The strategic importance of FMCG SME's supply chains makes it paramount that their performances are measured. Performance measurement in the context of on-time delivery is of high importance to SME's. SME's compete with large companies within the FMCG sector, as such gaining a competitive advantage is an extremely difficult task for these small and medium companies. There is an everincreasing interest toward the field of supply chain management and much attention has been deemed towards the importance of information sharing in gaining competitive advantage for SMEs. The integration of the chain both internally and externally through information sharing ( visibility) can lead to increase supply chain performance such as on-time delivery, therefore increasing competitive advantage for the SME's. The study aim to develop a conceptual framework and a model to evaluate the impact of visibility tools usage in FMCG SME's. This research highlights some visibility tools such as ERP systems, Sage software that influences the level of information shared among the parties within the SME supply chain. This research examined the potential of information technology based tools and visibility factors and aims to provide factors that may influence the sharing of information between suppliers and customers along the supply chain, thus meeting on time delivery schedules. This research employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches, with regression and correlation tests also conducted. Two questionnaires were administered, one at the case study company, the other at 100 SME's across London, 63 valid questionnaires were received and analyzed using SPSS software (manufactured by IBM, version 20). The findings of this research revealed that having shared values among SME's influenced the level of information that is shared and thus the level of visibility achieved within the supply chain. Further, it was revealed that large companies are able to utilize more in depth IT based systems, while small and medium sized companies had a tendency to utilize informal means for their visibility tools. In addition, the analysis of the research model indicated that supplier lead time and supplier chain reliability greatly influenced the ICT infrastructure of a FMCG SME. The model analysis also indicated that the delivery lead time influenced on-time delivery. In addition supply chain responsiveness was found to explain 30.9% of the variances found in supply chain visibility.

Thesis (M.Sc. (Agricultural Economics)) --University of Limpopo, 2018 / Legumes are crops that are rich in protein and if households are made aware of their importance, they can be acquired at lower costs and dependency on animal proteins can also be reduced. The cowpea smallholder producers in Africa are faced with numerous challenges such as persistent pests such as aphids that reduce yields, lack of improved varieties and the inability to produce in quantities large enough to sell to local or broader markets in South Africa. The aim of this study was to examine economic efficiency of cowpea production among smallholder cowpea farmers in Capricorn and Waterberg districts of Limpopo province. The descriptive statistics indicated that interviewed farmers years of schooling ranged from 0 to 13 years, with an average of five years of attending school. Farmers’ age ranged between 33 and 78, with an average age of 61 years. The average income received on monthly basis from the overall agricultural produce was R1735.83 per farmer. The Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) results showed that the Technical Efficiency (TE) scores of cowpea farmers had a mean of 0,9588 with a minimum of 0,7500 and maximum of 1,000. This means that 95% of the farmers were technically efficient. The allocative Efficiency score ranges from a minimum of 0,4070 and a maximum of 1,000 with a mean of 0,6519. The Allocative Efficiency (AE) scores imply that farmers were not utilizing inputs. The Economic Efficiency scores ranges from a minimum of 0,3820 to 1,000 with a mean score of 0,6218. This implies that cowpea smallholder farmers were economically inefficient on average and that the cost of cowpea production for each farm could be decreased on average by approximately 38% to obtain the same level of output. The Tobit regression model found that the explanatory variables which were significant are age, educational level, primary income source, farm size, method of intercropping, purpose of growing cowpea and source of field labour. The study recommends that there is a need to provide primary education to the farmers for them to be able to measure and calculate the inputs they use and output they attain in order to improve their efficiency levels. Key words: Economic Efficiency, Smallholder Farmers and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA).

