This thesis focuses on third party logistics providers in Sweden and their service offerings. The author examines, evaluate and discuss the range of third party logistics services provided by third party logistics companies in Sweden. Furthermore, the author categorized the third party logistics providers using some of proposed frameworks and theories for differentiating third party logistics providers from previous researchers. This was done to determine the relevant categories that the third party logistics providers in Sweden belongs to. Moreover, the author made a comparison of the competence of third party logistics providers in terms of the number of services they offer in Sweden. The author used the qualitative research approach as the thesis is more exploratory in nature. Basically, exploratory research is conducted to obtain greater understanding of a concept or to help clarify ambiguous problem. The author interview four (4) third party logistics providers in Sweden and other information such as the provider’s website information and annual reports was used in the analysis. It is interesting to note that, relationship between third party logistics providers and their customer is a major factor when classifying providers into different category. Some of the theories proposed by previous researcher on the classification of third party logistics provider have become obsolete due to the fact that the relationship between the third party logistics providers and their customers has evolve over the years from formal cooperation to strategic alliance and joint ownership. Some of the companies are less competent than others in terms of the services they offer in each of the third party logistics service categories. This does not necessarily make them weaker because the services they offer in each of the categories are being driven by the company’s business strategy to stay competitive in the third party logistics industry. Furthermore, although size and global status give some competitive advantages, adopting different strategies such as creating a niche market in a particular service or a particular industry will provide major competitive advantages to third party logistics providers.

Problem: The developing business market and the pressure it puts on business gives rise to new fields of business within SCM and logistics. Third party logistics (TPL) services have grown rapidly in importance as an alternative to vertical business integration. The emergence of TPL has brought about interest in the topic by academia, but recent literature reviews express a need for research on TPL relationships where both buyer and provider perspectives are viewed simultaneously, since a majority of previous research has been conducted more from a single organisational viewpoint. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how providers and buyers in TPL relationships adapt and cooperate to develop mutually beneficial and long-term relationships, as well as investigating their willingness and attitudes in this concern. Method: The thesis combines an explanatory and exploratory classification, and performs a qualitative, mono method study of viewpoints on TPL relationships from Swedish and Norwegian providers and buyers that currently are in a TPL relationship. Semi-structured interviews are conducted with four providers and three buyers. The findings are analysed and interpreted in light of a theoretical framework developed from the literature review, which in the analysis is applied in a TPL context to extend the understanding of TPL relationships. Conclusions: Willingness to adapt and cooperate in TPL relationships is connected with the parties’ perceived potential for economic gain and also with being able to trust the other party. Buyers emphasise the need for providers to have knowledge about the buyers’ business. Providers emphasise the need for buyers to be knowledgeable about their own business and for the buyer to fits their solutions. Attitudes: Both parties emphasise communication as crucial for the development of mutual benefits. Buyers adapt to providers’ standards as far as possible. Providers seem to want buyers to adapt to their solutions to gain economies of scale, and therefore appear reluctant to make relationship-specific investments. The use of contracts in the TPL context appears to contradict literature in that contracts work as a foundation for building trust, as well as for reducing opportunistic and operational risk. In practice, both providers and buyers highlight the use of integrated IT-solutions as a means of adapting to each other. Regular operational meetings are emphasised as part of the practical cooperation to develop the relationship’s future and to discuss day-to-day issues.

