Universiẗat, Diss., 2003--Kiel.

Techn. Universiẗat, Diss., 2005--Berlin.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 239-243).

Deciding which features to include on a sprayer in order to increase a purchaser's likelihood of buying was a major problem for spray equipment manufacturers. There were several sprayer options that could be included or excluded that affect the retail price of the cotton sprayer. Conjoint analysis was utilized to determine the relative rank and value of features on a cotton sprayer. At the Georgia Cotton Commission Conference, ninety-five respondents completed a sorting of eight cards that each contained groupings of five cotton sprayer feature options. A demographics page was used to identify respondents that were farmer-buyers. The number of participants used in the study was fifty-six. The rankings from this study were entered into SPSS statistical software to retrieve utility values, importance values, and correlations. The analysis of the data showed that the inclusion of chlorophyll sensors had the largest influence on a purchaser's decision to buy. Following this, in terms of importance was presence of wheel shields, type of wheel tread adjustment, and number of spray boom sections. The highest ranking feature combination was three chlorophyll sensors, the presence of shields, hydraulic tread adjustment, and two boom plumbing sections. Chlorophyll sensors were twice as important to respondents as all other features. The respondents were willing to pay the extra cost for the three chlorophyll sensors, proving that the technology was important to them. Once the price increased additionally for the six chlorophyll sensors the respondents' preference for the technology was overshadowed by their preference for price. This showed a strong trade-off with price. It appears that they may be unwilling to pay for the technology because they do not fully understand the benefits of variable rate technology or feel that the technoology cost will not be offset with the benefits.

No description available.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Civil Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

Les architectures satellitaires actuelles pour distribution de services interactifs IP et la connectivité large bande sont basées sur les principes en couches du modèle de référence OSI. Il ne fait aucun doute que l'approche classique basée sur la résolution de problèmes spécifiques à chaque couche dans le cadre du modèle de référence a été très fructueuse jusqu'à aujourd'hui. De nombreux protocoles ont été adaptés aux environnements satellite, et les couches physiques actuelles opèrent près de leurs limites théoriques de performance grâce à l'état très avancé des techniques de modulation et de codage. Cependant, les caractéristiques uniques des transmissions par satellite font que de nombreux et importants problèmes tels que la transparence de la mobilité, le respect des niveaux de services négociés ou la fiabilisation à grande échelle des communications point à multipoint n'ont pas encore trouvé de solutions satisfaisantes dans le cadre de l'approche traditionnelle en couches. L'approche modulaire n'appréhende que moyennement les interactions complexes qui existent entre les couches ainsi que celles avec le médium sans fil, et de ce fait le design actuel fait apparaître des redondances et inefficacités affectant les performances globales. De nombreux chercheurs ont donc commencé à aborder ces différents problèmes de manière holistique, en mettant l'accent sur les avantages potentiels d'une collaboration entre couches au-delà du modèle de référence. La flexibilité résultant d'échanges accrus entre les différentes couches offre en effet de riches possibilités d'optimisation globales, favorisant une meilleure intégration des satellites dans un environnement réseau de plus en plus hétérogène. Cette "optimisation multi-couches" apparaît aujourd'hui comme un domaine de recherche très prometteur pour les communications satellitaires et sans fil en général. Elle se caractérise par une approche pluridisciplinaire mêlant différents aspects de la théorie de l'information, du design de protocoles réseau et du traitement du signal avancé. Force est de constater que de nombreuses techniques multi-couches récemment proposées ont commencé à traiter avec succès quelques uns des problèmes énumérés auparavant, ce qui explique que nombreux protocoles, standards et systèmes de nouvelle génération ont déjà commencé à intégrer ces principes de facto. Cette thèse aborde les problèmes liés à la fiabilité des transmissions satellitaires depuis la perspective de l'optimisation multi-couches. S'agissant d'un aspect crucial des communications satellitaires ayant des implications à presque tous les niveaux de la communication - tels que la qualité de service, la complexité des terminaux ou l'utilisation du spectre - le contrôle des erreurs est sans doute l'une des thématiques satellite où les techniques multi-couche peuvent jouer un rôle important. Après une introduction dédiée aux techniques multi couche en général, la première partie de ce travail s'intéresse à la stratégie de contrôle des erreurs des satellites DVB de première génération, où sont identifiées des redondances liées à une gestion inefficace du problème par le décodeur canal et les couches d'adaptation. Une solution basée sur une approche multi-couche réduisant ces inefficacités et améliorant l'utilisation des ressources est alors proposée. Dans un deuxième temps, nous nous consacrons au standard satellite DVB de nouvelle génération et à la définition de GSE, sa nouvelle couche d'adaptation pour IP. Nous montrons comment GSE intègre de nombreux concepts multi-couches, parmi lesquels ceux liés à une gestion des erreurs basée sur les considérations de la première partie de ce travail. La troisième et dernière partie de ce travail présente HERACLES. Ce nouveau mécanisme multi-couches permet d'apporter des capacités accrues de correction d'erreurs et de synchronisation paquets à tout système de communication par paquets sans consommation supplémentaire de bande. HERACLES a été entièrement développé dans le cadre de cette thèse et a fait l'objet de deux brevets récents. Les résultats globaux de ce travail montrent les possibilités offertes par l'approche multi-couches au problème du contrôle des erreurs, et ouvrent d'excellentes perspectives de déploiement dans les réseaux futurs.

