Cost and User Profile of a Coastal Ocean Observing System

Fundamental to sustaining the financial support of a coastal ocean observing system is an intimate knowledge of users and their decision-making processes in order to maximize the worth of ocean observations to them. This article explores the evolving mission of GoMOOS (the Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System), its costs of providing near real-time observations and observing products, possible methods to assess the benefits of an ocean observing system, and a method for indexing the importance—and thus, potentially, the economic value—that users attach to these observations and products.     

Understanding Recreational Boater Attitudes to Zoning in a Proposed Marine Protected Area

Although the success of marine protected areas (MPAs) and associated zoning schemes is largely dependent on stakeholder acceptance and support, there have been relatively few studies examining the response of recreational stakeholders to MPA proposals. This study investigates the response of recreational boaters to a proposed MPA in British Columbia, Canada. Using a structured questionnaire (n = 543) and a focus group (n = 6), the research examines the level of support for the concept of marine zoning and identifies key factors influencing support or opposition. Results indicate that a small majority of recreational boaters support the concept of marine zoning, but that there are areas of concern that ought to be addressed as MPA implementation proceeds. Support for zoning was strongly related to perceived benefits, particularly environmental benefits. Furthermore, perceived benefits overall were found to outweigh concerns as determinants of recreational boater support for zoning. Major dimensions of opposition included perceptions of over-regulation, loss of access for boating, and mistrust of the government. A suggestion is that such concerns may be mitigated through focused communication and meaningful involvement of boaters in the zoning process.     

Estimating total annual traffic flow from short period counts

The total annual traffic flow at a road site is probably the single most important item of data needed in transport studies. In this article we describe a method of estimating this flow from a traffic count of less than 24 hours duration. The method is extended to enable an assessment to be made of the merits of repeating a count. The application of the method is discussed in relation to the United Kingdom, but we believe this method to be generally applicable to most countries.

     

Rail freight efficiency and competitiveness in Australia

In 1994/95, the Australian rail freight task was approximately 100 billion tonne kilometres (btkm). This freight task included some 37 btkm for the haulage of iron ore in Western Australia, 28 btkm for coal haulage in Queensland and New South Wales and about 16 btkm for interstate rail freight. This paper mainly concerns how improvements can be made to the efficiency and competitiveness of interstate rail freight services through the upgrading of sections of mainline track that currently have severe speed‐weight restrictions. Recent improvements in rail freight efficiency are discussed, with emphasis on two indicators: average unit revenues (cents per net tonne km), and average energy efficiency (net tonne km per MJ). Rail freight efficiency is high for the Western Australia iron‐ore operations, Queensland coal operations and Adelaide‐Perth general freight operations. However, between Australia's three largest cities of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, some 36% of the mainline track fails to meet basic fast freight train standards with a ruling grade of 1 in 66 and no curve radius less than 800 m. The contraints on efficient rail freight operations imposed by severe terrain, and how the effects of terrain may be reduced by improved track alignment, are discussed. Some economically warranted rail track investment measures are outlined, including those identified for a National Transport Planning Taskforce. These measures have the potential to reduce liquid fuel use by over 250 million litres a year. Factors affecting competitive neutrality between road and rail freight that are outside of the present scope of Australia's National Competition Policy are broadly considered. These factors include the extensive upgrading of the National Highway System with full Federal funding, and low levels of road cost recovery from heavy trucks operating over long distances.     

Rail vehicles,environment, safety and security

This paper starts with a discussion on typical vehicles. The concepts and the usual practice for rail wagon design, both freight and passengers are presented. A discussion on rail and the environment comes next followed by Truck-Trains. Accident theories, metaphors and investigation methods are widely discussed; Hazard – Barrier – Target Model, Swiss Cheese Model, Bow-Tie Model, Fault Tree Analysis and Event Tree Analysis are explained. This paper concludes with a technical discussion on safety and security of rail vehicles, standards for safety and measures against terrorist attacks.     

