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Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Terry Griffin / Farmers and agricultural lenders often seek the ability to identify positive or negative characteristics to improve farm operations. Determining these characteristics has been the goal of many research studies. More often than not, a unique set of uncontrollable events was credited for contributing the majority of one farm’s success relative to their peers. The goal of this study was to evaluate the assumption that farmers can control their financial persistence defined as remaining in their current financial category, based upon a farm’s debt to asset ratio (D/A), and net farm income per acre (NFI acre⁻¹). Financial categories give agricultural producers a concrete answer to the question of one farm’s ability to maintain their financial persistence during market downturns and poor growing conditions and include Favorable, Marginal Income, Marginal Solvency, and Vulnerable. Farmers across the United States are subject to many uncontrollable variables (temperature, precipitation, market volatility, land value fluctuations, interest rates) leaving them vulnerable to agricultural market downturns, such as the one that began in 2014. Seasonal cash inflows and outflows of farms and their profitability create a difficult situation for farmers and agricultural lenders alike to predict the future. Identifying and estimating the likelihood of financial persistence has become an area of interest for farmers, their advisors, and their financial lenders. Currently, agricultural lenders rely on loan assessment techniques, such as net present values and loss-based methods. These techniques fail to account for the unique and often long-term investment nature of farming. If an additional method for identifying at-risk farms or at least understanding the likelihood of persistence in farms could be found, it would provide an insight into the riskiness of lending to a farm and provide agricultural lenders with an additional analysis tool. The dynamic nature of farm financials and the ever-changing variables of farming limit traditional statistical methods. Considering the difficulty associated with predicting farm default rates due to the complexity of the question, a secondary approach is possible. This study utilized an approach in determining farm financial persistence by estimating the Markov Chain probabilities of four financial categories ranging from Favorable, solvent with positive income to Vulnerable, an insolvent and negative income financial position. Kansas Farm Management Association (KFMA) data from 1993 to 2014 were used to estimate the probability of transitioning between financial categories. This thesis combines transition probabilities of Kanas farms and a multinomial logit model (MNL) to identify farm characteristics of significance. The matrix of probabilities generated, when interpreted, provide information about Kansas farms and their probability of financial persistence, and the MNL model allows for insights into favorable or un-favorable farm characteristics. Farms were found to transition easily between financial categories that had the same debt to asset ratio (D/A), but different net farm income per acre (NFI acre⁻¹, positive or negative) indicating that farm income is more easily changed than farm D/A ratios. Farms in the Favorable category (D/A < 0.4, + NFI acre⁻¹) had the largest probability of financial persistence at 0.83, whereas Vulnerable farms (D/A > 0.4, - NFI acre⁻¹) were most likely to transition to the Marginal Solvency category (D/A > 0.4, + NFI acre⁻¹) with a probability of transitioning of 0.55 versus the probability of remaining in the Vulnerable category of 0.33. It was also found that crop mixture and age were not statistically significant in the MNL model, but gross profit margin and a farm’s percentage of owned land out of total crop acres were statistically significant in explaining why farms were in each category.

