煤的气化——清洁选择 煤合成气——天然气的竞争者，清洁、廉价的电厂燃料

作为燃料有几个优势，其中包括储量充足和价格低廉。但是没有“清洁煤”这种说法。除了煤烟、有毒化学品，以及金属外，燃煤电厂每千瓦小时放出的二氧化碳也比燃烧石油或天然气的电厂要多。煤在空气中燃烧时不可避免地产生二氧化碳。因此煤是一种问题燃料，不仅在于它引发气候变化，而且影响到人类健康和安全问题。     

Intrusions of eastern North Atlantic central waters and phytoplankton in the north and northwestern Iberian shelf during spring

The influence of intrusions of eastern North Atlantic central water (ENACW) in the north and northwestern Iberian shelf on phytoplankton composition and abundance and on particle-size distributions of seston was analyzed using data collected on three extensive cruises during spring 1991 and 1992. Water with temperature and salinity values between 12.20 and 13.86 °C and between 35.66 and 35.98 psu, respectively, characteristics of the subtropical type of ENACW (ENACW_t), was detected in the upper 100 m of the water-column in all cruises, but particularly in the western coast in 1992. The highest salinity values of this water were found near the surface (0–100-m depth) and in early spring 1992, while minimum salinity values, and also minimum geographical extension, were found in late spring in both years. Phytoplankton blooms concentrated in frontal areas between different water types, with maximum intensity and extension in early spring.Using temperature and salinity characteristics, samples were classified in four groups corresponding to the major water types found in the region: Bay of Biscay central water (BBCW), two segments of ENACW of different salinity and surface water influenced by continental runoff. This classification was significantly confirmed by three independent discriminant analyses using hydrographic and chemical (dissolved nutrients and chlorophyll) variables, phytoplankton species abundance variables and particle-size concentration of seston variables. Phytoplankton blooms related to the presence of saline waters were characterized by the dominance of either chain-forming diatoms or a mixture of diatoms and phytoflagellates and high concentrations of seston. The diatom species dominating in saline waters were typical of upwelling-induced blooms occurring generally during summer. Blooms occurring in waters influenced by runoff also contained diatoms but in lower numbers than those of saline waters. Nutrients were not exhausted in the region, suggesting that phytoplankton populations were still in active growth. These results are interpreted taking into account the known variability in water-mass formation and in the poleward current driving ENACW_t along the shelf, and indicate that saline intrusions are a major feature affecting the distribution and composition of plankton in the spring in the southern Bay of Biscay, thus enlarging to a wider spatial scale their reported influence on the pelagic ecosystem.     

A fuzzy measure based solution approach to a multimodal analysis problem

This paper discusses the factors that determine the utility of a mode and attempts to suggest and investigate a novel fuzzy measure based solution approach to the problem of multimodal analysis in a multicriteria context. The paper expands on the notions of fuzzy logic and in particular, fuzzy measures. The approach attempts to estimate the probabilities of the “overall system” from a group of eight experts who are experienced in transport planning. The data is used to ascertain the relative utility of various modes in a competitive environment. It explains the application of fuzzy measures to provide guidance information for a transport planning agency.     

The international regime of compensation for oil pollution damage and the policy of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds as to the admissibility of claims

This article describes the international regime governing compensation for oil pollution damage from ships. It sets out the main features of the relevant international Conventions, the Civil Liability Conventions and the Fund Conventions, and explains the operations of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds, their structure and financing. The procedure for settlement of compensation of claims is outlined and a summary is made of the criteria for the admissibility of claims for compensation. The ongoing review of the international compensation regime is described.     

Forecasting the Suez Canal traffic: a neural network analysis

Although the Suez Canal is the most important man-made waterway in the world, rivaled perhaps only by the Panama Canal, little research has been done into forecasting its traffic flows. This paper uses both univariate ARIMA (Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average) and Neural network models to forecast the maritime traffic flows in the Suez Canal which are expressed in tons. One of the important strengths of the ARIMA modelling approach is the ability to go beyond the basic univariate model by considering interventions, calendar variations, outliers, or other real aspects of typically observed time series. On the other hand, neural nets have received a great deal of attention over the past few years. They are being used in the areas of prediction and classification, areas where regression models and other related statistical techniques have traditionally been used. The models obtained in this paper provide useful insight into the behaviour of maritime traffic flows since the reopening of the Canal in 1975—following an 8-year closure during the Arab-Israeli wars (1967-1973)—till 1998. The paper also compares the performance of ARIMA models with that of neural networks on an example of a large monthly dataset.     

