The visual impact of development in coastal zone areas

Abstract

The focus of this paper is theoretical, as well as methodological. It reviews previous studies of visual impact and reports research by the author on people's evaluation of the appropriateness of different man‐made facilities in different coastal‐area contexts and other environments. In this study, subjects were asked to react to slides developed through the use of landscape models and experimental facilities to simulate the appearance of a building in the landscape, while systematically varying the visual relatedness between the two. Specific interest centered on the variable of congruity vs. contrast between the appearance of the building and its landscape context, manipulated by co‐varying the attributes of color and size to create a five‐point scale of contrast/obtrusiveness. The hypothesis was that judgments of appropriateness, and to a lesser extent judgments of liking, would vary inversely with level of contrast. The role of two further variables, the functional significance of the building in its setting, and the character of the setting itself, was also investigated. The author reviews methodological issues involved where subjects respond to visual stimuli for purposes of judging change in visual quality. These methodological issues include: stimulus‐selection and problems of simulation, choice of response measures, and choice of respondents, and the treatment of individual differences. The author calls for development of standardized scales and indices such as “perceptually‐relevant environmental quality indicators.”     

The dredging dilemma: Economic development and environmental protection in Oakland Harbor

Abstract

Seaport expansion often generates tensions between the national interest in efficient transport and local interests in water quality and habitat preservation. The governing American permitting system, however, establishes an extraordinarily cumbersome, legalistic, and costly method for balancing environmental and economic considerations. A case study of the Port of Oakland illustrates the tendency. For four years, plans to find an environmentally acceptable site for dredged material have been stymied by a sequence of inconclusive regulatory and judicial proceedings. Meanwhile, large container ships can enter and leave Oakland harbor only at high tide, and not fully loaded. Despite the absence of any authoritative determination concerning environmental risks, the port was compelled to accede to progressively more expensive disposal methods. Such “adversarial legalism”; is not unique to the Oakland harbor case, but recurs in other policy spheres. It stems from a governmental structure that fragments decision‐making power among many agencies, that constrains regulatory discretion with legal demands for scientific certainty, and that by allowing agency decisions to be challenged readily in court, encourages legalistic defensiveness and extortion rather than compromise. The article concludes with a discussion of the conditions under which regional planning bodies might overcome these centrifugal tendencies.     

悬浮结构铁路信号设备雷击损坏的原因分析及防护方法探讨

很多铁路信号系统,特别是轨道电路的发送、接收和CAN总线均采用悬浮结构。为了防止出现第三轨问题,雷电防护方案中只加装差模(横向)防护用SPD,共模(纵向)防护是靠系统绝缘特性来承担。可是在实际应用中出现雷击损坏现象多是因为缺少共模防护。通过科研试验数据和现场雷害调查结果,综合分析该类悬浮系统共模雷击损坏特点,并针对防止出现第三轨问题,提出新的共模雷电防护方案供大家参考。     

船上实施听力保护的技术要求及应用

船舶噪声对船员的听力损伤是众所周知的,甚至发生部分船员的永久性听力损失。国际海事组织第91届海安会通过了新的《船上噪声等级规则》,围绕实施噪声规则,分析了听力保护的技术要求和正确选用听力保护器的技术依据,探讨了佩戴听力保护器对语言交流和感受听觉信号造成的影响。强调必须开展听力损伤的风险评估,并对识别听力损伤的特殊风险因素提出了建议。     

Privacy protection method for fine-grained urban traffic modeling using mobile sensors

With the ubiquitous nature of mobile sensing technologies, privacy issues are becoming increasingly important, and need to be carefully addressed. Data needs for transportation modeling and privacy protection should be deliberately balanced for different applications. This paper focuses on developing privacy mechanisms that would simultaneously satisfy privacy protection and data needs for fine-grained urban traffic modeling applications using mobile sensors. To accomplish this, a virtual trip lines (VTLs) zone-based system and related filtering approaches are developed. Traffic-knowledge-based adversary models are proposed and tested to evaluate the effectiveness of such a privacy protection system by making privacy attacks. The results show that in addition to ensuring an acceptable level of privacy, the released datasets from the privacy-enhancing system can also be applied to urban traffic modeling with satisfactory results. Albeit application-specific, such a “Privacy-by-Design” approach would hopefully shed some light on other transportation applications using mobile sensors.     

The California Coastal Act and Ports: The Unintended Environmental Justice Implications of Preserving California's Coastline

Consistent with the policies set forth in the Coastal Zone Management Act, the California Coastal Act seeks to balance the utilization and conservation of coastal resources, taking into account the social and economic needs of the citizens of California. One way the statute pursues this balance is through its provisions for ports. These provisions have functioned as a type of smart growth planning for ports, encouraging densification of existing port districts and possibly averting maritime commercial and industrial sprawl along the California coast. One unintended consequence of the encouraged consolidation of port activities, when combined with the rapid growth in international trade over the last four decades, has been disproportionally large environmental and health impacts on low-income and minority communities surrounding ports. This article examines how the Port of Long Beach's conformance with the California Coastal Act has resulted in ongoing environmental justice concerns. It discusses approaches employed by the Port of Long Beach to reduce environmental justice concerns resulting from significant and unavoidable environmental impacts and offers suggestions for how to address this issue.     

柔性绿色防护在祁临高速边坡养护中的应用

介绍祁临高速路堑边坡病害处治中舍弃了传统的刚性防护,而采用的一种新型柔性绿色防护类型。从经济效益、社会效益、施工技术特点等方面论述了这种新型环保防护形式的优越性。该工程坚持环境保护和经济建设同步发展的方针,以护坡、绿化、环保、和谐为主题,围绕以人为本的宗旨,科学设计,使之成新型柔性护坡的典范。     

就地水泥冷再生施工技术在路面大中修养护中的应用

结合国道202线吉林省磐石段路面维修工程,对冷再生施工工艺及其性能指标进行了探讨,为就地冷再生技术在吉林省的推广应用提供参考经验。工程实践证明,旧路面就地冷再生技术具有成本低、工期短、节约材料、不损坏路基、消除污染保护环境、交通安全等特点,对于节约自然资源、保护生态环境具有极大的意义。     

公路环境保护监理的工作要点探讨

基于环境保护的重要性,阐述了公路工程环境保护监理在施工准备阶段、施工阶段、缺陷责任期阶段监理工作的要点,以及采取的主要措施.     

山区公路建设生态保护和水土保持

对山区公路建设生态保护和水土保持作了比较深入地分析与探讨,总结归纳了山区公路施工、营运期生态保护和水土保持的重点与措施,并对国内外公路建设生态保护进行了比较。