The Political Economy of Increasing Block Tariffs for Water in Developing Countries

Increasing block tariffs (IBTs) have become the tariff structure of choice in developing countries. Multilateral donors, international financial and engineering consultants, and water sector professionals working in developing countries all commonly presume that IBT structures are the most appropriate way to determine water users' monthly bills. Most, if not all recent water tariff studies performed for developing countries propose IBT structures. The objective of this paper is to critically examine the current fashion of using IBTs in cities in developing countries. In the second section of the paper, we review the common arguments made to justify the adoption of IBTs, and present some actual IBTs currently in use in selected cities. In the third section of the paper we discuss the objectives and considerations involved in water tariff design so as to provide a basis for judging the appropriateness of IBTs.Tariff

Developing a Conceptual Framework for Cloud Security Assurance

Postprin

Adsorbed self-avoiding walks subject to a force

We consider a self-avoiding walk model of polymer adsorption where the adsorbed polymer can be desorbed by the application of a force. In this paper the force is applied normal to the surface at the last vertex of the walk. We prove that the appropriate limiting free energy exists where there is an applied force and a surface potential term, and prove that this free energy is convex in appropriate variables. We then derive an expression for the limiting free energy in terms of the free energy without a force and the free energy with no surface interaction. Finally we show that there is a phase boundary between the adsorbed phase and the desorbed phase in the presence of a force, prove some qualitative properties of this boundary and derive bounds on the location of the boundary

Building California's Future

Current conditions in infrastructure planning, budgeting and financing in the state of Californi

Survival of Johne’s Disease in the environment : National Ovine Johne's Disease Control and Evaluation Program.

This report covers three MLA projects (TR.055, TR.055A and OJD.003) undertaken by NSW Agriculture to determine how long the sheep strain of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis survives in the environment to validate destocking recommendations for eradication of OJD. Survival of the organism was prolonged but finite. In the shade it lasted for 13 months while in the open in ungrazed pasture it lasted for 7 months. It survived for a shorter period in fully exposed pastures where grazing was simulated but for much longer in water than on pasture. These times were probably underestimates. Liming pasture did not reduce survival and moisture did not increase it. Shade was the most significant factor favouring survival. Further research is necessary to determine the mechanisms of survival, which include dormancy. Decay rates for the organism were determined for short term and long term destocking. These can be used to estimate how much time must be allowed to render pastures safe for control and eradication of OJD, respectively. When estimates of soil ingestion rates by grazing sheep are combined with within-flock OJD prevalence estimates and bacterial shedding rates determined by PFC, it is possible to make property by property recommendations for the purpose of control or eradication of OJD

FollowMe: A Bigraphical Approach

In this paper we illustrate the use of modelling techniques using bigraphs to specify and refine elementary aspects of the FollowMe framework. This framework provides the seamless migration of bi-directional user interfaces for users as they navigate between zones within an intelligent environment

Towards FollowMe User Profiles for Macro Intelligent Environments

We envision an Ambient Intelligent Environment as an environment with technology embedded within the framework of that environment to help enhance an users experience in that environment. Existing implementations , while working effectively, are themselves an expensive and time consuming investment. Applying the same expertise to an environment on a monolithic scale is very inefficient, and thus, will require a different approach. In this paper, we present this problem, propose theoretical solutions that would solve this problem, with the guise of experimentally verifying and comparing these approaches, as well as a formal method to model the entire scenario

Survival of Johne’s Disease in the environment : National Ovine Johne's Disease Control and Evaluation Program.

This report covers three MLA projects (TR.055, TR.055A and OJD.003) undertaken by NSW Agriculture to determine how long the sheep strain of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis survives in the environment to validate destocking recommendations for eradication of OJD. Survival of the organism was prolonged but finite. In the shade it lasted for 13 months while in the open in ungrazed pasture it lasted for 7 months. It survived for a shorter period in fully exposed pastures where grazing was simulated but for much longer in water than on pasture. These times were probably underestimates. Liming pasture did not reduce survival and moisture did not increase it. Shade was the most significant factor favouring survival. Further research is necessary to determine the mechanisms of survival, which include dormancy. Decay rates for the organism were determined for short term and long term destocking. These can be used to estimate how much time must be allowed to render pastures safe for control and eradication of OJD, respectively. When estimates of soil ingestion rates by grazing sheep are combined with within-flock OJD prevalence estimates and bacterial shedding rates determined by PFC, it is possible to make property by property recommendations for the purpose of control or eradication of OJD