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Copyright of Africa Spectrum is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article explores the eerie and uncanny qualities associated with the Midlands canal network, with particular focus on the gothic and weird fiction produced by three writers: Robert Aickman, Elizabeth Jane Howard, and L. T. C. Rolt. The article redresses the neglect canals have faced within the field of study known as the blue humanities and argues for the distinctive – and haunting – forms of affect and knowledge that canals can bring to humanities scholarship invested in bodies of water and their histories. Because of the extensive size of its canal network, the Midlands makes an excellent case study for establishing the role of the canal in the blue humanities. At the same time, the article argues for the value of apprehending the Midlands, particularly Birmingham and the surrounding region, as a richly aqueous or 'blue' space, a region saturated and shaped by its inland waterways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inland waterways vessels (IWV) have no mandatory regulations regarding their energy efficiency, as sea-going ships have. So far, there are just two proposed design energy efficiency evaluation methods, both based on IMO EEDI approach and data on EU inland navigation. Operational indicators and real-time navigation measurements from available literature do not exist. Therefore, this paper aims to introduce the energy efficiency in operation (EEO), assessed for the typical Danube cargo vessel. Firstly, an operational profile is acquired by tracking the vessel's voyages, and by identifying actual constraints of each sector the vessel has sailed during the designated time. Secondly, EEO is incorporated within two available methods and calculated based on acquired operational data considering different navigational conditions. The paper shows how the energy efficiency vastly depends on variables such as water depth, current speed, draught, deadweight, river constraints. Analysis is performed for the most employed month of the vessel navigation, and annually. Depending on water level scenarios and during the selected month of sailing, the total amount of CO2 emitted is estimated to be between 22.7 t and 29.9 t, while the necessary average speed reduction (i.e., slow steaming) per sectoral voyage for the requirement compliance is calculated to be in between 4.8%-26%. Slow steaming is assessed to extend the time of voyage for 6.1-10.7 hours on monthly basis and 49-87 hours annually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of their reconstruction of the city following Allied bombing during World War II, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government infilled medium to small inland waterways (namely, canals and moats constructed during the 17th century) and utilised the resultant terrestrial strips for new purposes. Wartime damage reconstruction was conducted as part of the official city planning of Tokyo. During the 1940s, various waterways in Tokyo were infilled primarily with debris resulting from wartime bombing and, thereby, these landfills presented a model for the disposal of debris from disasters. In Japan, 115 municipalities were designated as war-damaged cities by the government, whose reconstruction was conducted as official city planning. The article examines how common the disposal of wartime debris via the in-filling of inland waterways was. The in-filling of Tokyo's inland waterways caused the loss of watery spaces that are nowadays regarded as cultural heritage assets with recreational potential. Studies have either criticised the infilling of waterways or else underscored opposition to the activity. How then was it possible for the authorities to decide on infilling and land reclamation as city planning? Was there any social support for this project? Relatedly, should the decision by the metropolitan government to infill inland waterways be regarded as inappropriate? This article considers these questions and evaluates the modification of such areas after WWII. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beam engines introduced America to the steam age and powered the nation's progress for much of the 19th century, spearheading the navigation of its inland waterways, powering its mills and manufacturing industry, enabling the mining of its deep mineral resources, and supplying its growing cities with water. Development of the beam engine in America lagged that in Britain and Europe but followed a similar evolution until its displacement by other forms of steam engine and by electricity at the end of the 19th century. Development started with the introduction of America's first beam engine, imported from Britain in 1755, progressed through the rapid growth of American-built engines, and culminated in the mid- to late-19th century in the metropolitan waterworks of the American Midwest and East, in the deep mines of the American West, and in the paddle steamers that first brought America together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the critical need for sustainable transportation solutions, inland waterways (IWs) constitute a crucial yet underfunded mode of transport. This study examines deficiencies in current infrastructure funding and analyzes infrastructure funds (IFs) as an alternative funding mechanism and potential means to revitalize German waterways. Central to this investigation is the analysis of the German population's willingness to pay (WTP) for such funds. To this end, a comprehensive online survey of German households was conducted, and multivariate regression analysis was employed to identify key factors influencing public support for various fund designs. The results reveal that personal experiences with flooding significantly affect WTP and underscore the role of socio-economic variables in shaping public attitudes toward infrastructure funding. The findings indicate that well-designed IFs, combined with effective communication strategies to raise awareness of the importance of waterways, could significantly enhance public support. The study demonstrates that IFs have significant potential as a strategic tool for mobilizing public funding, thereby supporting the sustainable development and maintenance of essential yet underfunded infrastructure. IFs present a promising solution to the financial challenges facing critical public goods such as