acase@tulane.edu / The relationship between microstructure, efficiency and data frequency give us a new opportunity to test information (e.g. events and news) efficiency assimilation for Mexican ADRs and their underlying Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) stocks It also allows to corroborate whether in emerging markets, specifically in the Mexican market, insider trading could be present but it may not be necessarily detected by market efficiency tools only. Using a proprietary dataset of Mexican Stock Exchange (Mexican Bolsa) intraday prices for underlying stocks and their respective Type II and III ADRs quoted in NASDAQ, AMEX and New York Stock Exchange, time series analysis related to price dynamics and event studies methodologies were applied. Non-linearity of the prices was tested, finding no statistical evidence of such behavior, which led to conclude linearity in them. Volatility transmission was also analyzed, finding that external shock can impact both markets having a recursive behavior; shocks in Mexican market has an impact also in American Market and vice versa. Using a standard Event Studies methodology we tested for nine different corporate events (dividends, changes in capital structure, acquisitions, mergers, takeovers, spin offs, sell offs, joint ventures and privatizations) and seven different classes of stocks in both markets, looking for parallelism in cumulative abnormal returns, volatility, trade volume and Granger causality. The results are a statistically significant behavior similar in both markets (for both CARs and volatility). The evidence of Granger-causality in ADR / underlying stock was detected in both ways: underlying stocks Granger cause the ADRs and vice versa. The results corroborate a non-arbitrage behavior in both markets and no evidence of insider trading in ADRs / underlying stocks in both markets / 1 / Polux E. Diaz Ruiz

This research investigates adoption and integration of a range of building environmental systems in healthcare facilities in India. Based on detailed case studies of eight selected healthcare facilities developed at different times in India, this research traces the evolution of hospital designs in a specific geographic context through the lens of adoption of building environmental systems over the internal shell and external skins of healthcare buildings in India. By documenting and analyzing changes in building designs over time, the research develops a comparative understanding of trends of adoption of environmental technologies and their impacts on building form and performance.

In this thesis, we study how the efficiency of competitive equilibrium in a pure exchange economy with hidden action depends on the market structure. We consider both competitive anonymous markets, where consumers make their choices taking as given some relevant economic parameters, and competitive strategic markets, where consumers interact with financial intermediaries who explicitly take into account the choices of other economic agents. In the first chapter, we review some known results on the efficiency of competitive equilibrium under different market structures. In the second chapter, we assume that there are multiple consumption goods and that the level of action affects the marginal benefit consumers get from consumption. We consider two different market structures: a complete set of contingent-commodity markets, and a complete set of financial markets, together with spot markets for consumption goods. The main result we provide in this chapter is that under more general hypothesis than those usually considered in the literature, the equilibrium with financial markets is not efficient. In the third chapter, we assume that consumers can insure themselves by voluntarily committing to deliver part of their endowment to a common pool in exchange for a sure return from the pool itself. We show that an equilibrium with pool of promises exists, and we characterize it.

In this thesis, we study how the efficiency of competitive equilibrium in a pure exchange economy with hidden action depends on the market structure. We consider both competitive anonymous markets, where consumers make their choices taking as given some relevant economic parameters, and competitive strategic markets, where consumers interact with financial intermediaries who explicitly take into account the choices of other economic agents. In the first chapter, we review some known results on the efficiency of competitive equilibrium under different market structures. In the second chapter, we assume that there are multiple consumption goods and that the level of action affects the marginal benefit consumers get from consumption. We consider two different market structures: a complete set of contingent-commodity markets, and a complete set of financial markets, together with spot markets for consumption goods. The main result we provide in this chapter is that under more general hypothesis than those usually considered in the literature, the equilibrium with financial markets is not efficient. In the third chapter, we assume that consumers can insure themselves by voluntarily committing to deliver part of their endowment to a common pool in exchange for a sure return from the pool itself. We show that an equilibrium with pool of promises exists, and we characterize it.

This work focuses on the cooling of diesel engines. Facing heavy constraints such as emissions control or fossil energy management, political leaders are forcing car manufacturers to drastically reduce the fuel consumption of passenger vehicles. For instance, in Europe, this fuel consumption has to reach 120 g CO2 km by 2012, namely 25 % reduction from today's level. Such objectives can only be reached with an optimization of all engines components from injection strategies to power steering. A classical energy balance of an internal combustion engine shows four main losses: enthalpy losses at the exhaust, heat transfer to the cylinder walls, friction losses and external devices driving. An optimized cooling will improve three of them: the heat transfer losses by increasing the cylinder walls temperature, the friction losses by reducing the oil viscosity and the coolant pump power consumption. A model is rst built to simulate the engine thermal behavior from the combustion itself to the temperatures of thedierent engine components. It is composed by two models with different time scales. First, a thermodynamic model computes the in cylinder pressure and temperature as well as the heat flows for each crank angle. These heat flows are the main input parameters for the second model: the nodal one. This last model computes all the engine components temperatures according to the nodal model theory. The cylinder walls temperature is then given back to the thermodynamic model to compute the heat flows. The models are then validated through test bench measurements giving excellent results for both Mean Effective Pressure and fluids (coolant and oil) temperatures. The used engine is a 1.9l displacement turbocharged piston engine equipped with an in-cylinder pressure sensor for the thermodynamic model validation and thermocouples for the nodal model validation. The model is then used to optimize the coolant mass flow rate as a function of the engine temperature level. Simulations have been done for both stationary conditions with effciency improvement up to 7% for specific points (low load, high engine speed) and transient ones with a heating time improvement of about 2000s. This gains are then validated on the test bench showing again good agreement.

