Master of Science / Department of Civil Engineering / Yacoub M. Najjar / Asset Management is a relatively new term in the transportation world. It involves a systematic approach to maintaining, upgrading and operating all transportation assets (including infrastructure) cost-effectively. With the Government Accounting Standards Board's Statement 34 (GASB 34) requiring all transportation entities to report all capital assets on their annual reports as well as the development of new software and technologies, Asset Management is becoming easier to implement and quickly becoming an important part of the transportation industry. In Kansas the Department of Transportation has developed and successfully utilized an Asset Management system for all assets including bridges, roadways, drainage structures and signs. Kansas counties however, do not have the funds and personnel to implement and maintain an Asset Management system similar to that of the KDOT. Asset Management systems have only been developed by counties with large populations, but even they have not reached the full potential of the system. This thesis discusses the importance of creating and maintaining an effective Asset Management system. Kansas counties were surveyed and asked a series of questions about their asset management systems, or lack thereof, as well as the successes and failures of these systems. The counties were asked how they prioritize maintenance, what software they are using, and what assets they have inventoried. The results of the questionnaire showed that counties with large populations have shown interest in implementing Asset Management systems and many have worked to implement such a system. Conversely, counties with small populations that do not have the resources have not implemented Asset Management systems. Recommendations for implementing appropriate Asset Management systems are made to counties in the three population ranges: i) less than 5,000, ii) between 5,000 and 50,000, and iii) greater than 50,000. These include software recommendations and creating inventories of all county assets including culverts, signs and pavements.

Master of Science / Department of Computing and Information Sciences / William H. Hsu / This thesis presents an approach towards summarizing product reviews using comparative sentences by sentiment analysis. Specifically, we consider the problem of extracting and scoring features from natural language text for qualitative reviews in a particular domain. When shopping for a product, customers do not find sufficient time to learn about all products on the market. Similarly, manufacturers do not have proper written sources from which to learn about customer opinions. The only available techniques involve gathering customer opinions, often in text form, from e-commerce and social networking web sites and analyzing them, which is a costly and time-consuming process. In this work I address these issues by applying sentiment analysis, an automated method of finding the opinion stated by an author about some entity in a text document. Here I first gather information about smart phones from many e-commerce web sites. I then present a method to differentiate comparative sentences from normal sentences, form feature sets for each domain, and assign a numerical score to each feature of a product and a weight coefficient obtained by statistical machine learning, to be used as a weight for that feature in ranking various products by linear combinations of their weighted feature scores. In this thesis I also explain what role comparative sentences play in summarizing the product. In order to find the polarity of each feature a statistical algorithm is defined using a small-to-medium sized data set. Then I present my experimental environment and results, and conclude with a review of claims and hypotheses stated at the outset. The approach specified in this thesis is evaluated using manual annotated trained data and also using data from domain experts. I also demonstrate empirically how different algorithms on this summarization can be derived from the technique provided by an annotator. Finally, I review diversified options for customers such as providing alternate products for each feature, top features of a product, and overall rankings for products.

