Challenges in Modeling the Effects of Trade Agreements on the Agricultural Sector

Major issues and challenges encountered in modeling and analyzing agricultural and trade policy reforms are reviewed. We focus on the modeling approach and pay special attention to the type and scope of the models, the calibration of a realistic baseline scenario, the representation of the reform agreement, the use of extra-model information, the choice of metrics to measure reform impacts, and emerging issues in policy modeling. Existing solutions and unresolved issues are examined. We stress the complementarity of various modeling approaches in assessing policy reforms and the importance of helping users understand the limitations of the chosen approach. Keywords: agricultural policy, economic modeling, trade agreements. JEL classification: Q17, Q18, F13

Pre and Post-hoc Diagnosis and Interpretation of Malignancy from Breast DCE-MRI

We propose a new method for breast cancer screening from DCE-MRI based on a post-hoc approach that is trained using weakly annotated data (i.e., labels are available only at the image level without any lesion delineation). Our proposed post-hoc method automatically diagnosis the whole volume and, for positive cases, it localizes the malignant lesions that led to such diagnosis. Conversely, traditional approaches follow a pre-hoc approach that initially localises suspicious areas that are subsequently classified to establish the breast malignancy -- this approach is trained using strongly annotated data (i.e., it needs a delineation and classification of all lesions in an image). Another goal of this paper is to establish the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches when applied to breast screening from DCE-MRI. Relying on experiments on a breast DCE-MRI dataset that contains scans of 117 patients, our results show that the post-hoc method is more accurate for diagnosing the whole volume per patient, achieving an AUC of 0.91, while the pre-hoc method achieves an AUC of 0.81. However, the performance for localising the malignant lesions remains challenging for the post-hoc method due to the weakly labelled dataset employed during training.Comment: Submitted to Medical Image Analysi

Influência da raça na qualidade de couros caprinos

O estudo foi conduzido com o objetivo de avaliar a influência da raça na qualidade de couros caprinos. Foram utilizados cinco caprinos de cada uma das raças: Anglo Nubiana, Alpina e Saanen, com seis meses de idade. Os animais foram abatidos e as peles foram curtidas ao cromo e recurtidas com recurtente acrílico. Dos couros foram retiradas três amostras na posição paralela e três na perpendicular à linha dorsal para a avaliação da qualidade intrínseca de resistência à tração, ao rasgamento e ao lastômetro. As médias dos resultados foram comparadas pelo teste de Tukey ao nível de 5% de probabilidade. A raça não influenciou a resistência à distensão da superfície dos couros dos animais estudados no teste de lastômetro. As médias da resistência dos couros à tração foram maiores na posição longitudinal (P&#61500;0,05) para as três raças. Na posição longitudinal os couros dos caprinos Anglo Nubianos foram mais resistentes à tração (P<0,05), comparado com os couros das outras duas raças, que não apresentaram diferença entre si. A resistência dos couros ao rasgamento não sofreu influência da posição, porém na posição transversal os couros dos caprinos Anglo Nubianos foram mais resistentes (P<0,05), comparado com os couros das outras duas raças, que não apresentaram diferença entre si. A raça e a posição de retirada das amostras de couro influenciam a qualidade de couros caprinos

Occupants Conservation Attitudes on Energy Consumption: The Case in Isabela State University in Cabagan, Isabela

Heating and cooling electrical fixtures accounted to two thirds of a building’s total energy consumption. Energy consumption is the number one contributor to global warming. The Isabela State University in Cabagan, Isabela has an internal policy on energy conservation, hence this study focused mainly on the practices and attitudesof occupants on energy conservation implementation in the campus. It has been observed that there is an increasing trend in the annual energy consumption of the buildings from 2012 to 2015. The occupants of the buildings were surveyed on their responses on how they implement, observe and practice the policy on energyconsumption and conservation of the university. The study revealed that the number of occupants, building design and area and the number of electrical fixtures are the major factors that influenced the energy consumption of the buildings. This study further evaluated the influence of the number of occupants on the energy consumption of the buildings in relation to their conservation attitudes on energy consumption. Occupants of the buildings are aware of the campus policy on energy conservation. This study revealed that their attitudes and practices on energy conservation is influence by their perception on the indoor environment quality of the building specifically on indoor temperature. Keywords: occupants’ conservation practices and attitudes on energy consumptio

Carbon Footprint Inventory of Buildings in Isabela State University: Benchmark for Future Design Alternatives

Energy consumption of buildings was accounted for forty percent (40%) in the burning of fossil fuels that contributed to global warming. Climate change will continuously increase the global temperature in the coming years and this has resulted to the increased demand for energy consumption for cooling and ventilation for the indoor temperature in buildings. The study aimed to determine the carbon footprints of the buildings using the carbon footprint calculator to serve as a benchmark for future design of buildings at Isabela State University in Garita, Cabagan, Isabela. As revealed in the study, the rise in temperature, number of electrical fixtures used for cooling and ventilation, number of floor levels and number of occupants are the factors which influences the increase in the energy consumption of the buildings. Generally, the electrical fixtures used for cooling and ventilation were proven to be with the highest carbon footprint contribution. Hence the researchers recommend to adapt green building technology for future designs of buildings in the campus. Keywords: carbon footprint, energy consumptio