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.     

欧盟《电池和废电池报告草案》:部分措施或"扼杀"锂电池行业

欧洲锂电池行业贸易机构RECHARGE警告称,在2022年2月10日的投票之前,欧盟"电池和废电池报告草案"的部分内容可能会扼杀这一行业,令行业无法实现目标. 2月10日,欧洲议会的环境、公共卫生和食品安全委员会对这份报告进行了表决,报告更明确地定义了哪些电池可以进入市场,并对电池中的回收材料含量提出了最低要求.     

北美铁路经历的车轴故障

对北美铁路重载货车的车轴故障、车轴疲劳试验和车轴应力进行了研究,并介绍了几种解决车轴故障的措施.     

重载货车车轮热负荷问题的探讨

讨论了重载货车制动热负荷对车轮的影响,简要回顾在这方面已经取得的研究成果,并提供了计算机仿真分析的几个典型热制动工况下的应力和温度场结果,包括坡道制动工况和停车制动工况。对手制动作用于运行车轮的工况进行了分析,检验了不同闸瓦作用位置对温度场的影响,并介绍了与热负荷相关的车轮更换问题。     

The role of chemical signals in copepod reproduction

Because the reproductive fitness of a copepod is influenced by its ability to discriminate between conspecific and heterospecific mates, it is important to understand the mechanisms involved in these complex mate-recognition systems. Several lines of evidence suggest that chemical communication plays a role in mate location, recognition and reproduction in copepods. However, the relative importance of chemosensory cues, as well as other factors, including hydromechanical and morphological cues, remains unclear. Some studies show that mating ‘mistakes' occasionally occur in nature, which for species that mate only once, would have considerable effects on fitness. By reducing the likelihood of heterospecific matings, species-specific mate location and recognition chemicals have high adaptive value. The relative importance and molecular characteristics of these chemicals, whether diffusible or contact signals, may explain differences in premating and copulatory behavior observed among different copepod taxa. Current research suggests that both forms of chemical communication significantly influence the reproductive success of copepods. In this review, we summarize examples from the literature that may serve as a means to critically analyze postulated ideas and offer new questions for future study.     

How optimal was the Sydney Metro contract?: Comparison with international best practice

The New South Wales (NSW) government created the Sydney Metro Authority to design, build and operate a completely separate underground Metro rail system to supplement the existing public transport network in Sydney. By the time the NSW government abruptly cancelled the entire Metro project in early 2010, the Authority had conceived and designed a contract that was proceeding to procurement. This paper compares the elements of the proposed Sydney Metro contract to findings of the literature on optimal contracting and optimal incentives and on PPP best practice. The paper concludes that the Metro seems to have at least implicitly drawn fairly heavily on best practices and principles, but that its ultimate failure to be implemented is an instructive lesson about how operating environment can impede integration of useful knowledge and experience.