In recent years, the production and marketing of local food has become the fastest growing segment of the natural food industry and an important part of the sustainable agriculture movement. The heightened attention to local food systems has bolstered farmers markets attendance, Community Supported Agriculture memberships, and Farm to School programs. The movement has gained such popular salience that in 2007, "locavore" (defined as a person who seeks out locally grown foods) was Oxford American Dictionary's word of the year. Many scholars have also recognized that local food systems may provide positive economic effects (Swenson 2009) and have the potential to build community relationships (Kloppenburg 2000; Lyson 2004). This thesis is based on ethnographic research among local food producers in Iowa that was conducted between June of 2008 and August of 2011. Here I examine the daily practice of producing and marketing local food and consider the challenges producers face in their attempts to develop economically viable farms. Emphasis is placed on the relationships between small-scale direct market producers and their larger-scaled conventional neighbors, the implications for rural labor associated with alternative agriculture and small-scale processing, and the strategies producers use to meet the demands of diverse market outlets such as farmers markets or institutions. I argue that, while producers differentiate their farms from the conventional, industrial system, they are embedded within it. Local food producers must contend with the same land shortages and federal policies as conventional producers and in some cases they make use of the equipment and expertise of their conventional neighbors.

Virginia beef producers have been overwhelmed with increasing costs and decreasing profits as well as facing challenges such as development pressures, drought, increasing competition for grazing land. Together these have reduced opportunities for expansion and often increased incentives for farmers to sell land for non-agriculture use. Nevertheless, opportunities exist for the Virginia beef market. Consumer demand is changing and consumers are seeking food from alternative production systems based on attributes related to human health, environment, animal welfare, and other social concerns. Consumers are also interested in increasing their consumption of locally produced foods. Specialty beef such as natural, organic, and pasture-fed addresses the changing consumer demand and provides alternatives to commodity beef production. This thesis analyzes the potential for and the constraints to specialty beef producers in Virginia to sell their beef through alternative market outlets such as large retail outlets, specialty stores, restaurants, or direct to consumers. The study will research the potential demand for specialty beef through alternative market outlets, the market entry requirements to supply specialty beef to these alternative outlets, and the potential for Virginia's specialty beef producers to serve as suppliers to these alternative outlets. A survey is used to evaluate these alternative markets and determine if they present an opportunity for Virginia producers of specialty beef. The results of this study will evaluate the viability of selling and buying between producer and retailer and offer valuable information and recommendations to Virginia specialty beef producers about the potential and requirements in each of these markets. / Master of Science

Purpose: Our main purpose is to explore, describe and analyze the organizational conduct when implementing automated trading systems (ATS) in companies, investigate the organizational challenges arising from this, and the effects these have on a successful diffusion. As the extent of implementing ATS in the Swedish financial industry has not been explored to any greater extent, it is therefore also imperative to explore this; which will be seen as a secondary purpose to this article. Background: The study is based on innovation and diffusion theories, as well as those of power structures and organization. Further, an explanation of ATS and its dynamics is provided and discussed to facilitate a definition of the term. Method: The research has been carried out as an exploratory, descriptive and analytical qualitative study. We have conducted case studies of 7 companies that are implementing, or evaluating the implementation, of ATS. The data was collected through interviews. Conclusion: The majority of the case companies are in the clarifying and routinizing stages of the innovation process. What is found unique with ATS is that it can be implemented partly. The dimensions found central to a smooth diffusion in the companies are the required level of competence-sharing and complexity of implementation.

