Western Samoa is one of the most vulnerable countries from climate changes due to its geographic location, and as agriculture is a main industry on the island, this sector is vulnerable to different risks such as tropical cyclones, heavy rainfall or droughts. Samoa could in theory be self-sufficient, but imports large quantities of processed foods which is affecting the health of the population in a negative way. The purpose of the thesis is to create an understanding of how the development of indigenous agriculture in Samoa can lead to increasing efficiency and sustainability and a decrease of the need for development aid and economical support from family members abroad. The thesis uses a deductive approach and data collection is performed by using semistructured interviews as well as observations. Secondary data has been gathered from databases, previous research and modern media. Through the study it has been explored that the resilience towards climate shocks has to improve in order to maintain a long-term sustainable development. Increased resilience is achieved by reducing the amount of vulnerabilities. Western Samoa is on a good path of keeping their way of being organic and sustainable regarding the agriculture sector. The upcoming years with prognosis of increased tourism will be a healthy addition to the economic growth of Samoa. Looking towards remittances, it becomes clear that current high rate of remittances is a problem in Samoa, as some families could rely on nothing but remittances and skip farming their land.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

This study analyzes the impact of the 1980 Staggers Rail Act (SRA) on Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana) wheat transportation. A minimum cost uncapacitated transshipment network flow model is employed to simulate the origination and destination pattern of grain flows before (1977) and after (1985) the SRA. The grain transportation flow for those two years is compared and analyzed as a basis for measuring the impact of rail deregulation. The Transportation Simplex Algorithm is used to find the optimum (minimal cost) wheat transportation flow for the two time periods. Four modes of transportation—truck, barge, rail, and ocean carriers—are used to link a sample of inland grain elevators (source), barge terminals (transshipment), PNW ports on the Lower Columbia River and Puget Sound (transshipment), and foreign countries (sink). The empirical results indicate that the SRA has had a significant impact on modal distribution, overall transportation costs, and rate competition. Under the assumption of perfect information and profit maximizing behavior, and considering both single car and multicar rates, two-thirds of the total PNW wheat traffic should have moved by rail in 1985. This represents a significant increase compared to 1977, when this percentage was estimated at only 46.43 percent. This increase in rail modal share has come at the expense of truck-barge shipments. The truck-barge share of wheat transportation declined from 47.53 percent in 1977 to 25.66 percent in 1985. Most of this increase in rail shipment is the result of lower shipping costs offered through multicar rates. If only single car rail rates are considered in 1985, the rail market share is only 25.66 percent; while truckbarge market share is 66.60 percent. The volume of wheat exported through the Lower Columbia River ports and Puget Sound appears not to have been affected by the SRA. Overall wheat transportation cost decreased significantly over this time interval. In nominal terms, it cost an average of 5.32 percent less in 1985 than in 1977 to transport a metric ton of PNW wheat to the port terminals on the west coast. When adjusted for inflation, average wheat transportation cost decreased around 44 percent. Sensitivity analysis showed that the wheat transportation market in the PNW has been very competitive since 1977 with some apparent changes in market behavior. First, railroads had a greater ability in 1985 than in 1977, to capture wheat traffic from truck-barge by lowering rates. When rail rates are reduced by one percent, rail traffic increases 7.93 percent in the 1985 model and only 2.40 percent in the 1977 model. Rail rate increases, on the other hand, lead to higher traffic losses in 1977 than in 1985. For an increase of one percent in rail rates, rail traffic decreased 10.21 percent in 1977, and only 4.76 percent in 1985. The conclusion of this study is that there has been a significant diversion of wheat traffic from truck-barge to rail, during the period of rail deregulation. Overall transportation costs have also decreased, and the railroads ability to capture wheat traffic by reducing rates has been enhanced. It is concluded that the impact of the SRA on PNW wheat transportation is due largely to the introduction of multicar rates by the railroads serving the region. The implications of these findings are that railroad deregulation has provided many of the benefits expected by this legislation. Shippers are favored by the SRA because they are paying lower transportation costs. Railroads have benefited, to the extent that their market share has increased. Barge companies, however, have been adversely influenced by the SRA because they have lost their modal share of wheat traffic to railroads. Shippers, while benefiting from lower rates, seems now more vulnerable to the potential for future rail rate increases. / Graduation date: 1987

Fluctuating feeder cattle prices have a direct affect on the revenue variability of feeder cattle producers. Hedging in the commodity futures market is a marketing strategy which can, if properly used, reduce the financial risk of feeder cattle producers. If the closing basis value is known when a hedge is placed, a price can be established for the feeder cattle in advance. This fact prompted research in determining the factors which affect nearby feeder cattle basis in the Pacific Northwest. This research is an attempt to identify factors which influence the feeder cattle basis through their influence on the prices which compose the basis—i.e., the cash and futures prices. The feeder cattle cash price has been established as a function of the factors affecting the profit of feedlot operations. Controversy exists on the factors which influence the futures price of livestock products; however, the use of technical indicators is well established in the literature. For the purposes of this research feeder cattle basis is developed as a function of the profit factors and a lag-trend indicator along with dummy variables which influence feeder cattle futures contracts over time. The profit factors include expected slaughter price, corn price, and interest rate values. These profit factors are expected to influence the cash price of feeder cattle. The lag-trend indicator is a calculated trend of the basis over the past two time periods and is expected to represent the analysis made by traders in both the futures and cash markets of past events or prices. This analysis by traders in the futures market will be similar to their use of technical indicators. In specifying the model, two methods of analyzing the expected affects of the profit factors on the basis are acknowledged. In this research, the profit factors are assumed to influence only the cash price. Therefore, the effect of the factors on basis is hypothesized by making assumptions about the price movement of the feeder cattle futures price. The analyses produce various hypotheses about the expected effects of the profit factors on basis. The empirical results produce evidence that the estimated equations explain a good proportion of the Pacific Northwest basis of feeder cattle for light and heavy weight categories. After a close analysis of the profit factors, corn price is concluded to have a positive influence on 500-600 pound feeder cattle basis and a negative influence on 700-800 pound feeder cattle basis. However, due to the inability of the methods to hypothesize the effect of slaughter price on basis and/or to hypothesize, with consistency, the correct signs of the estimated interest rate coefficient, conclusions are not made about their influences on the basis. Feeder cattle producers can apply the information produced in this research in making hedging decisions. However, a thorough knowledge and analysis of hedging theory and market conditions should be undertaken first. Since a predicted closing basis is needed by feeder cattle producers to establish a "locked-in" cash price, further research in developing a forecasting model of feeder cattle basis is warranted. / Graduation date: 1981

