This Master thesis analyzes diversification strategies, diversification possibilities establishment and realization theoretical aspects with reference to Lithuanian and foreign sources. Having applied the method of structurized poll in writing, the behaviour of construction and maintenance services consumers was evaluated, the factors which influence it were determined, the level of construction and maintenance services consumers satisfaction was determined, demands and expectations of unsatisfied consumers were ascertained. With a regard to the situation in the market and its changing tendencies and the results of consumers poll, the diversification possibilities of construction and maintenance services enterprises were estimated, the diversification alternatives prospects of construction and maintenance services enterprises were evaluated. The results of empirical research confirmed a hypothesis and allowed a statement that not fully satisfied demands of consumers, existing in the market, show diversification possibilities of construction services enterprises.

This dissertation comprises theoretical and empirical models to manage watersupply risk in irrigated agriculture. While irrigation is by itself a strategy to regulate thesupply of water for farm use, water systems that depend on surface water sources are stillsubject to the random inflows that feed their reservoirs. Depending on the size of thereservoir, the demand for irrigation, and the seasonal distribution of inflows, wateravailability may decrease to levels that severely constraint agricultural production. Thisdissertation begins with a theoretical examination of on-farm cropping decisions underwater endowment risk. However, the analysis is extended to the use of a risk-sharinginnovation to transfer the water availability risk outside an irrigation district. Specifically,the design, use, and economic feasibility of an inflow-based derivative are studied for theRio Mayo irrigation district, located in Northwestern Mexico.On the theoretical front, the analysis consists of modeling the on-farm economicsof hedging against uncertain irrigation endowments. The basic model starts by analyzingthe role of crop diversification. As expected, the firm responds to higher degrees of risk,as measured by the variance in the supply of water, by allocating less land towards thewater-intensive crops. The underlying motivation in these strategies is the need to avoidthe relatively larger reductions in productivity sustained by water-intensive cropportfolios. However, crop diversification comes at the cost of reduced profits. As analterative to crop diversification, the model is modified to study the role of an institutionthat transfers water contingent on the states of nature. The extension shows that, undercertain conditions, enrolling in such a scheme produces the same profit as undercertainty.In the empirical component of the dissertation, the economics of an inflow-basedderivative are examined. The modeling strategy consists of simulating the economicenvironment and hydrological profile of the Adolfo Ruiz Cortinez Reservoir on the RioMayo irrigation district. Specifically, a stochastic dynamic simulation model is developedthat captures the intra and inter seasonal risk aspects associated with water risk and wateruse for irrigated agriculture. The results indicate that the inflow-based derivative is aviable instrument in the terms of affordability (i.e. premiums) and yield effective incomeprotection (i.e. risk reduction).

This thesis investigates the application of principal component analysis to the Australian stock market using ASX200 index and its constituents from April 2000 to February 2014. The first ten principal components were retained to present the major risk sources in the stock market. We constructed portfolio based on each of the ten principal components and named these “principal portfolios

Our world is changing rapidly and factors like urbanisation, changed agricultural practices and climate change are causing losses in butterfly diversity. It is therefore of importance to understand the source of their diversity. Given the remarkable diversity of herbivorous insects compared to their non-herbivorous sister groups, changes in host use have been implicated as a promoter of speciation. This thesis looks at geographical aspects of host range evolution and the plasticity of host use. We show that butterflies in the subfamily Nymphalinae that feed on a wide range of host plants have larger geographic ranges than species with narrower host ranges. Although tropical butterflies appear to be more specialised than temperate species, this effect is lost when controlling for the differences in geographic range. Geographic variation in host plant use within Polygonia faunus, related to morphologically distinct subspecies, did not show any genetic differentiation. This suggests that the observed variation in host plant use is a plastic response to environmental differences. Reconstructing host use for the Polygonia-Nymphalis and Vanessa group shows that plasticity is also important for understanding host use at the level of butterfly genera. Using unequal transition costs and including larval feeding ability revealed that frequent colonisations of the same plant genus can often be explained by non-independent processes, such as multiple partial losses of host use, recolonisation of ancestral hosts, and parallel colonisations following a preadaptation for host use. These processes are further reflected in the conservative use of host plant orders within the butterfly family Nymphalidae. Few taxa feed on more than one host plant order, and these expansions occur at the very tips of the tree, which we argue is evidence of the transient nature of generalist host use. These insights improve our understanding of how host range evolution may promote diversification. / At the time of the doctoral defence,the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 3: Submitted; Papers 4 and 5: Manuscripts