<p><strong><p><strong>Purpose: </strong></p><p><em>Our main purpose is to explore, describe and analyze the organizational conduct when implementing automated trading systems (ATS) in companies, investigate the organizational challenges arising from this, and the effects these have on a successful diffusion</em>. As the extent of implementing ATS in the Swedish financial industry has not been explored to any greater extent, it is therefore also imperative to explore this; which will be seen as a secondary purpose to this article.<strong></strong></p><p><strong>Background: </strong></p><p>The study is based on innovation and diffusion theories, as well as those of power structures and organization. Further, an explanation of ATS and its dynamics is provided and discussed to facilitate a definition of the term.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong></p><p>The research has been carried out as an exploratory, descriptive and analytical qualitative study.<strong> </strong>We have conducted case studies of 7 companies that are implementing, or evaluating the implementation, of ATS. The data was collected through interviews.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong></p><p>The majority of the case companies are in the clarifying and routinizing stages of the innovation process. What is found unique with ATS is that it can be implemented partly. The dimensions found central to a smooth diffusion in the companies are the <em>required level of competence-sharing</em> and <em>complexity of implementation.</em></p></strong></p>

This study investigates whether Gaussian Process Regression can be applied to evaluate buffer queue times in large scale data processing systems. It is additionally considered whether high-frequency data stream rates can be generalized into a small subset of the sample space. With the aim of providing basis for dynamic software optimization, a promising foundation for continued research is introduced. The study is intended to contribute to Direct Market Access financial trading systems which processes immense amounts of market data daily. Due to certain limitations, we shoulder a naïve approach and model latencies as a function of only data throughput in eight small historical intervals. The training and test sets are represented from raw market data, and we resort to pruning operations to shrink the datasets by a factor of approximately 0.0005 in order to achieve computational feasibility. We further consider four different implementations of Gaussian Process Regression. The resulting algorithms perform well on pruned datasets, with an average R2 statistic of 0.8399 over six test sets of approximately equal size as the training set. Testing on non-pruned datasets indicate shortcomings from the generalization procedure, where input vectors corresponding to low-latency target values are associated with less accuracy. We conclude that depending on application, the shortcomings may be make the model intractable. However for the purposes of this study it is found that buffer queue times can indeed be modelled by regression algorithms. We discuss several methods for improvements, both in regards to pruning procedures and Gaussian Processes, and open up for promising continued research. / Denna studie undersöker huruvida Gaussian Process Regression kan appliceras för att utvärdera buffer-kötider i storskaliga dataprocesseringssystem. Dessutom utforskas ifall dataströmsfrekvenser kan generaliseras till en liten delmängd av utfallsrymden. Medmålet att erhålla en grund för dynamisk mjukvaruoptimering introduceras en lovandestartpunkt för fortsatt forskning. Studien riktas mot Direct Market Access system för handel på finansiella marknader, somprocesserar enorma mängder marknadsdata dagligen. På grund av vissa begränsningar axlas ett naivt tillvägagångssätt och väntetider modelleras som en funktion av enbartdatagenomströmning i åtta små historiska tidsinterval. Tränings- och testdataset representeras från ren marknadsdata och pruning-tekniker används för att krympa dataseten med en ungefärlig faktor om 0.0005, för att uppnå beräkningsmässig genomförbarhet. Vidare tas fyra olika implementationer av Gaussian Process Regression i beaktning. De resulterande algorithmerna presterar bra på krympta dataset, med en medel R2 statisticpå 0.8399 över sex testdataset, alla av ungefär samma storlek som träningsdatasetet. Tester på icke krympta dataset indikerar vissa brister från pruning, där input vektorermotsvararande låga latenstider är associerade med mindre exakthet. Slutsatsen dras att beroende på applikation kan dessa brister göra modellen obrukbar. För studiens syftefinnes emellertid att latenstider kan sannerligen modelleras av regressionsalgoritmer. Slutligen diskuteras metoder för förbättrning med hänsyn till både pruning och GaussianProcess Regression, och det öppnas upp för lovande vidare forskning.