waterways. • Analysis of impact of deficits in infrastructure funding and mechanisms • Examination of the potential of infrastructure funds • Provision of a survey to analyze the willingness to pay (WTP) for different funds • Application of multiple regression to evaluate influencing factors of WTP • Alongside consideration of private coverage in case of infrastructure failure [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, when preparing substantiating materials for investment projects to be included into governmental programs of the Russian Federation, no assessment is performed of the project's impact on social and economic indicators of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, where the investment project is implemented, such as the GRP, the volume of export and shipment of products of own production, reducing the social inequality and unemployment, increasing the total factor-based productivity. Our research hypothesis is the assumption of the positive impact of implementing governmental investment projects on the indicators of social and economic development in constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Therefore, the purpose of our research is to assess the impact of implementing investment projects for the development of inland waterway transport infrastructure, that are financed from the federal budget, on the social and economic development indicators in constituent entities of the Russian Federation. In our study, we assessed the impact of implementing investment projects for the development of inland waterway transport infrastructure on the social and economic indicators of constituent entities of the Russian Federation using the Difference-in-Differences method and the probabilistic and quantitative assessment of the impact of implementing investment projects on social and economic indicators of constituent entities of the Russian Federation using the Bayesian modelling. The calculations presented in this paper showed that the use of the Bayesian modelling method to assess the probability of the investment projects impact on the indicators of social and economic development in constituent entities of the Russian Federation will allow, before making a decision to launch an investment project, to have an idea about its economic effects for the region. The suggested methodological approach to assessing the impact of investment projects on the social and economic development of regions can be used in the practical activities of public authorities at the stage of selecting investment projects and assessing capital investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigation of hydrodynamic interaction between the vessel and the seabed when entering shallow water is considered one of the most critical considerations of inland waterway transport. There are many investigations into the behavior of ships in restricted waters, such as ships traveling in different forms of canal cross-sections. The present study aims to evaluate the hydrodynamic interaction of the 750 DWT Perintis Ship moving through the different canal types to determine the relative effects of limiting the width and depth cross section on the ship's resistance. Two different canals with different cross sections, including canal bank and rectangular canal, were evaluated to investigate the influence of canal width (Wb), depth ratio (hw/T), and blockage ratio function (As/Ac). The Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) method with Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) solver and turbulent model 𝑘-𝜀 were used to predict the total resistance of the ship. The proposed numerical simulation was initially validated with an experimental towing tank test in the error range of 0.11-7.74%. The results indicated similar phenomena were found both in rectangular and canal banks. The case with a shallower (lower hw/T) and a narrower (lower Bc/Bs) canal dimension has a higher resistance value. Backflow and subsidence of free surface became significant around the ship's hull in more restricted water, changing the ship's hydrodynamic characteristics and increasing resistance. It can be found that the higher the blockage ratio (mb), the higher the total resistance value in both canal types, which proved that ships with higher speeds were more sensitive to changes in waterway restrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable and climate-resilient decisions in flood risk management (FRM) are complex problems, which should consider flood mitigation, but also ecological, economic, and social aspects within a collaborative decision-making process. In this article, we explore the state of multi-criteria analysis (MCA) and decision-support systems (DSS) in Germany to understand their advantages, challenges in applicability, and potential for future development. A systematic literature review was conducted to identify peer-reviewed articles and gray literature published from 1990 to 2020, focusing on the use of MCA and DSS for decision-making in FRM and related river management in Germany. The topic reached its peak of publications in the first decade of the 21st century. In terms of used criteria, 27 out of 40 publications consider all main aspects of decision-making in FRM (hydrology/hydraulics, ecology, social, economics). In 25 publications, multiple ecosystem services are concealed in the decision-making by considering, besides flood mitigation, water provisioning, inland navigation, energy, and agricultural production. Issues related to the applicability of MCA and DSS are apparent in the publications. These include the presence of an outdated DSS and the low number of publications (six) presenting adaptation strategies for future applications. Moreover, acceptance of decisions based on MCA and DSS can be harmed by uncertainties and a lack of transparency and participation. Further initiatives that address these issues (participatory planning, consideration of uncertainties, a Germany-wide "general DSS framework" with a legally binding character) would help decision-makers meet holistic, better-accepted, and climate-resilient decisions. • We analyzed multi-criteria analysis (MCA) and decision-support systems (DSS). • German river management seldom uses structured MCA and DSS for decision-making. • In 63% of studies, authors mention multiple ecosystem services in decision-making. • Lack of transparency and participation affects acceptance of MCA and DSS results. • Developing a Germany-wide general DSS framework is a potential future step. