Contracting regimes for bus services: What have we learnt after 20 years?

This paper reviews a number of themes that have played a crucial role in the debate on alternative contracting regimes for the provision of urban bus services. We have selected four crucial issues to reflect on: (i) contractual regimes (in particular competitive tendering as compared to negotiated performance-based contracts, as means to award the rights to provide service); (ii) contract completeness (focussing on ex ante and ex post elements); (iii) building trust through partnership; and (iv) tactical or system level planning for bus services. Experience in these areas suggests that competitive tendering has frequently not lived up to expectations and that negotiation is likely in many circumstances to deliver better value for money.     

An activity-based approach for scheduling multimodal transit services

This paper proposes a new activity-based transit assignment model for investigating the scheduling (or timetabling) problem of transit services in multi-modal transit networks. The proposed model can be used to generate the short-term and long-term timetables of multimodal transit lines for transit operations and service planning purposes. The interaction between transit timetables and passenger activity-travel scheduling behaviors is captured by the proposed model, as the activity and travel choices of transit passengers are considered explicitly in terms of departure time choice, activity/trip chain choices, activity duration choice, transit line and mode choices. A heuristic solution algorithm which combines the Hooke–Jeeves method and an iterative supply–demand equilibrium approach is developed to solve the proposed model. Two numerical examples are presented to illustrate the differences between the activity-based approach and the traditional trip-based method, together with comparison on the effects of optimal timetables with even and uneven headways. It is shown that the passenger travel scheduling pattern derived from the activity-based approach is significantly different from that obtained by the trip-based method, and that a demand-sensitive (with uneven headway) timetable is more efficient than an even-headway timetable.     

船船水动力相互作用的CFD分析研究（英文）

A numerical study of ship-to-ship interaction forces is performed using a commercial CFD code, and the results are compared with experimental data and with the results of a panel method analysis. Two ship models have been used in the interaction forces analysis: a tug and a tanker, advancing parallel to each other with different lateral distances and two different values of the fluid depth. Computations are carried out with four different flow models: inviscid and viscous flow with the free surface modeled as a rigid wall and inviscid and viscous flow with the deformable free surface. A fair agreement was obtained with available experimental data and results obtained by panel method. The influence of viscosity in the computations is found to be comparatively weak, while the wavemaking effects may be important, at small magnitude of the horizontal clearance.     

Global Fish Trade,Prices, and Food Security in an African Coral Reef Fishery

This study evaluated the potential impact of global fish trade on local food prices by analyzing a 16-year locally collected time series of disaggregated coral reef fish products and prices that differed in their market chain linkages—ranging from local to international markets. We were primarily interested in evaluating how local and global markets interacted with the local prices of beef, fish, and maize. There was no cointegration between the prices of exported octopus and that of maize and beef over this study period. Further, the three types of fish and associated markets responded in different ways to various price changes. For internationally traded octopus, we found a positive association between price and catch rates but no evidence that the global trade in octopus markets created local inflation, particularly the prices of the fish eaten by the poor. In general, there was no evidence for price transmission from export to nonexport fish products even though fishers appeared to focus on octopus when prices were high. Consequently, fishers' behaviors and trade policies that promote adjusting fishing effort to internationally traded fish did not appear to promote poverty or food insecurity in this fishery.     

科考船水下辐射噪声控制分析

介绍新造科考船可能参考的水下噪声标准以确保科考船进行合理的水下噪声控制,分析不同噪声源水下噪声的辐射机理及相应的噪声控制技术,并简要论述水下噪声验证测量的相关方法及可能的挑战。     

Empowering Stakeholders to Manage Stinging Jellyfish: A Perspective

A global challenge is dealing with the risk of envenomation by the stinging jellyfish. Those who are affected include: the people stung, tourist providers; diving and adventure operations, beach and park authorities, life guards, commercial marine operators as well as local and centralized government; we focus on tourism. There is a diversity of jellyfish that pose a risk and they vary greatly in their ecology. Here, we propose five eco-groups of jellyfish to assist in prioritizing estimates of the risks to a broad clientele. Eco-groups are: (1) “Pulse species” that impact on beaches for short well-defined periods; (2) “Shelf-wide species;” (3) “Nearshore species;” (4) “Drifter species” and (5) “Deep sea species.” Great spatial variation and strong seasonality in the occurrence and abundance of jellyfish is the rule, rather than the exception, and this indicates that local knowledge and preventative action is the key to reducing the risk of envenomation. Managers can take control by getting involved in: predicting risk, detecting the presence of jellyfish and advising on/or providing barriers and protection, first responses and treatment of sting victims. Good communication and record keeping is critical within the stakeholder chain.     

