The Economics of Barley Production in the Delta Junction Area of Interior Alaska

The discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay on the north slope of Alaska and the subsequent initial lease sale for rights to drill for oil on state land marked the beginning of a new era in the economy of the state. Construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline to carry oil 860 miles from the northern coast to the port of Valdez brought jobs to the state and increased personal income for many residents. When oil began to flow, the state began to receive revenues from royalty oil sales. Wealth from oil revenues made it possible for the state to support the development of Alaska's renewable resources. One of the resources considered was land which had been classified as having potential for production of agricultural products . There had been attempts in the past by the Federal and state governments to increase substantially agricultural production in Alaska, but none were completely successful (Stone 1950, Burton 1971, Snodgrass et a!. 1982, Lewis et al. 1987)

Sustainable product development strategies: Business planning and performance implications

Copyright © 2012 by Institution of Mechanical Engineers. This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below.Manufacturing firms are under many financial and competitive pressures which focus attention on the performance of their manufacturing processes. In this paper the opportunities for improving the environmental impact of products within the constraints of existing manufacturing infrastructure are examined. Approaches which support sustainability in two aspects are proposed, firstly, the provision of products to the users in ways which extend the product life and secondly, manufacturing approaches which reduce resource usage. This paper outlines three different sustainable development strategies for different product types and describes the cost implications for manufacturers across the life-cycle. The performance measures affected by these strategies are examined drawing on product development case studies from a number of high technology sectors to highlight the different approaches taken. The results are intended to aid manufacturers during the earliest stages of business planning to consider alternative product development approaches which are more sustainable

Kesedaran terhadap amalan pemakanan seimbang dalam kalangan pelajar Politeknik Merlimau, Melaka: satu tinjauan

Pemakanan yang baik mula mempengaruhi kesihatan tubuh badan sejak daripada kecil lagi. Pemakanan memainkan peranan penting dalam mengekalkan kesihatan dan mencegah penyakit. Oleh itu, kajian ini dilakukan adalah bertujuan untuk meninjau sejauhmanakah kesedaran pelajar politeknik terhadap amalan pemakanan seimbang. Skop yang dikaji dalam kajian ini ialah menentukan tahap pengetahuan pelajar terhadap pemakanan seimbang, meninjau faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi pemilihan pemakanan pelajar, menentukan tahap kesedaran pelajar terhadap amalan pemakanan seimbang serta mengenalpasti hubungan yang signifikan di antara tahap pengetahuan dengan amalan pemakanan seimbang. Reka bentuk kajian yang digunakan penyelidik adalah kajian deskriptif berbentuk tinjauan. Saiz sampel seramai 297 orang responden telah terlibat dalam kajian ini melibatkan Politeknik Merlimau, Melaka dari semua jabatan. Instrumen yang digunakan dalam kajian ini adalah borang soal selidik. Data dalam kajian ini dianalisis dengan menggunakan perisian Statistical Package For Social Science (SPSS) versi 21.0 bagi mendapatkan nilai skor min, kekerapan, sisihan piawai, peratusan (%) serta Ujian Korelasi Pearson kerana data bertaburan normal. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahawa tahap pengetahuan pelajar terhadap pemakanan seimbang masih di peringkat sederhana. Selain itu, melalui kajian ini dapat dibuktikan bahawa harga makanan dan keluarga merupakan faktor utama yang mempengaruhi pemilihan makanan pelajar. Walaupun tahap pengetahuan mereka sederhana, akan tetapi kesedaran mereka terhadap amalan pemakanan seimbang tinggi. Melalui analisis ujian korelasi Pearson mendapati bahawa terdapat hubungan yang signifikan di antara tahap pengetahuan pelajar dengan amalan pemakanan mereka. Walaupun sedemikian, perhubungan yang wujud adalah pada tahap sederhana dan positif. Kata kunci : Pemakanan seimbang, pengetahuan, amalan pemakanan seimbang, kesedaran

