Synthesis report of soil science capacity in Higher Education in Europe

Soils and their management are fundamental to a range of essential ecosystems, societal and climate challenges facing humanity. In Europe, 25-30% of agricultural soils are considered degraded, affecting food systems, GHG emissions, habitats and water ways. To manage soil resources for multiple uses require expertise and competence from farmers and landowners to policy makers and the private sector. This report provides a synthesis on the current state of soil science in European Higher Education (HE), as a baseline to assess competency and resources for capacity development in soil science. A total of 120 survey responses were received in 2020-2021, representing Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) in 25 European countries. Resultsshowed that only 13% of the HEIs hosted a dedicated soil science department. The majority of soil science is embedded in a department where environmental sciences, agricultural sciences and earth sciences are the main academic topics. Respondents reported an increased enrolment at BSc, and no change for MSc and PhD. Mixed trends could be seen for specific countries and universities, with both increases and decreases in student enrolment. Teaching capacity is high in soil science, with a majotrity of teachers having both PhD and training in HE teaching and learning. Yet, traditional lecture based teaching dominates soil science teaching and learning activities, both at BSc and MSc levels. At BSc level the proportion of courses that did not have any computer/modelling component was about 1/3. According to responses internationalisation is of great importance to many soil science HEI. Top three priorities for internationalisation were attracting students from abroad, providing more opportunities to send students abroad and developing strategic research partnerships. Finally, respondents’ perception was that job opportunities for students have mainly increased in the past ten years, and one important explanation to this is an increased interest in soil, in relation to environmental concern, sustainability and climate change

DRAFT Synthesis report on soil science in European Higher Education

The European Joint Partnership “Towards climate smart sustainable management of agricultural soils” (EJP SOIL, https://projects.au.dk/ejpsoil/) is a European 5-year effort to strengthen research capacity and new knowledge on climate adaptation and mitigation for agricultural soils. This survey is supporting by providing a baseline on the current state of soil science in European Higher Education institutions (HEI). This was done through a survey to 274 HEIs in Europe. A total of 86 complete answers were received where every EJP SOIL country was represented with at least one response. Preliminary results showed that only 10% of the HEIs had a dedicated soil science department. The majority of soil science is embedded in a department where environmental sciences, agricultural sciences and earth sciences are the main academic topics. Respondents reported an increased enrolment at BSc, and no change for MSc and PhD. Mixed trends could be seen for specific countries and universities, with both increases and decreases in student enrolment. Traditional lecture based teaching dominated soil science teaching and learning activities, both at BSc and MSc levels. However, results suggested that study programs are evolving to include more generic competences as well as active learning methods (e.g. problem-based learning, case studies). Still, at BSc level the proportion of courses that did not have any computer/modelling component was about 1/3. Top 3 priorities for internationalisation were to i) attract students from abroad, ii) provide more opportunities to send students abroad and iii) develop strategic research partnerships. Finally, respondents’ perception was that job opportunities for soil science students have mainly increased in the past ten years

Patriotic Consumers and the Political Economics of Agricultural Trade

It is well documented that consumers tend to be patriotic in their choices of food. This paper theoretically examines the consequences of such patriotic behavior for agricultural policy, assuming that the policy is decided by the median voter. The analysis is conducted in the framework of a small open economy, with a ricardian production structure. Consumers differ with respect to how much extra they are prepared to pay for a domestically produced agricultural good. The indirect utility functions are used to find the specific values of tariffs and agricultural subsidies that the various households prefer. For the tariff we find that only the group that buys the domestically produced agricultural good will favor a strictly positive tariff. This tariff is higher the more disadvantage the country has in agricultural production. It is more likely that this group is a majority of the population if this country has a high productivity in the agricultural sector and if the patriotic parameter is large

New forms of local collective governance linked to the agricultural landscape: identifying the scope and possibilities for hybrid institutions

Over the last few years, there has been a significant increase in the focus on rural development and public goods within the common agricultural policy (CAP). Many researchers emphasise how this implies a need for new ways of implementing policy and innovative collaboration between various actors. Policymakers also acknowledge such needs. Local action groups and organisations have a significant potential in this new rural development context. Such local groups can form the basis for a hybrid governance of public goods and sustainable rural development. We identify the potential benefits of such governance in terms of reduced costs, better results and synergies in rural development. With their own agendas, such groups already exist and reflect a potential for hybrid governance. This paper investigates the occurrence of such groups in Sweden and their potential in Europe and elsewhere.agricultural policy, rural development, hybrid governance, local groups, new associationalism, post-productivism, Sweden, agriculture, local governance, collective governance, Common Agricultural Policy, local action groups, local organisations, public goods, sustainable development, sustainability,

Failure Probability and Lifetime Estimation for Industrial Robots : A Logistic Regression and Lifetime Analysis Approach

The ability to handle and process data for information extraction is getting more and more important. Using extracted data from the business to improve productivity is seen as an important part in developing the business processes. In this thesis, industrial robots and their survival times are analyzed. The work is about predicting the probability that a specific robot will fail during a specified time period. Also, survival analysis is conducted where the median lifetime and conditional median lifetime for industrial robots are estimated. Two approaches are used, logistic regression and survival analysis. A logistic regression model is made to predict the probability for different industrial robots to break during a specified time period. The logistic model achieves an accuracy of 0.694 with even higher accuracy regarding high – and low risk robots. The survival analysis uses a Cox PH model to check validity for proportional hazards and then a parametric model with Weibull distribution is fitted. The parametrical survival model is used to estimate the median lifetime and the remaining median lifetime for the robots. The estimated probabilities and lifetimes can be used as an indication of which robots are in risk of failure

Failure Probability and Lifetime Estimation for Industrial Robots : A Logistic Regression and Lifetime Analysis Approach

The ability to handle and process data for information extraction is getting more and more important. Using extracted data from the business to improve productivity is seen as an important part in developing the business processes. In this thesis, industrial robots and their survival times are analyzed. The work is about predicting the probability that a specific robot will fail during a specified time period. Also, survival analysis is conducted where the median lifetime and conditional median lifetime for industrial robots are estimated. Two approaches are used, logistic regression and survival analysis. A logistic regression model is made to predict the probability for different industrial robots to break during a specified time period. The logistic model achieves an accuracy of 0.694 with even higher accuracy regarding high – and low risk robots. The survival analysis uses a Cox PH model to check validity for proportional hazards and then a parametric model with Weibull distribution is fitted. The parametrical survival model is used to estimate the median lifetime and the remaining median lifetime for the robots. The estimated probabilities and lifetimes can be used as an indication of which robots are in risk of failure

Research Assessment Exercise : RAE 2021 Summary report

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Ten years after - welfare effects of the application of the CAP in Austria, Finland and Sweden

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Ten Years After - Welfare Effects of the Application of the CAP in Austria, Finland and Sweden

Ten years ago, Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined the EU. The application of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) caused major repercussions on the agricultural sectors of the entering countries. This article analyses the welfare effects of accession to the EU on the agricultural markets in Austria, Finland and Sweden in a simple supply and demand framework, which is kept strictly identical across all three countries. The quantitative results of the study are derived by using standard partial equilibrium comparative static analysis in the Marshallian economic surplus framework. Using this method, the welfare effects are calculated for eight major cereal and livestock commodities produced in Austria, Finland, and Sweden by comparing the evolution of the markets with and without entry into the EU. The results of the analysis suggest that consumers have gained from accession and producers, on the other hand, have incurred welfare losses from changing market conditions, which however have been eased by rising budgetary support