This thesis sets out to examine the proposition that Air Marshal Sir George Jones??? time as Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) of the Royal Australian Air force (RAAF) was both beneficial and detrimental to the Service but the benefits gained from his time in office outweighed the detriment. Sir George Jones served as CAS for nearly ten years (1942 - 1952). This was the longest continuous appointment of a CAS to date. Jones was CAS for most of the Second World War and it was during that time that the two events for which he is most remembered occurred, viz the controversy surrounding his appointment and his ongoing conflict with the RAAF Operational Commander (W.D. Bostock). In order to assess his impact on the RAAF, this thesis describes events and incidents that occurred while Jones was CAS. To compile this work, data was drawn from numerous sources including: interviews with family members and ex-RAAF personnel; official records maintained by the National Archives of Australia (NAA), the RAAF Historical Section and the RAAF Museum; Jones??? personal papers held by family members and the Australian War Memorial; and the papers of other RAAF officers and politicians held by the RAAF Museum and the National Library of Australia (NLA). Jones wrote a brief autobiography, which (together with other secondary sources) was used to ???fill in the gaps.??? This research shows that Jones??? time as CAS was far more eventful and filled with more conflict than he alludes to in his autobiography. He had no say in his appointment as CAS but his personality did not allow him to make the best of the situation with Bostock. Contrary to the views expressed in earlier works, Jones??? appointment was not a mistake but a deliberate move by the Minister for Air. The conclusion reached is that Jones??? time in office was beneficial to the RAAF. He presided over its growth to being the world???s fourth largest air force at the end of the Second World War. He oversaw its post war demobilisation and was responsible for planning the Service???s structure to meet the Australian Government???s needs during the early years of the Cold War.

In June 2012, the Supreme Court of the United States decided the fate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in a case called National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius. While initially the decision seemed favorable to supporters of the bill, Chief Justice Roberts’ majority opinion could likely render the bill ineffective in implementation and it creates more Constitutionally confusing precedent than it resolves. Among the questions that now rise to the surface are: will Congress be able to raise the tax to a level where it will become effective? What is now mandatory for states to adopt into their Medicaid programs? Where is the line for the federal government with regards to coercion? What are the definitions of direct and indirect taxes? And, how binding is the Origination Clause of the Constitution?

In this study, it is aimed to analyze the learned (ilmiye) group that was important part of the military class of the Ottoman Empire and the ilmiye group had three important members. They were judges (kadis), professors (m&uuml / derrises) and muftis (m&uuml / ft&uuml / s) and they were analyzed from the beginning to the end of the career line as a dynamic process. Due to the vast nature of the subject, one needed to delimit the research in terms of time and space. In that regard, it was chosen the 18th century and the districts belonging to the Anatolian kaz&acirc / skerlik (chief justice). Due also to the impossibility to cover the whole Ottoman eras of six hundred years, the eighteenth century was chosen, the period following the classical period and preceding the era of modernization. This was because the 18th century was the era when the classical institutions of the Ottoman Empire could no longer resist the forces of change. The extent of changes, which took place in this century, might constitute a topic for other researches. On the other hand, the need to delimit the area of research to the Anatolian chief justice (kaz&acirc / skerlik) was a result of technical and methodological necessity.

