According to the Sectional Titles Act 95 of 1986, levies are assigned according to the size of a unit, in other words a unit’s participation quota. These levies are used to finance a complex’s insurance, common property electricity and water, lift maintenance, audit fees, management agent fees, salaries and wages, security, swimming pool expenses and general building maintenance. According to the Traditional Costing System, indirect costs are allocated based on a single cost actual expenses over a year are dissected. A regression and correlation analysis was done on the relationship between costs, participation quota and levies. The contribution of the study is that it empirically determines the behaviour of cost items in order to allocate indirect costs more accurately. Consequently, this will result in improved reasonability and will eliminate the cross-subsidisation of units. The objectives were reached as follows: The first objective was reached when it was proved through empirical studies that the Sectional Title is not fair when it states that the allocation of levies must be according to floor space. The second objective was reached when both participation quota and units per complex were identified as cost drivers for each cost item. The third objective was reached by allocating the levy on a 50 percent base according to units and a 50 percent base according to the total area. This could be refined by each complex according to the unique need of the complex. driver. However, various indirect costs are not necessarily subject to this single cost driver. In practice, it has been proven that high volume products are proportionally taxed with indirect costs when compared to low volume products. In many complexes, owners with larger units are of the opinion that their larger units are subsidising those owners with smaller units. In contrast to the traditional costing system, activity-based costing recognises that indirect costs can also be assigned by use of multiple cost drivers. Since these multiple cost drivers – which affect the way costs are assigned – can be identified, indirect costs are assigned more accurately. This study investigates the current method of cost allocation, whereby costs are assigned via participation quota, and makes suggestions on how these costs can be assigned on a more accurate and fair basis in practice. The goal of this study is to challenge the reasonability of the Sectional Titles Act. The objectives of the dissertation are firstly, to determine the cost behaviour of various cost items and whether the participation quota is a fair cost driver for determining the levies that are to be paid; secondly, it investigates alternative cost drivers that will be more applicable to certain cost items; thirdly, to suggest a cost formula to replace the current cost method, that being the allocation of indirect costs via participation quota. Empirical methods have been used in the research. The empirical research was performed using data obtained from ANGOR Property Specialists (Pty) Ltd’s database. A sample of 113 complexes was extracted from the database of which the / Thesis (M.Com. (Management Accountancy))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:19:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Cassiano Inserra Bernini.pdf: 720433 bytes, checksum: d298dd79462719292c50326ec106424b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-10-26 / This work constructs the source rule for the Tax on Property of Automotive Vehicles (IPVA) levy. The competence to establish and collect this tax was given to the States and the Federal District by article 155, item III, of the 1988 Federal Constitution of Brazil. The methodology conceived by the Logical and Semantic Constructivism was used to study the theme. According to said methodology, the Law is taken as a cultural object expressed in language and based on the categories of the Philosophy of Language. Initially, the object is submitted to an analytical analysis and following it is reconstructed with emphasis on the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic aspects of the terms. The work starts with some brief considerations on the legal rule and the source rule for the tax levy. Following, the work focuses on the historical aspects involving the IPVA and the possible requirement for the prior enactment of a nationwide supplementary law providing for the elements of the source rule for this tax levy enabling the competent political entities to establish it. This work also addresses the constitutional principles applicable to the IPVA. Finally, the source rule for the IPVA levy is constructed through a detailed analysis of all its constituent criteria / O trabalho constrói a regra matriz de incidência do Imposto sobre a Propriedade de Veículos Automotores IPVA , cuja competência para instituição e cobrança foi outorgada aos Estados e ao Distrito Federal pelo artigo 155, inciso III, da Constituição Federal do Brasil de 1988. Para o estudo do tema foi utilizada a metodologia idealizada pelo Construtivismo Lógico-Semântico, que toma o Direito positivo como objeto cultural expresso em linguagem