Industry 4.0 is one of the fastest growing topics amongst both practitioners and academics. To this day, no definition of Industry 4.0 has reached consensus. However, some definitions can be considered more correct than others and the most accurate one is summarized as “Industry 4.0 is a concept for creating value throughout the whole value-chain”. This has been made possible through digital solutions, advanced technologies, which often are associated with Industry 4.0. This thesis started off finding the key aspects of Industry 4.0 and through a literature review it was concluded to be Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) which will bring new innovative Business Models. The fundamental aspect of Industry 4.0 is data, data which has become available through the usage of CPS, data which will transform how business are conducted. This thesis aims to develop a better understanding for how CPS affects the Business Model. The thesis started with a literature review, investigating the value of information in a digitalized era. It was established that the value is found in the capability to monitor, remote control, optimize, and automate products and machines. Furthermore, it was also established through the literature review that manufacturing industries are becoming more services-focused and that value-creation is done through networking. Moreover, the Business Model Canvas was embraced as theoretical framework for what a business model should consist of. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with experts on the subject of Industry 4.0 and digitalization. The data was then compared to the theoretical framework. The results showed that CPS will not affect business models in any direct way as it is very well founded that the business model always should be based on the customer segment. However, CPS did have an indirect impact on business models i.e. through expected changes in customer relationships and distribution channels, but foremost, through changes regarding specialization and partnerships.

<p>There has been a rapid expansion of the PR and information industry during the last few years. An expansion like this might lead to structural changes in an industry. The aim of this thesis is to describe a part of this industry, namely the Swedish PR consulting industry, in terms of its development, structure and professionalism. Web sites of the consultancies in the industry has been analyzed. Furthermore, interviews have been conducted with three leading individuals in the industry. Structural changes can be seen since there is a trend towards further specialization among the consultancies. Some of the most common criteria for an industry to be characterized by professionalism are not achieved, but the industry is characterized by an aim towards increased professionalism.</p>

I examine factors influencing accounting firms' and their clients' decisions to pursue an auditing vs. consulting relationship. I employ the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) prohibition on providing both services to the same clients as a natural experiment. Because Deloitte & Touche was the only Big 4 firm to retain its consulting division post-SOX, I compare Deloitte's client switch and retention decisions to those made by its direct competitors. In this context, I investigate how the decision to continue or terminate an audit relationship is influenced by auditor industry specialization, the historical provision of auditor-provided consulting services and the likelihood that the client will require consulting services in the future. I find that there is a preference for auditing when the auditor is a specialist in the client's industry, and there is a preference for consulting when the auditor provided consulting services in the past and the client is likely to require consulting services in the future. I also report empirical evidence on audit effectiveness and efficiency in cases where the auditor and its client discontinued the audit in order to maintain a consulting relationship. Although there was no impact on audit effectiveness, the auditor switches reduced efficiency as evidenced by significantly higher audit fees. This study is relevant to the current audit environment because public accounting firms that spun-off their consulting divisions around the enactment of SOX are in the process of rebuilding their consulting practices and must now choose between providing audit and consulting services to their clients. It may also be pertinent to European policy makers who are currently considering a proposal to limit auditors' ability to jointly offer audit and consulting services to the same client.

A major goal of ecology is to understand the factors that shape interactions among species. In this study, I explored the little-known associations between beetles and macrofungal fruiting bodies to characterize patterns of beetle-fungus association and to investigate sources of variation in the structure of these trophic interactions. First, I characterized the composition and diversity of beetle-sporocarp associations at two sites in the Appalachian Mountains and foothills, and evaluated the extent to which beetle community structure varied with fungal species, sporocarp age, and sporocarp dry mass. My results showed that beetle abundance and diversity differed among fungal species and were positively associated with sporocarp age and dry mass. I also found evidence of a nested structure in beetle-sporocarp interactions, wherein specialists on both sides of the association interact preferentially with more generalized species. Next, I performed a field study of beetle-sporocarp associations over two summers to evaluate the factors related to interaction breadth in trophic associations. I found evidence that interaction breadth varies with the palatability of the food organism (as indicated by sporocarp toughness and sporocarp age) and showed that beetle interaction breadth was negatively correlated with sporocarp persistence. I found strong intraseasonal variation in interaction breadth, but no evidence that this variation was structured by precipitation or differences in beetle community composition. In my third chapter, I conducted a field experiment to investigate (1) the importance of an individual food organism's physical properties in determining its relative importance in the beetle-sporocarp interaction network and (2) whether the structure of the beetle-sporocarp interaction network cycles predictably with the time of day. My results show that size and density of individual food organisms may be important factors in determining their relative importance in an interaction network, and offer the first evidence of diurnal cycling in the structure of interaction networks.