<p>In the ever so increasingly competitive business climate of the 21^st century, human resources are vital for corporate success. Employees need proper incentives to perform in goal-oriented manners. Incentive systems, especially Chief Executive Officer [CEO] remunerations, have been a popular topic since the 1990s, and this tendency has increased both during the 2002-2003 corporate scandal era, as well as the financial crisis which sparked in 2007. The recent tendency appears to lean towards companies cutting their executive bonuses as well as criticism and suspiciousness towards large bonus payments. While remuneration policies within the banking industry have been thoroughly debated and researched, another financial industry that is left largely untouched are the insurance companies. The focus of this research is therefore CEO remuneration in European insurance companies.</p><p>This descriptive study, of annual reports of stock-listed insurance companies, uses a purposive cluster sample to explore quantitative trends in CEO remunerations. In addition, a content analysis of five randomly selected companies out of the sample provides a deeper, complementary understanding of the justifications of the trends. The research questions are: <em>What trends on CEO remuneration can be found over the years 2005-2009 in annual reports of European insurance companies, concerning total remuneration, fixed salary and short-term bonus? What justifications do companies make for the remunerations</em><em> over the years 2005-2009</em><em>? </em></p><p>The quantitative part of the research inductively tests the assumption that CEO remuneration has decreased during the past few years 2008 and/ or 2009 due to the impact of the financial crisis. The content analysis part of the research deductively tests if agency theory concerns and issues concerning attraction and retention play a role in determining remuneration policies.<em></em></p><p>From this research, it is concluded that short-term variable pay is largely performance-based. Still, many other aspects serve as input factors when determining compensation levels. Based on the content analysis, it is revealed that interest alignment and attraction- and retention-issues are important determinants of remunerations. Subjective factors such as discretionary judgements also play a crucial role. The quantitative trends found in this study show that total remunerations have decreased markedly in 2008, and more vaguely in 2009. The financial crisis has had an impact on especially the short-term variable part of salaries, but also on base salary levels. Although not all companies that were investigated in the content analysis explicitly mention it in their annual reports, over the years 2005-2009, all of them become more concerned about remuneration policies and business risk factors. Over the investigated years, these companies also become more attentive to creating proactive and sophisticated value creating remuneration policies that are in line with international standards, in order to act legitimate towards stakeholders.</p>

本研究之目的在於探討國內公司推動企業風險管理（enterprise risk management, ERM）的情形，以及其對內部稽核職能產生的影響。本研究利用問卷分別調查：（1）國內企業目前推動風險管理機制的情形，（2）影響國內企業推動風險管理機制的重要因素，（3）內部稽核人員在企業風險管理過程扮演何種角色，以及（4）內部稽核人員在企業風險管理過程實際扮演之角色與其認知之差異。 本研究結果顯示，國內企業正處於推行ERM之起步階段，專責風險主管之設置仍較不足，惟內部稽核職能已逐漸轉變為以風險為導向，有助於其服務機構推動ERM。至於影響國內推行ERM之重要因素則分別為：中高階主管的支持、獨立董事之比例、CEO與CFO要求內部稽核職能參與風險管理之程度，以及企業與是否設置風險長。此外，規模較大以及由四大事務所查核簽證之公司，其ERM之推動程度較高。而我國內部稽核人員在ERM過程所扮演的角色，與國際內部稽核協會（IIA）所發布之立場聲明書之建議並不一致，其主要差異在於內部稽核在ERM過程不應扮演的角色，以及其在防護措施之下可以扮演的角色。導致此種差異的可能原因可能是國內正值ERM推動的起步階段，內部稽核職能被要求扮演著較重的角色。不過，內部稽核人員的定位應該要更清楚的劃分，才足以維持內部稽核職能的獨立性與客觀性。 / The purpose of this study is to investigate the current status of enterprise risk management (ERM) in Taiwan public-listed firms and its impact on the internal audit function. We use a research questionnaire to explore the following issues: (1) the current status of ERM in the sample Taiwan public firms, (2) the key factors affecting the implementation of ERM, (3) the role that an internal audit function plays in the ERM process, and (4) the potential gaps between internal auditors’ perceptions of their roles in the ERM process and what they are actually playing in such a process. Our results show that the public companies in Taiwan are, in general, still at the early stage of ERM implementation. They are still lack of managing positions in charge of corporate risk management. Internal audit engagements, however, are becoming more risk-oriented. This development is helpful in promoting ERM. Among the key factors affecting ERM are: (1) the support from management, (2) the ratio of independent directors in the board, (3) the degree of participation by internal auditors in the ERM process that CEO and CFO demand, and (4) the presence of a chief risk officer in the enterprise. Moreover, larger firms and those audited by the top four CPA firms are more advanced in implementing ERM. Our results also indicate that, during the ERM process, the roles played by internal auditors in Taiwan are not consistent with those specified in the ERM position paper issued by the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA). The main differences are in the areas of “roles the internal auditor should not play” and “the roles played under protective measures”. This may be due to the fact that ERM in Taiwan is still at its early stage and internal auditors are, therefore, asked to take more responsibilities in a firm’s ERM process. In order to maintain their independence and objectivity, however, internal auditors should follow the IIA’s professional standards and code of ethics and avoid taking the responsibilities of management.

