Strip cutting, from its form and dimension, may be called a landscape element; it is also a disturbance which brings about sudden changes in the resources of the natural environment, particularly in forest vegetation. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to determine the spatial variation (in vertical stratification and horizontal structure) of deciduous forest vegetation in three strip corridors of variable widths (30, 60 and 90 metres). To this effect, quantitative measures of composition and specific diversity have been taken, as well as other measures of variables closely related to vegetation. The use of factorial methods (correspondence analysis, grouping method) completes the information gathered on vegetation dynamism in strip corridors. The results of this study indicate that the width of the corridor has, to a certain extent, a structuring effect on composition and specific diversity, and has an influence on the succession pattern. All three strip corridors are sufficiently regenerated, and the 30 metre corridor shows the highest specific diversity. The subject is dealt with in terms of both forest regeneration conditions and landscape ecology, since the effect of corridor width on secondary vegetation dynamism is studied.

This study attempts to describe and explain the differential residential concentrations of new immigrant groups in Ottawa-Hull, and to compare these to the concentrations of pre-1967 immigrant groups. The study is limited to an examination of a selection of ethnic and immigrant groups as they are defined in the 1986 Census, the source of the data. An attempt is made to generalize on the results and to identify issues for future research. The results of this study of the differential residential concentrations of ethnic and immigrant groups in Ottawa-Hull indicate that family status, socio-economic status, recency of immigration and language facility are (in 1986) still important variables explaining residential concentration. The influence of each of these factors varies with the ethnic or immigrant group in question. Social distance based on race and visibility does not appear to be, as yet, the most important variable explaining residential concentration of the visible minority groups. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Water management by government is becoming a more difficult and complex task, as increased natural resource development and other industrial and municipal pressures impact cumulatively on the very resources that centrally support each of these needs. Coming to grips with this cumulative attack on the ecosystem has frustrated the public, as well as the leaders of both public and private sectors, as resource development proposals seemingly get hung up in public reviews in which the proponent, the public and the scientific community are not able to agree on what form of development is both desirable, from a socio-economic standpoint, and reasonable, given environmental limits. The capacity of current institutional arrangements for resource management is not providing the opportunity for the kind of integrated decision-making needed. Consequently, such conflicts are being settled in the courts, rather than within the institutional arrangements established for the purposes of resource management. Previous research has indicated that current institutional arrangements for resource management are designed for a past era when water issues were dealt with on a sectoral basis in relation to emerging crises. This had made it difficult for any integrated effort to be made by interested parties involved when focused in a particular geographical area. Reinforcing this difficulty is the constitutional division of responsibility for resource management between federal and provincial governments. As a microcosm of this general circumstance, the Alberta-Pacific (AL-PAC) pulp mill proposal assessment and review is used as a case study and entry point for assessing current weaknesses in institutional arrangements for resource management. Through the development and application of an evaluation framework, contextual factors and weaknesses in legislation, policies, processes and mechanisms that had a bearing on the case were identified and described. These weaknesses served as leverage points for prescribing recommended actions to achieve integration in resource management and for gaining an enhanced federal role in water management. Data collected were derived from three main sources: correspondence/newsclippings; official documentation, such as legislation, policies, reports, etc.; and interviews conducted with persons representing key stakeholder groups. The latter source provided perspectives on both weaknesses and needed changes. The study concluded that current barriers to integration are found in inadequate linkages among institutional arrangements, within each stage of the resource management process (e.g., lack of cohesiveness), and similarly within individual components of the institutional arrangements. By way of example, in the former instance, institutional arrangements are not designed to require the completion of regional land-use planning in a given geographical area prior to the consideration of a major project. In the latter instance, individual statutes and policies are vague and, at best, only implicit in directing attention to any interests other than respective sectoral interests. The implications of the study are considerable. If ecosystem health, and thus water management, are to be treated seriously by governments, a political commitment to embodying a capability for integration in resource management is essential. Requirements for integration should be built into all resource-related institutional arrangements within the management process. While all governments are responsible for bringing this about, the federal government should provide the leadership for developing, with the provinces, new approaches for achieving integrated resource management. A number of such approaches are recommended.

The purpose of this research is to describe and analyze the structure and process of decision-making inherent in the United Nations' Regional Seas Programme (RSP). This programme applies a comprehensive management approach to marine and coastal areas, in formulating regional action plans which address a variety of coastal and water resource problems and issues. These action plans are formulated according to the needs of the region, as perceived by the governments concerned. The research product is a series of cogent observations and recommendations specifically related to the Regional Seas Programme and its structure and process. These pronouncements are related specifically to the elements of the Resource Management Assessment Model. Several conclusions were made for each element. Finally, the thesis returns to its premiere motivation: a concern for Arctic management. It is suggested that elements of the Regional Seas Programme may be suitable for the Arctic management experience. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The public place has always provided a space where the social, commercial and political functions, generated by the sedentary way of life, were held. Although its functions have not greatly changed through time, the form of the public place has evolved to become an interior space. The fast growing development of the large cities in the last thirty years, has encouraged the construction of multipurpose complexes and shopping centres, which have taken over the role of the public place. This shift of the functions of the public place towards the interior is also a shift of the public space towards a privatized space, since most multipurpose complexes and shopping malls are privately owned. The study of this phenomenon, commonly known as the privatisation of public space, brings us to reflections on the freedom of the population and on the current and future planning of our cities.