Master of Science / Department of Hospitality Management and Dietetics / Kevin R. Roberts / The psychological contract is comprised of the perceived obligations between two parties, such as an employee and an employer. When an individual joins an organization, the employee has a specific set of personal needs to be satisfied, which will be fulfilled by the psychological contract. Research has historically focused on the consequences of the psychological contract violations. The antecedents and the formation of the psychological contract are less known. Two types of psychological contracts exist: transactional and relational. In past research, undergraduate students enrolled in hospitality programs have indicated that transactional contracts are most important. Research has been limited on undergraduate hospitality students and their expectations of the workplace, thus the purpose of this study was to explore undergraduate hospitality students’ pre-entry career expectations. An online survey was distributed to undergraduate hospitality students at universities in the United States. Students highly ranked a safe work environment (8.7 ± 2.5), resources (7.8 ± 3.0) and equipment (7.4 ± 3.2) to do their jobs, training (8.2 ± 2.9), and job security (7.7 ± 3.1). The least important and expected items were work schedules with limited nights and weekends (2.5 ± 4.3) and working 40 or less hours per week (2.5 ± 4.1). The number of college credit hours completed and amount of work experience had the largest effects between expectations. Results of this study will assist hospitality educators in preparing students for post-graduation employment and offer industry recruiters insight into what expectations are important to new hospitality graduates.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Bradley J. White / Recent literature regarding potential shortages of food animal veterinarians has sparked interest in how to improve economic sustainability in this profession. Business management practices influence profitability, but relatively little work has been done evaluating the impact specific practices have on mixed animal veterinary practice growth. The objectives of this research were to determine potential associations between practice management factors and both practice size and practice growth measured over a 5-year period. Results from a cross sectional survey of mixed animal veterinary practitioners (n=54) were analyzed to address these research objectives. Survey participants had practiced a mean of 19.6 years and most (85%) practiced in towns with populations of less than 25,000. Practice size was measured by the 5-year average of number of veterinarians (NV), gross practice income (GPI), and gross income per veterinarian (GPIV). Positive associations were identified among all three measures, and active client communication was associated with higher GPI. Practices employing a business manager were associated with increased GPI and GPIV. Practice growth was measured by the mean percent change in number of veterinarians (NVG), percent growth in income per veterinarian (DVMG), and percent growth in gross income (GRSG). Practice size variables indicate influences of business management practices on the size of veterinary practices while practice growth variables indicate whether the practice has changed in size and how business management practices are associated with those changes. On average, practices exhibited positive growth in NVG (4.4%), DVMG (8.1%) and GRSG (8.5%) during the study period, but the growth rate was highly variable among practices. Practices with a marketing plan exhibited a higher DVMG, while frequency of adjusting prices and pricing structures were associated with higher GRSG. Results from this study provide insight into the associations between specific management techniques and veterinary practice size and growth rate.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Vincent R. Amanor-Boadu / Over the last few years there have been many changes to the container export industry. There are a variety of reasons for these changes including exchange rate fluctuations, fuel and energy price fluctuations and their effects on bulk freight rates. The pressure to enhance and remain competitive has also increased amid these rapid changes. An effective strategy is for companies to focus attentions on costs they can control. In the container freight industry, one of these costs is reducing the “paper” aspects of operations and increasing its “electronic” aspects. This thesis focuses specifically on evaluating FileBound®, document management software, for the purpose of going “paperless” in a Container Freight, Non-Vessel Operating Common Carrier (NVOCC) and freight forwarding company. Going paperless has many advantages: increased efficiency, paper and printing cost savings, time savings, storage cost savings, environmental benefits, efficient file retrieval, and enhanced customer service. By adopting the FileBound® technology, the case study company hopes to achieve most of these benefits, allowing it to reduce overall costs, and especially, reduce the number of employees managing physical documents and move people into sales and marketing. The critical assumption of the study was that the electronic processes contributed to time savings and it is from these time savings that most of the other benefits emanated. Therefore, a time study was conducted to determine the time savings resulting from using FileBound® in comparison to the current method in the file completion process. The data collected was analyzed using regression analysis to determine the factors that influenced time savings, if any, and their statistical significance. There are three specific activities involved with the process of completing a transaction in the container freight business: booking, instruction and bill of lading. The analysis was conducted for each of these steps in the process. The results show that the different methods, FileBound® or manual, were not statistically significant on determining the time it took to complete the file. That being said, this thesis recommends that a mixture of both the FileBound® and manual method be used to take advantage of the potential cost savings.