Human Impacts on Cable Beach,Broome (Western Australia)

There are concerns that Cable Beach, which is of outstanding natural beauty and a major tourist attraction for Broome and the Kimberley region of northwest Australia, is suffering damage from recreational use, particularly that caused by off-road vehicles. To assess current levels of human impact on the shore and its fauna, the southern-most kilometer of the Beach, covering an area to which vehicles had access and an adjacent area closed to vehicles, was surveyed for human usage and shore crab abundance. Human usage over the recording period was high in the area with high vehicular access. The amount of litter, although considerable, was well below that recorded in some other tourist destinations elsewhere in the world. Burrows of both the ghost crabs Ocypode spp, and the sand bubbler, Scopimera inflata, were less numerous in areas of high vehicle use than those of low use. Both species may be valuable in monitoring human impacts on Cable Beach.     

Agricultural vehicles and sustainable safe road traffic: solving conflicts on arterial highways

Addressing the issues of traffic safety in rural areas presents a constant challenge. The mix of light and heavy vehicles and the considerable differences in speed among these traffic participants result in high risks and delays for the faster vehicles. Agricultural vehicles (AVs) in particular have such an impact on traffic, especially when using arterial highways. This paper reviews the problems of safety and delays that AVs cause on arterial highways, and the appropriate mitigation. The concept of 'sustainable safety' in The Netherlands focuses on these problems, because of the proposed construction of parallel roads alongside all arterial highways. However, Dutch accident statistics cannot justify the high costs for the construction of parallel roads alongside 7000 km of arterial highways. Delays experienced by fast traffic are another reason for separating AVs from other road users with parallel roads. Alternative measures alongside the arterial highway, such as passing bays, restricting AVs to travelling at off-peak only and improving the conspicuity of the AVs, may be more cost-effective ways of reducing delays and/or improving traffic safety on arterial highways. Another solution may be to eliminate the need for AVs to use the arterial highway by altering their routes. For this purpose, land reallocation projects (as practised in Holland) can provide a useful tool.     

Gain-scheduled EGR control algorithm for light-duty diesel engines with static-gain parameter modeling

This paper presents a model-based gain scheduling algorithm of a PI-based EGR controller for light-duty diesel engines. In order to capture nonlinear characteristic of the EGR system, we have proposed a new scheduling variable to illustrate the static-gain of the plant model as a linear function. The proposed scheduling variable is composed of the air-tofuel ratio of the exhaust gas and the pressure ratio between the exhaust and intake manifolds. Using the scheduling variable, a static-gain model achieved 0.94 of the R-squared value with 810 of steady-state measurements which include key engine operating conditions. Based on the model of the static-gain parameter, the gains of the PI controller are decided by Skogestad internal model control (SIMC) tuning rule in real-time. Through various scenarios of engine experiments, the proposed gain scheduling algorithm represented that the PI gains were successfully adapted according to the changes of the engine operating conditions.     

Property protection,financial constraints and economic growth

The relationship between financial system, law framework or economic growth has attracted considerable attention for years. However, there are some questions still remaining unanswered: between tangible assets protection and intellectual property protection, which is more important? Between external financing and property rights protection, which does play a greater role for the economic development? According to the dynamic stochastic general equilibrium(DSGE) model with non-free market factors, we study the effectiveness of property protection and external financing, and try to answer these questions. The model fits the data well, and we find:(1) protection of intellectual property plays a more important role than that of tangible asset, in the promotion of economy;(2) relaxation of financial constraints on corporate is more effective in the short run, while the protection of intellectual property is more effectual in the long term.     

The impact of a new rapid transit system on traffic on parallel highway facilities

This study analyzes data of traffic crossing San Francisco Bay and passing through the Berkeley Hills via Caldecott Tunnel to determine the effect of the opening in 1974 of the Bay Area Rapid Transit System (BART) transbay line. There was a sudden shift in trend lines in 1974; vehicle volumes dropped, transit patronage jumped, but total person trips in the short run followed roughly the trends of the previous eight years. Since 1974, the growth rate in person trips through the Berkeley Hills appears to have remained about the same, while transbay vehicle and transit traffic have increased at a more rapid rate. The increase in transit patronage is particularly noticeable between the morning and afternoon peaks and probably represents new trips by shoppers and sightseers. Whereas other factors, such as the increase in the price of gasoline between October 1973 and July 1974 may have contributed a little to the sudden change in the long‐range trends in 1974, it is believed that the major cause was the opening of the BART network to transbay travel.

