Digging Deep: Managing Social and Policy Dimensions of Geoduck Aquaculture Conflict in Puget Sound,Washington

Shellfish aquaculture can result in conflicts among stakeholders who perceive impacts and tradeoffs regarding sense of place, aesthetic, recreational, economic, and ecological values. Pacific geoduck clams (Panopea generosa Gould 1850) are grown in intertidal plots using gear- and labor-intensive techniques that result in a high value export product. A confluence of issues has resulted in on-going social and legal tensions surrounding geoduck aquaculture in southern Puget Sound, Washington (WA), USA. Using interviews and document analysis, we explored stakeholder perspectives and policy issues related to geoduck aquaculture in southern Puget Sound. Twenty-three stakeholders were interviewed, including state agency employees, representatives of the aquaculture industry, nongovernmental organizations, landowners, a tribal member, and an academic. Nine state hearings board decisions on challenges to aquaculture permits were also analyzed. Stakeholders articulated a variety of perspectives regarding aesthetic, recreational, land-use, ecological, political, regulatory, and economic aspects of geoduck aquaculture activities. Hearings board cases addressed similar issues (aesthetic, ecological, and recreational), as well as challenges to restrictions on aquaculture. Potential strategies for managing this conflict include emphasizing best management practices, identifying and incorporating best available science, joint fact-finding approaches, and initiating and improving communication among all stakeholders.     

Elderly travel frequencies and transport mode choices in Greater Rotterdam,the Netherlands

Demographic ageing is a key societal challenge in Europe as well as in many other western and non-western societies. A crucial dimension concerns elderly daily mobility patterns. While still partaking fewer and shorter trips than younger generations, today’s elderly have been found increasingly (auto)mobile. Although the elderly benefit from the independence, freedom of movement, and social inclusion, concerns may rise regarding the environmental and accessibility impacts of this induced mobility. The present study adds to the expanding literature on elderly mobility, an integrated analysis of the effects of socio-demographic, health, trip, spatial and weather attributes on elderly mobility. Utilizing travel diary data for Greater Rotterdam, The Netherlands, trip frequencies and transport mode choices of the elderly are analysed by means of zero-inflated negative binomial models as well as multinomial logit regression models, and contrasted to the non-elderly subpopulation to explore (dis)similarities. While the results show common determinants, the models also highlight important differences in the magnitude of the estimated coefficients and factors only influencing transport patterns for the elderly. Embedded in the context of an aging population, the empirical findings assist policy-makers and planners in several respects: For transportation plans and programs it is critical to recognize mobility needs of the elderly. As the seniors are becoming increasingly automobile, the results call for strategies to encourage older people to use more physically active and environmentally friendly transport modes such as public transport, walking and cycling.     

Experimental Investigation of a Hydraulic Turbine for Hydrokinetic Power Generation in Irrigation/Rainfall Channels

The development of microchannels with open flow for use in irrigation and rainy areas is challenged by electricity generation via hydrokinetic devices in shallo...     

A porous cell method for the simulation of fluid-solid interactions

There are many ways of describing a solid,porous or fluid region of the computational domain when solving the Navier-Stokes equations(NSE)for flow motions.Amongst these the porous cell method is one of the most flexible approaches.In this method,a parameter is defined as a ratio of the volume open to water and air in a calculation cell to its cell volume.In the calculation,the same numerical procedure is applied to every cell and no explicit boundary conditions are needed at solid boundaries.The method is used to simulate flow through porous media,around solid bodies and over a moving seabed.The results compare well with experimental data and other numerical results.In our future work the porous cell method will be applied to more complex fluid-solid interaction situations.     

New appraisal values of travel time saving and reliability in Great Britain

Transportation - This paper provides an overview of the study ‘Provision of market research for value of time savings and reliability’ undertaken by the Arup/ITS Leeds/Accent consortium...     

