An analysis of the pricing system in the Greek-Italian coastal routes

Price discrimination is practiced by oligopolistic coastal shipping companies in the 'unregulated' Greece-Italy routes in the year 2002. Investigation has been carried out 'per route'—in a doctoral thesis—instead of 'per market' which was the so-far erroneous approach of shipping economists. This is so for a host of differentiating factors play a considerable and non-negligible role (like geography, distance, demand, seasonality and others). Service—and price-discrimination—in coastal shipping is affected also by the predetermined ship design which thus is a special feature—but not exclusively—in coastal shipping. Companies in the Adriatic Sea try to extract the greater possible value of the user's willingness to pay, peak and off-peak, group and ungrouped, for social groups (clubs, families and students). Marketing and economics interfere in a complicated—far from the nice world of theory—situation, where maximization of revenue and profit, capacity utilization, intense seasonality and high fixed cost (common and joint costs as well) are a few of the factors that interplay. This paper can be considered as a case study for applied pricing. Excess capacity is also a strategic factor affecting pricing. It is our opinion that the analysis here gives for the first time a complete theoretical and practical account—based on the price lists of the companies—of the pricing policy of the ferry boats running in the Adriatic Sea belonging to coastal shipping companies connecting Italy with Greece and Greece with the European Union (EU). We believe this work to be useful for maritime Europe.     

Benthic megafauna communities under the influence of the South Atlantic Central Water intrusion onto the Brazilian SE shelf: A comparison between an upwelling and a non-upwelling ecosystem

The structure and dynamics of the benthic invertebrate megafauna of the Southeastern Brazilian shelf were studied over a 2-year period. Two regions presenting different oceanographic conditions, Ubatuba-SP and Cabo Frio-RJ were compared in terms of biomass, density of organisms and species richness. Two to three 30-min tows were undertaken at each of the stations, located at 40 and 100 m isobath, in a normal transect offshore of both regions. Faunal distributional patterns correlated with water mass dynamics, depth and sediment parameters. In the Cabo Frio region, subjected to a Ekman-driven seasonal coastal upwelling, the impact of the South Atlantic Central Water (SACW) on the inner shelf leads to a change in the benthic communities, with a high dominance of top carnivores such as the crab Portunus spinicarpus and the sea-star Astropecten brasiliensis, which accounted for the larger part of the total biomass. Distinct species associations were found in each of the two regions and the total biomass at Cabo Frio inner shelf was almost twice that of Ubatuba during the 2002 summer, when a marked upwelling was verified. The relationship between megabenthic biomass and input of organic matter to the sea floor during upwelling events is discussed.     

大功率多流制机车牵引变流器的比较

欧洲铁路的显著特点是供电电流制式范围较广.为使电力机车运行灵活且在不同制式交界处暂停时间较短,有必要使用多流制机车.比较了多流制变流器的各种方案,并介绍了基于最新的大功率IGBT技术的一种很有价值的方案.     

俄罗斯铁路解决机车不足的问题

至2010年前俄罗斯将淘汰大部分旧机车,但据估计其货运量到2010年将增加26%,客运量增加6%～7%.为满足运输量增长的要求,俄罗斯铁路需要约6 800台电力机车和6 500台内燃机车.文章介绍了俄罗斯制定的机车战略决策.     

An introduction to airport APM systems

The purpose of this paper is to provide an introduction to the nature and purpose of airport automated people mover (APM) systems. Our objective is to provide a convenient research tool for persons seeking an introduction to the airport APM industry. Included are illustrations of typical system designs; a listing of existing airport APM systems, including a tabular presentation of selected data; an organization and discussion of the history and evolution of the existing systems; and a status report on current developments in the APM industry.     

MANTO — a research project of telecommunication applications for the future information society

The impact of new technologies has been mostly under-estimated in the past and, as a result, the transitions from one era to another have occurred more or less by chance. The MANTO research project is intended to avoid mischances. So it indicates potential developments in the telecommunications sector and, in particular, investigates their effects upon transport and settlement and also upon society, the economy and the environment. Nevertheless, MANTO does not merely take a look at the future, like the Greek oracle from whom it takes its name; by means of concrete recommendations, MANTO is intended to provide persons in responsible positions with a tool with which they can consciously organise that future. Risky developments are to be precluded in advance while desirable consequences are to be promoted. Explanation of the used term: MANTO was the daughter of the famous prophet Teiresios of Theben and a seer herself too. As a (German) abbreviation MANTO also stands for: human being (Mensch), offer (Angebot) and needs (Nachfrage) for transportation and telecommunication (Transport und Telekommunikation), considering economy and ecology (Oekonomie und Oekologie).     

Grounding experiments on soft bottoms

To verify a theoretical analysis procedure for calculation of the hull girder response of ships running aground, a series of large-scale ship grounding experiments was performed on an artificial island made of engineered fill. The tests were conducted by running a condemned fishing vessel up on selected beaches of the island with velocities ranging between 2m/s and 5.5m/s. During the tests, surge, heave, and pitch accelerations were measured and also the deformations of the beach and the ship bow. Based on these accelerations, rigid body velocities and motions were determined. The forces arising from the interaction between the bow of the vessel and the seabed were determined by solving the equations of motions. This article describes the analysis of the measured results and a comparison of the results from the full-scale measurements with results from a recently developed analysis procedure for grounding on soft bottoms. Presented at the International Conference on Technology for Marine Environment Preservation (MARIENV '95), Tokyo, Japan, September 24–29, 1995.     

Educational technology: Enhancing port training

Continued improvements in educational technologies using CD-ROM and the Internet can enhance student learning in both a face-to-face mode and delivery at a distance. This paper considers the development and use of enhanced educational technologies for port training and education, both within the classroom and at a distance.     

Grade measurement with an instrumented car

Grade information may be needed for route surveys and is important when fuel consumption is studied. An instrumented car was used to measure acceleration along the road surface by double differentiating accumulated pulses generated off the drive train. A second acceleration measure included the component due to gravity relative to the car body. The difference between these acceleration measures contains grade information but it also influenced by suspension dynamics and pitch of the car body. The effect of suspension dynamics was removed by filtering which limited the minimum wavelength to 160 m. The effect of pitch was removed by a correction based on acceleration, jerk and the square of vehicle speed. The correction was computed from data collected on a level airfield runaway. The method is verified for a high capacity arterial road. Grade is measured to within 0.001 rad (95% confidence limits). Elevation derived from the grade data was consistent with road construction drawings to the same limits.