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Brood & Rozen: Tijdschrift voor de Geschiedenis van Sociale Bewegingen is the property of AMSAB - Institute of Social History and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Environmental protection and counteracting the effects of global warming have become an important topic of political debate in many countries, especially in Europe. One of the main challenges they face is changing the transport system, which is responsible for a significant proportion of harmful emissions. To achieve this, in addition to improving navigation conditions, inland navigation should be included in the modern intermodal transport chain. The analysis showed that activities in this area should be carried out in two stages. First, it is necessary to meet the boundary condition, i.e., to ensure the appropriate parameters of the waterway, and then it is necessary to implement ICT systems in order to standardize and streamline the process of data transmission between the stakeholders of inland navigation (water and shipping administration, port and terminal managers, shipowners and ship crews). The article presents the status of work on the implementation of the RIS system in Poland and the prospects for its further development, including the enlargement of the area covered by the system, and analyzes the possibilities of implementing new tools dedicated to ship captains and inland shipowners. An important element of the work is to indicate the benefits of using the RIS system by transport companies and the costs of its use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inland waterways are heavily exploited for cost-effective navigational use worldwide. Despite several benefits, it has adverse effects on aquatic systems that are of global concern. Among others, the phytoplankton community is the most vulnerable to getting damaged. Quantifying their risk to navigation is significantly important and challenging, particularly using in situ field observation. This article presents an innovative approach involving risk conceptualisation and model-based Bayesian risk assessment framework to quantitatively decouple the said risk discounting the spatial advection effect due to hydrologic distance. The Bhagirathi-Hooghly River, the busiest waterway of the lower part of the Ganga River, is selected to illustrate the framework. The results established the effectiveness of Bayesian risk estimation framework with reasonably good accuracy (Bayesian R 2 = 0.73) even for a small sample size. The model accounting for excess risk accommodated through conditional autoregressive prior was the best performer among the four competitive models. The best model predicted an average 200% and 100% cell damage during and after 30 min of barge movement, respectively, relative to control. Excess risk in cell damage revealed a downstream trend—from low to high—capturing a significant correlation strength (= 0.45) between nearby sites. Considering inland waterways freight transport trends and results obtained in this study, a prospective phytoplankton vulnerability world map has been generated for region-level decision-making. [Display omitted] • Bayesian model decoupled the navigation-induced risk of phytoplankton. • Relative risk of phytoplankton cell damage was 117%. • Phytoplankton vulnerability to inland navigation is higher in Asian countries. • Global prospective phytoplankton vulnerability map will aid policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unique feature of river transport is given by the rivers' flow and the changing crosssections of the riverbed. Most river vessels operate with a conventional propulsion system. Engine power should be scaled to the maximum expected power demand, which means that the engine is forced to run at medium or low load, almost always downstream and upstream for part of the operating time. In these cases, the engine's operating point is far from ideal, so there is an increase in specific fuel consumption. This is especially true for ships that are forced to stop and start frequently. An example for the circumstances mentioned above is the BKV-100 type ship operated at Budapest as a public transport vessel. A measurement on a schedule route revealed that with given environmental conditions (water level, river flow rate, etc.), the power installed in the vessel is almost double the maximum power demand measured. Due to this reason and to the differences in power demand of downstream and upstream, it may be technically worthwhile to replace the existing conventional propulsion system with an alternative propulsion system. Based on the measurements, in this paper the authors compare 4 alternative drive systems to the existing one with regards to fuel consumption and the investment costs. Beside this, a simple but effective fuel consumption estimation method and a simple cost-benefit analysis are also described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Affected by the environment of inland waterway, an Automatic Identification System (AIS) collects lots of abnormal data, which significantly reduces the inland river navigation performance using AIS data. To this end, this paper aims to restore the AIS data by repairing the lost data points. By analysing enormous abnormal AIS data, the abnormal data were firstly divided into three types, i.e., the erroneous data, short-time lost data, and long-time lost data. Then, a cubic spline interpolation method was employed to deal with the erroneous data and short-time lost data. Meanwhile, a least square support vector machine method was utilized to repair the long-time lost data. Finally, field experiments were carried out to validate the applicability of the proposed method, and it is shown that the fitting model can repair the AIS data with an accuracy of more than 90 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present an Android application, namely BoatSafe, which offers easy and effective navigation of waterways. The data were collected directly from both GPS and the accelerometer sensor, and then these data were processed to determine the user's "Sailing on Water" status through the motions and the position. The software offers some essential features such as: provide the positions, velocities, and heading angle of vehicles at present; save the route for a specific period time; identify the