Mobile phone use while driving: public opinions on restrictions

This paper reviews two road-user surveys on the use of mobile phones on the road in Finland where the mobile phone ownership rate is highest in the world (70% in August 2000). From 1998 to 1999 the proportion of drivers that chose to use a mobile phone while driving rose from 56% to 68%, while the proportion of phone using drivers who experienced dangerous situations due to phone use rose from 44% to 50%. The proportion of drivers who used their phones in some way to benefit safety on the road remained at about 55%. The youngest, novice drivers had the highest level of phone usage of all age categories. Over 48% of the interviewees believed that the government should ban the use of hand-held mobile phones while driving, and another 27% believed that all types of mobile phone use should be banned while driving. Those drivers who used their phones the most each day were more likely to want some form of restrictions, than those who had lower usage. This is a strong message to the elected lawmakers and raises the problem of exactly how regulatory bodies would go about controlling the future growth of new driver support and non-driving related communication devices in road vehicles. It was concluded that legislating for hands-free use only would be a reasonable course of action. Mandating that the current generation of equipment should be optimized for hands-free use should result in future generations of in-vehicle equipment also being optimized for hands-free use as a minimum criterion.     

在海上航运中用于位置感知管理和控制系统的可重用C++类的开发(英文)

Location aware management and location based automation are fast upcoming technologies which are facilitated by availability of reliable, accurate, and cheap global positioning systems and location based services. This paper discusses the development of C++ classes, which may be used for development of software for location aware management and control, specifically in merchant shipping, so as to provide improved safety, increased automation, prevention of pollution and reducing the work burden of the crew. The GPS is used in conjunction with the regionally accessible nested global shorelines (RANGS) dataset for this purpose. The design of two main C++ classes named CShorelines and CGPSInput have been discussed. A control system mandatory on all oil-tankers above 150 GRT (and few other vessels) called ODMCS has been made location aware using the novel software developed and the results obtained have been critically examined and presented.     

游艇滑行的秘密（一）

如果你仔细想想，其实游艇的滑行和世界上其它事情相比也没什么特别的地方。不管以什么方式，你发现你的游艇会自己从水里抬起，利落地呈现出一个优美的角度，并能自由滑行，取得良好的控制。这涉及到各种力量间精妙的平衡。如果你对此持怀疑态度，不妨想象一下个人刚开始学滑水时的情景：两手叉腰，膝盖抖动，无法很好地控制住平衡，经常掉进水里被呛着。     

打败船底生物（一）

保护一艘船的上层建筑（不用浸入水中的水上部分）相对简单，真正的挑战在于怎样保持它的底部干净。     

动力集中和动力分散的特点

从运用、市场和列车型式的发展趋势等方面 ,分析了动力集中和动力分散的特点。特别阐述了利用寿命周期成本 (L CC) ,来比较这 2种方式列车的优劣     

游艇滑行的秘密（三）——滑行艇的类型

除了以下列举的几种外，世上还有许多不同类型的滑行艇船体，有些可能很奇异：翅膀型、W型双体船、三体船、希克曼水橇型等。但是，你可能考虑购买的标准型滑行艇就下面四种：     

Modelling car availability,modal split and trip distribution by Monte-Carlo simulation: A short way to integrated models

The model used a Monte-Carlo algorithm to simulate modal split and trip distribution as an interconnected decision process at the individual level. Using census data, the individuals of a planning region are classified into situation groups, which represent significantly different decision situations with respect to socio-demographic position and territorial location. According to the theoretical framework, which emphasises mobility constraints instead of preferences, household structure and sex (time budget and car availability constraints) and work place characteristics (location constraints) are the key variables. For each situation group, decision profiles are empirically determined; these describe car availability, travel time constraints and work place distribution. Modal split and trip distribution are simulated as an interconnected individual decision process, which is stochastically determined by the location of the individual and the decision profile of his situation group.The algorithm is very sensitive and flexible and extremely well suited to electronic processing. An extended and modified version is currently being used in the preparation of regional transporation plans for several German city regions.     

Cross-shelf circulation and phytoplankton distribution at the summertime New England shelfbreak front

We investigate aspects of the secondary (cross-shelf) circulation at the Middle Atlantic Bight shelfbreak front using high-resolution data collected on the New England Shelf in August 2002. The alongshore shelfbreak jet coincides with the front at the seaward edge of the cold pool (remnant winter shelf water) and there is a suggestion of a cross-stream convergence centered at the jet core. Despite indications of convergence we found no evidence of a surface subduction on the seaward side of the front. At depth 70 m near the shelfbreak there was a patch of chlorophyll, located within a local temperature–salinity maximum which, though significantly below the euphotic zone, appeared to be photo-acclimated and viable. The chlorophyll feature could be the result of a local subduction by a larger scale eddy circulation seaward of the front.Dye tracer experiments directly observed the convergence at the foot of the shelfbreak front and subsequent upwelling of bottom boundary layer water along the shoreward side of the shelfbreak front. But, we found no evidence that this upwelling influenced productivity at the front. Further, since there was no cross-shelf maximum in subsurface chlorophyll at the front, we conclude that this productivity is in general, sustained by a broadly distributed local vertical nutrient flux from an underlying nutrient reservoir.     

The impact of exceptionally warm summer inflow events on the environmental conditions in the Bornholm Basin

In late summer 2002 and 2003, exceptionally warm inflow events of saline water were observed in the Baltic. These warm saline waters were embedded in the halocline of the Bornholm Basin and caused a strong anomaly of the seasonal temperature cycle. The temperature in October 2002 was the highest ever observed in the halocline of the Bornholm Basin.Although the oxygen content of the inflowing water was only about 1.5 ml l^− 1 at the Darss Sill, it caused a moderate ventilation of the halocline in the Bornholm Basin. On the way through the Arkona Basin, the entrainment of ambient water increased the oxygen content of the inflowing saline water masses.Warm summer inflows were rare events in the last 50 years, but their frequency has increased since 1990. This is likely caused by climate change. The analysis of a 50-year time series of hydrographic parameters reveals significant changes of the thermal regime around the year 1988. The winter surface and intermediate water temperatures of the Bornholm Basin increased by about 1 °C. Also, the duration of warm water in the surface layer was prolonged after 1988. A high correlation between the minimum intermediate winter water temperatures and the NAO winter index was found.Since temperature is a key parameter for many biological processes various responses of the ecosystem to the change in hydrographic conditions could be expected. Possible biological implications of the warm inflow events for the ecosystem are discussed.