Regional monitoring and assessments of the health of forested ecosystems require indicators of forest conditions and environmental stresses. Indicator selections depend on objectives and the strategy for data collection and analysis. This paper recommends a set of indicators to signal changes in forest ecosystem distribution, productivity, and disturbance. Additional measurements are recommende...

We study the effects of European immigration to the United States during the Age of Mass Migration (1850–1920) on economic prosperity today. We exploit variation in the extent of immigration across counties arising from the interaction of fluctuations in aggregate immigrant flows and the gradual expansion of the railway network across the United States. We find that locations with more historic...

Railways were integral to the development of the Indian economy before World War I. In this paper, we present new estimates of total factor productivity (TFP) for railways from 1874 to 1912, which highlight the strong performance of this key industrial sector. We find railway-industry TFP growth to be substantial, averaging 2.5 percent per year and generating a 3 percent social savings for the ...

-Forest health, vitality, and productivity are interrelated and are maintained by using sound forest management. There are some standard indicators that are measured to assess the extent and severity of damage inflicted by biotic and abiotic agents. Assessment of these indicators using affordable methods is a subjective process. A video rangefinder instrument is presented here as an advance tow...

This study focused on key aspects of organ transplantation programs in various States of Brazil. The study showed wide disparities between States, based on various performance indicators. States in the South, Southeast, and Midwest regions had the highest transplantation and productivity rates and the largest per capita transplantation teams. São Paulo proved to be a benchmark due to its high p...

Railways were the most important infrastructure development in India from 1850 to 1947. They were inter-connected with all aspects of Indian society. In terms of the economy, railways played a major role in integrating markets and increasing trade. Domestic and international economic trends shaped the pace of railway construction and the demand for the important traffic flows to the ports. In t...

In this paper the authors present a procedure for estimating the impact of design choices, dealing with subsystems architecture, basic components reliability performances or maintenance policies, on the service quality provided by a railway or metro system. The procedure is based on the use of an innovative modular simulator, developed by the authors. Through a Monte Carlo approach and a suitab...

26 Janet Creaser, Department of Mechanical Engineering Evaluation of Minnesota’s

The ability to measure population health trends and improvements can be enhanced through collaborative efforts to describe existing knowledge and via shared development opportunities. This paper highlights a project undertaken in Alberta which has created an inventory of health status indicators in use in the province, and provides a framework for strategic progress in the development and use o...