Financial stress in agriculture has been a concern over the past century. Agrarian values and "love of the land" seem to yield public conclusions for the support of the industry. Much of this support is in the interest of preserving a viable food producing sector in an volatile world climate. High interest rates, declining land values and highly competitive export markets have spurred renewed concern for farm survival in the past ten years. One alternative to traditional price supports and tariffs for farm household support is off-farm income. This may take many forms including off-farm wages and salaries, rental income, interest and dividend income and, retirement or pension funds. Central to the analysis of nonfarm income generation is the allocation of time by farm households. For farmers who place a high value on the farm lifestyle, occupational choice is embedded in the time decision to such an extent that the resource allocations based on economic efficiency criteria may be altered. Tobit techniques offer a new approach to the analysis of farm household decisions on time allocation. The procedure allows the investigator to estimate and evaluate parameters that may affect the amount of off-farm work by farm household members. The Tobit analysis is designed for censored data sets. The data in this study were censored because there were missing observations on the quantity of off-farm work for those individuals who did not work off-farm in 1986. Results of Tobit analyses of off-farm work by farm operators and spouses in three Oregon counties indicated that high levels of gross farm income reduce the likelihood and extent of off-farm work. Middle-aged operators worked off-farm more while the presence of small children and elderly dependents in the farm household inhibited off-farm work. The allocation decisions of the spouse and the operator appeared to be independent; this supports a nonsimultaneous Tobit specification like the one used in this research. / Graduation date: 1988

The purpose of this study was to explore whether school-based decision making (SBDM) impacts student achievement. Specifically, the study involved determining if the degree of teacher involvement in SBDM across eight decision dimensions differed between schools that demonstrated the most and schools that demonstrated the least district improvement in student achievement. The population consisted of elementary schools in a large urban school district with more than ten years of SBDM implementation. Student achievement scores from 1993 to 1995 were examined for all 68 elementary schools. Based on degree of improvement for fourth grade scores over the three years, 15 schools from the 25% most improved and 15 schools from the 25% least improved were selected for study. Schools from the two extreme-groups sample were matched on five demographic variables. The Teacher Involvement Participation Scale—TIPS-2 (Russell,1992), an instrument for measuring the degree of SBDM in eight different decision dimensions, was given to all certified personnel at each school. A return of 575 surveys represented 63% of the sample schools' staff. Two short questionnaires were administered to principals and SBDM teams to collect descriptive data. Findings, using MANOVA followed by univariate tests, indicated significant differences between groups in six of the eight SBDM decision dimensions. The most improved schools had a higher degree of participation (p < .01) in SBDM decisions in dimensions of: 1) goals/vision/mission, 2) curriculum/instruction, 3)standards, and 4) facilitating procedures/structures. Although neither group participated widely in decisions about staffing and operations, the most improved schools were more involved in those decisions than the least improved schools (p < .05). No significant difference was found between the two groups in the dimensions of budget and staff development. It is concluded that student achievement is positively impacted by greater participation in SBDM in at least six of eight SBDM dimensions, with "goals/vision/mission" and "curriculum/instruction" being the most critical factors. Although these findings indicate that SBDM contributes to improved student achievement, further research is needed to determine if this study's findings are supported.

El presente trabajo de tesis ha sido desarrollado para dar en evidencia la influencia de los costos en la fijación de precios para la toma de decisiones gerenciales en el sector manufactura de Lima, Perú. La hipótesis de investigación es: El sistema de costeo ABC influye positivamente en la fijación de precios de productos para la toma de decisiones gerenciales en el sector manufactura de Lima, Perú. La investigación es de tipo investigación mixta, en la cual se realizó las entrevistas de profundidad, encuestas y caso práctico en la empresa Pulpeado SAC, identificando la variable independiente al Sistema de Costeo ABC y las variables dependientes fijación de precios y toma de decisiones gerenciales. En conclusión, del presente trabajo podemos afirmar que existe una influencia positiva del Sistema de costeo ABC en la fijación de precios de productos para la toma de decisiones gerenciales. Nuestra recomendación es implementar el Sistema de costeo ABC para conocer los costos de los productos con una mayor precisión e identificar las actividades que generan valor, lo cual otorgar una ventaja a las empresas en el proceso de fijación de precios para la toma de decisiones gerenciales. / This thesis work has been developed to show the influence of the costs in the pricing for management decision making in the manufacturing sector of Lima, Peru. The research hypothesis is: The ABC costing system positively influences the pricing of products for management decision making in the manufacturing sector of Lima, Peru. The investigation is of mixed research type, in which the depth interview, survey and practical case was carried out in the company Pulpeado S.A.C., identifying the independent variable to the ABC Costing System and the dependent variables the pricing and management decision making. In conclusion, from this work we can affirm that there is a positive influence of the ABC Costing System in the pricing of products for management decision making. Our recommendation is to implement the ABC Costing System to know the costs of the products with a greater degree of precision and identify the activities that generate value, which gives an advantage to companies in the process of pricing for decision making management. / Tesis

