Variability of soil chemistry following irrigation with recycled municipal effluent: a Great Western vineyard case study

In areas of Australia where viticultural operations have been limited by lack of an acceptable irrigation water source, considerable expansion has occurred through the use of recycled wastewater. Despite this rapid expansion, little is known of the potential impacts of the water’s chemical constituents on soil properties, or the long-term sustainability of the vineyards using the water. In order to establish the impacts of drip irrigated recycled wastewater on a vineyard in Great Western, Australia, a study comparing the soils from the vineyard inter-row and row area was undertaken. Chemical and physical properties of the soil with varying distances from the drip emitter were also investigated. During the irrigation season, significant differences between the inter-row and row area were found for several chemical parameters including pH(1:5soil/water) (P<0.001), electrical conductivity (EC1:5) (P<0.001), water-soluble sodium (WS Na+) (P<0.001), and water-soluble chloride (WS Cl-) (P<0.001). This paper will discuss differences observed between soil properties of the inter-row and vine row area, as well as the spatial distribution of solutes under the drip emitter.

Tourism, taxes and immiserization: A trade theoretic analysis

Many countries promote tourism as a device for earning foreign exchange and promoting domestic welfare and growth. In all these countries the non-traded goods (internationally not traded) are consumed by both domestic residents and tourists. It is well known that the relative price of non-traded goods and services is determined in the local market – hence the tourist demand results in monopoly power in trade for the host country. We use a very simple two-country model to demonstrate the specific nature of the offer curve and the trade equilibrium and the difficulties of taxation.

Androgenic activity of effluent from forty-five municipal waste water treatment plants in Victoria, Australia

It is well known that waste water treatment plant (WWTP) effluents are estrogenic. There has been much less consideration of the androgenic activity of WWTP effluents. To partly address the shortage of information on androgens in Australian WWTP effluents, in August 2006, and again in 2007, we collected discharges from up to 45 Victorian WWTPs (~25% of all WWTPs in Victoria), grouped by treatment process, i.e. activated sludge, extended aeration, and lagoon based treatment, and measured the total estrogenic, androgenic, retinoic acid, and aromatic hydrocarbon hydrogenase activity of the effluents using a hybrid yeast bioassay. This paper will concentrate on the androgenic activity and male hormone concentrations.

Democracy in the making : municipal reforms, civil society, and the Brazilian Workers' Party

Ch. 1. Introduction -- Ch. 2. Change and Continuity: Brazilian Municipal Reforms in Context -- Ch. 3. Itabuna -- Ch. 4. Sao Paulo -- Ch. 5. Porto Alegre -- Ch. 6. 'Genuine' Democracy: Civil Society, the Workers' Party and Beyond.

Cidadania mediada : processos de democratização da política municipal no Brasil

This article discusses the notion that the persistence of “traditional” political practices weakens Brazil’s democracy.Drawing on the cases of three Brazilian municipalities administered by the Workers’ Party (PT), the author examines the space between “traditional” and “modern” and argues that successful democratization does not eradicate practices such as clientelism and patronage, but it tends to incorporate and build on these traditional political elements. Moreover, the article maintains that the democratization of municipal politics is inextricably bound up with the eradication of poverty and the construction of a responsive, state-based social safety net.

Modelling income group differences in the health and economic impacts of targeted food taxes and subsidies

Objective : To examine the effects, by income group, of targeted food taxes and subsidies on nutrition, health and expenditure in the UK.

Methods : A model based on consumption data and demand elasticity was constructed to predict the effects of four food taxation-subsidy regimens. Resulting changes in demand, expenditure, nutrition, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer mortality were estimated.

Data : Expenditure data were taken from the Expenditure and Food Survey; estimates of price elasticities of demand for food were taken from a report based on the National Food Survey 1988–2000. Estimates of effect on CVD and cancer mortality of changing fat, salt, fruit and vegetable intake were taken from previous meta-analyses.

Results : (i) Taxing principal sources of dietary saturated fat is unlikely to reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) or cancer mortality. (ii) Taxing ‘less healthy’ foods (defined by the WXYfm nutrient profiling model) could increase CVD and cancer deaths by 35–1300 yearly. (iii) Taxing ‘less healthy’ foods and subsidising fruits and vegetables by 17.5% could avert up to 2900 CVD and cancer deaths yearly. (iv) Taxing ‘less healthy’ foods and using all tax revenue to subsidize fruits and vegetables could avert up to 6400 CVD and cancer deaths yearly. Few obesity-related CVD deaths are averted by any of the regimens. All four regimens would be economically regressive and positive health effects will not necessarily be greater in lower-income groups where the need for dietary improvement is higher.

Conclusions : A targeted food tax combined with the appropriate subsidy on fruits and vegetables could reduce deaths from CVD and cancer.

Accounting problems and issues in cases of municipal boundary changes

Analyses the methodologies and accounting treatments used for the transfer of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses resulting from municipal restructuring in Victoria during the early 1990s. It was found that most municipalities adopted simple or pragmatic methods, whereby fixed assets and associated liabilities were allocated physically avoiding the need for financial valuations.

Drip irrigation of treated municipal effluent in vineyards

Vine-row soil chemical and physical properties were significantly and detrimentally altered by drip irrigation of treated municipal effluent. Hydraulic gradients under the drip-emitter fostered strong chemical gradients and high variability of vine-row soil parameters, complicating soil management. Gypsum improves soil properties without impacting vine production when applied in small quantities.