Matthias Beck - Böcker

This timely new book provides an international perspective on Public Private Partnerships. Through 21 case studies, it investigates the existing and fast developing body of principles and practices from a wide range of countries and is the first book to bring together leading international academics and practitioners under a common framework that enables convenient cross-country comparisons. The authors focus on the impact of the financial crisis has had on how governments have reviewed and overhauled their PPP policies as they have examined or tested new ways of partnering more effectively, efficiently and sustainably with the private sector.Readers will be able to gauge the level of maturity of PPP development in the book’s case studies, understand similarities and differences in their practices, and gain useful insights into the regulatory framework and institutional infrastructure in place to support implementation of PPP. Finally, the book offers insights into the future challenges and opportunities that PPP offers stakeholders.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges to those responsible for the management of healthcare activities. These challenges require decision makers at all levels to possess a broad and comprehensive understanding of healthcare management tools, and especially of the interaction between formal control systems and the informal power dynamics which operate within healthcare organisations. Managing in healthcare is not only difficult because of the sector’s high-stakes ethical contexts but also because the health care workforce is inherently complex and heterogeneous. It is the purpose of this book to survey the expanding literature on management control in healthcare with the aim of giving readers a better understanding of the options available to managers, decision-makers and also educated observers of this important sector. This book summarises key debates and findings in this rapidly developing and increasingly important field. It explores state-of-the-art models and approaches, highlights unexplored questions and gives an outlook on novel and developing trends. In so doing it provides a hands-on-guide for aspiring healthcare managers and practitioner and offers critical insights into the more advanced academic literature for those seeking a thorough grounding in the accounting and finance aspects of healthcare management.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges to those responsible for the management of healthcare activities. These challenges require decision makers at all levels to possess a broad and comprehensive understanding of healthcare management tools, and especially of the interaction between formal control systems and the informal power dynamics which operate within healthcare organisations. Managing in healthcare is not only difficult because of the sector’s high-stakes ethical contexts but also because the health care workforce is inherently complex and heterogeneous. It is the purpose of this book to survey the expanding literature on management control in healthcare with the aim of giving readers a better understanding of the options available to managers, decision-makers and also educated observers of this important sector. This book summarises key debates and findings in this rapidly developing and increasingly important field. It explores state-of-the-art models and approaches, highlights unexplored questions and gives an outlook on novel and developing trends. In so doing it provides a hands-on-guide for aspiring healthcare managers and practitioner and offers critical insights into the more advanced academic literature for those seeking a thorough grounding in the accounting and finance aspects of healthcare management.

This timely new book provides an international perspective on Public Private Partnerships. Through 21 case studies, it investigates the existing and fast developing body of principles and practices from a wide range of countries and is the first book to bring together leading international academics and practitioners under a common framework that enables convenient cross-country comparisons. The authors focus on the impact of the financial crisis has had on how governments have reviewed and overhauled their PPP policies as they have examined or tested new ways of partnering more effectively, efficiently and sustainably with the private sector.Readers will be able to gauge the level of maturity of PPP development in the book’s case studies, understand similarities and differences in their practices, and gain useful insights into the regulatory framework and institutional infrastructure in place to support implementation of PPP. Finally, the book offers insights into the future challenges and opportunities that PPP offers stakeholders.

Public Private Partnership is a key issue in the construction industry – causing much concern among contractors, funders and facility managers. Demand has been building for a thorough analysis … This edited book will familiarise both researchers and construction professionals working with public private partnerships (PPP) with the issues involved in the planning, implementation and day-to-day management of public private projects. It will show how current risk management methods can help the complex process of managing procurement via such partnerships.The chapters - most authored by a practitioner/academic partnership - are organised round the concepts of best value and use the findings of a major research project investigating Risk Assessment and Management in Private Finance Initiative Projects. The analysis of this research will be supplemented with contributions by leading international experts from Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore, covering hospitals, schools, waste management and housing - to exemplify best practice in PPP-based procurement.

