Construit dans le but de relier la Garonne à la mer Méditerranée à partir de 1666, et inscrit sur la liste du Patrimoine mondial de l'UNESCO en 1996, le canal du Midi connaît aujourd'hui une nouvelle étape dans l'histoire de son évolution paysagère. En 2006, le chancre coloré, maladie du platane connue pour être incurable, est découvert. À terme, les 42 000 arbres de cette espèce ombrageant le canal, de Toulouse à l'étang de Thau, seraient menacés de disparition, leur abattage constituant pour le moment l'unique solution pour tenter d'enrayer l'infection. Alors qu'il est utilisé aujourd'hui presque exclusivement par le tourisme, on peut se demander quelles seront les conséquences de la disparition de la voûte verte formée par les platanes, alors qu'elle constitue une caractéristique fortement appréciée pour des raisons esthétiques et de confort. La disparition des platanes bordant le canal du Midi a mis en exergue de multiples dysfonctionnements liés à l'implication d'une pluralité d'acteurs aux objectifs parfois divergents et n'ayant jamais véritablement réussi à se fédérer autour d'une gouvernance globale. Cette thèse propose donc de questionner les enjeux liés à ce bouleversement et son influence sur le positionnement des acteurs des territoires traversés par l'ouvrage. J'envisage le chancre coloré comme un élément perturbateur qui laisse à lire des réalités différentes en fonction des échelles du territoire concerné par l'avenir du site canal du Midi, certains territoires révélant leur vulnérabilité mais d'autres pouvant démontrer leur capacité de résilience. Il peut également être un révélateur d'autres dynamiques liées à l'évolution de la gestion des territoires. / Engineered from 1966 onwards in order to connect Garonne River to Mediterranean Sea, registered on UNESCO'S World Heritage List since May 1996, the Canal du Midi is now facing a new step of his landscape's evolution. In 2006, canker disease, which affects plane trees with no hope of recovery, is discovered. Sooner or later, the 42,000 plane trees which shadow the waterway, from Toulouse to the Thau Lagoon, will disappear, their removal being at present the only option for containing the spread of the disease. Nowadays, the Canal du Midi is used mostly for tourism purposes, so we can wonder what will be the consequences of the green canopy's disappearance, this one being highly appreciated for aesthetic and convenience reasons. The destruction of the plane trees has highlighted various failures related to the implication of multiple actors whose objectives are sometimes diverging, and who have never succeeded to agree on a common and global governance. The aim of this thesis is therefore to review the issues related to this upheaval and its consequences on local stakeholders positioning. Canker disease is thus considered as a disruptive factor which point out different field realities according to the scale of the territory involved in the Canal du Midi's future. Some of these territories show their vulnerability, while others exhibit resilience and capacity to adapt to this new environmental reality. It may also reveal other dynamics linked with the evolution of territorial management.

This dissertation examines several issues regarding the congestion on the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway. Chapter II identifies and measures the impact of lock congestion on grain barge rates on these waterways. Results indicate grain barge rates on both rivers are not affected by lagged lock congestion. In present time, however, lock congestion in the lower reaches of the upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers are found to increase barge rates that link the north central United States to the lower Mississippi Gulf port area. The findings suggest the impact of lock congestion on grain barge rates is moderate. Chapter III explores the interaction between grain prices in export and domestic markets and transportation rates linking these markets over time. Three model frameworks were evaluated and some consistent results are observed. In general, shocks in transportation rates (barge, rail, and ocean) explain a great proportion of the variation in corn and soybean market prices in the long run, suggesting the importance of transportation in grain price determination. The volatile ocean freight rates are the mostimportant transportation rates contributing to the variation in grain prices, while shocks in barge rates on the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway generally explain less than 15 percent of the variation in grain prices. The dynamic interrelationships among the six evaluated transportation rates are also found. In addition, the north central corn markets likely have the most influence over other markets while soybean export price dominates the soybean market in the long run. Chapter IV estimates the structural demand for grain barge transportation on both the upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. Results suggest foreign grain demand is the most influential force affecting grain barge demand on both rivers. Also, results indicate an inelastic demand for grain barge transportation on the Upper Mississippi in the short run; demand is price elastic in the long run. The price elasticity for grain barge demand on the Illinois River is consistently inelastic. Additionally, the winter season and floods affect demand on the Upper Mississippi negatively, while barge demand increases on the Illinois River in winter.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 1998. / "Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, November 1998" Bibliography : p. 347-368.

