ABSTRACT Six hens responded under an increasing Fixed Ratio schedule of reinforcement to assess demand separately for two different food types: wheat and puffed wheat. Demand curves generated showed the least preferred food, puffed wheat, yielded a higher initial (ln L) demand than the more preferred food, wheat. While responding for the more preferred food, wheat, produced lower initial (ln L) demand functions, responding for wheat was maintained to higher increasing FR schedules of reinforcement than was that for puffed wheat. This phenomenon occurred across all six hens. To assess preference between the two food types the hens responded under a two-link concurrent-chain schedule of reinforcement. Under the concurrent-chain schedule of reinforcement there were three conditions, each consisted of a initial link with VI 90-s VI 90-s in effect, and terminal links of FR1, FR8 and FR32. The concurrent-chain schedule was used to examine if or how preference may relate to demand. Preference measures obtained showed wheat was generally preferred to puffed wheat across all prices throughout the preference assessment. As price increased in the terminal link during the preference assessment, preference for wheat became more extreme as did the hens responding. The results suggest that while there is a systematic relation between preference and demand, in that at higher FR values food with higher demand levels is preferred. This does not seem to hold, however, at FR1

The current population in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is more than 7 million. Due to pressures of increasing population, the developing economy and climate change, the future security of water supply is far from satisfactory. There is also pressure to connect a large number of customers currently not connected to the HCMC water supply reticulation grid. Current water resources management tends to be fragmented and focused purely on supply side management. It is not economically and environmentally sustainable to focus purely on augmenting supply to meet increasing demand. Sustainable water resources management requires a broader more holistic approach. Government's plans to improve current and future water management issues are examined in the context of two case studies, one from Australia (a developed country) and one from the Philippines (a developing country). The sustainable water management approaches adopted by these two case studies sit at either end of the s pectrum of options. One is closer to a centralized government planning model and the other is a more radical privatisation flavoured model. The thesis investigates the current water demand and supply balance for residential, commercial and industry; and propose a balanced strategy to meet the HCMC's demand until year 2020. The amount of water savings are calculated by implementing a suite of water conservation initiatives. The proposed initatives will substantially narrow the gap between the planned supply and forecasted demand, thus providing a acceptable reasonable supply security for the community.

<p>The purpose of this essey is through empirical methods investigate usability factors on Video On Demand applications for the Internet. More specificly we will focus on a application called Voddler. The purpose is to identify usability problems that exist in Voddler, and present the reader with suggestions on possible solutions. This could be used as guidelines to how to design for usability in this kind of system. We will use an online survey to investigate Voddler usability and use this data as a basis for our analysis. We will also conduct a expert evaluation of the system. The data collected from the survey will be compared to the expert evalutation and different theories behind usability. We will come to the conclusion that through a usability perspective Voddler has designed the software as an interactive Video On Demand service meanwhile the target audience want the application to function more like an normal computer program. This causes a conflict between the two that has to be resolved if one wants to optimize usability this kind of software.</p>

The Texas Pecan Board was established in 1998 to administer the Texas Pecan Checkoff Program and is financed through a one-half cent per pound assessment on grower pecan sales. The Board spends the assessment collections on a variety of advertising campaigns in an attempt to expand demand for Texas pecans, both improved and native varieties, and increase the welfare of Texas pecan growers. This study presents an evaluation of the economic effectiveness of the Texas Pecan Checkoff Program in expanding sales of Texas pecans. First, the effects of Texas Pecan Board promotion on sales of all Texas pecans are determined using the ordinary least squares estimator (OLS) followed by a test for differential effects of Texas Pecan Board promotion on sales of improved and native Texas pecan varieties using the seemingly unrelated regression. The analysis indicates that the Texas Pecan Checkoff Program has effectively increased sales of improved varieties of Texas pecans, but has had no impact on sales of native varieties of Texas pecans. A benefit-cost analysis determines that the additional sales revenues generated is relatively large compared to the dollar value spent on promotion indicating that the Texas pecan promotion program has been financially successful.