outage of GPS signal; collision warning feature, identify a collision, and call a pre-selected phone number in the event of a collision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A considerable literature has recently grown up on the theme of ship wireless communications. However, much of the research up to now has been descriptive in the offshore area. There has been little quantitative analysis of wireless communication in inland waterways, which has received considerable attention lately. Until now, only the effects on inland river environment are examined. What is less clear is the nature of channel change caused by the antenna movement. Here we explore the moving ship-to-fixed-ship fading characteristics at 5.9 GHz for an inland waterway in the city center of China. The ship motion trajectory is designed in order to determine the effect of changes in the antenna position. We evaluate the channel fading characteristics of inland waterway, which are highly correlated with the distance between transmitter and receiver. We demonstrate that the line-of-sight component, as well as the components from multipath with obstruction reflections, contributes largely to the mean power gap. Our findings reveal critical ship-toship characteristics in inland waterway, which definitely contribute to the field of ship wireless communications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to increasingly strict environmental regulations and dwindling oil reserves, fuel consumption and its minimisation play a more and more important role in shipping as well. Based on trends in recent years, the easiest way to solve the problem so far is the so-called "Slow steaming". Other option is the use of alternative fuels, which are increasingly present in shipping with more and more variations. In inland navigation, the above mentioned solutions are also functional, but less achievable. On the one hand, the slower delivery reduces the competitive position of inland navigation in the market, and on the other hand, the number of propulsion systems with alternative fuels are very small in this area. Therefore, the greatest innovation potential can be found in optimising the drive system for minimise the fuel consumption. To do this, the operating profile of the ship being built / built, the parameters influencing the fuel consumption and the more detailed consumption characteristics of the engines need to be known. Many methods have been published in the past decade to determine the latter component. In this research, the authors review the factors influencing fuel consumption of inland navigation, the measurement of fuel consumption and the estimation procedures by any means of transportation based on the literature. They present their modeling results, which are transplanted from several areas into water transport. The proposed methods are validated by engine brake measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper refers to the impact of the port management operations on the goods transshipped on the inland waterways. I proposed to analyze the administrative barriers and their impact on the level of goods transhiped. During the time more and more port operators state that the import/export/transit process it is hampered by a number of factors. External good practices, that might be beneficial for inland waterway in the Danube Region have been identified and described. The identified good practices can serve as examples to be used for the optimization of processes at the Danube inland waterway. The factors that influence the management of import- export operations in inland waterways and will be analyzed in this paper are: border Police, tax and customs; navigation/traffic control authorities; port authorities/administrations; waterway & canal administration; other relevant authorities imposing barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of modern IT techniques and technologies creates appropriate possibilities for automation of navigation and construction of decision support systems in ship control. The solutions proposed by these systems should ensure the safe performance of maneuvers, take into account applicable traffic regulations and should be rational, i.e. apply criteria used and accepted by people. The basis for implementing these types of systems is the analysis of decision-making processes in ship control carried out by navigators. The development of the decision process model is the basis for the design and construction of navigator decision support systems. The article presents a comprehensive analysis of issues related to modelling of decision-making situations and implementation of decision-making processes in ship control in a restricted (inland) area. The paper presents methods and algorithms for decision support in a collision situation, defining a safe trajectory, taking into account elements of the ship's own dynamic properties, road law provisions, navigation restrictions and changes in the strategy of behavior in relation to various objects encountered. The purpose of this article is the concept of a model of decision support system within a specific geospatial situation in three dimensions for complex calculations regarding the movement of inland vessels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an author's concept for an automatic hazard identification information system (AHIIS) in inland waterway navigation. The system is based on two parallel methods, namely a deterministic mathematical model and a fuzzy logic expert system. Such a system of decision support, apart from mathematical measures, also considers the decisions (behaviors) of experts, i.e. the inland navigators. This allows to improve work safety and enhance effectiveness and efficiency of the use of fairways. The article presents integration of information downloaded from specialist devices operating the system and methodology of the system itself. The concept of the author's hybrid decision support system has been placed in currently developed River Information Services (RIS), which additionally indicates the place of operation of the developed system and its practical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Dynamic blue space experiences were captured using solicited research dairies. • Diaries provided novel insight into temporal trends in exposure outcomes. • Inland blue space exposure can lead to positive restorative outcomes across time. • Blue spaces can act as