Co-ordinated environmental regulation: controlling non-point nitrate pollution while maintaining river flows

Environmental policy often addresses multiple targets, yet much economic analysis of pollution control is based on a single-target objective. In this paper, we present an analysis of policies to control non-point source nitrate pollution in the presence of minimum river flow restrictions. A non-linear bio-physical economic optimisation model of an intensively cultivated Scottish agricultural catchment was constructed. The presence of minimum river flow controls in the catchment was found to reduce nitrogen pollution. However, by themselves, river flow controls were found not to be a cost effective means to reduce non-point pollution. We quantify the improved social welfare from coordinating the environmental regulation of river flows and pollution, and determine the conditions under which such coordination is beneficial. The paper also investigates whether the benefits of such coordination can be sustained under wetter (winter) weather conditions implied by current climate change predictions.     

Reconstruction and visualisation of melt topology in veined microdioritic enclaves

A number of xenocrystic microdioritic enclaves within the Ross of Mull Granite contain narrow veins of monzonitic material that have formed through the selective partial fusion of granitic magma mechanically incorporated into the microdiorite magma. Field evidence suggests that, as melting of the granitic material ensued, a monzonitic melt formed and exfiltrated from the surrounding microdioritic matrix resulting in Saffman–Taylor instabilities and the development of viscous fingering phenomena. The monzonitic melt network is now preserved as monzonitic veins. Mechanical serial sectioning through a representative veined microdioritic enclave shows that: (a) the topology of the veins is complex but crudely polyhedral, (b) there is porosity (monzonitic melt fraction) variation throughout the length of the veined enclave and (c) that the monzonitic veins are interconnected in three dimensions. Using image analysis software, the total porosity of individual veined enclave sections has been estimated, along with the variation in porosity with depth. Three dimensional rendering and animation software has been used to reconstruct and visualise the monzonitic melt network using Apple QuickTime? software. The above method provides a cheap and powerful way of visualising remnant macroscopic transport properties (such as connectivity and melt topology) in partially molten igneous rocks.     

Income Redistribution and Direct Taxes and Transfers in New Zealand

This article examines the redistributive effects of direct taxes and transfers in New Zealand. First, it reports summary measures of the income tax-and-transfer system using the NZ Household Economic Survey. Second, the article examines the characteristics of low-income NZ taxpayers. A decomposition by individual and household characteristics shows that different groups of low-income taxpayers can be affected quite differently by various aspects of the tax-and-transfer system. In particular, reforms involving tax-free zones do not appear to be well targeted to help those most in need.     

The impact of sustainable energy production on land use in Britain through to 2050

Historically, land use in Britain has been shaped by the environment's capacity to provide energy as well as food, water and shelter. Over the next decades, energy will again become a major driver in land cover change as we seek to capture the necessary energy to replace fossil fuels, reduce environmental damage and substitute for insecure supplies. Britain was one of the first places to exploit fossil fuels extensively, initially coal, and it has the potential to generate considerable amounts of renewable energy from tides, waves, the wind, biomass and sunlight. The UK Government's policy is to develop a suite of technologies that will provide a resilient supply without compromising its economy or its international commitments to environmental protection.This paper examines the three major terrestrial options for renewable energy and assesses each by successively filtering them for feasibility, achievability and practicality incorporating existing developments, designation and public opinion. Technology and opinion are dynamic, so the outputs need to be viewed as indicative of alternative scenarios rather than as fixed forecasts. Implications for changes in the energy supply infrastructure needed to match the new supply chains are highlighted.The demand for energy depends on the demographic profile (population size, age distribution, lifestyle and expectations) and on economic activity. Here total demand is predicted using the UK Energy Research Centre's Energy 2050 model, which uses linear programming to balance economics and environmental capacity by major demand sectors in five-year time steps. The core model often generates challenging results.     

Socio-emotional and operational demands on service employees

Enacting appropriate behaviors often requires service employees to suppress genuine emotions and/or express other emotions, genuine or contrived. Managing emotions to act in a socially appropriate manner constitutes a form of labor: emotional labor. If labor demands exceed the resources of the employee, burnout arises, with negative consequences for overall psychological well-being and job performance. Similarly, task related activities engender role stress, which can also lead to burnout. Both task related role demands and socio-emotional demands are likely to be omnipresent in interpersonal interactions in service settings. Accordingly, this study sets out to investigate the simultaneous impact of these job demands on burnout in front line service professionals. Based on survey data collected from allied health service workers, the study findings strongly suggest that both socio-emotional demands and task related role demands are significant determinants of workplace stress and that their simultaneous effects on employee burnout can be large.     

Overindebtedness and Overlegalization: Consumer Bankruptcy as a Field for Alternative Dispute Resolution

In the advisory report to the European Commission (Huls et al., 1994), the conclusion was reached that the optimal European solution for overindebtedness of consumers is a combination of legal change and a strengthening of the work of social debt counsellors. It was argued that the two spheres, the legal and the social, should be linked in order to create a constructive coalition.Europe has learned from the USA how to introduce the concept "discharge of debts" into their legislation (Huls, 1992). The USA may learn from Europe how debt counsellors can play a more vital part in tackling the debt problem of consumers. This paper explores the possibilities for expanding the domain of non-legal actors in this field by looking at legal aid discussions in general, and more specifically at the new Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) trend that is developing both in the USA and Europe.In the first section of the paper, the importance of an adequate definition of the problem is stressed. The following section summarizes the model proposed in Huls et al. (1994). It is followed by a plea for professional and independent debt counselling, a prerequisite for dejuridification of the debt problem, and for a coupling of debt problems to legal aid discussions. This leads to the conclusion that a strong case can be made for debt counselling as a form of ADR.