Financing Port Dredging Costs: Taxes Versus User Fees

The article examines the use of user fee and tax programs to finance the cost of port dredging. The article discusses the U.S. Water Resources Development Act, the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, the Harbor Maintenance Tax, which is an ad valorem tax on the cargo\u27s value, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, articles from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, national user fee program proposals by the former U.S. President Bill Clinton administration, Moriarity\u27s Rule, and the Shapley Value Rule

Determinants of the Probability of Ship Injuries

This study investigates determinants of the probability that an individual onboard a ship of a given shipping line will be injured (given that the ship is not involved in an accident). A Probit regression statistical model is used to investigate such determinants when ships are in port and on given types of containerships. Probit estimation results suggest that an individual is less likely to be injured in port onboard a ship that is larger in size and underway, but more likely to be injured if involved in a fall. An individual is less likely to be injured onboard a containership with AMO union officers if it is larger in size and during the daytime. An individual is less likely to be injured onboard a containership with MEBA and MMP union officers if it is larger in size, when the weather is clear and when he/she is wearing steel-toed safety boots

Modeling of Commercial Maritime Port Recoverability from Security Disruptions: Work-in-Progress

This article describes active research in commercial maritime port\u27s recovery from security disruptions which explores the synergy of economic and simulation models in investigating the recoverability of ports after security incidents. Previous study has identified decision variables and throughput simulation models of port operation. However, none of these models have been utilized to investigate port\u27s recovery from a security disruption and in evaluating recoverability investments. The method of research includes analysis of recorded disruptions, identification of impediments to recovery and investment criteria for recoverability. This article provides managers insight into including security and continuity of operation in managing various types of systems

The Effects of Subsidies on Public Transit Long-Run Costs

This paper investigates sources of public transit long-run cost increases attributable to transit subsidies. The sources include wage, vehicle capital price and service increases. Service expansion is found to be the major source. Transit cost increases related to subsidies are classified as input price, output and finance effects of these subsidies. Transit costs are more responsive to federal operating subsidies, followed in declining order by local operating, state operating and capital subsidies, respectively

Determinants of injuries in passenger vessel accidents

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2015. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Accident Analysis & Prevention 82 (2015): 112-117, doi:10.1016/j.aap.2015.05.025.This paper investigates determinants of crew and passenger injuries in passenger vessel accidents. Crew and passenger injury equations are estimated for ferry, ocean cruise, and river cruise vessel accidents, utilizing detailed data of individual vessel accidents that were investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard during the time period 2001-2008. The estimation results provide empirical evidence (for the first time in the literature) that crew injuries are determinants of passenger injuries in passenger vessel accidents.This study was partially funded by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Code: A-PL59). Di Jin would like to thank the support from the J. Seward Johnson Fund in Support of the Marine Policy Center of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

The Effect of Microplastic Fibers on the Freshwater Amphipod, Hyalella Azteca

Microplastics are a growing and persistent contaminant in aquatic ecosystems. There is a wide variety of shapes that MPs can take, with fibers being the most prominently found in marine systems. Few studies have investigated the toxicological implications of MP exposure to freshwater organisms, and none so far has quantified the effect that fibers, as compared to spherical particles, may have on aquatic organisms. A 42-day chronic exposure to polypropylene MP fibers (0 – 22.5 MPs/mL) was conducted in order to investigate potential effects on mortality, growth, reproduction, and egestion times. Significant mortality was only observed at the highest concentration (22.5 MPs/mL). Growth and reproduction is also significantly less than the control at all exposures to MP fibers, with no mating pairs forming at all in concentrations greater than 5.63 MPs/mL. Interestingly, gut clearance times after exposure to MP fibers is also greater at concentrations greater than 5.63 MPs/mL. Delays in reproduction and growth may result from deficiencies in nutrient uptake. This study provides further insight on how the shape of MPs may hold significant implications on their toxicity to aquatic organisms

Response of selected microorganisms to experimental planetary environments

The anaerobic utilization of phosphite or phosphine and the significance of this conversion to potential contamination of Jupiter were investigated. A sporeforming organism was isolated from Cape Canaveral soil which anaerobically converts hypophosphite to phosphate. This conversion coincides with an increase in turbidity of the culture and with phosphate accumulation in the medium. Investigations of omnitherms (organisms which grow over a broad temperature range, i.e. 3 -55 C were also conducted. The cellular morphology of 28 of these isolates was investigated, and all were demonstrated to be sporeformers. Biochemical characterizations are also presented. Procedures for replicate plating were evaluated, and those results are also presented. The procedures for different replicate-plating techniques are presented, and these are evaluated on the basis of reproducibility, percentage of viable transfer, and ease of use. Standardized procedures for the enumeration of microbial populations from ocean-dredge samples from Cape Canaveral are also presented

Identifying factors that predict worse constipation symptoms in palliative care patients: A secondary analysis

© Copyright 2017, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 2017. Objective: The aim of this work was to investigate whether variables identified as likely to impact the experience of constipation in other clinical settings similarly affected the experiences of constipated palliative care patients. Background: The majority of palliative care patients with cancer are likely to be bothered by constipation symptoms at some point in their disease trajectory. Despite this, it remains unclear as to which factors predict more severe problems. Methods: This study was conducted in a sample of 94 constipated palliative care patients who were asked to voluntarily complete a series of questions regarding their demographic and other characteristics, including whether they had chronic constipation symptoms, that is, constipation symptoms for 12 months. Other variables included age, body mass index, sex, performance status, and regular opioids and their doses. At the same time, they were asked to complete the Patient Assessment of Constipation Symptoms (PAC-SYM) and Patient Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life (PAC-QOL) questionnaires. Results: Descriptive statistics summarized baseline data. Unadjusted associations between the selected variables on PAC-SYM were examined by using bi-variate analyses. Significant variables identified on bi-variate analyses were included in a multivariate analysis. The final results identified that only the chronicity of constipation symptoms predicted more severe symptoms. This relationship persisted when this single variable was retained in the final model, illustrating that PAC-SYM scores are 0.41 higher in patients with chronic constipation compared with those without it (p = 0.02). In contrast, regular opioid use was not identified as a significant factor (p = 0.56). Discussion: This study suggests that the factor most likely to predict worse constipation symptoms was the duration that people had experienced problems. Further, those who perceived their constipation symptoms to be more severe had a poorer quality of life. More work is required to better define constipation risk factors and ways to best modify a patient's experiences