Evaluating the perception of SaaS adoption criteria with email permission-based marketing

This study aims to identify the main Software as a Service (SaaS) adoption criteria and apply them in permission-based email marketing campaign. Cloud computing and SaaS in precise is becoming a temping business sector for companies. While most of the attention is focus on the technological aspect, the business and marketing sides were less studied. The thesis present an empirical case study to investigate how respondents of small and medium enterprises' (SME), respond to different kind of stimulus from potential service providers, focusing on four distinctive adoption categories. The thesis is empirical and exploratory in nature. In the beginning, cloud computing and SaaS are reviewed to form the background of the study. Afterwards, special attention is dedicated to identifying and grouping the crucial SaaS adoption factors. The Technological-Organization-Environmental (TOE) and Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) frameworks had been used in the process of grouping the adoption factors into four categories. The second part of the literature review is dedicated to permission-based email marketing, examining the positive and negative sides and following how marketing has evolved and let to the adoption of permission-based email marketing. Quantitative data was gathered from a case company which is about to release new SaaS product and which wanted to study the perception of its potential clients towards the four SaaS adoption categories. The findings of the empirical part of this study are separated in four parts. Each part is dedicated to one of the four distinct adoption categories: Usability, Complexity, Security and Price. Usability and Complexity were the best perceived adoption categories while Security and Price didn't attract as much attention as initially anticipated. As a conclusion the study managed to shed some insight about how the SaaS adoption categories are perceived from SME's. The results can't be classified as expected or as absolutely innovative, since two of the categories behaved as it was expected while the other two - Complexity and Security showed some surprising results

The Marketing Structure in Agribusiness during the Transition in Bulgaria

Bulgaria is moving toward a food processing and marketing system which resembles that of Western Europe and the U.S. Large grocery chains from Germany, Austrai and Turkey are building supermarkets and hypermarkets in Bulgaria’s larger cities. However, income in Bulgaria remains much lower than in Western Europe and most Bulgarian consumers cannot afford to shop in the new stores yet. Neighborhood markets, which serve average Bulgarians, are expanding their product selections and remain the primary shopping venue. Food processing plants in Bulgaria are being upgraded to meet EU standards. Farmers are getting more efficient as land is consolidated. On the whole, the agriculture and agribusiness sectors in Bulgaria are improving.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40124/3/wp738.pd

The Marketing Structure in Agribusiness during the Transition in Bulgaria

Bulgaria is moving toward a food processing and marketing system which resembles that of Western Europe and the U.S. Large grocery chains from Germany, Austrai and Turkey are building supermarkets and hypermarkets in Bulgaria’s larger cities. However, income in Bulgaria remains much lower than in Western Europe and most Bulgarian consumers cannot afford to shop in the new stores yet. Neighborhood markets, which serve average Bulgarians, are expanding their product selections and remain the primary shopping venue. Food processing plants in Bulgaria are being upgraded to meet EU standards. Farmers are getting more efficient as land is consolidated. On the whole, the agriculture and agribusiness sectors in Bulgaria are improving.Bulgaria, food marketing, transition

The Marketing System in Bulgarian Livestock Production--The Present State and Evolutionary Processes During the Period of Economic Transition

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39599/3/wp212.pd

Efekti betaina kao dodatka u ishrani na neke proizvodne osobine šarana (cyprinus carpio l.) gajenog u recirkulacionom sistemu

Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je da se ustanove efekti betaina kao dadatka u ishrani na stopu preživljavanja, prirast i konverziju hrane kod šarana (Cyprinus carpio L.), gajenog u recirkulacionom sistemu. Četrdeset i osam jedinki šarana čija je prosečna početna težina bila 1238.13±39.19 - 1241.25±29.73 g podeljeni su u tri grupe. Eksperiment je rađen u duplikatu. Ribe su gajene u betonskim tankovima zapremine 0.8 m3, koji su pripadali recirkulacionom sistemu. Riba je hranjena ekstrudiranom hranom ”Aqua VITAL“, koju proizvodi “Aqua garant“. Veličina peleta bila je 6 mm. 1% betaina dodat je hrani šarana koji je pripadao eksperimentalnoj grupi EG1, dok je hrana za drugu eksperimentalnu grupu (EG2) sadržala 3% betaina. Šaran iz kontrolne grupe (CG) nije dobijao betain u ishrani. Hrana kojom je riba hranjena predstavljala je 2% težine ribe. Ogled je trajao 60 dana, a kontrolni ulov obavljen je 30-og dana da bi se ispitao uticaj betaina kao dodatka u ishrani na prirast i odnos konverzije hrane kod šarana (Cyprinus carpio L.), koji se gaji u recirkulacionom sistemu. Težina ribe (g) na kontrolnom ulovu ustanovljena je tako što je svaka jedinka pojedinačno merena. Finalna težina šarana iz eksperimentalnih i kontrolnih grupa iznosila je: EG1 – 1727.50±40.52 g, EG2 – 1749.39±33.45 g and CG – 1646.88±26.51 g. Vrednosti ovog parametra kod ribe iz druge eksperimentalne grupe EG2 bile su više nego kod jedinki iz EG1 (1.27%) i CG (6.22%), međutim razlike nisu bile značajne (P>0.05). Prosečni individualni prirast kod šarana iz dve replikacione kontrolne grupe bio je 406.25±20.61 g, što je 20.46% i 25.08% niže nego kod riba koje su dobijale 1% i 3% betaina, dok su razlike bile značajne (P<0.001). Najbolji koeficijent konverzije hrane bio je kod šarana iz EG2 - 1.49. Ova osobina je imala niže vrednosti nego kod riba iz EG1 (3.36% ) i CG (24.16%) (P<0.001). Kada je reč o stopi preživljavanja riba iz svih grupa, diskrepance nisu uočene. Ekonomska efikasnost grupe koje je dobijala 1% betaina bila je 1.66, što je niže nego kod EG2 (10.34%) i CG (15.66%)

Ефект на Acorus calamus L. екстракт върху растежа и кръвните параметри на обикновен шаран (Cyprinus carpio L.), отглеждан в рециркулационна система

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of the sweet flag (A. calamus L.) extract addition of growth performance, haematological (white blood cells, red blood cells, hemoglobin, hematocrit) and biochemical (glucose, urea, creatinine, total protein, albumin, ASAT, ALAT, Ca, P, Mg, triglycerides, cholesterol) blood parameters of common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) cultivated in recirculation system. Carps were randomly selected and distributed into four concrete tanks for the growth trial (8 fish/tank). Fish were divided into experimental (E) and control groups (C), each of them with two replicates and mean initial weight 908.5±171.2 g and 913.8±147.4 g, respectively. They were fed with pelleted carp feed with 25% crude protein, produced by the "Top mix" company, having a granule size of 6 mm. To the fish feed on the experimental group (E) was added 1% aqueous extract of A. calamus root, as well as oiling the pellets with 5 mL of sunflower oil for every 100 g of feed. Carps from control group (C) were fed with feed only greased with the same amount of sunflower oil. The daily ration that the studied fish received was 1.8% of their live weight. The duration of the trial period was 45 days. At the end of the experiment with 5.2% was measured a higher average live weight in the fish receiving the sweet flag supplement compare to the value of this parameter of carps from control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P0.05).Better blood biochemical and haematological parameters were measured in carp fed with sweet flag supplement.Целта на това проучване е да се определи ефектът от добавянето на екстракт от блатен аир (A. calamus L) върху растежа, хематологични (бели кръвни клетки, червени кръвни клетки, хемоглобин, хематокрит) и биохимични (глюкоза, урея, креатинин, общ протеин, албумин, ASAT, ALAT, Ca, P, Mg, триглицериди, холестерол) кръвни параметри на обикновен шаран (Cyprinus carpio L.), отглеждан в рециркулационна система. Рибите се разделят на експериментални (Е) и контролни групи (С), всяка от тях с две повторения и средно тегло 908.5 ± 171.2 g и 913.8 ± 147.4 g, съответно. Те са хранени с гранулиран фураж за шарани с 25% суров протеин, произведен от фирма "Top mix", с размер на гранулите 6 mm. Към храната за рибите от експерименталната група (Е) се прибавя 1% воден екстракт от корен на A. calamus, както и омасляване на пелетите с 5 мл слънчогледово масло на всеки 100 г фураж. Шараните от контролната група (С) са хранени с фураж, само омаслен със същото количество слънчогледово масло. Дневната дажба на изследваната риба е 1.8% от тяхното живо тегло. Продължителността на експерименталния период е 45 дни. В края на експеримента с 5.2% се измерва по-високо средно живо тегло на рибата, получаваща добавката с блатен аир, в сравнение със стойността на този параметър за шараните от контролната група, като разликите са статистически значими (Р0,05). По-високи биохимични и хематологични параметри на кръвта са измерени при шараните, хранени с добавка на блатен аир

