Integrated Asset Management is gradually becoming an appealing mechanism for undertaking the corridor infrastructure interventions in an efficient manner. Amplified financial pressure on governments, through steeply growing deficits, and the increasing expectations from the end-users for enhanced service levels urge the need for an effective approach that meets their expectations within the limited available resources. This book introduces an integrated asset management approach for proactively managing the cities' corridors effectively. The decision-making system is designed to analyze the roads and water networks integration benefits on the life-cycle costs, physical state/reliability, replacement value, and user costs. Stochastic and multivariate regression deterioration models are deve...

This study examines the socioeconomic and environmental implications of the new camu camu industry in Peru. Camu camu (Myrciaria dubia) is a small tree native to wetlands of the Amazon basin. It is especially abundant in Peruvian Amazonia. The high vitamin-C content of the fruit has generated interest in exporting camu camu products from Amazonia to more-developed countries. The government of Peru has been actively promoting this new extractive industry, as well as the planting of camu camu in rural areas. Non-governmental development organizations and private industry are now actively involved with camu camu projects and enterprises. In Peru, enthusiasm for this native species is high, because camu camu is expected to provide a much-needed and sustainable economic boost for the region. Ho...

The use of satellite remote sensing for modeling net primary production (NPP) was evaluated in sixty boreal forest stands spanning a range of site conditions. The work included: (i) estimating annual phenological dynamics and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) interception with remotely sensed spectral measurements, (ii) linking annually absorbed PAR (APAR) to measured NPP and quantifying variability in light use efficiency ("En"), (iii) evaluating sources of variability in "En" via mechanistic modeling of ecophysiology and associated carbon fluxes, particularly through analyses of respiratory carbon costs in relation to assimilation gains (the R:A ratio), (iv) assessing generalization of the results through an investigation of the evidence for evolution...

The topic of tourism development has been explored by a number of scholars and increasingly, over the past decade, more literature has become available on tourism development on small islands . For many of the small island territories or nations, they share a number of major issues in the area of tourism. These include vast distances from source markets, foreign investment and the resulting leakage of revenue, over-dependence on tourism (mono-structured economy), dependence on imports, and an overburdened infrastructure, just to name a few (Gössling 2003; Harrison, 2004; McElroy, 2006). Most island destinations rely on stakeholders from not only a single sector, but from both private and public sectors to tackle these issues (Buhalis, 1999). As a tourism-dependent economy, Guam receives...

Institutions develop geographic strategies in order to diffuse their ideas and organizations. These strategies may be either or both explicit and implicit and involve the generation of organizational structures, the examination of problems and possibilities and the deployment of resources. American Protestant religious institutions expand territorially and numerically by establishing new congregations. Founding methods, operational relationships between judicatories and existing congregations, and deployment processes of six denominations (Dutch Reformed, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Congregational, Baptist and Methodist) in upstate New York before 1810 are explored, with special emphasis on the Methodist Episcopal Church which showed the most successful expansion during that period. A ser...

Expatriates Doug and Cindi Bower have successfully expatriated to Mexico, learning through trial and error how to do it from the conception of the initial idea to driving up to their new home in another country. Now the potential expatriate can benefit from their more than three years of pre-expat research to their more than two years of actually living in Mexico. They explain: How to begin the process of deciding whether Mexico is for you. How to evaluate locations and costs for expatriation. How to avoid being stereotyped as an Ugly American. How to find and set up your new home. Ways to cure culture shock before arriving in Mexico. How to master Spanish before moving. How safe Mexico really is. The benefits of cheap living, travel, and medical care. The modern technology avai...

This dissertation is concerned with resources for economic development in cities in Africa. It argues for the greater understanding of the dynamics, practices and cultures within popular neighbourhoods and for recognising the creativity within them as a critical resource. Such an appeal is apt in a context where informal initiative has been suppressed, neglected and its potential wider influence curtailed. This paper takes the view that the popular neighbourhood is not just a place of needs, nor are its resources important only for addressing its own pressing issues; rather, it can be a major contributor to economic development in cities of Africa. This argument draws on concepts and findings from two research initiatives on a Lusaka settlement which delved into community resourcefulness, ...