Book review Christian von Hirschhausen, Torsten Beckers and Kay Mitusch (eds.) Trends in Infrastructure Regulation and Financing. International Experience and Case Studies from Germany. Cheltenham, Edward Elgar

Quite a number of international publishers are aware of the fact that international conferences can be linked to excellent books. So does Edward Elgar Publishing Limited. The publisher presented this book, the result of the international conference on applied infrastructure research held at the Berlin University of Technology in October 2002. It provides an overview of international trends in infrastructure regulation and financing. It also discusses the role of the state and the private sector in infrastructure provision. The editors state that infrastructure provision is increasingly considered to be a key to structural change and economic growth of both developed and emerging economies. At the same time, however, there is still a lot of discussion on the appropriate theoretical framework and policy recommendations to achieve objectives such as efficiency, fairness, and sustainable development

Editorial Special issue: Links in the air transport chain: Where and when does optimisation begin?

The air transport sector has recently enjoyed a period of strong economic growth and boom, marked by the entry of new carriers, expanding business, and considerable profit-making. Clearly, though, this has not always been the case. What is more, in the first half of 2008, we have witnessed a new wave of mergers and takeovers, as well as bankruptcies and market exits, which would seem to suggest that the boom is over, for a while at least. As in the maritime sector, thought and action in the airline business have evolved rapidly in recent years, with respect to both passenger and freight transport. Increasingly, players are approaching the industry from the perspective of air transport chains. Prospective customers are no longer selecting airports and airlines on the basis of their individual merits, but because they belong to an air transport chain that meets their preferences maximally and corresponds to their willingness to pay. Hence, the success of those airports and airlines depends crucially on whether or not they belong to a successful air logistics chain. This process coincides with a degree of specialisation, air freight being a typical example. Whereas air freight used to be regarded as a ‘side product’ of passenger transport, there are now a number of carriers focusing exclusively on freight. Likewise, there are now airports (albeit smaller ones) who consider freight transport as their core business. This growing significance of full-freighter services has been occasioned by a combination of factors, including insufficient freight capacity and stricter safety regulations on passenger planes, a trend towards scale enlargement, and substantial imbalances between incoming and outgoing flows. It is important that research should stay apace with this rapid evolution in the airline industry. In the present issue of the European Journal of Transport Infrastructure Research, we pick up on the now widely accepted transport chain perspective. The six contributions focus on different links in the air transport chain, but without losing sight of interdependencies and the possibility of integration

The Air Transport Sector after 2010: A Modified Market and Ownership Structure

This paper outlines the future possible scenarios that the air transport sector may evolve into after 2010, starting from the most important trends from the past and actual market developments. A big market shift was the liberalization which was introduced in the 1990’s, which led to an improved capacity utilisation for both passengers and freight. The impacts on and reactions from airlines have been different over continents and over types of companies. Furthermore, increasing importance has been attached to yield, pushing airline companies towards various forms of co-operation and integration. In the future, some more developments may change the air transport market. First, we may expect a stronger split between traditional air transport and niche markets. Second, privatisation may be strengthening, not only among airlines, but also in airports. Third, mergers and acquisitions may drastically shift the market and lead to new competitive balances. Fourth, the Southwest model, based on low costs and low fares, is likely to survive, although some maturity is observed, but new products emerge. Fifth, the relatively large number of bankruptcies is a new phenomenon for air transport. Carriers not belonging to strategic alliances turn out to be more likely victims. Sixth, increasing aggressiveness in company strategies and reactions is observed, including price cuts but also hostile takeover bids. Seventh, privatization is gaining pace, while on the other hand governments will continue to be an important player, be it on a different front: as infrastructure providers, market regulators and environmental protectors. Eight, air freight is still a growing market, with an own network which is gradually developing, next to the passenger network. A ninth and last tendency is the entry of more foreign and private equity capital, the latter of which may sometimes be at odds with the long-term strategies of the sector

Port pricing : principles, structure and models

Price level and price transparency are input to shippers’ choice of supply chain and transport mode. In this paper, we analyse current port pricing structures in the light of the pricing literature and consider opportunities for improvement. We present a detailed overview of pricing criteria, who sets prices and who ultimately foots the bill for port-of-call charges, cargo-handling fees and congestion charges. Current port pricing practice is based on a rather linear structure and fails to incorporate modern pricing tools such as price differentiation or revenue management. Consequently, ports apply neither profit maximising pricing nor pricing designed to exploit available capacity more efficiently

The Economic Impacts of Port Activity in Antwerp: A Disaggregated Analysis

The importance of ports is usually measured by indicators such as added value, employment and investment on a much aggregated level. This paper tries to define the importance of the port of Antwerp for the regional and national economy on a disaggregated level. It attempts to identify, quantify and locate the mutual relationships between the different players in the port and between these players and other industries. Finally, it proposes a method to calculate the effects of changes in port activity at a detailed level. A sector analysis is done by means of a reduced regional input-output table, through a bottom-up approach. The most important customers and suppliers of the port's key players or stakeholders are identified. A geographical analysis is feasible by using data on a disaggregated level. Each customer or supplier can be located by means of their postcode. In this way, the extent of the economic impact of the port of Antwerp is quantified.

2017 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations Summary

The International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation has initiated a near-continuous review of cardiopulmonary resuscitation science that replaces the previous 5-year cyclic batch-and-queue approach process. This is the first of an annual series of International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations summary articles that will include the cardiopulmonary resuscitation science reviewed by the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation in the previous year. The review this year includes 5 basic life support and 1 paediatric Consensuses on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations. Each of these includes a summary of the science and its quality based on Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation criteria and treatment recommendations. Insights into the deliberations of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation task force members are provided in Values and Preferences sections. Finally, the task force members have pri-oritised and listed the top 3 knowledge gaps for each population, intervention, comparator, and outcome question. (C) 2017 European Resuscitation Council and American Heart Association, Inc. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

2019 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations

The International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation has initiated a continuous review of new, peer-reviewed, published cardiopulmonary resuscitation science. This is the third annual summary of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations. It addresses the most recent published resuscitation evidence reviewed by International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation Task Force science experts. This summary addresses the role of cardiac arrest centers and dispatcher-assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the role of extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation in adults and children, vasopressors in adults, advanced airway interventions in adults and children, targeted temperature management in children after cardiac arrest, initial oxygen concentration during resuscitation of newborns, and interventions for presyncope by first aid providers. Members from 6 International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation task forces have assessed, discussed, and debated the certainty of the evidence on the basis of the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation criteria, and their statements include consensus treatment recommendations. Insights into the deliberations of the task forces are provided in the Justification and Evidence to Decision Framework Highlights sections. The task forces also listed priority knowledge gaps for further research