Spatial Information Infrastructure for Integrated Coastal and Ocean Management in Canada

Access to current, comprehensive, and reliable spatial information is necessary for informed decision making in integrated coastal and ocean management. This need is being met through development of a marine spatial information infrastructure that encompasses both technological and institutional responses. This article traces Canada's experience in developing a marine spatial information infrastructure over the last 30 years starting with the compilation of coastal atlases, through the development of geographic information systems, to remote data acquisition instruments and Web mapping portals. Because of the plethora of initiatives, it has been essential to be selected and limit the number and choice of examples. The institutional response has lagged behind that of technological innovation and hinges on understanding users’ needs and decision support drivers, sustainability of institutional and individual champions, and, above all, cooperation and collaboration among the broad community of practice.     

The Organization of Nautical Training and Executive Leadership

The aim of this paper is to indicate some of the distinctive problems of executive leadership which surround the control of authority in merchant navy training schools in the United Satates, Great Britain, and Spain. On the basis of extensive field interviews with the staff and directors of two American, three British, and two Spanish, schools, our purpose is to suggest the conditions which give rise to the need for particular kinds of leadership styles, depending upon the manner by which nautical education is organized [1]. More specfi-cally, our thesis is that their organizationl chartering arrangements (defined as contractual and quasi-contractual linkages with variious third parties to nautical education) mandate specific kinds of internal structural patterns within nautical schools which, in turn, produce the need for different styles of executive leadership.     

The Potential of a Legislative Approach to Managing Beach Use: The Case of Beach Bylaws in the Republic of Ireland

This article examines the use of inland mined sand and offshore dredged sand for beach nourishment projects in North Carolina, focusing on the question of whether inland mined sand is economically preferential for hot‐spot erosion control. Excavation, processing, and transport costs are presented, and cost efficiencies of hypothetical beach nourishment projects are compared. Cost analyses indicate that inland mined sand is economical for small projects (10,000–50,000 cubic yards), given that a clean sand source can be located within 15 miles of the nourishment site. The two factors primarily influencing per cubic yard costs of inland sand are overland transportation expenses and processing costs. The use of dredged offshore sand is less expensive for large projects (> 100,000 cubic yards) due to the economies of scale affecting dredge mobilization. Large beach nourishment projects in North Carolina will most likely continue to utilize offshore dredged sand.     

Users of a regional telephone-based traveler information system – a study of TravInfo™ users in the San Francisco Bay Area

This paper reports the results of a 1998 survey carried out among a small sample of people who had called the TravInfo Travel Advisory Telephone System (TATS) in April 1997 looking for current information about traffic conditions in the San Francisco Bay Area. The survey employed a series of tradeoff questions designed to identify the specific attributes of the information that the respondents felt to be most important, and to estimate the relative values that these users had for various possible information improvements. Despite the small size of the sample, it proved feasible to investigate how the implicit valuations placed on each attribute of the service (update frequency, extent of road coverage, and level of customization) varied among different user segments. For the most part, respondents appeared to value basic enhancements – those that establish an initial quality differential above the baseline set by free broadcast traffic information – more than they value further subsequent improvements. Overall, more frequent information updates are the highest priority among the range of possible enhancements explored in the survey, followed by an extension of coverage to include major arterials in addition to freeways. However, the evidence suggests relatively little value in door-to-door coverage – that is, coverage of streets beyond the freeway and major arterial networks. This research produced some estimates of the average monetary values ("willingness to pay") that the sample of current users attached to information improvements of various kinds. While these values varied among subgroups in ways that fit a priori expectations, it is not clear whether they provide an unbiased picture of the users' absolute levels of willingness to pay, such that they could be used reliably to inform (for example) information pricing decisions. The value of this research lies more clearly in the light it sheds on the relative structure of user preferences, and on the variations in preferences between information attributes and market segments. Overall, the authors conclude that the prospects for self-sustaining ATIS services are unclear. In response to a direct question, a majority of users (perhaps influenced by a strategic bias) indicated that they were unwilling to pay for ATIS services; some of these same people, however, indicated later that they might indeed be willing to buy a particular enhanced ATIS package, in direct competition with free broadcast services.     

Pseudo-dynamic travel model application to assess traveler information

This paper reports an effort to estimate potential benefits of Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) by combing regional travel demand and microscopic simulation models. The approach incorporates dynamic features not yet available in the commercial software market. The suggested technique employs data that are readily available to most urban planning organizations, and is straightforward in its application. The key reported measure of effectiveness is corridor and local system delay, and is sensitive to both the level of penetration of traveler information and the pre-trip and en-route choices drivers make based on this information. The technique is demonstrated on an urban freeway corridor in a medium sized mid-west city.     

CO2 efficiency in road freight transportation: Status quo, measures and potential

Road freight transport continues to grow in Germany and generates 6% of the country’s CO₂ emissions. In logistics, many decisions influence the energy efficiency of trucks, but causalities are not well understood. Little work has been done on quantifying the potential for further CO₂ reduction and the effect of specific activities, such as introducing computer assisted scheduling systems to trucking firms. A survey was survey out and linked fuel consumption to transport performance parameters in 50 German haulage companies during 2003. Emission efficiency ranged from 0.8 tonne-km to 26 tonne-km for 1 kg CO₂ emissions. The results show potential for improvements given a low level of vehicle usage and load factor levels, scarce use of lightweight vehicle design, poorly selected vehicles and a high proportion of empty runs. IT-based scheduling systems with telematic application for data communication, positioning and navigation show positive effects on efficiency. Fuel use and transport performance was measured before and after the introduction of these systems.     

