Second home ownership is a new and booming phenomenon in China. Although it has been widely discussed in newspaper, radio and other mass media, it has not raised much academic concern. This study is a preliminary research in this field. <br /><br /> In western counties, second home growth has caused a series of socio-economic impacts to the host community, including housing price inflation, displacement of local people, disruption of local service, etc. These effects identified by western literatures are examined in the context of Haikou, China. <br /><br /> Through applications of interview, on-site observation and secondary research, this study generally confirms the impacts addressed by other second home research. Similar to the western experience, the growth of second homes in Haikou has both positive and negative impacts. On the positive side, the increase of second home purchase contributes to the boom of property-related industry. On the negative side, it causes inflation pressure on housing price and affects the affordability of the housing for local people. The seasonality of second home occupation also leads to a "ghost communit" problem. However, as the development of second homes in Haikou is at an early stage, both their positive and negative impacts are not significant. Some effects such as the displacement of locals, the effects on local retail outlets and services are not detectable. Remarkably, this study addresses two problems that can only be found in China: "college entrance exam immigration" and "illegal sale of <em>hukou</em>". <br /><br /> Based on the major findings, policy recommendations for local government are provided. Implications for conducting research in China, and for future research opportunities are also suggested.

Traffic platoons created by traffic signals may have impacts on the operations of downstream intersections because they change the arrival pattern and gap distribution of upstream traffic. There’s been a lot of research dealing with platoon effects on operations at signalized intersections, while very limited research has been done for that of unsignalized intersections. This research aims to develop a methodology for analyzing the platoon impacts on major-street left-turn (MSLT) delay at two-way stop-controlled (TWSC) intersections. The main idea is using a microscopic simulation tool to simulate different platoon scenarios in opposing through traffic, then applying regression models to capture the impacts of platoons on the delay of MSLT. Two platoon variables were adopted as a simplification of the complex platoon scenarios, making it practical to analyze the platoon effects on MSLT delay. The first two steps were to build simulation models for real-world unsignalized intersections and simulate scenarios with a combination of various factors related to platoons in VISSIM simulation. Calibrations of these simulation models based on field data were performed before simulation started. The next step was to define, derive and calibrate two platoon variables for describing the duration and intensity of platoon arrivals in the opposing through traffic, which effectively simplified the large combination of various factors. At last, the two platoon variables and their relationship with MSLT delay change factor were modeled with regression tools. A relationship between the two variables and the delay change factor was established, which indicated a positive effect by upstream platoons on MSLT delay and made it possible to quantify the impacts. The findings in this research could also be used for future research on left turn treatment regarding platoon or signal impacts.

The distribution of benthic polychaetes in the Mississippi Canyon was examined to evaluate impacts of environmental variables on species assemblages. Environmental variables considered included depth, bathymetric slope, hydrographic features, sediment grain size, food availability and sediment contamination. Samples were collected using GOMEX boxcorer. Density decreased with increasing depth exponentially. Diversity exhibited a unimodal pattern with depth with a maximum value in the intermediate depth range (about 1269 m). Deposit feeders were the most abundant feeding guild. Both the feeding guilds and faunal composition could be divided into three groups along the depth gradient: shallow (300 – 800 m), intermediate (800 – 1500 m) and deep (> 1500 m). Results of statistical analyses revealed that depth was the most important determinant in organizing polychaete assemblages in the study area. The Mississippi Canyon and the Central Transect (a non-canyon area) were found not contaminated by trace metals or Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediments, although the highest PAHs concentration occurred at the head of the Canyon, MT1. The mean density was higher in the Mississippi Canyon (1668 N/m2) than in the Central Transect (979 N/m2), while the mean diversity in the Canyon (ES(100) = 26.9 ) was lower than the Central Transect (ES(100) = 33.1). Large amounts of terrigenous input from the Mississippi River to the Canyon could enhance polychaete density and accelerate competitive exclusion, and thus lead to lower diversity. The faunal composition was significantly different between the two transects, with higher species richness in the Mississippi Canyon (301 species). This could be attributed to structure complexity in the Mississippi Canyon. The distribution of feeding guilds was similar between two transects. The differences observed in polychaete assemblages between two transects may be largely due to high terrigenous sediment and organic matter input to the Mississippi Canyon by the Mississippi River.

