Factors Influencing the Participation of Local Governmental Officials in the National Estuary Program

Participation by local governmental officials is not given the same attention in the literature as that of citizens, publics, technical experts, or stakeholders. Yet, local governments are often a keystone to successfully implementing and enforcing coastal management policies. Qualitative analysis of open-ended interviews with local government officials from three national estuary program applications in New England revealed factors related to nine themes that shaped decisions to participate or not. Three categories of factors help to clarify the different types of influence agencies have over local government officials' decisions about whether or not to participate: factors associated with the character of individuals, with the context, and with the process. This taxonomy helps to clarify the kinds of opportunities available to project leadership to influence local government officials toward participating in regional coastal management processes. An important finding is that project staff should listen and learn about the concerns of local government officials and then create a process that accommodates and overcomes barriers to their participation.     

Coping with uncertainty: an expedition into the field of new transport technology

Many decisions taken by mankind are rational only to a limited extent. This holds for individual travel behaviour, but also for long-range strategic decisions on transport systems or transport technology. In any decision problem, coping with uncertainty is the most critical element. The introduction of new transport technology is surrounded by uncertainty. For example, there is uncertainty about the pace and extent of adoption of new technology and there is uncertainty about the impact of new technology in terms of increased sustainability or increased efficiency. This article maps uncertainty surrounding new transport technology and identifies ways in which to deal with uncertainty in policy making. The findings will be illustrated with electric vehicles, particularly with two specific strategies to deal with uncertainty: interactive technology watching and experimentation in a market niche. The paper concludes with a discussion of success factors that influence the outcomes of such strategies.     

Validating the results of a route choice simulator

This paper describes the validation of a route choice simulator known as VLADIMIR (Variable Legend Assessment Device for Interactive Measurement of Individual Route choice). VLADIMIR is an interactive computer-based tool designed to study drivers’ route choice behaviour. It has been extensively used to obtain data on route choice in the presence of information sources such as Variable Message Signs or In-Car Navigation devices. The simulator uses a sequence of digitized photographs to portray a real network with junctions, links, landmarks and road signs. Subject drivers are invited to make journeys between specified origins and destinations under a range of travel scenarios, during which the simulator automatically records their route choices. This paper describes validation experiments carried out during the period Summer 1994 to Autumn 1995 and reports on the results obtained. Each experiment involved a comparison of routes selected in real life with those driven under simulated conditions in VLADIMIR. The analysis included investigation of the subjects’ own assessment of the realism of the VLADIMIR routes they had chosen, a comparison of models based on the real life routes with models based on VLADIMIR routes, and a statistical comparison of the two sets of routes. After an extensive series of data collection exercises and analyses, we have concluded that a well designed simulator is able to replicate real life route choices with a very high degree of detail and accuracy. Not only was VLADIMIR able to precisely replicate the route choices of drivers who were familiar with the network but it also appears capable of representing the kind of errors made and route choice strategies adopted by less familiar drivers. Furthermore, evidence is presented to suggest that it can accurately replicate route choice responses to roadside VMS information.     

The prigogine-herman kinetic model predicts widely scattered traffic flow data at high concentrations

The classical derivation of a traffic stream model (e.g. speed/concentration relation) from the equilibrium solutions of the Prigogine–Herman kinetic equation invokes the nontrivial assumption that the underlying distribution of desired speeds is nonzero for vanishingly small speeds. In this paper we investigate the situation when this assumption does not hold. It is found that the Prigogine–Herman kinetic equation has a one-parameter family of equilibrium solutions, and hence an associated traffic stream model, only for traffic concentrations below some critical value; at higher concentrations there is a two-parameter family of solutions, and hence a continuum of mean velocities for each concentration. This result holds for both constant values of the passing probability and the relaxation time, and for values that depend on concentration in the manner assumed by Prigogine and Herman. It is hypothesized that this result reflects the well-known tendency toward substantial scatter in observational data of traffic flow at high concentrations.     

2003年美国汽车技术展望

对美国生产的轿车而言,去年市场上似乎风平浪静。新推出的车只有几款,它们分别是:用以取代“土星S”的新型的“离子”轿车、“旁蒂克·Vibe”、采用增压发动机的“PT巡洋舰”和“霓虹”。还有一些改进型的车,如“林肯·LS”和“林肯·城市”。 虽然推出的新车不是很多,但对不起,我必须告诉你:CAN(控制器局域网)时代已经来临。这几年,市场已经有几款所谓的新一代故障扫描仪,这些扫描仪可以用来诊断CAN系统。除非你已     

Research trends and agenda on the Belt and Road (B&R) initiative with a focus on maritime transport

The ‘Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road’ (collectively known as Belt and Road, B&R) has been initiated by the Chinese government in 2013. The B&R is increasingly becoming a focal point for socio-economic–political interests because of its likely impact on land and sea transport and maritime logistics. The aims of this study were threefold: first, to provide an overview on the B&R, focusing on its key structural elements, such as transport corridors, city clusters, dry ports, infrastructure, zoning, and area development; second, to identify the expected impacts of the B&R on trade and implications on structural changes in transportation systems, port networks, and international logistics. Finally, to discuss major research trends and setting up of research agenda which will contribute to enriching the existing literature and shaping the global trade operations and drive economic growth in the context of the B&R.     

Adapting to Catch Shares: Perspectives of West Coast Groundfish Trawl Participants

Abstract

Catch share programs are used in fisheries management to meet goals such as species recovery, overcapacity reduction, and economic efficiency. Anticipated impacts include fleet consolidation, infrastructure reduction, and social disruption within communities. The Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Social Study (PCGFSS) aims to understand social changes related to the recently implemented West Coast Groundfish Trawl Catch Share Program. In this article, we use a subset of PCGFSS data to explore the ways remaining fishery participants have thus far adapted to catch shares. While some vessels have left the fishery, we found that many participants are adapting to this catch shares program despite challenges. Quota leasing strategies, fishery diversification, gear innovation, and community quota funds are some of the tools participants are using to continue operating under the catch shares program. These early challenges and adaptations to the catch share program are worthy of continued tracking, as researchers, managers, and fishing communities, would benefit by considering first-hand perspectives of the on-the-ground realities of harvesting groundfish in the rationalized fishery.     

Measuring the completeness of complete streets

A tool for measuring the “completeness” of a complete street has applications in developing policy, prioritising areas for infrastructure investment for a network, and solving the right-of-way allocation problem for individual streets. A literature review was conducted on the state-of-art in the assessment complete street designs. Complete streets assessment requires a context-sensitive approach, thus context-sensitive standards of “completeness” must first be established by combining a street classification system with sets of priorities and target performance levels for the different types of streets. Performance standards should address a street’s fulfilment of the movement, environmental, and place functions, and be flexible enough to account for the many ways that these functions of a street can be fulfilled. Most frameworks reviewed are unsuitable for evaluating complete streets because, with few exceptions, they guide street design by specifying the design elements for inclusion on the street. Secondly, the performance of a street can be assessed according to transportation, environmental, and place criteria, and compared to the target performance levels specified by the street’s classification. As there are many different impacts to consider on a street, additional work is required to define the priorities and performance objectives for different types of streets.     

2011美国汽车市场进口新车型概览

美国汽车工业的复兴,不仅体现在本刊所做的有关美国国内汽车制造商新车型上市的报道中,也同时体现在众多2011款进口车型的报告中。在新的一年里,每个主要的进口品牌汽车制造商,甚至包括大多数规模较小的制造商都纷纷向美国市场推出了新的车型。