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INVESTIGATOR: Dey, M. M.; Engle, C.; Wui, P.; Xie, L.

PERFORMING INSTITUTION:
UNIV OF ARKANSAS
PINE BLUFF, ARKANSAS 71601

ESTABLISHING APPLIED ECONOMICS AND MARKETING LABORATORY (AEM-LAB) FACILITIES AT AQUACULTUREFISHERIES CENTER, UAPB

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The Aquaculture/Fisheries Center and the Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries, two jointly administered units of the UAPB, are recognized nationally and internationally as a leader in aquaculture/fisheries teaching, research, and extension programs. Administratively, research and extension activities occur within the structure of the Center, while academic responsibilities related to the undergraduate and graduate programs are administered through the academic department. Currently, the Department offers six lecture-based courses in aquaculture/fisheries economics and marketing: GAQF 5322 - Aquaculture Economics, GAQF 5323 - Aquaculture Marketing, GAQF 5324 - Quantitative Methods in Fisheries and Aquaculture Marketing, GAQF 5298 - Graduate Research Problems (Fisheries Econometrics), AQFI 4323 - Aquaculture Marketing, and AQFI 4322 - Aquaculture Economics. In addition, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Business Administration offer a number of related courses. Most of these courses are lecture-based and are supported by a mini-lab with very limited capacity. The Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries started offering PhD from spring semester 2012. Economics and marketing issues are at the forefront of the aquaculture/fisheries industry in the U.S. Review of past research related to aquaculture and fisheries reveals a strong biology focus, leaving many economics and marketing questions unanswered. Given the expertise and long-term commitment, UAPB has been requested by the aquaculture/fisheries industry to address these issues. The proposed project will create a state-of-the-art AEM-Lab facility to improve the capacity of the Aquaculture/Fisheries Center of UAPB, to better serve the aquaculture/fisheries industry of Arkansas and beyond. It will re-shape aquaculture/fisheries economics and marketing curricula of UAPB to meet needs of changing rural economics by contributing to the growth of economically viable aquaculture businesses and enhancing sustainable management of aquatic resources. It will extend theory into practical applications and solutions to problems faced by stakeholders in the state and across the country. The expected outcomes and impacts of the project include: a) well trained next generation science professional with problem solving mindsets in the field of aquaculture/fisheries economics and marketing; and b) enhanced quality of teaching and research program on 'aquaculture/fisheries economics and marketing' at UAPB.

OBJECTIVES: The main goal of the project is to create a state-of-the-art "Applied Economics and Marketing Laboratory" (AEM-Lab) facility in the Aquaculture/Fisheries Center of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) to provide education for undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of aquaculture/fisheries economics and marketing, and other related fields. The specific objectives are to: 1) establish required physical facilities, and procure necessary equipment, software and databases; 2) compile various databases for making laboratory exercises/manuals and training modules on aquaculture/fisheries economics and marketing for students and stakeholders; 3) develop laboratory section of various aquaculture/fisheries economics and marketing courses; and 4) develop training modules and conduct trainings for students enrolled in Aquaculture/Fisheries Economics and Marketing and other related courses. The outputs expected from this project include: 1) fully operational AEM-Lab with state-of-the-art facilities; 2) manuals of laboratory sections of various aquaculture/fisheries economics and marketing courses; 3) databases for econometric and policy analysis; 4) user friendly planning and management tools; and 5) trained human resource in the fields of experimental economics, econometrics and policy analysis modeling, and statistical analysis.

APPROACH: The project will furnish the room designated for the proposed AEM-Lab by the Center and create advanced physical facilities for 10 fully partitioned workstations and a separate experimenter's office. The physical facilities will include: 10 computers (24" LCD Flat Panel Monitor), one laptop, one 65" LCD screen for group studies, one dual projection screen, one Wacom 21" Touchscreen monitor, one Document camera, one Printer, 25 Computer chairs (15 extra seats away from computers), 10 workstations, etc. This facility will be used by at least seven faculty members (Dey, Dunbar, Engle, Hand, Huang, Wui, and Xie) from three departments (Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries, and Business Administration) and their students and researchers. Establishment of physical facilities will be followed by procurement of software programs that include Microsoft Excel Add-ins, econometric, programming and database software. Laboratory sections of existing courses on i) Aquaculture Economics (AQFI 4322), ii) Aquaculture Marketing (AQFI 4323), iii) Quantitative Methods in Fisheries and Aquaculture (GAQF 5324), iii) Graduate Research Problem-Fisheries econometrics (GAQF 5298), and iv)Special Topics-Mathematical Programming (GAQF 5391) will be developed. The project team will develop training management, data analysis, data presentation, and developing spreadsheet models using Microsoft Excel. The training modules on the use of STATA, NLOGIT, and Eviews will also be developed. The project will also develop users' friendly manuals on policy analyses to be used by stakeholders.

