Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Allen M. Featherstone / This thesis examines the effect of off-farm income on a farming operation’s ability to repay their debt. The thesis develops a regression model that includes net farm income, debt repayment capacity with carryover working capital, off-farm income sources and a number of other independent variables that help define each individual borrower. The model provides an evaluation of the current farming environment and examines various income opportunities available to borrowers affects repayment capacity. This study found that the presence of off-farm income can increase the probability that the operation will be able to repay their debts. The model indicates that if off-farm income is present, the borrower’s debt repayment capacity ratio increases. This thesis further explores the model and the results produced from not only off-farm income but several different variables within the borrower’s scope of business. Results suggest that many other factors that are not available in the sample also play a large role in predicting an operation’s ability to repay debt. The study determined that the presence of one source of off-farm income was positive and statistically significant in explaining repayment capacity. An operation with a strong outside income source and one spouse working full time on the farm is more financially stable and will likely be more successful at repaying their debts.

This thesis is an examination of the problems that may arise from the location of S.T.O.L. airports within urbanized areas. The role of air transportation as a passenger travel mode is considered and the problems facing the existing air transportation system are explored. The potential role of S.T.O.L. aircraft within the air transportation system is examined in detail. Additionally, the benefits that may accrue from the use of S.T.O.L. aircraft in a regional air transport system are discussed extensively. The criteria to be used when looking for potential S.T.O.L. airport sites are examined in detail. These criteria are applied to three potential S.T.O.L. airport sites within the Vancouver urban area. In some cases the locational criteria were found to be difficult to operationalize. Data on community reaction to noise exposure is inadequate and noise standards are difficult to apply on a wide basis. The concept of land use compatibility around airports is useful but only to the extent that it does not obscure the fact that aircraft operations can cause community disruptions beyond the boundaries of the so-called compatible land uses. With specific reference to Vancouver, the available data indicates, that on the average, very little terminal access or egress time will be saved if a S.T.O.L. airport were built at a suitable location between the existing airport and the downtown area. Finally, the paper concludes by suggesting that despite the fact that S.T.O.L. aircraft cannot bring substantial time savings to regional air passengers, a S.T.O.L. air service may mean that many of the regions under utilized conventional airports could be converted to S.T.O.L. airports and yeild substantial savings in the money used to maintain and operate the publically owned airports in the province. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The aim of this thesis is on the base of accounting and tax treatment of corporate transformations modeled timelines for each phase of transformation, respectively. merger and spin-off, and test their functionality on the practical example. For the purpose of accomplish this goal was done, especially in the first two parts, the analysis of individual Czech and European professional publications and articles, as well as Czech and European legislation and judicature. For the next parts it was also used comparison of accounting and tax treatment of transformation, respectively. merger and spin-off, modeling timelines for each phase of transformation and their testing on practical example for the purpose of verification of functionality. The conclusion evaluates the usability of modeled timelines for practice.

The aim of this thesis is to analyse the increased correlation within four major asset groups (Government Bonds, Equity Indices, Commodities and Currencies) from the beginning of Great Recession till July 2014. The effect of increased correlation is called Risk-On Risk-Off and is connected to problems, where investors struggle to create risk-oriented portfolios and instead minimalize loss. The methods analysing the correlations are Absolute Average Value Index (AAVI) and Heat-map analysis. The AAVI is transforming correlation matrix into a single number and investigating the intensity of correlations. The Heat-map is studying the relationship between any two assets. The results from this study were that the RORO effect was present during Great Recession with intensity never seen before and that in June 2014 the values are close to pre-recession levels.

Do companies that are involved in ventures at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) achieve both profit and an increase in the welfare of the poor as proposed by Prahalad and Hart (2002), or is there is a trade-off between profit and welfare as argued by critics of this proposition such as Karnani (2005). Research is lacking in the field, something that this investigation seeks to fill through qualitative research thereon. A central finding of this research was that the paradigms that the companies followed, impacted their views on welfare, profit and the trade-off. The findings reflect that companies have poor indicators of welfare and that there is very little evidence of companies measuring welfare. The findings in respect of a trade-off between profit and welfare is inconclusive, indicating that for some companies there is a trade-off but for others not. The trade-off may be explained by the view that capital should be patient and that the required profit will be achieved in the future. An alternative model of social entrepreneurship is suggested as a bridge between profit and welfare. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

No description available.

Visible light emitting diodes (LEDs) are widely used in daily consumer electronics systems, such as general lighting, displays, communication, sensing, and also biomedical applications. To mitigate the ever increasing technology demand, there are tremendous on-going efforts in improving material properties and micro-fabrication techniques. In general, visible LEDs are environmentally friendly, robust and reliable light emitters with small device footprint, and are capable of delivering high luminous efficacy. Typically, LEDs rely on group-III-nitride materials to generate visible light. One of the techniques to generate white light is to coat blue LEDs with yellow phosphor, or ultraviolet (UV) LEDs with red-green-blue (RGB) phosphor. Other scheme relies on combination of RGB LEDs, where high brightness green and blue LEDs are generally grown on robust sapphire substrate. But the current challenges in high threading dislocation density of III-Nitride materials on sapphire or hetero-substrate, phosphor degradation, and bulk-LED mechanical design constraints imposed by the supporting substrate wafer motivate further scientific investigations into strain-engineering, novel reliable phosphor-semiconductor, color-tuning techniques, and transferrable III-nitride vertical LEDs. The current research presents a significant step towards the utilization of annealed porous GaN as a template for subsequent growth of fully relaxed GaN-based epitaxy materials. In our study, we observed significant compressive strain relaxation of 0.41 ± 0.04 GPa in annealed porous GaN fabricated using UV-assisted electroless etching. Moreover the use of GaN nanoparticles with large wavelength tunability and 10 µm InGaN microstructures with different indium composition ushers a new way of making reliable phosphor for white light generation. We also investigate the epitaxial lift-off of InGaN LED structures by selectively etching unintentionally doped GaN sacrificial buffer layer. High GaN/InGaN etching selectivity of 100/1 and with GaN lateral etch-rate of 5 µm/min was achieved using the photo assisted electroless etching process. The kinetics of electron hole transfer in the diffusion limited etching reaction is discussed. Transferred LEDs onto flexible and glass substrates showed ~10 times higher optical power output, 2 times lower series resistance and a lower turn-on voltage than bulk LEDs fabricated from the same wafer. This innovative technique offers a low cost optoelectronic platform for the formation of pixelated red, green and blue (RGB) display on any flexible, transparent or rigid substrates. The technique will also enable new platform for sensing, wearable electronics/optoelectronics and biomedical applications.

