This study uses data on the fast-growing peripheral counties located in the 50 largest metropolitan areas to test the null hypothesis that counties located on the metropolitan fringe are demographically homogenous. Using multivariate analysis, the analysis statistically identifies distinct groups of counties in the metropolitan fringe. In contrast to much of the standard literature, the research rejects the null hypothesis and suggests that more than one exurbia exists. This study also explores the varying pressures and demands faced by the different exurban county types in response to massive and compounding growth stresses, recognizing the complexity of managing growth in the fringe and the implications for planners. It is expected that counties identified as "similar" will experience common-responses to different programs and policies addressing growth pressures. Similar counties should therefore use these results to facilitate information exchange concerning successful or unsuccessful strategies. / Master of Urban and Regional Planning

The Internal Revenue Code invokes the concept of reasonableness as the major qualification for the stockholder executive compensation deduction for federal income tax purposes. However, neither the Code nor Regulations contain general guidelines for determining reasonable compensation. Consequently, disputes with the IRS are frequent, resulting in substantial litigation. The primary hypothesis of the study was that the IRS guideline variables were incapable of discriminating taxpayers who have won litigated reasonable compensation cases from those who have lost. The secondary hypothesis was that the IRS guideline variable group, the court case variable group, or the two groups combined were equally powerful in discriminating taxpayers who have won litigated reasonable compensation cases from taxpayers who have lost. The study included all unreasonable compensation cases litigated in the Tax Court from 195^ to September, 1980. Only cases related to the reasonableness of officer-shareholder compensation of closely-held corporations were included.

L'étude proposée porte sur l'adaptation d'une méthode de mesure optique à lamesure de la topologie d'objet de grandes dimensions et à une distance de travail proche. Laméthode optique utilisée est la projection de franges car elle permet l'étude de grands objets.Dans un premier temps, des essais expérimentaux ont été réalisés pour évaluer l'exactitudedu développement actuel ; ce dernier utilisant une analyse de franges s'appuyant sur lacombinaison d'une méthode quasi-hétérodyne utilisant une transformation de Fourier etd'une méthode de code gray.Après avoir quantifié les erreurs et déterminé leurs sources, le choix dudéveloppement d'une procédure d'étalonnage et de nouvelles équations associées à cetteprocédure se sont imposés. Le nouvel étalonnage est quant à lui basé sur une interpolationpolynomiale de points définissant un volume de grandes dimensions. Un objet étalon a étéspécialement conçu pour cette procédure de calibration. Pour évaluer l'erreur du à lacalibration, une étude systématique de cas de polynômes dont le plus haut degré varie de 1à 4 a été effectué. Cette approche a permis de déterminer le degré optimal du polynôme àutiliser. Dans le meilleur cas, l'estimation de l'erreur a permis d'évaluer la précision del'étalonnage à 1 mm sur un objet de 2 m évalué à une distance de 2 m.La méthode a été par la suite appliquée, dans un cadre industriel à l'étude deflotteurs et dans un cadre médical à l'étude du relief de la paroi abdominale. D'un point devue médical, cette méthode permet d'obtenir rapidement et facilement la morphologie ducorps humain. Elle permet aussi d'effectuer un meilleur suivi des pathologiesmorphologiques des patients. / The proposed study deals with the adaptation of an optical method to themeasurement of large objects at a low working distance. The optical method used is thefringe projection technique allowing the study of large objects. At first, experimental trials hasbeen used to evaluate the accuracy of the actual development combining the phase shiftingmethod using a Fourier transform and the gray code technique.When the errors have been quantified and their origins determined, the developmentof a calibration procedure and new associated equations have been chosen. The newcalibration is based on polynomial interpolation of points defining a volume of largedimensions. A tested object was designed specifically for this calibration procedure. Toestimate the calibration error, a systematic study of polynomials cases is performed. Thehighest degree of those cases varies from 1 to 4. This approach allows the determination theoptimal polynomial degree to be used. In the best case, the estimation of the error allows theevaluation of the calibration accuracy of about 1 mm for an object of 2 m large, measured ata distance of 2 m.The method has been subsequently applied, in an industrial setting, to the study offloats and in a medical setting to the study of the relief of the abdominal wall. From a medicalpoint of view, this method gives a rapid and easy access to the topology of human body. Itallows a better follow-up of the patient pathology.