e que parte de categorias da Filosofia da Linguagem para, inicialmente, realizar uma análise analítica do objeto, para em seguida reconstruí-lo, dando-se ênfase aos aspectos sintático, semântico e pragmático dos termos. O trabalho inicia-se com breves considerações a respeito da norma jurídica e da regra matriz de incidência tributária. Em seguida, foram examinados os aspectos históricos envolvendo o IPVA e a eventual necessidade da prévia edição de lei complementar nacional dispondo sobre elementos da regra matriz de incidência deste imposto para que as pessoas políticas competentes possam instituí-lo. Foram estudados, também, os princípios constitucionais aplicáveis ao IPVA. Por fim, é construída a regra matriz de incidência do IPVA, com o desenvolvimento de todos os seus critérios constitutivos

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:23:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Luisa Cristina Miranda Carneiro.pdf: 1343051 bytes, checksum: 756299a194be3ba131dde3ffd4b4e33b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-09 / This research s purpose is studying the limits of the taxing competence granted to the States and the Federal District to legislate and impose the Vehicle Property Tax (IPVA), from the analysis of the aspects of the Matrix-rule of tax levy, built on the basis of constitutional provisions and infra constitutional rules, and under the methodology of Constructivism Logical-Semantic. IPVA was created in 1985 and is considered a simple tax by the doctrine. However, it has become increasingly important in the Brazilian legal scenario, which is revealed by the increase of its revenues, the growth of various disputes towards the tax, and the notorious tax war between States, which compromises the integrity the federal pact, creates legal uncertainty and undermine both the States and the taxpayers that act in good faith / A presente pesquisa tem por escopo o estudo dos limites da competência tributária atribuída aos Estados-membros e ao Distrito Federal para instituição e cobrança do Imposto sobre a Propriedade de Veículos Automotores (IPVA), a partir da análise dos aspectos que compõem sua regra-matriz de incidência tributária, construída com fundamento em normas da Constituição Federal e de diplomas infraconstitucionais e sob a metodologia do Constructivismo Lógico-Semântico. O IPVA foi instituído em 1985 e é um imposto ainda carecedor de maiores lucubrações pela doutrina. Não obstante, vem assumindo crescente importância no cenário jurídico brasileiro, revelada no aumento de sua representatividade econômica para os Estados da Federação, no avanço das diversas controvérsias que passam a gravitar em torno desse tributo e na propagação da famigerada guerra fiscal, que compromete a integridade do pacto federativo, gera insegurança jurídica e prejudica tanto os Estados-membros, quanto os contribuintes de boa-fé

<p>Uporednom analizom elemenata psihodrame i socidrame s jedne i filmske metodologije reditelja Želimira Žilnika sa druge strane, u ovom radu ukazano je na funkcionalnu korelaciju poreĊenih disciplina. Evidentna srodnost psihodrame i sociodrame sa metodologijom rada na filmu upućuje na mogućnost njihove metodolo&scaron;ke interakcije, ĉime se ujedno i pro&scaron;iruje polje paradigmatskih okvira u metodolo&scaron;koj praksi filmskog stvarala&scaron;tva. Strukturu rada čini osam poglavlja. U teorijskom delu dat je pregled ključnih načela i metodolo&scaron;kih koncepata psihodrame i sociodrame, zatim su razmatrane metodolo&scaron;ke osnove specifiĉnog filmskog podţanra dokudrame. U prvom delu istraţivanja analiziran je autentični filmski jezik Želimira Žilnika najizrazitijeg predstavnika dokudramskog pravca kod nas, a potom su u drugom delu izvedeni zaključci o dominantnim korelativnim elementima poređenih metodologija. Ključno zapažanje koje proističe iz sprovedene komparacije ukazuje na evidentno postojanje psihodramskih i sociodramskih elemenata u specifiĉnoj metodologiji Želimira Žilnika kao dominantnih odrednica pomoću kojih autor na impresivan naĉin koristi fleksibilni potencijal dokudrame u balansu između dokumentarne i igrane forme. Specifiĉnost ovakve autorske orijentacije je da kroz kreiranje imaginarne filmske priĉe principom dramske rekonstrukcije stvarnosti ističe ono &scaron;to u realnom svetu ima za podlogu indeksiĉnu proverljivost. Potvrđujući hipotezu o funkcionalnoj primenljivosti naučnih saznanja u umetniĉkom procesu, konkretno na primeru paralelizma socijalne psihologije i filma, rezultati ovog istraţivanja otvaraju mogućnost formiranja polazne osnove za dalja istraţivanja u oblasti filmologije, naroĉito u domenu dokudrame, a mogu imati pedago&scaron;ke implikacije u radu sa studentima, mladim autorima, kao i sa svima koji žele da pro&scaron;ire svoju metodologiju primenom ovakvog specifiĉnog - interdisciplinarnog pristupa.</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

Nobel laureate Dr. Carl Wieman, renowned for his leadership in science education, is the latest addition to UBC's Faculty of Science. UBC's Dr. David Dolphin is the winner of the 2006 Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering.