Purpose – There is growing evidence of organizations increasingly seeking to outsource logistics activities. This has been concluded in several other countries. There has not been made any prior systematic studies made over the practice of TPL usage in Sweden. Since Sweden has a large amount of manufacturing companies, the purpose aims to ex-amine and give a broad view of the usage of third party logistics (TPL) services for the manufacturing firms in Sweden. At the same time a comparison study will be made be-tween Sweden and the other countries. Design/Methodology/Approach – The empirical research is used to study the extent firms use the services of logistics companies; the decision making process for choosing contract logistics and its impact on the organization; The TPL services used and plans for the future in terms of the usage; TPL usage in a supply chain perspective. Findings – The study indicates that Swedish manufacturing firms are quite experienced in the use of third party logistics services. The usage of TPL services reveals positive and significant impact on the business performance within the organization; most of the users are satisfied with the services providers. Additionally, the usage of TPL services is expected to increase in the future. In terms of the supply chain perspective, certain number of respondent in manufacturing companies are aware of and influenced by the usage of the TPL services providers from the supply chain partners. Research limitations/implications – This survey focused on the largest, 350 manu-facturing companies in Sweden. However, many small- medium size companies also use the TPL services, study can be done to compare the use of TPL services in terms of the size of the companies. Further, concerning the supply chain perspective, research can be done to investigate whether more benefits in sharing the same primary TPL providers with major customers and vendors than in using different TPL providers. Studies can further be done to identifying who has more power in the supply chain concerning the use of TPL providers, for the Swedish manufacturing companies. Practical implications – The results provide managers with evidence supporting the benefits of outsourcing logistics activities. The study also contains useful information for the TPL providers concerning the most frequently used services and the potential services which are currently absent in the market. Originality/value – This study makes a significant addition to literature on logistics outsourcing, since little empirical research has been previously reported from Sweden. Moreover, the results of this study will also serve as a future benchmark for the entire Nordic region.

<p>Purpose – There is growing evidence of organizations increasingly seeking to outsource logistics activities. This has been concluded in several other countries. There has not been made any prior systematic studies made over the practice of TPL usage in Sweden. Since Sweden has a large amount of manufacturing companies, the purpose aims to ex-amine and give a broad view of the usage of third party logistics (TPL) services for the manufacturing firms in Sweden. At the same time a comparison study will be made be-tween Sweden and the other countries.</p><p>Design/Methodology/Approach – The empirical research is used to study the extent firms use the services of logistics companies; the decision making process for choosing contract logistics and its impact on the organization; The TPL services used and plans for the future in terms of the usage; TPL usage in a supply chain perspective.</p><p>Findings – The study indicates that Swedish manufacturing firms are quite experienced in the use of third party logistics services. The usage of TPL services reveals positive and significant impact on the business performance within the organization; most of the users are satisfied with the services providers. Additionally, the usage of TPL services is expected to increase in the future. In terms of the supply chain perspective, certain number of respondent in manufacturing companies are aware of and influenced by the usage of the TPL services providers from the supply chain partners.</p><p>Research limitations/implications – This survey focused on the largest, 350 manu-facturing companies in Sweden. However, many small- medium size companies also use the TPL services, study can be done to compare the use of TPL services in terms of the size of the companies. Further, concerning the supply chain perspective, research can be done to investigate whether more benefits in sharing the same primary TPL providers with major customers and vendors than in using different TPL providers. Studies can further be done to identifying who has more power in the supply chain concerning the use of TPL providers, for the Swedish manufacturing companies.</p><p>Practical implications – The results provide managers with evidence supporting the benefits of outsourcing logistics activities. The study also contains useful information for the TPL providers concerning the most frequently used services and the potential services which are currently absent in the market.</p><p>Originality/value – This study makes a significant addition to literature on logistics outsourcing, since little empirical research has been previously reported from Sweden. Moreover, the results of this study will also serve as a future benchmark for the entire Nordic region.</p>

Introduction – People and society are more concerned about Corporate Social Responsibility as well as the demand of outsourcing logistics services. When buyer companies select TPL providers, the selection criteria are focused on cost and on time delivery, while issues like CSR are often placed in a low priority. Purpose – The purpose of this master thesis is to analyze how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) impacts as selection criteria when buying services from Third Party Logistics (TPL) providers. Design/Methodology – The research approach of this thesis is qualitative. Both primary data and secondary data collection were used; semi-structured interviews, emails, field observation and documentation. There are seven respondents from three different companies. Findings – From buyer companies’ perspective, CSR was taken into account when buying services from TPL providers. However, it had impact on a low priority since the buyer company chose leading TPL providers that have a good reputation and image. The buyer company believes that those selected TPL providers have already implemented CSR practice. Moreover, the results show that the main driving force behind the application of CSR was the customer requirement Research limitations – This master thesis has studied in a specific Swedish company when selecting TPL providers. Moreover, this research has been studied from the buyer companies’ perspective.