PROGRESS: 2012/09 TO 2016/08
Target Audience:Graduate and undergraduate students, faculty, seafood business, and fish farmers and processors. Changes/Problems:None What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The facilities have served as a primary source for laboratory section in a series of courses and training modules. As an effective platform, this project helped professional develop analytical skills and assisted student advising. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Continuous communication and information update are kept with the existing students and lecturers regarding their feedbacks toward AEM-lab facilities. These measures helped to maximize the usage of the laboratory as well as to improve its function for various courses. AEM-lab facility users can better plan and schedule courses or studies. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This project has been finished. Regular maintenance of AEM-lab facilities continues.

IMPACT: 2012/09 TO 2016/08
What was accomplished under these goals? 1. Completion of the AEM-lab physical structure and facilities covering 10 desktops, a laptop, a printer and other basic laboratory supplies. 2. Development and maintenance to the "social-economic and marketing data system". The system include seafood prices, seafood production input prices, retail scanner datasets, seafood brand information, and nutritional specifications. 3. Three courses have been conducted in AEM-lab from 2014 to 2015, including undergraduate econometrics and statistics and graduate quantitative methods. AEM-lab facilities and datasets provided a series of laboratory sessions relevant to economic and marketing analysis. In addition, several guidelines were developed for the quantitative nature of these classes, including "Almost Ideal Demand System model", "price transmissions and asymmetry analysis" and "seafood price forecasts". 4. Development of interactive computer-based training modules, including workshops for academics and industry, computer programs for public communication, and simulation tools for education. For example, a program is created for high school students' better understanding seafood product price analysis. 5. A two-week, hands on course was hold in June 2014, "Frontiers of Fish/Seafood Marketing and Marketing Modeling: Economic Theories and Estimation Techniques". This summer school style course provided intensive discussions for participants and practice of economic theories and modern quantitative techniques for analysis in topics of seafood economics.

PUBLICATIONS (not previously reported): 2012/09 TO 2016/08
No publications reported this period.

PROGRESS: 2014/09/01 TO 2015/08/31
Target Audience:Graduate and undergraduate students, faculty, seafood business,and fish farmers and processors. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The laboratoryserved as the key resource facility for a series of courses (laboratory sections) and trainings during the reporting period. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We are having continuous communications with the existing students and lecturersregarding the facilities provided by the AEM-lab to maximize the usage of the laboratory as well as to improve its functionality for various courses. This approach has been helpul to the users ofthis facilityin planning and scheduling courses and/or studies. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?It will continue to provide the users the platform in developing their professions, particularly in analysis of data onrelevant topics. Several scientific articles are being prepared.

IMPACT: 2014/09/01 TO 2015/08/31
What was accomplished under these goals? Addednew datasets to the" socio-economic and marketing database system", which includes seafood packaged food nutrients dataset and retail scanner dataset (covering January to December 2014). These datasets are stored in Ms. Excel. One course (Quantitative Methods in Fisheries and Aquaculture Economics)was conducted in the AEM-lab during the Spring semester of 2015. This course provided a series of laboratory sessions relevant to economic and marketing analyses. Materials on both the methods and program codes were developed for the laboratory sessions. New addition of creative hands-on tool or program was developed and presented to high-school students to enhance their interest and knowledge about the seafood economic and marketing analyses. This tool/program presents the end-output of an analysis on retail packaged product price development across several animal-food-proteins, which includes seafood, red-meat and poultry. In addition to the course mentioned in (2), several analyses guidelines were developed, namely demand analysis with AIDS model, price transmission and asymmetry analysis, and catfish price forecasting analysis. These modules take the learner step-by-step through the process of analysis using STATA analytical software.

PUBLICATIONS: 2014/09/01 TO 2015/08/31
No publications reported this period.

PROGRESS: 2013/09/01 TO 2014/08/31
Target Audience: Graduate and undergradute students, faculty, and fish farmers and processors. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? During the reporting period, this facility has served as a primary resource for the laboratory sections of a series of courses and training modules. It will continue to provide its users with an effective platform to develop skills relevant to their professions, particularly in data analysis and related topics. In addition, several graduate students regularly use the AEM-lab to conduct statistical analyses necessary to produce influential results conducive to the fulfillment of their thesis, dissertation, and/or manuscript requirements. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Continuous communication among students and lecturers on the status of the AEM-lab and the resources provided exists in order to maximize its use and to improve its functionality for various relevant courses. This will assist current and potential users in course planning and scheduling logistics. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We intend to promote further use by ensuring the continuous presence of in-situ lab proctors. A concrete schedule of proctor presence that will allow both graduate and undergraduate students to use the AEM-lab outside of scheduled course hours is currently under development. We will develop additional databses and analytical tools.