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Vincent R. Amanor-Boadu / Many small communities in the Alps are facing the same problem of ensuring a durable economic development, protecting their natural resources and preserving their traditions under the constraints of higher production costs, distance from markets, isolation, severity of climate, a lower level of public services. This is the situation faced by Bagolino, a small town of roughly 4,000 inhabitants located in the Italian Alps. One of the major supporters to the growth of Bagolino, along with tourism, is its cheese Bagòss , whose origin dates back centuries. The Bagòss cheese is a semi-cooked cheese that is produced under strict processing methods that have been practiced for centuries. The Bagòss industry, with its unique organizational system, challenges researchers to investigate what factors are decisive in explaining its success. It is an example of a common situation in the Alps whose products arise from history, traditions and natural environment. This research aims to explain which factors influence the production of the Bagòss cheese and which factors explain differences among producers. Various aspects of interest of the Bagòss industry were examined through a literature review: social and economic situation of Bagolino and history of the town helped to get a better understanding of the background of the industry. The review of literature about entrepreneurship and supply chain was aimed to get a better understanding of the Bagòss industry organization; whereas theories about rural development and sustainable development described the social and environmental context of this production. Last the review of the main economic theories helped to analyze the Bagòss industry from the economic perspectives: monopolistic competition and the resource based view of the firm. Data were collected from multiple sources; the main source of data was a survey of farmers that involved all Bagòss producers. Data from administrative source were important for revision and also furnished data that could not be obtained from farmers. Qualitative interviews with experts were important for checking purposes and for understanding of the social and economic environment in which the Bagòss production takes place. Analytical tools of this thesis were of three different types: qualitative data used mainly to describe the growth medium of Bagòss and to formulate hypotheses to be tested with an econometric model. Statistical analysis provides a complete description of the industry. The Bagòss industry is not characterized by highly diversified use of the land: summer pastures, long term meadows and forests are the three main categories of the use of land. Almost all labor force is made up of family members and relatives. There are a total of 657 adult milking cows involved in the Bagòss production, with an average of 24.33 cows per farm; most farmers process all or part of their cow milk. The main product is the Bagòss cheese. We estimated the production at 146.5 tons of Bagòss. 69% of Bagòss is sold after aging for less than a year. In terms of marketing the most important channels are Bagolino’s retailers, consumers buying directly and retailers located outside Bagolino. According to our estimates EBITDA equals to 1,388 thousand Euro, an average of more than 55 thousand euro per farm. Two factors are able to explain most of the variability in the milk production: the number of workdays in the farm and the total cost of purchased feed. The EBITDA / tons of milk ratio is an indicator of the farm efficiency: the explanatory model for this is based on the operator’s age and level of education, the percentage of Bagòss sold after aging for one year or more, the percentage of Bagòss sold by direct sale to consumers and the size of the herd. Finally, a model able to explain the variability of the EBITDA / work days ratio was built; this ratio is considered to be an indicator of the labor productivity. This model is based on the percentage of Bagòss sold after aging for one year or more, the percentage of Bagòss sold to restaurants and hotels, the total milk production and the cost of rent of pastures. The first three have a positive impact on the dependent variable, whereas the fourth has a negative impact. The last two models show that small farms tend to be less efficient in their use of resources, and also less efficient in the use of labor.

Master of Science / Department of Apparel, Textiles, and Interior Design / Joy Kozar / Global apparel supply chains require collaboration from many sectors, including consumers, retail firms, manufacturing firms and factories. The role of sourcing agents as a facilitating sector of global apparel supply chains was explored as part of this study. A quantitative analysis of import data from the U.S. Department of Commerce for four apparel categories revealed changes in import volume over the last 10 years for all major trade regions of the world. Qualitative data was also collected to further analyze how industry professionals perceive the role of sourcing agents in facilitating apparel production movement. Participants revealed that sourcing agents breakdown cultural and geographic barriers between U.S. firms and off shore factories, providing a competitive advantage to U.S. apparel firms by reducing production cost and facilitating production of complex designs, but lack any form of formal regulation.