Ecological processes have the potential to influence evolution through their effects on selection. This thesis explores the effects of two ecological factors - competition and ecological opportunity. Intraspecific (within-species) competition is often expected to drive adaptation and diversification by increasing selection for the use of novel resources, thereby alleviating the detrimental effects of competition. However, this is not always the expected outcome; theory suggests that intraspecific competition can also drive convergent evolution. On the other hand, interspecific (between-species) competition is usually expected to impede adaptation and diversification because competitor species occupy potential available niches, preventing the focal species from diversifying to do so. In this thesis, I review previous experimental studies exploring the effects of competition on adaptive diversification, and then directly test these effects using experimental evolution of the bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens. I confirm that intraspecific competition drives adaptive diversification, while the effects of interspecific competition are varied. Strong interspecific competition impedes adaptation and diversification, while the presence of weak, non-diversifying interspecific competitors drives diversification through increased resource competition. The presence of ecological opportunity is essential for adaptation and diversification, and so variation in attributes of those opportunities is expected to have important effects on the dynamics of adaptive evolution. In another evolution experiment with P. fluorescens, I tested the effects of variation in ecological opportunity on adaptive evolution and found that the type and arrangement of ecological opportunities drives adaptation but, in this system, not diversification. I also show that ecological opportunity drives differences in the degree of parallel evolution at the phenotypic and genotypic level. Finally, I explore some unexpected genetic changes identified in one of these evolved populations - two synonymous mutations that conferred fitness benefits, and show that the observed fitness improvements are the result of increased gene expression. I have shown that ecological processes can play an important role in shaping the evolutionary trajectories taken by populations. Understanding the interactions between ecological and evolutionary processes is vital for our understanding of evolutionary dynamics as a whole, and the studies laid out in this thesis represent valuable contributions to this field of study.

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Mass tourism being on the agenda of world tourism industry since post war period, has been facing stagnation with late 80&rsquo / s. Additionally consumer&rsquo / s preferences and tendencies towards seeking new activities regardless of sea-sun-sand type of tourism have been started to change. Therefore popular tourist destinations are in a position where to develop alternative tourist activities to sustain their market shares in world tourism market. In compliance with this trend, the purpose of this thesis is to analyze the need and the reason of Turkish Tourism Industry moving away from concentrating merely on mass tourism and accordingly to evaluate the efforts of Turkish tourism authorities in diversifying tourism activities and extending the tourist season to year round with reference to Tourism Development Regions, Amendment of Tourism Encouragement Law, etc. Additionally the importance of focusing on cultural, historical, traditional identity and unique assets of Turkey in order to sustain its ranking in the international tourism market is stressed.

This thesis consists of four essays on the topic of asset management. The first essay, Performance and Characteristics of Swedish Mutual Funds studies the relation between fund performance and fund attributes in the Swedish market. The results show, among other things, that good performance is to be found among small equity funds, low-fee funds, funds whose trading activity is high, and in some cases, funds with good past performance. The second essay, Does Active Trading Create Value? An Evaluation of Fund Managers' Decisions decomposes fund performance and examines how it is influenced by fund managers' strategic and tactical decisions. The results support the value of active portfolio management in Sweden. The essay also finds a positive relation between performance and fund managers' voluntary trading decisions. In contrast, there is some evidence of inferior trading decisions when fund managers are forced to trade. The third essay, Investment Strategies, Fund Performance, and Portfolio Characteristics analyzes the relation between fund performance and fund managers' investment strategies. The results show that neither momentum characteristics nor the valuation of stocks in the fund portfolio can explain differences in fund performance. The findings also show a positive relation between performance and the degree of diversification of the fund portfolio. The last essay, Costly Information, Diversification, and International Mutual Fund Performance examines how fund managers' costly search for information affects the performance of mutual funds that invest in Asia and Europe. The essay shows that fund managers who select from a smaller set of Asian stocks perform better than those who select from a larger set. Moreover, the performance of large international mutual fund companies is similar to that of their small competitors. This suggests that there are no economies of scale in the costly search for information. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2001

A global extinction event has been documented in protozoan foraminifera in the late Pliocene to Pleistocene. The timing of the extinction event varied depending on location, however for Ocean Drilling Project Site 1125, disappearances occurred between 2.5 and 0.57 Ma, with the major decline approximately 1.1 Ma. In order to determine if this event affected benthic organisms other than protozoans, this study was undertaken to determine how podocopid ostracods (Crustacea) recovered Ocean Drilling Program Site 1125 responded. The present study was hindered by the small number of valves recovered; the fact that a large proportion of taxa found were undescribed and new to science; and the current state of taxonomic scheme that is under significant revision. These factors meant that a comprehensive comparison could not be achieved. Despite this, counts of ostracod valves and assessments of diversity from this study reveal a significant increase in both parameters from approximately 900-600 ka. Three possible causes were investigated to account for this increase, sediment type and sample size; affects of taphonomy, mainly dissolution; or an actual biotic 'event'. Statistical analyses showed that although sample size did have some effect, it was not the sole reason for the increase in ostracod numbers. Dissolution had an expected affect on the percentage of juveniles but no correlations were found with other sample characteristics. Sedimentation rate was investigated but this also proved unrelated. Therefore, it is suggested that the increase in total ostracod valves and diversity which occurs between 900 and 600 ka was in fact a natural, biotic 'event'. This preliminary evidence suggests that an oceanographic event that has negatively impacted on the foraminifers has had the reverse affect on the ostracod assemblage, in the sense that both population size and diversity increase during that time.

Diss. Linköping : Univ.