During the 2005 growing season two irrigation management practices were developed for cabbage production utilizing a Greenfield solar powered miniature pivot, located at the Canada-Saskatchewan Irrigation Diversification Centre (CSIDC) near Outlook, Saskatchewan. Solar and battery power was used to operate the drive and control system of the miniature centre pivot located on CSIDCs pressurized pipeline. The management practices included a low-flow, 94 litres per minute (lpm) schedule with irrigation events occurring in the evening and night periods, and a high-flow, 370 lpm schedule with irrigation events occurring during the daytime hours. In each management practice, the soil moisture content was maintained above 65% of field capacity to optimize yield and head development (Waterer 2005).<p>Over the 2006 growing season, testing was conducted to evaluate the performance of each management practice. Performance was based upon application uniformity, water use efficiency and energy use efficiency. In addition to performance evaluation, tests were conducted to determine operational characteristics of this relatively new irrigation system to identify potential use in agricultural production. <p>The uniformity coefficient of the high-flow management practice was greater than that of the low-flow management practice. This was a result of nozzle selection and layout of each application system, as determined by the manufacturer. <p>Water use efficiency increased significantly when converting from a high-flow operating system to the low-flow system. This increase in water use efficiency was a result of reduced water loss, in the high flow system, through evaporation and potential run-off due to decreased application rates and environmental factors between watering times. Water loss through this manner is not beneficial to plant growth and results in elevated operating costs with little to no improvement in yield. <p>Energy use efficiency, due to differences in water use efficiency and friction loss in the piping system, also increased upon switching from a high-flow system to the low-flow system. In general, converting this type of system from a high-flow management practice to a low-flow management practice will help conserve water and energy resulting in savings in operating and capital costs.<p>Testing to determine the operating characteristics of the power system was completed during the 2006 growing season. It was concluded that these systems have potential use in operating small-scale pivot and pumping systems on high-value crops.

This study examines the pattern of stock option time value decay and the implications of the time value decay pattern for option writing strategies. I also consider the returns to various options writing strategies. The central question is whether option writers can utilize a writing strategy that captures the time value of options as revenue to cover their risks and provides return on their investments. Using transaction data, I find that the time value of options that are near-the-money decays at a decreasing rate. The implications of this result are that a significant portion of the time value of near-the-money options decays in the early days of writing an option and the decay slows down as time to expiry approaches. This motivates us to compare over the same holding periods the writing returns of options with long times to expiry with the returns of options with short times to expiry. Overall, the results suggest that trading of options face significant transaction costs and it is mainly motivated by hedging or speculation as I did not find a systematic way to profit from option writing strategies.<p> In addition, I examine the impact of market sentiment on the time value of options. The period of the study includes a sub-period when the general trend in the stock market was positive and another sub-period when the trend was negative. In particular, I study the price of puts relative to the price of calls during these two distinct market periods. I find that during bear markets both call and put options are more expensive than call and put options during bull markets. Yet, the ratio of put premiums to call premiums during rising markets is generally higher than the same ratio during bear markets. This observation suggests that speculators may be the dominant traders in options markets. Overall, I find that option writing strategies are not profitable. One of the reasons for this observation is transaction costs, which are significant in all the strategies that I examine. The bid-ask spread in the options market is large in comparison to the bid-ask spread in the underlying stock market.