Bakgrund och problematisering Under 90-talet flyttade många företag sin produktion till lågkostnadsländer långt bort för att minska sina produktionskostnader och därmed öka konkurrensfördelarna. Nu menar forskare att denna trend börjat vända, och företag väljer att flytta tillbaka sin produktion till hemlandet eller i ett närliggande lågkostnadsland då det visat sig att totalkostnaden inte blev lägre. En produktion i eller nära hemlandet kan resultera i minskad totalkostnad, minskade risker och ett ökat värde för kunden. Valet av produktionsland kan också starkt influeras av företagets hållbarhetsarbete. Majoriteten av forskningen är fokuserad kring jämförandet av Sverige med ett lågkostnadsland i Asien men väldigt lite forskning finns som jämför Sverige med ett lågkostnadsland i Europa. Syfte och metod Syftet för studien är att jämföra strategierna inshoring och nearshoring genom att undersöka svenska hållbara mikroföretags val av produktionsland. För att jämföra strategierna kommer vi undersöka dessa utifrån faktorerna kostnad, risk och värde. Det empiriska materialet samlas in med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer med företag som har sin produktion i antingen Sverige eller Portugal. Resultatet kommer sedan att analyseras och kopplas till den teoretiska referensramen kring Supply Chain Management, hållbarhet och de tre faktorerna ovan för att kunna besvara syftet. Resultat och slutsats Efter att den empiriska datan analyserats kom vi fram till att företagen till en hög grad delade forskarnas syn på att en produktion i Sverige på många sätt var mer kostnads effektiv, mindre riskfylld och ökade värdet för konsumenterna då varumärket och produkterna sågs mer hållbara. Däremot märkte vi också att design spelade en stor roll in på vilket produktionsland man väljer, något som litteraturen inte tagit upp. Vi konstaterade att det inte finns en sourcingstrategi som ansågs vara bäst, utan företagets storlek, framtidsplaner, produktdesign och materialanvändning istället påverkar vilket produktionsland som är mest lämpligt. / Background and problematisation During the 1990’s many companies moved their production to remote low cost countries to reduce their production costs and create an increased competitive advantage. Research has now shown that this trend is reversing and companies are now starting to move their production to their home country or a close by low cost country due to the revelation that the total cost did not increase. Placing the production in or near the home country can result in a lower total cost, reduced risks and an increase of value to the consumer. The production location choice can also strongly be influenced by the companies’ sustainability work. The majority of research is focused around the comparison of Sweden and a low cost country in Asia but very little research has been done comparing Sweden and Europe. Purpose and method The purpose of the study is to compare the strategies inshoring and nearshoring by investigating Swedish sustainable micro companies’ choice of production location. To compare the strategies we will evaluate these through the factors cost, risk and value. The empirical material will be collected through semi-structured interviews with companies producing in either Sweden or Portugal. The result will then be analysed and connected to the theoretical framework around Supply Chain Management, sustainability and the three factors above to answer our research questions. Result and conclusion After the empirical data had been analysed we saw that the companies more or less shared there searchers’ views on that a production in Sweden in many ways was more cost effective, less prone to risks and increased the value to the consumers due to the brand being perceived as more sustainable. Also the design of the product played a big part in the choice of production location, something the literature did not bring up. Our conclusion was that none of the sourcing strategies were considered the best, but the size of the company, product design and the choice of material affected which production country that was deemed the most suitable. This thesis is written in Swedish.

Class of 2012 Abstract / Specific Aims: The purpose of this study was to assess the overall satisfaction of Tucson area pharmacists in the community retail setting and to identify the facets of community practice that have the greatest contribution to job satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Methods: Surveys were sent by facsimile to all community retail pharmacies in the Tucson area. All pharmacists working in these stores were encouraged to respond to the survey by faxing back the paper copy or by responding to the online version of the survey at surveymonkey.com. Respondents were asked to rate their job satisfaction and demographic data were also collected. Main Results: Questionnaires were completed and returned by 32 pharmacists, an estimated response rate of 10%. After reviewing the returned surveys, four questions were chosen from the satisfaction portion to determine their relationship to the job satisfaction ratings. Those four variables were “recognition one receives for good work”, “opportunity to use abilities”, “hours of work”, and “patient contact”. Those four satisfaction variables were then analyzed using the demographic grouping variables “other experience”, “store type” and “degree earned”. Following analysis, only hours of work was found to play a significant role with pharmacy job satisfaction when grouped by other experience. Conclusions: The area of community pharmacy practice that affects job satisfaction the most is hours of work, which is especially true when pharmacists have work experience outside of community practice.

