Over the past twenty years there has been considerable improvement and new information in the design of port and berth structures. This handbook reflects the lastest progress and developments in navigation safety, port planning and site selection, layout of container, oil and gas terminals, cargo handling, berth design and construction, fender and mooring principles. It presents guidelines and recommendations for the main items and assumptions in the layout, desing and construction of modern port structures, and the forces and loadings acting on them. The book provides an evaluation of different designs and construction methods for port and berth structures, and recommendations given by the different international harbour standards and recommendations. Practising harbour and port engineers and students will find the handbook an invaluable source of information.

This indispensable handbook provides state-of-the-art information and common sense guidelines, covering the design, construction, modernization of port and harbor related marine structures. The design procedures and guidelines address the complex problems and illustrate factors that should be considered and included in appropriate design scenarios.

The second edition of this accepted reference work has been updated to reflect the rapid developments in the field and now covers both 2D and 3D imaging. Written by expert practitioners from leading companies operating in machine vision, this one-stop handbook guides readers through all aspects of image acquisition and image processing, including optics, electronics and software. The authors approach the subject in terms of industrial applications, elucidating such topics as illumination and camera calibration. Initial chapters concentrate on the latest hardware aspects, ranging from lenses and camera systems to camera-computer interfaces, with the software necessary discussed to an equal depth in later sections. These include digital image basics as well as image analysis and image processing. The book concludes with extended coverage of industrial applications in optics and electronics, backed by case studies and design strategies for the conception of complete machine vision systems. As a result, readers are not only able to understand the latest systems, but also to plan and evaluate this technology. With more than 500 images and tables to illustrate relevant principles and steps.

The popularity of serial communications demands that additional serial port interfaces be developed to meet the expanding requirements of users. The Windows Serial Port Programming Handbook illustrates the principles and methods of developing various serial port interfaces using multiple languages. This comprehensive, hands-on, and practical guide to serial interface programming enables you to develop sophisticated interfaces and apply them in real-world applications. Each chapter addresses a language and how it can be applied in the development of serial port interfaces. The seven languages discussed are: ANSI C Visual C++ Visual Basic LabVIEW MATLAB Smalltalk Java Step by step and line by line, the Handbook clearly explains the interfacing techniques used for each different language in the serial port communication. Examples from actual systems have been compiled and debugged, with detailed source code for each included on an accompanying CD-ROM.

Container Terminals (CT) operate as central nodes in worldwide hub-and-spoke networks and link ocean-going vessels with smaller feeder vessels as well as with inbound and outbound hinterland transportation systems using road, rail, or inland waterways. The volume of transcontinental container flows has gained appreciably over the last five decades -- throughput figures of CT reached new records, frequently with double-digit annual growth rates. Stimulated by throughput requirements and stronger competition between terminals settled in the same region or serving a similar hinterland, respectively, cost efficiency and throughput capabilities become more and more important. Nowadays, both terminal capacity and costs have to be regarded as key indicators for CT competitiveness. In respect of this steady growth, this handbook focuses on planning activities being aimed at “order of magnitude improvements” in terminal performance and economic viability. On the one hand the book is intended to provide readership with technological and organizational CT basics for strategic planning. On the other hand this book offers methodical assistance for fundamental dimensioning of CT in terms of 'technique', 'organization' or 'man'. The former primarily considers comprehensive information about container handling technologies representing the state of the art for present terminal operations, while the latter refers to methodological support comprising in particular quantitative solutions and modeling techniques for strategic terminal decisions as well as straightforward design guidelines. The handbook includes an introductory contribution which gives an overview of strategic planning problems at CT and introduces the contributions of the volume with regard to their relationship in this field. Moreover, each paper contains a section or paragraph that describes the impact of findings investigated by the author(s) for problem-solving in long-term planning of CT (as an application domain). The handbook intends to provide solutions and insights that are valuable for both practitioners in industry who need effective planning approaches to overcome problems and weaknesses in terminal design/development and researchers who would like to inform themselves about the state of the art in methodology of strategic terminal planning or be inspired by new ideas. That is to say, the handbook is addressed to terminal planners in practice as well as to students of maritime courses of study and (application oriented) researchers in the maritime field.

One hundred years ago, the world celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal, which connected the world’s two largest oceans and signaled America’s emergence as a global superpower. It was a miracle, this path of water where a mountain had stood—and creating a miracle is no easy thing. Thousands lost their lives, and those who survived worked under the harshest conditions for only a few silver coins a day. From the young "silver people" whose back-breaking labor built the Canal to the denizens of the endangered rainforest itself, this is the story of one of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, as only Newbery Honor-winning author Margarita Engle could tell it.