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Many of Africa’s economies are mineral based. Their sustainability and their macroeconomic vulnerability to market fluctuations are accordingly matters of direct concern. This thesis asks how much of the proceeds of mining in such countries can be safely spent each year. Using El Serafy’s approach to the ‘proper’ definition of National Income, it recomputes Net Domestic Product in 11 mineral-based African economies and tests for their macroeconomic sustainability. The study finds a disturbingly poor level of sustainability in several of them; with aggregate expenditures in excess of the levels posited under efficient resource rent management given the El Serafy User cost approach. The study estimates the budget deficit and national debt as a proportion of net national product adjusted for mineral resource depletion in each country and evaluates the outcome by comparison with standard ‘rules of thumb’ concerning ‘acceptable’ fiscal deficits and national debt levels. The outcome reveals that using GDP as an anchor as opposed to an ‘appropriate’ measure that adjust for mineral resource depletion by policy-makers may lead to the implementation of sub-optimal economic policies which are detrimental for sustainable income growth and development. The findings from the study therefore highlight the need for more efficient resource management as well as the development of a ’properly defined‘ national income which corrects for resource depletion to inform sustainable fiscal policy.

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Road user costs (RUCs) quantify the inconveniences to road users resulting from ongoing construction projects. Although the concept of RUC has traditionally been associated with the life cycle cost analysis, its importance has increased in alternative contracting methods in recent years. Despite its importance, the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) currently lacks a systematic methodology to compute RUCs. With the increased use of alternative contracting such as A+B, TDOT can benefit significantly if a systematic methodology and a tool are developed to compute RUCs in-house. The main goal of this study is to develop a framework and accompanying tool to compute RUCs, which balances the ease of computing and accuracy of results. To achieve this goal, the study reviewed existing literature on the topic, conducted a nationwide survey, and identified the current best practices of calculating and utilizing RUCs. The study found that more than half of the state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) that responded to the questionnaire have developed their state-specific methodologies to compute RUCs. The delay costs and the vehicle operating costs are the two most common components computed by a majority of state DOTs. Based on the findings of the study, a framework to compute RUCs is developed to enable TDOT to quickly compute RUCs more efficiently. Subsequently, a spreadsheet based TDOT RUC Calculation Tool (TRCT) is developed to implement the framework. The tool can compute four components of the RUC: a) delay cost, b) vehicle operating cost, c) crash cost, and d) emission cost. Relevant standard datasets such as median household income and emission rates were collected and/or produced for the tool. The tool automatically accounts for the spatiotemporal variation in the RUCs using Consumer Price Index (CPI) and county-specific data. The computed RUCs can be used for A+B contracting, benefit-cost analysis, liquidated damage computation, and early-completion-incentive computation.

本論文共一冊，計七萬五千字，分八章共廿九節。 本研究以D. Ricardo的地租理論為出發點，利用資源經濟學的理論，以Simple Ricardian Model 驗證土地資源的稀少性並計量其稀少性地租與使用者之機會成本（ user cost）。 其次經由地租與土地使用相關性之分析，藉土地使用均衡模型、開發 管制模型及政治地租模型以計量使用管制地策。再對集水區土地之仗用及對其他資源 衝擊的研究，提出Public Land Banking 的方法，作為集水區土地使用之有效管制方 法，並藉對石門水庫集水區土地之模擬操作，提出對我國集水區土地使用與管理之對 策，使集水區內的資源得為吾人永續利用，以達地利共享與地租歸公之政策目標。