The purpose of the study was to identify international university administrators' perspectives on organizational strategies to support higher education internationalization. Internationalization is the conscious effort to integrate international, intercultural, and global dimensions into the ethos and outcomes of higher education (NAFSA, 2008). A descriptive survey design method was used and the instrument entitled "Strategic Internationalization Priority Scale" was developed for this research. This study is quantitative and cross-sectional. The online survey was sent to 1,043 top university administrators at 149 universities in 50 countries. These universities had active international agreements with the University of South Florida at the time of the study. Approximately 350 university presidents, vice-presidents, and deans, from 33 countries, and 65 universities, participated in the study. ANOVA, MANOVA, and Multiple Regression analyses were used to examine data in the three dimensions of internationalization: 1) Planning and operations, 2) Student Education, and 3) Teaching and Faculty Development. The statistical programs used for data analysis were SAS 9.2, SPSS 18.0 and Mplus 5. In general, the study participants perceived the three dimensions as having a medium priority level. Planning and operation strategies, and student education strategies, were rated higher than those for teaching and faculty development. Four of the 34 strategies were perceived as having a high priority level: 1) Motivating students to participate in study abroad programs, 2) Establishing institutional collaboration with foreign universities, 3) Communicating an institutional global vision, and 4) Increasing visibility of international focus on institution's web site. In contrast, the following strategies were perceived as having a low priority level: 1) Creating a branch campus abroad, and 2) Considering foreign language fluency in salary and promotion decisions. The research findings revealed that there were differences in perceptions based on the following demographic characteristics: 1) Institutional description, 2) Institution's world region, 3) Institutional status, 4) Number of international undergraduate students, 5) Administrators' position, 6) Administrators' English proficiency, and 7) Administrators' International experience. Furthermore, the participants identified the following top difficulties in achieving internationalization at their institutions: 1) Lack of economic resources, 2) Lack of faculty involvement, 3) Lack of planning and coordination, and 4) Lack of governmental support. The implications of these results are presented as they relate to the research and practice of higher education administration, educational leadership and policy development.

Purpose: The study aims to examine how education and previous industry experience with a company's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), affect a company's success in the staffing industry. Method: The study uses method triangulation , a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods . The study has a quantitative approach to the cross-sectional design. The choice of combining several study designs are made to create a greater understanding of the research topic. Results &amp; Conclusion: The findings determines whether the study's hypotheses are confirmed or dismissed.  Hypothesis 1.1: A higher level of education increases the likelihood of successful entrepreneurship. The hypothesis can neither be confirmed nor dismissed.  Hypothesis 1.2: A higher level of education does not increase the likelihood of successful entrepreneurship. The hypothesis can neither be confirmed nor dismissed.  Hypothesis 2.1: Previous experience in the sector increases the likelihood of successful entrepreneurship. The hypothesis can neither be confirmed nor dismissed.  Hypothesis 2.2: Previous experience in the industry will not increase the likelihood of successful entrepreneurship. The hypothesis can neither be confirmed nor dismissed. Suggestions for future research: It would be interesting to do the study on a larger scale, with more number of respondents would study demonstrate clearer connection. Further research could also involve more factors for business success in order to get a broader view on the definition of success. Another interesting approach for future research might be to explore how the distinction between different fields look like, instead of only one industry in this study. Other industries. It would be interesting to do a similar study on a completely different industry or small business to see what the result is then.

Part I of this thesis studies P[subscript(G)](d), the probability of generating a nonabelian simple group G with d randomly chosen elements, and extends this idea to consider the conditional probability P[subscript(G,Soc(G))](d), the probability of generating an almost simple group G by d randomly chosen elements, given that they project onto a generating set of G/Soc(G). In particular we show that for a 2-generated almost simple group, P[subscript(G,Soc(G))](2) 53≥90, with equality if and only if G = A₆ or S₆. Furthermore P[subscript(G,Soc(G))](2) 9≥10 except for 30 almost simple groups G, and we specify this list and provide exact values for P[subscript(G,Soc(G))](2) in these cases. We conclude Part I by showing that for all almost simple groups P[subscript(G,Soc(G))](3)≥139/150. In Part II we consider a related notion. Given a probability ε, we wish to determine d[superscript(ε)] (G), the number of random elements needed to generate a finite group G with failure probabilty at most ε. A generalisation of a result of Lubotzky bounds d[superscript(ε)](G) in terms of l(G), the chief length of G, and d(G), the minimal number of generators needed to generate G. We obtain bounds on the chief length of permutation groups in terms of the degree n, and bounds on the chief length of completely reducible matrix groups in terms of the dimension and field size. Combining these with existing bounds on d(G), we obtain bounds on d[superscript(ε)] (G) for permutation groups and completely reducible matrix groups.