M.Tech. (Biomedical Technology) / Despite the introduction of prophylactic treatment for Rh negative females, Rhesus Haemolytic Disease of the Foetus and Newborn (HDN) remains a problem. The serological diagnosis of this disease is mainly by maternal antibody identification and titration and the estimation of the optical density deviation (ODD) at 450 nanometers of the amniotic fluid. The correlation of these two results is not always good. The advent of molecular biology techniques such as the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and the sequencing of genes heralded the start of prenatal diagnosis of genetically inherited diseases and also enabled the prediction of the Rhesus group of the foetus. It would be advantageous to be able to predict with certainty the RhD status of a foetus suspected of having HDN without subjecting the mother and foetus to the risk of multiple invasive procedures such as Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS) and Foetal Blood Sampling(FBS). The amniocentesis performed initially on a mother suspected of carrying an affected foetus would provide the sample necessary for the extraction of foetal DNA for prenatal Rh determination. Two PCR assays were used to determine the RhD group of the foetus: one using two primers amplifying a section ofIntron 4 and the other using four primers, two specific for Exon 7 and two specific for Exon 10 of the Rh gene. In 85.7% (18/21 cases) there was complete correlation between the molecular and the serological methods for RhD determination. One White foetus presented a unique profile, that of RhD negative in both molecular assays and RhD positive serologically. In the non-White group there were discrepancies between the two molecular methods as well as between the molecular and the serological methods used. This study shows that great care should be taken in the interpretation of RhD status prenatally using molecular biology techniques especially in the non-Caucasian population of South Africa in which there are many polymorphisrns in the Rhesus blood group system. For the moment, the results should be used in conjunction with serological results and clinical parameters for the diagnosis and treatment of Rh HDN.

M.Com. (Business Management) / Retailers are the main link between product suppliers and final consumers and therefore in a position to play a pivotal role in driving environmental sustainability by encouraging the adoption of appropriate greening practices in their total supply chain activities. Whilst studies have been conducted on the green supply chain practices of leading retailers from around the world, few studies have been conducted on retailers in South Africa. The objectives of this study are to explore the range of green supply chain best practices currently adopted amongst consumer services retailers listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the extent to which green supply chain best practices are adopted in their total supply chain activities, the level of maturity of their green supply chain management practices, and the main driving forces for, benefits of and barriers to the adoption of green supply chain practices. A conceptual framework is derived from a literature review and used to develop a highly structured survey questionnaire to collect empirical data for analysis in relation to the objectives of the study. The questionnaire was administered by engaging in face-to-face interviews with respondents representing listed consumer services retailers. The empirical data collected was analysed using a Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheet model. The findings of the study indicate that the majority of the retailers studied are adopting all those green supply chain best practices identified in the literature review at least to some extent. Although a few of the retailers studied have reached a high level of maturity in their green supply chain management practices, the majority have recognised the importance of environmental sustainability related issues, have started incorporating appropriate greening practices into their total supply chain activities and therefore have progressed beyond a low level of largely ignoring green supply chain practices to the intermediate levels of maturity. This implies that they are taking environmental sustainability related issues seriously and not merely engaging in acts of green-washing. However currently these retailers are focusing first on those internal operations where they consider greening practices to be within their sphere of influence, easy to formulate, quick to implement and which can have a positive impact on environmental sustainability and the organisation in the short- to medium-term. These internal operations include transportation and logistics, solid waste management and energy usage management. Most of the main driving forces for the adoption of green supply chain practices come from outside the organisations and include an increase in disclosure requirements for sustainability policies and practices, government environmental regulations, and risks of disruptions in energy and raw material supply.

Abstract Manufacturing companies have reorganised their value chains and outsourced their non-core activities at an increasing rate during the last two decades. The importance of subcontractors has grown both from the economic and production point of view. The new manufacturing paradigm that emphases outsourcing, co-operation, networking and agility is much discussed on the general level, but very little empirical research has been done on these issues. The main aim of the study is to increase the understanding of the evolution process of subcontracting chains and explain the managerial aspects connected with the subcontractors' evolution. In the theoretical part I of the study, the concepts of subcontracting are clarified. The forms to classify subcontractors are discussed as the structure and development of subcontracting systems. The lean supply philosophy and manufacturing strategy concept are presented as a basis for the study. The manufacturing strategy framework for subcontractors is presented. The empirical findings of this study are based on longitudinal case studies covering the time period from the early 1980's to the late 1990's. Three cases from the metal and electronics industry including an OEM and a few subcontractors are presented. The studies focuses on the factors affecting the evolution of subcontracting, especially the impacts of subcontractors' manufacturing strategy on supply chain decisions. The implications of the case studies allow a number of conclusions to be drawn. The main differences from the lean supply theory was in supplier development and supply chain management practices The production volume, product structure and supplier base were the most important points affecting the subcontracting chain structure. The process of assigning manufacturing to subcontractors happened gradually and included critical points, which should be evaluated. The evolution process of subcontractors from a part supplier towards a system supplier is discussed. The competitiveness of the subcontractors evolves gradually starting from quality and adding other capabilities. In order to develop the subcontracting chain the stage of evolution of subcontractors should be recognised. A conceptual model for four different stages, part, component, specialist and system supplier, was also created in this study.