The abundance and low fat content of Pacific whiting support Its use for the production of surimi. The degradation of muscle proteins by myxosporidian secreted proteinase(s) has been associated with its soft texture. High residual activity is retained through the washing process used in the production of surimi and precludes the formation of a strong heat-set gel by surimi sols. Physical, chemical and SDS-PAGE analysis defined the reinforced oxidation of free sulfhydryl groups on myofibrillar proteins to disulfide bonds by potassium bromate. SDS-PAGE demonstrated myosin degradation during heat-setting and the protection of myosin from protelnase attack by bromate. A level of 0.075% bromate Inactivated 89.87% of the total proteinase activity in sols. It was assumed that cysteine proteinases were Inactivated and residual activity was associated with proteinases with a serine active site. Major iraprovement in gel coheslveness and elasticity was observed at bromate levels [less than or equal to] 0.075% with only a slight improvement at higher levels. Maximum hardness was observed at 0.150% with no (P>0.050) increase at higher levels. Brittleness was improved (P>0.050) by bromate levels [greater than or equal to] 0.100%; no maximum degree of brittleness was observed within the range ([less than or equal to] 0.250%) of concentrations investigated. An optimum folding test grade of AA was achieved by a minimum of 0.150% Potassium bromate improved gelling characteristics of sols of Pacific whiting surimi through proteinase inactivation and reinforced disulfide formation during heat-setting. Improvement in cohesiveness and elasticity was primarily a function of proteinase inactivation. Maximum hardness and brittleness required additional oxidative capacity which was not fully required for an optimum folding test grade. / Graduation date: 1989

Sea level and the alongshore component of wind stress data at seven locations on the Pacific coast of Canada and the United States were analyzed. The effective data period was from August 1, 1973 to September 9, 1975. The seven locations were Tofino, British Columbia; Neah Bay and Toke Point, Washington; South beach (Newport) and Charleston, Oregon; and Crescent City and San Francisco, California. Sea level relative to the two year mean is higher at the northern locations during the winter months than it is at the southern stations. There appears to be an annual cycle in the sea level though the amplitudes are different for the two years. The monthly mean wind stress is northward during the winter months, and has a larger value at the northern locations. During the spring and summer the monthly mean wind stress is southward and has a larger value at the southern stations. Linear correlation analysis was performed on the sea level data and on the alongshore component of wind stress for the entire time period and seasonally. Auto-correlations and cross correlations were computed for the adjusted sea levels and wind stress. This analysis shows that the sea level and wind stress fluctuations among these seven locations are coherent. These show that the correlation is a function of location and that it has a seasonal variation. It also appears that by examining plots of correlation coefficients and of sea level slopes, that the region may be divided into two major regimes. This separation might be interpreted as the locale where the West Wind Drift impinges on the coast. / Graduation date: 1978

Large-scale climate modes such as the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Asian monsoon, and the Arctic Oscillation are responsible for much of the Earth’s climate variability. Despite the importance of these modes, we have limited understanding of how they vary on long (multidecadal to millennial) timescales due to the short length of instrumental climate records. Fortunately, climate information stored in natural archives can provide us with information on how these modes varied in the more distant past. Lake sediments are an ideal climate archive since they are continuous, have high temporal resolution, and contain many potential climate proxies. In the present study, I use lake sediment records to assess past climate and environmental changes associated with the El Niño/Southern Oscillation, the Asian monsoon, and the Arctic Oscillation. Exploring modern precipitation variability across the Asian monsoon region, I found that precipitation within this broad area is not coherent, which holds implications for paleorecords that are hypothesized to represent monsoon variability, including many lake sediment records on the Tibetan Plateau. Monsoon precipitation in the Arabian Sea is distinct from precipitation in India and China, and increased precipitation in the Arabian Sea coincides with decreased precipitation in the western North Pacific. Furthermore, only precipitation in southwestern Tibet responds to the Southwest monsoon, whereas precipitation in southeastern Tibet responds to the western North Pacific monsoon. In southwestern Tibet, I have reconstructed dust variability over the last millennium using the lake sediment record from Kiang Co. The sediment record shows a trend toward increasing dust over the 20th century, and our hypothesized dust proxy is positively correlated with the June-November Arctic Oscillation Index. A trend toward more positive Arctic Oscillation Index values as well as higher temperatures over the 20th century likely drove increased dustiness in southwestern Tibet, due the influence of temperature on glaciofluvial sediment availability in the Himalayas. Sediment trap, sediment core data, and modern measurements of local climate and lake water variables at Genovesa Crater Lake, Galápagos, indicate the lake and its sediments respond to local climate variability, with carbonate-rich sediments forming during prolonged dry periods (La Niña events), and organic-rich sediment forming during the warm season and El Niño events. The ratios of silica to calcium and strontium to calcium also reflect cool season SST. Thus, this lake sediment record has potential to provide a record of both seasonal and ENSO variability spanning the Holocene.

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