastructure projects are notoriously hard to manage so it is important that society learns from the successes and mistakes made over time. However, most evaluation methods run into a conundrum: either they cover a large number of projects but have little to say about their details, or they focus on detailed single-case studies with little in terms of applicability elsewhere. This book presents Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) as an alternative evaluation method that solves the conundrum to enhance learning.

Present Your Research to the World! The World Congress 2009 on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering – the triennial scientific meeting of the IUPESM - is the world’s leading forum for presenting the results of current scientific work in health-related physics and technologies to an international audience. With more than 2,800 presentations it will be the biggest conference in the fields of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering in 2009! Medical physics, biomedical engineering and bioengineering have been driving forces of innovation and progress in medicine and healthcare over the past two decades. As new key technologies arise with significant potential to open new options in diagnostics and therapeutics, it is a multidisciplinary task to evaluate their benefit for medicine and healthcare with respect to the quality of performance and therapeutic output. Covering key aspects such as information and communication technologies, micro- and nanosystems, optics and biotechnology, the congress will serve as an inter- and multidisciplinary platform that brings together people from basic research, R&D, industry and medical application to discuss these issues. As a major event for science, medicine and technology the congress provides a comprehensive overview and in–depth, first-hand information on new developments, advanced technologies and current and future applications. With this Final Program we would like to give you an overview of the dimension of the congress and invite you to join us in Munich! Olaf Dössel Congress President Wolfgang C.

This book presents the latest research findings in the field of maintenance and safety of aging infrastructure. The invited contributions provide an overview of the use of advanced computational and/or experimental techniques in damage and vulnerability assessment as well as maintenance and retrofitting of aging structures and infrastructures such

Abstract: "This paper focuses on problems and their causes and cures in policy and planning for large infrastructure projects. First, it identifies as the main problem in major infrastructure development pervasive misinformation about the costs, benefits, and risks involved. A consequence of misinformation is massive cost overruns, benefit shortfalls, and waste. Second, the paper explores the causes of misinformation and finds that political-economic explanations best account for the available evidence: planners and promoters deliberately misrepresent costs, benefits, and risks in order to increase the likelihood that it is their projects, and not the competition's, that gain approval and funding. This results in the "survival of the unfittest," where often it is not the best projects that are built, but the most misrepresented ones. Finally, the paper presents measures for reforming policy and planning for large infrastructure projects, with a focus on better planning methods and changed governance structures, the latter being more important."--World Bank web site.

Economic Role of Transport Infrastructure: Theory and Models helps evaluate the economic effects of transport infrastructure investments within a cost-benefit framework for maximum economic impact. The book analyzes the primary empirical approaches used to gauge the economic effects of transport infrastructures, providing in-depth discussions on data issues, input-output techniques, and econometric methodologies. Users will find empirical evidence organized from a transport mode point-of-view, inspiring researchers to conduct comparative analysis for various infrastructure projects. Topics cover infrastructure's impact on economic growth using theoretical frameworks, including exogenous growth models, endogenous growth models, and new economic geography models. In addition, readers will also learn tips for conducting infrastructure impact studies and how to improve the effectiveness of infrastructural investments design. - Explains and evaluates the economic effects of transport infrastructure investments, including direct and indirect, short and long run impact, and local and spillover outcomes - Provides up-to-date coverage of quantitative techniques and empirical results for transportation and economic impact issues - Explains the steps for conducting impact studies for proposed infrastructure projects - Analyzes infrastructure's role on economic growth through theoretical, methodological and empirical perspectives - Features case studies describing real-world methods