Orientador: Anna Silvia Palcheco Peixoto / Co-orientador: Barbara Stolte Bezerra / Banca: Archimedes Azevedo Raia Junior / Banca: Rosane Aparecida Gomes Battistelle / Resumo: A preocupação com o transporte rodoviário de produtos perigosos (TRPP) vem aumentando nos últimos anos devido: ao crescente consumo deste tipo de produto, que tem uma relação direta com uma maior movimentação desta carga nas rodovias; a a dominância do TRPP sobre outros modos; a crescente urbanização ao longo das rodovias e a utilização de veículos de carga com idade avançada, aumentando a ocorrência e a gravidade dos acidentes. Por esta razão, existe uma demanda por estudos ambientais que avaliem o risco associado com o transporte de produtos perigos, direcionando ações preventivas e corretivas do setor público e privado a fim de reduzir o risco e minimizar os danos provocados por acidentes com este tipo de material. Sendo assim, o objetivo desta pesquisa foi propor uma metodologia para a identificação dos elementos que farão parte para a determinação do risco ambiental no TRPP que poderá ser aplicada em locais distintos, pois as características regionais podem ser bastante diversas influenciando na determinação ro risco final. Buscou-se uma nova abordagem para a determinação da vulnerabilidade ambiental, da vulnerabilidade populacional e da probabilidade de acidentes incluindo a análise multicritério para a ponderação e combinação dos critérios. O modelo foi implementado em um Sistema de Informações Geográficas (SIG), para a elaboração do mapa de risco ambiental e identificação dos trechos críticos da rodovia em estudo. Os dados de acidentes com o TRPP foram analisados, para o período de Janeiro de 2012 a Dezembro de 2013, nas rodovias SP 225 e SP 327 no trecho que liga Bauru à Ourinhos. A rodovia SP 225 possui um trecho de alto risco ambiental por ser um local que corta a malha urbana com alta densidade populacional e também por ser cortado pelo Rio Batalha utilizado para captação pública do município de Bauru. Na SP 327 o risco ambiental é baixo, pois a probabilidade de ocorrência de... / Abstract: Concerns about the road transportation of hazardous materials (RTHM) have been increasing over the last few years mainly due to: the increasing consumption of this kind of goods, which has a direct relation with the increase in road transportation of these goods; the dominance of RTHM over other transport means: the growing urbanization along roads and using old trucks for transportation, increasing the occurrence and severity of accidents. For this reason, there is a demand for environmental studies that assess the risk involved in the transportation of hazardous goods, so that they can lead to preventive and corrective measures from the public and private sectors in order to reduce the risk and minimize damage caused by accidents involving this kind of material. Thus, the goal of this study was to propose a methodology to identify the elements that will influence to determinate the environmental risk in the RTHM, which may be applied for different sites, since the varied regional characteristics influence the determination of the final risk. A new approach will be tried to determinte environment vulnerability, population vulnerability and the probability of accidents including the multicriteria analysis for weighting and combination of criteria. The model was implemented in a Geographic Information System (GLS), to evaluate the map of environmental risk and to identify the dangerous parts of the road begin studied. The data of accidents with the RTHM was analyzed, for the period between January 2012 and December 2013, on the highways SP 225 and SP 327, in the part that connects Bauru to Ourinhos. The highway SP 225 has a part with high environmental risk, because it is in a place that cuts the urban fabric with a high population density, and also for being crossed by the River Batalha, used in the drinking water abstraction in Bauru sites. On the SP 327 the environmental risk is very low, because the probability to occur accidents is... / Mestre

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-03T11:52:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2014-08-11Bitstream added on 2015-03-03T12:06:08Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000801549.pdf: 4964903 bytes, checksum: 52ab30b6ac0912be83ad2ccbc2984ed2 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A preocupação com o transporte rodoviário de produtos perigosos (TRPP) vem aumentando nos últimos anos devido: ao crescente consumo deste tipo de produto, que tem uma relação direta com uma maior movimentação desta carga nas rodovias; a a dominância do TRPP sobre outros modos; a crescente urbanização ao longo das rodovias e a utilização de veículos de carga com idade avançada, aumentando a ocorrência e a gravidade dos acidentes. Por esta razão, existe uma demanda por estudos ambientais que avaliem o risco associado com o transporte de produtos perigos, direcionando ações preventivas e corretivas do setor público e privado a fim de reduzir o risco e minimizar os danos provocados por acidentes com este tipo de material. Sendo assim, o objetivo desta pesquisa foi propor uma metodologia para a identificação dos elementos que farão parte para a determinação do risco ambiental no TRPP que poderá ser aplicada em locais distintos, pois as características regionais podem ser bastante diversas influenciando na determinação ro risco final. Buscou-se uma nova abordagem para a determinação da vulnerabilidade ambiental, da vulnerabilidade