Succession of the ecosystems of the Aral Sea during its transition from oligohaline to polyhaline water body

During 22 field trips from 1990 to 2002 (mainly the western basin of the Large Aral) data on salinity, phytoplankton, zooplankton, zoobenthos and fish fauna have been collected. In 2002, the salinity of the western basin reached 75 ppt, while that in the eastern basin, 150 ppt. In 1999–2002, 159 species of planktonic algae have been recorded. This is approximately twice as low as recorded before. The diversity of Cyanophyta, Pyrrhophyta and Chlorophyta in particular has dropped in the past few years. As before, currently Bacillariophyta is the most diverse plankton. However, the composition of dominants has changed. Once previously dominant species, Actinocyclus ehrenbergii, vanished from the plankton of the Aral Sea and was replaced by such diatoms as Amphora coffeaformis, A. coffeaformis var. acutiuscula and Synedra tabulata var. parva.Since 1970s, a gradual decrease in the diversity of zooplankton has been taking place. Since 1997, the formerly dominant Calanipeda aquaedulcis vanished, which apparently was the reason for the emergence of Moina salina and Artemia parthenogenetica. Since 2000, artemia has been dominant in the plankton of the Aral Sea, constituting 99% of the zooplankton biomass.In the 1970–1980s, a rapid decrease in the biodiversity of the zoobenthos was observed. In the 1990s, most aboriginal and introduced species became extinct. Currently, the bivalve mollusk Syndosmya segmentum, the ostracod Cyprideis torosa and larvae of the dipteran Chironomus salinarius can still be recorded in the western basin. In the eastern basin no benthos is observed.By 1998, in the Large Aral, only five fish species survived: baltic herring Clupea harengus membras, flounder Platichthys flesus luscus, atherine Atherina boyeri caspia and bullheads Neogobius fluviatilis and Potamoschistus caucasicus. Since 2002, only flounder and atherina have been recorded in the western basin of the Large Aral. No fish have been recorded in the eastern part of the Aral Sea in 2002.With increasing salinity and transition of the Aral Sea from an oligohaline to a polyhaline water body, its biota is becoming drastically poorer. Almost all local species became extinct in the Aral; however, some still survive (including some endemics) in some lakes around the Aral Sea. In the near future, artemia will be the only animal in the Aral Sea.     

The UNCTAD and WORKPORT models of port development: evolution or revolution?

Around ten years have elapsed since the UNCTAD model on port development was put forward as an explanation of how ports have adapted to incorporate technological, political and operational changes. The UNCTAD Three Generation Port Model is critically examined in the light of research carried out under the WORKPORT project funded by the European Commission, 1998-1999. Evidence from the WORKPORT study shows that, rather than developing in discrete steps, ports evolve continuously, adapting to new technologies, fresh legislation, revised working practices and other influences on an as-required basis. Further, it is demonstrated that several streams of evolution can be observed simultaneously; the pace of change within each stream can vary substantially. One of the prominent features of ports is that they often have several terminals, some operating along traditional lines while others may be leading edge in terms of technology, working practices or other aspects; all of them may be equally effective. The UNCTAD model, implying ports develop in discrete steps, or generations, is therefore shown to be fundamentally flawed.     

Extended Ground-Hook - New Concept of Semi-Active Control of Truck's Suspension

This paper deals with the novel control concept, so called ground-hook for active and mainly semi-active suspension of vehicles with the ultimate objective to minimize the tyre-road forces and thus the road damage. The basic ground-hook concept is extended to the several variants which enable to decrease criteria of road damage as well as to increase driver's comfort for a broad range of road unevennesses. Parameters of control law are determined by the parameter optimization for generally nonlinear model. The influence and interaction of the damping rate limits and time constants of variable shock absorbers are also taken into account. The influence of implementation of more complicated truck models is also discussed.     

An activity-episode generation model that captures interactions between household heads: development and empirical analysis

In this paper, we develop an approach for modeling the daily number of non-work, out-of-home activity episodes for household heads that incorporates in its framework both interactions between such members and activity setting (i.e. independent and joint activities). Trivariate ordered probit models are estimated for the heads of three household types – couple, non-worker; couple, one-worker; and couple, two-worker households – using data from a trip diary survey that was conducted in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) during 1987. Significant interactions between household heads are found. Moreover, the nature of these interactions is shown to vary by household type implying that decision-making structures and, more generally, household dynamics also vary by household type. In terms of predictive ability, the models incorporating interactions are found to predict more accurately than models excluding interactions. The empirical findings emphasize the importance of incorporating interactions between household members in activity-based forecasting models.