Marginal Return of Infrastructure Investment on Bilateral Trade Performance

Investing in transport infrastructures such as roadways, airports and seaports has proven to improve a country's trade performance through reduction of transportation costs and providing access to production and market. This research investigates the diminishing return of infrastructure investment and also the rate of return of two types of infrastructure investment strategies on trade. An augmented gravity model is used with econometric analysis methods in this study. The results have shown that as roadway and airport densities increase, the marginal returns on trade decrease. Empirical evidence from the United States and China with all their trading partners from the past twenty years has also suggested existence of diminishing return of infrastructure investment on roadways and airports. Infrastructure investment strategy that focuses on increasing roadway and airport density experiences smaller diminishing return on trade. In contrast, seaport investment that focuses on port quality and efficiency generates higher return on trade. A trade benefiting infrastructure investment strategy that best utilizes financial resources must balance between quality and quantity based on a country's current level of infrastructure asset.

Use and Performance of In-Stream Structures for River Restoration: a Case Study from North Carolina

In-stream structures including cross-vanes, J-hooks, rock vanes, and W-weirs are widely used in river restoration to limit bank erosion, prevent changes in channel gradient, and improve aquatic habitat. During this investigation, a rapid assessment protocol was combined with post-project monitoring data to assess factors influencing the performance of more than 558 in-stream structures and rootwads in North Carolina. Cross-sectional survey data examined for 221 cross sections from 26 sites showed that channel adjustments were highly variable from site to site, but approximately 60 % of the sites underwent at least a 20 % net change in channel capacity. Evaluation of in-stream structures ranging from 1 to 8 years in age showed that about half of the structures were impaired at 10 of the 26 sites. Major structural damage was often associated with floods of low to moderate frequency and magnitude. Failure mechanisms varied between sites and structure types, but included: (1) erosion of the channel bed and banks (outflanking); (2) movement of rock materials during floods; and (3) burial of the structures in the channel bed. Sites with reconstructed channels that exhibited large changes in channel capacity possessed the highest rates of structural impairment, suggesting that channel adjustments between structures led to their degradation of function. The data question whether currently used in-stream structures are capable of stabilizing reconfigured channels for even short periods when applied to dynamic rivers.

Double Take Project: Using Applied Theatre For Campus Climate Change

Despite research gathered in the Campus Climate Report, I believe that it underrepresented the student experience of the social scene. The document primarily served as an identification tool for four major problems on campus: binge drinking, sexual assault, diversity, and disengagement in the classroom. Double Take Project also identifies similar issues however, this project uses theatrical techniques to gather the anecdotal reality of the student perspective. Double Take Project expands beyond the Campus Climate Report to inspire dialogue in a variety of student-to-student interactions and, more importantly, the project seeks action and solution plans. The social scene dominates our culture and its many issues result in concern for the safety, self-identity, and development of Bucknell students into thriving adults. Double Take Project is rooted in the belief that theatre is a palpable tool for social change. Over the course of many events, Double Take Project has utilized facets of theatre to provide opportunities to voice discontent, widen perception of normalcy on campus, and inspire confidence to act on personal beliefs. The Double Take Project uses many Applied Theatre methods to impact the social scene. For example, I conducted 36 student interviews and transformed the stories into a one-woman show, Rage Behind Curtains, which I performed at multiple venues across campus. I also used interviews to create a radio show airing one story per day. I conducted ten workshops with student groups, Fraternities and Sororities, and in the classroom utilizing Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) techniques. I also created a “social scene confessional” where I stood outside the Elaine Langone Center with a sign that read, “Tell me a story about the social scene” from a wide variety of Bucknell students. Finally, I have assembled a Forum Theatre Company based on Augusto Boal’s method of the spect-actor, utilizing participants as both actors and spectators in the theatre piece. All of the names indicated in this paper have been altered to protect the identity of the participants. While planning events and conducting various theatrical experiences, I learned that there are a series of internal and external issues contributing to our social environment. Internally, students are conflicted with personal beliefs while battling outward social pressure. Whether they are on the outskirts or center of the social scene determines their response to this conflict. For example, I have discovered that students on the borders of the social culture respond with criticism because they feel excluded, whereas the student’s centrally involved critique the culture in private and while their persona appears to not want change. Externally, there are many structural issues that contribute to the current social climate such as without Fraternity meal plans, Cafeteria space is not sufficient to feed all of the students, exclusive party culture, and gendered housing. Through meetings with Deans and staff, I have learned there are also problems between administration and students, resulting in resentment and blame. Although addressing structural issues would instigate immediate change, in my opinion, internal student conflicts are the primary cause for the current negative social atmosphere. I believe that pressure to conform is rooted in lack of personal identity. Because students simply do not know themselves, they form strong social groups that become the definition of themselves. Without confident self-awareness, large and powerful groups coerce students to accept social norms resulting in the individual’s outward distaste for change, yet internal discomfort.

AN EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF THE PERFORMANCE OF A VORTEX-DRIVEN AIR LIFT PUMP

A prototype vortex-driven air lift pump was developed and experimentally evaluated. It was designed to be easily manufactured and scalable for arbitrary riser diameters. The model tested fit in a 2 inch diameter riser with six air injection nozzles through which airwas injected helically around the perimeter of the riser at an angle of 70º from pure tangential injection. The pump was intended to transport both water and sediment over a large range of submergence ratios. A test apparatus was designed to be able to simulate deep water or oceanic environments. The resulting test setup had a finite reservoir; over the course of a test, the submergence ratio varied from 0.48 to 0.39. For air injection pressures ranging from 10 to 60 psig and for air flow rates of 6 to 15 scfm, the induced water discharge flow rates varied only slightly, due to the limited range of available submergence ratios. The anticipated simulation of deep water environment, with a corresponding equivalent increase in thesubmergence ratio, proved unattainable. The pump prototype successfully transported both water and sediment (sand). Thepercent volume yield of the sediment was in an acceptable range. The pump design has been subsequently used successfully in a 4 inch configuration in a follow-on project. A computer program was written in Matlab to simulate the pump characteristics. The program output water pressures at the location of air injection which were physicallycompatible with the experimental data.

Monitoring and Modeling of the Hydraulic and Sediment Processes at In-Stream Restoration Structures in the Vicinity of a Bridge Crossing

The long-term performance of infrastructure depends on reliable and sustainable designs. Many of Pennsylvania’s streams experience sediment transport problems that increase maintenance costs and lower structural integrity of bridge crossings. A stream restoration project is one common mitigation measure used to correct such problems at bridge crossings. Specifically, in an attempt to alleviate aggradation problems with the Old Route 15 Bridge crossing on White Deer Creek, in White Deer, PA, two in-stream structures (rock cross vanes) and several bank stabilization features were installed along with a complete channel redevelopment. The objectives of this research were to characterize the hydraulic and sediment transport processes occurring at the White Deer Creek site, and to investigate, through physical and mathematical modeling, the use of instream restoration structures. The goal is to be able to use the results of this study to prevent aggradation or other sediment related problems in the vicinity of bridges through improved design considerations. Monitoring and modeling indicate that the study site on White Deer Creek is currently unstable, experiencing general channel down-cutting, bank erosion, and several local areas of increased aggradation and degradation of the channel bed. An in-stream structure installed upstream of the Old Route 15 Bridge failed by sediment burial caused by the high sediment load that White Deer Creek is transporting as well as the backwater effects caused by the bridge crossing. The in-stream structure installed downstream of the Old Route 15 Bridge is beginning to fail because of the alignment of the structure with the approach direction of flow from upstream of the restoration structure.