Quality Management and Managerialism in Healthcare creates a comprehensive and systematic international survey of various perspectives on healthcare quality management together with some of their most pertinent critiques. It reviews the factors which have underpinned the managerialist trajectory of healthcare management over the past decades.

Quality Management and Managerialism in Healthcare creates a comprehensive and systematic international survey of various perspectives on healthcare quality management together with some of their most pertinent critiques. It reviews the factors which have underpinned the managerialist trajectory of healthcare management over the past decades.

Policy, Management and Finance of Public-Private Partnerships Innovation in the Built Environment This book examines some of the key policy, financial and managerial aspects of public-private partnerships within the context of the global spread of this form of procurement. The chapters investigate political and institutional issues surrounding PPPs, together with the financial and managerial strategies employed by the private sector. Adopting a cross-disciplinary perspective, the book highlights the often politically sensitive nature of these projects and identifies a need for the private sector to investigate a broad set of parameters which relate to the particular political economy of individual partnerships. Policy, Finance & Management for Public-Private Partnerships covers a range of specific issues, including: partnerships in developing countries; innovation in partnership-based procurement; government and business interaction; institutional and organisational approaches to facilitating partnership; project and corporate financing; risk and value management; market analysis, modelling and forecasting; capital structure decisions and management; investment theory and practice; pricing and cost evaluation; statutory regulations and their financial implications; option pricing; financial monitoring; syndicate funding; new roles for the financial and insurance sectors; institutional and multilateral funding; payment mechanisms; concession period determination; risk analysis and management; whole life value methodology; cost comparators and best value; team building, team work and skill development. Contributions from Australia, Europe, the Far East, South Africa and the United States together present the current thinking and state-of–the-art approaches to public-private partnerships.

The world is continuous, but the mind is discrete. David Mumford We seek to bridge some critical gaps between various ?elds of mathematics by studying the interplay between the continuous volume and the discrete v- ume of polytopes. Examples of polytopes in three dimensions include crystals, boxes, tetrahedra, and any convex object whose faces are all ?at. It is amusing to see how many problems in combinatorics, number theory, and many other mathematical areas can be recast in the language of polytopes that exist in some Euclidean space. Conversely, the versatile structure of polytopes gives us number-theoretic and combinatorial information that ?ows naturally from their geometry. Fig. 0. 1. Continuous and discrete volume. The discrete volume of a body P can be described intuitively as the number of grid points that lie inside P, given a ?xed grid in Euclidean space. The continuous volume of P has the usual intuitive meaning of volume that we attach to everyday objects we see in the real world. VIII Preface Indeed, the di?erence between the two realizations of volume can be thought of in physical terms as follows. On the one hand, the quant- level grid imposed by the molecular structure of reality gives us a discrete notion of space and hence discrete volume. On the other hand, the N- tonian notion of continuous space gives us the continuous volume.

The topics covered include: integers, induction, algorithms, real numbers, rational numbers, modular arithmetic, limits, and uncountable sets. Some of the proofs are presented in detail, while others (some with hints) may be assigned to the student or presented by the instructor.

This richly illustrated textbook explores the amazing interaction between combinatorics, geometry, number theory, and analysis which arises in the interplay between polyhedra and lattices. Highly accessible to advanced undergraduates, as well as beginning graduate students, this second edition is perfect for a capstone course, and adds two new chapters, many new exercises, and updated open problems. For scientists, this text can be utilized as a self-contained tooling device.The topics include a friendly invitation to Ehrhart’s theory of counting lattice points in polytopes, finite Fourier analysis, the Frobenius coin-exchange problem, Dedekind sums, solid angles, Euler–Maclaurin summation for polytopes, computational geometry, magic squares, zonotopes, and more.With more than 300 exercises and open research problems, the reader is an active participant, carried through diverse but tightly woven mathematical fields that are inspired by an innocently elementary question: What are the relationships between the continuous volume of a polytope and its discrete volume?Reviews of the first edition:“You owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of Computing the Continuous Discretely to read about a number of interesting problems in geometry, number theory, and combinatorics.”— MAA Reviews“The book is written as an accessible and engaging textbook, with many examples, historical notes, pithy quotes, commentary integrating the material, exercises, open problems and an extensive bibliography.”— Zentralblatt MATH“This beautiful book presents, at a level suitable for advanced undergraduates, a fairly complete introduction to the problem of counting lattice points inside a convex polyhedron.”— Mathematical Reviews“Many departments recognize the need for capstone courses in which graduating students can see the tools they have acquired come together in some satisfyingway. Beck and Robinshave written the perfect text for such a course.”— CHOICE

