Recent concern has risen among forestry professionals that forest landowners are unaware of federal income tax provisions available to them that make forest management more cost effective. This concern specifically focuses on nine provisions. These nine provisions are: the treatment of timber income as capital gain, the deduction of annual management costs, depreciation of tangible property, the section 179 deduction, recovery of investment through depletion, the reforestation tax credit, amortization of reforestation costs over eight years, the exclusion of cost-share payments from gross income and deductions for casualty losses. The publication is divided into three major parts. In Part I the specifics of the nine provisions are covered in detail according to the current Internal Revenue Code. Current income tax rates are examined. The Passive Activity Loss Rules (PALS) are reviewed in terms of how they affect landowner eligibility to use the nine provisions for current loss deductions. PALS limitations incurred by holding forestland as a passive trade or business, or active trade or business are examined. Advantages and disadvantages to holding forestland as an investment are also examined. In Part II, the effects of timber income taxes on forestland investments are explored. Examples of taxes incurred (including the alternative minimum tax) when timber is sold are given. Tax calculations are based on a typical southern landowner involved with the management of a loblolly pine plantation. In Chapter 6, effects of using the nine income tax provisions on the land expectation value (LEV) of a typical forestland tract are examined for a high-income forest landowner and a low-income forest landowner engaged in both intensive and non-intensive loblolly pine management in the South. Cumulative effects of using or not using the nine income tax provisions in each regime are shown to dramatically influence LEV, and the importance of tax provision awareness is emphasized. In Chapter 7, the complexity of complying with timber tax law is examined. This chapter' s purpose is to provide an example of the detail involved in taking advantage of the tax laws. A demonstration of tax complexity is made with income tax calculations for the medium-income landowner in Chapter 6. The landowner first thins his 120-acre plantation in tax year 2003, and forms required by the IRS to use the tax provisions are identified and discussed. Although use of the provisions is essential for maximum economic returns, their complexity can discourage landowners from electing to use them. Part III presents the results and discussion of a mail survey sent to members of the American Tree Farm System (ATFS). In the survey questionnaire, landowners were asked if they were aware of the nine tax provisions, and if they used them where applicable. They were also asked why they failed to use certain provisions when they know about them. Various hypotheses are tested in Chapter 13. The demographics of ATFS members are compared with the demographics of the general U.S. forest landowner population as described by Birch (1996). The ATFS population was more timber production as well as more land investment oriented. ATFS members have significantly more harvesting experience than the general landowner. Tree Farmers typically own larger parcel sizes than the average landowner. ATFS members belong to a forestry organization, and ATFS members are more motivated in terms of forest management than the typical landowner. The results show that ATFS awareness and use of the tax provisions are low. Thus, increased efforts by natural resource professionals to inform landowners of their tax options are indicated. Caution should be used when interpreting survey results, because over 70% of ATFS members use tax professionals to file their income taxes. Consequently, actual use of tax provisions could be higher than predicted if the tax professionals are well versed in dealing with timber income. / Master of Science

Thesis advisor: Julia Fisher / The future of imaginative playtime in the lives of children today is at great risk. Currently, 40% of schools are considering eliminating- or have already eliminated- recess from the school day. The goal of this essay is to argue the irreplaceable value that imaginative play has in contributing to the cognitive, emotional, and social growth of a child. In making a case for the importance of play in child development, all three of these areas of potential growth will collectively be considered as true development of the child. To lay the foundation for these specific categories of benefits, it is necessary to understand the general biological background supporting the innate importance of play, as well as the previous work of those who have researched this subject. Once this information is presented, the cognitive, emotional, and social benefits of imaginative play will be explored in more detail, and the effects of play deprivation and play reintroduction will be discussed. In this manner, it is the aim of this presentation to demonstrate the exceptional importance of imaginative play. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2007. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Psychology. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

by Lee Yim-hong Lawrence. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1981. / Bibliography: leaves 48-49.

Sustainability is a growing trend and companies are increasingly engaging sustainability in their core business strategy. One example of how this is manifested is through the development of products that are  labelled as energy-efficient. There is a lack of insights into how consumers perceive and gain benefits from such sustainable products, particularly so regarding the nonfunctional and non-economical benefits and into how culture influences those benefits. The purpose of this study is to investigate consumer perceived non-functional and non-economical benefits that are associated  with energy-efficient products,  in order to gain a deeper understanding on how the Swedish compared to the Thai culture influence consumers perception of energy efficient products within the home appliance industry. The literature review regarding the  symbolic meaning of products concludes that the most relevant perceived benefits of products includes emotional-, self-expressiveness-, and social benefits. A cross-cultural quantitative study performed in Sweden and Thailand determines that culture influences consumers understanding of products and thereby influence their perceived benefit from energyefficient home appliances. How culture influences consumer perceived benefits depends on the characteristics of the different cultural dimensions established by Hofstede (2010), involving: power distance, masculinity, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation.

It has been a trend that employees of new generations pay much more attention to individual leisure than before. Job is no longer the only essential issue for lives, work-life balance has become a leading topic for human resource management. Compare to foreign enterprises which usually provide well employee benefits, the local companies in Taiwan, especially for the high-tech industry, had also attach importance to provide well-planned employee benefits to foster a dynamic and fun work environment for employees. Production or performance is not the only successful factor for running companies, keeping talents within organizations is significant as well. No matter economic or non-economic employee benefits, the business owners never stop thinking for providing innovative and various employee benefits to attract talents. It was obviously for high-tech industry that the employees are under high job pressure and intense competition. Moreover, to have well employee benefit programs for employees could not only help employees achieving work-life balance to improve well-being for reducing business cost, but also enhance labor relations which is no doubt the substantial element for successful companies. This study examined the relationship between employee benefits and labor relations through questionnaire survey on 228 employees from the first 1500 companies in Taiwan. The results indicated that: 1. Employee benefits satisfaction was positively significant to labor relations. 2. Employee communication was positively significant to employee benefits satisfaction and labor relations. 3. Employees with different personal features show different satisfaction at employee benefits, except for marital status and job position. 4. Employees with different personal features show different satisfaction at labor relations, except for seniority and job position. 5. No differences were found within different industries toward employee benefit satisfaction.

Thesis (M.H.A.)--University of Michigan, 1959.

Thesis (M.H.A.)--University of Michigan, 1968.

Thesis (M.H.A.)--University of Michigan, 1968.

Thesis (M.H.A.)--University of Michigan, 1959.

This diploma thesis deals with the issue of employee benefits in a particular selected company. The aim is to analyse the current conditions of the employee benefits and based on the results of analyses to define those employee benefits that positively impact employees‘motivation and satisfaction. Furthermore, recommendations of potential changes in the current benefits system are described.