<p>The massive number of injuries sustained in trafficaccidents is a growing problem worldwide, especially indeveloping countries. In 1998, more than one million peoplewere killed in traffic accidents worldwide, while about tentimes as many people were injured. Injuries to the centralnervous system and in particular to the headare especiallycritical to human life. This thesis contains five researchpapers looking at head injuries and head protection, proposingnew and more efficient ways of protecting the head, especiallyin traffic accidents.</p><p>In order to define the national dimensions of the patternsof injuries incurred in motorcycle and moped accidents inSweden, a statistical survey was performed on data spanning a13-year period (Paper A). In Sweden, 27,100 individualsreceived in-patient care for motorcycle and moped accidentinjuries between 1987 and 1999. The motorcycle and moped injuryrate reduced in the second half of the study period, so toowere the total number of days of treatment per year. Males hadeight times the incidence of injuries of females. Head injurieswere the single most frequent diagnosis, followed by fracturesof the lower limbs. Concussion was the most frequent headinjury. These statistics clearly show the need for better headinjury prevention systems.</p><p>According to the statistics, the most common type of impactto the head in motorcycle and moped accidents is an obliqueimpact. Oblique impacts generate rotations of the head, whichare a common cause of the most severe head injuries. Thereforea new test rig was constructed to reproduce oblique impacts toa helmeted dummy head, simulating those occurring in real lifeaccidents (Paper B). The new test rig was shown to provideuseful data at speeds of up to 50 km/h and with impact anglesvarying from purely tangential to purely radial. Thisinnovative test rig appears to provide an accurate method formeasuring accelerations in oblique impacts to helmets.</p><p>When testing the performances of motorcycle helmets,discrepancies are usually seen in the test results. In order toevaluate these discrepancies, the finite element method (FEM)was used for simulations of a few oblique helmet impacts (PaperC). Amongthe parameters studied, the coefficients of frictionbetween the impacting surface and the helmet and between thehead and the helmet had the most significant influence on therotational accelerations. Additionally, a thinner andconsequently also weaker shell and a weaker liner, providedbetter protection for the impacts studied.</p><p>Since there are no generally accepted global injurythresholds for oblique impacts to the human head, a study wasdesigned to propose new injury tolerances accounting for bothtranslations and rotations of the head (Paper D). In thatstudy, FE models of (a) a human head, (b) a Hybrid III dummyhead, and (c) the experimental helmet were used. Differentcriteria were proposed for different impact scenarios. Both thetranslational and the rotational effects were found to beimportant when proposing a predictor equation for the strainlevels experienced by the human brain in simulated impacts tothe head.</p><p>In order to reduce the level of head injuries in society andto better understand helmet impacts from different aspect, aballistic impact was also studied (Paper E). The effects ofdifferent helmet shell stiffness and different angles ofimpacts were simulated. In this study, the same FE head modelfrom Paper D was used, however here it was protected with amodel of a composite ballistic helmet. It was concluded thatthe helmet shell should be stiff enough to prevent the insideof the shell from striking the skull, and that the strainsarising in the brain tissue were higher for some obliqueimpacts than for purely radial ones.</p><p>In conclusion, this thesis describes the injury pattern ofmotorcycle and moped accidents in Sweden. This thesis showsthat the injuries sustained from these accidents can bereduced. In order to study both translational as well asrotational impacts, a new laboratory test rig was designed. Byusing the finite element method, it is possible to simulaterealistic impacts to the head and also to predict how severehead injuries may potentially be prevented.</p>

The purpose of this study is to derive a method for estimation of costs and benefits of implementing Port Collaborative Decision Making (Port CDM), and to apply this method to the Port of Gothenburg. By using the Port of Gothenburg as a case study, conclusions can be drawn regarding the economic viability of Port CDM in one of Scandinavia‟s largest ports. This study considers two major sources of benefits that are hypothesized to result from transitioning to collaborative port operations: improved possibilities for speed optimization prior to arrival in port due to increased predictability in estimated berthing times, and shortened service times due to increased possibility for planning and resource optimization by port service providers.The estimation of impacts is based on one month‟s traffic data in the Port of Gothenburg. Predictability of estimations is analyzed to determine the benefit potential of Port CDM. The estimated cost savings for cargo vessels can be divided into 5 categories: bunker, emission, time, manning and capital cost savings. The costs of implementing and maintaining Port CDM are estimated with values from relevant previous research.The results of this study indicate that the implementation of Port CDM in the Port of Gothenburg is a profitable investment, for the shipping industry and for society as a whole. The estimated annual net benefit is 27.3 million euros. A sensitivity analysis using alternative unit valuations for emissions, as well as low and high estimations of the effectiveness of Port CDM, indicates that the economic viability of the project is robust under all assumptions considered.