While fringe benefits create value in the employer-employee relationship, implicitly subsidized fringe ben-efits risk incurring economic deadweight losses. An increasingly common fringe benefit in Europe is the company car. Literature has showed how fringe benefits should be taxed for tax neutrality yet current taxations of fringe benefits cars in Europe have been found to cause significant deadweight losses. The prevalence of fringe benefits cars in Europe generally and Sweden specifically renders it relevant to in-vestigate how the taxation of fringe benefits cars affect economic welfare. Fringe benefits cars are also of interest for policy evaluations, both in their provision as fringe benefits in terms of equity as well as a means of transportation and climate change mitigation. Sweden has committed to ambitious GHG emission policy goals which directly relates the composition of the Swedish (company) car fleet. The thesis methodology was based on a Dutch framework for welfare equations and statistical methods such as regression analysis. Interviews were conducted with industry professionals to gain market insights and perspectives in the case of company cars. A deadweight loss was found as SEK 2 300 per fringe benefits car and the total market deadweight loss was estimated to SEK 186 million. The automobile market gives rise to many externalities and some fringe benefits car related were quantified. Internalizing a conservative externality estimate yields additional deadweight losses at SEK 425 per fringe benefits car. Many socioeconomic factors were found to be correlated with car expenditure, most of them positively: household income, age and a managerial like position. Gender as in female had a negative effect on car expenditure. The current taxation of fringe benefits cars (2014) is potentially problematic for Swedish policy goals concerning traffic safety, climate change and gender equity for three reasons. The current taxation of fringe benefits cars: (1) might have negative safety implications from a system perspective on traffic safety, (2) does not necessarily promote more environmental friendly cars on average and (3) is not gender neutral as women as a group has a statistically lower preference for expensive cars. / Löneförmåner kan skapa värde i relationen mellan arbetsgivare och anställda men riskerar genom skattein-ducerade implicita prisreduktioner att ge upphov till ekonomiska dödviktsförluster. En vanlig och allt vikti-gare löneförmån i Europa är förmånsbilen. Litteraturen har visat hur löneförmåner kan beskattas samtidigt som beskattningen av förmånsbilar i Europa har gett upphov till just sådana ekonomiska dödviktsförluster. Den stora andelen förmånsbilar i Europa generellt och Sverige specifikt gör det relevant att undersöka hur den nuvarande beskattningen av förmånsbilar (2014) påverkar den ekonomiska välfärden. Förmånsbilar är även av intresse för policyutvärdering, både i egenskap av löneförmån gällande jämställdhet och i egen-skap av transportmedel med dess miljöpåverkan. Sverige har förbundit sig till ambitiösa utsläppsmål av växthusgaser vilket direkt relaterar till den svenska (förmåns)bilflottans komposition. Metoden i denna studie grundade sig främst på ett holländskt ramverk för välfärdsberäkning och statis-tiska analysmetoder såsom regressionsanalys. Intervjuer har hållits med nyckelpersoner verksamma inom billeasing. Det observerades en dödviktsförlust på 2 300 SEK per förmånsbil med en total marknadsdödvik-tsförlust beräknas till 186 miljoner SEK. Marknaden för bilar ger upphov till många marknadsexternaliteter varav vissa relaterade till förmånsbilar kvantifierades i denna studie. Internaliseras ett konservativt estimat fås ytterligare dödviktsförluster av 425 SEK per förmånsbil. Flera socioekonomiska faktorer påverkade bilutgifter, de flesta hade en positiv effekt: hushållsinkomst, ålder och en chefsliknande position. Att vara kvinna påverkade däremot bilutgifter negativt. Den nuvarande beskattningen av förmånsbilar (2014) kan problematiseras av tre anledningar relaterade till svenska policymål för trafiksäkerhet, klimatförändringar och jämställdhet. Den nuvarande beskattningen av förmånsbilar: (1) kan ge upphov till negativa olyck-sexternaliteter utifrån ett systemperspektiv på säkerhet, (2) ger inte nödvändigtvis mer miljövänliga bilar i genomsnitt och (3) är inte könsneutral då kvinnor har en statistiskt lägre preferens för dyra bilar.