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychology / Ronald G. Downey / Literature on work and family, the two important domains in an individual’s life, has focused heavily on the conflicts that could occur when individuals try to juggle between their responsibilities in the two domains. Lately, there has been enthusiasm to also study the facilitation aspects that could result from being engaged in both domains. This dissertation empirically tests the Resources-Development-Gain model (RGD), a recently developed work and family facilitation model, which include work and non-work factors that can bring facilitation. Over 500 academic faculty members from four universities completed an online survey comprised of demographic items, family and work variables, variables to measure facilitation, outcome variables in both domains, and personality variables. The hypothesized model (model 1) was analyzed using AMOS, and was found to be a poor fit. Personality factors included as moderators in the facilitation process were found to be non-significant and hence dropped from the modified model (Model 2). This was a significantly better fit. Model 3 was analyzed to see if a better fit would be obtained when personality variables were directly connected to outcome variables. As Model 3 did not add anything significant, Model 2 was accepted. The findings suggest that faculty tenure influenced their turnover intentions, with new academic faculty and full professors showing lower turnover intentions. Family support brought facilitation from one’s family to work and contributed to life satisfaction, while organizational support contributed to facilitation from one’s work to non-work life. No significant overlaps were found between work and family domains in the facilitation stage, but were observed at the outcome levels. Thus, job satisfaction in the work domain contributed to overall life satisfaction in the family domain. Satisfaction in one’s personal relations also tended to influence one’s turnover decisions. Future directions for research and recommendations are discussed.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychology / Clive Fullagar / This dissertation investigated the relationship between a low-quality leader-member exchange (LMX) relationship and whether participants felt they were bullied at work. The study looked at retaliatory behavior as an outcome of experiencing bullying behavior. The study investigated whether ostracism would mediate the effect between LMX and workplace bullying and whether social support would moderate the relationship between workplace bullying and retaliatory behavior. The sample was comprised of 209 participants who were either employed by Kansas State University or were taking classes as non-traditional students at Kansas State University. The study sample was demographically 49.76% female and 50.24% male. The survey was administered using K-State’s on-line AXIO survey system, which ensured confidentiality and accurate data entry. The study found that a low-quality LMX relationship predicted workplace bullying and workplace bullying behavior predicted retaliatory behavior. Ostracism did not mediate the relationship between a low-quality LMX relationship and workplace bullying behavior, but social support did have moderating effects between workplace bullying behavior and retaliatory behavior. The moderated effects of social support showed a buffering effect for men with coworker support and an increase in retaliatory behavior for women for all forms of social support. The results are discussed in the context of understanding how organizational leadership can reduce the negative effects of workplace bullying behavior.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Vincent Amanor-Boadu / The purpose of this thesis was to estimate the value accruing to Zambian bean supply chain participants with the view to showing that value at the different stages is a function of the value addition and risk incurred at those stages. The data used in the study came from two different surveys done under the Pulse Value Chain Initiative – Zambia focusing on producers and bean traders. The surveys used structured questionnaires for both producers and traders. The producers were sampled from three principal bean producing provinces in Zambia: Lundazi, Mbala and Kalomo. The traders were sampled from the largest consumer region in the country – Lusaka – and focused on traders operating in the three principal markets in the city: Soweto; Chilenje; and Mtendere. The analyses were conducted using STATA®, employing both statistical and econometric methods. Value was defined as a function of transaction costs and value addition as well as the risks borne. In the Zambian mixed bean trade environment, where traders travel to remote locations where producers live and produce, they are seen to incur higher levels of risk and undertake higher levels of value addition – assembling the grain, bagging them and moving them from the rural areas where production occurs to the cities where customers reside. As such, it is expected that value creation and distribution would increase away from the farm. The results confirmed this expectation. The total average value created at the farm level was ZMK3,391.06/kg. However, the average value accruing to traders who only undertook wholesaling was ZMK7,405.75/kg while that accruing to traders going further down the chain to retail was ZMK9,663.56/kg. Traders who engaged in institutional trade produced an average value of ZMK8,750.75/kg. The share of total value produced accruing to producers in the producer-wholesaler-retailer chain was about 16.6 percent because of the higher value addition and risk that occur further downstream in the chain. The share of total value produced accruing to producers in the producer-wholesaler-institutional buyer chain was about 17.3 percent. The study showed that female producers’ share was not different, statistically speaking, from male producers’ value. It also showed that the average value created in thin (smaller) markets was higher than the value created in larger markets, probably because of the level of competition that occurs in the latter markets. Interestingly, the results showed that the larger the land holdings of producers, the lower the value created. This is in line with the foregoing results of size, competition and value. The study suggests that producers’ share of total value created may be enhanced by helping producers undertake specific activities that increased the value they added and reduce the risks that traders bear in their search for grain. One of such activities could be the formation of horizontal strategic alliances among producers that allowed producers to aggregate grain at particular locations in significant lots and bag them. This service would allow them to extract higher value from the exchange with traders. Any attempt to address the perceived “unfair” distribution of value along the supply chain by administrative fiat could result in higher costs to the whole supply chain and crate adverse unintended consequences for producers and the treasury.