Tropical freshwater ecosystems are understudied and not well understood relative to temperate systems; however, they are becoming increasingly imperiled by escalating anthropogenic impacts. The aim of this thesis was to investigate how tropical freshwater macroinvertebrate communities changed both structurally and functionally over a pristine-rural-urban land-use gradient, in relation to different spatial and temporal scales, as well as to the availability of potential food sources. Fifteen streams in the Panama Canal Watershed were sampled during the dry and wet seasons of 2007 and 2008, for macroinvertebrate communities (benthic and leaf litter), environmental variables, and potential food sources. Along the land-use gradient, in both habitat types, taxon richness, diversity, and evenness all decreased significantly; whereas, abundance increased significantly. For the benthic macroinvertebrate community, unique variation was explained equally well by local (water chemistry and sediment type) and landscape (riparian vegetation and watershed land use) characteristics in the dry season, and landscape characteristics explained slightly more variation in the wet season. Leaf-litter macroinvertebrate community unique variation was better explained by local variables than by landscape variables in both seasons. In terms of potential food resources, fine detritus and inorganic material were the most common across all streams (increased quantities in urban streams) and seasons; whereas, the availability of diatoms and leaf material increased in the dry season. Using gut content analyses, we found that collectors (gatherers and filterers) were by far the most common functional feeding group, increasing in abundance along the land-use gradient. Predators, shredders, and scrapers were all most abundant in pristine streams and decreased along the land-use gradient. Finally, using seven community metrices, a potential biomonitoring tool was developed, the Neotropical Low-land Stream Multimetric Index (NLSMI), which distinguished well among the different levels of stream impairment. This study demonstrated that tropical communities were negatively affected by human land alteration, but that community responses depended on the habitat sampled, the influence of different spatial scales varied between the seasons, and the effect of food resources appeared to be complex. These aspects must be taken into consideration for management decisions and restoration strategies to be effective.

The emergence of the zoonotic disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Canada resulted in a severe agricultural crisis. However, little is known about the ways in which farmers and rural communities were affected. The overall objective of this study is to characterize and better understand the impacts on and responses of farmers and rural communities as they relate to this crisis. Research was undertaken in strata throughout the diverse three Canadian prairie provinces – Alberta, Saskatchewan and Alberta – by employing surveys and focus groups. Results indicated there were numerous direct and ‘spillover’ impacts on farmers and rural communities resulting from the BSE crisis. Declines in cattle prices, herd equity and cash flow, often resulting in the need for bank loans, farm credit or off farm employment, as well as emotional and psychological stress were all experienced by farmers as a result of BSE. Importantly, many additional factors such as adverse weather and market volatility compounded the impacts related to BSE, adding to what was already a crisis situation for many farmers. These impacts were not restricted to farms but, rather, extended into the surrounding community fabric in the form of financial and social stress. Results further indicated government policies contributed to the impacts and the effectiveness of farmer responses related to BSE. A longer-term policy shift that has embraced agro-industrialization and entrenchment into the global marketplace has resulted in clear disparities between the biggest and smallest players in the beef industry and agriculture as a whole. This was illustrated in the ways in which governments responded to the BSE crisis, favouring the needs of the largest farmers and agri-businesses over those of smaller-scale, cow-calf producers. This policy shift and response has left the Canadian beef industry, family farmers and rural communities more susceptible to the emergence of similar future risks. A more inclusive approach to risk research and policymaking that meaningfully involved farmers and their rich, longer-term local knowledge might help mitigate similar risks that will inevitably confront agriculture in the future.