According to the Sectional Titles Act 95 of 1986, levies are assigned according to the size of a unit, in other words a unit’s participation quota. These levies are used to finance a complex’s insurance, common property electricity and water, lift maintenance, audit fees, management agent fees, salaries and wages, security, swimming pool expenses and general building maintenance. According to the Traditional Costing System, indirect costs are allocated based on a single cost actual expenses over a year are dissected. A regression and correlation analysis was done on the relationship between costs, participation quota and levies. The contribution of the study is that it empirically determines the behaviour of cost items in order to allocate indirect costs more accurately. Consequently, this will result in improved reasonability and will eliminate the cross-subsidisation of units. The objectives were reached as follows: The first objective was reached when it was proved through empirical studies that the Sectional Title is not fair when it states that the allocation of levies must be according to floor space. The second objective was reached when both participation quota and units per complex were identified as cost drivers for each cost item. The third objective was reached by allocating the levy on a 50 percent base according to units and a 50 percent base according to the total area. This could be refined by each complex according to the unique need of the complex. driver. However, various indirect costs are not necessarily subject to this single cost driver. In practice, it has been proven that high volume products are proportionally taxed with indirect costs when compared to low volume products. In many complexes, owners with larger units are of the opinion that their larger units are subsidising those owners with smaller units. In contrast to the traditional costing system, activity-based costing recognises that indirect costs can also be assigned by use of multiple cost drivers. Since these multiple cost drivers – which affect the way costs are assigned – can be identified, indirect costs are assigned more accurately. This study investigates the current method of cost allocation, whereby costs are assigned via participation quota, and makes suggestions on how these costs can be assigned on a more accurate and fair basis in practice. The goal of this study is to challenge the reasonability of the Sectional Titles Act. The objectives of the dissertation are firstly, to determine the cost behaviour of various cost items and whether the participation quota is a fair cost driver for determining the levies that are to be paid; secondly, it investigates alternative cost drivers that will be more applicable to certain cost items; thirdly, to suggest a cost formula to replace the current cost method, that being the allocation of indirect costs via participation quota. Empirical methods have been used in the research. The empirical research was performed using data obtained from ANGOR Property Specialists (Pty) Ltd’s database. A sample of 113 complexes was extracted from the database of which the / Thesis (M.Com. (Management Accountancy))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011

Economic dispatch is an important optimization challenge in power systems. It helps to find the optimal output power of a number of generating units that satisfy the system load demand at the cheapest cost, considering equality and inequality constraints. Many nature inspired algorithms have been broadly applied to tackle it such as particle swarm optimization. In this dissertation, two improved particle swarm optimization techniques are proposed to solve economic dispatch problems. The first is a hybrid technique with Bat algorithm. Particle swarm optimization as the main optimizer integrates bat algorithm in order to boost its velocity and to adjust the improved solution. The second proposed approach is based on Cuckoo operations. Cuckoo search algorithm is a robust and powerful technique to solve optimization problems. The study investigates the effect of levy flight and random search operation in Cuckoo search in order to ameliorate the performance of the particle swarm optimization algorithm. The two improved particle swarm algorithms are firstly tested on a range of 10 standard benchmark functions and then applied to five different cases of economic dispatch problems comprising 6, 13, 15, 40 and 140 generating units. / Electrical and Mining Engineering / M. Tech. (Electrical Engineering)

