Thesis (Ph. D.)--School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004. Directed by Philip Shapira. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 173-182).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 266-284). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (M.S.) in Resource Economics and Policy--University of Maine, 2001. / Includes vita. Advisory Committee: Hsiang-Tai Cheng, Assoc. Prof. of Resource Economics and Policy, Advisor; George K. Criner, Prof. of Resource Economics and Policy; Alan S. Kezis, Prof. of Resource Economics and Policy and Assoc. Dean of College of Natural Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture. Bibliography: leaves 72-76.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains x, 172 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical reference.

Background: Pressures from stakeholders drive manufacturers to be more environmental committed. The demand and supply integration (DSI) aims at balancing the demand and supply in order to stay competitive and reduce costs which can help manufacturers decreasing production costs for environmental-friendly products. When a company is integrating and disseminating information, trust is expected to play an important role between the supply chain partners. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate, theoretically and empirically, of how environmental commitment and trust can influence DSI within the German textile manufacturing industry. Methodology: The primary data, in this thesis, was conducted using a structured web survey sent out to 982 German textile manufacturers via email, based on the database Orbis. The response rate was 5.6 per cent. The simple linear regression analysis was used in order to investigate the relation of environmental commitment and trust on the extent of DSI. Findings, conclusions: In the German textile manufacturing industry, on the one hand, the results indicated that there is a positive linear relation of environmental commitment on the extent of DSI. Due to the low response rate and the lack of previous studies, further research should be conducted to confirm this relation. On the other hand, trust somewhat influences the extent of DSI, however, no linear relationship is found between them. The result is not in coherence with previous research. Hence, further studies are needed to clarify this relation.

Retailing is the considerable element of today economy. This sector was rapidly developing during past years. It was easy to make consumers spend their money because they wanted to spend money. Today consumers are no longer eager to spend as much as before. Therefore retail companies should find new ways to motivate customers to expend. The aim of this research is to define to which extent retailers suffered from economic downturn and to find out which marketing tools they implemented in order to adapt to new market conditions. In order to investigate the variety of possible scenarios, two countries were taken into consideration. Sweden as one of the most stable economies in the world and Russia as country with promising perspectives but unpredictable and risky environment. The goal of taking two countries for the survey was identifying common and diverse traits of changed retailing conditions and necessary measures to follow it. Qualitative method was chosen for current dissertation embodied by case study analysis of leading retail companies in both countries. Primary data from conducted interviews and secondary data from annual reports and statistical authorities were used for analysis. The findings showed that Russian retail was stricken by economic downturn much more than Swedish. Apart from it, customer’s behavior in Sweden did not change significantly as long as Russian consumers changed their store format preferences in favor of discounters. Despite difference revealed in this issues the common characteristics of successful post-recession marketing strategy were discovered. Low price is now the key element of successful retailer. Other elements of marketing strategies play only supportive role in struggle for consumer’s wallets.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has sought to reduce expenditures by better utilizing their maintenance forces through a compressed workweek. The focus of this thesis is a before and after comparison of maintenance crews at TxDOT during a standard 5-day forty hour workweek and a compressed 4-day forty hour workweek. Compressed workweeks are work arrangements in which full-time employees are allowed to work longer days for part of the week or pay period in exchange for shorter days or a day off during the same week or pay period. This type of schedule allows for numerous benefits including increased productivity, additional time to handle personal business, less travel time, less start up and shut down time, improved morale, as well as less stress. Originally three districts were placed upon the compressed workweek but after four months of trial, three additional districts were included. Maintenance activity data from previous years was compared to data collected over the trial period to assess productivity impacts as well as vehicular travel. Surveys of maintenance crews were conducted throughout the study to address personal concerns. The results of the study were that there were no significant impacts to productivity or vehicular usage but a significant improvement in work conditions for the maintenance crews. Further assessment is recommended utilizing additional functional codes for more illustrative results. / text

This Master’s Report outlines graduate research work completed by Akshay Sriprasad, who is supervised by Professor Tom Edgar, in the area of modeling and systems optimization for the smart grid. The scope this report includes the development and validation of strategies to elicit demand response, defined as reduction of peak demand, at the residential level, in conjunction with collaborative research efforts from the Pecan Street Research Institute, a smart grid research consortium based in Austin, TX. The first project outlined is an artificial neural network-­‐based demand forecasting model, initially developed for UT’s campus cooling system and adapted for residential homes. Utilizing this forecasting model, a number of demand response-­‐focused optimization studies are carried out, including optimization of community energy storage for peak shifting, and electric vehicle charging optimization to harness inexpensive night-­‐time Texas wind energy. Community energy storage and electric vehicles are chosen as ideal dynamic charging media due to increased proliferation and focus of Pecan Street Research Institute on critical emerging technologies. As these two technologies involve significant capital investment, an alternative mobile application-­‐based demand response strategy is outlined to complete a comprehensive portfolio of demand response strategies to suit a variety of budgets and capabilities. / text

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

In this report some possible consequences of introducing demand response in the electric power grid are studied. Demand response is a part of the Smart Grid, which is a technology being developed to use our electric power grids more efficiently. Demand response programs aim to move people’s power usage over different times of the day, for example to distribute the power usage more evenly throughout the day or to permit a larger share of renewable, intermittent power sources in the system without making the delivery of electric power less stable.  A distribution system operator (DSO) can encourage customers to shift their power usage between different hours by various tariffs, for example by using time-differentiated or power dependent tariffs.   In this thesis, the change in power losses and possible environmental impact of introducing due to a power shift is studied. Power input curves from a DSO, Sala-Heby Energi AB, are studied and modified to simulate a power shift with an evened out electric power usage. The studies made show that in the best-case scenario, that is a electric power usage evened out to 100% each day, the power losses in the whole grid can be reduced with 2.6%. The environmental study shows that the result varies greatly with what method is chosen to do the calculations. The results are presented in kg CO2-equivalents (CO2e), and depending on method used they can either decrease or increase. The environmental study show that the environmental impact from the power usage is more dependent on the shift in power usage between hours than the decrease in electric power losses.