Water Quality Trading: Legal Analysis for Georgia Watersheds

Water quality trading is a policy tool that could improve the cost effectiveness of achieving environmental goals, but it is not currently used in the state of Georgia. This paper seeks to evaluate the applicability of water quality trading in Georgia watersheds with a specific focus on legal issues. This paper reviews Georgia law and regulations to evaluate barriers to and support for water quality trading. It also reviews water quality trading policies from other states and explores the value of adopting a state water quality trading policy in Georgia. The paper concludes that while existing law provides implicit authority to implement water quality trading in Georgia, inadequate regulatory pressure in most Georgia watersheds and possible legal challenges could be significant impediments to implementing water quality trading in the state at this time. The paper also suggests that successful pilot trades should precede the development of statewide water quality trading policy. Working Paper Number 2005-002

Georgia Water: "A Public Resource Or A Commodity" What Are The Real Policy Questions?

In this paper we first address the question as to the strength of Georgia's commitment to protect public interests in the state's water resources as such commitments are expressed in existing laws. Comparing legislative declarations of state policy in Georgia with those in 36 other Eastern States, we find that none of the states have expressions of this commitment that would reasonably be regarded as more strongly stated than Georgia law. In conclusion, we find that Georgia water law currently recognizes the public's dependence on the state's water resources and its commitment to policies and programs that assure that water is used prudently for the maximum benefit of the people. Adding "public resource" language to the law would not substantively strengthen these existing policy declarations.Attention is then turned to the "water as a commodity" issue. We argue here that the "water as a commodity" issues is at best poorly framed. In our view debate in Georgia should center on alternatives for resolving the reallocation issue; it should focus on the question as to how Georgia is to strike a balance between private, competing use of water and public, non-competing uses of water (e.g., instream flows), and how this balance is to be adjusted over time in response to changes in social, environmental, and climatic conditions. When market mechanisms are considered as one of the means to achieve reallocation, evaluation of their effectiveness is dependent on a particular set of market institutions. Thus, being "for" or "against" markets makes no more sense that being "for" or "against" water use permits -- everything depends on the provisions and protections of specific laws and proposals. Working Paper # 2002-00

Conservation Pricing Of Household Water Use In Public Water Systems In Georgia's Coastal Communities: A Preliminary Exploration

The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of price on residential water use in public water supply systems in Georgia's Coastal region. Particular attention is focused on measures for the elasticity of demand for residential water use inasmuch as a showing of price inelasticity may make the wider adoption of conservation pricing more palatable to small communities with concerns that raising water prices will reduce much-needed revenues.To clarify the nature and importance of the elasticity measure, consider the following simplified example. A community sells 100 units of water for $1.00 per unit. Its' total revenues are$100. Suppose price is increased by 20% to $1.20, and that the units purchased falls by 30$84.00. In this case, we say that demand is "elastic;" the quantity of water used by folks "stretches" relative to the change in price. With elastic demand, rising prices mean lower total revenues. Suppose, however, that with the 20% price increase, demand fell to only 90 units -- a 10% decrease. Total revenues are now $108. In this case we say demand is inelastic -- quantity doesn't really "stretch" much when prices rise. If demand is inelastic, rising prices means higher revenues.From our limited, phase one efforts in these regards, we use aggregate water pricing data from 50 public water supply systems in 28 coastal counties that participated in a survey conducted during late the period 2003-2005. We find strong evidence that, at the margin, residential water use is indeed affected by prices charged for water in this region. We also find what we regard to be reasonably compelling evidence suggesting that residential water demand is inelastic over the range of marginal prices observed in our sample. This latter finding suggests that the use of conservation pricing as a tool for water conservation may not have an adverse effect on community revenues. Indeed, it may well be the case that increasing water prices will increase, not decrease, the community's revenues from the sale of water.In moving to phase two of this work, a great more will be accomplished in terms of refinements in the nature and quality of data used; greater efforts will be placed on attempts to identify functional forms that will yield best estimates for residential water demand in the state. Our ultimate goal is to be capable of responding to the needs of Georgia communities in the coastal region for information related to how one might improve the design of a community's water rate structure, and to conservation pricing policies that will best serve their interests and the interests of the state. Working Paper Number 2005-00

EU ja Tekoäly : normatiivisen vallan teknologinen herääminen

An increasing body of literature predicts AI as a disruptive and transformative of society as we know it today. In this landscape of change the European Union has taken an initiative to push for the development of “AI that corresponds to European Ethical Values and citizens’ aspirations”. This plan is ambitious and reflects the collective consciousness that if left behind Europe might lose its standing as global political and economic powerhouse. The Approach launched by the European Commission centers around the concept of Trustworthy and Ethical AI. This research will examine how the European Union, aware of its limitations, formulates an approach towards AI distinct from others and based on the concepts and values defining what it sees as inherently European. The thesis proposes that the European approach to AI is an exercise in Normative Power and a resurrection of the concept in a new digital age. For this purpose discourse analysis is chosen as the best research method. The research material selected include key documents published by the European Comission process that both outline its core motivations and content, how the strategy is communicated by Comission representatives and in the documents making up the final version of the European Approach to AI. Conducting a discourse analysis from a critical perspective of the selected material to answer the proposed research question is an exercise in looking at how the EU wishes to represent itself. The analysis focuses on the European Commission in aiming to construct Europe as a global leader in the field of Artificial Intelligence. The research will focus on a specific social problem which has a semiotic aspect namely the relationship of role of discourse in the reproduction of different forms of power. The central findings of the research are that indeed the discursive representations necessary for a European identity founded in normative power are present in all the literature that was reviewed and analyzed. Discursive representations are employed by the European Comission. the European Commission actively takes parts in the discursive enactment of Europeanness itself, by framing AI as a challenge that the EU has a better solution to than its rivals. It also engages in acts of positive-self representations and which turn effectively in to indirect negative-othering The Research concludes on the notion that the original concept of Normative Power coined by Ian Manners has not disappeared from European political discourse and lives on in the multitude of policies and documents produced. More research is recommended in the field of Artificial Intelligence as the recommendations and strategies provided by the European Commission are taken from theory in to practice. The European approach to AI is as much defined by what is included in the above analysed documents as what is missing, but whether Brussels prefers the term or not, its AI Strategy is fast becoming a reboot for Normative Power Europe

