Increasing the Timeliness of U.S. Annual I-O Accounts

The timeliness of the U.S. input-output (I-O) accounts is a major concern for policymakers and industry analysts, as well as academics. In response, the Bureau of Economic Analysis initiated research in 2001 to identify, develop and implement an estimating method for producing more timely and reliable annual I-O accounts than are currently available. The research included reviewing the frameworks and methods currently used by other statistical agencies and academic researchers, obtaining more timely industry source data, and developing enhanced methods and processes for the automated updating and balancing of annual I-O tables. The results of this research indicate that our new automated updating and balancing method can reduce time lag for producing the annual I-O accounts from three years to one year without reducing quality. Our method is based on an adjusted RAS process that simultaneously balances the I-O table in producers’ and purchasers’ prices; uses more exogenous data; and processes tables at the most detailed level.

“Planting Trees is Always Good”

This thesis explores how two Swedish companies and a sample of Swedish consumers describe the role of private actors in climate change mitigation. Carbon offsetting by planting trees in the Global South has become a common approach for Swedish food and beverage companies (among other companies) that seek to reduce their climate impact. Since 2018, the Swedish fast food restaurant Max Burgers AB (MAX) has been offsetting 110% of its greenhouse gas emissions and advertises a ‘climate positive’ menu. The initiative has been prized by the UN Global Climate Action Awards for being an innovative, replicable and scalable climate solution. MAX is also urging other companies and private individuals to implement the ‘climate positive’ model, in order to solve the climate crisis. This thesis draws on Carol Bacchi’s WPR approach for policy analysis to explore how the proposed solution can be understood in terms of problem representations. Two Swedish companies’ websites were analysed and semi-structured interviews with 13 customers at MAX were conducted in order to understand what kinds of problems carbon offsetting by planting trees in countries in the Global South responds to according to these actors. The thesis presents four problem-solution complexes in which the two companies mainly represent climate change as a problem of 1) reduced emissions and carbon dioxide removal, 2) consumption, 3) deforestation and carbon sequestration and 4) where carbon offsetting also is represented as a solution to sustainable development challenges in the Global South. The study concludes that on the two companies’ websites, these four problem representations reinforced each other and created a strong narrative for practicing carbon offsetting by planting trees in countries in the Global South as a solution to climate change and sustainable development challenges. At the same time, the customers’ responses imply that the discourse on how private actors and individuals can mitigate climate change is not homogenous, as they partially contrasted the two companies’ problem representations of climate change. The customers’ responses also illustrated a mental distance to the tree planting project in Uganda that MAX purchases carbon credits from, as well as a lack of awareness regarding local impacts of the project. Moreover, this thesis illustrates how planting trees has enabled MAX to communicate to its customers that they are the ones that will solve climate change, by eating burgers at the Swedish fast food restaurant

Human resource management in cross-border acquisition process : viewpoint of HR responsible in acquiring company

Siirretty Doriast

Effects of Stock Type and Planter Experience on the Time Required to Plant Loblolly Pine Seddlings

Inexperienced workers planted container-grown and bare-root seedlings of loblolly (Pinus taeda L.) on a rocky, upland site near Batesville, AR in a comparison of planting speed and survivability. Planting speed depended on the type of seedling planted and the amount of planting experience. Significantly less time was required to plant an acre with container-grown than bare-root seedlings. Experience increased the consistency and speed of planting for both seedling types

Organic Spring Wheat Planting Date Trial

The local food movement has revived otherwise historical crops in Vermont including small-scale grains. As the demand for local organic wheat has risen over the last few years, University of Vermont Extension has been developing best agronomic practices for wheat production. In an organic system, weed management can be one of the biggest challenges. One strategy to manage weeds is to modify planting dates. Early planting dates can establish a crop prior to weed flushes, while a late-planted crop can avoid some weed species. Planting date can also have an overall impact on both grain yield and quality. Certain wheat varieties may respond better to earlier or later planting dates. At this time, there is minimal data to document optimum spring wheat planting dates for the Northeast. The objective of this project was to determine the effect of planting date on the yield and quality of multiple spring wheat varieties

Unravelling technology-acceptance factors influencing farmer use of banana tissue culture planting materials in Central Uganda

Effective management of plant health is fundamental for food and income security to meet the growing demands of local and global markets. This however requires farmers’ adequate access to quality planting materials under the prevailing contextual and psycho-social factors. This study, anchored in the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technologies, unravels technology-acceptance factors that influence farmers’ intentions to use banana tissue culture planting materials in the control of Banana Xanthomonas Wilt. Data were collected from 248 randomly sampled banana farmers using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using structural equation modelling to examine hypothesized paths in the uptake of banana tissue culture planting materials. Results show that farmer intentions to use tissue culture planting materials are dependent on two constructs: social influence and farmer innovativeness. However, social influence is the main predictor of intentions to use tissue culture planting materials. In particular, farmer innovativeness mediates facilitating conditions and social influence in predicting intentions to use tissue culture planting materials. Thus, this study reveals two factors that influence farmer intentions to use tissue culture planting materials: social influence and farmer innovativeness. The findings imply that social influence and farmer innovativeness are critical in disseminating novel agricultural technologies in Uganda and elsewhere

How Planting Density Affects Number and Yield of Potato Minitubers in a Commercial Glasshouse Production System

Commercial potato minituber production systems aim at high tuber numbers per plant. This study investigated by which mechanisms planting density (25.0, 62.5 and 145.8 plants/m2) of in vitro derived plantlets affected minituber yield and minituber number per plantlet. Lowering planting density resulted in a slower increase in soil cover by the leaves and reduced the accumulated intercepted radiation (AIR). It initially also reduced light use efficiency (LUE) and harvest index, and thus tuber weights per m2. At the commercial harvest 10 weeks after planting (WAP), LUE tended to be higher at lower densities. This compensated for the lower AIR and led to only slightly lower tuber yields. Lowering planting density increased tuber numbers per (planted) plantlet in all grades. It improved plantlet survival and increased stem numbers per plant. However, fewer stolons were produced per stem, whereas stolon numbers per plant were not affected. At lower densities, more tubers were initiated per stolon and the balance between initiation and later resorption of tubers was more favourable. Early interplant competition was thought to reduce the number of tubers initiated at higher densities, whereas later-occurring interplant competition resulted in a large fraction of the initiated tubers being resorbed at intermediate planting densities. At low planting densities, the high number of tubers initiated was also retained. Shortening of the production period could be considered at higher planting densities, because tuber number in the commercial grade > 9 mm did not increase any more after 6 WA