Agricultural Policy Influence Upon the Economic Behaviour of Rural Households

The deep transformations brought about by the progressive and steady commitment of Romanian economy to the market economy have determined, among others, the modification of the role and status of rural household in the economic activity. Rural household changed from a simple participant, constrained to act in a certain way under a centralised, equalising and levelling system during the communist period, to a participant that carries out its activity in a competing environment in which initiative, creativity and efficiency are defining elements. Based on field surveys conducted at national level, the present paper intends to identify the evolution of economic behaviours specific to rural households under the influence of agricultural policy measures in the period 1997-2000. The conclusions of this study reveal that in this period, most of rural households operated under a subsistence system, according to an economic rationality in which market economy mechanism are lacking. However, the economic picture is far from being a homogeneous one: the emergence of a nucleus of agricultural entrepreneurs, i.e. those who assume the risk of shifting from subsistence to competitive agriculture, those who are trying to turn the peasant household into a farm managed on the capitalist principles, has induced new economic behaviours in the rural communities.rural household, economic behaviour, agricultural policy, Romania, Consumer/Household Economics,

A review of maintenance service for leasing equipment

Recent business trend focuses more on efficiency. One of the chosen ways is leased the capital equipment from other parties. The leasing option encourages both the lessee and lessor to discuss any consequences include responsibility for managing the equipment performance, rectifying failure during operation, maintenance option provided during leasing period, as well as the accompanying cost. The review and maping of publications are conducted based on the order in which the reference appears in the publication, in order to follow the development of thinking on the research topic of leasing, yet to identify the more recent development during the last decade. Several potential research ideas could be generated from the maping toward the fast and flexibel busines

An Examination of Manufactured Housing as a Community- and Asset-Building Strategy

An increasing share of lower-income families, the same population targeted by community-development organizations, are opting to live in housing that was built off-site in a factory to meet the performance standards of the national HUD manufactured-housing code. However, most community-development practitioners are just beginning to come to terms with the implications of manufactured housing for their work.This paper explores advantages and disadvantages of manufactured housing for those entities whose mission is community development and asset building. Several challenges are presented for practitioners: First, working to educate consumers while also creating financing processes that ensure manufactured home buyers obtain credit on the best terms for which they can qualify. Second, using the increased scrutiny under the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 to advocate for states to enforce more rigorous installation standards and increased accountability. Third, working to overcome land-use controls which prevent manufactured homes from being placed in communities in need of affordable housing, as well as areas with more potential for appreciation. Fourth, working with designers and planners to develop innovative designs and housing developments, while maintaining manufactured housing's affordability advantages.Finally, equal effort must be devoted to address the difficult conditions of many lower-income people -- owners and renters alike -- living in older, and often deteriorating, mobile homes. While a few of these families and individuals could be relocated to new and better quality homes with the help of subsidies, resource limitations suggest the need to create cost-effective methods to eliminate health and safety problems by upgrading or rehabilitating this extremely affordable element of the nation's housing inventory.As a companion to this paper, an exhaustive literature review has been compiled

Joint Determination of Preventive Maintenance and Buffer Stock for a Production Unit under Lease

Purpose: The purpose of this work is to develop a mathematical model for simultaneously determining the optimal period of preventive maintenance actions and the optimal size of buffer stock for a production unit that is owned by a lessor and leased to a lessee under a lease contract. Design/methodology/approach: A mathematical model is formulated and a numerical procedure is developed for finding the optimal period of preventive maintenance actions and the optimal size of buffer stock to minimize the total expected costs considering both a lessor and a lessee over a lease period. Findings: The proposed model gives better solutions than those where the maintenance cost to the lessor and the production inventory cost to the lessee are minimized separately. Originality/value: The joint determination of preventive maintenance and safety stock is a topic that has been extensively studied for decades. The majority of the models reported in the literature implicitly assume that the firm owns the production unit and maintenance actions are done in-house. However, equipment acquisition through leasing is a common practice nowadays. Normally, under a lease contract, the lessor who owns the equipment is responsible for maintenance services. This may lead to a conflict between the lessor and the lessee concerning the optimal choice of maintenance actions. To solve this conflict, we propose a joint determination of preventive maintenance and safety stock model for a production unit under a lease. The objective of our model is to simultaneously determine the optimal period of preventive maintenance actions that the lessor needs to perform and the optimal size of buffer stock the lessee needs to produce so that the total combined expected costs to both parties over the lease period are minimizedPeer Reviewe