Tout observateur peut constater la diversité des milieux sur Terre. La compréhension des liens entre cette diversité des habitats et la biodiversité est l'un des thèmes centraux en Écologie, en Évolution et en Biologie de la conservation. Je m'intéresse dans cette thèse aux conséquences écologiques (à court terme) et évolutives (à plus long terme) de la structuration spatiale et de l'hétérogénéité de l'environnement. Je développe et analyse plusieurs modèles mathématiques, combinant différents formalismes théoriques (dynamiques adaptatives, génétique des populations, génétique quantitative). Ces modèles permettent d'explorer les conséquences de l'hétérogénéité spatiale de l'environnement sur (1) les conditions de persistance des populations ; (2) la coexistence entre différents phénotypes et (3) la dynamique évolutive des populations. Je montre ainsi l'importance (i) de l'intensité et de la place de la migration dans le cycle de vie ; (ii) du type de structure spatiale (explicite ou implicite, continu ou discret) ; (iii) de la forme du compromis évolutif, et donc des coûts d'adaptation à une autre ressource ; et enfin (iv) des éventuels rétrocontrôles démographiques. J'illustre à l'aide des interactions entre hôtes et parasites l'importance des hétérogénéités spatiales. Un premier exemple concerne leur utilisation dans la gestion des pharmacorésistances ou des résistances aux insecticides : une répartition hétérogène du traitement permet d'éviter la propagation de parasites ou de nuisibles résistants. Un second exemple, enfin, illustre comment les hétérogénéités dues à l'auto-structuration spatiale influencent l'évolution de stratégies de défense des hôtes, et permettent l'évolution de défenses altruistes. / Any observer can notice the diversity of habitats on Earth. Understanding the links betweenthis diversity of habitats and biodiversity is a core topic in Ecology, Evolution andConservation Biology.In this thesis, I study the ecological (short-term) and evolutionary (long-term) consequencesof spatial structuring and environmental heterogeneities. I develop and analyzeseveral mathematical models, which combine different theoretical frameworks (adaptivedynamics, population genetics, and quantitative genetics). I explore the consequences ofspatial heterogeneities on (1) the conditions for population persistence; (2) the coexistenceof different phenotypes, and (3) evolutionary dynamics of populations. I show that theresults depend on (i) the life-cycle, and in particular whether migration influences local regulation;(ii) the choice of the spatial structure (explicit or implicit, continuous or discrete);(iii) the shape of the trade-off, and hence the costs of adaptation to another resource, andfinally (iv) the potential demographical feedbacks.I use the specific case of hosts and parasites interactions to illustrate the importanceof spatial heterogeneities. As a first example, I show that a heterogeneous application oftreatments can help prevent the spread of resistant parasites or pests. Secondly, I show howspatial heterogeneities due to self-structuring influence the evolution of host defense strategies,and allow for the evolution of altruistic defense strategies.

This thesis explores the details and profitability of two distinct operational strategies utilized by dairy operations as alternatives to expanding milk production. It features farms that have either transitioned to organic production or installed a farm-scale anaerobic digester, motivated in part by the opportunity for market specialization or income diversification to increase the viability of their dairy farm businesses. The first analysis examines the demographics and production characteristics impacting the profitability of organic dairy farmers in Vermont and Maine. This provides policymakers, educators, lenders, and suppliers with a profile of this sector that accounts for 23% of dairy farms in Vermont and 20% of dairy farms in Maine, annually shipping, on average, 787,600 lbs. milk per farm. The study was conducted through a longitudinal survey of 83 organic farmers in Vermont and Maine from 2004 to 2012. A multiple linear regression analysis of the sample demonstrated six significant variables that affect farm profitability measured by return on assets (ROA). Having at least 80% Holstein herd composition, increasing the daily pounds of grain fed to cows during the winter months, a primary farm operator having grown-up on dairy farm, and the use of feed mixing machinery all positively impacted ROA. Farm profitability was negatively affected on farms with a high rate of annual cow morbidity and also tended to decrease over the course of the survey as organic prices leveled. While the model developed here has some explanatory power (R2 = 0.387), variability in farm profitability is affected by complex economic pressures. The second analysis reports the predicted and actual annual maintenance figures collected from anaerobic digester systems in Vermont. Within Vermont, 16 farms operate methane-generating ADS. All of these farms have received some form of public funds and/or a voluntary consumer premium. The analysis compares costs by creating a ratio of actual maintenance, repair, oil, and labor costs over these same predicted costs. This ratio is used to assess whether the suggested industry operating cost estimator tends to over or under predict annual maintenance costs. The ratio was evaluated with a one-way Student's t-test (p = 0.046) finding that maintenance costs tend to be under-predicted compared to the actual costs. One-way ANOVA was used to determine a statistically significant effect of herd size (F = 6.453, p = 0.052), showing that the maintenance ratio varies significantly between groups, This analysis indicates that predicting annual maintenance, repairs, and labor costs as a function of 3.5% of total kWh production is an acceptable method for digesters on farms with more than 500 cows, but under predicts maintenance costs for smaller farms. For smaller farms, the actual costs were on average 2.5 times higher.