The environmental management of watersheds presents a complex governance issue due to their large spatial scales that include overlapping jurisdictions, competing interests in resource use, and lack of coordination among stakeholders. The Rideau Canal, spanning 200 km between the cities of Ottawa and Kingston, is an interesting case study as it is a multi-watershed system over which municipal, provincial and federal governments have authority. However, these governments have been unsuccessful in addressing system-wide issues such as shoreline development, erosion and invasive species that have significantly impacted the ecological integrity of the canal. A shift toward polycentric governance, which are systems of multi-scale governance, in which well-informed publics can contribute to the Rideau Canal’s management is required. This thesis examines how co-governance can be conceptualized for the RC by (1) analyzing convergences in stakeholder perspectives about the environment and governance, and (2) comparing collaborative causal mapping exercises with various stakeholders to current government engagement efforts. A tiered co-governance framework that intentionally links existing small-scale activities to system-wide formal venues of knowledge sharing could democratize environmental governance on the Rideau Canal to improve its management. Beyond its practical contributions, this research also contributes to developing the academic literature on co-governance for multi-watershed waterways that have both constructed and natural aspects.

[pt] Apesar da dimensão continental brasileira, da grandeza de sua costa e da proximidade entre o litoral e os grandes centros urbanos, o transporte de cargas em contêineres utilizando a cabotagem ainda é muito restrito no Brasil. Neste cenário, para ganhar espaço, os armadores brasileiros de cabotagem buscam oferecer serviços porta-a-porta, conseguindo economias de escala na contratação dos fornecedores que realizam as pontas rodoviárias, aumentando assim a competitividade da cabotagem com seu principal concorrente, o modal rodoviário. Neste trabalho são apresentados dois modelos que visam minimizar o custo total de contratação de fornecedores rodoviários para uma lista de demandas que devem ser atendidas. O primeiro é um modelo matemático de programação linear inteira, o segundo é um algoritmo que utiliza uma heurística gulosa. Os modelos foram desenvolvidos e testados em cenários reais, vividos por armador de cabotagem brasileiro durante um período de tempo determinado. Os resultados dos dois modelos, que são comparados entre si e com as soluções realizadas manualmente por funcionários do armador de cabotagem, mostram que as soluções dos modelos de otimização são muito melhores do que as soluções manuais. Os resultados mostram ainda que o algoritmo guloso alcança resultados muito próximos aos do método exato, mostrando ser de grande utilidade dada a facilidade de sua implantação. / [en] Despite the Brazilian continental scale, the magnitude of its coastline and the proximity between the coast and the large urban centers, the transport of cargo in containers using cabotage is still very limited in Brazil. In this scenario, the Brazilian cabotage ship-owners seek to provide door-to-door services, achieving economies of scale in procurement for suppliers that perform road ends, thus increasing the competitiveness of cabotage with its main competitor, the transportation by trucks. This work presents two models that aim to minimize the total cost of hiring road suppliers to a list of demands that must be performed. The first is a mathematical model based on integer linear programming, the second is an algorithm that uses a greedy heuristic. The models were developed and tested in real scenarios, experienced by a Brazilian cabotage ship-owner for a period of time. The results of the two models, which are compared among each other and with the manually solutions performed by the company’s employees, show that the solutions of optimization models are much better than the manual solutions. The results also show that the greedy algorithm achieves very close results to the exact method, proving to be very useful given the ease of its implementation.

