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This study estimated monthly and annual Net Primary Productivity (NPP), an important indicator of carbon sequestration, in the Conterminous US from 1997 to 2007 using Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach. Vegetation condition, temperature, precipitation, photosynthetically active radiation and soil water holding capacity were used as model’s inputs. NPP values were lower than mean annual values during the year 2000 to 2003 which was probably due to extreme drought conditions during these years. Higher NPP per square meter was generally found in Savannah and Subtropical eco-divisions whereas Tropical/Subtropical deserts had the lowest NPP. Southeastern states had the highest NPP per square meter thus, made the highest contribution to the terrestrial carbon sequestration in US. Since the vegetation is one of the main factors in NPP and thus carbon sequestration, the results of this study could help in various environmental policy decisions on forest and cropland management at the state, EPA and federal levels.

Medium Mn TRIP steels are amongst the most widely researched third generation advanced high strength steels (3G-AHSSs) as they are ideal candidates for automotive light-weighting applications owing to their superior strength and ductility balance. However, the thermal processing cycles of these steels need to be compatible with the industrial continuous galvanizing line (CGL) in order to successfully employ them in the automotive manufacturing industry. The main objective of the present research was to develop a CGL compatible thermal processing cycle for a prototype medium Mn steel that would produce significant volume fractions of chemically stable retained austenite and exhibit mechanical properties consistent with established 3G-AHSS targets. In that regard, the effects of intercritical annealing (IA) time and temperature and starting microstructure were determined in the first part of this research. The as-received tempered martensite (S-TM) and heat treated martensite (S-M) were the two different starting microstructures studied in this research. In this case, the overaging temperature (OT) treatment (460°C for 20s) was kept constant. It was found that high volume fractions (≥ 0.30) of retained austenite were achieved for S-M samples intercritically annealed at 675°C for shorter times (i.e. 60 to 120s) compared to S-TM samples. TEM analysis of the S-M samples showed that most of the retained austenite was present in a film type morphology, which is known to be more stable chemically and mechanically compared to the block type morphology. The tensile test results showed that although both the S-TM and S-M samples exhibited a high strength/ductility balance, the S-M samples, particularly the S-M 675°C + 120s samples, showed more potential in terms of CGL compatibility and achieving 3G-AHSS target mechanical properties. The effect of OT holding time was determined in the second part of this research. In that regard, the OT holding time was varied form 20s to 120s for selected S-TM and S-M samples. The S-TM 710°C samples with increased OT holding times (60s and 120s) had a significant increase in retained austenite volume fraction compared to the baseline 20s OT samples. However, the retained austenite volume fractions did not change for S-M samples regardless of OT holding time. It was also found that the mechanical properties of the annealed S-TM and S-M steels depended on the OT holding time. For the S-TM samples with > 120s IA holding times, longer OT holding times (60s and 120s) produced chemically unstable retained austenite which transformed rapidly at low strain resulting in low UTS × TE products. However, although longer OT holding times significantly increased the yield strength of the annealed S-M samples, the UTS × TE product decreased significantly owing to decreased retained austenite stability. Finally, based on the results of this research, it was concluded that the prototype medium Mn TRIP steel can achieve 3G-AHSS target mechanical properties using CGL-compatible thermal processing cycles. Moreover, depending on successful reactive wetting, it may be possible to perform both thermal processing and galvanizing of this steel in the industrial CGL. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