La tesi affronta il tema dell’utilizzo delle informazioni in ambito pubblico sulla scia di quanto avviato dalle teorie di (bounded) rationality, e di diversi filoni di (public) management che si sono occupati nel tempo di indagare i meccanismi attraverso i quali le informazioni vengono identificate, selezionate e utilizzate nei processi decisionali. Attraverso l’analisi delle politiche sociali nei comuni italiani, la tesi si occupa di indagare tre specifiche situazioni: la presentazione delle strategie e politiche pubbliche; la costruzione di piani strategici; la risoluzione di situazioni critiche e di trade-off complessi. La tesi mostra che le informazioni sono usate per presentare le decisioni tramite meccanismi di razionalità ed altri legati alla creazione di consenso per l’innovazione dei contenuti, governance e contesto di riferimento delle politiche sociali. Nella pianificazione strategica le informazioni vengono spesso solamente raccolte oppure utilizzate in modo strumentale. Nel caso di situazioni complesse e caratterizzate da trade-off, le informazioni di accounting hanno sia una valenza manageriale che politica di costruzione del consenso e delle motivazioni ad agire. / The PhD thesis deals with the issue of information use in the public sector. Building on (bounded) rationality theories and (public) management studies focusing on mechanisms through which information is identified, gathered and used in decision making processes, the thesis analysed what happens in Italian Municipalities, in the field of social care policies. Three different situations are analysed: public presentation of social care policies; social care strategic plans; wicked problems resolutions and trade off discussion. The thesis shows that information is used to present public strategies through rationality or by building consensus towards innovation in contents, governance and context of social care policies. In the case of strategic plans, information is often only presented or used instrumentally. In the case of trade-offs and wicked situation information is used both in a managerial perspective and in a political fashion so to build consensus and motivation for action.

Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 323 pages. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of South Florida, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: This dissertation reports the activities, methods, and key findings of a doctoral research project in applied anthropology and an environmental anthropology fellowship. The research project was conducted through the Department of Anthropology at the University of Michigan, while the fellowship was sponsored jointly by the Society for Applied Anthropology and the United States Environmental Protection Agency and was conducted through the Great Lakes Fellowship Program of the Great Lakes Commission, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Together, these projects demonstrated the utility of an ethnographic approach called Risk Perception Mapping (RPM) to the public consultation and social research interests of the Commission and its associated network of environmental management agencies and organizations. / Through consultation with these organizations I identified an environmental management problem to which anthropological perspectives and methods would be particularly well-suited: Can the undesirable social phenomenon of environmental discrimination be minimized by assuring greater equality in access to public participation in environmental management? To address this problem, I conducted an RPM demonstration project in a five county area surrounding the Fermi II nuclear power plant in southeastern Michigan. My research focused on cultural, geographical, and social-contextual factors that influence the nature and distribution of perceived risk among populations that are potentially affected by environmental management projects. Key findings pertain to perceptually-specific communities of environmental risk and have implications for what I call "participatory equity" in environmental management. / Potential applications to Great Lakes environmental management center on developing equitable population-specific exchanges of information through which more culturally sensitive indicators of Great Lakes ecosystem integrity may emerge. Anthropological contributions to public participation in environmental management are discussed with particular attention to anthropological perspectives on the multiple publics that comprise locally affected communities of environmental risk. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

D. Tech. Industrial Engineering. / Discusses purpose of this study is to derive a new model capable of advanced diagnosis and analysis of energy usage to determine the possible energy efficiency potential through the following in a single model: Analysis of industrial historical data; Prediction of the industrial energy baseline; Computation of the industrial energy efficiency; and Optimization of the industrial energy consumption usage. In this context, the development of a new model involves: Carrying out literature survey; Carrying out Mathematical Analysis of the dynamics of energy efficiency in an industry; Critically analyzing and testing existing models; Evolve a new and novel model; Test the model using data from specific industry; Apply the model to eleven industrial sectors in South Africa. This thesis on energy efficiency potential will be a milestone for different stakeholders, policymakers and decision makers in the energy sector at national and international levels who are, or will be interested in reducing energy input and still produce the observed output levels, by becoming technically efficient. The approach adopted by the study is the integration of Index Decomposition Analysis (IDA), Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) into a single model.This methodology combines modeling, which is at the core of an energy-management technique, with a wider interpretation of activity growth, structure and efficiency changes which contribute to changes in energy consumption.

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

Effective natural resource management by the federal government is seldom achieved without engendering some degree of controversy. The competing needs of various plant and animal species often place the government in the position of having to choose between the needs of one species over another. Occasionally, the choice directly involves the needs of human beings, creating a situation where public administrators must weigh the impacts of their actions on both a species they are charged to protect and the public they serve. In 1977, the federal government was placed in the position of having to choose between the need to afford greater protection to the endangered bowhead whale and the social and cultural needs of Alaskan Eskimos who have hunted the bowhead for over four thousand years. At the time, the decision exemplified the role of the federal government as an arbitrator of survival, a situation that is becoming increasingly commonplace as the continued development of the world’s natural resources, along with an ever-expanding human population, has resulted in numerous decisions that effectively choose between one species or the other. An examination of the decision-making process established by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States Department of Commerce to resolve the 1977 controversy involving the Eskimos and the bowhead whales provides useful lessons and insights on how such decisions can be made in an open format that allows affected constituencies, notwithstanding the whales, adequate opportunity for comment and input. / Master of Public Administration

This graduation paper deals with the business plan production for the Certified Education Institute, Inc. (ICV) The paper's goal is to consider individual aspects of the business plan in a structured form, to analyze external and internal environment and, based on current and predicted economic data, to design a feasible approach how to improve efficiency and productivity of the Company. The first part describes theoretical base for business plan processing. The second, practical, part contains analysis of external conditions, product description and marketing and business plan. It also deals with management and introduces basic economic assessment. The conclusion reviews individual goals and suggests best course of action towards their realization.

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management