Since the business environment of today is characterized to be dynamic and service-driven, corporations are looking for solutions how to cut costs and still keep their competitive advantage in the market, and also how to decrease lead-time and flexibility. In this environment are 3PL-providers operating with an incentive to always please the customer. This study will investigate a 3PL-provider´s information sharing with its customer and how value can be extracted from this type of sharing. The purpose of this thesis is to understand and investigate the value of information sharing between the 3PL-provider and its customer. Two research questions have been dictated; R1: How do the respondents at the 3PL-provider perceive the relationship with their customer? R2: How are information requirements met? For the frame of reference have theories in the area of third-party logistics, information, relation, and value been studied. The carrying out of the study has been performed with a bounded ethnography approach since this study has essences from both the scientific and ethnographic approaches. The research reasoning is mainly inductive but with deductive elements. The research strategy is of qualitative character, where the data collection has been carried out through interviews/discussions within multiple case studies. There were several interviews launched within the target 3PL-relationships. The analysis of the empirical findings has been done through the existing theories in the frame of reference. The investigation showed that improvements of the information requirements and utilization of the communication methods improves the quality of the information sharing, and the conclusion drawn is that the information requirements and communication methods are big contributors for the information sharing as a whole. Since the information sharing is considered a big contributor to the customer value one can use the customer value as reference for how to value the information sharing. A main conclusion is therefore that the value of information sharing is dependent on its contribution for the customer value.

Det övergripande syftet med studien har varit att skildra hur personal på fyra kommunala äldreboenden definierat begreppet värdegrund samt hur de tillämpat den i det praktiska arbetet med de äldre. I studien har begreppen KASAM, Empowerment samt en problematisering av värdegrundskomponenterna använts för att analysera resultaten av interjuverna. Resultat av studien visade på att det finns en enighet bland personalen i hur man definierar värdegrundskomponenter. De gav dock samtidigt uttryck för komplexiteten i att komponenterna kan ha flera betydelser, vara nära besläktade och i vissa fall motsägelsefulla. Personalen såg på begreppen som mål för sitt arbete och menade på att uppfyllelse av målen genererar en bättre hälsa och välbefinnande för den äldre. I tillämpning av värdegrundskomponenterna talade personalen om främst två sätt de arbetade utifrån, motivering och aktivering. Motivering innebar att utifrån de boendes eget självbestämmande ska personalen uppmuntra dem till självständighet. Aktivering i sin tur hängde i hop med motivering och innebar att den boende har kontakt med sina anhöriga och sin omgivning likväl som ett deltagande i aktiviteter som personalen försåg de boende med efter deras önskemål. / The pupose of this bachelor´s thesis have been to depict how staff from four diffrent municipal nursing homes define the concept of value base and how they apply this in their practical work with the elderly. In the study the scentific concepts KASAM and Lee´s definition of Empowerment in addition to a problematisation of the value base components have been used to analyze our qualitative interviews. The results of study showed that there is a consensus among the staffon how to define the value base components. At the same time they gave, however, expression of a complexity in the components and the fact that they may be closely related and in some case contradictive. The staff saw the components as a goal for their work and said that achieving these goals generated a better health and well-being of the elderly. In applying the value base staff talked about two main ways they worked on. These were motivation and activation. The reasoning was that by the residents own self-determination the staff should encourage them to independence. Activiation in turn was related to the staff motivating the elderly. This meant that the residents have contact with their families, their enviornment as well as participation in activities that staff provided the residents based on the elderlys own wishes.

Purpose: The aim of this thesis is to explore the impact that increased availability of digital distribution has on physical distribution. The focus is on the effects that digital distribution has on the value creating processes of game developers with regard to distribution alternatives, strategic networks and consumer interaction. Additionally we examine if there is a future for physical distribution of games in an increasingly digital market. Background: It is estimated that only the online gaming market alone will turn over more than $13 billion in 2013. In terms of market potential this means that video gaming has already surpassed the movie industry and is closing in on the music industry (Jöckel, Will &amp; Schwarzer, 2008). Digital distribution is gaining ground in the game industry (Cook, 2012), and access to high-speed internet connectivity is also increasing at a rapid pace. This creates a choice for game developers to adapt their strategies to the new ways of distribution. The previous view of the market was a linear value chain where developers must use intermediaries to reach an end consumer (Williams, 2002). The network dynamics appear to have changed, consumers have an impact on development and there are more complex interactions between the actors in order to generate better value. Method: The thesis uses an exploratory qualitative research method by conducting semi-structured interviews with developers on how the distribution channels have changed. Secondary data concerning the value chain, networks, and value constellations and was gathered to support the empirical background of the market. Conclusion: The value chain has been reconfigured from the classical value chain to a value constellation as increased online availability has changed the distribution possibilities allowing reciprocal relationships and user co-production as well as disintermedation of middle-hands. Value is created for the game developers through three different paths in our own value constellation: portals, direct sales homepage, and through publisher. In all three paths consumers play an important role through user participation in the value creation through user created content and user feedback through community and fan-base activities.. Our conclusion is that the future of physical distribution in the current format is threatened by digital alternatives, and will likely be discontinued in the long run and/or radically changed to include more physical value adding content.

