Maritime education factors and presenteeism: a comparative quantitative study

Presenteeism research has only recently extended from a construct capturing lost productivity due to attending work despite health issues to a construct representing students’ perceived academic performance. Aligning with presenteeism’s prevalent research paradigm, the pioneering studies used health-related issues to measure presenteeism. In contrast, this study used the Presenteeism and Perceived Academic Performance (PPAP) Scale, which the researcher developed for this study. The PPAP Scale comprises aspects of student behavior that support academic performance. This study filled gaps in the literature by investigating presenteeism as a concept associated with students’ perceived academic performance, measured with the PPAP Scale, and factors specific to maritime education. The factors investigated were self-identified by the study respondents, in sufficient numbers to support statistical analysis, as favorably (i.e., cruise and license/maritime instruction) or negatively (i.e., mandatory regimental activity, taps, morning or afternoon formations, and watch) impacting their academic performance. This study found no statistical evidence to suggest the level of presenteeism, measured with the PPAP Scale, among the study’s sample of license students is associated with factors perceived to favorably or negatively impact academic performance. Additional insight can be gained from license student participants’ responses to the study’s open-ended questions (e.g., a perceived imbalance between time available to allocate to their academics and time needed to fulfill regimental responsibilities).     

The role of VMT reduction in meeting climate change policy goals

This article evaluates the case for vehicle miles traveled (VMT) reduction as a core policy goal for reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs), concluding the economic impacts and social consequences would be too severe given the modest potential environmental benefits. Attempts to reduce VMT typically rely on very blunt policy instruments, such as increasing urban densities, and run the risk of reducing mobility, reducing access to jobs, and narrowing the range of housing choice. VMT reduction, in fact, is an inherently blunt policy instrument because it relies almost exclusively on changing human behavior and settlement patterns to increase transit use and reduce automobile travel rather than directly target GHGs. It also uses long-term strategies with highly uncertain effects on GHGs based on current research. Not surprisingly, VMT reduction strategies often rank among the most costly and least efficient options. In contrast, less intrusive policy approaches such as improved fuel efficiency and traffic signal optimization are more likely to directly reduce GHGs than behavioral approaches such as increasing urban densities to promote higher public transit usage. As a general principle, policymakers should begin addressing policy concerns using the least intrusive and costly approaches first. Climate change policy should focus on directly targeting greenhouse gas emissions (e.g., through a carbon tax) rather than using the blunt instrument of VMT reduction to preserve the economic and social benefits of mobility in modern, service-based economies. Targeted responses are also more cost effective, implying that the social welfare costs of climate change policy will be smaller than using broad-brushed approaches that directly attempt to influence living patterns and travel behavior.     

Investigation into factors affecting the route choice in “Rijnstreek-West” with the aid of a disaggregate logit model

Transportation - Based on an analysis of observed automobile routes, an investigation is made into the factors affecting choice of routes. As in previous studies, the attempt to determine the...     

Grade measurement with an instrumented car

Grade information may be needed for route surveys and is important when fuel consumption is studied. An instrumented car was used to measure acceleration along the road surface by double differentiating accumulated pulses generated off the drive train. A second acceleration measure included the component due to gravity relative to the car body. The difference between these acceleration measures contains grade information but it also influenced by suspension dynamics and pitch of the car body. The effect of suspension dynamics was removed by filtering which limited the minimum wavelength to 160 m. The effect of pitch was removed by a correction based on acceleration, jerk and the square of vehicle speed. The correction was computed from data collected on a level airfield runaway. The method is verified for a high capacity arterial road. Grade is measured to within 0.001 rad (95% confidence limits). Elevation derived from the grade data was consistent with road construction drawings to the same limits.     