This dissertation begins with a general description of facts, both physical and non-physical, on the dispute in the Gulf of Tonkin. The context in which the dispute arose is given first so that the reader can understand the background of the dispute in terms of both its regional setting (the South China Sea region) and its place in the overall bilateral disputes between Vietnam and China. Next, the physical aspects of the dispute, including coastal configuration, islands, resources, and geomorphological and geological conditions, are described. Then the development of the dispute and the positions of the parties are outlined. The second and third parts of the thesis attempt to answer three questions: (1) What rules and principles of international law are applicable to the delimitation of the territorial seas, exclusive economic zone, and continental shelf in the Gulf of Tonkin? (2) Did the 1887 Sino-French Convention establish the maritime boundary between Vietnam and China in the Gulf of Tonkin? (3) What is the course of the single maritime boundary between Vietnam and China in the Gulf of Tonkin from the eastern point of Tra Co to the closing line of the Gulf? In the examination of the applicable law, the rules on maritime delimitation are classified into legal principles, equitable criteria, relevant circumstances, and practical methods. A boundary line is drawn in the Gulf of Tonkin to illustrate the equitableness of the result reached in the research. The delimitation line was divided into three segments. In the first segment (from the land boundary terminus to the mid-point of oppositeness of coastal relationship), the basic criterion of equal division of the overlapping area requires the adoption of the bisector method based on the general direction of the coasts. Given the roughly equal lengths of the respective coasts of the Parties, the bisector line satisfies the equitable requirements. In the second segment, a median line is drawn from the end-point of the bisector line to the closing line of the Gulf of Tonkin so as to reflect the prevailing oppositeness of the coastal relationship. Finally, the presence and size of the Archipelago des Fai Tsi Long are taken into account in the same way as the Bijago Archipelago was in the Guinea--Guinea-Bissau case, that is, as a certain percentage of the length of the coast of Vietnam. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The demonstration of effective information gathering and resource management tools made possible through the operational use of remote sensing technology is the problem investigated in this research. The context of the investigation is technology transfer. Remote sensing offers a practical source of continuous spatial information which exists in developing nations and which can be applied to address the problem of lack of adequate resource information. The key to successful use of remote sensing is its operational transfer to resource managers and agencies in developing nations themselves. The methods which are employed in this research are used to demonstrate that remote sensing data can be applied under operational constraints common to managers in developing nations. The demonstrations have been carried out using LANDSAT MSS and TM imagery of Burkina Faso in West Africa and applying both digital and optical/mechanical equipment to aid visual interpretation and compilation of information relevant to water resource concerns in the region. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This research project evaluates the effectiveness of safety countermeasures at locations up-graded from stop sign to traffic signals in the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton. The study begins with an overview of the Region and countermeasure policies implemented by RMOC. The emphasis of the evaluation is based on the application of the "Traditional" approach and the "Probabilistic" approach to 54 locations that received traffic signals in 1986. The accident frequencies at these locations are studied using a "before-and-after" comparison and the data is standardized for risk by using traffic volume. The results indicate a substantial drop in accident rates, however, the evaluation does not indicate the level of contribution by traffic signals or by other factors. The allocation of traffic signals is evaluated in a supplementary analysis of components associated with traffic accidents. This complementary evaluation is of a "with-and-without" nature and includes a land use matrix of socio-geographic factors associated with the 54 countermeasure locations. The results indicate the presence of land use combinations common to particular locations. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The two types of ecotourists have different impacts on both the local economy and the environment. The resort ecotourists are isolated to resorts. Each night is spent in the same place and tours consist of day hikes to local Indian villages and to the primary rainforest. These tourists aid the economy less than budget ecotourists because the employees that serve them are hired from outside the region and food goods for the tourists are imported into the region. In contrast, the budget ecotourists are spatially dispersed and travel each night to a new tourist camp. The budget ecotourists are essential to the economy of Pto. Misahualli. Only inhabitants of Pto. Misahualli are employed in the ecotourism industry, and all food for jungle trips is bought at local stores. Although the budget ecotourists are much more important for the local economy than resort tourists, the infrastructure of the resort ecotourists has a place in promoting the rainforest at the international level. The current ecotourism industry in Napo is sustainable within its own parameters, but the infringement of the oil industry and the small farm colonization on the primary rainforest will ultimately lead to its downfall. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This study concentrates on primary education and community projects as analytical tools. It hypothesizes that there is an hierarchy of allocation that mirrors core-periphery relations of regions, and that there is a rural-urban dichotomy in the endowment of specific Local Government Areas (LGAs). The combined evidence of the distribution of teachers and of pupils by sex, and of budgeted amounts for community projects, suggests a three-level division of LGAs. There are low-endowment rural LGAs, having high male-to-female teacher ratios and, to some degree, more male than female pupils. There are high-endowment rural LGAs, with rough parity of teacher and pupil ratios, and varied--but high--levels of project budget. Finally, there are urban LGAs, with high female-to-male teacher ratios, a tendency for female pupils to outnumber male, and very low community project budgets. However, these divisions are based on crude statistics, rank-ordered, and take no account of effects of the larger region (i.e. Eastern Nigeria). The preliminary interpretation, which does support a rural-urban endowment dichotomy, is of limited value because statistics essential to a definitive conclusion are unavailable. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)