versatile public health resources. • Maintenance of high-quality blue spaces is needed to ensure future health benefits. Inland blue spaces, or freshwater environments, have been shown to provide people with positive mental health and wellbeing outcomes. Most inland blue space research focusing on wellbeing outcomes has so far been cross-sectional, utilising questionnaires and interviews. Therefore, there is significant uncertainty regarding the potential for inland waterways to benefit human populations over longer-term time scales. Across a sixteen-month data collection period, this study recruited four distinct sample groups to complete diaries for periods of three-months, focusing on inland blue space experiences in Scotland. The aim of the study was to use solicited diary methods to establish whether restorative exposure outcomes gained from visiting blue spaces may vary across time. Results from the diary data show that visiting freshwater areas consistently led to positive restorative outcomes, with minimal variation in restorative outcomes observed across time. Participants recorded three principal categories of blue space experiences; routine visits, getting fresh air; and day trips, with each visit type providing a range of restorative benefits. The findings highlight the potential for inland blue spaces to act as versatile public health resources and the need to consider long-term strategies to ensure these environments benefit populations across time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the main transportation channel, the huge shipping volumes of inland rivers lead to significant emissions from ships. Inland shipping has an increasing demand for the development of green ships. Liquid natural gas (LNG) is considered to be an ideal marine fuel because of its many advantages. This paper aims to assess the economy and CO 2 emission reduction of LNG-fuelled ships on inland waterway transportation, under the context that the uniqueness of inland waterway transportation, as well as cargo transportation regulations and policies are taken into account. Firstly, considering the preferential policies for LNG-fuelled ships and the mandatory use of shore power for oil-fuelled ships, we proposed a fuel consumption calculation formula and established economic and emission assessment models for inland ships. Then, we examined these models with simulation examples of three main cargo types, i.e. dry bulk, containers and dangerous goods, transported on the Yangtze River. The optimal ranges of LNG-fuelled ship size were given under various credible scenarios designed according to the transportation systems. The results show: (1) The optimal range of dead-weight tonnage (DWT) of LNG-fuelled ships for dry bulk, container and dangerous goods are between 3,000–5,000 DWT, 3,000–4,000 DWT and 2,000–3,000 DWT, respectively. (2) LNG-fuelled dry bulk ships of about 10,000 DWT or more are uneconomical compared to oil-fuelled ships of the same tonnage. (3) Smaller LNG-fuelled ships, such as dry bulk ships of less than 1,500 DWT, container and dangerous goods ships of less than 2,000 DWT, or ships serving longer routes of approximately more than 1,000 km have most significant unit CO 2 emission reduction than oil-fuelled ships of the same tonnage. (4) Excessive waiting time at locks will reduce the economic feasibility and unit CO 2 emission reduction of LNG-fuelled ships. Finally, we obtained a series of important management significances by simulating the changes of some variable parameters in real situations. These conclusions can provide some theoretical foundations for the development of LNG-fuelled or other green ships in inland waterways, and guide the government in formulating policies to promote the green transformation of the inland shipping industry. • A fuel consumption calculation formula of inland ships (FCCF-IS) is proposed. • The assessment models are established based on the preferential policies and special navigation conditions. • The methodology is examined for Yangtze River inland waterway networks. • Customized models, Realistic data, and multiple scenarios are study advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Navigation pharos is the symbol of safe navigation of ships. In order to overcome the puzzles of being poor in management real time and being more in security hidden dangers in the maintenance of manual tour-inspection of navigation channel pharos maintenance, the paper explored a kind of remote sensing monitoring system of navigation pharos in bridge area for inland waterway. In this paper, it pointed out the challenges of navigation management in the current inland waterway bridge area, explored the system architecture and workflow, designed the system of navigation pharos information management, video monitoring and its corresponding other modules, developed and implemented a remote sensing monitoring and management system of navigation channel in bridge area based on B/S pattern. Good operation results after the system runs verify the feasibility and availability of the designed remote sensing monitoring system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inland waterway transportation is generally recognized to be the environmentally friendly transportation mode. However, it is relatively weak resilience to the service disruptions. In the post-pandemic era, the regular epidemic prevention is still one of the main considerations for waterway transportation since it undertakes the vast majority of global trade and faces more risk of epidemic spreading. This paper considers a multi-modal transportation system consisted in road network and inland waterway network. The epidemics occur in one or several regions, which would increase the monetary and time cost in the transportation process. We propose the flexible freight consolidation strategy to guide the cargos to be concentrated among the ports via the multi-modal transportation system. The proposed strategy can be built a non-linear mathematical programming model, which can discretized to a 0–1 Knapsack problem by the finite element method and calculated with branch-and-bound algorithm. The Yangtze River Economic Belt is adopted to illustrate validity of the proposed strategy and algorithm. • Consider the inland waterway transportation problem with the effect of COVID-19. • Propose a flexible freight consolidation strategy to improve the resilience of transportation system. • Conduct a