中文摘要 由於跨業經營已是國際間金融業整合之趨勢，因此，我國金融控股公司法的設立將付予國內金融機構進行整合、轉型的機制，讓其更具競爭力，只是是否每一金融集團均能成功轉換，恐怕短期問業者仍要面臨階段性的調整壓力，並非一蹴可及；再則，在該法設立後，金融監理一元化將更形重要，否則當金融機構跨業經營形成金融巨人後，未來發生弊端時，就會變成金融怪獸，所引爆的金融危機，將更為迅速且嚴重，連鎖反應將更為擴大。故本研究以我國金融控股公司之經營規範為主題，並以中華開發為個案探討藉以論述金融控股公司之因應策略。 究竟金融控股公司的設立，能否為國內的金融業帶來生機？以及政府應在准許業界設立金融控股公司的同時，要如何建立專業、獨立與有效率的監理機制，以避免增加業者的管理成本，並提升金融業的競爭力？此乃本論文之研究目的。 本研究亦提出在我國加入世界貿易組織(WTO)後，銀行業必然面臨與先進國家相互角逐金融市場之局面，故宜及早檢討其經營策略，俾掌握業務與客戶群，再造一個具有競爭力的經營體系；本研究並提出相關之建議。 摘要 鑒於美國、日本、韓國、歐盟之金融服務現代化改革中，均已朝向金融百貨化方式發展，並以金融控股公司作為發展跨業經營之主要型態，以利防火牆之設計及風險之區隔，並提高聯屬公司專業化經營效率。金融控股法是重整金融體質的法源，它能加快金融業走向大型化和國際化的腳步，進而提升我國金融業的國際競爭力。故政府為配合此一國際金融發展趨勢及符合國內現行體制與實務之需要，已於民國九十年六月二十七日通過金融控股公司法。因此，銀行、保險、證券等金融機構均得選擇以金融控股公司型態，以提高跨業經營之效率，並加速金融市場之整合。 同時在金融市場陸續開放後，金融機構所面對的風險愈趨複雜化，為因應金融環境的變遷，我國監理機關及監理制度規劃上亦宜有所興革。因為目前不同金融業問彼此互動頻繁，關聯度亦相對提高，近年來世界各國如英、美、日及韓等國，為強化金融主管機關合併監理功能，皆已完成對金融監理機構的整合。有鑑於此，我國必須積極落實金融監理機制的再造工程，推動金融監理一元化，以建立金融監理的整合體制。 第一章說明本研究的動機在於省思「金融控股公司法」之設立，能否付予國內金融機構進行整合、轉型的機制，但未來「金融監理一元化制度」將更形重要。本論文之研究目的在於探討究竟金融控股公司的設立，能否為國內的金融業帶來生機?以及政府應在准許業界設立金融控股公司的同時，要如何建立專業、獨立與有效率的監理機制，以維護社會公益，並提升金融業的競爭力?第二章論述金融控股公司之經濟意義和功能，以及弊病；第三章回顧先進國家跨業經營之沿革與規範；第四章說明我國金融控股公司法之監理規範；第五章：個案探討一以中華開發金融控股公司為例；第六章：結論與建議。 / Abstract Because it is the trend to cross running business within the integration of the international banks, our government set up “the Law of Bank Holding Company”for the local banks to enter into integration and transformation to improve their competition。But it is essential to establish the independent supervisory system to prevent the defaults in advance。Otherwise, its exposure will be serious and its contagious effect is more extensive。 Will Bank Holding Company bring the new era for the local banks ? How will the government set up the independent, professional, and effective supervisory system ? The above topics are the studying purposes of the essay。 The essay also indicates that our banks will have a fierce competition with international banks after we are allowed to enter WTO, and submits suggestions to set up well-run Bank Holding Company -----

Modern technologies change economic relations in society and gradually transform the legislative framework. Blockchain-based cryptocurrencies are probably one of the most striking examples. Although they increase in value and are widely accepted as means of payment by major corporations, many EU member states are just starting to implement solutions to regulate their use, including in terms of taxation. At the same time, the EU fails to introduce a unified approach to the taxation of cryptocurrency transactions in its common economic area. Accordingly, the question arises as to whether the unified approach is justified, given the example of individual member states. The analysis of German, French, and Italian legislation showed that each state has a different approach to understanding the essence of cryptocurrencies. For example, Germany and France rely on the definition of “virtual currency” set forth in EU Directive 2015/849. However, while Germany uses the “cryptoassets” term, France uses the more general “digital assets” concept. In turn, Italy hasn’t enshrined yet any clear definition of cryptocurrencies in its legislation. This may lead to contradictions when considering international cases in the EU. Differences in understanding the essence of cryptocurrencies inevitably lead to differences in taxation approaches. On the one hand, Germany, France, and Italy recognise the validity of ECJ judgment in case C-264/14, exempting cryptocurrency transactions from VAT. On the other hand, while in Germany the profit from cryptocurrency trading is included in total personal income, thus, changing the progressive tax rate, this option is not possible for occasional transactions in France and is wholly excluded in Italy. Moreover, French law provides tax exemption for crypto-to-crypto exchange transactions. In Italy, this approach is accepted in practice, although not covered by the law. In turn, in Germany, taxes are levied on any transactions, which complicates the process of calculating the tax and creates uncertainty in specific issues, such as staking. Differences in the taxation of cryptocurrency transactions pose a question of the possibility of legal harmonisation, which is justified due to the underdevelopment of the principles of taxation of cryptocurrency transactions at the level of individual EU members. However, as a more correct solution, it is proposed to take measures to harmonise legislation based on directives, as this will allow avoiding an adverse impact on the fiscal sovereignty of the EU members.