Asymmetry of Columbia River tidal plume fronts

Columbia River tidal plume dynamics can be explained in terms of two asymmetries related to plume-front depth and internal wave generation. These asymmetries may be an important factor contributing to the observed greater primary productivity and phytoplankton standing crop on the Washington shelf. The tidal plume (the most recent ebb outflow from the estuary) is initially supercritical with respect to the frontal internal Froude number F_R on strong ebbs. It is separated from the rotating plume bulge by a front, whose properties are very different under upwelling vs. downwelling conditions. Under summer upwelling conditions, tidal plume fronts are sharp and narrow (< 20–50 m wide) on their upwind or northern side and mark a transition from supercritical to subcritical flow for up to 12 h after high water. Such sharp fronts are a source of turbulent mixing, despite the strong stratification. Because the tidal plume may overlie newly upwelled waters, these fronts can mix nutrients into the plume. Symmetry would suggest that there should be a sharp front south of the estuary mouth under summer downwelling conditions. Instead, the downwelling tidal plume front is usually diffuse on its upstream side. Mixing is weaker, and the water masses immediately below are low in nutrients. There is also an upwelling–downwelling asymmetry in internal wave generation. During upwelling and weak wind conditions, plume fronts often generate trains of non-linear internal waves as they transition from a supercritical to a subcritical state. Under downwelling conditions, internal wave release is less common and the waves are less energetic. Furthermore, regardless of wind conditions, solition formation almost always begins on the south side of the plume so that the front “unzips” from south to north. This distinction is important, because these internal waves contribute to vertical mixing in the plume bulge and transport low-salinity water across the tidal plume into the plume bulge.F_R and plume depth are key parameters in distinguishing the upwelling and downwelling situations, and these two asymmetries can be explained in terms of potential vorticity conservation. The divergence of the tidal outflow after it leaves the estuary embeds relative vorticity in the emerging tidal plume water mass. This vorticity controls the transition of the tidal plume front to a subcritical state and consequently the timing and location of internal wave generation by plume fronts.     

Fine sediment deposits in shelf seas

From field observations it appears that the top layer of a shelf bottom in general exhibits an intricate geographical pattern of sediment formations. Sediments of different composition are confined in distinct regions. This contradicts the idea that current and wave forces stir up bottom sediment and disperse it in a random way over the shelf; the dispersal process is counteracted by sorting mechanisms. In this paper the bottom patterns of fine cohesive sediments are considered. A specific sorting mechanism is studied which may explain the patchy structure of fine sediment deposits. It is shown that fine sediments can be trapped in bottom deposits which contain a fine sediment fraction high enough to prevent pore water motion in the shelf bed. This mechanism opposes sediment dispersal away from existing deposits. It may also explain the formation or the preservation of mud patches, even in regions where the bottom shear stress is relatively high.     

Designing a non-linear tracking controller for vehicle active suspension systems using an optimization process

In this paper, a new non-linear tracking controller for vehicle active suspension systems is analytically designed using an optimization process. The proposed scheme employs a realistic non-linear quarter-car model, which is composed of a hardening spring and a quadratic damping force. The control input is the external active suspension force and is determined by minimizing a performance index defined as a weighted combination of conflicting objectives, namely ride quality, handling performance and control energy. A linear skyhook model with standard parameters is used as the reference model to be tracked by the controller. The robustness of the proposed controller in the presence of modeling uncertainties is investigated. The performed analysis and the simulation results indicate that both vehicle ride comfort and handling performance can be improved using the minimum external force when the proposed non-linear controller is engaged with the model. Meanwhile, a compromise between different objectives and control energy can easily be made by regulating their respective weighting factors, which are the free parameters of the control law.     

The Nonlinear Behaviour of a MacPherson Strut Wheel Suspension

Three nonlinear models of a MacPherson strut wheel suspension have been studied. The nonlinearities considered are due to the nonlinear geometrical effects in the mechanism, the amplitude limitation due to the bumpstop, the progressive stiffness of the bumpstop and the different damping coefficients for the shock absorber in bump and rebound. The models have been derived according to physical parameter values of. the MacPherson strut wheel suspension of the car SAAB 9.000. The most suitable model was further studied with special attention to nonlinear phenomena. For harmonic forcing the system had phenomena such as multiple solutions and subharmonics. For some parameter values the solution was very sensitive to changes in the integration tolerances in the numerical integration routine. No chaotic steady state solutions were found for the parameter values studied.