numerical example based on the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China. • Determine the optimal flexible freight consolidation strategy according to the configuration of regions with COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Path planning of inland ferries is usually characterized by the short route, complex navigation environments and high responsibility to keep the clearance of other ships. In this study, a novel two-stage collision avoidance path planning method for inland ferries is proposed. In the first stage, a Ferry Crossing Pattern Determination (FCPD) model considering crossing risk is introduced to determine the suitable crossing patterns (i.e., sail crossing the encountered ships from bow or stern) in each voyage. In the second stage, the shortest path that fits the crossing patterns is constructed based on the identified crossing points under different risk degrees. A case study of the world's busiest inland river, the Yangtze River, is conducted to validate the rationality of the proposed model. The results indicate that the paths generated from the proposed approach are in general shorter and safer than that of real situations. This research provides a theoretical and practical basis for collision avoidance path planning of ferries under dynamic channel-crossing risk conditions, thus enhancing the safety and efficiency of inland waterway transportation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last years the main objective of most of the European strategic documents concerns establishment of sustainable and competitive transport system while promoting the development of secure, safe, reliable, energy effective and environmentally friendly transport modes such as inland waterway transport. The free capacity of European inland waterways provides opportunities for transportation with no traffic jams in the living areas; oversized and bulk cargoes, less green house gas emissions, compared to the road transport. Thanks to the development of the information and communication technologies (ICT) much more innovative vessels, which are economically efficient and environmentally friendly are used. Improving the technical specifications of Danube river fleet is of great importance for the development of the transport sector in the separate countries in the region. This fact is also proved by the growth rate of the inland waterway modal split during the last 5 years in the West-European countries such as Germany (12.6%), France (4.3%), United Kingdom (13.4%), Austria (5.1%), the Netherlands (39.1%) (EUROSTAT, 2016) compared to the road and rail transport. In this regard the main objective of the current study is to analyze, as an example of Bulgaria, the development trends of Danube river fleet and as a result the specifics of its management will be revealed. The following economic indicators are analyzed: Danube fleet performance, number and capacity of vessels, coefficient of capacity usage and average stay of ships at ports for handling activities. These indicators allow the strengths and weaknesses, as well as the threats and opportunities of river fleet to be assessed and also measures for its development to be proposed. The proposed model for analysis could be successfully used for studying the specifics of river fleet of other countries with transitional economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Inland Water Transportation (IWT) system of Bangladesh is one of the most significant modes of transportation for being easily accessible and less expensive. Though Bangladesh own geographical benefit of having a huge inland waterway network but there are severe safety deficiencies in this sector. This study has analyzed the data of accidents that took place during 2005 to 2015 in the inland waterways of Bangladesh. Accident data were collected from the Department of Shipping (DOS) of Bangladesh. The accidents has been analyzed according to different variables such as vessel types, location of accidents, time distribution of accidents, final condition of vessels after the occurrence of accidents and others. A total of 229 accidental cases were considered for the study. The Geographical Information System (GIS) is applied for identifying the most vulnerable locations and waterway routes for waterway accidents on the basis of frequency of the occurrence of accidents. The analysis revealed that the major causes of waterway accidents are collision, Nor’wester or storm, overloading, stability failure, excessive current, bottom damage. The analysis shows that cargo vessels and passenger vessels are facing more accidents compared to other types of vessels. It was also observed that many accidents and relevant information often remain unreported. Moreover, the recorded waterway accident data are also not much informative for conducting standard research works. Finally, some recommendations are put forward with a vision to build up a safer waterway transportation system for Bangladesh and for further research and investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paddling benefits people's health and wellbeing but can impose pressure on aquatic ecosystems. Negative effects intensify if many recreationists simultaneously use the same waterbody, sites, or sections and at high intensity. Therefore, especially waterbodies attracting high numbers of people are threatened to become ecologically degraded. We examined effects of paddling on aquatic macrophytes in waterways of the Spreewald biosphere reserve, one of the most popular destinations for water tourism in Germany. Nine waterway sections were investigated with varying boating intensity gradients from low to highly frequented with medians of 1 to 239 boats per day, respectively. Mechanical damage to emergent vegetation increased with boating intensity depending on waterway width: Observed overall and group-specific damage decreased at widths > 15 m despite high paddling intensity. Diversity (species richness and Shannon-index) decreased with increasing boating intensity; however, in at least one waterway less shade has masked boating effects resulting in high plant diversity despite high paddling intensity. Overall, plant damage and diversity effects were more pronounced between closed reference waterways and open paddling waterways than between the intensity gradients studied, suggesting that critical impacts were already reached at moderate paddling frequency. Furthermore, paddling significantly shaped species composition between sites, and had stronger negative effects on submerged than on emergent macrophytes, and on rigid than on flexible growth forms. In waterways open for boating, where potential contact with paddle strokes or canoe hulls is high, the growth of rigid, less flexible plant species was impaired. In contrast, submerged species with flexible stems and branches, soft leaves, and reproducing from fragments were found independent from boating intensity. Further, waterways closed for boating provided refugia and regeneration niches indicated by rare or endangered species more frequently found therein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the investment and trade benefits of Indian inland waterways various industry sectors in the country including transportation, recreation and tourism, and inferior navigation.

