The need for a structured policy towards reducing human-factor errors in marine accidents

The paper questions why so little attention has been given to the primary control centre of a merchant ship, namely the bridge, when so many accidents at sea are caused by ‘human error’. The paper then suggests that there is a need for a policy which will draw the various threads of the problem together in a form suitable for international discussion and even legislation. The identified areas are those of training, bridge design, psychology and marine traffic discipline.     

电流变流体的润滑性能研究

提出了电流变流体作为润滑剂使用的新设想，研究了电流变流体粘度的可控特性，通过试验获得了电流变流体摩擦力随电场强度、悬浮颗粒浓度、油膜厚度等因素的变化规律，为深入研究电流变流体的润滑特性奠定了基础。     

Role of filtering and biodeposition by Adamussium colbecki in circulation of organic matter in Terra Nova Bay (Ross Sea, Antarctica)

At Terra Nova Bay, the scallop Adamussium colbecki (Smith, 1902) characterises the soft and hard bottoms from 20 to 80 m depth, constituting large beds and reaching high values of density (50–60 individuals/m²) and biomass (120 g/m² DW soft tissues). To assess its role in the organic matter recycling in the coastal ecosystem, its filtering and biodeposition rates were evaluated in laboratory experiments during the austral summer 1993/94. Filtration rates, measured in a flow-through system, were calculated from the difference in particulate organic carbon (POC), nitrogen (PON) and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration in inflow and outflow water. Experiments were performed using natural sea water with POC, PON and Chl-a concentrations of about 450 μg/l, 90 μg/l and 2 μg/l, respectively. The biodeposition rate and the biochemical composition of the biodeposits were studied in order to detect how the organic matter is transformed through feeding activity of A. colbecki. At +1°C temperature, the average filtering rate was about 1 l h⁻¹ g⁻¹ (DW soft tissues) in specimens ranging in body mass from 2 to 3 g (DW soft tissues) and 6–7 cm long. The biodeposition rate in 3–8 cm long specimens, ranging from 0.4 to 5.7 g (DW soft tissues), was about 5.65 mg DW/g DW/day, leading to an estimate of Corg flux, through biodeposition by A. colbecki, of about 21 mg C m⁻² day⁻¹ at in situ conditions. Comparison between the biochemical composition of seston and biodeposits shows a decrease of the labile compounds, of the Chl-a/phaeopigments ratio in the biodeposits. The recorded C/N ratio decrease suggests a microbial colonisation in the biodeposits. This study suggests that Adamussium colbecki plays an important role in coupling the material fluxes from the water column to the sea bed, processing about 14% of total Carbon flux from the water column to the sediments, with an assimilation efficiency of 36%.     

Devising business strategy for railways

This paper presents a case study which tackles a general problem for railway management, namely the formulation of a strategy to improve business financial performance. This is prefaced, in Section 2, by discussion of general principles - concerning the type of information system required, investigations to be conducted and associated measurement needs. The case study, of Section 3, concerns our investigations of VicRail's total business and its constituents. The task of financial improvement is revealed from an assessment of sectors' current cost-recovery positions and the identification of system joint costs. For freight sectors, future traffic prospects, pricing possibilities and the scope for more efficient operations are then considered, and the implications traced for overall deficit reduction and the development of business strategy. The concluding section draws some general lessons for railway managements.A fuller discussion by the authors of the theoretical framework employed, and particularly of the case study application, is contained in a complimentary publication: Improving Railway Financial Performance, published by Gower in January 1985.Transmark is a subsidiary of the British Railways Board, acting as its international consultancy. The authors, who were respectively study director and manager, wish to thank Bernard Warner (an independent consultant), Richard Eccles (of Transmark) and Adrian Balkyn-Rackowe (of British Rail) for their valuable contributions. The study report, titled Rail Cost — Pricing Options, was released by the Minister in April 1981.     

软件将是导航硬件商生存之本

2008年导航市场将进入洗牌阶段。随着许多国际大品牌GARMIN、TOMTOM等都纷纷进入中国市场瓜分导航市场的这块蛋糕，中国的中、小品牌生存空间将受到挤压，甚至，许多小品牌在今年或明年将有可能会消失。那么，怎么才能继续生存并有比较好的前景呢？     

严峻问题

今年关于太平洋航线有两个不确定因素,即美国进口量增长将会大大放缓,同时美国出口量会继续增加.因此,几乎所有其他的问题都是不确定的:进口量是否会增长还是会减少?     

Equilibria of bilateral taxi–customer searching and meeting on networks

This paper proposes an equilibrium model to characterize the bilateral searching and meeting between customers and taxis on road networks. A taxi driver searches or waits for a customer by considering both the expected searching or waiting time cost and ride revenue, and a customer seeks a taxi ride to minimize full trip price. We suppose that the bilateral taxi–customer searching and meeting occurs anywhere in residential and commercial zones or at prescribed taxi stands, such as an airport or a railway station. We propose a meeting function to spell out the search and meeting frictions that arise endogenously as a result of the distinct spatial feature of the area and the taxi–customer moving decisions. With the proposed meeting function and the assumptions underlying taxi–customer search behaviors, the stationary competitive equilibrium achieved at fixed fare prices is determined when the demand of the customers matches the supply of taxis or there is market clearing at the prevailing searching and waiting times in every meeting location. We establish the existence of such an equilibrium by virtue of Brouwer’s fixed-point theorem and demonstrate its principal operational characteristics with a numerical example.     

Tests on ultimate strength of hull box girders made of high tensile steel

The experimental results of the collapse of three box girders subjected to pure bending moment are presented. The structures are made of high tensile steel of 690 MPa of nominal yield stress reinforced with bar stiffeners of the same material. The moment curvature curves are presented covering the pre- and post-collapse regions. The modes of collapse for each box girder are discussed considering the variation on the panel's slenderness. The concept of efficiency of high tensile steel structures is introduced. The concept is very useful to identify the governing parameters affecting the ultimate strength of 3D structures under predominant bending moment.