STRATEGIC PROGRAM DELIVERY METHODS: BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES

Transportation programming is the process of developing and improving transit facilities using innovation and technology. Transportation programs are often developed with a vision that these facilities sustain and serve for a longer period. Delivering projects on time and within budget, distributing funding effectively, and managing resources are typical driving forces for program delivery. Project delivery methods such as traditional design-bid-build (DBB), design-build (DB), construction manager/general contractor (CM/GC), and public–private partnerships (P3) are used for the successful delivery of the program. Each delivery method has certain performance opportunities in terms of cost, schedule, quality, risk management, and other performance metrics. Developing an effective strategic plan by incorporating these diverse delivery options is critical to the success of the program. The aim of this thesis is to explore the use of transportation program delivery and identify the benefits and challenges of program delivery. This thesis utilized survey and case studies as research tools to fulfill the objective of the research. The results show that the most significant benefits of the strategic approach to transportation program delivery are accelerated delivery, flexibility in reassessing and reassigning risk, flexibility in delivery scheduling, increased innovation, improved performance using bundling, and standardized design technique. The major challenges of using a strategic approach to program delivery are extensive community outreach, organizational changes, coordination of multiple projects, and lack of experienced personnel. The results of this study will provide for practitioners and professionals with proactive measures and guidance on successfully delivering their transportation programs

Record of small sized mussel species, Mytilopsis sallei (Recluz, 1849) and Modiolus undulatus (Dunker) from Maharashtra waters

During a field visit to study the molluscan diversity along Maharashtra coast, unusual clusters of small sized mussels were observed. The mussels which were collected from Vashi creek were identified as Mytilopsis sallei (Recluz, 1849) and the mussels which were collected from Murud were identified as Modiolus undulalus (Dunker). During each visit, samples were collected during lowest of low tide using a 15x15 cm^ quadrant randomly placed on the substratum about 0.5 m indepth and all mussels from the quadrate were removed

Hydrogenation of Tetralin over Supported Ni and Ir Catalysts

Selective hydrogenation and ring opening (SRO) of tetrahydronaphthalene (tetralin) was studied over nickel and iridium supported catalysts in the context of the removal of polynuclear aromatics from diesel fuel. The tetralin hydrogenation was carried out in a fixed-bed reactor at 270 ∘ C, using H 2 pressure of 30 bars, WHSV of 2.3 h −1 , and H 2 /feed molar ratio of 40; the resultant products were analyzed by GC and GC-MS. The Ir/SiO 2 catalyst gave 85% of tetralin conversion and 75.1% of decalin products selectivity whereas Ni/SiO 2 catalyst showed an unprecedented high catalytic performance with 88.3% of tetralin conversion and 93% of decalin products selectivity. The catalysts were characterized by using different characterization techniques such as XRD, TPR, and HR-TEM to know the physicochemical properties as well as active sites in the catalysts

Influence of reaction conditions on the composition of liquid products from two-stage catalytic hydrothermal processing of lignin.

The influence of reaction conditions on the composition of liquid products during two-stage hydrothermal conversion of alkali lignin has been investigated in a batch reactor. Reactions were carried out in the presence of formic acid (FA) and Pt/Al2O3 catalyst. The two different sets of reaction conditions involved alternative reaction times of 1 h and 5 h at 265 °C and 350 °C, respectively. These provided different contributions to reaction severity, which affected the compositions of liquid products. Yields of liquid products reached up to 40 wt% (on lignin feed basis) in the presence of FA under the less severe reaction condition. With 5 h reaction time at 350 °C, alkylphenols, alkylguaiacols and hydrocarbons were the dominant liquid products. However, with 5 h reaction time at 265 °C, phenol and methanol became dominant. The two-stage hydrothermal process led to improved lignin conversion, with the potential to manipulate the liquid product range

World review of capture fisheries and aquaculture insurance 2022

This world review of capture fisheries and aquaculture insurance presents the findings of five regional and four national reports conducted in 2020. An estimated 450 000 fishing vessels worldwide are covered by marine hull insurance. Nearly all of the estimated 67 800 large-scale industrial fishing vessels are covered by marine hull insurance, as well as 50–60 percent of the estimated 430 000 semi-industrial fishing vessels. However, over 95 percent of the 2.3 million motorized small-scale fishing vessels operate uninsured. Most small-scale fishers do not have access to adequate insurance services. Between 2009 and 2019, underwriting experiences in fishing vessel insurance were generally reported as “Good”. What is more, access to accident, life and health insurance services for crew on fishing vessels and small-scale fishers in developing countries has improved in recent years. In 2020, the number of aquaculture insurance policies in force was estimated at over 40 000 worldwide, with China and Indonesia the largest markets for this type of insurance. While large-scale aquaculture producers are well served by the insurance industry, the provision of insurance is inadequate for mediumand small-scale farmers, particularly in Asia. Underwriting experiences for aquaculture stock mortality insurance were reported as “Good” to “Very good” (40 percent), or “Neutral” (36 percent). The insurance industry has consolidated the market and increased profitability in aquaculture insurance. This world review contains information on the capture fisheries and aquaculture insurance market, the prevailing underwriting practices, perils covered, policies in force, risk management and claim handling procedures. Finally, it offers a series of recommendations for increasing insurance service provision to the fisheries and aquaculture industries

Conversion of biomass platform molecules into fuel additives and liquid hydrocarbon fuels

[EN] In this work some relevant processes for the preparation of liquid hydrocarbon fuels and fuel additives from cellulose, hemicellulose and triglycerides derived platform molecules are discussed. Thus, it is shown that a series of platform molecules such as levulinic acid, furans, fatty acids and polyols can be converted into a variety of fuel additives through catalytic transformations that include reduction, esterification, etherification, and acetalization reactions. Moreover, we will show that liquid hydrocarbon fuels can be obtained by combining oxygen removal processes (e.g. dehydration, hydrogenolysis, hydrogenation, decarbonylation/descarboxylation etc.) with the adjustment of the molecular weight via C C coupling reactions (e.g. aldol condensation, hydroxyalkylation, oligomerization, ketonization) of the reactive platform molecules.This work has been supported by the Spanish Government-MINECO through Consolider Ingenio 2010-Multicat and CTQ.-2011-27550, ITQ thanks the "Program Severo Ochoa" for financial support.Climent Olmedo, MJ.; Corma Canós, A.; Iborra Chornet, S. (2014). Conversion of biomass platform molecules into fuel additives and liquid hydrocarbon fuels. Green Chemistry. 16(2):516-547. https://doi.org/10.1039/c3gc41492bS51654716

Towards sustainable production of formic acid

peer-reviewedFormic acid is a widely used commodity chemical. It can be applied as a safe, easily handled and transported source of hydrogen or CO for different reactions including those producing fuels. The review includes historical aspects of formic acid production. It shortly analyzes the production based on traditional sources such as toxic CO, methanol and methane. However, the main emphasis is done to the sustainable production of formic acid from biomass and biomass-derived products via hydrolysis, wet and catalytic oxidation processes. New strategies of low temperature synthesis from biomass may lead to utilization of formic acid for production of fuel additives such as methanol, upgraded bio-oil, γ-valerolactone and its derivatives, as well as synthesis gas used for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis of hydrocarbons. Some technological aspects are considered