Marine Stingers: Review of an Under-Recognized Global Coastal Management Issue

Dangerous marine stingers (jellyfish) are an emotive issue in tropical Australia, where they are widely regarded as the number one marine health threat. However, numerous severe and fatal stings have been reported throughout the tropical and temperate seas of the world, indicating that marine stingers are a global health problem. Further, life-threatening jellyfish stings are more frequently reported globally now compared to earlier decades, possibly as a result of improved recognition and reporting, or increased spatial and/or temporal distribution or densities. As stinging incidents may also have significant financial implications (lost tourism revenues and liability settlements), and the treatment of envenomed patients comes at high cost to the taxpayer, this issue is also a management challenge. This article outlines suggested approaches, based largely on Australian experience, for dealing with this under-recognized global coastal management issue.     

Book reviews

THE SEVENTH AUSTRALIAN TRANSPORT RESEARCH FORUM, by K. W. Ogden.

AIRLINE PLANNING: CORPORATE, FINANCIAL AND MARKETING by Nawal K. Taneja. Lexington, Mass., Lexington Books, 1982. 207 pp. (£19.50)

SOLVING LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROBLEMS: PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF OPERATIONS RESEARCH IN CITIES AND REGIONS, by Charles E. Pinkus and Anne Dixson. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1981. (Hardback £20.00; paperback £8.95)

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT OF TRANSPORT SYSTEMS, edited by N. K. Jaismal. Published by North‐Holland Publishing Company (U.S. $58.50)

TRANSPORTATION AND TRAFFIC ENGINEERING HANDBOOK (Second Edition), edited by W. S. Homburger, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1982. Prentice Hall, pp. 883.

ECONOMICS OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT, by C. A. Nash. Longman, London, pp. 194. (£6.95).     

Modelling of high speed gas quenching

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Pole location control design of an active suspension system with uncertain parameters

This paper addresses the problem of robust control design for an active suspension quarter-car model by means of state feedback gains. Specifically, the design of controllers that assure robust pole location of the closed-loop system inside a circular region on the left-hand side of complex plane is investigated. Three sufficient conditions for the existence of a robust stabilizing state feedback gain are presented as linear matrix inequalities: (i) the quadratic stability based gain; (ii) a recently published condition that uses an augmented space and has been here modified to cope with the pole location specification; (iii) a condition that uses an extended number of equations and yields a parameter-dependent state feedback gain. Unlike other parameter-dependent strategies, neither extensive gridding nor approximations are needed. In the suspension model, the sprung mass, the damper coefficient and the spring constant are considered as uncertain parameters belonging to a known interval (polytope type uncertainty). It is shown that the parameter-dependent gain proposed allows one to impose the closed-loop system pole locations that in some situations cannot be obtained with constant feedback gains.     

Restructuring of the economy and its impacts on the Korean maritime industry

The Korean government has made many efforts to repair the damage done by the financial crisis since November 1997. The restructuring programmes for the Korean economy, including chaebols' (i.e. family-controlled conglomerates) restructuring, have impacted in many ways on the shipping, shipbuilding and port sectors. This is because major shipping lines, shipyards, and recent privatization and operation of container terminals have closely been related to chaebols. This paper is concerned with the impacts of the Korean financial crisis on the shipping, shipbuilding, and port sector, with restructuring of the economy and chaebols.     

A study of the bi-directional pedestrian flow characteristics at Hong Kong signalized crosswalk facilities

This paper investigates the bi-directional flow characteristics at signalized crosswalk facilities in Hong Kong. Pedestrian flow measurements were conducted at selected signalized crosswalks in Hong Kong urban area with and without the Light Rail Transit (LRT) railway tracks in the median of the carriageway. The pedestrian speed-flow functions for these crosswalk facilities were calibrated. The relationships between the walking speed at capacity and directional distribution of pedestrian flow (or flow ratio) are determined. The effects of different flow ratio on the effective capacity are also investigated. The bi-directional pedestrian flow effects on signalized crosswalk facilities with LRT tracks are found more significant than those without LRT tracks. The result could be used as a basis to improve the assessment of the crosswalk's capacity and to determine the design walking speeds under different flow ratios at signalized crosswalks in Hong Kong and in other Asian cities with similar environments.     

Pseudo-dynamic travel model application to assess traveler information

This paper reports an effort to estimate potential benefits of Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) by combing regional travel demand and microscopic simulation models. The approach incorporates dynamic features not yet available in the commercial software market. The suggested technique employs data that are readily available to most urban planning organizations, and is straightforward in its application. The key reported measure of effectiveness is corridor and local system delay, and is sensitive to both the level of penetration of traveler information and the pre-trip and en-route choices drivers make based on this information. The technique is demonstrated on an urban freeway corridor in a medium sized mid-west city.     

沥青路面JTJ014与AASHTO设计方法比较

现行JTJ014规范与AASHTO指南两种沥青路面结构设计方法是不同的体系,对两者作一定量的比较.分析和讨论表明,虽然两种结构设计方法有重要区别,但结果高度相关,区别主要体现在可靠度上.在标准排水条件下,JTJ014规范定值设计大体与AASHTO指南标准差S0=0.50、可靠度水平R=90%的结果相当;对于高速、一级公路,这个水平偏低,而对于三、四级公路可能不必要.可靠度的要求可以近似地用BZZ-100累计作用次数的倍数表达;如果需要,可以采用放大或缩小设计累计轴次的方式考虑可靠度作为过渡措施.可靠度可以在很大程度上影响路面的设计结果;研究开发反映实际情况的沥青路面可靠度标准,应当可以提到议事日程.     

Modeling gas dissolution in deepwater oil/gas spills

Gases in deepwater oil/gas spills can lose considerable amounts of the gas phase due to dissolution in water. Gas dissolution has a significant impact on the behavior of the oil/gas jet/plume because of its impact on the buoyancy. A method is presented in this paper for computing gas dissolution that covers a broad range of water depth, from shallow water where gases behave as ideal ones under low pressure to deepwater where gases behave as non-ideal ones under high pressures. The method presented also accounts for the spherical and non-spherical shapes of gas bubbles. The gas dissolution computations are validated by comparing the computed results with observed data from previously conducted laboratory experiments. The gas dissolution computation module is then integrated with a model for underwater oil/gas jets/plumes by Yapa and Zheng [J. Hydraul. Res. 35 (5) (1997) 673]. Scenario simulations are presented to show the impacts of gas dissolution on the behavior of jets/plumes. These scenarios show the impact of dissolution on the behavior of the jet/plume. The comparison of results using ideal gas conditions and non-ideal gas conditions is also shown.     

全阶状态观测器在传动控制系统中的速度辨识

比较了直接转矩控制中2种计算定子磁链的方法：全阶磁链观测器法和电压-转速模型法的异同。利用MATLAB对设计的一个闭环磁链观测器进行极点配置,在该观测器基础上采用自适应原理对电机转速进行辨识。