La croissance et le développement des plantes sont fortement régulés par plusieurs hormones végétales, dont l’auxine qui joue un rôle prépondérant. La modification de l’expression de certains gènes en réponse à l’auxine est contrôlée par des interactions spécifiques entre les facteurs de transcription ARF (Auxin Response Factors) et les protéines Aux/IAA. Des études sur Arabidopsis thaliana ont aussi montré l’implication de corépresseurs de la famille TOPLESS pour réprimer les gènes cibles des ARF. Toutefois, cette régulation transcriptionnelle a surtout été caractérisée chez la plante modèle Arabidopsis et la validité de ce modèle n’a pas encore été confortée par l’étude d’autres modèles. La tomate (Solanum lycopersicon), espèce modèle tant pour les Solanacées que pour les plantes à fruits constitue une bonne alternative pour élucider les caractères généraux liés à la signalisation auxinique. Dans notre travail, nous avons d’abord mis en place des protocoles expérimentaux – double-hybride, pull-down, complémentation de fluorescence (BiFC, Bifluorescence Complementation) – permettant d’étudier les interactions protéines-protéines. Ces méthodes ont d’abord été validées sur des couples Aux/IAA – ARF étant connus chez la tomate pour leur implication dans le développement et la maturation des fruits (SlIAA9, SlARF8, SlIAA3, SlARF4, SlIAA27). L’utilisation du double hybride a également permis de construire une carte d’interactions entre les Aux/IAA et les ARF de tomate. Dans un deuxième temps, la disponibilité de la séquence du génome de la tomate a permis d’entreprendre une étude globale de la famille des corépresseurs TOPLESS. Cette étude a inclus : la caractérisation et le clonage des gènes, l’analyse de la séquence protéique, une analyse phylogénétique de la famille sur un ensemble de génome séquencés, la caractérisation du profil d’expression des différentes isoformes ainsi qu’une analyse comparative de leur capacité d’interaction avec les protéines Aux/IAA. Enfin, dans un dernier temps, nous avons souhaité construire des premiers outils permettant d’entreprendre une recherche non-ciblée de nouveaux partenaires interagissant avec les protéines ARF ou Aux/IAA en partant de protoplastes de cellules BY-2 de tabac exprimant de façon transitoire des gènes codant des protéines chimères (tagged proteins). Même si ce travail reste préliminaire, il a pu notamment illustrer l’importance de l’intégrité des noyaux pour la stabilité des Aux/IAA, même en l’absence d’auxine. / The plant hormone auxin plays a central role in plant growth and development. The specific Aux/IAAs and Auxin Response Factors (ARFs) interactions are involved in auxin signaling pathway to regulate the auxin-responsive gene expression. Studies in Arabidopsis showed that TOPLESS family (TPLs) also was recruited by some Aux/IAAs to repress the function of ARFs. The whole machinery of the auxin signaling pathway is not clear yet, and most of this knowledge comes from the research on Arabidopsis. As a reference for Solanaceae and fleshy fruit plant, tomato (Solanum lycopersicon) is a good alternative model to better understand general traits of the auxin regulation process. In our work, we first established in our labs three experimental protocols – Yeast two-Hybrid, Pull-down and Bifluorescence complementation to unravel protein-protein interactions. These methods were first challenged on specific Aux/IAA and ARF proteins that were already characterized as major actors in fruit tomato development or ripening (SlIAA9, SlARF8, SlIAA3, SlARF4, SlIAA27). This also enabled us to build an ARF-Aux/IAA interaction map. In a second part, taking advantage of the tomato genome sequence, we carried a whole-genome study on tomato TOPLESS family. This investigation included gene cloning and characterization, protein sequence analysis, phylogenetic analyses, expression pattern and construction of protein-protein interaction maps. In a last part, we developed tools to start a non-targeted approach aiming at identifying new potential partners or protein complex involved in auxin signaling pathway using BY-2 tobacco cell protoplasts transiently expressing tagged-proteins. Although this study is still preliminary, it demonstrated the importance of nucleus integrity for Aux/IAA stability even in absence of auxin.