九十四年我國財產保險業之簽單總保費收入為新台幣1,185.02億元，其中汽車保險之簽單保險費收入為新台幣588.62億元，占我國財產保險業簽單總保費收入的49.67%，故汽車保險之簽單保險費收入於九十四年居財產保險市場各險種之冠。同時汽車保險業務量占全體產險業務量的比重，一直維持在45%-50%之間，由於汽車險業務量之消長連帶影響各產物保險公司的現金流量及公司在市場的排名，故汽車保險業務的經營深受各產險公司老闆的重視。 我國汽車保險業務的來源可分直接通路及間接通路兩種，間接通路來源的業務量占全部汽車險業務量的40%，其中汽車經銷商保險代理人(簡稱車商保代)及經紀人的業務來源就占有30%。 台灣汽車險市場各保險公司的市場占有率，經過產險同業大家多年的努力經營，已大致固定。由於車商保代及經紀人的業務大都屬新車業務，故其業務量占汽車險市場新車業務量的比重甚大，因此遂為每家保險公司業務經營極力爭取的對象。再者必須注意的是汽車險商品因受到過往規章費率的影響，同質性很高，在無法明顯區隔市場的情形下，保險公司如欲增加業務量，最迅速有效的方式就是提高佣金及配合車商保代的要求，搭配一定比率的回廠維修率。此種「蠟燭兩頭燒」的業務經營，在社會經濟景氣時，保險公司尚可依靠投資收益來挹注增加的成本，但景氣不好時，保險公司的負擔將會超過其所能承受的部份，導致經營產生虧損或發生危機。此由寶來證券集團在中央產物的經營汽車險業務，因經營結果與其預期不一致時，最後轉手美商AIG集團，即是最佳寫照。 本篇論文主要係在探討競爭市場下汽車險業務經營管理策略，並以寶來證券集團在中央產物經營汽車險業務的結果為個案研究。首先介紹台灣汽車險市場的現況，接著並就費率自由化的實施，探討其對台灣汽車險市場的影響，同時也針對汽車險市場經營的瓶頸加以瞭解及提出解決之道，筆者也藉此提供個人的些微建議，希望能對政府擬訂監理政策及產險同業透過汽車險業務經營策略的再思考，藉由創新商品的開發及行銷通路的多元化等多方的努力，以對開創台灣汽車險業務經營的藍海策略有所助益，是本篇論文提出的最主要目的。 / In 2005, the written premium of automobile insurance was NT$ 58.87 billion, occupied 49.67% and the majority part of the written premium of non-life insurance in Taiwan（the written premium of non-life insurance was NT$ 118.5 billion in 2005）. In the meantime, the business portfolio of automobile insurance to non-life insurance remain at 45%-50% steadily. Because the growth and decrease of business portfolio of automobile insurance will significantly influent the ranking and the cash flow of non-life insurance companies, the owners of non-life insurance companies pay highly attention on the operation of automobile insurance. In Taiwan, the source of automobile insurance can be divided into two parts: direct market approach and indirect market approach. Indirect market approach contributed 40% business income, and the automobile insurance agents contributed 30% premium income. The market share of non-life insurance business is approximately fixed. Due to the business scope of automobile insurance agents and brokers are selling the new cars, the non-life insurance companies give ultimate efforts to attract them. Moreover, we must pay attention on the fact that the automobile insurance commodities is homogeneous, the reason is affected by the tariff of regulator, therefore, under the premise that the market can’t be obviously divided, if the insurance companies still intend to raise its’business portfolio, the most rapid and efficient way is to lift up commission to match the commission requirement of automobile insurance agents, and to collocate with certain ratio of damaged car requiring and/or regular maintence. This kind of operation mode makes insurance company can cover the cost by its investing profit while economic boom, but will overload while economic depression, then causing operating crisis. The most conspicuous case is that the Polaris Securities Group sold Central Insurance Company（CIC）to AIG Group while Polaris Securities Group found the operating results of automobile insurance business in CIC was inconsistent with its anticipation. This thesis mainly discusses the operating and management strategy of automobile insurance in a competitive market, and give an example by Polaris Securities Group’s running automobile insurance business in CIC for case study. The thesis first introduces the current condition of Taiwan automobile insurance market, then probe into the influence of rate liberalization to the said market. Simultaneously, to understand the predicament of automobile insurance market and bring up the possible solution. The author provides some suggestions for government agency to draw up supervisory policy and for non-life insurance companies to set up operating strategy. By the way of innovating insurance commodities and diversifying marketing routes, the author hopes that it will helpful to jointly inaugurate the“Blue Ocean Strategy”of the operation of Taiwan automobile insurance. It’s the main goal of this thesis.