The article offers information on the transportation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the U.S. inland waterways, and mentions the first LNG-fueled vessels built by the Harvey Gulf International Marine, a marine transportation company.

At the European scale, inland navigation waterway transport is considered as a competitive and environment friendly alternative to road and rail transport. This transport mode is promoting in north of France thanks to the building of the Canal Seine-Nord. The number of boats and the navigation scheduling will increase significantly. A big raise of the required water volume is waited. Overcoming this future navigation demand will be particularly challenging in a climate change context. Hence, a crucial step consists in investigating the resilience of the inland navigation networks considering the future navigation demand and the climate change impacts. The main objective of this paper is to present the tools dedicated to the resilience determination that is required to design adaptive management strategies of these networks. An integrated model is proposed to model the network and to identify and quantify water supplies and water intakes. Then, a generalized flow-based network is used to model the water volume dispatching. The water dispatching has to be optimized according to the network resilience against the increase of navigation demand, and against the decrease of available water resource particularly during drought periods. Due to the complex structure of the networks, uncertainties that are linked to the daily number of boat and to the available water resource, an interesting approach will consist in defining a distributed problem. Local virtual agents will be designed to manage each waterway section, and a global coordination process will guarantee the efficient management of the network. The tools are designed and tested considering the inland navigation network in north of France. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sophisticated procedure on the basis of a geographic information system (GIS) was developed to contribute to the assessment and evaluation of the trafficability of inland waterways. Besides the given geometry of a free flowing river, the results of hydrodynamic numerical river basin models (HN-model), the ship dynamic parameters of an inland vessel and additional information from the Inland Electronic Navigational Chart (Inland ENC) are taken into consideration in the assessment procedure RiNA ( River Navigation Assessment ). After the transmission of various, complex initial data into a mutual system, firstly the so-called single potential areas are generated from the nautically relevant parameters (e.g. flow depths, flow velocities, draught, safety distance, fairway, berths, regulation of the traffic). Then those single potential areas are transferred to total potential areas by suitable combination. The total potential areas represent a surface distribution of the navigable areas of waterways and show the trafficability. These total potential areas are prepared regarding different discharge scenarios, types of ships, changes in the draught, direction (up-/downstream) and then validated by recorded passages of vessels. With this procedure an assessment and evaluation of waterways according to nautical criteria (among others flow velocity, draught, driving rules) can be performed and critical points (e.g. bottlenecks) can be shown, which in future leads to an optimized use of the waterways. On the basis of different case studies of the river Rhine in Germany the application of the assessment procedure were shown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article implies a method of magnetometer error determination. Using solid-state magnetic sensors, vehicle odometer and GPS sensor, low-cost complex navigation system for land vehicles can be realized. The methods and algorithms of magnetometer calibration are shown. Results of magnetometer calibration experiments and possibility to detect magnetometer error parameters in process of car driving are analysed. To acquire vehicle heading output, navigation system described here is developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wintertime maritime traffic operations in the Gulf of Finland are managed through the Finnish–Swedish Winter Navigation System. This establishes the requirements and limitations for the vessels navigating when ice covers this area. During winter navigation in the Gulf of Finland, the largest risk stems from accidental ship collisions which may also trigger oil spills. In this article, a model for managing the risk of winter navigation operations is presented. The model analyses the probability of oil spills derived from collisions involving oil tanker vessels and other vessel types. The model structure is based on the steps provided in the Formal Safety Assessment (FSA) by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and adapted into a Bayesian Network model. The results indicate that ship independent navigation and convoys are the operations with higher probability of oil spills. Minor spills are most probable, while major oil spills found very unlikely but possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, when preparing substantiating materials for investment projects to be included into governmental programs of the Russian Federation, no assessment is performed of the project's impact on social and economic indicators of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, where the investment project is implemented, such as the