Култивиране на маруля (Lactuca sativa L.) и дъгова пъстърва (Oncorhynchus mykiss W.) в аквапонна рециркулационна система

Aquaponics is combined growing fish and plants in a recalculating system. Therefore, it is very important to achieve optimal conditions for their cultivation. The purpose of this study was to trace the influence of the water used by the cultivated fish on the biomass of the lettuce in the aquaponic system. In this connection, two types of hydroponic sections were built and integrated into an existing recirculation aquaculture system. The hydrochemical parameters were measured during the trial. The duration of experiment was 60 days. Forty specimens from the fish species rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) with an average weight of 13.4 g in good health condition were growing of the each of tanks of the aquaponic system. Sixteen lettuce seedlings were planted on the hydroponic section filled with light weight expanded clay aggregate (LECA) and the other sixteen plants were planted on the floating raft hydroponic section. At the end of the trial the fresh weight of the lettuce plants was measured. The productivity of lettuce plants is highly dependent on the type of plant growing medium and the fish biomass. A better removal capacity in ammonium, nitrate and ortho-phosphate were observed in the LECA section compared with the cleaning capacity in the raft section as a part of experimental aquaponics system.Аквапониката е комбинирано отглеждане на риби и растения в рециркулационна система. Ето защо е много важно да се постигнат оптимални условия за тяхното отглеждане. Целта на това изследване е да се проследи влиянието на водата, използвана от култивирането на рибата върху биомасата на марулята в аквапонната система. В тази връзка бяха изградени и интегрирани два типа хидропонни секции в съществуващата рециркулационна система. Хидрохимичните параметри бяха измерени по време на опита. Продължителността на експеримента беше 60 дни. Четиридесет риби от дъгова пъстърва (Oncorhynchus mykiss) със средно тегло от 13.4 грама в добро здравословно състояние бяха отглеждани във всяка вана от аквапонната рециркулационна система. Шестнадесет марули бяха поставени в хидропонната секция пълна с лек експандиран глинен агрегат (LECA), а други шестнадесет растения бяха засадени на плаващия хидропонен участък. В края на изпитването беше измерено свежото тегло на марулята. Продуктивността на марулята е силно зависима от типа на хранителната среда и от биомасата на рибите. По-добър капацитет на отстраняване на амония, нитратите и фосфатите се наблюдава в LECA секцията в сравнение с капацитета на почистване в плаващата секцията, като част от експерименталната аквапонна система

Potential for combined biocontrol activity against fungal fish and plant pathogens by bacterial isolates from a model aquaponic system

One of the main challenges in aquaponics is disease control. One possible solution for this is biological control with organisms exerting inhibitory effects on fish and plant pathogens. The aim of this study was to examine the potential of isolating microorganisms that exert an inhibitory effect on both plant and fish pathogens from an established aquaponic system. We obtained 924 isolates on selective King's B agar and 101 isolates on MRS agar from different compartments of a model aquaponic system and tested them for antagonism against the plant pathogen Pythium ultimum and fish pathogen Saprolegnia parasitica. Overall, 42 isolates were able to inhibit both fungi. Although not yet tested in vivo, these findings open new options for the implementation of biological control of diseases in aquaponics, where plants and fish are cultivated in the same water recirculating system

Application of Synthetic Aperture Focusing Technique for inspection of plate-like structures using EMAT generated Lamb waves

The main challenge for guided wave inspection is exact defect characterization and sizing. EMAT generated Lamb waves usually have low signal-to-noise ratio which reduces the defect detection, characterization and sizing capabilities. That's why in most cases the method is used only as a screening tool. The Synthetic Aperture Focusing Technique is a process that increases the signal-to-noise ratio by numerically focusing the acoustic fields. In this paper the application of SAFT is tested over EMAT generated Lamb waves. The improvement of lateral resolution and signal-to-noise ratio is evaluated. Results are presented as a comparison between standard B-scan and SAFT processed data