The important role played by tertiary institutions in South Africa with regard to the general development of the country, cannot be disputed. To ensure that tertiary institutions provide education of high quality, competent employees are needed. These employees however have to be paid competitive salary packages. Employee benefits, which form 40 percent of an employer's payroll costs, constitute an important cost component and need to be scrutinised more closely with the aim of managing it as efficiently and effectively as possible. To achieve this goal the primary purpose of this research is thus to determine to what extent the present employee benefits provided by tertiary institutions in South Africa, address the diverse needs of employees. From the empirical study it is clear that employees' awareness of benefits offered and their divergent preferences, necessitates a more flexible approach to the management of benefits. A flexible benefit system would thus be an option. / Human Resource Management / M. Comm. (Business Management)

M. Tech. Civil Engineering / The transport sector accounts for 13% of all greenhouse gas emissions and is one of the few sectors where emissions are still growing. Car use is one of the principal contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector. In this research an optimal park and ride facility that reduces automobile traffic congestion within the Central Business District (CBD) of the City Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality was investigated with a view to reducing greenhouse gases and their impact on climate. The use of park and ride transportation system is expected to reduce over 96.2% carbon emission by cars traveling along the A Re Yeng Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) line. Park and ride may be further researched for the feeder systems of the A Re Yeng BRT and within townships in the city of Tshwane metropolitan Municipality.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

This dissertation examines contemporary responses by Austrian theatre makers from the free theatre sector, that is, those working outside of the state theatre establishment, to the outcome of what came to be known as ‘the big lie’ on which Austrian national identity was built following liberation from German rule by the Allied forces in 1945. The ensuing problem for the post-war generations of having to claim a past that was buried under the carefully constructed official version of history but mediated through the silence of their parents and grandparents – shaping their (inner) lives – and possibilities for representing such experience through the medium of theatre are core issues explored in this study. The main focus of the dissertation is analysis of a selection of three pieces of theatre produced by two free theatre companies in Austria, Auf der Suche nach Jakob / Searching for Jacob / Szukajac Jakuba, and Pola, both by the Projekttheater Studio based in Vienna, and Speaking Stones: images, voices, fragments… from that which comes after by Theater Asou in Graz, Styria. Apart from contextualization of the central thematic concerns of the selected pieces of theatre within the historical events of 20th century Austria, and discussion of the theoretical framework within which the pieces are analysed, this study also offers a consideration of the phenomenon of the free theatre sector in contemporary Austria as a complement and an alternative to the state theatre sector, its roots and development since the post WWII period through to the early 21st century. Interviews with theatre artists, arts administrators and a Holocaust eye witness are also drawn upon to investigate how free theatre can provide a medium though which memory-work, the subtleties of damage and the inexpressible, and the difficult task of claiming the past can be explored.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the perceptions of job satisfaction as defined by management and nonmanagement employees and to compare both parties' perceptions of organizational benefits to a list prepared by the organization's benefit personnel. Turnover is costly to the organization, both in money and in the impact it has on those individuals remaining with the organization. Every effort should be undertaken to reduce the amount of turnover within the organization. A contributing factor leading to turnover may be a gap between what the employees believe is important to them and what management believes is important to the employees. The boundaries of the gap need to be identified before any effort can be made to reduce or bridge the gap. Once the boundaries are identified, policies can be analyzed and the possibility of reducing the gap investigated. Management as a whole must be aware of the needs and wants of their employees before any attempt to develop a retention strategy is undertaken. This knowledge can be acquired only through two-way communication with the employee. The communication process includes the simple process of asking employees for this information and then listening to how they respond. This study suggests that little difference exists in perception of job satisfaction importance for gender, age group, length of time with the organization, topic training hours, and between management and nonmanagement employees. However, perception gaps exist between the job satisfaction items addressed by organizational policies and procedures and those perceived by employees. Additional studies that include a number of varied organizations are needed before extensive generalizations can be made.

This study was to determine if the importance assigned by health educators (judges) to components of corporate health promotion programs is the same as or different from program components most frequently offered by corporations for employees. This involved establishing a list of program components that judges felt were important for wellness programs and comparing this list with programs actually existing in polled corporations. A literature review was used to establish an initial list of program components. Thirty-eight judges returned questionnaires incorporating the list. A Spearman's rho and scattergram were used to test for correlations between judges' opinions and corporate practices. The report concludes that no correlation exists but that there is agreement among the judges polled that corporations should promote employee wellness programs.