Inland boundary determinations for coastal management purposes—an ecological systems approach to requirements of the federal coastal zone management Act of 1972

Abstract

An analysis of ecological systems that both sustain and are sustained by coastal waters provides the key to a biophysical procedure for delineating inland coastal management boundaries. This analysis entails two basic tasks: (1) mapping the ecosystems that compose coastal waters and adjacent areas, and (2) charting sustaining flows among these systems. The resulting boundary encompasses all environments of coastal waters (subaqueous areas containing a measurable quantity of seawater) and all shore‐lands (either emergent or submergent environments that interchange sustaining materials, energy, or biota with coastal waters). As this biophysical procedure depends on the precise location of, and functional transfers among, coastal ecosystems, it provides a means both for assessing the consequences of human actions and for establishing a landward boundary for a management program. Alternative boundaries not based on locations and operations of coastal ecosystems would probably be either arbitrary or of undue extent, nor would such “alternative”; boundaries be an integral part of an ongoing management process.     

New Zealand Advances in Performance-Based Seismic Design

This paper provides a summary of the objectives and principles which underpin the 2004 edition of the New Zealand earthquake design standard, AS/NZS 1170 Part 5. As with many modern earthquake design standards, the New Zealand earthquake design standard recognizes that earthquake resistant design that only addresses life safety goals without addressing both operational continuity of essential facilities and damage control, falls short of public expectations. Such standards not longer meet societal expectations. The paper outlines how these issues have been addressed within New Zealand, and some of the issues addressed when preparing appendices to the standard to provide guidance for materials standard writers to ensure consistency with the proposed approach. Recognizing the significance of non-structural components and parts of buildings in both damage control and operational continuity has been an important step forward in attaining the performance levels required.     

Port competitiveness from the users' perspective: An analysis of major container ports in China and its neighboring countries

The objective of this paper is to explore the relative importance of factors that determine container port competitiveness from the users' perspective. Three groups of port users – shipping liners, forwarders and shippers – are considered in this paper. The importance of the various factors is determined on the basis of survey results from the industry experts and then obtained via the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Furthermore, we use the results to evaluate ports in Mainland China, Hong Kong and other Asian cities. Given our results, operators of our sample ports could benchmark their performance with their competitors and identify the areas that they need to improve.     

Exploring the effects of passenger rail franchising in Britain: Evidence from the first two rounds of franchising (1997-2008)

This paper provides an up-to-date review of the previous literature concerning the impact of passenger rail franchising on productivity and costs in Britain, and also presents important new evidence. In particular, the extension in time of previously-used datasets offers the first opportunity to study the impacts of re-franchising. The previous literature emphasised the failure of franchising to produce sustained productivity gains, with a sharp deterioration in productivity after 2000. The new evidence presented offers a somewhat more positive view of the British experience. It suggests that part of what was previously considered to be falling productivity may in fact be due to exogenous changes in diesel prices. Further, new data suggests that the recent increases in costs have resulted in higher quality of service. Finally, competitive re-franchising, and the associated unwinding of short-term management and re-negotiated contracts, seems to have led to improvements in productivity between 2006 and 2008. Nevertheless, it remains the case that passenger rail franchising in Britain has failed to reduce costs in the way experienced in many other industries and in rail in other European countries. The evidence is that somewhat larger franchises, avoiding overlapping and optimising train density and length, should reduce costs. We also speculate that the major increase in wages and conditions of staff might be moderated by longer franchises, although that remains to be proved. This re-appraisal of the British case is important in the context of the wider international interest in the use of franchising in passenger rail, and its relevance to the current review of ways of introducing competition into the domestic rail passenger market in Europe.     

Shorter sea routes as a result of increasing cargo flows

This paper examines the apparent paradox involved in shipping lines responding to increasing cargo flows from Britain to mainland Europe by moving to shorter routes. Analysis shows, however, this move to be a logical and valuable defensive response by shipping lines but at a cost to the transport consumer.     

Bus accidents,bus deregulation and London

Local bus services were deregulated in October 1986 in all areas of Britain except London. Government policy is to extend deregulation to London, though not in the current parliament. This paper analyses statistics on bus accidents from the national road accident database from 1981 to 1991 to compare results for London and the rest of Great Britain, and to consider whether deregulation has affected safety. The conclusions depend on the assumption that accident recording practice was not itself affected by deregulation.Bus accident rates are higher in London than on built-up roads elsewhere, partly apparently because of road traffic conditions in London, and partly because open-platform buses have higher accident rates involving occupants, including boarding and alighting accidents, than buses with doors.The main safety effects of deregulation operate through its effects on bus activity, though there is also some evidence that the rate per bus-kilometre of accidents involving other road users fell slightly. This may be due in part to the trend towards smaller buses associated with deregulation. Deregulation has led to a fall in bus patronage, and thus to a fall in occupant casualties; and to a rise in bus-kilometres, and thus to a rise in casualties among other road users in accidents involving buses. The number of fatal and serious casualties among other road users involved in bus accidents is larger than the number among bus occupants, so deregulation in London could lead on balance to a small rise in fatalities involving buses. On the other hand, the number of slight casualties among other road users involved in bus accidents is smaller than the number among bus occupants, so deregulation in London could lead to a fall in the number of slight casualties involving buses.Although there were fears that changes in the management of bus operations or financial pressures might lead to increased accident rates following deregulation, there no evidence in the findings to support such fears.This paper was first presented at the 3rd International Conference on Competition and Ownership in Surface Public Transport at Mississauga, Canada on 25–29 September 1993. The author is grateful to the Department of Transport for the speed and efficiency with which they provided special tabulations from the road accident database for this study.     

混合动力是唯一的选择吗?--高燃油税对欧洲动力技术发展的影响

“欧洲人已经学会了如何面对昂贵的燃油价格 (主要是指燃油税)。数十年来,欧洲社会一直努力去适应较高的燃油价格,而且已经建立了许多有效的机制     

The 2008 New Zealand public transport management act: Rationale, key provisions, and parallels with the United Kingdom

In January 2009, following a lengthy industry review and consultation process, the New Zealand Public Transport Management Act (PTMA) came into force. The Act allows Regional Transport Authorities, as the primary procurers of public transport services, to place either a control or a contracting requirement upon services that are registered as commercial requiring no subsidy. The imposition of either the control or the contracting requirement is designed to facilitate greater system integration, improve service continuity and enhance services to the customer, andallow the Authority to invest in key strategic projects, such as integrated fares and ticketing, so as to grow patronage.The PTMA’s other objective is to ensure improved value for public subsidies. Recent years have seen significant subsidy inflation for seemingly little commensurate benefits. The Act will allow the Regional Transport Authority to achieve greater value for money through improved farebox, a shift to longer, larger contracts to increase competition in the market, a more appropriate allocation of risk, and the removal of the ability of operators to ‘game’ the current system by using strategically placed commercial services as barriers to competition.Similar concerns have also stimulated new legislation in the UK and this paper illustrates the parallels in the environment and proposed response.