Policy Analysis for the Irish Agricultural Sector: The impact of a WTO Agreement on the Irish Agricultural Sector

End of project reportUsing dynamically recursive partial equilibrium models of Irish, EU and World agricultural commodity markets, research undertaken under projects 5158, 5159 and 5160 formed the basis of the empirically based policy analysis that the FAPRI-Ireland aggregate sector modelling team, based at Rural Economy Research Centre (RERC), has provided to Irish and EU agricultural policy makers. Under the three projects (5158, 5159 and 5160), which began in January 2003, numerous analyses of CAP reform proposals and agreements were undertaken. The full details of all of the analysis conducted are given below and are available from the FAPRI-Ireland website www.tnet.teagasc.ie/fapri). In this end of project report the most recent analysis, relating to the possible impact of the still on going Doha Round of WTO negotiations is presented relative to a Baseline under which current agricultural and trade policy is assumed to continue unchanged over a ten year horizon (2006 to 2015)

Projections of forestry as a competitor with mainstream agricultural enterprises and the consequent environmental implications

End of project reportThrough its relationship with the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI), staff at the Rural Economy Research Centre (RERC) have developed a system of econometric models of the Irish Agriculture sector. The output from these models includes, amongst other things, projections of agricultural activity levels under different policy options. From an environmental perspective, information on future levels of agricultural activity are important since they can facilitate the calculation of aggregate national levels of emissions of various pollutants from agriculture. The project has also produced a model which makes projections of forestry planting

The Neighbourhood Links Project: Interim Evaluation Report, July 2012

An interim service evaluation study to identify the key elements of the Neighbourhood Links Project, funded by Big Lottery and delivered by TorrAGE in North Devon, that improve the quality of life and well-being of older residents (aged 60+) in one district in North Devon

Impact analysis of the CAP reform on main agricultural commodities

End of project reportThis study has been carried out for the European Commission's Joint Research Centre to analyze agricultural policies at Member State, EU15 and EU25 levels as well as for Bulgaria and Romania. The modelling tool allows for projections and policy analysis (up to a 10 year horizon) for the enlarged EU.This study has been carried out for the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, under Contract no 150267-2005-FIED-N

Evaluation of usage patterns for web-based educational systems using web mining

Virtual courses often separate teacher and student physically from one another, resulting in less direct feedback. The evaluation of virtual courses and other computer-supported educational systems is therefore of major importance in order to monitor student progress, guarantee the quality of the course and enhance the learning experience for the student. We present a technique for the usage evaluation of Web-based educational systems focussing on behavioural analysis, which is based on Web mining technologies. Sequential patterns are extracted from Web access logs and compared to expected behaviour

Data mining technology for the evaluation of web-based teaching and learning systems

Instructional design for Web-based teaching and learning environments causes problems for two reasons. Firstly, virtual forms of teaching and learning result in little or no direct contact between instructor and learner, making the evaluation of course effectiveness difficult. Secondly, the Web as a relatively new teaching and learning medium still requires more research into learning processes with this technology. We propose data mining – techniques to discover and extract knowledge from a database – as a tool to support the analysis of student learning processes and the evaluation of the effectiveness and usability of Web-based courses. We present and illustrate different data mining techniques for the evaluation of Web-based teaching and learning systems

The Rural Economy Research Centre

End of project report ENARPRIThe economic impact of trade policy reform receives less attention than the impact of trade policy on the environment. In part this may be due to the secondary importance attributed to environmental issues when economic consequences take centre stage. However, another consideration may be the difficulties of bringing together models which examine the economic impact of trade policy reform and models which can provide measures of environmental indicators. This study combines a partial equilibrium economic commodity model with a model for the estimation of agricultural input usage and GHG emissions. The paper examines one aspect of the relationship between trade policy and the environment, namely that between agricultural trade policy reform and indicators relating to emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) from agriculture. The paper examines the impact of agricultural production levels and production practices on the level of GHG emissions from agriculture in Ireland under a Baseline of the recent reform of EU agricultural policy and an alternate scenario where trade policy reforms resulting from a future World Trade Organisation Doha Development Round agreement to reveal the extent to which there are significant environmental impacts which should be considered in addition to the conventional economic considerations.FAPRI-Ireland Partnershi