Total oil spill costs and compensations

Although counteracting environmental programmes and policies have been strengthened, large oil spills still occur at irregular intervals. The total oil spill costs and their compensations have attracted much interest from various parties, such as local stakeholders, and state and federal governments. This paper addresses five major cost categories whose aggregations are expected to cover the overall direct and indirect costs after the release of an oil spill. Among them, research costs should not be neglected, since they tend to be high if public attention has been drawn to the case. Through an examination of the relationship between the total oil spill costs and their admissible claims, we found that:

1. admissible claims do not cover the overall costs of the oil spill, and
2. admissible claims cannot be compensated in full in the case of large spills.

Clearly, a sound oil spill contingency management aims to minimize both the environmental impacts of areas most at risk and the total oil spill costs. In this paper an economic model for measuring environmental damages following an oil spill is addressed and applied to the Prestige case which happened to be the worst oil pollution in the history of Spain. The model indicates how an ideally a priori economic evaluation may intuitively help managers to make informed as well as fast decisions in contingency cases.     

A stated preference examination of time of travel choice for a recreational trip: An addendum

A paper was published in the immediately previous issue of this journal describing a stated preference experiment examining how people are influenced in the selection of a departure time for a hypothetical trip to see a movie. The title was ‘A stated preference examination of time of travel choice for a recreational trip’, Volume 30(3):17–44. Numbers were used to indicate references in the text of the paper and in Table 1 accompanying the text, but these numbers were omitted from the list of references at the end of the paper - making it very difficult to identify specific citations. The list of references from the paper is reprinted below with the reference numbers included. This provides a listing that can be used in conjunction with the text of the paper and Table 1 as published to identify specific citations as intended.     

遥控水下液压绞车的研制

深水救生潜器对接系统液压绞车是载人潜器上不可缺少的救生设备之一。其机械系统要求体积小，重量轻，且具有低转速、大扭矩的工作特性；控制系统要求收放绳能自动检测、显示，极限绳长时能自动控停、报警，且有掉电保护等功能。本文主要从机械系统和控制系统两个方面介绍该液压绞车的基本原理、结构、误差处理方法及试验情况。     

Dynamics of Tracked Vehicles

This paper provides a brief review of the state-of-the-art of tracked vehicle dynamics, including mobility over soft terrain, ride dynamics over rough surfaces and manoeuvrability. It is found that considerable progress has been made in the development of analytical frameworks for evaluating and predicting tracked vehicle mobility over soft terrain, taking into account the characteristics of terrain response to normal and shear loading. Certain computer simulation models for tracked vehicle mobility have been gaining increasingly wide acceptance by industry and governmental agencies in product development and in procurement. It is also found that most of the research on tracked vehicle ride dynamics and manoeuvrability is confined to operations on rigid surfaces. To achieve a realistic evaluation and prediction of the dynamic behaviour of tracked vehicles in the field, the key is to have a better understanding of terrain response to dynamic vehicular loading, including its dynamic stiffness and damping. Challenges that face vehicle dynamicists in this emerging field are identified.     

薄板激光填丝焊工艺研究

研究了一种新的焊接工艺方法——激光填丝焊，改进和设计了该工艺专用的送丝机及其位置精密调整机构，并对其主要工艺参数进行了初步试验与分析，提出了确定送丝速度的经验公式。激光填丝焊是对接焊缝存在较大间隙条件下直用激光焊的一种新工艺，它可以提高激光焊接件在实际生产中装配加工精度。     

城市轨道交通运营安全及故障浅析

通过对近年来城市轨道交通运营安全及故障的分析,笔者对影响轨道交通安全运营的各种因素进行了探讨,针对这些因素提出了一些预防和处置措施,并提出“预防为主、全面整治、提前控制、及时救援”的工作思路,对于改善城市轨道交通运营的安全现状,预防事故和降低事故损失都具有一定的意义。     

基于.NET框架的数据库应用模式解决方案

介绍数据库应用模式的发展过程，并以MICROSOFT公司的VISUAL BASIC．NET开发环境为背景，讨论了基于ADO．NET技术的多层数据库应用模式的原理和相关技术。     

Manpower and employment issues

Overmanning and restrictive labour practices are major causes of low productivity in Indian ports. Proposals are put forward for a programme of reforms to support investment in modern cargo handling systems.     

Basic Analytical Study of Pantograph-catenary System Dynamics

For a high speed electrical rail system, good dynamic performance of the pantograph-catenary system is vital for smooth and continuous current collection. It has been known for many years that to achieve this the head of the pantograph should be made as light as possible and the average stiffness of the catenary should be high. These conclusions, however, have been reached by numerical modelling and operational experience. In this paper the pantograph-catenary system is modelled as a time-varying, single degree-of-freedom system to facilitate an analytical investigation of the system dynamics. Although the model is very simple, it allows physical insight into the dynamic behaviour of the system, and because the excitation is parametric it also allows the stability of the system to be investigated. The finite element method is used to determine the catenary characteristics and Floquet theory is used to analyse the behaviour of the coupled system.     

上海港发展物流产业的战略选择

1上海港发展物流产业的必要性 (1)港口物流产业可以产生巨大的社会和经济效益,上海港发展物流产业是构筑上海城市综合物流的重要组成部分 上海要建设国际经济、金融、贸易与航运中心,提高城市综合竞争力,增强城市服务功能,就必须成为国内外物流、商流、信息流、资金流与人才流的集聚与辐射中心,在"五流"能量的快速转换中不断壮大综合经济实力.