An alternative perspective on common property resource allocation decisions in the coastal zone

Abstract

This article argues that using the public sector and the private market in the historically delineated and traditional ways offers only the bluntest of tools with which to approach the complex problem of coastal zone management. It therefore seeks to provide a basis for reformulating our understanding of sectoral responsibility with regard to resources management. First, it conceptually analyzes the relative strengths and weaknesses of the two sectors. Second, it examines three examples of coastal resources management—beaches and shorelands, artificial reefs, and coastal wetlands—in analyzing the complexities of the coastal management challenge and the limitations of our current approaches. Finally, we provide an alternative perspective on how these common property resource allocation decisions can be made.     

Measuring Public Access to the Shoreline: The Boat-Based Offset Survey Method

As cities redevelop underutilized waterfronts, opportunities exist to promote public access to the shoreline. However, planning for access is hampered by a lack of reliable data on how people utilize a specific shoreline. The boat-based offset transect survey (B-BOTS) method allows researchers to accurately record, map, and analyze shoreline access. This article discusses the use of B-BOTS along the northern part Narragansett Bay, RI. Using B-BOTS, on 52 randomly selected days over a two-season period, researchers developed a geodatabase that included the position of all shoreline users and the activity in which they were engaging. Using this geodatabase, the article demonstrates that the amount and type of shoreline use varied dramatically throughout the study area and varied in ways that would not have been predictable using conventional sources of data. The article also demonstrates that the availability of parking not only influenced the amount of shoreline use, but also the manner in which different user types distributed themselves along the shore. The article discusses the importance of such findings for developing plans for waterfront redevelopment and public access.     

Inverse Heat Conduction and Data-Type Issues for Advanced Diagnostic Analysis

IlitroductlonNormallytemperaturemeasurementsareusedinaninverseheatconductionanalysis.lnarecelltinverseheatconductioninvestigation[ll,twodatatypes(temperatureandheating/coolingrate)weecomparedforthepurposeofinvestigatingtheireffectonpredictingthesurfaceheatfltixattheprojectedsurface.Itwasillustrated,vianumericalexample,thatthechoiceofinputdatainnuencesbOththeaccurasyandstabilityattheprojectedsurface.Thatis,thepredictionnotonlydePendsonthetemperaturedatabutimplicitlyitsillterpretedheating/cooli…     

The role of anticipated time pressure in activity scheduling

In the present article we focus on the cost or disutility of engaging in activities arising from the time pressure people frequently experience when they have committed themselves to perform too many activities in a limited amount of time. Specifically, we propose that anticipated time pressure increases the likelihood of two types of planning, one short-term and the other long-term encompassing different strategies for eliminating or deferring activities. In addition, we discuss several behaviorally realistic such strategies. It is assumed that strategies differ depending on whether an activity satisfies physiological needs, is performed because of institutional requirements or social obligations, or is performed because of psychological or social motives. Strategies are also assumed to differ depending on the degree to which planning is feasible. Computer simulations of available activity data are presented to illustrate consequences of the different strategies on time pressure and activity agendas.     

Optimal Linear Active Suspensions with Vibration Absorbers and Integral Output Feedback Control

The bandwidth of the body response to a road input in an active suspension may be considerably reduced if the axle motions are independently controlled and if, at the same time, the effects of static and dynamic loads are counteracted by integral action in the body force control system. The paper presents a further application of the Ferguson-Rekasius method, leading to optimal output control with incomplete state feedback. To achieve narrow bandwidth body response the support springs are replaced by hydraulic actuators, and vibration absorbers or active wheel dampers are employed for the control of the axle motions. Active wheel damping is the more effective and gives good results. Proportional-plus-integral control action is shown to reduce the transient body displacements due to external forces.     

Minimal-revenue congestion pricing Part II: An efficient algorithm for the general case

The second of a two-part series, this paper derives an efficient solution to the minimal-revenue tolls problem. As introduced in Part I, this problem can be defined as follows: Assuming each trip uses only a path whose generalized cost is smallest, find a set of arc tolls that simultaneously minimizes both average travel time and out-of-pocket cost. As a point of departure, this paper first re-solves the single-origin problem of Part I, modeling it as a linear program. Then with a change of variable, it transforms the LP's dual into a simple longest-path problem on an acyclic network. The multiple-origin problem – where one toll for each arc applies to all origins – solves analogously. In this case, however, the dual becomes an elementary linear multi-commodity max-cost flow problem with an easy bundling constraint and infinite arc capacities. After a minor reformulation that simplifies the model's input to better accommodate output from common traffic assignment software, a solution algorithm is exemplified with a numerical example.     

Shallow water processes govern system-wide phytoplankton bloom dynamics: A modeling study

A pseudo-two-dimensional numerical model of estuarine phytoplankton growth and consumption, vertical turbulent mixing, and idealized cross-estuary transport was developed and applied to South San Francisco Bay. This estuary has two bathymetrically distinct habitat types (deep channel, shallow shoal) and associated differences in local net rates of phytoplankton growth and consumption, as well as differences in the water column's tendency to stratify. Because many physical and biological time scales relevant to algal population dynamics decrease with decreasing depth, process rates can be especially fast in the shallow water. We used the model to explore the potential significance of hydrodynamic connectivity between a channel and shoal and whether lateral transport can allow physical or biological processes (e.g. stratification, benthic grazing, light attenuation) in one sub-region to control phytoplankton biomass and bloom development in the adjacent sub-region. Model results for South San Francisco Bay suggest that lateral transport from a productive shoal can result in phytoplankton biomass accumulation in an adjacent deep, unproductive channel. The model further suggests that turbidity and benthic grazing in the shoal can control the occurrence of a bloom system-wide; whereas, turbidity, benthic grazing, and vertical density stratification in the channel are likely to only control local bloom occurrence or modify system-wide bloom magnitude. Measurements from a related field program are generally consistent with model-derived conclusions.     

Research on short-term dynamic ice cases for dynamic analysis of ice-resistant jacket platform in the Bohai Gulf

Jacket platforms in the Bohai Gulf are often victims of random ice-induced vibrations. Their design originally did not account for dynamic ice loading on the jacket structures and significant ice-induced vibrations have been observed during winters. So it is urgent to find out as to how to consider the dynamic ice loading in the design stage of an ice-resistant jacket platform in the Bohai Gulf. In this paper, based on the state-of-art developments of dynamic ice load and ice–structure interaction, the authors proposed two different approaches to determine the short-term dynamic ice cases for dynamic analysis of ice-resistant jacket platform in the Bohai Gulf, named as the failure probability-based approach and the expected loss-based approach. Considering the variation of the ice environments and the variability of ice-resistant structure's properties, the random ice spectrum and the pseudo-excitation method (PEM) are employed to improve the efficiency of the procedure. Through finite element method (FEM) modeling of the real ice-resistant jacket platforms in the Bohai Gulf, such as MSW, MUQ and NW, the characteristics of the two proposed approaches have been investigated and compared. This paper provides an open and universal framework to assist designers and owners for determining the short-term dynamic ice cases in the Bohai Gulf, in which more information can be considered in the procedure to update and modify the results if available.