Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Köln.

Thesis, PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1989.

No description available.

There have been decades of attempts to evolve or revolutionise the traditional financial system, but not all such efforts have been transformative or even successful. From Chaum's proposals in the 1980s for private payment systems to micropayments, previous attempts failed to take off for a variety of reasons, including non-existing markets, or issues pertaining to usability, scalability and performance, resilience against failure, and complexity of protocols. Towards creating more resilient payment systems, we investigated issues related to security engineering in general, and payment systems in particular. We identified that network coverage, central points of failure, and attacks may cripple system performance. The premise of our research is that offline capabilities are required to produce resilience in critical systems. We focus on issues related to network problems and attacks, system resilience, and scalability by introducing the ability to process payments offline without relying on the availability of network coverage; a lack of network coverage renders some payment services unusable for their customers. Decentralising payment verification, and outsourcing some operations to users, alleviates the burden of contacting centralised systems to process every transaction. Our secondary goal is to minimise the cost of providing payment systems, so providers can cut transaction fees. Moreover, by decentralising payment verification that can be performed offline, we increase system resilience, and seamlessly maintain offline operations until a system is back online. We also use tamper-resistant hardware to tackle usability issues, by minimising cognitive overhead and helping users to correctly handle critical data, minimising the risks of data theft and tampering. We apply our research towards extending financial inclusion efforts, since the issues discussed above must be solved to extend mobile payments to the poorest demographics. More research is needed to integrate online payments, offline payments, and delay-tolerant networking. This research extends and enhances not only payment systems, but other electronically-enabled services from pay-as-you-go solar panels to agricultural subsidies and payments from aid donors. We hope that this thesis is helpful for researchers, protocol designers, and policy makers interested in creating resilient payment systems by assisting them in financial inclusion efforts.

Diss.--Heidelberg. / Bibliography: p. [149]-150.

Diss.--Heidelberg. / Bibliography: p. [149]-150.

No description available.

Thesis (M.S.)--Cornell University, August, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 48-56).

M.Phil. / Purpose: The purpose of the research was to evaluate the extent to which the constructs and dimensions identified by De Swardt (2005) are valid in describing and predicting the outcome of a variable pay plan. The following secondary research questions were therefore asked: What is the reliability of the eleven dimensions and three constructs? What are the statistical characteristics of the 11 dimensions and 3 constructs, and can they be used to benchmark new variable pay plans? How reliable are the 78 items as test criteria for the 11 dimensions and 3 constructs? Motivation for study: The primary rationale for this study was the unavailability of empirically tested models and the lack of validated variable pay instruments that evaluate the outcome of any variable pay scheme. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study followed a quantitative research methodology, with the primary objective of assessing outcome similarities through Structural Equation Modelling (EQS) factor analysis. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were performed to the sample data to measure correlations. Findings: The findings of the research highlighted that there were minimal differences between De Swardt’s variable pay models. Differences were identified by analyzing the reliability statistics and factor analysis rules of assessing model fit. Following certain research limitations, the research questions were further refined for use in future studies. The research findings confirmed De Swardt’s (2005) theoretical model of predicting variable pay outcome. Research limitations: Although the study was conducted amongst a wider population group, individual organisation feedback from the selected participants was not balanced. A considerably larger portion of the feedback was obtained from the company with which the researcher was employed. Practical implications/Value-add: The outcome of this research confirms the commercial applicability of the instrument in identifying potential flaws in any variable pay scheme during the early stages of implementation. This will have a positive impact on an organisation’s bottom line. Additionally, quantifying the impact of variable pay plans will not only enhance HR’s credibility with regards to the broader organisational goals, but will encourage a well-structured, performance-linked variable pay system based on tested models.