populacional e da probabilidade de acidentes incluindo a análise multicritério para a ponderação e combinação dos critérios. O modelo foi implementado em um Sistema de Informações Geográficas (SIG), para a elaboração do mapa de risco ambiental e identificação dos trechos críticos da rodovia em estudo. Os dados de acidentes com o TRPP foram analisados, para o período de Janeiro de 2012 a Dezembro de 2013, nas rodovias SP 225 e SP 327 no trecho que liga Bauru à Ourinhos. A rodovia SP 225 possui um trecho de alto risco ambiental por ser um local que corta a malha urbana com alta densidade populacional e também por ser cortado pelo Rio Batalha utilizado para captação pública do município de Bauru. Na SP 327 o risco ambiental é baixo, pois a probabilidade de ocorrência de... / Concerns about the road transportation of hazardous materials (RTHM) have been increasing over the last few years mainly due to: the increasing consumption of this kind of goods, which has a direct relation with the increase in road transportation of these goods; the dominance of RTHM over other transport means: the growing urbanization along roads and using old trucks for transportation, increasing the occurrence and severity of accidents. For this reason, there is a demand for environmental studies that assess the risk involved in the transportation of hazardous goods, so that they can lead to preventive and corrective measures from the public and private sectors in order to reduce the risk and minimize damage caused by accidents involving this kind of material. Thus, the goal of this study was to propose a methodology to identify the elements that will influence to determinate the environmental risk in the RTHM, which may be applied for different sites, since the varied regional characteristics influence the determination of the final risk. A new approach will be tried to determinte environment vulnerability, population vulnerability and the probability of accidents including the multicriteria analysis for weighting and combination of criteria. The model was implemented in a Geographic Information System (GLS), to evaluate the map of environmental risk and to identify the dangerous parts of the road begin studied. The data of accidents with the RTHM was analyzed, for the period between January 2012 and December 2013, on the highways SP 225 and SP 327, in the part that connects Bauru to Ourinhos. The highway SP 225 has a part with high environmental risk, because it is in a place that cuts the urban fabric with a high population density, and also for being crossed by the River Batalha, used in the drinking water abstraction in Bauru sites. On the SP 327 the environmental risk is very low, because the probability to occur accidents is...

Orientador: Lincoln Gehring Cardoso / Banca: Célia Regina Lopes Zimback / Banca: Wolmar Apparecida Carvalho / Banca: Rubens Angulo Filho / Banca: Wilson Manzoli Junior / Resumo: Tem sido amplamente reconhecido que as atividades agrícolas são as maiores fontes de poluição difusa dos recursos hídricos. A manutenção de vegetação natural ribeirinha pode reduzir a entrada de poluentes e sedimentos nos cursos de água, favorecendo a infiltração da água no solo, absorvendo, retardando ou purificando o escoamento antes que ele atinja os rios. Apesar do reconhecimento da importância das matas ripárias nesse aspecto e da Legislação Brasileira ser bastante preventiva, existem poucos estudos sobre a eficiência de retenção e as larguras necessárias em climas tropicais. Nesse sentido, os principais objetivos do presente estudo foram avaliar a eficiência de diversas larguras de mata ripária em reter o escoamento e reduzir o pico do escoamento para as condições mais críticas da área de estudo; estabelecer condições de referência para comparação com outras situações da área; aplicar o modelo de tempo de detenção para delinear larguras necessárias variáveis para toda área de estudo e identificar áreas mais frágeis, cuja restauração deveria ser priorizada. As condições mais críticas da área de estudo (área degradada), onde o escoamento superficial deve predominar, foram simuladas para avaliar a eficiência da zona ripária em controlar a poluição não pontual. Utilizou-se o Catchment Hydrology Distributed Model (CHDM, Lopes, 1995), para geração do escoamento que atinge o corpo d'água após passar por zonas tampão de comprimentos variáveis, para precipitaçõess de 6 tempos de retorno diferentes (1, 5, 10, 25, 50 e 100 anos), com durações de 30, 45 e 60 minutos. A área degradada consistiu num Podzólico Vermelho-Amarelo, sob uso agrícola. Os resultados indicaram eficiências máximas de 96,59% para redução do escoamento superficial e 90,18% para o pico do escoamento, com uma zona tampão de 100 m, para uma precipitação de tempo de retorno de 1 ano e duração de 60 minutos. / Abstract: Agricultural activities are one of the major contributors to non-point source pollution of inland surface and underground water. Keeping riparian vegetation can reduce pollutants and sediment away from water bodies, functioning as filter to delay, absorb, or purify runoff before it reaches surface waters. Although the Brazilian legislation recognizes the importance of riparian forests, there are few studies addressing their runoff retention capability and the riparian width efficiency in the Tropics. This study was conducted on the upper section of the Pardo River watershed, São Paulo State, Brazil, with the intent of: (a) evaluating efficiencies of different riparian widths in runoff retention in the most critical condition of the