Datum:                     2012-01-06 Nivå:                        Kandidatuppsats i företagsekonomi med inriktig marknadsföring Institution:               Akademin för hållbar samhälls- och teknikutveckling, HST,                                  Mälardalens Högskola Författare:               Aiman Hadrous        Ashkan Mortazavifar              Nancy Saad                                  25 juni 1987               7 december 1990                26 november 1986 Titel:                        Att locka fler studenter till Energiingenjörsprogrammet: En studie om studentrekrytering. Handledare:             Johan Grinbergs Nyckelord:                Attrahera, Energiingenjörsprogrammet, Konsumentens köpprocess, Means- and Value Chain Frågeställning:                   Hur skall fler studenter bli attraherade av att söka till Energiingenjörsprogrammet? Syfte:                        Arbetets syfte är att undersöka och analysera hur Energiingenjörsprogrammet kan attrahera fler studenter i framtiden.                     Metod:                                I detta arbete utnyttjas både den kvalitativa och den kvantitativa metoden. Insamlingen av sekundära data gjordes genom studier av relevanta artiklar inom ämnet konsumentbeteende. Till grund för resultat och slutsats användes en enkätundersökning på gymnasieelever inom Västerås kommun. Slutsats:                   Undersökningen visade att flera aspekter påverkar studentens val av utbildning. Energiingenjörsprogrammet ska arbeta med positionering av programmet och anpassa detta utifrån studentens mål och behov, för att kunna skapa ett attraktivt val.

Background A common goal for many investors is to beat the market. However, only a few are able to do so consistently over a long time. The random walk theory and the efficient market hypothesis are two widely accepted theories that state that it should not be possible to consistently generate abnormal returns in an efficient market. There are though some contradicting results that argue against market efficiency and a lot of those studies have value investment in common. Joseph Piotroski was in 2000 able to generate a value investment model that consistently beat the market between the years 1976-1996. Purpose The purpose of this paper is to test Piotroski’s model on stock markets with different size and maturity to evaluate if the model, as an investment strategy, can generate a better risk adjusted rate of return than a comparable market index. Unlike recent studies done on Piotroski’s value investing model, we will add a number of additional comparison portfolios and use two different valuation models to determine the source of return variation. Method This thesis employed a quantitative research method with a deductive approach. With data from four markets with different characteristics regarding efficiency and development, we performed an ex-ante test from 1995 to 2009. By employing Piotroski’s model, each stock on the four markets was given a score from 0-9; a portfolio for each market was created by the stocks that received a score of 8-9. They were then compared with portfolios from the same market based on the small firm- and book-to-market anomaly. We also performed a test between the markets to see if Piotroski’s model worked better in low efficiency or developed countries. All portfolios in this thesis were risk-adjusted with two different models, CAPM and the Fama &amp; French three-factor model. Since these models use various factors to risk-adjust we have tested if they generate a different valuation of the same portfolio. Results Our study has shown that Piotroski’s model is not able to generate significant abnormal returns compared to our portfolios based on anomalies, our results also give an indication that by removing the anomaly premium the model might be destroying value instead of creating it. An explanation to why the model works in Piotroski’s study and not in ours could be the different method of risk adjustment. Piotroski uses a simple method by deducting the market return while we use two models that are taking additional factors into account. Our results are also able to show that choice of the valuation model does have a significant effect on the risk-adjusted return and could therefore affect the end-results of a study. Last of all our results do not give any support for the hypothesis that Piotroski’s model works better in countries with low efficiency compared to high efficiency or in countries that are developed compared to emerging.

the purpose of this paper is to find the successful elements of THE BODY SHOP in Gavle, and using that experience to study the market entry into a third world country using the case study to assess whether it is worthwhile for THE BODY SHOPto enter the Chinese market, if it is worthwhile, and how to do it.