Comprehensive Review of the Maritime Safety Regimes: Present Status and Recommendations for Improvements

Abstract

This article presents a comprehensive review of the maritime safety regimes and provides recommendations on how to improve the system. The results show a complex legal framework which generates a high amount of inspections and overlapping of inspection areas where no cross‐recognition is established by the various stakeholders. While the safety system seems to be successful in eliminating substandard vessels and while average insurance claims costs are substantially lower for inspected vessels than non‐inspected vessels, the results indicate that the economic conditions of the shipping market also have an effect on safety quality besides the frequency of inspections. No significant differences can be found between industry inspections and port state control inspections with respect to decreasing the probability of casualty. The system could be made more effective by combining data sources on inspections and using them respectively to improve risk profiling and to decrease the frequency of inspections performed on ship types such as tankers. The results further indicate a lack of proper implementation of the International Safety Management Code (ISM code) and conventions with reference to working and living conditions of crew (ILO 147). A revision of the ISM code and more emphasis on enforcement of ILO 147 could further enhance the level of safety at sea. The authors would like to thank several inspection regimes for their cooperation in providing inspection data and in allowing the observation of surveys and inspections on 26 vessels. In addition, the authors would like to acknowledge the data providers for the casualty data, Clarksons for the economic data as well as two P&I Clubs in making data on insurance claims available.     

心脏前负荷减低对主动脉压及主动脉扩增指数的影响

目的 了解心脏前负荷减低对中心动脉压及主动脉扩增指数的影响.方法 10例健康志愿者,行下肢负压(LBNP)抽吸造成不同程度前负荷减低.采用超声心动图检测心输出量的变化;采用中心动脉压力分析系统(SphymoCor)检测桡动脉压力波形,经平均转换功能形成中心动脉压力波形.结果 ①随着下肢负压的加大,上腔静脉血流进行性减低,在-30mmHg阶段,S波减低22.4%,VTIs+d减低了15.8%,同时SV减少24.7%,CO减少18.7%;②中心动脉收缩压(CSBP)除在-30mmHg阶段轻度下降外,在-10及-20mmHg阶段没有明显改变,中心动脉舒张压(CDBP)在各个负压阶段没有明显改变;③主动脉压力波P1在各个负压阶段均明显下降,在-30mmHg阶段,P1减少了19.6%[(28.2±5.02)mmHg vs.(22.65±3.08)mmHg, P＜0.01],而总外周阻力(TPR)在各负压阶段均较基础阶段明显升高,在-30mmHg阶段升高21.3%[(16.0±2.9)(mmHg·min)/L vs.(20.3±3.4)(mmHg·min)/L, P＜0.001].主动脉扩增指数(AI)无明显改变.结论 前负荷减低使中心主动脉压及主动脉压力波P1降低,同时使TPR升高,由于TPR的升高抵消了P1 的降低,因而AI保持不变.     

欧洲拉臂钩市场更加成熟

非常荣幸能参加此次的拉臂钩研讨会.我叫菲利普,是比利时迪菲克公司的董事长,我们公司是一家制造型企业. 我的公司主要经营小挂车的业务,和特种车辆的业务非常相近.在欧洲公民若持有普通的驾驶执照就可以驾驶载重3.5 t的多用途车辆.因此欧洲的轻型小挂车是市场中非常有活力的一部分,越来越多专业的客户需要特殊用途的车辆.     

Tanker safety: Regulatory change

There are many regulatory changes being imposed on tanker operators of new and existing ships. This paper provides a brief on the main changes and their practical impact on design and operation i.e. the significant recent and upcoming revisions to IMO MARPOL Annexes I, II and VI, SOLAS and other regulations and the IACS Common Structural Rules.     

Comparing Fisher Interviews,Logbooks, and Catch Landings Estimates of Extraction Rates in a Small-Scale Fishery

Researchers are turning to alternative data sources (e.g., resource user knowledge) to provide information required for wildlife management. Little is known about the reliability of data elicited from resource users relative to data obtained from user-independent approaches (e.g., observations of fish catches). We test for consensus among three methods that quantify past (1996 to 2007) seahorse catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) for a small-scale, data-poor fishery in the Philippines: interviews with fishers about good, bad, and typical catch; fisher logbooks; and observations of catch landings. Interviews and logbooks indicated no trends in CPUE through time, consistent with results from the fisher-independent metric, catch landings. Although interview estimates of “typical” CPUE greatly exceeded “typical” observed catches and logbook estimates, interview estimates of “bad” CPUE were comparable. Catch landings estimates for a fisher in a particular year were uncorrelated to what he reported during retrospective interviews. Interviews should be used cautiously to inform specific catch targets (e.g., total allowable catches), although including interview questions about a range of catch experiences (e.g., good, bad and typical), may improve interview-derived data. Logbooks are particularly useful for capturing information about fishing expeditions that produce no fish, which are largely missed by other methods.