Page 195 - DMGT546_INTERNATIONAL_TRADE_PROCEDURE_AND_DOCUMENTATION

International Trade Procedures and Documentation

Notes Growth of Urban Centres

When the cities grow beyond normal walking distance, then transportation technology plays a
role in the formation of the city. For example, many cities in the plains developed as a circular
city with radial routes, whereas the cities beside a river developed linearly. The development of
automobiles and other factors like increase in personal income, and construction of paved road
network, the settlements were transformed into urban centres of intense travel activity.
8.5.3 Political Role of Transportation

The world is divided into numerous political units which are formed for mutual protection,
economic advantages and development of common culture. Transportation plays an important
role in the functioning of such political units.

Administration of an Area

The government of an area must be able to send/get information to/about its people. It may
include laws to be followed, security and other needful information needed to generate awareness.
An efficient administration of a country largely depends on how effectively government could
communicate this information to all the country. However, with the advent of communications,
its importance is slightly reduced.

Political Choices in Transport

These choices may be classified as communication, military movement, travel of persons and
movement of freight. The primary function of transportation is the transfer of messages and
information. It is also needed for rapid movement of troops in case of emergency and finally
movement of persons and goods. The political decision of construction and maintenance of
roads has resulted in the development of transportation system.
A message proceeds along a channel from the source to the receiver; information theory defines
for any given channel a limiting capacity or rate at which it can carry information, expressed in
bits per second. In general, it is necessary to process, or encodes, information from a source
before transmitting it through a given channel. For example, a human voice must be encoded
before it can be transmitted by telephone.

!

Caution An important theorem of information theory states that if a source with given
entropy feeds information to a channel with a given capacity, and if the source entropy is
less than the channel capacity, a code exists for which the frequency of errors may be
reduced as low as desired. If the channel capacity is less than the source entropy, no such
code exists.

Self Assessment
Fill in the blanks:
11. The gauge on Indian Railways is the .............................. distance between inner faces of the
rail.
12. ............................. are the oldest mode of transport.
13. The main advantage of ...................... transportation is the capacity to move extremely
large shipments

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