<p>In infrastructure construction projects especially bridge investments, the most critical decisions that significantly affect the whole bridge LCC are the early stages decisions. Clearly, it's more beneficial to correctly choose the optimum bridge than to choose the optimum construction or repair method.</p><p>The ability of a bridge to provide service over time demands appropriate maintenance by the agency. Thus the investment decision should consider not only the initial activity that creates a public good, but also all future activities that will be required to keep that investment available to the public.</p><p>This research is aiming for bridge sustainability, enhance the bridge related decision making, and facilitate the usage of the bridge related feedbacks. The development of a reliable and usable computer tool for bridge LCC & LCA evaluation is the main target.</p><p>Toward the main goal, many steps were fulfilled. A unique integrated Bridge LCC evaluation methodology was developed. Two systematic evaluation ways were developed, one for bridge user cost and one for the bridge aesthetical and cultural value. To put these two systematic ways in practice, two preliminary computer programs were developed for this purpose. Today and future works are focusing on developing methodology and preliminary computer tool for bridge agency cost as well as the bridge LCA evaluation. KTH unique LCC evaluation system will enable the decision makers to correctly choose the optimum bridge in the early stages decision making phases as well as any later on reparation method.</p> / ETSI

This study assess Prague real estate market from price level bubble existence point of view. For this purpose construct loglinear regression models for estimating price level of purchase and renting for several segments on the real estate market. These estimated price levels afterwards compare to theoretical price levels set by user cost concept, which employs fundamental factors such as capital costs, depreciation rates, personal income and property taxes, additional asset risk and expected capital gain. Study concludes that Prague real estate market does not currently experience positive price bubble, even one of the segments assess as underpriced.

In 2018 the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) funded a study in which data were collected to evaluate performance measures for UDOT's Incident Management Team (IMT) program. After that study was completed, UDOT received funding to expand the size of its IMT program. Additionally, TransSuite, a data source used by the UDOT Traffic Operations Center to log incident-related data, was reconfigured to provide a higher quantity of performance measure data. This study made use of the new data source, in addition to Computer Aided Dispatch logs provided by the Utah Highway Patrol that were used in the first study, to collect performance measure data of the expanded program and measure the impacts of the IMT program expansion. Using these two datasets, a reanalyzed 2018 dataset and a new 2020 dataset, a comparison of performance measures was made. Performance measures studied included those defined as important by the Federal Highway Administration's Focus States Initiative in 2009, namely Roadway Clearance Time, Incident Clearance Time, and Response Time. These performance measures were calculated for IMT responders at 320 incidents in 2018 and 289 incidents in 2020. In addition, data regarding the affected volume associated with incidents, the excess travel time accumulated due to incidents, and the excess user cost associated with incident congestion were gathered. In 2018, 188 incidents were analyzed for these user impacts, and in 2020 144 incidents were analyzed. Statistical analyses were conducted to compare IMT performance between the two years and to determine relationships between performance measures and user impacts. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic affected traffic volumes during this study, and statistical analyses were adjusted to account for volume differences between the two years. Results indicated that the expansion of the IMT program has allowed UDOT to respond faster to incidents, and respond to a larger quantity of incidents over a larger coverage area and in extended operating hours. Performance of the expanded IMT program has had significant effects in reducing incident-related congestion and its costs.

In 2009 the Federal Highway Administration published a report regarding a Focus States Initiative that had been conducted with 11 states to discuss the development of national Traffic Incident Management (TIM) standards. Performance measures were defined, and a national TIM dashboard created, but very little data has been added to the dashboard since. In this research study, performance measures of the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) TIM program were analyzed. Data availability was first assessed to determine whether these performance measures could be calculated. It was determined that crash response data available from the Utah Highway Patrol (UHP) could be used to calculate the performance measures of Incident Management Teams (IMT) and UHP units; however, roadway clearance data were missing. UHP personnel agreed to collect additional data regarding crash roadway clearance for six months of the study. Performance measures of response time (RT), roadway clearance time (RCT), and incident clearance time (ICT) were calculated for responding units at 168 crashes. Using the crash response data from UHP and traffic speed, travel time, and volume data from UDOT databases, 83 of the 163 crashes that met additional criteria were evaluated to determine the volume of traffic affected (AV) by each incident and the associated user cost (EUC). Statistical analyses to determine relationships between different measures such as RT, RCT, ICT, AV, and EUC were conducted to assist UDOT in optimizing the allocation of their IMT resources.