Master of Science / Department of Animal Sciences and Industry / Terry A. Houser / Two experiments were completed as a part of this study. The objective of the first experiment was to determine the differences in chemical characteristics of trimmings from hot processed and traditionally processed cull meat goats. Crossbred cull doe goats (n=18) were assigned to one of 3 kills days with 6 replications per day. The sides of each goat were randomly assigned to hot processed (HP) or traditionally processed (TP). HP sides were fabricated within 2 h of slaughter, ground with 2% salt and dry ice and then held at 2oC for 24h. TP sides were chilled at 2oC for 24 h prior to fabrication and grinding. After sampling, 2% salt was added to remaining trim yielding 2 treatments: traditionally processed with no salt added (TPNS) and traditionally processed with salt added (TPS). As expected, the HP treatment had a higher (P<0.0001) ultimate pH than TP and a higher water holding capacity (WHC) than TPS (P<0.002) and TPNS (P<0.001) treatments. HP and TPNS had significantly higher (P<0.0007 and P<0.0003, respectively) percent moisture than TPS. Percent fat was similar (P>0.19) for all treatments. However, TPNS had more protein (P<0.0001) than either the HP or TPS treatments. HP and TPS had decreasing L* values until d 6 when values increased significantly while TPNS decreased steadily by day. HP and TPS differed significantly from TPNS until d 6 when no significant differences were seen. For all treatments, a* values showed decreasing values until d 6. For all treatments, b* values increased until d 5. The objective of the second experiment was to investigate the viability of composting as a means for disposing of goat tissues resulting from the slaughter and fabrication process. By-products from the slaughter of cull meat goats (n=18) were assigned to 3 treatment piles: bones, offal + head (OH), and whole (bones, skull, and offal). Bones and OH piles increased in temperature, with peaks at wk 7 and wk 9, while whole piles had elevated temperatures from wk 5 to wk 9. Bone piles had statistically lower temperatures through wk 3, but were not statistically different than other treatments through the duration of the study. Whole piles had higher (P<0.0001) temperatures over the 8 wk composting period than OH and bone piles. Bone decomposition progressed over 90 d; at d 60, bones in whole piles had greater (P<0.05) decomposition than in bone piles. Similarly, skulls decomposition increased over the 90 d period. At d 60 and 90, skulls in whole piles had greater (P<0.05) decomposition than skulls in OH piles.

Since the declaration of South Africa as the Gateway to Africa in 2010 by National Treasury, various changes have been made to South African legislation to make South Africa more attractive to foreign investors looking to expand their operations into Africa. The headquarter company regime was introduced with the purpose to provide a base from which these investments may be managed. From a tax perspective this regime eliminates or reduces specific taxes or rates of taxes for companies who elect to be classified as headquarter companies, provided that certain requirements are met. These requirements refer specifically to investments in qualifying foreign companies. The reference to foreign companies inevitably requires that the resident definition be considered. In South Africa residence of a person other than a natural person is the place where the company is incorporated, formed or established or the place of effective management which is a term subject to various interpretations. Regardless of the differences, all the interpretations refer to a senior level of management. Foreign incorporated companies with their place of effective management in South Africa are excluded from the definition should they qualify as controlled foreign companies with foreign business establishments subject to a high level of tax if the place of effective management is disregarded. The lack of skills in African countries as a product of shortfalls in the quality of education result in challenges to establish appropriately skilled management teams in these countries. When a centralised management team is set up at the headquarter company in South Africa the African subsidiaries risk being resident in South Africa and therefore the structure would not qualify for the benefits of the headquarter company regime. Further challenges arise when the exclusion to the resident definition is applied as shares held by a headquarter company are disregarded when the controlled foreign company status of the subsidiaries are determined. Therefore it is recommended that the headquarter company legislation be changed to correspond with successful regimes such as the Luxembourg and the Netherlands in that it does not only apply to foreign investment. It is further recommend that the resident definition be changed to exclude from the place of effective management test group structures that would comply with section 9I should the test be disregarded. / MCom (South African and International Tax), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Since the declaration of South Africa as the Gateway to Africa in 2010 by National Treasury, various changes have been made to South African legislation to make South Africa more attractive to foreign investors looking to expand their operations into Africa. The headquarter company regime was introduced with the purpose to provide a base from which these investments may be managed. From a tax perspective this regime eliminates or reduces specific taxes or rates of taxes for companies who elect to be classified as headquarter companies, provided that certain requirements are met. These requirements refer specifically to investments in qualifying foreign companies. The reference to foreign companies inevitably requires that the resident definition be considered. In South Africa residence of a person other than a natural person is the place where the company is incorporated, formed or established or the place of effective management which is a term subject to various interpretations. Regardless of the differences, all the interpretations refer to a senior level of management. Foreign incorporated companies with their place of effective management in South Africa are excluded from the definition should they qualify as controlled foreign companies with foreign business establishments subject to a high level of tax if the place of effective management is disregarded. The lack of skills in African countries as a product of shortfalls in the quality of education result in challenges to establish appropriately skilled management teams in these countries. When a centralised management team is set up at the headquarter company in South Africa the African subsidiaries risk being resident in South Africa and therefore the structure would not qualify for the benefits of the headquarter company regime. Further challenges arise when the exclusion to the resident definition is applied as shares held by a headquarter company are disregarded when the controlled foreign company status of the subsidiaries are determined. Therefore it is recommended that the headquarter company legislation be changed to correspond with successful regimes such as the Luxembourg and the Netherlands in that it does not only apply to foreign investment. It is further recommend that the resident definition be changed to exclude from the place of effective management test group structures that would comply with section 9I should the test be disregarded. / MCom (South African and International Tax), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

