The Production and Consumption Accounting Principles as a Guideline for Designing Environmental Tax Policy

This paper evaluates two alternative tax policies aimed at reducing atmospheric pollutant emissions. One based upon an environmental tax that burdens directly firms emissions, and the other one that burdens both directly and indirectly household consumptions emissions. Applying input-output approach, we reallocate the emissions generated in the economy according to the responsibility definition, i.e. the production or the consumption accounting principle. Afterwards, we analyse the effects on the products prices of implementing an ad-quantum environmental tax based on the Producer Pays Principle (PPP) and/or on the User Pays Principle (UPP). The results obtained, show that both PPP and UPP environmental tax have the same effect on the final products prices. However, the price of the intermediate products is only affected by the PPP environmental tax, whereas the UPP environmental tax keeps the prices unchanged

Team players against headache: multidisciplinary treatment of primary headaches and medication overuse headache

Multidisciplinary approaches are gaining acceptance in headache treatment. However, there is a lack of scientific data about the efficacy of various strategies and their combinations offered by physiotherapists, physicians, psychologists and headache nurses. Therefore, an international platform for more intense collaboration between these professions and between headache centers is needed. Our aims were to establish closer collaboration and an interchange of knowledge between headache care providers and different disciplines. A scientific session focusing on multidisciplinary headache management was organised at The European Headache and Migraine Trust International Congress (EHMTIC) 2010 in Nice. A summary of the contributions and the discussion is presented. It was concluded that effective multidisciplinary headache treatment can reduce headache frequency and burden of disease, as well as the risk for medication overuse headache. The significant value of physiotherapy, education in headache schools, and implementation of strategies of cognitive behavioural therapy was highlighted and the way paved for future studies and international collaboration

Metals impact into the Paranaguá Estuarine Complex (Brazil) during the exceptional flood of 2011

Abstract Particulate and dissolved metal concentrations were determined after the largest flood in the last 30 years on the east-west axis of the Paranaguá Estuarine Complex (PEC) and compared to the those of the dry period at two stations. Results confirmed that the flood greatly affected riverine outflows and the behavior of metals in the PEC. In particular, a sharp decrease in salinity was followed by extremely high SPM concentrations leading to a decrease in DO concentrations at both stations. For the dissolved phase, ANOSIM analysis showed a significant dissimilarity at each station between the sampled periods, whereas for the particulate phase this dissimilarity was found only for the samplings taken at the Antonina Station. KD values suggested dissolved Cu behavior was related to the presence of organic complexes and dissolved Mn had sediment resuspension of redox sediments and or/pore water injection as sources. Metal concentrations were lower than in polluted estuaries, though high enrichment factors found after the flood pointed to the influence of anthropogenic sources. In conclusion, the flood's influence was more evident at the Antonina Station, due to its location in the upper estuary, whereas in Paranaguá a high SPM content with low metal concentration was found, following the common pattern generally found in other marine systems subject to heavy rainfall events

Coupled polymer-membrane equilibration and cavity ring-down spectrometry for the highly sensitive determination of dissolved methane in environmental waters

High sensitivity field-based analysis of dissolved methane in surface water and groundwater is needed to monitor the environmental impacts of natural gas-field development and understand microbial carbon cycling in water bodies. A new analytical technique using a polymer membrane contactor coupled to a laser-based cavity ringdown spectrometer was developed and tested. By recirculating a water sample for approximately 10 mins, equilibrium was established between dissolved methane in the sample and methane in the measured gas phase according to Henry’s Law. The performance of the system was investigated by replicate analyses of several different water samples, spike recovery tests, comparison to analysis by headspace gas chromatography, and consideration of memory effects. The technique provided an adequate detection limit for the determination of natural background concentrations of methane in environmental waters and was approximately 28 times more sensitive than analysis by gas chromatography. The system is field-capable, simple to operate and calibrate, and takes advantage of the low-drift characteristics of the cavity ring-down spectrometer

Stable isotopic signature of Australian monsoon controlled by regional convection

The aim of this study was to identify the main meteorological drivers of rainfall isotopic variation in north Australia in order to improve the interpretation of isotopic proxy records in this region. An intense monitoring program was conducted during two monsoonal events that showed significant and systematic isotopic change over time. The results showed a close link between isotopic variation in precipitation and variability in monsoon conditions, associated with the presence of large convective envelopes propagating through the study site. The largest negative amplitudes in the isotopic signal were observed when eastward and westward moving precipitation systems within the convective envelope merged over the measurement site. This suggests that the amplitude of the isotopic signal is related to the size and activity of the convective envelope. The strong correlation between rainfall isotopic variation, regional outgoing longwave radiation and regional rainfall amount supports this conclusion. This is further strengthened by the strong relationship between isotopic variation and the integrated rainfall history of air masses prior to arriving at the measurement locations. A local amount effect was not significant and these findings support the interpretation of δ¹⁸O as proxy for regional climatic conditions rather than local rainfall amount. Meteorological parameters that characterize intra-seasonal variability of monsoon conditions were also found to be strongly linked to inter-seasonal variability of the monthly based δ¹⁸O values in the Global Network of Isotopes in Precipitation (GNIP) database. This leads to the conclusion that information about the Australian monsoon variability can likely be inferred from the isotopic proxy record in North Australia on short (intra seasonal) and long (inter seasonal or longer) timescales