Impacts of the 2004 Tsunami on Surin Marine National Park,Thailand

The impacts of the tsunami in 2004 on the reefs in Surin Marine National Park, Thailand, varied with the location and exposure of the reefs. Channel areas between islands were severely damaged. Areas with steep reef slopes were damaged by sand slides or coral collapse more than areas with low slopes. Massive, sub-massive, and encrusting corals were more resistant and resilient to the direct impact of the tsunami than branching, tabulate, and foliose life forms whereas the latter were more tolerant of temporary coverage by sand. Sub-massive corals were the most tolerant overall and survived sand coverage, breakage, and overturning. Live coral cover measured three months after the tsunami was significantly greater than immediately post-tsunami as broken, moved, or sand-covered corals, recorded as impacted in the initial survey, had survived and were regenerating. Low turbidity, lack of pollution, and mild currents possibly contributed to rapid recovery and limited long-term effects of the tsunami. Impact assessment shortly after a major disturbance may give an initial measure of damage but subsequent surveys must be undertaken to identify long-term effects. Understanding patterns of reef damage can help to formulate reef zoning and protection strategies in response to catastrophic events, but also in advance of such events to improve likely resilience of the marine park to disturbance.     

The adaptation of the Polish shipping companies to market conditions

At the end of the eighties, fundamental changes took place in Polish shipping. Implementation of the market economy system was at first demonstrated in the introduction of the principles of self-dependence, self-government and self-financing of the shipping companies. Privatization performed a key role in the program of transformation of the centrally planned system into market oriented financially independent shipping organizations. The previous principle of the necessary participation of the home fleet in transporting domestic sea-borne trade has been mostly replaced by cross-trade. Many shipping services have left its basic ports in the country for a West European basis, securing alimentation of home and transit cargoes by feeder–service systems. Joint stock companies in shipping with substantial shares of foreign capital are welcomed, and the previously obligatory system of administrative methods of the state monopoly has been abolished. The principles of shipping policy represented in the past by Poland and also by UNCTAD in the 1960s have lost their impact and must be change and adapted to the new demands of the shipping markets.     

Book review

Recreation: Marine Promise, Proceedings of the National Conference on Marine Recreation Susan H. Andersen, Ed., October 2–4, 1975, Newport Beach, California

Parable Beach: A Primer in Coastal Zone Economics by J. W. Devanney III, G. Ashe, and B. Parkhurst, The MIT Press, 1976, 99 pp.

Marine Recreational Fisheries, Proceedings of the First Annual Marine Recreational Fisheries Symposium Henry Clepper, ed., New Orleans, Louisiana, February 27, 1976.     

Statistical characterization of surfaces of corroded steel plates

The statistical characteristics of corroded steel plate surfaces exposed to marine environments are of interest for assessing longer term structural safety and integrity using probabilistic methods. This requires information about the variability of corrosion loss and pitting over surfaces. The present paper reports on the observed statistical character of the surfaces of 10 large (1.2 m × 0.8 m × 3 mm thick) steel plates exposed in temperate climate marine immersion, tidal and splash zones for 2.5 years. For the analysis the plates were cut into smaller segments that were mechanically scanned to obtain digitised surface topographies. These were then analysed to estimate the correlation structure and the standard deviation of the surface topography. Considerable differences were found for these and for the mean corrosion loss between different exposure zones. For any one segment the surface topography was found to be highly statistically dependent, implying that smaller coupon sizes can provide adequate estimates of corrosion loss. From this it may be inferred that the deepest pits are not statistically independent as commonly assumed in extreme value statistical representations.     

Further aspects of rectangular routeing in Smeed's City

Two types of routeing on a rectangular system of roads are examined in a simple circular city where homes and workplaces are uniformly and independently distributed. Expressions for the number of vehicles crossing a given line segment, the average distance travelled by a commuter and the total number of crossings of vehicle paths in the city are derived. Comparisons are made with other routeing systems in terms of average distance travelled, expected number of crossings and average travel time.     

A Study in Port Planning: The Example of Mina Zayed

The correct number of berths that a port should provide is solved by a model which minimizes the total port usage cost in terms of the costs of berth provision and the costs accruing to ships from time spent in the port. This model is then applied to Mina Zayed in the Arabian Gulf as an aid to future planning, and from different sets of cargo forecasts an optimal stategy is derived using a game-theoretic approach.