Irish Sea Coastal Stakeholder Engagement in NW England consultation, participation, strategic purpose and rhetoric. Do you reap just what you sow?

The creation of a holistic more inclusive approach to marine management could be positively influenced by the development of well structured and sincere Stakeholder Engagement and Public Participation (SEPP) processes. However poorly designed frameworks and processes lacking sincerity may engender skepticism, mistrust and create barriers in the attainment of a thriving and diverse coastal economy During 2009 a public participation and stakeholder engagement policy has been used by government agencies, Defra and the Department of Energy and Climate Change to gauge public opinion within the marine and coastal environment of the Irish Sea. This concerns the development of Irish Sea Conservation Zones and the UK’s Nuclear Newbuild programme. Both issues have complex dynamics regarding their environmental, economic, societal and sustainability aspects. This paper studies two contrasting styles of SEPP deployed during this critical ‘first contact’ stage by a participatory observation approach and assesses how this phase may affect the development of the engagement process and how this may affect a project’s outcome

Superconducting linear actuator

Special actuators are needed to control the orientation of large structures in space-based precision pointing systems. Electromagnetic actuators that presently exist are too large in size and their bandwidth is too low. Hydraulic fluid actuation also presents problems for many space-based applications. Hydraulic oil can escape in space and contaminate the environment around the spacecraft. A research study was performed that selected an electrically-powered linear actuator that can be used to control the orientation of a large pointed structure. This research surveyed available products, analyzed the capabilities of conventional linear actuators, and designed a first-cut candidate superconducting linear actuator. The study first examined theoretical capabilities of electrical actuators and determined their problems with respect to the application and then determined if any presently available actuators or any modifications to available actuator designs would meet the required performance. The best actuator was then selected based on available design, modified design, or new design for this application. The last task was to proceed with a conceptual design. No commercially-available linear actuator or modification capable of meeting the specifications was found. A conventional moving-coil dc linear actuator would meet the specification, but the back-iron for this actuator would weigh approximately 12,000 lbs. A superconducting field coil, however, eliminates the need for back iron, resulting in an actuator weight of approximately 1000 lbs

Developing a draft learning progression framework for ESOL in New Zealand schools

Early in 2003 we were commissioned to produce a draft Learning Progression Framework (LPF) for ESOL in the New Zealand curriculum. The draft Framework was completed in June 2003 and entered the consultation round. In producing the draft Framework, we had to address a range of issues. Some these related to user expectations. Others concerned the relationship between the draft Framework and documents such as English in the New Zealand Curriculum, existing curriculum documents relating to other languages, and ESOL frameworks available in other countries. These issues proved to be critical. This paper explores some of these issues and introduces the draft Framework

AGRICULTURAL LOAN EVALUATION WITH DISCRIMINANT ANALYSIS

Agricultural Finance,

Modelling and Control of an Annular Momentum Control Device

The results of a modelling and control study for an advanced momentum storage device supported on magnetic bearings are documented. The control challenge posed by this device lies in its dynamics being such a strong function of flywheel rotational speed. At high rotational speed, this can lead to open loop instabilities, resulting in requirements for minimum and maximum control bandwidths and gains for the stabilizing controllers. Using recently developed analysis tools for systems described by complex coefficient differential equations, the closed properties of the controllers were analyzed and stability properties established. Various feedback controllers are investigated and discussed. Both translational and angular dynamics compensators are developed, and measures of system stability and robustness to plant and operational speed variations are presented

Letter to Timothy Coggins regarding the Southeastern Law Librarian, February 11, 1987

A letter from Bruce Johnson to Timothy Coggins regarding the Southeastern Law Librarian

Getting Honest With Oil

In this year of the monumental oil spill off our shores, Americans are being brought face-to-face with some stark realities of our time. First, we are seeing that current technology and human processes can’t insure the prevention of environmental disasters, creating havoc to large economic regions as well as to fragile ecosystems. In fact, if a single 21-inch pipe spewing millions of barrels of oil from the floor of the Gulf can continue for months on end, without effective correction, just how ingenious are we as humans

Contingent Valuation of Sports Stadiums and Arenas: Temporal Embedding and Order Effect

Using the Contingent Valuation Method, this paper estimates the value of public goods the National Football League’s Jaguars produce for Jacksonville, Florida, including the value of elevating Jacksonville to “major league” status and the value of improving racial relations. It also estimates the incremental value of public goods potentially produced by a National Basketball Association team in Jacksonville. The present value of public goods created by the Jaguars is $36.5 million or less, far below subsidies provided to attract the Jaguars. For a basketball team, the figure is less than$22.8 million. The results add to the growing body of CVM literature indicating that sports public goods probably cannot justify the large public expenditures on stadiums and arenas.

Synchronous response modelling and control of an annular momentum control device

Research on the synchronous response modelling and control of an advanced Annular Momentun Control Device (AMCD) used to control the attitude of a spacecraft is described. For the flexible rotor AMCD, two sources of synchronous vibrations were identified. One source, which corresponds to the mass unbalance problem of rigid rotors suspended in conventional bearings, is caused by measurement errors of the rotor center of mass position. The other sources of synchronous vibrations is misalignment between the hub and flywheel masses of the AMCD. Four different control algorithms were examined. These were lead-lag compensators that mimic conventional bearing dynamics, tracking notch filters used in the feedback loop, tracking differential-notch filters, and model-based compensators. The tracking differential-notch filters were shown to have a number of advantages over more conventional approaches for both rigid-body rotor applications and flexible rotor applications such as the AMCD. Hardware implementation schemes for the tracking differential-notch filter were investigated. A simple design was developed that can be implemented with analog multipliers and low bandwidth, digital hardware

Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Developments 1994-95

Agricultural land values in Nebraska rose an average of 2.8 percent during the year ending February I, I995. While this represented the eighth straight year of value advances, it was the smallest annual percentage change of that period. Relative stability in agricultural real estate values during I994 was prevalent across the state with only, slight percentage changes in either direction recorded across the various types of land and location. Despite a poor livestock economy, non tillable grazing land had the largest percentage gain during the I2-month period (4.9 percent). In contrast, gravity irrigated cropland rose only I percent for the state as a whole. According to the I995 Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Survey, the I995 average value is approaching 80 percent of peak all-land value of the land boom period I5 years ago. However, the degree of recovery is highly variable across the state and by land type. During I994 active farmers purchased three-fourths of the tracts on the market, usually as unimproved parcels to be added to existing units. Local markets prevail with the majority of buyers purchasing land within five miles of where they reside. Cash rental rates for agricultural land in I995 generally continued at I994 levels which, in many cases, represented historic highs. When compared against the current land asset values, the gross rent to value ratios generally range from 6.5 to 9.0 percent. Annual net returns to agricultural cropland are estimated by survey reporters to be about 5 to 6 percent of current value. Net returns on grazing land are somewhat lower averaging 4 to 5 percent annually. At these rates of return, heavy use of debt leveraging is inappropriate and certainly explains why a considerable amount of recent market transactions represent cash sales. Reporters in the 1995 survey were asked to list what they believed were key positive factors and key negative factors currently impacting the farm real estate market. Most frequently noted positive elements were excellent crop yields in 1994 and the long-term continuing buyer interest in farm size expansion. On the negati.ve side, rising interest rates and low commodity prices at the beginning of the year were most frequently noted as dampening forces. As for expectations in I995, the majority of survey reporters expected the level of market activity to remain similar to year earlier levels with stable to slightly higher agricultural land values