<p>The first essay of my dissertation introduces a new method for eliciting market beliefs about the expected outcomes of a merger negotiation after announcement. During a merger negotiation, the market prices of the firms involved</p><p>reflect beliefs about their values both in the merged and</p><p>standalone states, as well as the likelihood of either outcome.</p><p>These beliefs determine stock price reactions to news of a possible</p><p>merger, but those prices alone do not contain sufficient information</p><p>to identify the latent beliefs that they reflect. I develop a new</p><p>method which, by using additional data in the form of option prices,</p><p>is able to identify these beliefs. This method allows for a clear</p><p>decomposition of a negotiating firm's expected value change into two</p><p>parts: the value of the transaction to the firm, and new information</p><p>about its standalone value. Previous research into estimating</p><p>merger synergies has struggled to obtain an appropriate alternative</p><p>against which to measure the realized outcome. The market's beliefs</p><p>about state-contingent firm values give an estimate of both. Through</p><p>a direct comparison of the estimates of a firm's value in both the</p><p>merged and standalone states, I obtain a strong, practical measure</p><p>of the expected value-creating potential of a merger before its</p><p>consummation.</p><p>The second essay applies the state-contingent payoff estimation method developed previously to addressing questions about the size effect in mergers. A growing body of evidence indicates that large acquisitions destroy value. However, we do not yet know why. Several theories have been advanced, but their effects are difficult to observe in isolation. It has thus been impossible to tell whether negative post-announcement acquirer returns are caused by market expectations of value-destroying acquisitions or revealed bad news about standalone value. This paper resolves this issue by decomposing expectations about merger outcomes into expected value change from completing the acquisition and revision of beliefs about standalone firm value. The data show that deal size is correlated with value destruction, while acquirer size is correlated with release of unfavorable information. Deal size correlates with value destruction, acquirer size with bad news about the firm. Furthermore, the results suggest that overpayment is a prerequisite for large acquisitions. These findings reduce the set of possible theoretical explanations for the size effect.</p> / Dissertation

An advanced ascent guidance algorithm for rocket-powered launch vehicles is developed. The ascent guidance function is responsible for commanding attitude, throttle and setting during the powered ascent phase of flight so that the vehicle attains target cutoff conditions in a near-optimal manner while satisfying path constraints such as maximum allowed bending moment and maximum allowed axial acceleration. This algorithm cyclically solves the calculus-of-variations two-point boundary-value problem starting at vertical rise completion through orbit insertion. This is different from traditional ascent guidance algorithms which operate in an open-loop mode until the high dynamic pressure portion of the trajectory is over, at which time there is a switch to a closed loop guidance mode that operates under the assumption of negligible aerodynamic forces. The main contribution of this research is an algorithm of the predictor-corrector type wherein the state/costate system is propagated with known (navigated) initial state and guessed initial costate to predict the state/costate at engine cutoff. The initial costate guess is corrected, using a multi-dimensional Newtons method, based on errors in the terminal state constraints and the transversality conditions. Path constraints are enforced within the propagation process. A modified multiple shooting method is shown to be a very effective numerical technique for this application. Results for a single stage to orbit launch vehicle are given. In addition, the formulation for the free final time multi-arc trajectory optimization problem is given. Results for a two-stage launch vehicle burn-coast-burn ascent to orbit in a closed-loop guidance mode are shown. An abort to landing site formulation of the algorithm and numerical results are presented. A technique for numerically treating the transversality conditions is discussed that eliminates part of the analytical and coding burden associated with optimal control theory.