Impact Of Greenhouse Gas Abatement Targets On Agricultural Activity

As part of its continuing commitment to address the causes of climate change, the EU has agreed reduction targets for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to be achieved by 2020. In the case of Ireland the target is a reduction of 20 percent relative to the 2005 level. Agriculture is a major source of GHG emissions in Ireland, comprising 26.8 percent of total GHG emissions in 2007. Understanding the scale and cost of the decrease in agricultural production required to achieve this reduction in GHG emissions is particularly important, as is the comparison of the cost of this approach with a range of possible other means of achieving emissions reductions in the sector. This study finds that, even with reduced fertiliser usage and more extensive production practices, a very substantial decrease in the livestock population is required to meet the emission reduction targets by 2020. The paper concludes that a solution involving a mix of measures may ultimately be requiredagriculture, policy analysis, partial equilibrium modelling, baseline, scenario analysis, GHG, Kyoto, climate, Ireland, FAPRI, EU Gold Model, abatements, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q11, Q17, Q18, Q54,

THE EFFICIENCY OF THE FUTURES MARKET FOR AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES IN THE UK

This paper uses cointegration procedures to test for agricultural commodity futures market efficiency in the UK. Cointegration between spot and futures prices is a necessary condition for market efficiency where these prices are characterised by stochastic trends (Lai and Lai 1991). In addition, acceptance of the 'unbiasedness hypothesis' requires that the spot and lagged futures prices are cointegrated with the cointegrating vector (1, -1). Alternatively, Brenner and Kroner (1995) use a no-arbitrage cost-of-carry model to argue that the existence of cointegration between spot and futures prices depends on the time series properties of the cost-of-carry. According to Brenner and Kroner (1995), a tri-variate cointegrating relationship (the BK hypothesis) should exist among the spot price, the lagged futures price and the lagged interest rate (that component of cost-of-carry most likely to be non-stationary). These variables should be cointegrated with a cointegrating vector (1, -1, 1). Kellard (2002) finds that both bi-variate and tri-variate cointegrating relationships are found in a sample from the wheat futures market in the UK, and thus the so-called "cointegration paradox" emerges. As Kellard (2002) points out this paradox exists because it is theoretically impossible for two variables to be cointegrated with each other while simultaneously being cointegrated with a third variable. Using a larger sample of wheat futures market prices from LIFFE both the 'unbiasedness hypothesis' and the 'BK hypothesis' are examined. The results indicate that the 'BK hypothesis' should be rejected.Marketing,

Modeling the Oxidative Metabolic Breakdown of Ethanol and Its Effects on the Cardiovascular System

Chronic ethanol consumption contributes to the global prevalence’s of cardiovascular disease by mechanisms involving an inflammatory response and consequent lipid peroxidation. Cytochrome p450 is a part of the microsomal ethanol oxidizing system (MEOS) and can utilize iron complexes and the reductant NADPH to catalyze the breakdown of acute/chronic ethanol consumption. However, efficacy of MEOS to prevent cardiovascular burden induced by ethanol consumption is not clear. PURPOSE: To demonstrate the response of the cardiovascular system in response to the oxidative metabolic breakdown of ethanol via MEOS. METHODS: An extensive literature search provided data to develop a mechanistic model of the metabolism of chronic and low volume ethanol consumption. Artificial neural networks were utilized to construct a colormap of correlation coefficients between ethanol consumption and markers of inflammation and lipid peroxidation. RESULTS: The model showed that 3.5 standard drinks (50g of alcohol) were sufficient to increased levels of malondialdehyde and C-Reactive Protein. CONCLUSION: These data indicate that ethanol consumption to a level equal to or above 3.5 standard drinks is sufficient to induce cardiovascular stress through increased reactive oxygen species and consequent inflammation, lipid peroxidation, and oxidative stress. The results also provide the foundation for targeted preventative or therapeutic interventions to enhance MEOS that may reduce the cardiovascular burden of alcohol consumption

Wavelet Radiosity

Radiosity methods have been shown to be an effective means to solve the global illumination problem in Lambertian diffuse environments. These methods approximate the radiosity integral equation by projecting the unknown radiosity function into a set of basis functions with limited support resulting in a set of n linear equations where n is the number of discrete elements in the scene. Classical radiosity methods required the evaluation of n2 interaction coefficients. Efforts to reduce the number of required coefficients without compromising error bounds have focused on raising the order of the basis functions, meshing, accounting for discontinuities, and on developing hierarchical approaches, which have been shown to reduce the required interactions to O(n). In this paper we show that the hierarchical radiosity formulation is an instance of a more general set of methods based on wavelet theory. This general framework offers a unified view of both higher order element approaches to radiosity and the hierarchical radiosity methods. After a discussion of the relevant theory, we discuss a new set of linear time hierarchical algorithms based on wavelets such as the multiwavelet family and a flatlet basis which we introduce. Initial results of experimentation with these basis sets are demonstrated and discussed.Engineering and Applied Science

Linking Large Numbers of Individual National Models: The Case of the AGMEMOD Partnership

The AGMEMOD Partnership seeks to capture the inherent heterogeneity of the agricultural systems existing by combining individual country models of 27 EU Member States and several accession countries into one single model while still maintaining analytical consistency. Although this approach facilitates the comparison of the impact of a policy across different Member States, it generates challenges in practical implementation, ranging from high communication and administration requirements to aggregation and consistency issues. This contribution provides insights into the different challenges posed to the scientists and discusses the key issues for maintenance and further development of such a complex system. Specific attention is paid to technical devices and tools as well as to the design of institutional settings for avoiding inconsistencies.Linking Models, Policy Analysis, Partial Equilibrium Modelling, Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), Agricultural and Food Policy,

Measuring homelessness and residential stability: The residential time-line follow-back inventory

Reliable and valid longitudinal residential histories are needed to assess interventions to reduce homelessness and increase community tenure. This study examined the test-retest reliability, sensitivity to change, and concurrent validity of the Residential Time-Line Follow-Back (TLFB) Inventory, a method used to record residential histories in the Collaborative Program to Prevent Homelessness (n = 1,381). The Residential TLFB Inventory yielded temporally stable aggregate measures of duration in residential categories, and it revealed significant differences in change over time when contrasting study groups. A comparison of agency and participant data at one site

How to deal with the challenges of linking a large number of individual national models: the case of the AGMEMOD Partnership

The AGMEMOD Partnership seeks to capture the inherent existing heterogeneity of agricultural systems by linking together individual EU Member State models, an aggregated EU model and several accession countries into one single model, while still maintaining analytical consistency. Although this approach facilitates the comparison of the impact of a policy change across different Member States, it generates challenges in practical implementation, ranging from significant communication and administration requirements, to aggregation and consistency issues. This contribution provides insights into the different challenges posed to the scientists and discusses the key issues for maintenance and further development of such a complex system. Specific attention is paid to technical devices and tools as well as to the design of institutional settings to achieve consistency.linking models, policy analysis, partial equilibrium modelling, Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), Agricultural and Food Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

The Doha Development Agenda: The WTO Framework Agreement

On July 31, 2004, the 147 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) reached a Framework Agreement for conducting future Doha Round trade negotiations. The Framework Agreement is the latest step in the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) round of trade negotiations at the WTO, which was launched at the 4th Ministerial of the WTO at Doha, Qatar in November 2001. This report provides analysis of the framework agreement and its significant results (agriculture, industrial market access, services, and trade facilitation) in the context of U.S. objectives