This richly illustrated textbook explores the amazing interaction between combinatorics, geometry, number theory, and analysis which arises in the interplay between polyhedra and lattices. Highly accessible to advanced undergraduates, as well as beginning graduate students, this second edition is perfect for a capstone course, and adds two new chapters, many new exercises, and updated open problems. For scientists, this text can be utilized as a self-contained tooling device.The topics include a friendly invitation to Ehrhart’s theory of counting lattice points in polytopes, finite Fourier analysis, the Frobenius coin-exchange problem, Dedekind sums, solid angles, Euler–Maclaurin summation for polytopes, computational geometry, magic squares, zonotopes, and more.With more than 300 exercises and open research problems, the reader is an active participant, carried through diverse but tightly woven mathematical fields that are inspired by an innocently elementary question: What are the relationships between the continuous volume of a polytope and its discrete volume?Reviews of the first edition:“You owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of Computing the Continuous Discretely to read about a number of interesting problems in geometry, number theory, and combinatorics.”— MAA Reviews“The book is written as an accessible and engaging textbook, with many examples, historical notes, pithy quotes, commentary integrating the material, exercises, open problems and an extensive bibliography.”— Zentralblatt MATH“This beautiful book presents, at a level suitable for advanced undergraduates, a fairly complete introduction to the problem of counting lattice points inside a convex polyhedron.”— Mathematical Reviews“Many departments recognize the need for capstone courses in which graduating students can see the tools they have acquired come together in some satisfyingway. Beck and Robinshave written the perfect text for such a course.”— CHOICE

The topics covered include: integers, induction, algorithms, real numbers, rational numbers, modular arithmetic, limits, and uncountable sets. Some of the proofs are presented in detail, while others (some with hints) may be assigned to the student or presented by the instructor.

Das Gebiet des „Zählens von Gitterpunkten in Polytopen", auch Ehrhart-Theorie genannt, bietet verschiedene Verbindungen zu elementarer endlicher Fourier-Analysis, Erzeugendenfunktionen, dem Münzenproblem von Frobenius, Raumwinkeln, magischen Quadraten, Dedekind-Summen, algorithmischer Geometrie und mehr. Die Autoren haben mit dem Buch einen roten Faden geknüpft, der diese Verbindungen aufzeigt und so die grundlegenden und dennoch tiefgehenden Ideen aus diskreter Geometrie, Kombinatorik und Zahlentheorie anschaulich verbindet. Mit 250 Aufgaben und offenen Problemen fühlt sich der Leser als aktiver Teilnehmer, und der einnehmende Stil der Autoren fördert solche Beteiligung. Die vielen fesselnden Bilder, die die Beweise und Beispiele begleiten, tragen zu dem einladenden Stil dieses einzigartigen Buches bei.

Over a period of several centuries, the academic study of risk has evolved as a distinct body of thought, which continues to influence conceptual developments in fields such as economics, management, politics and sociology. However, few scholarly works have given a chronological account of cultural and intellectual trends relating to the understanding and analysis of risks. Risk: A Study of its Origins, History and Politics aims to fill this gap by providing a detailed study of key turning points in the evolution of society's understanding of risk. Using a wide range of primary and secondary materials, Matthias Beck and Beth Kewell map the political origins and moral reach of some of the most influential ideas associated with risk and uncertainty at specific periods of time. The historical focus of the book makes it an excellent introduction for readers who wish to go beyond specific risk management techniques and their theoretical underpinnings, to gain an understanding of the history and politics of risk.