Analysis and Potential Alternatives for the Disputed South China Sea from Ocean Governance in the Polar Regions

Sovereignty claims over insular features and maritime jurisdiction in the South China Sea have been disputed for decades, and a governance regime to address ocean-related issues is urgently needed. This article first introduces the notion of a regime, and examines details of cooperation mechanisms in the Polar Regions. Lessons that can be applied to the South China Sea include that both soft and hard law regimes work to bring States concerned together to cooperate on the “commons” issues even when military conflicts or sovereignty disputes still exist. Consensus among bordering States would be necessary to make the South China Sea a “zone of peace.” Mechanisms that accommodate the various sovereignty claims and freeze existing and new claims to, as well as to prohibit military activities in, the South China Sea are recommended. Lastly, if a cooperative mechanism were to be established in the future, the Arctic regime would be more applicable to the South China Sea than the Antarctic regime due to their geographic nature. Thus, only States bordering the South China Sea should have voting and decision-making rights in the cooperative mechanism. As always, the political will of all parties is paramount to the success of such an endeavor.     

CANDY statement of methods

This paper presents a detailed overview of CANDY, a catenary–pantograph dynamic interaction software. Authors describe the main key points of the formulation, focusing on its time-integration scheme, the pantograph and contact models as well as the solution of the initial equilibrium problem. Nonetheless one of the most important features of CANDY is its moving finite element mesh, which enables accurate results without excessive computational cost. The validation of the model against the European Standard EN 50318 and some conclusions and comments about the results of the benchmark are also included.     

Modeling and validation of turbocharged diesel engine airpath and combustion systems

The ultimate aim of this study is the development of an engine modeling approach that would facilitate the design of model-based control techniques for diesel engines. This will allow for the development of more generalized, modular control strategies for different engine types and sizes as opposed to the commonly practiced map-based engine control strategies that depend on maps and feedforward control and require lengthy modifications every time a change is made. Also, most engine modeling studies focus on either airpath or combustion systems, treating these models and their validation individually, and not as an integrated system as is actually the case. To address the need for more realistic models suitable for model-based control design, this study develops a combined airpath and combustion model for the engine, using analytical models wherever possible and derives a model with appropriate control inputs and outputs that could be used in a control scheme. The inclusion of the actuator dynamics of the Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), variable geometry turbine (VGT), and Throttle (THR) valves in the airpath model and the consideration of nonlinearities in the combustion model allow for the development of a more thorough engine model, as well as the validation of subsystems and the whole integrated engine model using a complete World Harmonized Transient Cycle (WHTC). This test cycle finds limited use due to its challenging transients, and yet, is the demanded test cycle for emission regulations nowadays. These are unique aspects of this modeling study, the results of which indicate that the developed engine model could be used in control design and hardware-in-the-loop simulation (HILS) based engine control prototyping.     

The overall motion induced interruptions as operability criterion for fishing vessels

A new index, namely the overall motion induced interruptions (OMII), is proposed as a seakeeping criterion for fishing vessels, to compare ships having different hull forms and dimensions by means of an only parameter, in a human centred approach, mainly related to the onboard risk level. Therefore, the first aim of the paper is to investigate the factors affecting fishing vessels’ seakeeping performances to improve them to reduce the high number of injuries occurring during fishing operations, mainly related to both risk perception and harsh weather conditions. Despite the classical approach, where motion induced interruption is determined for a certain sea state with regard to several location points, the new index accounts for all crew members’ positions on the working deck, all heading angles the vessel may experience during fishing operations, based on relevant operating scenario, and all sea states the ship may encounter in the fishing area. The influence of position, heading angles and sea states on the attained risk level is fully investigated, analysing seakeeping performances of four fishing vessels with different hull forms and dimensions. Finally, a new operability criterion is proposed, based on OMII, to investigate the influence of ship size and operating scenario on the risk of injuries during fishing operations. Main factors affecting fishing vessels’ seakeeping performances are fully discussed, paying attention to relevant correlation with ship roll natural period.     

