Building Philippine Local Government Capacity for Coastal Resource Management

The responsibility for managing coral reefs and other coastal resources was largely devolved to coastal municipalities and cities in the Philippines in 1991 with the passage of the Local Government Code. Devolution of powers and responsibilities to local government has paved the way for mainstreaming coastal resource management at the local level. However, the capacity to carry out this mandate has only recently begun to mature as municipalities and cities gain an increased awareness of the importance of coastal resources to communities and economic development. Approaches and strategies to increase local government capacity for coastal resource management are described based on the experiences of the Coastal Resource Management Project of the United States Agency for International Development. Qualitative and quantitative data are used to illustrate the possible impact of these capacity building efforts and to describe the current capacity of local government to undertake coastal resource management. After five years of project implementation, coastal municipalities have increased technical capacity, have allotted financial resources, and have achieved key performance benchmarks in the delivery of coastal resource management as a basic service.     

The dredging dilemma: Economic development and environmental protection in Oakland Harbor

Abstract

Seaport expansion often generates tensions between the national interest in efficient transport and local interests in water quality and habitat preservation. The governing American permitting system, however, establishes an extraordinarily cumbersome, legalistic, and costly method for balancing environmental and economic considerations. A case study of the Port of Oakland illustrates the tendency. For four years, plans to find an environmentally acceptable site for dredged material have been stymied by a sequence of inconclusive regulatory and judicial proceedings. Meanwhile, large container ships can enter and leave Oakland harbor only at high tide, and not fully loaded. Despite the absence of any authoritative determination concerning environmental risks, the port was compelled to accede to progressively more expensive disposal methods. Such “adversarial legalism”; is not unique to the Oakland harbor case, but recurs in other policy spheres. It stems from a governmental structure that fragments decision‐making power among many agencies, that constrains regulatory discretion with legal demands for scientific certainty, and that by allowing agency decisions to be challenged readily in court, encourages legalistic defensiveness and extortion rather than compromise. The article concludes with a discussion of the conditions under which regional planning bodies might overcome these centrifugal tendencies.     

Super Classification Society Triggers a New Structure in Cold Winter

On the 20th of December,2012,Det Norske Veritas (DNV) and Germanischer Lloyd (GL) respectively published the news on their home pages that a merger agreement had been signed by both parties.With the advent of the Christmas holiday,the media has enteredinto a quiet period.However,the merger between DNV and GL has undoubtedly had a significant and profound influence on the international maritime industry,and the birth of the super classification society might be just a new beginning.     

In-car power line communications: Advanced transmission techniques

The increasing number of electronic control units (ECUs) inside a vehicle implies the need to develop and deploy on board robust, low latency and low complex telecommunication systems. In this respect, power line communications (PLC) is an attractive solution. The benefits provided by the introduction of power line communications in the in-car environment are multiple and they are related to the possibility of exploiting the existing and capillary wiring infrastructure to simplify the design of the in-vehicle data network (IVN) and, more importantly, to save weight and cost of the wiring harness. In this paper, we deal with the analysis of the performance achievable by applying innovative advanced modulation techniques to in-car measured power line channels, i.e., multicarrier (MC) and impulsive ultra wideband (I-UWB) modulation. We show that for low speed command and control applications, I-UWB is suitable since it requires lower power and lower computational efforts w.r.t. MC systems. Furthermore, we study the design of the optimal transmitted pulse to further improve the performance of I-UWB.     

Effect of rear slant angle on vehicle crosswind stability simulation on a simplified car model

It is important to know the effect of the aerodynamic forces and moments on driving stability because it is responsible for the excitation and influences the response of the vehicle. The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of rear slant angle of a surface vehicle on crosswind sensitivity for stability analysis. The vehicle mathematical model used to conduct a dynamic simulation was based on a simple reduced order lateral dynamics of sideslip and yaw rate motion coupled with aerodynamics model. The intention here is to compare the effect of rear slant angles response to crosswind and to rank the crosswind sensitivity ratings. The aerodynamic loads are defined as the function of the aerodynamic derivatives from the static wind tunnel tests. Result shows a 20° rear slant angle demonstrates the highest rating of crosswind sensitivity, while zero degree slant exhibits the least.     

基于海上沥青货物安全运输的研究

随着我国经济的发展,公路建设正在快速推进,作为公路路面主要材料的沥青需求也越来越大.国产沥青已远不能满足建设需要,大部分需从国外进口,这些进口沥青需要专门的沥青船来运输.基于高温下液态沥青所 具有的运输特点,研究了在液态沥青装卸及运输的整个过程中如何安全有效地操作,以避免对人员、财产及环境造成损害.     

高速公路隧道中地表沉降监测及有限元分析

介绍了某高速公路隧道工程场地表沉降监测情况,总结了地表沉降的规律。采用有限元软件进行数值模拟计算,数值计算和现场监测结果吻合良好,表明隧道施工基本符合设计要求。     

Environmental changes in the western Black Sea related to anthropogenic and natural conditions

The Black Sea northwestern shelf (NWS) ecosystem has been subjected to the strongest anthropogenic pressure of the entire Black Sea as about 80% of the freshwater runoff is discharged there.This paper presents a review of the global environmental changes related mainly to increased eutrophication in the western Black Sea basin.A case study (CoMSBlack 92a cruise) attempts to highlight the interaction of some natural and anthropogenic factors responsible for specific chemical and biological features in the western Black Sea environment. The significance of processes located near the Danube river mouth, which, due to their relatively small space scale, have not been recognized before, is clarified. Hydrological processess of specific importance to the distribution and transformation of antropogenic inputs are river plume dynamics, coastal upwelling and mixing and downwelling over the shelf break and slope in this part of the basin. A layer of low hydrological variability (“conservative layer”) appears to be a natural feature of the area, hypothesized to precondition specific biological and chemical processes there.The results suggest that the interplay between the Danube anthropogenic nutrient load with the natural hydrological fronts and gradients provides opportunities for enhanced biological activity thus contributing to the global environmental changes in the Black Sea NWS.     

船员综合素质的培养与船舶安全

从船员综合素质的内涵入手,结合海事案例,分析了船舶安全与船员综合素质的内在关系,阐述了船舶安全对船员综合素质的具体要求,并对如何培养提高船员综合素质,确保船舶安全提出了一些建议。     

内河超浅吃水观光旅游船设计

最近几年沿鸭绿江的水上旅游航线已经开通并有着相当的旅游人群。但由于内河航道吃水的限制,上游的水上旅游航线很久没有开通,旅游资源没有得到很好的开发与利用。本文就是针对该问题进行设计研究工作的基础上的总结。该型船的设计、建造成功,从根本上解决了当地没有豪华旅游客船航行到上游旅游景点的问题,同时对其它地区的内河浅水观光旅游船也有很好的借鉴意义。