GRP, the volume of export and shipment of products of own production, reducing the social inequality and unemployment, increasing the total factor-based productivity. Our research hypothesis is the assumption of the positive impact of implementing governmental investment projects on the indicators of social and economic development in constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Therefore, the purpose of our research is to assess the impact of implementing investment projects for the development of inland waterway transport infrastructure, that are financed from the federal budget, on the social and economic development indicators in constituent entities of the Russian Federation. In our study, we assessed the impact of implementing investment projects for the development of inland waterway transport infrastructure on the social and economic indicators of constituent entities of the Russian Federation using the Difference-in-Differences method and the probabilistic and quantitative assessment of the impact of implementing investment projects on social and economic indicators of constituent entities of the Russian Federation using the Bayesian modelling. The calculations presented in this paper showed that the use of the Bayesian modelling method to assess the probability of the investment projects impact on the indicators of social and economic development in constituent entities of the Russian Federation will allow, before making a decision to launch an investment project, to have an idea about its economic effects for the region. The suggested methodological approach to assessing the impact of investment projects on the social and economic development of regions can be used in the practical activities of public authorities at the stage of selecting investment projects and assessing capital investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inland waters have vital importance in terrestrial ecosystems as they contribute to the total diversity in surrounding areas as well as enhancing horizontal and vertical ecological connectivity of various habitats. Therefore, temporal monitoring of changes on water bodies is crucial. Morphological changes of inland waters can be conveniently determined using Remote Sensing (RS) techniques. For instance, optical satellite images are widely used for change detection studies; however, it might be difficult to get a proper optical image of an area of interest all the time as the area might be covered by clouds or haze. Moreover, aerial images collected by an optical sensor mounted on aircraft can also be employed for monitoring inland water change. On the other hand, optical images are two dimensional which makes very difficult to detect changes in three dimensions such as for inland water bodies. Hence, alternative technologies such as Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) which has direct and fast 3D data acquisition can be used instead of images for change detection. Since LiDAR sensors are mounted on an aircraft, the data collection time can be scheduled according to weather conditions for avoiding from rain and haze. Therefore, in this study, LiDAR technology was chosen as the source of the data and two algorithms are proposed for extracting boundary of inland water bodies. It is known that inland water bodies are generally planar, as a first step of the proposed methodology, point cloud of the water surface was extracted using RANdom SAmple Consensus (RANSAC) algorithm from LiDAR data. For the second step, two algorithms were proposed for delineating of inland water surface boundary. The first algorithm is the Angles of Points (AOP) which is mainly based on line and angle properties of point cloud. The second algorithm is the LiDAR to Image (LTI) and it basically involves conversion of point clouds to binary images for extraction of boundary of water bodies. The two algorithms for boundary extraction of water bodies were tested with three different inland water bodies. Finally, the results produced by the algorithms were compared to each other and with manually extracted boundaries for different time periods. The experimental results showed that the proposed algorithms are capable of extracting the boundaries of water bodies; however, the LTI algorithm performed better than the AOP when applied on water surfaces with complex geometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study is focused on remote quantification of total suspended matter (TSM) for turbid inland waters. In situ remote sensing reflectance (Rrs) and TSM at 863 stations over 10 inland water bodies from China, Australia, and USA were collected and examined. Four empirical regression models based on sensitive reflectance bands (SB), derivatives (SD), the band ratio proposed by Doxaran et al. (2002; Rrs850/Rrs550: DM), and optimal band ratios (OBR) were examined to estimate TSM. The performance varies due to TSM concentration and the Chl-a: TSM ratio. The four models perform well when the water bodies are dominated with non-algal particles at high TSM concentration and yielded higher accuracy (R² ranged from 0.83 to 0.91) with both DM and OBR models, while the OBR model outperformed other models when waters are dominated by phytoplankton. Our findings also indicate that phytoplankton in the water column affects the band ratio algorithm for TSM estimates. When data from all water bodies are considered collectively, the OBR model (R² = 0.92) marginally outperforms the other three models (0.89, 0.87, and 0.88 for DM, SB, and SD, respectively). Future studies should be undertaken to analyze the influence of phytoplankton abundance on water-leaving signals for TSM estimates. The results of the present study also need further analyses to gain a more in-depth understanding of inherent optical properties for optically active constituents (OACs), such as absorption and backscattering to interpret the observed variations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article discusses the maritime law of China, and its limitation of liability with respect to applicable ships, limitation funds, and the right to revoke. It presents information on the limitation of liability for oil pollution and nuclear damages, and reflects various trading areas where the limits of liability for general maritime laws vary which includes international, coastal and inland waterways. Several court cases concerning the issue of Chinese Maritime Code (CMC) are discussed.