Industrial production systems in general are very complex and there is a need for decision support regarding management of the daily production as well as regarding investments to increase energy efficiency and to decrease environmental effects and overall costs. Simulation of industrial production as well as energy systems optimization may be used in such complex decision-making situations. The simulation tool is most powerful when used for design and analysis of complex production processes. This tool can give very detailed information about how the system operates, for example, information about the  disturbances that occur in the system, such as lack of raw materials, blockages or stoppages on a production line. Furthermore, it can also be used to identify bottlenecks to indicate where work in process, material, and information are being delayed. The energy systems optimization tool can provide the company management additional information for the type of investment studied. The tool is able to obtain more basic data for decision-making and thus also additional information for the production-related investment being studied. The use of the energy systems optimization tool as investment decision support when considering strategic investments for an industry with complex interactions between different production units seems greatly needed. If not adopted and used, the industry may face a risk of costly reinvestments. Although these decision-making tools individually give good results, the possibility to use them in combination increases the reliability of the results, enhances the possibility to find optimal solutions, promises improved analyses, and a better basis for decisions in industry. The energy systems optimization tool can be used to find the optimal result and the simulation tool can be used to find out whether the solution from the optimization tool is possible to run at the site. In this thesis, the discrete event simulation and energy systems optimization tools have been combined. Three Swedish industrial case studies are included: The new foundry at Volvo Powertrain in Skövde, Arla Foods dairy in Linköping and the SKF foundry in Katrineholm. Results from these cases show possibilities to decrease energy use and idling, to increase production, to combine existing and new production equipment and to decrease loss of  products. For an existing industrial system, it is always preferable to start with the optimization tool reMIND rather than the simulation tool – since it takes less time to build the optimization model and obtain results than it does to build the corresponding simulation modeling. While, for a non-existent system, it is in general a good idea to use both the simulation and the optimization tool reMIND simultaneously, because there are many uncertain data that are difficult to estimate, by using only one of them. An iterative working process may follow where both tools are used. There is a need for future work to further develop structured working processes and to improve the model to e.g. take production related support processes into account. To adapt the results in industries, improve the user friendliness of the tool and the understanding of the underlying modeling developments of the optimization tool reMIND will be necessary. / Industriella system i allmänhet är mycket komplexa och det finns ett behov av beslutsstöd vid hantering av den dagliga produktionen, liksom beslut om investeringar för att öka energieffektiviteten och minska miljöpåverkan och kostnader. Simulering av industriell produktion och energisystemoptimering kan användas som beslutsstöd i sådana komplexa beslutssituationer. Simuleringsverktyg är mest kraftfullt när det används för design och analys av komplexa produktionsprocesser. Verktyget kan ge mycket detaljerad information om hur systemet fungerar, till exempel information om de störningar som inträffar i systemet såsom brist på råvaror, blockeringar eller avbrott på en produktionslinje. Dessutom kan verktyget användas för att identifiera flaskhalsar för att indikera var arbete, material och information är försenade. Energisystemoptimeringsverktyget kan ge företagsledningen ytterligare information om en eventuell studerad investering. Verktyget kan ge mer underlag för att fatta beslut och därmed ge mer information för den produktionsrelaterade investeringen som studeras. Behovet av användningen av energisystemoptimeringsverktyg som investeringsbeslutsstöd när man överväger strategiska investeringar för en industri med komplexa interaktioner mellan olika produktionsenheter bedöms vara stort. Om inte kan industrin istället möta en risk för kostsamma reinvesteringar. Även om dessa verktyg kan vara beslutsstöd var för sig och ge bra resultat, så medföljer möjligheten att kombinera dessa verktyg att tillförlitligheten av resultaten ökar, såväl som möjligheten att hitta optimala lösningar, bättre analyser och ett bättre underlag för beslut inom industrin. Optimeringsverktyget kan användas för att hitta det optimala resultatet och simuleringsverktyg kan användas för att ta reda på om lösningen från optimeringsverktyget är möjlig att realisera i verklig drift. I den här avhandlingen har diskret händelsestyrd simulering och energisystemoptimeringsverktyg kombinerats. Tre svenska industriella fallstudier är inkluderade: Volvo Powertrains nya gjuteri i Skövde, Arla Foods mejeri i Linköping och SKF-gjuteriet i Katrineholm. Resultat från dessa fall visar på möjligheterna att minska energianvändningen och tomgångsförlusterna, att öka produktionen, att kombinera ny och befintlig produktionsutrustning på ett effektivare sätt, och att minska kassation av produkter. För ett befintligt industriellt system är det alltid mer effektivt att börja med optimeringsverktyget reMIND snarare än simuleringsverktyg - eftersom det tar mindre tid att bygga en optimeringsmodell och få resultat, än det gör för att bygga en motsvarande simuleringsmodell. För ett icke-existerande system är det i allmänhet ett effektivare tillvägagångssätt att använda både simulerings och optimeringsverktyg reMIND samtidigt, eftersom det finns många osäkra data som är svåra att uppskatta, med hjälp av endast ett av verktygen. En iterativ arbetsprocess kan följa där båda verktyg används. Det finns ett behov av fortsatt arbete bl. a. av att utveckla strukturerade arbetssätt och att kunna integrera produktionsrelaterade stödprocesser i modelleringen. För att anpassa resultaten för industrin, och förbättra användarvänligheten av verktyget, utvecklingen av optimeringsverktyget reMIND kommer att behövas.