本研究旨在探討家族企業接班與接班人類型對於公司現金來源及現金價值的影響。本研究使用於1992年至2015年被列於S&P 1500指數的公司為樣本進行實證研究。實證結果顯示家族企業接班後將減少使用發行股票為公司現金的來源。此外，當接班人為家族成員時，企業接班後的邊際現金價值會較低；然而於財務限制的家族企業，企業接班將使當年度的邊際現金價值提高。本研究結果顯示資本市場對於家族企業接班投以較高的關注，尤其當接班人為家族成員時程度更為顯著。 / This study examines the effect of succession on the cash saving behavior and the value of cash holdings for family firms. By examining the Standard and Poor 1500 indexed firms from 1992 to 2015, we find that cash savings from equity issuance decrease around successions, and the decreasing effect lasts longer with family related successors. In addition, the marginal value of cash holdings will be lower after succession if the successor is associated with the family. But if family firms are financial constrained, the marginal value of cash holdings will be higher with family firms with succession at the year of succession but not after. These findings indicate that the capital markets are concerned with the succession implication for family firms more than non-family firms, especially when the successors are family members.

本文主要目的在探討金融控股公司於進行交叉銷售時教育訓練體系之規劃研究。在總體環境與個體環境產生變革之促使下，金融業跨業兼營各類商品將會逐漸成為未來趨勢，本文希望以目前國內實際從事金融商品交叉銷售之金融保險業為研究範圍，並以負責規劃相關教育訓練活動之執行者及受訓者為研究對象，透過人員問卷查詢與訪談，及報章雜誌等相關文獻之探討，進一步分析交叉銷售時訓練體系規劃可行架構，期能對新興之金融控股公司進行交叉銷售活動時有所助益。 研究中首先透過金融業傳統教育訓練體系之分析，分別探討產物保險，人壽保險，銀行與證券公司之訓練體系，發現企業教育訓練方式將隨產業急遽變化而轉變。次則分析金融控股公司設立對金融產業之影響，包括商品，客層區隔與交叉銷售通路，而以花旗銀行為例。繼而以訪談及問卷查詢彙整結果，發現金融控股公司成立後，進行交叉銷售對企業訓練單位及受訓員工皆產生影響。最後綜合本研究結果，提出對業者進行交叉銷售訓練模式與相關實務執行之建議。期望透過本研究，能對從事交叉銷售訓練之金融控股公司或非金融控股公司與相關人員有所助益，且使其教育訓練模式之效益極大化。 / Under the pressure of changes from macro and micro environments, cross selling of various products and services among different financial industries become a trend in the near future The purpose of this paper is to analyze the establishment of training system for the cross selling demand in financial holding company. The analysis covers the financial insurance industry with practical cross-selling experience of financial products, and targets persons who are responsible to plan related training activities and trainees. The analysis method is through questionnaire survey and interview, as well as investigation of media reporting, to further analyze the possible framework of cross selling training system, with an aim to benefit those booming financial holding companies while they implement cross selling activities. Propose certain recommendations for the booming financial holding companies while they implement the cross selling activities. The study begins with analysis of traditional training system of the financial industry, including property insurance, life insurance, banks and security companies, and discovers the training methods shall change with the rapid change of the industry. Followed by analysis of the impact of financial holding companies to industry, including products, customer segmentation, and cross-selling, taking CITI CORP. as example. Then consolidates result collected from the interview and survey, finds out that after the financial holding company set up, cross selling has impacted both training persons and trainees. Lastly this paper proposes recommendations for companies doing cross selling training and practical execution, expecting to benefit both financial holding companies and non-holding companies, related persons who work on cross selling training, and to maximize the effectiveness of training models.