Based on .Net Framework4.0 development platform and Visual C# language, this thesis presents various methods of performing lane detection and preceding vehicle detection/tracking with code optimization and acceleration to reduce the execution time. The thesis consists of two major parts: vehicle detection and tracking. In the part of detection, driving lanes are identified first and then the preceding vehicles between the left lane and right lane are detected using the shadow information beneath vehicles. In vehicle tracking, three-pass search method is used to find the matched vehicles based on the detection results in the previous frames. According to our experiments, the preprocessing (including color-intensity conversion) takes a significant portion of total execution time. We propose different methods to optimize the code and speed up the software execution using pure C # pointers, OPENCV, and OPENCL etc. Experimental results show that the fastest detection/tracking speed can reach more than 30 frames per second (fps) using PC with i7-2600 3.4Ghz CPU. Except for OPENCV with execution rate of 18 fps, the rest of methods have up to 28 fps processing rate of almost the real-time speed. We also add the auxiliary vehicle information, such as preceding vehicle distance and vehicle offset warning.

Bovine adenovirus (BAdV)-3 is a non-enveloped icosahedral DNA virus, which replicates in the nucleus of infected cells, and is being developed as a vector for vaccination for humans and animals. The genome of BAdV-3 is organized into early, intermediate and late genes and it has thirty three predicted open reading frames (Reddy et al., 1998). The late region of BAdV-3 is divided into seven families (L1-L7) (Reddy et al., 1998). One of the proteins expressed in the L-6 region encodes a protein called pVIII, which is a minor capsid protein connecting the core with the inner surface of the capsid. The objective of the current study was to characterize pVIII protein of BAdV-3 and to examine its role in the life cycle of BAdV-3. Anti-pVIII serum detected a protein of 24 kDa at 12-48 hr post infection and an additional protein of 8 kDa at 24-48 hr post infection. While a 24 kDa protein is detected in empty capsids, only the C-terminal cleaved protein of 8 kDa is detected in the mature virion suggesting that amino acids 147-216 of conserved C- terminus of BAdV-3 pVIII are incorporated in mature virions. The pVIII protein predominantly localizes to the nucleus of BAdV-3 infected cells utilizing the classical importin α /β dependent nuclear import pathway. Analysis of mutant pVIII demonstrated that amino acids 57-72 of the conserved N-terminus bind to importin α-3 with high affinity and are required for the nuclear localization. Detection of hexon associated with both, precursor (24 kDa) and cleaved (8 kDa) form of pVIII suggests that the C-terminus of pVIII interacts with Hexon. Based on yeast II hybrid screening assay, we identified the cellular protein DDX3 as an interacting protein partner of pVIII. Earlier, targeting of DDX3 by few viral proteins has defined its role in mRNA transport (Yedavalli et al., 2004) and induction of interferon production (Schroder et al., 2008; Wang et al., 2009). Here, we provide evidence regarding the involvement of DDX3 in cap dependent cellular mRNA translation and show that targeting of DDX3 by the adenovirus pVIII protein abolishes cap-dependent mRNA translation function of DDX3 in virus infected cells. Adenovirus late protein pVIII interacts with DDX3 in transfected and bovine adenovirus (BAdV-3) infected cells. pVIII inhibited capped mRNA translation in-vitro and in-vivo by limiting the amount of DDX3 and eIF3. Diminished amount of DDX3 and eIFs including eIF3, eIF4E and PABP were present in cap binding complex in BAdV-3 infected or pVIII transfected cells with no trace of pVIII in the cap binding complex. The total amount of eIFs appeared similar in uninfected or BAdV-3 infected cells. The co-immunoprecipitation experiments indicated the absence of direct interaction between pVIII and eIF3, eIF4E or PABP. These data indicate that interaction of pVIII with DDX3 depletes eIF3, eIF4E and PABP from the cap-binding complex. We conclude that DDX3 promotes cap-dependent cellular mRNA translation and BAdV-3 pVIII inhibits translation of capped cellular mRNA by excluding functional cap-binding complex from the capped cellular mRNA. BAdV-3 infection of DDX3 positive cells significantly inhibits cellular protein synthesis at late times post-infection. Interestingly, knockdown of DDX3 resulted in significant reduction in virus yield and expression of BAdV-3 late proteins at late times post-infection. Our results suggest that selective translation of BAdV-3 late mRNAs observed at late time post-infection of DDX3 positive cells is abrogated in DDX3 knock down cells. Moreover, the reduction in the extent of protein synthesis is evidenced by less functional 80S and polysomes in pVIII expressing plasmid transfected cells. Alternatively, DDX3 and pVIII binds to BAdV-3 tripartite leader (TPL) and the translation of mRNAs containing TPL at their 5’ ends is enhanced in the presence of pVIII and DDX3 proteins. From this observation, we concluded that pVIII and DDX-3 might promote the translation of late viral mRNAs by interacting with TPL.