study area, (b) establishing a reference buffer, (c) applying the detention time model (Phillips, 1989a) to delineate efficient widths for the entire area and, (d) identifying priority areas for restoration. Conditions of degraded areas, where superficial flow might prevail, were simulated in order to evaluate riparian buffer efficiency to control non-point pollution. It was employed the Catchment Hydrology Distributed Model (Lopes, 1995), to generate runoff values to variable buffer widths for events of 6 return periods (1, 5, 10, 25, 50 and, 100 years), with 30, 45 and 60 minutes of duration. Degraded area comprised pastureland on Ultisoll (Podzólico Vermelho-Amarelo). Results indicated maximum efficiencies of 96.59% to overland flow reduction and, 90.18% to peak flow for 100-meter buffer zone, to 1-year return period event of 60 minutes. Minimum efficiencies reached 7.33% and 4.51%, respectively, to overland and peak flow for a 100-year event, with 30 minutes and 10-meter buffer width. Minimum width of 30 meters for streams up to 10-meter width, established by Brazilian Forestry Code, reached maximum efficiencies of 46.52% to runoff and, 32.40% to peak flow reduction. / Doutor

abstract: At first glance, trends in increased hunger and obesity in the United States (US) would seem to represent the result of different causal mechanisms. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that nearly 50 million Americans had experienced hunger in 2009. A year later, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a report showing that 68% of the US population was either overweight or obese. Researchers have found that these contrasting trends are actually interrelated. Being so, it is imperative that communities and individuals experiencing problems with food security are provided better access to healthy food options. In response to the need to increase healthy food access, many farmers markets in the US have received funding from the USDA to accept vouchers from federal food security programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). In Downtown Phoenix, Arizona, one organization accepting vouchers from several programs is the Phoenix Public Market. However, the mere existence of these programs is not enough to establish food security within a community: characteristics of the population and food environments must also be considered. To examine issues of food security and public health, this thesis utilizes geographical information systems (GIS) technology as a tool to analyze specific environments in order to inform program effectiveness and future funding opportunities. Utilizing methods from community-based participatory research (CBPR) and GIS, a mapping project was conducted in partnership with the Market to answer three questions: (1) what is the demographic makeup of the surrounding community? (2) What retailers around the Market also accept food security vouchers? And (3) where are food security offices (SNAP and WIC) located within the area? Both in terms of demographic characteristics and the surrounding food environment, the project results illustrate that the Market is embedded within a population of need, and an area where it could greatly influence community food security. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Social Justice and Human Rights 2011

In this dissertation I use data from 19 archaeological surveys in central Tyrrhenian Italy to understand how craft and commodity production were organized across landscapes, what factors contributed to rural site longevity, and how rural sites interacted with market centers. The surveyed sites spanned the second century BC to fourth century AD. Most survey areas centered on towns or small cities, but several were within Rome's vast suburbium or adjacent to key trade corridors, such as the Tiber River and consular roads. To enable the comparison of more than 3000 rural sites considered in this study, I standardized published survey data into a relational database and analyzed site types, sizes, locations, and finds statistically as well as via Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools. Site types included constructions (e.g., aqueducts, roads) and settlements (towns, farms, connected farms). The latter two are the most common; they differ in that connected farms had more resources and better access to road networks. Production evidence for various industries (e.g., ceramic, metal, and textile) appear at both farms and connected farms, contradicting traditional views that such activities were confined to large establishments. Many rural sites were located in areas with workable and nutritious soils, and with maximum annual sun exposure. Nevertheless, advantageous location was no guarantee of longevity. Instead, the most consistent factor in rural site longevity was easy access to trade and transport networks. From the first century AD, inhabitants of sites with market connections within a 20-kilometer radius declined in prosperity or abandoned their homes, while those linked to more distant networks were able to maintain, or even expand, their territories. Wide access for buying and selling goods helped sites endure over time. This investigation demonstrates that market networks trumped site resources as the key factor in site longevity. By incorporating the types and patterns of finds, and mapping sites in relation to resources and roads, archaeological survey can help chart the ebb and flow of rural production and assess the relationship of that production to site durability.