When the pandemic hit, and grocery stores and other necessities started to shut down and create havoc amongst the general public, it became clear that having the ability to rely on a self-sufficient homestead might be the only way to survive and thrive. As a graduate student who has studied architecture and sustainability, this idea seems possible. As an average human with no prior architectural or homesteading knowledge, this idea is daunting. This thesis is asking, is there a systematic way to develop a tool to evaluate, and aid in the design of, a self-sustaining, off-grid homestead? Can this tool make homesteading and living a self-sufficient, off-grid lifestyle more attainable to any person who wishes to try it out? With these questions in mind, the Homestead Helper Handbook: A Guide to Help Start a Self-Sufficient, Off-Grid Homestead in New England from the Ground Up has been developed to offer a cohesive approach, detailing the components that could go into the makeup of the homestead. Suggestions regarding the site, livestock, crops, and built structures will be made based off of specific input values of the future homesteader, leaving the reader with a well-rounded, precise breakdown and understanding of what might go into the homestead, allowing it to successfully function off-grid and self-sufficiently. Thus, it makes the idea of living a self-sufficient and off-grid life in New England more attainable to any human who wishes to do so.

The shift towards renewable energy has steered the focus of power plant operation towards flexibility and fast response which are more attainable through the use of combined-cycle power plants. These aspects are required to account for the fluctuation of the supply as well as the demand of power that is associated with renewable energy. Combined-cycle power plants consist of a gas turbine as the topping cycle, forming the core of the plant, and a Rankine cycle with a steam turbine as the bottoming cycle. A component called the Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG) forms a connection point between the two cycles. It uses the heat released from the gas turbine to produce high pressure and temperature steam to be sent to the steam turbine. The objective of this project is to develop a model of a combined-cycle power plant in Flownex which can be solved in off-design conditions in order to compare it to plant data. The verification of this model will show that Flownex can be used to effectively and efficiently model a combined-cycle power plant. The process of development of the final Flownex model was achieved using various additional software. Initially, an analytical model was developed in Mathcad (software used for engineering calculations). This software provides a tool for understanding knowns, unknowns and what is being calculated in the system. Manual calculations of the Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG) were done using heat balance equations. A temperature profile of the gas and water/steam in the HRSG was developed so that the duties of each component (economiser, evaporator, superheater) could be calculated. The overall conductance (UA) of each component was calculated in the design mode for the system to be evaluated in off-design mode. The development of an analytical model provided detailed understanding of the process of mathematical modelling used in commercial tools. Thereafter, a model was built in Virtual Plant, a thermodynamic modelling software for assessing plant performance. Virtual Plant uses plant design information and first engineering principles to predict plant performance. Finally, the Flownex model was designed. Flownex uses endpoint values (initial pressure and temperature and outgoing mass flow) and the UA of each component to calculate the characteristics of the flow at each intermediate point. For the single-, double-, and triple-pressure combined-cycle power plant systems, the analytical, Virtual Plant and Flownex models were compared. The results of all the models agreed closely with one another. The triple-pressure design and off-design Virtual Plant and Flownex models were also compared to plant data and it was concluded that Flownex was successful in modelling the design and off-design conditions of a combined-cycle power plant.

For power plants that make use of high energy boiler feed pumps, there is a risk that the boiler feed pump may experience cavitation and overheating at low load and start-up conditions. These plants make use of a leak off or recirculation system that diverts some of the flow back to the feed water tank, ensuring that a minimum flow through the pump is maintained at low load and start-up operating conditions. The recirculation valve, also known as a leak off valve, experiences a very high pressure difference and cavitation pitting is common due to the water being close to saturation. There are various ways in which the recirculation flow is controlled in the industry such as open orifice, on/off binary type control valves, automatic recirculation valves (ARC) or modern modulating leak off systems. The valves themselves can also be simple plug type or make use of pressure staging to reduce the risk of cavitation. This project involves modelling the flow system around the boiler feed pump and its control for the various architectures employed in Eskom. This is to assist in understanding the reasons for cavitation damage that is found in some recirculation valves as well as the low load capability of the system. Single stage components with extremely high pressure drops are singled out as components with the highest risk of cavitation in the systems. Although extremely high pressure drops are found across the leak off valves themselves, the majority of the valves are multistage valves which are specifically designed to accommodate cavitation development and are therefore not of major concern. Some of the findings of the study are: The rule of thumb used within Eskom to determine the amount of pressure reducing stages on leak off valves could be more conservative. The specification of new valves and components for the leak off systems requires accurate specification based on detailed process models, such as the ones developed for this study. The full range of all possible operational cases must also be considered during the design.