In-vehicle display HMI safety evaluation using a driving simulator

Recently, telematics services and in-vehicle display devices such as the CNS (Car Navigation System) have become new causes of traffic accidents. These accidents are caused by ‘Inattention’ from the increase of the driver’s mental workload while he/she is driving. The driver of a vehicle (except for emergency or police vehicles) must not use a hand-held mobile phone while the vehicle is moving. To address this problem, Australia, England, Italy, Brazil and some states in the US have banned the use of hand-held mobile devices during driving. However, there are no restrictions on the use of in-vehicle displays or on the display’s positions. The position of a navigation system in a vehicle should be assessed objectively, and the effect of the position on the driver’s attention should be studied. Some existing research reports that in-vehicle distraction not only leads to reduced speeds and more frequent lane switching, but also more gazing by the driver to the centre of the road. In this study, to develop an assessment method and to propose the proper position of a CNS, an experiment is carried out in a driving simulator environment. Different methods to track the gaze and physical parameters of the driver are used for HMI (Human-Machine Interface) assessment. The experiment is carried out in a driving simulator to observe the glancing distribution during driving according to the position of the navigation system. Fourteen subjects participated in this experiment. Changes in subjects’ physiological signals and glancing distribution rates were collected.     

Bayesian vehicle class recognition using 3-d probe

A new approach is presented to vehicle-class recognition from video clips. Two new concepts introduced are: probes consisting of local 3-d curve-groups which when projected into video frames are features for recognizing vehicle classes in video clips; and Bayesian recognition based on class probability densities for groups of 3-d distances between pairs of 3-d probes. A full Bayesian recognizer is realized via Monte Carlo simulation method. Also, a sub-optimal but robust camera calibration method is employed and tested extensively.     

Estimation of soot oxidation rate in DPF under carbon and non-carbon based particulate matter accumulated condition

By high particulate matter(PM) reduction performance, diesel particulate filter(DPF) is applied to almost all of modern HSDI diesel engine. PM emitted from diesel engine is consist of carbon based and non-carbon based material. Representative carbon based PM is soot. Non-carbon based PM is produced by wear of engine and exhaust component, combustion of lubrication oil and sulphur in fuel. Accumulation of non-carbon based PM affects pressure difference of DPF and thus accuracy of soot mass estimation in DPF can be lowered during normal and regeneration condition when the pressure difference caused by non-carbon based PM is not recognized correctly. Also unevenly accumulated PM inside of DPF can produce locally different exhaust gas temperature and thus it can lower accuracy of soot mass estimation during regeneration. This study focuses on estimation of soot oxidation rate not by conventional pressure difference but by exhaust gas analysis at up and downstream of DPF. Results, strong correlations between CO₂ -fuel mass ratio and soot oxidation was observed.     

Maritime investment strategies with a portfolio of real options

The maritime industry operates in a dynamic global environment subject to a great number of variables. In this context, the investment challenge facing shipowners is correctly to value alternate mutually exclusive investment strategies before proceeding with confidence to commit to a project which will add the greatest value to the firm. To survive in the competitive market environment shipping companies must be flexible. Companies that rely solely on traditional discounted cash flow analysis may be underestimating the true value of their investment by not valuing any embedded real options specifically. To avoid misallocation of resources, the true value of these embedded options (strategies) should be recognised and quantified where possible for inclusion in the capital budgeting process. Using real options analysis, (ROA), as a development of the financial pricing advances of the 1970s, flexibility is valued like a financial option using non-arbitrage and added to the present value of the original strategy to derive the present value of the flexible strategy. The more uncertainty (risk) present, the greater will be the value of the real options. Similarly, the larger the shipowner's portfolio of options (strategies) from which to choose, the greater will be the valuation of the project. Real options give the shipowner the flexibility to exchange one risky income stream associated with one strategy for that of another. The analysis shows that if managers have the flexibility of more than one embedded option (in this paper, a European put associated with a replacement investment and an option on the maximum of two operating strategies, trading or chartering out) then the project will have greater value than if the there was no choice or if it was limited to one or the other strategy. Sensitivity analysis extends the analysis to demonstrate that if the volatilities of the risky income streams are highly correlated then the additional value of this flexibility will diminish.