Tropical freshwater ecosystems are understudied and not well understood relative to temperate systems; however, they are becoming increasingly imperiled by escalating anthropogenic impacts. The aim of this thesis was to investigate how tropical freshwater macroinvertebrate communities changed both structurally and functionally over a pristine-rural-urban land-use gradient, in relation to different spatial and temporal scales, as well as to the availability of potential food sources. Fifteen streams in the Panama Canal Watershed were sampled during the dry and wet seasons of 2007 and 2008, for macroinvertebrate communities (benthic and leaf litter), environmental variables, and potential food sources. Along the land-use gradient, in both habitat types, taxon richness, diversity, and evenness all decreased significantly; whereas, abundance increased significantly. For the benthic macroinvertebrate community, unique variation was explained equally well by local (water chemistry and sediment type) and landscape (riparian vegetation and watershed land use) characteristics in the dry season, and landscape characteristics explained slightly more variation in the wet season. Leaf-litter macroinvertebrate community unique variation was better explained by local variables than by landscape variables in both seasons. In terms of potential food resources, fine detritus and inorganic material were the most common across all streams (increased quantities in urban streams) and seasons; whereas, the availability of diatoms and leaf material increased in the dry season. Using gut content analyses, we found that collectors (gatherers and filterers) were by far the most common functional feeding group, increasing in abundance along the land-use gradient. Predators, shredders, and scrapers were all most abundant in pristine streams and decreased along the land-use gradient. Finally, using seven community metrices, a potential biomonitoring tool was developed, the Neotropical Low-land Stream Multimetric Index (NLSMI), which distinguished well among the different levels of stream impairment. This study demonstrated that tropical communities were negatively affected by human land alteration, but that community responses depended on the habitat sampled, the influence of different spatial scales varied between the seasons, and the effect of food resources appeared to be complex. These aspects must be taken into consideration for management decisions and restoration strategies to be effective.