Aujourd’hui la prédiction des défaillances de certains systèmes industriels est devenue indispensable pour l’amélioration de la fiabilité et de la rentabilité de ces derniers. Cette prédiction s’appuie principalement sur l’analyse d’évolution du niveau de dégradation du système. Pour les systèmes dont l’état de détérioration n’est pas directement observable, la définition d’indicateurs de santé mesurables est nécessaire. Une modélisation du processus de dégradation à partir de ces données peut être ensuite effectuée. Dans cette thèse, nous considérons un ensemble d’indicateurs non-monotones pour un système opérant dans un environnement dynamique. Compte tenu des principales caractéristiques des données ainsi que de l’impact des conditions environnementales et de leur instabilité, une modélisation stochastique de l’évolution de ces indicateurs est proposée. Les modèles proposés se basent principalement sur une combinaison d’un processus de Wiener et de processus de sauts. Les motivations, les méthodes de calibration, l’utilité et les limites de chaque modèle sont discutées. Nous proposons ensuite une approche pour l’aide à la décision concernant les actions de maintenance préventive. Cette approche consiste à évaluer la valeur d’une option réelle qui présente la possibilité d’«Attendre avant d’Agir» suite à un signal d’avertissement sur une défaillance probable. Une application de cette approche pour le cas d'une éolienne équipée d’un système de surveillance et de gestion est traitée / A major concern for engineers and managers nowadays is to make high quality products and highly reliable systems. In this context, reliability analysis and failure prediction, besides of efficient maintenance decision-making are strongly required. Deterioration modeling and analysis is a fundamental step for the understanding and the anticipation of system behavior. Consider a functional system operating in unstable conditions or environment where the deterioration level is not observable and could not be determined by direct measures. For this system a set of measurable health indicator that indirectly reflects the system working conditions and deterioration level can be defined and examined. Considering these indicators, the development of a mathematical model describing the system behavior is required.In this thesis, we consider a set of non-monotone indicators evolving in a dynamic environment. Taking into account the major features of the data evolution as well as the impact of dynamic environment consequences and potential shocks, stochastic models based on Wiener and jump processes are proposed for these indicators. Each model is calibrated and tested, and their limits are discussed. A decision-making approach for preventive maintenance strategies is then proposed. In this approach, knowing the RUL of the system, a simulation-based real options analysis is used in order to determine the best date to maintain. Considering a case study of a wind turbine with PHM structure, the decision optimization approach is described

Le droit de propriété est un pilier sur lequel s’appuie le droit fiscal et autour duquel s’articule la fiscalité patrimoniale. Il apparaît que l’optimisation fiscale n’est que l’amélioration des conséquences fiscales d’une opération juridique se fondant sur l’instrumentalisation du droit de propriété. Les techniques juridiques utilisées pour façonner le droit de propriété influent donc sur le traitement fiscal.Cette instrumentalisation du droit de propriété à des fins fiscales répond-elle cependant à une règle générale ? Cette règle générale permet -elle de classer les éléments d’instrumentalisation fiscale du droit de propriété ? Il apparaît que ces éléments ne constituent que des mécanismes juridiques consistant , soit en une déconstruction du droit lui-même ou de sa valeur, soit en une affectation juridique ou spatio-temporelle du droit de propriété. / Legal ownership is one of the main pillars on which tax law is based and around which property taxation revolves. It appears that tax optimisation is merely about improving the tax consequences of a legal operation based on the manipulation of legal ownership. The means used to shape the property rights affect the legal and tax consequences. Is such manipulation of legal ownership for tax purposes subject to a fixed rule? Does this rule allow to draw a categorisation of all instruments used in order to exploit legal ownership for tax purposes? It appears that these instruments are but legal mechanisms. They consist either in a deconstruction of ownership itself or of its value, or in a specific ownership assignment in legal or spatiotemporal terms.