Biogeochemistry of sulfur in a sediment core from the west-central Baltic Sea: Evidence from stable isotopes and pyrite textures

The biogeochemistry of the sulfur cycle in a ca. 5-m-long sediment core from the eastern slope (221 m water depth) of the Landsort Deep in the west-central Baltic Sea was investigated by analyzing the solid phase records of sulfur isotopes and pyrite textures, besides selected main and minor elements. The sediments were deposited during post-glacial history of the Baltic Sea when the basin experienced alteration of brackish (Yoldia Sea, Littorina Sea) and freshwater (Baltic Ice Lake, Ancylus Lake) conditions. The stable isotopic composition of total sulfur was analyzed as a function of depth. In selected samples pyrite (FeS₂), greigite (Fe₃S₄), and barite (BaSO₄) fractions were separated for isotope analyses. Pyrite textures were analyzed by SEM and optical microscopy.Microbial reactions associated with the oxidation of organic matter resulted in assemblages of authigenic sulfide minerals which for the post-Ancylus Lake brackish water environment are dominated by pyrite and for freshwater environments by Fe-monosulfides. The sulfur isotopic composition of the brackish water Littorina Sea sediments (δ³⁴S between −40 and −27‰ vs. V-CDT) is believed to be determined by cellular sulfate reduction rates and reactions involving intermediate sulfur species. The availability of reactive iron and decomposable organic matter as well as sedimentation rate and the chemocline position are important variables upon the δ³⁴S values of sulfides in brackish water environment. The syn-depositional abundance of sulfur and organic matter, and transport of dissolved sulfur species vs. rates of microbial reactions determine δ³⁴S in the freshwater sediments. The upper part of the Ancylus Lake sediments is sulfidized by downward diffusing H₂S and/or sulfate from overlying brackish water sediments. Minor concretionary barite formation in the freshwater sediments is most likely due to the reaction of pore water sulfate diffusing downward from brackish water sediments with barium desorbed from freshwater sediments. The size distribution of pyrite framboids in the brackish sediments indicates that the formation mainly occurred from anoxic pore waters, although some pyrite formation in an anoxic water column cannot be excluded.     

Conceptual framework for Comparing University baccalaureate programmes in shipping management

For a long time, a maritime education meant the education of a mariner where technical knowledge of seafaring was taught. However, shipping has evolved into a global and sophisticated business where two kinds of managers are required: one that deals with the operation of the vessel and the other that deals with the shore-side business. The education landscape for shipping has also evolved with time. A mariner’s education has evolved from apprenticeship on a ship to a professional certificate from maritime academies. The shore-side business is traditionally staffed by master mariners that made the career transition from sea to shore but the current staffing trend is to employ graduates schooled in business and/or management. It has been long recognised that shore-side business personnel should ideally be also knowledgeable in vessel operations. Under this scenario, several maritime degree programmes have cropped up around the world to bridge the knowledge gap of shore-side business personnel. This paper provides an overview of the evolution of maritime education and selected maritime degree programmes around the world and proposes a conceptual framework for comparing the programmes. The conceptual framework serves as a guide for evaluating maritime education and an aid to curriculum design where choices of courses need to be made to fit into a 3-year or 4-year study programme.     

“Comparing guideway transit implementation plans,including the impact on road traffic”

A methodology for comparing phased implementation plans for a new fixed guideway transit system in an urban area is presented. Four assumptions are made: (1) the guideway system replaces existing or planned bus service, (2) superior service on the new system results in increased ridership when compared to buses; (3) presence of the guideway facility redirects outward urban growth resulting in additional ridership, and (4) conversely, the absence of any action on the new guideway facility reinforces a diffuse urban growth pattern that creates an irreversible loss of transit ridership. The economic comparision of alternative plans includes total as well as “relative” inflation of principal cost components. A key feature of the proposed methodology is including in the comparisons the costs of private automobile mileage that could have been replaced by transit. These costs are expressed as “fuel” and “all other” automobile costs; favorable transit system implementation schedules can then be identified as a function of parametrically assumed values for these two unit costs. A hypothetical example demonstrates the proposed method.     

A fuzzy logic-genetic algorithm approach to modelling public transport users’ risk-taking behaviour

This paper seeks to determine the effects of uncertainty in out-of-vehicle times on route choice. Data were collected at two key interchanges in Auckland, New Zealand. Previous work modelled the data using a manual approach to fuzzy logic. This study extends that work by automating the process through defining a black-box function to match the survey data, then employing a genetic algorithm to fine-tune the fuzzy logic model. Results show that automation and the genetic algorithm improve the model’s capability to more accurately predict ridership. The tuning of the membership functions is conducted twice, first using initial fuzzy rules and again after the fuzzy rules have been adjusted to reduce disparity between the output and survey data. The calibrated membership functions provided for operational (transfer waiting and walking time and delay) and physical attributes (safety and seat availability) can be used by practitioners to determine an estimated ridership.