IMPACT: 2013/09/01 TO 2014/08/31
What was accomplished under these goals? Completion of the AEM-lab facilities covering 10 desktops, a laptop, a printer, a 60" LCD screen T.V., a white board, and basic laboratory supplies. Development of a socio-economic and marketing database system has commenced. Among the new additions to the database system are web-search seafood and marketing information, including seafood brand, company information, and nutritional specifications. These datasets are stored in Microsoft Excel. Two courses were conducted in the AEM-lab during the Fall semester of 2014, namely Introduction to Econometrics and Business Statistics. Additionally, a series of laboratory sessions of relevance to economic and marketing analysis have been identified and will be conducted during the Spring 2015 academic semester. The development of materials required for these upcoming laboratory sessions is currently in progress. A creative and engaging computer program was developed to enhance communication between researchers and seafood industry (aquaculturists and processors). This program incorporates the output of a seafood product price analysis developed for ten U.S. metropolitan markets, such as Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and the District of Columbia. It has been presented to an audience of high-school students in hopes of developing an interest for seafood econometric and marketing analyses and to exalt the importance of choosing effective and informative tools tailored to a diversity of demographics. A two-week, hands-on course titled "Frontiers of Fish/Seafood Marketing and Market Modeling: Economic Theories and Estimation Techniques" was conducted in June 2014. This course trained its participants through intensive discussions on intra/international seafood economics and the direct application of appropriate quantitative modeling techniques consistent with traditional economic theory. Under the tutelage of experienced faculty, the trainees individually performed econometric analyses covering topics such as fish sector modeling, projection development, and estimation of seafood supply/demand functions, among others. In addition to internal professors, several extra-departmental seafood-econ "gurus" were invited to enhance the level of expertise in the various disciplines within this field. Among them were faculty from the University of Stavanger (Norway), University of Idaho, University of Alaska, University of The Philippines at Los Banos, and the University of Prince Edward Island (Canada).Discussions were also enhanced resulting from the diverse background of the twelve participating students in attendance from UAPB (host), University of Portsmouth (U.K.), Wageningen University (The Netherlands); University of Ibadan (Nigeria) and the WorldFish (an international research center with headquarters in Malaysia).

PUBLICATIONS: 2013/09/01 TO 2014/08/31
No publications reported this period.

PROGRESS: 2012/09/01 TO 2013/08/31
Target Audience: Graduate and undergraduate students, faculty, and fish farmers and processors Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The project is still in the phase of lab establishment. The lab will serve as the key resource facility for a series of course laboratory sections and trainings once it starts operating in the first quarter of 2014. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The current status and projected date of completion of AEM-lab preparations have been communicated to existing students and lecturers. This will assist them in planning of courses and/or study scheduling. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? All identified equipment and analytical tools will be procured. A database system will be developed to enhance the continuous data storing. The AEM-lab is expected to be fully operational by the second quarter of 2014. Thereafter, a series of laboratory sections of various courses, as well as of trainings by graduate students, lecturers, and external speakers will take place within the AEM-lab. From then on, numerous analyses modules will be developed and compiled for future usage.

IMPACT: 2012/09/01 TO 2013/08/31
What was accomplished under these goals? 1. Completion of the AEM-lab physical structure and facilities covering room renovation, electricity establishment, 10 fully paartitioned workstations, 2 mobile desks, and 10 chairs. 2. Development of a socio-economic and marketing databse system has commenced. The secondary datasets compiled so far include: catfish price (farm gate, processor), feed and feed inputs prices, scanner datasets, and primary datasets (i.e. crawfish, baitfish and crawfish makret surveys. These datasets are stored in MS Excel. 3. A list of laboratory sections of existing courses has been compiled and the processes to develop the necessary materials for the various laboratory sections are in progress. Some courses, for example Aquaculture Economics, have developed and conducted a series of laboratory exercises during Fall Semester of 2013, which will take place at the (GAQF 5322) AEM-lab from next year onwards. 4. A series of training modules have been identified. These include a broad scope of workshop and training, i.e. a training focusing onthe aquaculture supply and demand forces in a U.S. and Global market context. Other trainings include price transmission analyses and risk analyses, to name a few. The development of materials needed for the trainings are in progress.

PUBLICATIONS: 2012/09/01 TO 2013/08/31
No publications reported this period.