O objetivo deste trabalho é utilizar parcela do potencial da Internet como ferramenta de apoio ao desenvolvimento do processo de ensino-aprendizagem, através do emprego efetivo de alguns de seus recursos e posterior avaliação dos resultados obtidos em disciplina específica da Engenharia de Transportes. Para introduzir e avaliar a abordagem aqui proposta foi selecionada a disciplina STT403 - Aeroportos, Portos e Vias Navegáveis, oferecida pelo Departamento de Transportes da Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos, da Universidade de São Paulo, que é ministrada dentro do curso de graduação em Engenharia Civil. A parte da disciplina relativa a Portos e Vias Navegáveis, que tem cunho predominantemente informativo, foi adaptada para um método de ensino a distância, neste caso semipresencial, ou seja, as aulas expositivas tradicionais não foram suprimidas. Na abordagem aqui proposta as aulas foram ministradas em sala de aula e um material confeccionado pelos alunos com auxílio do professor foi disponibilizado na Internet, para que posteriormente os demais alunos pudessem consultá-lo. As dúvidas daí resultantes foram sanadas tanto em sala de aula como em consulta direta ao docente. Além das pesquisas realizadas pelos alunos, testes, bibliotecas, agenda e o desempenho individual de cada aluno também foram colocados à disposição no ambiente computacional para auxiliá-los na construção do conhecimento. A adaptação da disciplina a este novo método de ensino foi feita com o ambiente WebCT, sistema de gerenciamento de educação a distância, que pode ser utilizado pelos professores da USP para disponibilizarem seus cursos e/ou disciplinas na Internet há alguns anos. Esta ferramenta, que foi concebida por uma universidade canadense para melhorar o processo de ensino-aprendizagem, possui rotinas desenvolvidas especificamente para estimular a interação entre professor-aluno e entre os próprios alunos. Os resultados observados se constituem em fortes evidências de que a educação a distância, baseada na Internet, pode vir a ser uma estratégia efetiva na oferta de cursos para estudantes de engenharia, engenheiros e profissionais da área tecnológica, em larga escala e sem comprometimento da qualidade. A avaliação dos resultados obtidos permite afirmar, no mínimo: que o índice de satisfação com o curso por parte dos alunos com relação aos aspectos analisados pode ser considerado razoável e que a abordagem proposta parece promissora. / The aim of this work is to explore a fraction of the Internet potential as a supporting tool for the improvement of the learning process of a specific course in the Transportation Engineering field. This is accomplished through the application, in a regular course, of selected Internet resources and subsequent evaluation of the obtained results. The course, named Airports, Ports, and Inland Waterways, is part of the Civil Engineering core curriculum at the São Carlos School of Engineering - University of São Paulo. The teaching approach used for exploring Internet resources in the part of the course that deals with Ports and Inland Waterways did not eliminate the traditional classroom weekly meeting with the students, but took advantage of it to improve the process of distance education. In the approach proposed here, the students were organized in groups and asked to build a reference material with the aid of the lecturer in charge of the course. That material was later made available to the entire class through Internet, so that everyone could study it and evaluate it as well. The doubts arising from it could be discussed either in the classroom or directly with the lecturer. In addition to the results of the research carried out by the students, the environment built in Internet offered several other tools to support the learning process, such as: tests, libraries, agenda, and a management tool designed to track the individual performance of every student. The adaptation of the course to Internet has been done in a WebCT environment. That tool, which is a management system for distance education available for use at the University of São Paulo, has been designed by a Canadian university with the objective of stimulating the interactions among students themselves and with the course lecturer. The observed results seem to provide a strong evidence that Internet-based distance education might become an effective strategy for offering courses to Engineering students and professionals, and also to professionals of other technological areas. It can be a large-scale process without compromising the quality of the courses. Two points can be stressed, based on the evaluation of the results obtained with the application conducted here: the satisfaction level of the students with the course was not bad, and the proposed approach seems to be promising.