Das Konzept von aktiven Brownschen Teilchen kann benutzt werden, um das Verhalten einfacher biologischer Organismen oder künstlicher Objekte, welche die Möglichkeit besitzen sich von selbst fortzubewegen zu beschreiben. Als Bewegungsgleichungen für aktive Brownsche Teilchen kommen Langevin Gleichungen zum Einsatz. In dieser Arbeit werden aktive Teilchen mit konstanter Geschwindigkeit diskutiert. Im ersten Teil der Arbeit wirkt auf die Bewegungsrichtung des Teilchen weißes alpha-stabiles Rauschen. Es werden die mittlere quadratische Verschiebung und der effektive Diffusionskoeffizient bestimmt. Eine überdampfte Beschreibung, gültig für Zeiten groß gegenüber der Relaxationszeit wird hergleitet. Als experimentell zugängliche Meßgröße, welche als Unterscheidungsmerkmal für die unterschiedlichen Rauscharten herangezogen werden kann, wird die Kurtose berechnet. Neben weißem Rauschen wird noch der Fall eines Ornstein-Uhlenbeck Prozesses angetrieben von Cauchy verteiltem Rauschen diskutiert. Während eine normale Diffusion mit zu weißem Rauschen identischem Diffusionskoeffizienten bestimmt wird, kann die beobachtete Verteilung der Verschiebungen Nicht-Gaußförmig sein. Die Zeit für den Übergang zur Gaußverteilung kann deutlich größer als die Zeitskale Relaxationszeit und die Zeitskale des Ornstein-Uhlenbeck Prozesses sein. Eine Grenze der benötigten Zeit wird durch eine Näherung der Kurtosis ermittelt. Weiterhin werden die Grundlagen eines stochastischen Modells für lokale Suche gelegt. Lokale Suche ist die Suche in der näheren Umgebung eines bestimmten Punktes, welcher Haus genannt wird. Abermals diskutieren wir ein aktives Teilchen mit unveränderlichem Absolutbetrag der Geschwindigkeit und weißen alpha-stabilem Rauschen in der Bewegungsrichtungsdynamik. Die deterministische Bewegung des Teilchens wird analysiert bevor die Situation mit Rauschen betrachtet wird. Die stationäre Aufenthaltswahrscheinlichkeitsdichtefunktion wird bestimmt. Es wird eine optimale Rauschstärke für die lokale Suche, das heißt für das Auffinden eines neuen Ortes in kleinstmöglicher Zeit festgestellt. Die kleinstmögliche Zeit wird kaum von der Rauschart abhängen. Wir werden jedoch feststellen, dass die Rauschart deutlichen Einfluß auf die Rückkehrwahrscheinlichkeit zum Haus hat, wenn die Richtung des zu Hauses fehlerbehaftet ist. Weiterhin wird das Model durch eine an das Haus abstandsabhängige Kopplung erweitert werden. Zum Abschluß betrachten wir eine Gruppe von Suchern. / Active Brownian particles described by Langevin equations are used to model the behavior of simple biological organisms or artificial objects that are able to perform self propulsion. In this thesis we discuss active particles with constant speed. In the first part, we consider angular driving by white Levy-stable noise and we discuss the mean squared displacement and diffusion coefficients. We derive an overdamped description for those particles that is valid at time scales larger the relaxation time. In order to provide an experimentally accessible property that distinguishes between the considered noise types, we derive an analytical expression for the kurtosis. Afterwards, we consider an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process driven by Cauchy noise in the angular dynamics of the particle. While, we find normal diffusion with the diffusion coefficient identical to the white noise case we observe a Non-Gaussian displacement at time scales that can be considerable larger than the relaxation time and the time scale provided by the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process. In order to provide a limit for the time needed for the transition to a Gaussian displacement, we approximate the kurtosis. Afterwards, we lay the foundation for a stochastic model for local search. Local search is concerned with the neighborhood of a given spot called home. We consider an active particle with constant speed and alpha-stable noise in the dynamics of the direction of motion. The deterministic motion will be discussed before considering the noise to be present. An analytical result for the steady state spatial density will be given. We will find an optimal noise strength for the local search and only a weak dependence on the considered noise types. Several extensions to the introduced model will then be considered. One extension includes a distance dependent coupling towards the home and thus the model becomes more general. Another extension concerned with an erroneous understanding by the particle of the direction of the home leads to the result that the return probability to the home depends on the noise type. Finally we consider a group of searchers.