Development of a Model for Enhancing Justice in MPA Designation and Zoning and its Application to Taiwan’s South Penghu Marine National Park

Abstract

Multi-purpose marine protected areas (MPAs) are prevalent world-wide as institutional mechanisms deployed in the marine environment to manage multiple uses, conserve resources and protect ecosystems. Yet some people may experience disadvantage following the implementation of new MPAs. One understudied aspect of MPAs is the distribution of advantages and disadvantages and how best to address the “justice” concerns that they raise. This article identifies a framework of principles, methods and tools to address these concerns. It devises a “MPA justice model” and demonstrates its applicability to a Taiwanese case study. In 2014, Taiwan proclaimed its first multiple-purpose MPA, the South Penghu Marine National Park and the case study shows ways that the MPA’s socio-economic sustainability could have been better accomplished. The article focuses on future MPA establishment that incorporates distributional fairness and procedural legitimacy into MPA site designation and zoning design - but might also be adapted to use retrospectively in MPA review processes.     

Relationships among service quality,corporate image,customer satisfaction,and behavioral intention for the elderly in high speed rail services

Since the Taiwan High Speed Rail operations, Taiwan's transportation market entered into a new era. Because of its competitive service of speed, convenience, environmental concerns and comfort, the High Speed Rail has not only made significant changes but has played a significant role in Taiwan's transportation. However, Taiwan now is an aging society. Due to the physical constraints among the elderly, demands to redesign the traffic system and maintain transportation safety are essential considerations. In the current market, Taiwan's transportation construction is facing fewer barriers; however, it must still improve, especially considering the health of the elderly. Thus, this study investigates elderly passengers' demands and further examined the relationships among service quality, corporate image, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intention. According to empirical analytical results based on structural equation modeling (N = 341), satisfaction directly affected travel behaviors, while service quality and corporate image played indirect roles. In addition, service quality plays a significant role on the effect of satisfaction. This study provides empirical evidence to indicate the quality of the accessible environment affects not only the effectiveness and efficiency of service quality, but also, the corporate image. The results provide valuable references for critically managing the elderly's usage of the high speed rail transportation service. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characteristics of speed dispersion and its relationship to fundamental traffic flow parameters

Speed dispersion is essential for transportation research but inaccessible to certain sensors that simply record density, mean speed, and/or flow. An alternative is to relate speed dispersion with these available parameters. This paper is compiled from nearly a quarter million observations on an urban freeway and a resulting data-set with two speed dispersion measures and the three fundamental parameters. Data are examined individually by lane and aggregately by direction. The first dispersion measure, coefficient of variation of speed, is found to be exponential with density, negative exponential with mean speed, and two-phase linear to flow. These empirical relationships are proven to be general for a variety of coefficient ranges under the above function forms. The second measure, standard deviation of speed, does not present any simple relationships to the fundamental parameters, and its maximum occurs at around a half to two-thirds of the free flow speed. Speed dispersion may be significantly different by lane.     

An ERP approach for container terminal operating systems

The major characteristics of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) are an enterprise-wide system that covers all the business functions and information resources, integrated database, built-in best industry practice, packaged software and open architecture. ERP enables reduction of system development time, flexibility, standardization of workflow and effective business planning capability. ERP is mainly for the manufacturing industry. However, the principles of ERP can also be applied to container terminal operating systems. This paper presents an ERP system approach for a container terminal. It has clustered the workflow of a container terminal and analysed the business process to generate the best workflows. The integrated database is designed to eliminate redundancy and keep integration. The core of ERP for container terminal is the planning facility such as berth planning and yard planning. The planning capability is very tightly coupled with data flow from client entities such as shipping companies. The ERP can handle the existing problems of container terminal operation that are mainly caused by lack of integration of a whole information resource in a container terminal, ad-hoc and poor planning capability, disconnected and incorrect data from client companies. The ERP approach can not only resolve the problems of container terminals but also promote adoption of information systems for container terminals in the world that have not yet implemented terminal operating systems.     

Experimental and numerical investigation of fuel mixing effects on soot structures in counterflow diffusion flames

Experimental and numerical analyses of laminar diffusion flames were performed to identify the effect of fuel mixing on soot formation in a counterflow burner. In this experiment, the volume fraction, number density, and particle size of soot were investigated using light extinction/scattering systems. The experimental results showed that the synergistic effect of an ethylene-propane flame is appreciable. Numerical simulations showed that the benzene (C₆H₆) concentration in mixture flames was higher than in ethylene-base flames because of the increase in the concentration of propargyl radicals. Methyl radicals were found to play an important role in the formation of propargyl, and the recombination of propargyl with benzene was found to lead to an increase in the number density for cases exhibiting synergistic effects. These results imply that methyl radicals play an important role in soot formation, particularly with regard to the number density.     