The goal of this dissertation is to examine the theoretical and empirical implications of the inventory theoretic approach to the demand for money. Chapter 1 reviews the existing inventory theoretic frameworks and empirical money demand literature and provides an overview of this thesis. One of the main conclusions is that the elasticity results from the existing inventory theoretic models are not robust. Chapter 2 develops a partial equilibrium inventory theoretic model, in which a fixed cost is involved per cash transfer. The key feature is that a firm endogenously chooses the frequency of pay periods, which a household takes as given. When the firm must borrow working capital and pay wages by cheque, I show that both the firm and the household choose to transfer cash every payday only. The model keeps the basic result from the classical inventory theoretic approach that both the income and interest elasticity of money demand are 0.5. Chapter 3 extends the partial equilibrium model into a general equilibrium framework and shows that the partial equilibrium elasticity results no longer apply in the general equilibrium. First, the income elasticity is 1 in the general equilibrium. Second, the interest elasticity has two values depending on a threshold interest rate. When interest rates are below this threshold, the model is the Cash-In-Advance model with a constant income velocity of money and zero interest elasticity; otherwise the interest elasticity is close to 0.5 and the velocity fluctuates in response to variations in interest rates. Finally, the general equilibrium elasticity results are robust across alternative specifications of the agent's utility. Chapter 4 calibrates the general equilibrium model to the last 40 years of US data for M1. By constructing a residual measure of money transaction costs from the structural money demand function, I find that a structural break in the transaction costs occurred in 1981 might have been responsible for the instability of long-run money demand. The benefit of this approach is that it can explain this pattern of money demand without appealing to an exogenous structural break in the money demand function.

The Region of Waterloo relies on groundwater for 80% of the water supplied to its growing population. Ontario’s Places to Grow Act (2005) designates the Region as a growth corridor, and over the next 20 years, significant development is expected. A water pipeline from Lake Erie to the Region of Waterloo is being considered as part of the Region’s strategy to ensure sufficient amounts of water for the population. The purpose of this research is to examine whether this pipeline would undermine current conservation efforts by the Region. Using a combination of questionnaires, expert interviews, and newspaper analysis, the following research questions are investigated: (1) How do Waterloo residents perceive the region’s current water supply? (2) How do their actions related to water use reflect these perceptions about water supply arrangements? (3) How might perceptions change when a pipeline is constructed to Lake Erie? (4) To what extent might this pipeline encourage consumptive rather than conservation behaviour? These questions are connected with the social demographics of age, gender, income and education, to determine which, if any, plays the largest role in determining conservation behaviour. Ten significant relationships are found regarding water supply issues, with the majority relating to age. Older respondents are more likely to believe there is an inadequate water supply in the region, and that money should be spent to increase the available supply. Older respondents are more likely to state they conserve water year round. Older respondents and male respondents are more likely to have heard about a proposed pipeline. Younger respondents are more likely to prefer reducing the demand for water, while older respondents are more likely to prefer a combination of increasing the supply and decreasing the demand. Higher educated and higher income respondents are more likely to believe access to water should be limited. Higher educated respondents are more likely to prefer decreasing the demand instead of increasing the supply. For the most part, Waterloo residents perceive the current water supply as inadequate. Some residents conserve water as a response to this, but others do not limit their use in order to compel the Region to increase supply. It is unclear how perceptions might change if a pipeline were constructed. However, it is probable that consumption would be influenced by the persistence of the Region in continuing conservation programs. It is recommended that the Region consider limiting future growth, increase the cost of water to users, and deliver variable qualities of water to residents for different functions. It is important that the Region continue implementing water conservation measures at least at the current level. It would be valuable to study other communities which have built a water pipeline to determine effects that might not be anticipated. Finally, it is important that other municipalities affected by this pipeline be consulted before its construction.

The purpose of this essey is through empirical methods investigate usability factors on Video On Demand applications for the Internet. More specificly we will focus on a application called Voddler. The purpose is to identify usability problems that exist in Voddler, and present the reader with suggestions on possible solutions. This could be used as guidelines to how to design for usability in this kind of system. We will use an online survey to investigate Voddler usability and use this data as a basis for our analysis. We will also conduct a expert evaluation of the system. The data collected from the survey will be compared to the expert evalutation and different theories behind usability. We will come to the conclusion that through a usability perspective Voddler has designed the software as an interactive Video On Demand service meanwhile the target audience want the application to function more like an normal computer program. This causes a conflict between the two that has to be resolved if one wants to optimize usability this kind of software.