Sediment community biomass and respiration in the Northeast water polynya, Greenland: a numerical simulation of benthic lander and spade core data

Sediment community metabolism (oxygen demand) was measured in the Northeast Water (NEW) polynya off Greenland employing two methods: in situ benthic chambers deployed with a benthic (GOMEX) lander and shipboard laboratory Batch Micro-Incubation Chambers (BMICs) utilizing ‘cores’ recovered from USNEL box cores. The mean benthic respiration rate measured with the lander was 0.057 mM O₂ m⁻² h⁻¹ (n = 5); whereas the mean measured with the BMICs was 0.11 mM O₂ m⁻² h⁻¹ (n = 21; p < 0.01 that the means were the same). In terms of carbon fluxes (14 and 27 mg C m⁻² d⁻¹), these respiration rates represent ca. 5–15% of the average net primary production measured in the euphotic zone in 1992. The biomass of the bacteria, meiofauna and macrofauna were measured at each location to quantify the relationship between total community respiration and total community biomass (mean 1.42 g C m⁻²). Average carbon residence time in the biota, calculated by dividing the biomass by the respiration, was on the order of 50–100 days, which is comparable to relatively oligotrophic continental margins at temperate latitudes.The biomass and respiration data for the aerobic heterotrophic bacteria, the infaunal invertebrates (meiofauna and macrofauna), and the epifaunal megabenthos (two species of brittle stars) are summarized in a ‘steady-state’ solution of a sediment food chain model, in terms of carbon. This carbon budget illustrates the relative importance of the sediment-dwelling invertebrates in the benthic subsystem, compared to the bacteria and the epibenthos, during the summer open-water period in mud-lined troughs at depths of about 300 m. The input needed to drive heterotrophic respiratory processes was within the range of the input of organic matter recorded in moored, time-sequencing sediment traps.A time-dependent numerical simulation of the model was run to investigate the potential responses of the three size groups of benthos to abrupt seasonal pulses of particulate organic matter. The model suggests that there is a time lag in the increase in bottom community biomass and respiration following the POC pulse, and provides hypothetical estimates for the potential carbon storage in the summer (open water), followed by catabolic losses during each ensuing winter (ice covered).This sequence of storage and respiration may contribute to the process of seasonal CO₂ ‘rectification’ (sensu Yager et al., 1995) in some Arctic ecosystems.     

The female antennules of Paracyclops (Cyclopoida: Cyclopidae): their significance for systematics

The setation patterns of female antennules of some Paracyclops species are analysed with reference to the hypothetical 28-segmented antennule of ancestral copepod proposed by Huys and Boxshall in 1991. Comparison between Paracyclops species has revealed a setation pattern common to all species thus far examined. Several modifications of the female antennules have been identified as apomorphic states and can be used in phylogenetic studies. P. waiariki has 12-segmented antennules and exhibits more plesiomorphic characters than the reduced 8-segmented antennules of other species, such as P. fimbriatus. The results confirm that simple segment numbers are unusable as characters in cladistic analysis. Both P. affinis and P. yeatmani, for example, have 11-segmented antennules but analysis of segmental homologies has revealed that the 11-segmented state is convergent in these two species.     

Sequential optimization approach for the multi‐class user equilibrium problem in a continuous transportation system

We consider a city region with several facilities that are competing for customers of different classes. Within the city region, the road network is dense, and can be represented as a continuum. Customers are continuously distributed over space, and they choose a facility by considering both the transportation cost and market externalities. More importantly, the model takes into account the different transportation cost functions and market externalities to which different customer classes are subjected. A logit‐type distribution of demand is specified to model the decision‐making process of users' facility choice. We develop a sequential optimization approach to decompose the complex multi‐class and multi‐facility problem into a series of smaller single‐class and single‐facility sub‐problems. An efficient solution algorithm is then proposed to solve the resultant problem. A numerical example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness and potential applicability of the proposed methodology.     

Sensitivity Analysis of the Shipboard Integrated Power System

Stochastic sensitivity analysis is a valuable tool in ranking inputs and in investigating the degree of interaction of its components. In this paper, we present stochastic simulation results for a shipboard integrated power system and study its sensitivity. Specifically, we apply sensitivity analysis to two high-fidelity models of shipboard subsystems, investigating open- and closed-loop control of the propulsion system. The results show that different inputs are most important for the open- and closed-loop control, with sensitivities that change dramatically in time as they reflect the transition from the fast electrical scales to slower mechanical scales. We also demonstrate how sensitivity analysis can be used to establish the robustness of the AC drive.     

新开发的受电弓弓头碳滑板安装法

从运用的观点来看,受电弓弓头碳基滑板的安装方法是非常重要的.碳滑板一般用带贴紧钢套包层的楔型榫制成,或用能夹紧整个碳滑板的金属装配架制作,用螺栓固定在受电弓弓头上.作者开发了其他3种新的安装方法.并阐述了日本在过去20多年里对碳基滑板材料所进行的开发,以及对所开发的安装方法进行试验室试验或现场试验的结果.