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Sammanfattning I dagens läge är det aktuellt med att företag outsourcar sina aktiviteter till ett TPL-företag istället för att sköta dem själva. En del företag gör det för att minska sina kostnader och få kostnadsfördelar, medans andra gör det för att uppnå värdefördelar som exempelvis den expertis ett TPL-företag besitter. Vilka konkurrensfördelar ett företag är ute efter varierar dock. Det som en del forskare menar på är att det finns ett separat fokus mot antingen kostnads eller värdefördelar, medan en annan förklarar att ett företag måste kunna erbjuda båda dessa samtidigt för att vara konkurrenskraftig på marknaden. Samtidigt behöver TPL-företagen som erbjuder dessa lösningar anpassa sig efter kundernas önskemål vilket kan bli problematiskt eftersom alla har olika krav och behov. Studieobjektet i undersökningen har varit ett TPL-företag vid namn DC-Syd. Insamlat material är hämtat från intervjuer och en observation. Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur DC-Syd arbetar för att erbjuda värde och kostnadsförderlar till sina kunder. Slutsatsen visar på att DC-Syd kan erbjuda både kostnads och värdefördelar samtidigt, men att de också kan anpassa sig efter sina kunders behov olika behov om det finns en tillräcklig omfattning. Dock så behöver DC-Syd ständigt uppdatera sina erbjudanden och tjänster för att själva vara konkurrenskraftiga och behålla sina kunder. För framtida forskning hade det varit intressant att jämföra olika TPL-företag som infinner sig under olika kategorier i Hertz och Alfredsson’s (2003) modell och analysera dessa. Detta för att få en mer generell bild och kanske se likheter och skillnader med företag beroende på vilken kategori de placeras inom. / Summary In today’s situation many companies are outsourcing their activities to a TPL-company instead of managing them themselves. Some companies do this in order to reduce their costs and get cost advantages while others do so in order to achieve value advantages, such as the expertise a TPL-company possess. However, which competitive advantages a company is looking for varies. What some researchers say is that there is a separate focus on either cost or value benefits, while another explains that a company must be able to offer both these at the same time in order to be competitive in the market. At the same time, the TPL-companies that offer these solutions need to adapt to the customers' wishes, which can be problematic because everyone has different requirements and needs. The study object in this paper has been a TPL-company named DC-Syd. The purpose of the study was to investigate how DC-Syd works to offer value and cost advantages to its customers. Collected material is taken from interviews and an observation. The conclusion shows that DC-Syd can offer both cost and value benefits at the same time, and also adapt to their customers' different needs if there is a sufficient scope. However, DC-Syd needs to constantly update their offers and services to be competitive and to keep their customers. For future research, it would have been interesting to compare different TPL-companies that come under different categories in Hertz and Alfredsson's (2003) model and analyze these. This is to get a more general picture and perhaps see similarities and differences with companies depending on which category they are placed in.