O objetivo deste trabalho é utilizar parcela do potencial da Internet como ferramenta de apoio ao desenvolvimento do processo de ensino-aprendizagem, através do emprego efetivo de alguns de seus recursos e posterior avaliação dos resultados obtidos em disciplina específica da Engenharia de Transportes. Para introduzir e avaliar a abordagem aqui proposta foi selecionada a disciplina STT403 - Aeroportos, Portos e Vias Navegáveis, oferecida pelo Departamento de Transportes da Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos, da Universidade de São Paulo, que é ministrada dentro do curso de graduação em Engenharia Civil. A parte da disciplina relativa a Portos e Vias Navegáveis, que tem cunho predominantemente informativo, foi adaptada para um método de ensino a distância, neste caso semipresencial, ou seja, as aulas expositivas tradicionais não foram suprimidas. Na abordagem aqui proposta as aulas foram ministradas em sala de aula e um material confeccionado pelos alunos com auxílio do professor foi disponibilizado na Internet, para que posteriormente os demais alunos pudessem consultá-lo. As dúvidas daí resultantes foram sanadas tanto em sala de aula como em consulta direta ao docente. Além das pesquisas realizadas pelos alunos, testes, bibliotecas, agenda e o desempenho individual de cada aluno também foram colocados à disposição no ambiente computacional para auxiliá-los na construção do conhecimento. A adaptação da disciplina a este novo método de ensino foi feita com o ambiente WebCT, sistema de gerenciamento de educação a distância, que pode ser utilizado pelos professores da USP para disponibilizarem seus cursos e/ou disciplinas na Internet há alguns anos. Esta ferramenta, que foi concebida por uma universidade canadense para melhorar o processo de ensino-aprendizagem, possui rotinas desenvolvidas especificamente para estimular a interação entre professor-aluno e entre os próprios alunos. Os resultados observados se constituem em fortes evidências de que a educação a distância, baseada na Internet, pode vir a ser uma estratégia efetiva na oferta de cursos para estudantes de engenharia, engenheiros e profissionais da área tecnológica, em larga escala e sem comprometimento da qualidade. A avaliação dos resultados obtidos permite afirmar, no mínimo: que o índice de satisfação com o curso por parte dos alunos com relação aos aspectos analisados pode ser considerado razoável e que a abordagem proposta parece promissora. / The aim of this work is to explore a fraction of the Internet potential as a supporting tool for the improvement of the learning process of a specific course in the Transportation Engineering field. This is accomplished through the application, in a regular course, of selected Internet resources and subsequent evaluation of the obtained results. The course, named Airports, Ports, and Inland Waterways, is part of the Civil Engineering core curriculum at the São Carlos School of Engineering - University of São Paulo. The teaching approach used for exploring Internet resources in the part of the course that deals with Ports and Inland Waterways did not eliminate the traditional classroom weekly meeting with the students, but took advantage of it to improve the process of distance education. In the approach proposed here, the students were organized in groups and asked to build a reference material with the aid of the lecturer in charge of the course. That material was later made available to the entire class through Internet, so that everyone could study it and evaluate it as well. The doubts arising from it could be discussed either in the classroom or directly with the lecturer. In addition to the results of the research carried out by the students, the environment built in Internet offered several other tools to support the learning process, such as: tests, libraries, agenda, and a management tool designed to track the individual performance of every student. The adaptation of the course to Internet has been done in a WebCT environment. That tool, which is a management system for distance education available for use at the University of São Paulo, has been designed by a Canadian university with the objective of stimulating the interactions among students themselves and with the course lecturer. The observed results seem to provide a strong evidence that Internet-based distance education might become an effective strategy for offering courses to Engineering students and professionals, and also to professionals of other technological areas. It can be a large-scale process without compromising the quality of the courses. Two points can be stressed, based on the evaluation of the results obtained with the application conducted here: the satisfaction level of the students with the course was not bad, and the proposed approach seems to be promising.

O Rio Grande do Sul possui um grande potencial para a navegação interior devido à extensão de sua rede hidrográfica de quase 2200 km, sendo 930 km navegáveis. Aliado a isto, na última década o estado apresentou um crescimento econômico em relação ao Produto Interno Bruto (PIB) de 167,2 %, segundo a Fundação de Economia e Estatística/RS. Mesmo com estas condicionantes favoráveis constata-se que o modelo atual da estrutura logística da movimentação de cargas continua a não privilegiar o setor hidroviário interior. Tendo em vista estes aspectos, esta dissertação apresenta um estudo cujos objetivos são: (i) identificar a representatividade do modal hidroviário interior em relação à movimentação de cargas, destinadas à exportação e importação, da metade norte do Rio Grande do Sul aos principais terminais privados hidroviários e ao porto público, localizados na cidade de Rio Grande; (ii) comparar o modal hidroviário com seus principais concorrentes, os modais rodoviário e ferroviário