Environmental improvement on Narragansett Bay as a result of section 312 implementation of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act

Abstract

Section 312 of the Clean Waters Act was implemented in 1980 and requires all vessels including recreational boats already equipped with Marine Heads (toilets) to install one of three types of USCG approved Marine Sanitation Devices. These regulations govern all lakes and coastal waters extending to the end of the U.S. territorial sea and is intended to prevent untreated effluent from reaching the marine environment. As provisions of the Clean Water Act are exempt from provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act, no Environmental Impact Statement was written concerning the impacts to the marine environment and the cost to the boating public. The study based on a small survey conducted on Narragansett Bay during the summer of 1980 develops several empirical models to estimate the total costs of MSD conversions. These estimates assume that all recreational boats longer than 21 feet were to comply with Section 312 regulations. Biological Oxygen Demand generated waste by both the resident and visiting fleets have also been estimated and costs per lbs. of BOD equivalent made. Based on these estimates the quantity of waste prevented from entering the receiving waters equals that of a community with less than 700 people. The capital investments of on‐board treatment approximates 30 ¢/gallon, nearly 1000 times the cost of treating municipal waste.     

The 55mph speed limit on US roads: comments on Godwin and Kulash's analysis

There is probably no way to evaluate the impact of the 55 mph limit in 1974 objectively—the necessary data were never collected. Godwin and Kulash assume a current saving of 3000 lives per year. This number is not the objective result of some explicit procedure, but rather the judgement of two conscientious experts; it is not subject to replication by other experts. Furthermore, the quality of their estimate is limited by the quality of the historical studies they are using for input: those studies relied on ‘best guesses’ because they did not have the necessary basic data. No amount of heroic effort by Godwin and Kulash can overcome these inherent deficiencies.

It is almost as difficult to quantify the benefits of the 55 mph limit today. The regression results reported above find no statistically discernible relation between average speed and the fatality rate, though they do show a significant relationship between speed‐variance and the fatality rate. Given this result, we want to know the relationship between the 55 mph limit and speed variance. There is weak evidence that this critical relationship is negative—raising the speed limit a small amount might actually decrease the dispersion of highway speeds.

Whatever the benefits of the 55 limit, its costs are important. On the rural interstate highways it costs about 250 years of extra driving time to save one life. And the policing resources spent on enforcing the 55 mph limit would save more lives if they were allocated to other highway safety measures.     

Out of sight is not out of mind: Public opposition to ocean incineration

Abstract

During the early 1980s, ocean incineration emerged as one of the hottest issues in the field of hazardous waste management. Ocean incineration involves the thermal destruction of liquid hazardous wastes on specially designed ships and was promoted by the Environmental Protection Agency and powerful industry groups as part of the solution to liquid hazardous waste disposal. Attempts to adopt ocean incineration led to heated debate and apparent defeat of efforts to introduce this technology. The arguments advanced by proponents and opponents are examined. Success of environmental groups opposed to ocean incineration is explained with reference to technical, environmental, socio‐political, and legal factors. Ocean incineration, promoted as a solution to “not‐in‐my‐backyard”; opponents, instead ran afoul of region wide opposition by coastal residents for whom the sea is a common backyard.     

Statistical characteristics of transitional queue conditions in signalized arterials

The performance of signalized arterials is related to queuing phenomena. The paper investigates the effect of transitional traffic flow conditions imposed by the formation and dissipation of queues. A cross-recurrence quantification analysis combined with Bayesian augmented networks are implemented to reveal the prevailing statistical characteristics of the short-term traffic flow patterns under the effect of transitional queue conditions. Results indicate that transitions between free-flow conditions, critical queue conditions that exceed the detector’s length, as well as the occurrence of spillovers impose a set of prevailing traffic flow patterns with different statistical characteristics with respect to determinism, nonlinearity, non-stationarity and laminarity. The complexity in critical queue conditions is further investigated by introducing two supplementary regions in the critical area before spillover occurrence. Results indicate that the supplementary information on the transitional conditions in the critical area increases the accuracy of the predictive relations between the statistical characteristics of traffic flow evolution and the occurrence of transitions.     

聚酰胺66进气歧管制造工艺的比较

新的生产技术不仅提高了进气歧管（AIM）的性能,同时还降低了投资费用和生产成本。本文对几种聚酰胺66 AIM的生产方法进行了分类论述,并比较了各种方法的优缺点。     

Immigrant status and commute distance: an exploratory study based on the greater Golden Horseshoe

With 8.76 million residents in 2011, the population of Southern Ontario’s Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH) has grown dramatically over the past decades, driven by net domestic in-migration and immigration. Corresponding to its growth in population, commuting distances and times within the region have grown as well. Yet, despite the number of immigrants that the region attracts on a yearly basis, there is comparatively little information on commute distances. Consequently, this paper examines commuting distance amongst immigrants in the GGH. Specifically, it evaluates commute distance by immigrant status (immigrants and native born), along with how commute distance differs by arrival cohort and ethnic and racial population groups. Results indicate that commute distance increases with increasing duration of residence, with differences by race and ethnicity.     

A STUDY OF SEROTONERGIC NEURONS ON PATHWAY FROM THE MEDULLARYRAPHE NUCLEI TO THE CEREBELLAR CORTEX IN THE KITTEN BY USING FLU

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Public law litigation and marine affairs: The boldt decision

Abstract

The management and conservation of the marine environment and its natural resources are increasingly understood to be issues of public policy with consequences for society at large. On a variety of dramatic occasions over the last decades, the federal judiciary has departed from its traditionally passive role in the shaping of social policy. This paper examines a critical marine controversy, the Boldt Decision (U.S. v. Washington 1974), to illustrate and evaluate nontraditional judicial behavior. The first two sections introduce Indian‐United States treaties concerning Pacific Northwest salmon resources, and the unfolding of the Boldt Decision. A third section argues that a “public law”; model of litigation fits the legal events of the Boldt Decision. A fourth section addresses the competence of the Boldt court as it is manifest in judicial organization, analysis, and implementation. A final section comments on the potential for public law litigation elsewhere in the governing of marine affairs.     

Evaluating Boating Safety Risk in Intracoastal Waterways

Growth in the number of recreational vessels that use inland and coastal waterways, coupled with the diversity of boating activities, results in increased boating-related conflicts, accidents, and fatalities. This situation has led to numerous requests from boaters, shorefront property owners, waterfront businesses, and local governments for the imposition and enforcement of boating safety speed zones within Florida's Intracoastal Waterways. A decision-support framework that incorporates Geographic Information Systems (GIS)–based risk assessment was developed to assist the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Division of Law Enforcement evaluate requests and applications for the establishment of boating safety zones, pursuant to the Florida Administrative Code Rule 68-D-23.105 “Criteria for Approval of Regulatory Markers.” The risk assessment uses geospatial data compiled from multiple government agencies, survey data from subject matter experts, and public input from participatory workshops. Relevant spatial data includes waterway features and marine infrastructure from field surveys, vessel traffic patterns observed and mapped from aerial reconnaissance, and indicators of boater behaviors extracted from accident and citation reports. The outcome is a characterization of waterway segments according to perceived risk to boating safety. The application was tested in two Florida counties and it helped guide the establishment of new, and the revision of existing, boating regulatory zones within their Intracoastal Waterways. The application design is such that it is adaptable to waterways beyond those in Florida.