Noaa's civil penalty policy: Time for a change

Abstract

This article explores the lack of uniform penalty assessment in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) civil penalty policy under the Fishery Conservation and Management Act (the Magnuson Act). The author sugests that NOAA's inconsistent penalty assessment invites noncompliance by fishers because they view the penalties as unfair and arbitrary. In particular, deterrence is undermined by the absence of a provision that removes the economic benefits of noncompliance. NOAA's policy is contrasted with the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) civil penalty policy, which uniformly assesses penalties while tailoring the penalty to the individual facts of the case and effectively removing the economic incentives of noncompliance. If NOAA implemented a policy similar to EPA's, NOAA would secure increased Magnuson Act compliance and higher penalty amounts.     

European rail reform and passenger services - the next steps

Whilst the emphasis of European Union rail legislation to date has been on freight, measures such as separation of infrastructure from operations, infrastructure charging regimes and regulation have major implications for the passenger sector. But implementation of these measures in many countries has been inadequate. Crucial to overcoming these problems is the establishment of strong independent regulators in all member states. There is currently no requirement for competition in the passenger sector except for international services, but there is experience both of open access for commercial services and of competitive franchising. However, even where permitted open access competition has been very limited and there is evidence that undesirable cream skimming may be a problem. Experience of franchising has generally been positive, but in some cases it has failed to drive down costs. It is concluded that a combination of more sensible risk sharing, a determination not to renegotiate, longer franchises and limited open access competition where justified by benefits is likely to be the best way forward.     

The market for second-hand ships: some results on efficiency using cointegration

This paper extends earlier investigations into the structure of shipping markets, and, in particular, examines the implicit assumption made in some applied studies that these markets are efficient. The idea of cointegration, recently developed in the time series literature, is used to analyse the world-wide markets for secondhand dry bulk carriers. The results raise serious doubts over the validity of efficient markets hypothesis in these cases.     

Rail-road crossing impacts: an international synthesis

Rail-road crossings generate a range of transport, economic, social and environmental impacts. While much research has focused on selected impacts such as safety, little consideration has been given to wider impacts. The aim of this research was to therefore develop a holistic understanding of the impacts of rail-road crossings (both at-grade and grade-separated) and to identify key gaps in knowledge in this field. An international synthesis of rail-road crossing impacts was developed through a detailed literature review, which revealed a total of 18 different types of impacts associated with rail-road crossings. The review found that most research to date has focused on quantifying transport and economic impacts, particularly safety and road vehicle delay, with little consideration given to social and environmental impacts. A number of research gaps have been identified which provide a clear agenda for future research. These gaps include the use of empirical evidence to support impact assessments, and the need to better understand the impacts of grade-separating rail-road crossings in terms of safety, travel time variability, land use, traffic flow, rail vehicle delay, disability access, and crime.     

Competition and Ownership in Land Passenger Transport: The Sixth International Conference,Cape Town,South Africa,September 1999 - Part 2

This paper presents an overview of some recent developments in and policy issues relating to integrated transport systems in the European Union (EU). Both goods and passenger transport systems are considered in the context of actions recently undertaken and supported by the EU. The paper considers the very general background of these systems at the EU scale and offers insights into some recent successful and promising policy, real-life, and research attainments. In addition, it attempts to identify some directions for future actions in fields such as transport policy, transport technology, transport economics and transport scenarios.     

监测空气中的微生物

可靠有效的监控无菌室洁净室和监管区的空气质量是生物技术或制药业环境规划中重要的一部分。这不仅是美国和欧洲的良好生产规范（GMP）要求，而且提供了生产期间环境聩量管理的重要信息。此外，持续-陛监测能使操作人员发现微生物污染空气的趋向性，授予其权力给予干涉。并在必要时发表紧急情况的声明。     

A statistical investigation of time-variant hull girder strength of aging ships and coating life

Risk- and reliability-based approaches are increasingly being applied in assisting inspection and maintenance planning. One of the keys to such approaches is properly predicting the hull girder strength (HG) of gradually degradated hull structures. The development has been limited by the lack of data on aging ships—validation of the developed methods has not been possible. To fill the gap of knowledge on hull strength of ships in service, this paper presents a database of as-gauged hull structures and a statistical study of the time-variant HG of tankers. The expanded data set was collected from 2195 as-gauged girth belts (transverse sections) of 211 single-hull tankers that were 12–32 years old. It was intended to (1) provide actual data on hull girder section modulus (HGSM) of tankers, (2) investigate the general trends of the change in the HG over ships’ service life, and (3) propose formulations for presenting time-variant HGSM and coating life.

