NH Department of Environmental Services Shellfish Program Activities, January 2006 – December 2006

This report summarizes the activities of the NH Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) Shellfish Program for the period of January 2006 to December 2006, emphasizing those tasks for which NHDES received direct funding from the NH Estuaries Project. The NHDES Shellfish Program conducts a number of activities to minimize the health risks associated with consuming shellfish, and to continue to comply with National Shellfish Sanitation Program guidelines. These include water sampling on a prescheduled/randomized basis, as well as a pollution source identification and evaluation program. These sampling programs are supplemented by other activities aimed at improving the management of conditionally-approved harvesting areas. Augmented sampling in conditionally approved areas after rainfall events and/or sewage treatment plant upsets provides information to improve management decisions and, in some cases, increase harvesting opportunities. A study to compare results from two different bacterial analysis methods (the traditional fecal coliform Most Probable Number, or MPN, test, and a newer fecal coliform membrane filtration test using mTEC agar) was initiated in 2004 and continued through 2006. The results of the study will help DES determine how classification of growing areas might change if the lessexpensive mTEC test is chosen to replace the traditional MPN method. Sanitary surveys were completed for the Hampton/Seabrook Estuary, as well as for the Piscataqua River (North) growing area, which encompasses the tidal portions of the Cocheco River, Salmon Falls River, and Upper Piscataqua River. Future work will focus on maintaining the classifications established by sanitary surveys conducted since 2000. The remaining 13 percent of unclassified estuarine waters will be periodically evaluated to determine if/when sanitary surveys should be conducted

NHDES Shellfish Program Activities, Jan -Dec 2004, Nash, C

This report summarizes the activities of the NH Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) Shellfish Program for the period of January 2004 to December 2004. The NHDES Shellfish Program conducts a number of activities to minimize the health risks associated with consuming shellfish, and to continue to comply with National Shellfish Sanitation Program guidelines. Among basic program functions is a routine water quality monitoring program, which involved the collection of nearly 800 samples at over 70 sites in 2004, the results of which are used to ensure that assessments of water quality for all areas are kept up-to-date. Weekly “red tide” monitoring was critical for early detection of dangerous levels of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning toxin in offshore waters in August, leading a nearly one-month closure to all harvesting in the Atlantic coastal waters. The program’s pollution source identification and evaluation program involved the collection of nearly 200 water samples, used to guide proper classification of the receiving waters. A number of other studies and sampling programs, including effluent dilution/dispersion studies of the Newmarket and Dover wastewater treatment facilities, were completed. A particularly useful sampling program has been the initiation of post-rainfall water and shellfish tissue sampling in conditionally approved areas. This program improved management decisions and increased harvesting opportunities in Hampton/Seabrook Harbor, providing data that drove decisions to open the flats on most of the 16 days that the harbor was available for harvesting. Sanitary surveys were completed for Great Bay, and are near completion for Little Bay and the Bellamy River. Surveys for Hampton/Seabrook Harbor, the Cocheco River, Salmon Falls River, and the Upper Piscataqua River have been initiated and are scheduled for completion in 2005

In what circumstances is investment in HR worthwhile?

INTRODUCTION By High Speed Rail (HSR) we normally mean rail technologies capable of speeds of the order of 300km ph on new dedicated track. Such systems offer journey times that are more competitive with other modes, and particularly air, than traditional train services, and very high capacity. But their capital cost is also high. The proposals of the European Commission for the Trans European Transport Network (TEN-T) envisage expenditure of 600b euros, of which 250b euros is for priority projects, and a large part of this expenditure is for high speed rail. Thus it is extremely important to have a robust appraisal methodology for these huge investments. It is not clear that this has happened in the case of the Trans European Networks. Individual projects are suggested by, and appraised by, member state governments, even though they are applying to the European Commission for assistance with funding. Research for the European Commission has appraised the TEN-T network as a whole, but has not appraised the individual elements of the programme to ensure that they are all worthwhile (TML, 2005). The aim of this paper is to consider the methodology for the appraisal of high speed rail proposals, and to produce some indication of the circumstances in which such proposals might be worthwhile. In the next section we present an overview of the principal costs and benefits which need to be taken into account in an HSR appraisal. Then we illustrate the process for two particular contrasting examples – the study of HSR proposals in Great Britain, and an ex post evaluation of the Madrid-Seville line in Spain. In section four of the paper we formulate a model to incorporate the principal parameters influencing the outcome of an appraisal and in section five we use this model to draw conclusions on the circumstances in which high speed rail may be justified

In what circumstances is investment in HR worthwhile?

INTRODUCTION By High Speed Rail (HSR) we normally mean rail technologies capable of speeds of the order of 300km ph on new dedicated track. Such systems offer journey times that are more competitive with other modes, and particularly air, than traditional train services, and very high capacity. But their capital cost is also high. The proposals of the European Commission for the Trans European Transport Network (TEN-T) envisage expenditure of 600b euros, of which 250b euros is for priority projects, and a large part of this expenditure is for high speed rail. Thus it is extremely important to have a robust appraisal methodology for these huge investments. It is not clear that this has happened in the case of the Trans European Networks. Individual projects are suggested by, and appraised by, member state governments, even though they are applying to the European Commission for assistance with funding. Research for the European Commission has appraised the TEN-T network as a whole, but has not appraised the individual elements of the programme to ensure that they are all worthwhile (TML, 2005). The aim of this paper is to consider the methodology for the appraisal of high speed rail proposals, and to produce some indication of the circumstances in which such proposals might be worthwhile. In the next section we present an overview of the principal costs and benefits which need to be taken into account in an HSR appraisal. Then we illustrate the process for two particular contrasting examples – the study of HSR proposals in Great Britain, and an ex post evaluation of the Madrid-Seville line in Spain. In section four of the paper we formulate a model to incorporate the principal parameters influencing the outcome of an appraisal and in section five we use this model to draw conclusions on the circumstances in which high speed rail may be justified