To determine if general, community hospitals show evidence of specializing in the nation's six highest volume, highest revenue-generating service lines, 2003-2007 data of hospitals throughout Florida, Virginia, and Nevada were analyzed using backward deletion, stepwise regression. Service lines selected for study were cardiac surgery, cardiology, invasive cardiology, orthopedics, labor and delivery, and pulmonary services. Results do show evidence of specialization, but characteristics of hospitals vary by service line. Findings suggest that the general, community hospital, traditionally a full-service provider, may be undergoing transformation including specialization. The study demonstrates the usefulness of studying specialization at the service line level.

Title: Specialized training in volleyball school categories and minivolleyball Objectives: The aim of this study was to characterize the specialized volleyball training for selected categories in childhood on the basis of a brief proposal to develop training content for each category. Methods: A target selection of volleyball coaches were selected to complete a questionnaire for quantitative research. Results: The results of the poll relating coaches working with children and youth categories were displayed in graphs for clarity. According to the evaluation, and comparison with the literature the final literature, was a concise, well designed training content for category minivolleybal, younger and older students. Keywords: minivolleyball, children sports training, specialization, division of categories

Syfte: Syftet blir att granska vilka vägar det finns för barn och ungdomar att gå för att få möjligheten att representera herr- respektive damlandslaget. Och därefter titta på hur vägen för 41 st lanslagspelare både på herr- och damsidan har sett ut.   Metod: Metoden till denna undersökning har delats upp i två. Den större delen består av en dokumentanalys, där dokument har samlats in och analyserats för att få fram ett resultat. Den andra delen består av en kvalitativ ansats som är två expertintervjuer.   Resultat: Undersökningens resultat visade att det fanns olika vägar att gå för att kunna få möjligheten att representera herr- respektive damlandslaget, de två vanligaste var sampling och tidig specialisering. Variationen var stor bland de manliga fotbollsspelarnas väg till A-landslaget, medan vägarna till A-landslaget för de kvinnliga fotbollsspelarna såg för det mesta likadant ut.   Diskussion: Hur vägarna ser ut till att nå topp eliten och spel i A-landslaget för herr och damer kan bero på olika saker. Fotbollsfostran kan vara en avgörande faktor kring hur din väg kan komma att se ut, beroende på en föreningsfostran eller en tävlingsfostran. / Purpose: The purpose is to review which ways there are for children and young adults to get the opportunity to represent the men's and women's team. And then look at how the ways of 41 national team players have looked like, both men and women.   Method: The method of this survey has been divided into two. The bulk consists of a document analysis, where documents have been collected and analyzed to produce a result. The second part consists of a qualitative approach that is two expert interviews.   Results: The survey results showed that there were different ways to go in order to be able to represent the male and female national teams, the two most common were sampling and early specialization. The variation was great among the male soccer players' path to the A national team, while the roads to the A national team for the female football players looked mostly the same.   Discussion: How the roads seem to reach the top elite and play in the A-national team for men and women can depend on different things. Football education can be a crucial factor in how your route may look, depending on a club education or a contest education.

Despite the vast array of research evidence supporting supervision as a necessary component of the professional identity development of counselors, many counselors in training do not receive adequate supervision (Cashwell & Dooley, 2001). The school counseling profession has continued to struggle with the development of a widely recognized and consistent professional identity (Herlihy, Gray, & McCollum, 2002). Although there are many supervision models provided in the counseling literature (Bernard & Goodyear, 2008), there are not any consistently agreed-upon supervision models specific to the training of school counselors. The purpose of this research was to evaluate school counselors’ perceptions of their preparedness, professional identity, and perceived supervisor effectiveness related to specialization-specific supervision (SSS). School counselors from ASCA’s southern region were asked to respond to the Specialization-Specific Supervision Questionnaire (SSSQ). The findings of this study demonstrated that school counselors who received specialization-specific supervision felt better prepared to begin an entry-level school counseling position, had a stronger sense of their professional identity, and expressed feeling more positive regarding their perceptions of supervisor effectiveness than school counselors who did not receive specialization-specific supervision. These results support the conclusions of previous research, which indicated that supervision serves the following purposes: varies from discipline to discipline (Campbell, 2000); is a vital component of school counselor training (Bernard & Goodyear, 2008); is a conduit for professional identity development (Dollarhide & Miller, 2006); and is a contributing factor to the overall supervisory experience (Lazovsky & Shimon, 2005).