The data set demonstrated a high variation of HGSM that changed over time. The mean value and standard deviation of HGSM loss were derived as functions of time. The probability density function (pdf) of coating life was also derived. Comparisons were made between previous studies on HG and the current data set. It was found that almost all previous studies showed much greater HG loss than what this database revealed. The refinement of existing calculations appears to be needed. The data set and statistical study were expected to form the basis for validating formulations of HG that are key components in risk- and reliability-based approaches.     

Modeling Coastal and Marine Environmental Risks in Belize: the Marine Integrated Decision Analysis System (MIDAS)

The livelihood of coastal communities is directly linked to the health of intertidal and marine ecosystems. Coastal zones and marine areas are rapidly changing and highly vulnerable to impacts from climate change, accelerating human development, and over-fishing. Quality of life and the benefits of coastal development can be greatly enhanced, and costs minimized, by projecting and comparing alternative policy outcomes before management decisions are made. This article describes the Marine Integrated Decision Analysis System (MIDAS), an interactive decision support tool designed to assist the users and managers of Belize's system of marine management areas (MMAs) in understanding the interactions among various ecological, socioeconomic, and governance conditions in a spatially explicit manner. MIDAS can simulate and visualize the likely effects of alternative management strategies and therefore provides an important tool for evaluating potential scenarios. We developed two MIDAS modules to address specific threats in Belize –spatial risk resulting from mangrove deforestation in coastal areas and the potential effect of an oil spill off the coast of Belize. Workshops conducted in Belize indicate that diverse user groups such as fishers, tourism operators, and public environmental agencies can successfully utilize MIDAS to understand MMA outcomes, and environmental risks.     

Large eddy simulations for quasi-2D turbulence in shallow flows: A comparison between different subgrid scale models

In this study, the performance of the horizontal large eddy simulation module, developed at the University of Leuven (HLES-KULeuven module) is assessed. A comparison between different subgrid scale models has been carried out. The study is concerned with the non-rotating and unstratified flows. The results of the simulation for an oscillatory backward facing (BFS) flow are presented in case of an expanding flume based on a one-length scale approach and a two-length scale approach. Three subgrid scale (SGS) models have been tested: Smagorinsky SGS model (Smagorinsky, J., (1963). General circulation experiments with the primitive equations, I. the basic experiments. Monthly Weather Review, 91(3), 99–164), Uittenbogaard SGS model (Uittenbogaard, R.E., and van Vossen, B., (2004). Subgrid-scale model for quasi-2D turbulence in shallow water. Shallow Flows. Jirka and Uijttewaal (Eds.), Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 90 5809 700 5) and a proposed two-length scale approach. The first two models are considered to be a one-length scale models. A simulation without a subgrid scale model for the horizontal mixing has also been conducted. In all simulations, a quadratic friction model parameterizes the dissipation produced by the 3D-subdepth scale turbulence. The two-length scale concept uses a newly mixing length formulation for the quasi-2D turbulence and doesn't depend on the filter width in contrast to the one-length scale approach, in which the mixing length is function of the filter width. The outputs of the HLES-KULeuven module have been compared with the experimental data taken from Stelling, G.S., and Wang, L.X., (1984). Experiments and computations on separating flow in an expanding flume. Dept. Civil Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Report 2–84.). The two-length scale approach has been validated with experimental data from SERC Flood Channel Facility at HR Wallingford. In general, there is a qualitative agreement with the experimental data. It has also been found that the two-length scale approach produces more elongated and less isotropic vortex than the one-length scale models.     

Travel plans for new developments: a global review

A travel plan is a mechanism for delivering a package of transport measures at a site to manage car use and encourage the use of more sustainable forms of transport. In recent years, travel plans have been required for new infill and greenfield developments through the land-use planning and approvals process, predominantly in the United Kingdom, the United States, continental Europe and Australia. This paper contributes to the literature by providing a global review of travel plans for new developments. The results show that while travel plans for new developments share a common set of elements with those for pre-existing sites, differences within each element are notable, particularly in the types of travel plan measures adopted, processes for managing the travel plan, and approaches to monitoring and review. Results of previous evaluations have varied considerably, although most have reported a reduction in car driver trips of 10–20 percentage points. Despite this, most evaluations lack rigour, with a paucity of robust evidence. Key success factors identified by the literature, such as the provision of an explicit policy supporting the role of travel plans, should be embedded within the travel planning process where possible to ensure best outcomes for new developments.