Playing possum: Straws in the wind of the blogosphere

This article discusses the blog Possum Pollytics that became very well regarded by its readers, other bloggers and journalists over the course of the 2007 Australian federal election campaign, and examines it for harbingers of the impact of new media on journalists and their publics. The article commences with an account of the main features of the blog, with special reference to its analysis of the voting trends evident in the pre-election opinion polls. It then discusses two issues with respect to the challenge posed by new media uses to professional journalism: firstly, the way that the anonymity highlights the challenge by some bloggers on behalf of publics to the brandname mastheads and journalistic personalities, particularly in the challenging circumstances of no business model for new media; and secondly, that Habermas’ early theorising of the public sphere might re-emerge as a valuable way to understand the current developments

European Rail Reform - The Next Steps

Whilst the emphasis of European Union rail legislation to date has been on freight, measures such as separation of infrastructure from operations, infrastructure charging regimes and regulation have major implications for the passenger sector. However, a number of problems with the implementation of these measures have emerged; these issue are reviewed. The Commission would clearly like to completely open the passenger market to competition by a combination of competition for the market for subsidised services and in the market for commercial services. The member states have so far not agreed to this, but the first required market opening will come in 2010 in the case of international passenger services. Experience to date with rail passenger market opening and the prospects for the future are briefly reviewed. It is concluded that further action to clarify and enforce existing legislation is urgently needed. In the meantime the best way to liberalise rail passenger services remains unclear – whilst competitive tendering has generally worked well with tightly prescribed gross cost contracts, there are problems with both franchising and open access for more commercial services. Further research on these issues is still neededInstitute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne

FRONTLINE: Gentle sounds, distant roar: a watershed year for journalism as research

The Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC) 2020 decision on disciplinary categories has profound implications for journalism as a research discipline.  Journalism Practice and Professional Writing retain their six-digit Fields of Research (FoR) code within the Creative Arts and Writing Division, a new six-digit FoR of Journalism Studies has been created in the Division of Language, Communication and Culture, and three new FoR codes of Literature, Journalism and Professional Writing have been created for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, Māori and Pacific Peoples within the new Indigenous Studies Division.  This categorisation both confirms Journalism as a sovereign and independent discipline distinct from Communication and Media Studies, which has been in bitter contention for more than two decades.  The ANZSRC confirmed its 2008 policy that the sole and definitive criterion for categorisation was methodology.  This article explores the welcome ramifications of this decision for Journalism within Australasian university-based journalism and charts some of the issues ahead for journalism academics as they embark on the long overdue and fraught path to disciplinary self-recognition as an equal among the humanities and social sciences. &nbsp

European Rail Reform - The Next Steps

Whilst the emphasis of European Union rail legislation to date has been on freight, measures such as separation of infrastructure from operations, infrastructure charging regimes and regulation have major implications for the passenger sector. However, a number of problems with the implementation of these measures have emerged; these issue are reviewed. The Commission would clearly like to completely open the passenger market to competition by a combination of competition for the market for subsidised services and in the market for commercial services. The member states have so far not agreed to this, but the first required market opening will come in 2010 in the case of international passenger services. Experience to date with rail passenger market opening and the prospects for the future are briefly reviewed. It is concluded that further action to clarify and enforce existing legislation is urgently needed. In the meantime the best way to liberalise rail passenger services remains unclear – whilst competitive tendering has generally worked well with tightly prescribed gross cost contracts, there are problems with both franchising and open access for more commercial services. Further research on these issues is still neededInstitute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne

EDITORIAL: The republican factor

This special edition of Pacific Journalism Review publishes a selection of the papers presented at the Public Right to Know (PR2K) Conference in Sydney in October 2003. The annual PR2K conferences are a project of the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism (ACIJ) at the University of Technology, Sydney. The 2003 conference was the third in the series

Reporting controversy in health policy: A content and field analysis

This article reports on the research and analysis of editorial attitudes and news reporting in two prominent Sydney newspapers—The Daily Telegraph (DT) and The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH)—about the establishment and operation of the Medically Supervised Injecting Room (MSIC) in Kings Cross from January 1999 to December 2006. The establishment of the MSIC was highly controversial and generated strongly partisan attitudes among politicians, experts, local businesses and the general community. The research compares the editorial stance of these newspapers towards the injecting room and the reporting practices of the newspapers, in particular the range of sources used by the journalists; it deploys a content analysis to identify positive and negative attitudes in the preferred readings of the texts, the usage of sources within the reports and the partisan affiliations of those sources. It reveals stark differences in the reporting of the controversy by the two newspapers, and that the reporting differences were aligned with the respective editorial policies of the mastheads. The interpretation of these empirical findings using field theory is located within the debates in the journalism studies literature about the power relationship of journalistic practices to the interests of sources