e (iii) avaliar o impacto econômico da adoção do calado sazonal. Para a comparação dos modais foram escolhidos três parâmetros que estabelecem custos em relação à tonelada quilometro transportada, são eles: custo médio de operação; custo despendido com combustíveis; e custos sociais. Após as informações coletadas foram processadas e analisadas, possibilitando identificar os custos gerados por cada modal. Na comparação destaca-se que o custo dos modais rodoviário e ferroviário são respectivamente 1541% e 405% maior do que o hidroviário interior e que a carga movimentada pelos três modais, em 2011, representou um custo total de R$ 1,79 bilhões, ou seja, 0,65% do PIB estadual. Na avaliação da adoção do calado sazonal foi estudado o possível ganho em termos de capacidade de transporte de cargas e a redução de custos gerada pela utilização do transporte hidroviário interior, no Rio Grande do Sul, decorrentes da possível implantação da permissividade de um calado sazonal, em função da variação histórica dos níveis de água, verificados através das curvas de permanências em nove estações pluviométricas localizadas na Laguna dos Patos e no Lago Guaíba. Constatou-se que a adoção do calado sazonal, no ano de 2011, teria um impacto de redução de custos de transporte na ordem de R$ 40,7 milhões, considerando a migração do modal rodoviário para o hidroviário e de R$ 10,1 milhões se fosse considerado a migração do modal ferroviário para o hidroviário. / The state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS), in Brazil, has a significant potential for internal navigation due to the extent of its drainage network of almost 2,200 km, of which 930 km are navigable. Allied to this, in the last decade the state had an economic growth in relation to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 167.2%, according to the Foundation of Economics and Statistics/RS. Even with these favorable conditions it appears that the current model of logistic structure of shipment continues to not emphasis on the internal waterway sector. Considering these aspects, this dissertation presents a study whose objectives are: (i) identify the representativeness of the interior waterways in relation to handling, for export and import, the northern half of Rio Grande do Sul to the main private terminals waterway and the public port, located in the city of Rio Grande , (ii) compare the waterways with its main competitors, the road and rail modes, and (iii) evaluate the economic impact of the adoption of the draft season. To compare the modals, three parameters that establish costs in relation to the tone kilometers transported were chosen, they are: average cost of operation, cost spent on fuel, and social costs. After the data were processed and analyzed, it was possible to identify the costs generated by each mode. In comparison it is emphasized that the cost of road and rail modes are respectively 405% and 1541% higher than the inland waterway and the shipment handled by the three modes, in 2011, represented a total cost of R$1.79 billion, i.e. 0.65% of the state GDP. In assessing the adoption of the draft seasonal possible gain was studied in terms of load carrying capacity and reducing costs generated by the use of inland waterway transport, in Rio Grande do Sul, from the possible deployment of the permittivity of a quiet season in function of the historical variation in water levels, checked through the curves stays in nine rainfall stations located in the Patos Lagoon and Lake Guaiba. It was found that the adoption of the draft season , in 2011, would have an impact of reducing transport costs in the order of R$40.7 million, considering the migration from road transport to waterways and R$10.1 million if found migrating the railroad to the waterway.

The United States Navy's involvement in the Vietnam War, especially its role in the region's inland waterways, has long been an overshadowed aspect of the conflict. Most histories ignore or minimize the Navy's contribution, especially its river patrol or 'brown water' role. Through archival and library research as well as interviews with U.S Navy Vietnam War veterans this thesis demonstrates the vital role played by the brown water navy in the northern provinces of South Vietnam. A key but understudied component of this effort was Task Force Clearwater, an improvised brown water fleet that-along with the maritime logistics campaign that it supported-would prove essential for the successful defense of South Vietnam's northernmost provinces and demonstrate the vital importance of inland naval power. Task Force Clearwater and its supported maritime logistics effort form a little explored component of the U.S. Navy's role in South Vietnam. A brown water task force that proved essential for the successful defense of the northern provinces of I Corps, Clearwater repeatedly demonstrated the vital importance of inland naval power and the critical need for reliable and protected routes of supply. The task force revealed many lessons that had been long understood, forgotten, and then relearned by the U.S. Navy, among them that control of inland waterways was perhaps the most advantageous form of logistical supply in war. Created in part to satisfy the ancient maxim of "keeping the supply lines open", the task force's role broadened with time. In the course of its existence the men and boats of Clearwater would provide not only the tools of war in I Corps but also provide key lessons for the future.

Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisor: Dr. Robert Deyle, Florida State University, College of Social Sciences, Dept. of Urban and Regional Planning. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 13, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 70 pages. Includes bibliographical references.