Some unsettling maritime terms: the interpretation of found, cargo, ballast and voyage

This paper examines the meaning of four common maritime and admiralty terms: found, cargo, ballast and voyage . These terms are problematic because their definitions are elastic which makes application of the terms difficult. The four terms are important because significant legal consequences are attached to each of them, particularly for seamen on flags of convenience (FOC) and crews of convenience (COC) vessels in US ports. The findings of the author are based on personal experience as well as research conducted in preparation as an expert witness in several maritime cases in both the US District Courts and in Louisiana State Courts, personal interviews with seamen on FOC/COC vessels, interviews with legal and economic experts on the international maritime industry and officials of national and international labour organizations.     

Comment Some reflections on port competition in the United States and western Europe

'Port competition' is a rather puzzling expression. This paper approaches it literally, searching for precise meanings. In seaports that contain complex and changeable mixtures of public and private enterprise, who competes and why? The answers to these questions are not conclusive but suggestive indications are found in the US, UK and northwestern Europe. Finally, we discuss what seem to be the key influential factors which may impact on the competitiveness of a port.     

GLUTAMATE－IMMUNOREACTIVE NEURONS IN MEDULLARY RAPHE－CEREBELLUM PATHWAY IN THE KITTEN

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Dynamics of inorganic nutrient species in the Bohai seawaters

Within the frame of a Sino-German Joint Research Program, two cruises of “R/V Dong Fang Hong 2” were carried out in September–October 1998 and April–May 1999, respectively, to understand the dynamics of nutrients in the Bohai. Nutrient species (NO₃⁻, NO₂⁻, NH₄⁺, PO₄³⁻ and SiO₃²⁻) are determined colorimetrically on board for five anchor and 30 grid stations. In situ incubation experiments are performed to determine planktonic nutrient uptake and benthic exchange flux. Nutrient concentrations display short-term variability and seasonal change in the Bohai, with higher levels in shallow coastal waters than in the Central Bohai. The influence of riverine discharge on nutrient levels can be seen from salinity isopleths, nutrient distribution and species ratios. Near-bottom (nb) waters have similar nutrient concentrations as to the surface waters in the Central Bohai, whereas stratification takes place in the Bohai Strait and North Yellow Sea. In situ incubation experiments provide evidence that the uptake ratio (i.e. N, P) by phytoplankton is proportional to the ratios among nutrient species in ambient waters. Based on the data of this study and previously publications, a preliminary estimate of nutrient budgets via riverine input and atmospheric deposition is established. The results indicate that atmospheric deposition gains importance over rivers in delivering nutrients into the Bohai and sustain the new production, following recent decrease in riverine inflow caused by drought periods in North China and damming practices. A historical review of nutrient data indicates that concentrations of nitrogen increase and phosphorus and silica decrease in the Central Bohai over last 40 years. This potentially has an important influence on the health of ecosystem in Bohai (e.g. food web and community structure), though further study is needed to examine the scenario in more detail.     

Aspects of the stability of jack-up spud-can foundations

A three-level procedure for assessing jack-up foundation stability for more or less homogenous soils is described. The objective is to provide a rational framework for these assessments that ensures their safe operation in extended year-round operations and enables their use in deeper waters than at present.

The three levels of the procedure have to be entered successively as long as foundation stability cannot be proven. The first level is a screening exercise and essentially replaces the well-known preload check. The second level compares factored foundation loads resulting from a structural analysis with foundation capacities obtained with ultimate bearing capacity formulae. The most refined third level assesses whether the displacements associated with these loads lead to an acceptable situation, i.e. capacity increase and/or load redistribution that does not result in collapse of the jack-up unit.

Since, for maximum benefit, this third-stage analysis requires a non-linear foundation model to be linked with the structural package used: such a tool is provided in the paper. Examples are given to demonstrate the impact of the assessment procedure.

This procedure forms part of the overall in-house approach to the assessment of jack-ups and has already been offered to the jack-up industry as part of the continuing efforts towards establishing common and accepted standards for jack-up assessments. Further developments have been identified and will be pursued.     

The Bid-rent Land Use Model of the simple,efficient, elegant,and effective model of land use and transportation

Integrated land use/transportation forecasting models add significant policy and infrastructure alternatives analysis capabilities to the urban planning process. The financial, time, and staff requirements to develop these models has put them beyond the reach of most small to medium sized urban areas. This paper presents the land use allocation submodel of the Simple, Efficient, Elegant, and Effective model of land use and transportation (SE³M), an integrated land use and transportation forecasting model founded upon Economic Base Theory and Bid-rent Theory. The Bid-rent Land Use Model (BLUM) is an agent based, spatial competition model utilizing unique utility curves for willingness to pay and incomes for budget constrained abilities to pay for each agent. The model structure, estimation, calibration, implementation, and validation are presented. With a single year of land use data available, the validation approach used the Kappa Index of Agreement to spatially check model outputs against base year control data while controlling for agreement by chance. The U.S. territory of Guam is used as the case study/proof of concept implementation for this model framework. Once calibrated, BLUM could solve the spatial competition problem on Guam in less than two minutes of processing time with over 90% accuracy.     