     

The vertical disintegration of ship management: choice criteria for third party selection and evaluation

An assessment of the rationale for the vertical disintegration of ship management suggests that there might be compelling economic benefits for the separation of ownership from management. In this context, as a means for developing effective marketing strategies, it is important for ship managers to know the criteria used by current and prospective clients for ship manager selection and evaluation. The aim of this paper is to empirically identify the dimensions for ship manager selection and performance evaluation and their relative importance and to discuss the implications for marketing emanating from such an assessment. The methodology adopted includes the collection of secondary and primary data, both from ship managers and their clients, using interviews and a mail survey. The results indicate the prevailing importance of certain dimensions in selection (e.g. technical ability, reputation, competency) and evaluation (responsiveness, trustworthiness, technical ability), whereas it also found that price alone is not perceived to be as important in ship manager selection. It is concluded that placing emphasis on such dimensions in the formulation of a marketing strategy will contribute towards the attraction and retention of clients, whereas cost-cutting measures to allow price reduction, as well as advertising, will be ineffective over the long term.     

Old woman creek,Ohio: The designation of a freshwater estuarine sanctuary

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Office of Coastal Zone Management have proposed the Old Woman Creek estuary on Lake Erie as the nation's first freshwater estuarine sanctuary. Designation as an estuarine sanctuary will preserve 637 acres of marshland, sand bar, a barrier beach, and surrounding forested uplands for public education and research. The original January 1975 grant application required modification following local residents’ objections to purchases of highly productive farmland and land‐use controls on a watershed‐wide buffer zone. A federal grant award was made in July 1977, with full acquisition anticipated by the end of 1978.     

Fuel Property Effects on Liquid and Vapor Penetrations of Evaporating Sprays

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of fuel properties on liquid and vapor penetrations in evaporating spray systems. A recently developed model, which can simultaneously account for the finite thermal conductivity, finite mass diffusivity and turbulence effects within atomizing multi-component liquid fuel sprays, is utilized for the numerical predictions. Two different multi-component fuels with different boiling temperatures, densities and other thermal properties are implemented in the KIVA-3V computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code to study the evaporation behaviors. A six-component surrogate fuel is used to emulate the relevant volatility property of the real diesel fuel, and a second bi-component fuel is chosen to represent a low boiling-temperature fuel. The numerical results are compared with the experimental data, and the representative results are obtained. For a lower density and lower boiling temperature fuel, the liquid penetration length is shorter. However, the vapor penetration lengths are not affected by the fuel type in terms of fuel volatility. Available experimental data are used for validation and appraisal of the multi-component evaporation model.     

Flame propagation model for a rotary Atkinson cycle SI engine

The rotary Atkinson cycle engine includes two modes of combustion: combustion initiation and propagation in ignition chamber and then flame jet entrainment and propagation in expansion chamber. The turbulent flame propagation model is a predictive model for SI engines which could be developed for this type of combustion for the rotary Atkinson engine similar to the congenital engine with pre-chamber; in split combustion chamber SI engines, small amount of fuel is burned in pre-chamber while the fuel burned in ignition chamber of rotary Atkinson cycle is considerable. In this study a mathematical modeling of spherical flame propagation inside ignition chamber and new combined conical flame and spherical flame propagation model of a new two-stroke Atkinson cycle SI engine will be presented. The mathematical modeling is carried out using two-zone combustion analysis and the model also is validated against experimental tests and compared with previous study using non-predictive Weibe function model.     

The Value of a Spillover Fishery for Spiny Lobsters Around a Marine Reserve in Northern New Zealand

The contribution that Leigh Marine Reserve in northern New Zealand makes to the local spiny lobster fishery was examined by comparing the catch characteristics of Jasus edwardsii around the reserve boundary with those from Coastal Leigh, 0.3-2 km from the reserve, and Little Barrier Island, 22-30 km from the reserve. Seasonal trends were apparent in the reserve catch characteristics, consistent with lobster movements into and out of offshore fishing areas adjacent to the boundary. No significant difference was detected in catch per unit effort (kg.trap haul -1 ) among locations. However, the catch around the marine reserve consisted of fewer but larger lobsters than at Little Barrier Island, while the size and number of lobsters caught per trap haul at Coastal Leigh was intermediate between the other two locations. Catch rates around the reserve were more variable than at the other sites, but on average, the amount of money made per trap haul was similar to Little Barrier Island and Coastal Leigh.