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Two complex wastes were considered for biological conversion into a marketable product. One waste, peat runoff water (the waste-water that remains after the mining of peat), was found to be unsuitable for biological conversion to any product since it contained an insufficient quantity of carbon. The other waste, NVR (non-volatile residue, the major waste from the manufacture of nylon 6$ sp prime 6 sp prime$), was found to be a suitable carbon and energy source for the production of PHB (poly-$ beta$-hydroxybutyric acid) by Pseudomonas cepacia ATCC 17697. A general approach to the development of complex toxic wastes as fermentation substrates was formulated. / NVR was found to be toxic to microorganisms. None grew in enrichment culture containing 2.0% NVR. P. cepacia was the most resistant microorganism found. It could grow well in up to 1.3% NVR. It also grew on butanoic, pentanoic, and hexanoic acid as well as 6-hexanolactone. These were found to be the major toxic components of NVR. P. cepacia was grown in a NVR-limited chemostat with a NVR feed concentration well in excess of the toxic NVR concentration. In nitrogen-limited, batch fermentation on fructose, P. cepacia accumulated PHB in excess of 50% of its dry weight. A 2-stage chemostat process for the production of PHB from NVR by P. cepacia was investigated with encouraging results.

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<p>In this thesis, the study examines the factors that are believed to be instrumental in this trade imbalance between the European Union and the developing world in the agricultural sector. The study focuses on the main reason for the existance of this imbalance which is the continued use of export subsidies by the European Union. The discussion attempts to highlight the inadequacies which exist in the current trade relationship between the European Union and developing nations , in particular South Africa with regard to agricultural produce.</p>

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This thesis addresses two fundamental puzzles about trade credit: why does it appear to be so expensive. and why do input suppliers engage in the business of lending money. Both questions are answered analysing the interaction between the financial and the industrial aspects of the supplier-customer relationship. In the first part of the thesis we present a model where, in a context of limited enforceability of contracts, suppliers have a comparative advantage over banks in lending to their customers because they hold the extra threat of stopping the sup-ply of intermediate goods. Suppliers also act as lenders of last resort, providing insurance against liquidity shocks that may endanger the survival of their cus-tomers. The relatively high implicit interest rates of trade credit result from the existence of default and insurance premiums. The two necessary elements for these two roles of suppliers are the existence of some relationship surplus that is split between suppliers and customers, and an environment where debt repayment is difficult to enforce. Then we extend the analysis to suppliers who are themselves financially con-strained. Under certain assumptions, the optimal financial contract that arises is similar to a standard factoring contract. The interest rates paid by suppliers and customers in this contract depend on their own creditworthiness, but also on the characteristics of their commercial relationship. Finally the implications of the basic model are examined empirically using both parametric and non-parametric techniques on a panel of UK firms. The results show some regularities that had not been identified in previous literature and that support the role of suppliers as debt collectors and insurance providers of the basic model. In particular these results are consistent with the idea of trade credit being related to the existence of either some degree of technological specificity or a relationship surplus that takes time to build. Evidence is also found of the support of suppliers to their customers experiencing some form of liquidity shock.