The Region of Waterloo relies on groundwater for 80% of the water supplied to its growing population. Ontario’s Places to Grow Act (2005) designates the Region as a growth corridor, and over the next 20 years, significant development is expected. A water pipeline from Lake Erie to the Region of Waterloo is being considered as part of the Region’s strategy to ensure sufficient amounts of water for the population. The purpose of this research is to examine whether this pipeline would undermine current conservation efforts by the Region. Using a combination of questionnaires, expert interviews, and newspaper analysis, the following research questions are investigated: (1) How do Waterloo residents perceive the region’s current water supply? (2) How do their actions related to water use reflect these perceptions about water supply arrangements? (3) How might perceptions change when a pipeline is constructed to Lake Erie? (4) To what extent might this pipeline encourage consumptive rather than conservation behaviour? These questions are connected with the social demographics of age, gender, income and education, to determine which, if any, plays the largest role in determining conservation behaviour. Ten significant relationships are found regarding water supply issues, with the majority relating to age. Older respondents are more likely to believe there is an inadequate water supply in the region, and that money should be spent to increase the available supply. Older respondents are more likely to state they conserve water year round. Older respondents and male respondents are more likely to have heard about a proposed pipeline. Younger respondents are more likely to prefer reducing the demand for water, while older respondents are more likely to prefer a combination of increasing the supply and decreasing the demand. Higher educated and higher income respondents are more likely to believe access to water should be limited. Higher educated respondents are more likely to prefer decreasing the demand instead of increasing the supply. For the most part, Waterloo residents perceive the current water supply as inadequate. Some residents conserve water as a response to this, but others do not limit their use in order to compel the Region to increase supply. It is unclear how perceptions might change if a pipeline were constructed. However, it is probable that consumption would be influenced by the persistence of the Region in continuing conservation programs. It is recommended that the Region consider limiting future growth, increase the cost of water to users, and deliver variable qualities of water to residents for different functions. It is important that the Region continue implementing water conservation measures at least at the current level. It would be valuable to study other communities which have built a water pipeline to determine effects that might not be anticipated. Finally, it is important that other municipalities affected by this pipeline be consulted before its construction.

Master thesis in marketing written in spring 2012 at the LinnæusUniversity, Växjö, Sweden. Authors: Lina Bengtsson and Desirée Valler Examiner: Professor Mosad Zineldin                 Tutor: Professor Anders Pehrsson Title: Demand management - Preferred options from the customer’s point of view regarding the rural hotel industry Introduction: If demand and capacity is not in line, dissatisfaction can occur among the customers. In these cases demand can be managed by demand management options in order for it to reach the wanted level. Purpose: The purpose is to identify which demand management options (DMO) that rural hotels customers’ finds significant in order to affect their usage of the service, hence, to change their demand. Delimitations: The delimitations of this paper are automation, substitute services and sales promotion, as these areas will not be handled in this paper. Methodology: This study will be approached by the deductive point of view. Further the methods to gather empirical information will be both a quantitative approached in the shape of a survey and a qualitative approach in the shape of a focus group. Conclusions: Price is of importance for rural hotels, but they could also use service differentials, which can be a winning concept. The DMO of overbooking is not as successful as the customers perceive it as something negative. Promotion can increase the demand but should be used together with other DMOs, hotels should although be careful so no negative WOM starts spreading. A negative WOM could occur if the hotel segments their customers wrongly. Suggestion for further research: Is to investigate to which degree the recommended DMOs affects the demand within rural hotel industry by practically measuring it. Further, if these DMOs also should be implemented by downtown hotels can be a ground for future research.

Arbetsmiljön kan enligt Karasek och Theorell (1990) karaktäriseras i två dimensioner, psykologiska krav från arbetet och i vilken utsträckning individen möter dessa med hjälp av egenkontrollen. De har utvecklat krav-kontroll modellen som mäter den psykosociala arbetsmiljön. Modellen används i denna studie för att undersöka huruvida några förklaringsvariabler relaterar till individens upplevelse av krav och kontroll på arbetet. Deltagarna fick besvara en enkät besående av olika variabler och självskattningsskalor som mätte krav och kontroll. Även känslan av sammanhang mättes med 13 frågor (Antonovsky, 1993). Deltagarna bestod av 116 anställda på två arbetsplatser i Västmanlands län. Resultatet visade att vissa dimensioner av förklaringsvariablerna (demografiska, arbets-, hälso och KASAM) bidrog till viss förklarad varians med avseende på krav och kontroll. Den psykiska hälsan hade ett positivt samband med kontroll och negativt samband med krav. Enligt Theorell (2003) mår individer med hög kontroll vanligtvis bättre än individer som uppleverlåg kontroll.