High prices in any industry, agricultural especially, tend to spur new investment opportunities. Recent prices for pecans have been high relative to their historical pattern, suggesting investment opportunities for pecans. Prior to any investment, the investor needs to know what products consumers are demanding and how profitable it is to grow those products. This study assessed Texas consumers' preferences for pecan products and the profitability of growing pecans in the central Texas region. A choice experiment was conducted amongst Texas consumers to reveal consumers' preferences and determine their willingness-to-pay for the attributes comprising pecan products. A stochastic production model was formulated to determine the profitability of three different types of pecan orchards: a native orchard with no irrigation, an improved varieties orchard with irrigation, and an improved varieties orchard without irrigation. Results from the choice experiment indicated that consumers preferred large size pecans, native variety pecans, pecan halves, United States-grown pecans, and Texas-grown pecans. The choice experiment also found that consumers were heterogeneous in their preferences for all attributes except pecan variety and U.S. origin. Results from the stochastic production model indicated that the most profitable pecan orchard in central Texas was the irrigated improved orchard.

Purpose: To identify the relevance ethnocentrism, affinity and product country-image (the three theory effect affectionately called “the enchilada effect” by the authors) have on the consumers’ decision-making process as well as their effect on the consumers’ preferences for certain product attribute importance and types. Problem: In modern society most marketplaces around the world are full of foreign products. The importance ethnocentrism and the country of origin (COO) effect have on the consumers’ decision process has already been studied and identified on several researches along several decades. This mentioned, the authors think not only ethnocentrism, but also affinity and PCI might have an effect on this decision process as well. Therefore, they believe this to be an interesting and important consumer behavior phenomenon to investigate. Further, they want to identify how much these theories influence the consumers in two areas: first, the relative preferences of 8 attributes importance (price, quality, design, weight, energy saving, capacity, material, and HDD storage capacity) distributed in 4 product categories (laptops, refrigerators, bicycles and shoes); and second, their effect on consumers’ preferences over two types of product versions (low-end versus high-end) that differ in price and their added features with the basic price-quality relationship i.e. the more expensive the better it is.

In the last decade, both transport and communication technologies have advanced significantly, and international interactions between countries no longer are limited by distance, the world is changing in a great speed. In the same time, Kaohsiung also faces major changes. The opening of Taiwan High-speed Railway and Kaohsiung city's new MRT system will have a significant impact on its¡¦ development, and will definitely bring new problems and needs to the city. Facing the changes of city-region competition and cooperation, domestic economical and political situation, the city's urban development is already linked together with the international progress. With the impacts of global competition, the rapid rate of information exchange, the rise of community awareness, this is the crucial moment which holds the key to the long term transformation of Kaohsiung city¡¦s future improvement. However, one main element that decides the competitiveness of a city is the city¡¦s land use and zoning regulation system. Therefore, the government with reference to social background, economic conditions, land policies, and national development¡Ketc, sets the best suited land use and regulation system for guidance. This study uses conjoint analysis to review the policies of Kaohsiung city¡¦s land use and zoning regulation system, and by calculating the total preference values of all the alternatives to pick out the best suited option, by translating the attributes into different policy options, and reviewing them through conjoint analysis by questionnaires answered by scholars and workers in related fields, with consideration of two criteria, ¡§the degree of difficulty for legislating or amending laws¡¨ and ¡¨ government administrative efficiency¡¨, to determine urban development issues and be the basis for government agencies to make future policy judgments. According to the result of conjoint analysis, the best option is: 1. the legislating of ¡§Kaohsiung land use and zoning regulation rules¡¨; 2.the zoning districts should be made in the form of a positive list, only the districts listed are allowed; 3. amend ¡§Urban Planning Commission¡¨ to ¡§City plan commission¡¨ and ¡§Zoning commission¡¨; 4. the new establishment of ¡§Board of Adjustments¡¨ as a public channel for complaints. In addition to providing policy recommendations, this study wishes not only to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of land use in Kaohsiung, and also make conjoint analysis more applied on policy analysis.