Background: Companies operating in the low-cost offshore locations are increasingly challenged with various critical issues more recently that have directed their attention towards re-evaluating offshore strategies and considering reshoring. Rising labour costs, labour shortage and high labour fluctuation in offshore locations continues to create substantial risks and disturbances to the business and supply chain. These difficulties, especially in the light of higher labour productivity levels of developed countries and prospects of automation and robotisation, has persuaded many to believe this trend would encourage reshoring and enable companies to see manufacturing in developed countries cost effective once again. However, studies in reshoring are scarce, very little is known about labour or automation and especially how the two interrelates. Purpose: This thesis aims to explore the concepts of labour and automation and their interrelations in reshoring. Method: This research has adopted case study approach. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with a total of 6 companies from various countries, situated in both high and lowcost environments with reshoring intention or previous reshoring experiences. Transaction cost economics and the resource-based view have been applied in analysing the findings. Findings: This study has identified twelve labour factors and five automation factors in reshoring. The empirical findings showed labour cost as well as labour availability important in the decision of two companies. This study did not find empirical evidence to suggest automation as a significant reshoring motivating factor. Reviewing the literature also did not yield sufficient reliable evidence in support of automation. Labour and automation interrelations in reshoring have also been discussed as well as elucidating some considerations in applying automation in manufacturing.

This thesis is devoted to a number of structural and behavioural problems in linear multivariable control system theory. The first problem addresses the subject of determination of the finite and infinite frequency structure of a rational matrix. A novel method is proposed that determines the finite and infinite frequency structure of any rational matrix. Some neat and numerically stable algorithms are developed to implement this method. The second problem concerns the resol vent decompositions of a regular polynomial matrix and solutions of regular polynomial matrix descriptions (PMDs). Regarding these fundamental is'sues, three contributions are made therein. Firstly, based on a general resolvent decomposition a complete solution of regular PMDs is presented that takes into account both the non-zero initial conditions of the pseudo state and the non-zero initial conditions of the input. Secondly, two special resolvent decompositions are proposed, both of which are applied to formulate the solution of the regular PMDs. The first one is formulated in terms of the finite, infinite, and the generalised infinite Jordan pairs, which is a refinement of the results given by Gohberg et al. [74] and Vardulakis [25]. The second resolvent decomposition is proposed on the Weierstrass canonical form of the generalised companion matrix of the polynomial matrix. Thirdly, a new characterization of the impulsive free initial conditions of regular PMDs is given and the relationship between the finite and infinite frequency structure of a regular polynomial matrix and its generalised companion matrix is determined. In the third problem a generalization of the chain-scattering representation for general plants is presented. Through the notion of input-output consistency, the conditions under which the generalised chain-scattering representation and the dual generalised chain-scattering representation exist are proposed. Some algebraic system properties of the GCSRs and DGCSRs are studied. The fourth problem is devoted to a new notion of realization of behaviour. We introduce a notion realization of behavior which is shown to be a generalization of the classical concept of a realization of transfer function. By using this approach, the input-output structures of the generalized chain-scattering representations and the dual generalized chain-scattering representations are investigated in a behavioral theory context. The last problem is devoted to the subjects of system wellposedness and internal stability. We present certain generalisations to the classical concepts of wellposedness and internal stability. The input consistency and output uniqueness of the closed-loop system in the standard control feedback configurations are discussed. Based on this, a number of notions are introduced such as fully internal wellposedness, externally internal wellposedness, and externally internal stability, which characterize the rich input-output and stability features of the general control systems in a general setting. On the basis of these notions the extended JL control problem is defined in a general setting.

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