Factors affecting the level of farm indebtedness: the role of farming attitudes

Working paperUsing a nationally representative survey of farm operators in Ireland, this paper aims to provide a framework for better understanding the characteristics that influence the degree of indebtedness on farm businesses. This paper derives explanatory variables (based on a factor analysis of respondents mean ratings of 13 multiple value items) representing 3 different farming attitudes. An ordered logit model is then formulated to examine the effect of farming attitudes as well as personal characteristics and farm structural variables on the degree of indebtedness. Personal characteristics of the farmer such as age and education as well as farm structural variables such as farm size and farm system were all found to have a statistically significant impact. The presence of decoupled farm payments was also found to affect the degree of indebtedness. The study identified two distinct farming attitudes which were found to have important but opposite effects. These were attitudes strongly orientated to business related objectives which was positively associated with having farming debts and secondly positive attitudes relating to the benefits of farm relative to non-farm work which was negatively associated with the degree of indebtedness. Past research has focused on the effect of socio-demographic characteristics and farm structural variables in examining differences in farm indebtedness. This study extends this literature by specifically examining the role of farming attitudes. Obtaining a deeper understanding of the factors that affect the level of farming debt will be important as the degree of indebtedness has been found to affect farmers’ management decisions. Furthermore, outside of explaining farm credit use, farming attitudes and motivations may have an important impact on farmers’ behaviour in relation to a variety of farm activities

Questionnaire data: summary of findings - year 4, 2006

ICT Test Bed questionnaire analysis - learners, teachers, headteachers and familie

The role of non-pecuniary benefits in the labour allocation decision of farmers.

working paperPrevious research has primarily focused on the impact of economic variables in explaining the off farm labour allocation decisions of principal farm operators. This study finds attitudes regarding the non-pecuniary benefits associated with the farming lifestyle also significantly affect behaviour by acting as a strong disincentive to farmers towards working off farm. This may suggest that even if economic returns are greater in the offfarm labour market, farmers may not supply additional labour off farm. We also employed separate models of off-farm labour market participation and off-farm labour supply and found certain variables such as a farm operator’s age and the level of diversification undergone by the farm business affect off farm labour market participation and hours supplied differently

ICT Test Bed survey data: summary of findings from year 3, 2005

Analysis of the ICT Test Bed Evaluation questionnaires with learners, teachers, leaders and familie

‘You may kiss the bride, but you may not open your mouth when you do so’: policies concerning sex, marriage and relationships in English forensic psychiatric facilities

In 1996, the Royal College of Psychiatrists recommended that all psychiatric facilities in the UK develop policies concerning sexuality and sexual expression for persons contained in those facilities. This paper analyses the prevalence and content of such policies in English forensic psychiatric facilities. While the College recommends an individualised approach to sexual and emotional relationships, most hospitals in fact either prohibit or actively discourage such expression as a matter of policy. The paper considers the advantages and disadvantages of that approach. The paper also considers the legal issues surrounding these policies, and in particular the legal authority for governing the sexual and emotional expression of hospital residents and the relevant human rights implications

Parallel Hierarchical Affinity Propagation with MapReduce

The accelerated evolution and explosion of the Internet and social media is generating voluminous quantities of data (on zettabyte scales). Paramount amongst the desires to manipulate and extract actionable intelligence from vast big data volumes is the need for scalable, performance-conscious analytics algorithms. To directly address this need, we propose a novel MapReduce implementation of the exemplar-based clustering algorithm known as Affinity Propagation. Our parallelization strategy extends to the multilevel Hierarchical Affinity Propagation algorithm and enables tiered aggregation of unstructured data with minimal free parameters, in principle requiring only a similarity measure between data points. We detail the linear run-time complexity of our approach, overcoming the limiting quadratic complexity of the original algorithm. Experimental validation of our clustering methodology on a variety of synthetic and real data sets (e.g. images and point data) demonstrates our competitiveness against other state-of-the-art MapReduce clustering techniques

Survey of Australians using cannabis for medical purposes

BACKGROUND: The New South Wales State Government recently proposed a trial of the medical use of cannabis. Australians who currently use cannabis medicinally do so illegally and without assurances of quality control. Given the dearth of local information on this issue, this study explored the experiences of medical cannabis users. METHODS: Australian adults who had used cannabis for medical purposes were recruited using media stories. A total of 147 respondents were screened by phone and anonymous questionnaires were mailed, to be returned by postage paid envelope. RESULTS: Data were available for 128 participants. Long term and regular medical cannabis use was frequently reported for multiple medical conditions including chronic pain (57%), depression (56%), arthritis (35%), persistent nausea (27%) and weight loss (26%). Cannabis was perceived to provide "great relief" overall (86%), and substantial relief of specific symptoms such as pain, nausea and insomnia. It was also typically perceived as superior to other medications in terms of undesirable effects, and the extent of relief provided. However, nearly one half (41%) experienced conditions or symptoms that were not helped by its use. The most prevalent concerns related to its illegality. Participants reported strong support for their use from clinicians and family. There was almost universal interest (89%) in participating in a clinical trial of medical cannabis, and strong support (79%) for investigating alternative delivery methods. CONCLUSION: Australian medical cannabis users are risking legal ramifications, but consistent with users elsewhere, claim moderate to substantial benefits from its use in the management of their medical condition. In addition to strong public support, medical cannabis users show strong interest in clinical cannabis research, including the investigation of alternative delivery methods

Rock lithology and glacial transport southeast of Boston

Geology of the coastal lowlands, Boston to Kennebunk, Maine: The 76th annual meeting New England Intercollegiate Geological Conference, Danvers, Massachusetts, October 12-14, 1984: Trip C-1

Students Teaching Students: A Model for Service and Study

When students teach each other, something magic happens. Professors and teachers alike spend much of their time trying to create connecting moments of inspiration when new ideas light up a student\u27s face (Duckworth, 1987). At LEAD USA, a non-profit organization in Williamstown, Massacl1usetts, we have found a way to increase the likelihood of these moments of enlightenment. We call it Students Teaching Students (STS). Students Teaching Students is an innovative curricular model in the tradition of John Dewey and Paulo Freire that provides college students with opportunities to design and teach their own courses for full academic credit