Dhaka is the capital city of Bangladesh and the centre of administrative, political, economic and social life for the country. An efficient transit system is needed in this city to provide services in every corner and to the people of all socio economic standing. This city is characterized by both motorized and non-motorized transport services, though there is a huge demand on the bus transit system. Dhaka is also one of the fastest growing global cities, which is contributing to even higher transit demand. There is a need, therefore, to investigate the present transit system with a view to understand the opportunities and potential of the current public transport system given available policy support and resources. This research is an initiative to identify the current efficiency status of transit services and explore the opportunities to increase the efficiency of this system for the people of this mega city. To carry out this research, along with literature and policy review, interviews with stakeholders and a survey of transit operators was undertaken. From the analysis of the operator’s survey and literature review, the current underperforming status of transit services was identified. From the discussion of interviews and policy frameworks, strategies to improve the current status and guidelines for future initiatives are outlined. This includes a separate and powerful institutional authority solely for transit services and taking regulatory measures by this authority to speed up STP implementation. For bus transit only, the recommendations are: consolidating bus industry and exclusive bus lanes to improve current status of bus transit service. Finally by achieving and fulfilling the recommendations of this study, it is hoped that a more efficient transit system in Dhaka city would result.

Thermal energy storage (TES) is an advanced technology for storing thermal energy that can mitigate environmental impacts and facilitate more efficient and clean energy systems. Thermochemical TES is an emerging method with the potential for high energy density storage. Where space is limited, therefore, thermochemical TES has the highest potential to achieve the required compact TES. Principles of thermochemical TES are presented and thermochemical TES is critically assessed and compared with other TES types. The integration of TES systems with heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) applications is examined and reviewed accounting for various factors, and recent advances are discussed. Thermodynamics assessments are presented for general closed and open thermochemical TES systems. Exergy and energy analyses are applied to assess and compare the efficiencies of the overall thermochemical TES cycle and its charging, storing and discharging processes. Examples using experimental data are presented to illustrate the analyses. Some important factors related to design concepts of thermochemical TES systems are considered and preliminary design conditions for them are investigated. Parametric studies are carried out for the thermochemical storage systems to investigate the effects of selected parameters on the efficiency and behavior of thermochemical storage systems. / UOIT