One of the greatest problems for sub-Saharan Africa is shortage of epidemiological data to support planning for provision of adequate public and animal health services. The overriding challenge is to provide the necessary resources to facilitate the process of regular data collection in support of disease surveillance and vector monitoring across target regions. Due to such circumstances, there is currently an increasing interest towards devising cheaper but yet significantly reliable means for availing the needed epidemiological and vector data for planning purpose. This study comes as a contribution towards solving such challenges. The study has three research components starting with a review of past Uganda national tsetse and trypanosomiasis control efforts as a means towards appreciating the dynamics of controlling the vector and disease. This is an analysis of what was applied, what worked, what didn't, and why it didn’t as linked to the broader vector and disease control system. Secondly through the use of remote sensing, geographical information systems and global positioning technologies tsetse species were sampled within Lake Victoria Basin. Only two species of tsetse were trapped, G. f. fG. f. fuscipes which was widely distributed across the surveyed area, and G. Pallidipes which was detected in a few isolated locations close to the border with Kenya in Eastern Uganda. The analysis of land cover with tsetse findings showed an important association between G. f. fuscipes and particular vegetation mosaics. Unfortunately, while the results are highly informative, approaches for data collection such as this one are costly and unlikely to be sustained by the already over-burdened health systems in the low developed countries of Africa. The third and main part of this study investigates, demonstrates and delivers the possibilities of applying spatial epidemiological modelling techniques to produce both tsetse distribution and abundance maps. Four spatial and non-spatial regression models (Logistic, Autologistic, Negative binomial and Auto-negative binomial), were constructed and used to predict tsetse fly presence and tsetse fly abundance for the study area. The product is an improved understanding of association between environmental variables and tsetse fly distribution/abundance and maps providing continuous representations of the probability of tsetse occurrence and predicted tsetse abundance across the study area. The results indicate that tsetse presence and abundance are influenced differently. Tsetse abundance is highly determined by river systems while tsetse presence is majorly influenced by forested landscapes. Therefore, efforts to control trypanosomiasis through vector control in the Lake Victoria basin will call for delineation of such clearly identified high tsetse accumulation zones for targeted tsetse control operations. This will ensure optimum utilization of the scarce resources and above all contribute to the protection of humans and animals against trypanosomiasis infection.

With the increasing pressures and concerns in education regarding capability, lifelong learning, higher order cognitive skills, transdisciplinary education and so on, educators are seeking fresh ways to teach and new tools to support that teaching. In South Africa, Outcomes Based Education (OBE) has identified critical outcomes (skills) across all subject areas such as problem solving, teamwork, fostering critical thinking etc. as a way of responding to these pressures and concerns. But OBE has been criticised for lacking the necessary tools to develop these critical skills and to promote cross-discipline learning. One innovative way of offering transformative teaching, instruction and learning that may foster the development of these critical skills, particularly those concerned with critical thinking, is by using geographic information systems (GIS) technologies. The scope for using these technologies in secondary education is now being realised for teaching the more generic, cross-discipline skills described whereby students are learning not only about GIS but also with GIS. This realisation provides the opportunity to create flexible, computer-based learning materials that are rooted in authentic, real-world contexts, which aim to enhance the cognitive skills of the students. If these technologies can be used in an innovative way to develop critical outcomes and skills, a model needs to be defined to aid the design and development of learning materials using these technologies for use in schools. The primary aim of this study has been to develop such a model; a model which emphasises the development of real-world learning materials that develop higher-order thinking skills in learners. Another key product of this study is the submission of a comprehensive yet flexible framework for evaluating instructional design models found in the educational literature in order to determine if these design models can be used to develop learning materials forparticular contexts.