Economic value and utility of a powertrain system for a plug-in parallel diesel hybrid electric bus

This research is the first to develop a design for a powertain system of a plug-in parallel diesel hybrid electric bus equipped with a continuously variable transmission (CVT) and presents a new design paradigm of the plug-in hybrid electric bus (HEB). The criteria and method for selecting and sizing powertrain components equipped in the plug-in HEB are presented. The plug-in HEB is designed to overcome the vulnerable limitations of driving range and performance of a purely electric vehicle (EV) and to improve fuel economy and exhaust emissions of conventional bus and conventional HEBs. The control strategy of the complicated connected propulsion system in the plug-in parallel HEB is one of the most significant factors in achieving higher fuel economy and lower exhaust emissions of the HEV. In this research, a new optimal control strategy concept is proposed against existing rule-based control strategies. The optimal powertrain control strategy is obtained through two steps of optimizations: tradeoff optimization for emission control and energy flow optimization based on the instantaneous optimization technique. The proposed powertrain control strategy has the flexibility to adapt to battery SOC, exhaust emission amount, classified driving pattern, driving condition, and engine temperature. The objective of the optimal control strategy is to optimize the fuel consumption, electricity use, and exhaust emissions proper to the performance targets. The proposed control strategy was simulated to prove its validity by using analysis simulation tool ADVISOR (advanced vehicle simulator).     

Effects of the fuel injection ratio on the emission and combustion performances of the partially premixed charge compression ignition combustion engine applied with the split injection method

Currently, due to the severity of world-wide air pollution by substances emitted from vehicles, emission control is being enforced more strictly, and it is expected that the regulation requirements for emission will become even more severe. A new concept combustion technology that can reduce the Nitrogen oxides (NOx) and PM in relation to combustion is urgently required. As a core combustion technology among new combustion technologies for the next generation engine, the homogenous charge compression ignition (HCCI) is expanding its application range by adopting a multiple combustion mode, a catalyst, direct fuel injection and partially premixed charge compression ignition combustion using the split injection method. This paper used a split injection method in order to apply the partially premixed charge compression ignition combustion method without significantly altering engine specifications of the multiple combustion mode and practicality by referring to the results of studies on the HCCI engine. Furthermore, the effects of the ratio of the fuel injection amount on split injection are investigated. From the test results, the adequate combination of the ratio of the fuel injection amount for the split injection method has some benefit on exhaust and fuel economy performance in a naturally aspirated single cylinder diesel engine.     

Scavenging a sub-chamber type CNG fueled engine

The sub-chamber type gasoline engine was suggested to be a type of clean engine, but the presence of residual gas in the sub-chamber was a serious fault. In this experimental study, the CNG direct injection method was applied to scavenge residual gas from the sub-chamber. The CVC (constant volume chamber) is divided into the sub-chamber and main-chamber and used as the main experimental apparatus. Because each combustion chamber of the CVC has an injector, the injector can be used freely, at the same time or individually. Therefore, the scavenging efficiency can be improved by changing injection times for the sub-chamber. The experimental results demonstrated that when all the fuel was injected into the sub-chamber, the combustion duration was shortened by 30% compared to that of injection into the main-chamber. Although residual gas was observed in the CVC, when the frequency of injections into the sub-chamber increased, good combustion characteristics were obtained.     

Design Optimization of the Cowl Cross Bar - Light Cowl Cross Bar Satisfying 5 Performances -

Nowadays, more lightweight designs is the key goal of all major automotive industries. One of the main sections for more lightweight automotive area is the Cowl cross bar (CCB) assemblies. A cowl cross bar supports a steering system, airbag module, audio, instrument panel and air conditioning system. The CCB integrates these components into the cockpit module and connects to the body. So the CCB must meet the 5 performance requirements, ① NVH requirement to minimize the vibration, ② Crash performance for less deflection, ③ Steering response requirement for steer predictability, ④ Durability performance like the fatigue life and ⑤ Supporting rigidity for the components. In this study, a new methodology for the optimum CCB design is proposed to obtain a more lightweight design considering 5 targeted requirements. At first, for NVH and Steering response performance, 3-steps of optimization was fulfilled in sequence of (1) Size optimization and mounting position, (2) Case studies about the various types of brackets and (3) Shape optimization using the topology. The proposed design and optimization framework was verified whether it could meet the crash, durability and stiffness requirements. The final optimal CCB would be applied to the new platforms of the Hyundai-Kia motors.