Asian climate varies on various spatial and temporal scales and has a wide spectrum of climatic characteristics. Climate variability, especially decadal to inter-annual scale rainfall variability across Asia has gained considerable attention of climatologists over the last century due to the fact that rainfall variability is known to have caused considerable damage to southern Asian nations. Until recent, much of the existing literature on southern Asian climate focused on India and it is only recently that studies have focused on countries other than India. Although the Maldives is a nation within southern Asia (lying in the Indian Ocean southwest of India), literature on precipitation patterns over the Maldives and its connection to the Asian monsoon is lacking. This thesis examines the variability of precipitation over the Maldives in relation to the Asian monsoon, since proper knowledge of the spatial and temporal variations of precipitation is essential for managing the water resources and agricultural sector of the Maldives. Yearly and monthly rainfall across the Maldives indicates that the rainfall varies temporally and spatially. Despite spatial variability of mean annual rainfall (January-December total) showing rainfall increasing from north to south, it was found that on average the northern and southern parts of the Maldives have received less rainfall during the monsoon season (May-November). This suggests that the mean annual rainfall maximum for the Maldives occurs between central and southern parts of the Maldives during the monsoon season. The Maldives monsoon rainfall is characterised by inter-decadal and inter-annual periodicities with a frequency of 12.9 and 2.5-4 years, and intra-seasonal periodicities (10-20 days and 30-60 day) in daily time series of monsoon rainfall for different regions of Asia. The fact that no objective criteria previously existed to identify monsoon onset and withdrawal dates in the Maldives, the criteria developed here for defining the monsoon season objectively for this region indicates that on average the rainy season or monsoon commences between 4 May and 13 May (mean onset dates based on outward longwave radiation (OLR) index and rain and wind criteria, respectively) and terminates in late November (21 and 23 November: mean withdrawal dates based on rain and wind, and OLR index criteria, respectively) for the Maldives. The mean length of the rainy season (LRS) based on the OLR index is 204 days, the mean LRS based on rain and wind is 11 days shorter (193 days). Results also demonstrate that the earliest monsoon onset for the Asian region occurs in the south of the Maldives in April. Correlation coefficient maps generated between Maldives monsoon rainfall and meteorological parameters suggest that the most significant parameters that influence the interannual variability of the Maldives monsoon rainfall (MMR) are mean sea level pressure, surface air temperature, OLR, sea surface temperature (SST), and the zonal wind and relative humidity at various levels. Temporal consistency checks carried out for these parameters with the MMR led to the elimination of some of these predictors (which have less influence in the variance of MMR). The predictors which explained a significant amount of variance in the MMR were retained, including surface relative humidity during April (SRHAPR), 850 hPa level relative humidity during May (850RHMAY) and 500 hPa relative humidity for May (500RHMAY). These parameters were then used to formulate a regression model (using backward regression) for the prediction of Maldives monsoon rainfall. The predictors included in the model account for a significant part of the variance (76.6%, with a correlation coefficient, CC = 0.9) in MMR, indicating the usefulness of the model for medium-range prediction of MMR before the core monsoon season commences. Global scale processes such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon influence the weather and climate around the globe, with ENSO considered to be one of the strongest natural phenomena influencing the climate of Asia on inter-annual time-scales. The association between the Maldives monsoon rainfall and ENSO events demonstrates that deficient/excess monsoon rainfall over the Maldives and India region is linked to the strong/moderate El Niño and La Niña events, respectively. During strong/moderate El Niño events, about 71.4% of the time the Maldives/India region experiences deficiencies in monsoon rainfall, while the Maldives/India region experiences excessive monsoon rainfall about 75% of the time during strong/moderate La Niña events. One of the regional scale processes that influence the climate of Asia is Eurasian snow cover. No previous studies have directly examined possible relationships between Eurasian snow and Maldives monsoon rainfall. The possible relationship between Eurasian snow cover (ESC) and the Maldives monsoon rainfall, explored in this research for the first time, appears to be only very weak. The results also demonstrate that the inverse relationship between the ESC and the Indian monsoon has weakened over recent decades. The correlation coefficient (-0.34) between Indian monsoon rainfall and ESC obtained for the 1973-94 period dropped to -0.18 for the 1979-2007 period. The inter-annual variability of the Indian and Australian monsoon rainfall experiences a remarkable biennial oscillation, which has been referred to as the tropospheric biennial oscillation (TBO). It is believed that the land and ocean surface conditions in March-May (MAM) over the Indo-Pacific region play an important role in monsoon transitions. The Maldives monsoon rainfall transition from relatively strong/weak to relatively weak/strong in consecutive years demonstrates a TBO connection (via a biennial tendency in Maldives monsoon rainfall). In relation to the Maldives monsoon rainfall, TBO strong years occur about 47.1% of the time, while weak TBO years occur about 52.9% of the time. Only some of the El Niño and La Niña onset years correspond to strong TBO years, with El Niño onset years (1982, 1987 and 2002) corresponding to weak TBO years, while La Niña onset years (1988 and 2000) corresponding to strong TBO years. Variability (spatial and temporal) in Maldives precipitation associated with global and regional scale processes results in flood and drought events that have downstream impacts, such as on water resources and the agricultural sector of the Maldives. Excess (wet) or deficient rainfall years identified for the period 1992-2008 indicate that the central region is most vulnerable to flooding (5 years with excess rainfall: 27.8% of the time), while the southern region is least vulnerable to both flooding (2 years with excess rainfall: 11.1% of the time) and drought (2 years with deficit rainfall: 11.1% of the time). The northern and central regions show an equal number of years with deficit rainfall (3 years: 16.7% of the time), indicating that they are equally prone to drought events. Furthermore, field survey results demonstrate that about 23, 31 and 37% households (respondents) from the northern, central and southern regions experienced flood events. About 79, 58 and 77% of the farmers from the northern, central and southern areas also experienced floods on their farms. On the other hand, field survey results also suggest that the 49-63% of the households in outer islands of the Maldives and 48-62% of farmers experience shortage of rainwater.

Le changement climatique est un phénomène d'actualité dont les effets se font et se feront ressentir. Nous utilisons un modèle d'équilibre général calculable afin d'analyser l'impact des changements climatiques dans l'industrie forestière du Québec et d'évaluer l'ampleur des programmes d'adaptation sur les effets de ce dernier. Le modèle utilisé est un modèle statique permettant de mieux mettre en exergue les spécificités de transmission des effets des changements climatiques dans l'industrie forestière. Trois simulations sont réalisées afin d'effectuer cette analyse : une hausse de la productivité forestière, une baisse de cette même productivité et un programme d'adaptation. Outre les effets négatifs sur les écosystèmes des changements climatiques, nous trouvons un impact négatif non négligeable sur la foresterie du Québec. Ces changements occasionneront la baisse de la productivité des forêts et par la même une diminution du volume de bois récolté. Les industries forestières utilisant le bois comme intrant vont être directement affectées par cette baisse de matière première. Par les mécanismes d'équilibre général, la chute de la production de ces industries se répercute sur l'ensemble de l'économie de la province. Les programmes d'adaptation mis en place par le gouvernement et les différents groupes forestiers pourraient contribuer à atténuer ces effets négatifs.