Visual Topology is used here to describe the spatial relations between objects as they appear in the 2D viewing plane. This thesis sets out the concept, explains why it is needed in Geographic Information Science and suggests how it may be computed through development of prototype software. Section 1 considers the functionality that any Spatial Data Infrastructure would need to encompass in order to support the inclusion of visual analysis into landscape planning and monitoring systems. Section 2 introduces various aspects of visual topology. In particular it sets out how visual intersections of occluding edges may be modelled topologically and formally defines a novel higher level topological structure to the viewing space - the 'Euler Zone' based on the Euler complexity of a graph formed by the occluding horizons in a view. Whether such a graph has meaning to an observer is considered in Section 5, which presents the results of a web based forced­ choice experiment with significant implications for the role of topology in modelling landscape preference via quantitative metrics derived from 20 maps. Sections 3 and 4 discuss how existing methods for handling perspective models and visualisations need to be improved in order to model visual topology. Section 3 focuses on the limitations of current techniques and design criterion for a new methodology. Section 4 looks at the lessons learnt from developing a prototype implementation (VM-LITE) based on Quad-Edge Delaunay Triangulation, in the VoronoiMagic software package. Some potential applications are highlighted, both within landscape modelling and beyond, before drawing conclusions as to the potential for the concepts and methods respectively. Although important research questions remain, particularly as regards view point dynamics, Visual Topology has the potential to fundamentally change how visual modelling is undertaken in GIS. It allows the analysis of scenes based upon a richer representation of individual experience. It provides the basis for data structures that can support the extraction of generalisable metrics from this rich scene information, taking into account the qualitatively different nature of scene topology as distinct from metrics of shape and colour. In addition new metrics based on attributes only apparent in perspective, such as landform, can be analysed. Finally, it also provides a rationale for reporting units for landscapes with some measure of homogeneity and scale-independence in their scenic properties.

This research will appraise the production and utility of digital atlases in an African context, using personal experience gained through the production of a digital atlas for Swaziland, the opinions obtained from other producers of African digital atlases and relevant literature. Since the 1950s, decision makers and researchers have viewed information as a powerful contributor to national development. Over the past thirty years, developed countries have increased the efficient collation and dissemination of geographic information through the utilization of the digital environment. The development of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has increased the range of applications attainable in digital mapping projects. Applications have ranged from resource inventories to the monitoring of environmental degradation, crime patterns and service provision. The patchy history of data collection, analysis and mapping in Africa, has had a limiting effect on the ability of countries to identify, plan and control their resources efficiently. Despite the desire to automate the mapping process and reap some of the planning benefits evident in the developed world, Africa has not succeeded in mobilising full technological potential. Political instability, poor infrastructure, the absence of national policy guidelines, and a lack of skilled manpower are some of the issues which have limited utilization. Despite many of the hurdles faced by African countries, automated mapping and analysis technologies are still being pursued. The role of computers in the utilisation of data has become apparent through several means, one of which is the digital atlas. Analytical functions in many of these products allow situation modelling and provide superior graphic displays in comparison to their paper counterparts. Several African countries have embarked on the development of national digital databases and in some cases have produced digital national atlases. The potential to improve resource utilization, service provision and land use planning using these atlases, does exist. The production and utility of these atlases in an African context, however, needs closer assessment. "Computers don't clothe, don't cure, don't feed. Their power begins and ends with information. Their usefulness is therefore strictly linked to the ffectiveness of the information" (Gardner,1993:16).