The structure of dissipation in the western Irish Sea front

We report on an intensive campaign in the summer of 2006 to observe turbulent energy dissipation in the vicinity of a tidal mixing front which separates well mixed and seasonally stratified regimes in the western Irish Sea. The rate of turbulent dissipation ε was observed on a section across the front by a combination of vertical profiles with the FLY dissipation profiler and horizontal profiles by shear sensors mounted on an AUV (Autosub). Mean flow conditions and stratification were obtained from a bed mounted ADCP and a vertical chain of thermistors on a mooring. During an Autosub mission of 60 h, the vehicle, moving at a speed of ~ 1.2 m s^− 1, completed 10 useable frontal crossings between end points which were allowed to move with the mean flow. The results were combined with parallel measurements of the vertical profile of ε which were made using FLY for periods of up to 13 h at positions along the Autosub track. The two data sets, which show a satisfactory degree of consistency, were combined to elucidate the space–time variation of dissipation in the frontal zone. Using harmonic analysis, the spatial structure of dissipation was separated from the strong time dependent signal at the M₄ tidal frequency to yield a picture of the cross-frontal distribution of energy dissipation. A complementary picture of the frontal velocity field was obtained from a moored ADCP and estimates of the mean velocity derived from the thermal wind using the observed density distribution. which indicated the presence of a strong (0.2 m s^− 1) jet-like flow in the high gradient region of the front. Under neap tidal conditions, mean dissipation varied across the section by 3 orders of magnitude exceeding 10^− 2 W m^− 3 near the seabed in the mixed regime and decreasing to 10^− 5 W m^− 3. in the strongly stratified interior regime. The spatial pattern of dissipation is consistent in general form with the predictions of models of tidal mixing and does not reflect any strong influence by the frontal jet.     

The importance of oceanographic fronts to marine birds and mammals of the southern oceans

During the last 30 years, at-sea studies of seabirds and marine mammals in the oceans south of the Subtropical Front have described an association with major frontal areas. More recently, the advancement in microtechnology has allowed the tracking of individuals and investigations into how these marine predators actually use the frontal zones. In this review, we examine 1) the relative importance to apex predators of the different frontal zones in terms of spatial distribution and carbon flux; 2) the processes that determine their preferential use; and 3) how the mesoscale dynamics of frontal structures drive at-sea foraging strategies of these predators. We review published results from southern waters and place them in a broader context with respect to what has been learned about the importance of fronts in oceans farther north.Some fronts constitute important boundaries for seabird communities in southern waters. At a mesoscale the maximum values of seabird diversity and abundance correspond to the location of the main fronts. At-sea surveys show a strong curvilinear correlation between seabird abundance and sea surface temperatures. High mean species richness and diversity for whales and seabirds are consistently associated with the southern water mass boundary of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the Subtropical Front and the Subantarctic Front; in the case of the Polar Front mean seabird densities are more variable. At small-scales, variation in seabird occurrence has been directly related to the processes at fronts in a limited number of cases. A significant positive relation was found between some plankton feeding species and frontal temperature gradient–phytoplankton variables.Telemetric studies have revealed that several apex predators (penguins, albatrosses, seals) perform long, directed foraging trips either to the Subtropical front or Polar Front, depending on locality. Seabirds with low flight costs, such as albatrosses, are able to reach fronts at long distances from colonies, showing variable foraging strategies as a function of the distances involved. Diving birds such as King penguins, that travel at a higher cost and lower speed, rely on the predictable spatial distribution of mesopelagic fish found close to the Polar Front. They may use the currents associated with eddies as oceanographic cues in the active search for frontal zones. Once in these areas they dive preferentially in and below the depth of the thermocline where catches per unit effort are high. Elephant seals concentrate foraging activity principally inside or at the boundary of cyclonic eddies. These mesoscale features appear to offer exceptional productivity favourable for foraging by various diving top predators.The connection between biophysical parameters at fronts and predators is likely to be made through biological enhancement. Top predators appear to forage at locations where prey are advected by physical processes and others where prey are produced locally. Long-term research on at-sea distributions and demographic parameters of top predators are essential to assess the consequences of potential shift in front distributions in relation to global warming. Such environmental changes would add to the impact of fish extraction by the industrial fisheries on the southern food webs.     

Influence of the slice position on chloride migration tests for concrete in marine conditions

Chloride migration tests are used to measure the concrete capacity to inhibit chloride attack. Many researchers carry out this test in a slice of concrete extracted from the central part of cylindrical specimens, discarding about 75% of the concrete used to mold the specimens. This fact generated the question: would it be possible to extract more slices from a same specimen without losing the confidence in the results? The main purpose of this work is to answer this question. Moreover, another aim of this study was to show the difference of chloride penetration between finished faces and the formwork surfaces of concrete beams and slabs. The results indicated that it is possible to use more slices of a single specimen for a chloride migration test. Moreover, it was demonstrated that there is a significant difference of chloride penetration between the finished surface and the formwork surface of the specimens.     

Property Evolution of Sulphoaluminate Grouting Material under Pressure Circulation北大核心CSCD

Water-sealed underground oil tank projects are quite different from traditional underground projects since the water-sealing conditions are very strict and the difficulties caused by the geological specificity, structural specificity and construction specificity are key factors affecting the project. In light of the significant early initial setting time and rapid temperature increase of sulphoaluminate cement-based grouting material for a large domestic water-sealed underground oil tank with pressurized cyclic grouting, a laboratory grouting simulation is conducted. It is found that the properties of the sulphoaluminate cement-based grouting material are quite different under different pressure cycles, the hydration exothermic peak time gets shorter with an increase of circulation time, the compressive strength decreases with an increase of circulation time, and the longer the circulation time the more obvious the de-crease of compressive strength. © 2018, Editorial Office of "Modern Tunnelling Technology". All right reserved.