Reservoir Management Techniques to Enhance Biological Productivity and Protect Water Quality

Three reservoirs of similar size, watershed land use, and qualitative characteristics in northwest Arkansas, USA were selected to compare the effects of chemical fertilization and pulsed artificial-upwelling on whole-lake productivity, specifically primary production and phytoplankton biomass. Numerous water quality parameters were quantified over a two year period (2011-13) with the goal of understanding how each management technique would stimulate productivity. This experiment was the first step towards a larger goal to ultimately enhance sport fish production. The first year of monitoring occurred in 2011 and served as a control year for the three lakes. Treatments were initiated in two of the lakes (Lakes Rayburn and Norwood) in the second year, as one lake (Lake Brittany) remained a control. Due to difficulty in scaling and manipulation cost, small-scale microcosms experiments were used in 2012 directly prior to each whole-lake experiment. Microcosm experiments were used to derive appropriate whole-lake fertilization rates and make predictions for whole-lake responses to nutrient additions. Both microcosm and whole-lake phytoplankton responses varied seasonally with water temperature and initial dissolved nutrient concentrations. Few interannual effects from whole-lake manipulation were observed in the treatment lakes due to the `pulse\u27 nature of nutrient additions. However, the short-term data revealed increased concentrations of total phosphorus (TP), total dissolved P (TDP), chlorophyll a (chl a), and \u3c80 \u3eµm chl a in Lake Rayburn and, in Lake Norwood, total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), TP, TDP, chl a, and \u3c 80 µm chl a concentrations were elevated. Few whole-ecosystem aquatic studies have been conducted in the manner of this experiment. Preliminary results from these data suggest that periodically pulsed nutrient additions can result in short-term increases in biological productivity without affecting interannual water quality patterns

The GRB-SLSN Connection: mis-aligned magnetars, weak jet emergence, and observational signatures

Multiple observational lines of evidence support a connection between hydrogen-poor superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) and long duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Both events require a powerful central energy source, usually attributed to a millisecond magnetar or an accreting black hole. The GRB-SLSN link raises several theoretical questions: What distinguishes the engines responsible for these different phenomena? Can a single engine power both a GRB and a luminous SN in the same event? We propose a new unifying model for magnetar thermalization and jet formation: misalignment between the rotation (${\bf \Omega}$) and magnetic dipole (${\bf \mu}$) axes thermalizes a fraction of the spindown power by reconnection in the striped equatorial wind, providing a guaranteed source of "thermal" emission to power the supernova. The remaining un-thermalized power energizes a relativistic jet. In this picture, the GRB-SLSN dichotomy is directly linked to ${\bf \Omega \cdot \mu}$. We extend earlier work to show that even weak relativistic jets of luminosity $\sim10^{46}$ erg s$^{-1}$ can escape the expanding SN ejecta hours after the explosion, implying that escaping relativistic jets may accompany many SLSNe. We calculate the observational signature of these jets. We show that they may produce transient UV cocoon emission lasting a few hours when the jet breaks out of the ejecta surface. A longer-lived optical/UV signal may originate from a mildly-relativistic wind driven from the interface between the jet and the ejecta walls. This provides a new explanation for the secondary early-time maximum observed in some SLSNe light curves, such as LSQ14bdq. This scenario also predicts a population of GRB from on-axis jets with extremely long durations, potentially similar to the population of "jetted tidal disruption events", in coincidence with a small subset of SLSNe.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, submitted to MNRA

Disability and the Family in South Wales Coalfield Society, c.1920–1939

This article utilises the south Wales coalfield in the interwar period as a case study to illustrate the applicability of two sociological theories ? family systems theory and the social ecology of the family ? to impairment in the past. It demonstrates that a theoretically-informed approach can help to situate impairment in its particular contexts, most especially the family and the community, and give a better sense of the lived experience of disability. It also demonstrates the complexity of the experience of disability as the family and economic circumstances of each impaired individual varied and led to different forms of care-giving or the utilisation of different sources of support. The article also sheds further light on the ubiquity of disability as many families included a number of individuals with different impairments and this too had consequences for experiences and coping strategies.publishersversionPeer reviewe

‘A plentiful crop of cripples made by all this progress’: Disability, Artificial Limbs and Working-Class Mutualism in the South Wales Coalfield, 1890-1948’

Historians of orthopaedics, artificial limbs and disability have devoted a great deal of attention to children and soldiers but have neglected to give sufficient space in their studies to industrial workers, the other patient group that has been identified as crucial to the development of these areas. Furthermore, this attention has led to an imbalanced focus on charitable and philanthropic activities as the main means of assistance and the neglect of a significant part of the voluntary sphere, the labour movement. This article, focusing on industrial south Wales, examines the efforts of workingclass organisations to provide artificial limbs and a range of other surgical appliances to workers and their family members in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It finds that a distinctive, labourist conception of disability existed which envisaged disabled workers as an important priority and one to which significant time, effort and resources were devoted.Wellcome Trus