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-26T13:23:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 texto completo.pdf: 3972473 bytes, checksum: 7dd665853daec2b0ffcdc855e6e354e4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-08-31 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / It is necessary more accurate and reliable information on the water resources, in real time, in order to allow the anticipation of necessary actions to the management process. Therefore, structuring integrated databases is essential for evaluation of water resources, simulation of the effects of receptions on water availability in sections to downstream and administration of the simultaneous use of water for multiple users. The system integrated in net, developed in this work, bases on structuring of a collection of the necessary information to the administration of grants of use, in a simple and on-line database applied, initially, to the Doce river watershed. The work was separated in three stages: a) obtaining physical and pluviometric characteristics; b) regionalization of the minimum stream-flows of reference (Q7,10, Q90 and Q95) based on the period quarterly; and c) development and evaluation of the computacional model named AQUORA. It was used neighborhood and connectivity operations in order to obtain information, automatically of the following physical characteristics: drainage area, length of the main river, total length of the drainage and drainage density, besides spatial distributing total quarter rainfall for the Doce river watershed, using as a base, a digital elevation model hydrologically consistent (DEMHC) with resolution of 90m and historical series of 59 pluviometric stations. After the consistence of the historical series of 55 fluviometric stations, the minimum stream-flows of reference were estimate by the regular methodology of stream-flows regionalization, which uses regression equations applied to hydrological homogeneous areas. The database (DB) was structured basing on the actual legislation and in the forms of uses grants of ANA Agência Nacional de Águas, being loaded with the georreferencied informations of the physical and rainfall characteristics besides the minimum reference stream-flows for each pixel along the whole drainage net of the watershed. The access to DB by internet is assured by agreements between SQLServer and the pages developed in the Visual Web for procedures for consult and update information. The obtained physical characteristics in an automatic way were compared to those found by manual procedures, presenting suitable values with the reality of the watershed. Were established six hydrologically homogeneous areas and obtained regression equations that esteemed minimum stream-flows with relative mean error of 27%. The developed system stores the information of the processes of it grants; it makes possible identification of the available stream-flow at any point of the hydrografy, considering inputs to upstream and downstream; and it updates the monthly availability in the drainage net, with a resolution of 90 meters. Thus, AQUORA is a powerful administration tool, able to expand and to modernize the multiple users' participation in the integrated administration of the water resources, looking for the protection of society, environment and productive sectors. AQUORA also assists, as collection of data and hydrological information, the whole Brazilian society, supporting further research activities on Hydrology and correlates sciences. / Informações mais precisas e confiáveis sobre os recursos hídricos, em tempo real, são fundamentais para permitir a antecipação de ações importantes para o processo de gestão destes recursos. Assim, o estabelecimento de bancos de dados integrados é essencial na avaliação dos recursos hídricos, na simulação dos efeitos de captações sobre a disponibilidade hídrica em seções a jusante e na gestão do uso simultâneo das águas por múltiplos usuários. O sistema integrado em rede, desenvolvido neste trabalho, baseia-se na estruturação de um acervo das informações necessárias à gestão de outorgas, em um banco de dados simples e on-line, aplicado inicialmente à Bacia do rio Doce. O trabalho dividiu-se em três etapas: a) obtenção das características físicas e pluviométricas; b) regionalização das vazões mínimas de referência (Q7,10, Q90 e Q95) com base no período trimestral; e c) desenvolvimento e avaliação do modelo computacional, denominado AQUORA. Foram usadas operações de vizinhança e conectividade para obter automaticamente informações das seguintes características morfométricas: área de drenagem, comprimento do rio principal, comprimento total da drenagem e densidade de drenagem, além de espacializar os totais precipitados trimestrais e anual para a bacia do rio Doce, utilizando como base um modelo digital de elevação hidrologicamente consistente (MDEHC) com resolução de 90m e séries históricas de 59 estações pluviométricas. Após a consistência das séries históricas de 55 estações fluviométricas, as vazões mínimas de referência foram regionalizadas com base na metodologia tradicional proposta pela ELETROBRÁS (1985a), que utiliza equações de regressão aplicadas a regiões hidrologicamente homogêneas. O banco de dados (BD) foi estruturado baseando-se na legislação em vigor e nos formulários de outorga da Agência Nacional de Águas, sendo carregado com as informações georreferenciadas das características físicas e pluviométricas além das vazões mínimas de referência para cada pixel ao longo de toda a rede hidrográfica do rio Doce. O acesso ao BD, via internet, foi assegurado pelos relacionamentos entre o SQLServer e as páginas desenvolvidas no Visual Web através de procedimentos de consulta e atualização de informações. As características físicas obtidas de modo automático foram comparadas com aquelas encontradas por procedimentos manuais, apresentando valores condizentes com a realidade da bacia. Foram estabelecidas seis regiões hidrologicamente homogêneas e obtidas equações de regressão que estimaram vazões mínimas com erro relativo médio de 27%. O sistema desenvolvido armazena as informações referentes aos processos de outorga; possibilita a identificação da vazão disponível em qualquer ponto da hidrografia, considerando captações a montante e jusante; e atualiza a disponibilidade hídrica mensal na rede de drenagem, com uma resolução de 90 metros. Dessa forma, o AQUORA constitui-se numa poderosa ferramenta de gestão, capaz de expandir e modernizar a participação dos múltiplos usuários na gestão integrada dos recursos hídricos, buscando a proteção da sociedade, do meioambiente e dos setores produtivos. O sistema atende também, como acervo de dados e informações hidrológicas, toda a sociedade brasileira, dando suporte às atividades de pesquisa em hidrologia e ciências afins.