Syftet med vår studie är att kartlägga och förklara hur transparenta svenska börsbolag är vid redovisningen av utfallet samt bakgrunden till kortsiktig rörlig ersättning för den verkställande direktören, samt att identifiera potentiella förklaringar och bakomliggande orsaker till transparensen. Vi har valt att studera de 29 bolag som representerar de 30 mest omsatta aktierna på Stockholmsbörsens Large Cap lista (OMXS30). Metodmässigt kan studien delas in i två huvudsakliga delar. I den ena delen av studien använder vi en kvantitativ ansats och tillämpar ett positivistiskt synsätt. I den andra delen av studien använder vi en kvalitativ ansats och tillämpar ett hermeneutiskt synsätt. Vid insamlingen av datamaterialet har vi inspirerats av en tvärsnittsdesign där huvudsakliga syftet har varit att samla in relevant information för att kunna bedöma transparensen utifrån en egen framtagen modell. Modellen utgörs av fem kriterier inspirerade av Ersättningsakademiens riktlinjer för rapportering av ersättning och syftar till att ge en samlad bedömning av de studerade bolagens transparens. Vi har även identifierat ett antal potentiella förklarande variabler utifrån vilka vi har studerat orsakssamband till transparensen. Vi har dessutom analyserat kommunikationen utifrån ett legitimitetsperspektiv med avsikt att få en förståelse för bolagens val av rapportering. Utifrån resultatet av vår studie kan vi finna stöd till den kritik som riktats mot en bristande transparens vid rapportering av rörlig ersättning till verkställande direktören. Vi kan även se tendenser till att det orsakssamband som tidigare studier belyst mellan transparens och styrelsens oberoende, kan gälla även för svenska börsnoterade bolag. / The purpose of this study is to describe and explain the transparency of Swedish public companies when it comes to the reporting of short term bonus payment to the chief executive officer. Furthermore we intend to identify possible explanations and underlying causes regarding the transparency. We have selected the 29 companies that represent the 30 most traded stocks on the Stockholm Stock Exchange (OMXS30). Methodology, the study can be divided into two primary parts. In the first part of the study we use a quantitative approach and apply a positivistic view. In the second part of the study we use a qualitative approach and apply a hermeneutic view. When it comes to collecting data we have been inspired by a cross section design and the primary focus has been to collect relevant information to allow an assessment of the transparency with a model we have developed. This model consists of five criteria inspired by the Ersättningsakademiens (Compensation Academy) guidelines regarding the reporting of compensation and is designed to provide an overall assessment of the studied company’s transparency. We have also identified a number of possible explanatory variables from which we have studied underlying causes to the transparency. Furthermore we have analyzed the communication from a perspective of legitimacy with the intent to obtain an understanding regarding the company’s choice of reporting. From the result of the study we find support to previous criticism regarding lacking transparency on the matter of the reporting of short term bonus payments to the CEO. We can also see tendencies to the fact that the causation that previous studies pointed out between transparency and the independence of the board, may exist in Swedish publicly traded companies as well.

In the ever so increasingly competitive business climate of the 21st century, human resources are vital for corporate success. Employees need proper incentives to perform in goal-oriented manners. Incentive systems, especially Chief Executive Officer [CEO] remunerations, have been a popular topic since the 1990s, and this tendency has increased both during the 2002-2003 corporate scandal era, as well as the financial crisis which sparked in 2007. The recent tendency appears to lean towards companies cutting their executive bonuses as well as criticism and suspiciousness towards large bonus payments. While remuneration policies within the banking industry have been thoroughly debated and researched, another financial industry that is left largely untouched are the insurance companies. The focus of this research is therefore CEO remuneration in European insurance companies. This descriptive study, of annual reports of stock-listed insurance companies, uses a purposive cluster sample to explore quantitative trends in CEO remunerations. In addition, a content analysis of five randomly selected companies out of the sample provides a deeper, complementary understanding of the justifications of the trends. The research questions are: What trends on CEO remuneration can be found over the years 2005-2009 in annual reports of European insurance companies, concerning total remuneration, fixed salary and short-term bonus? What justifications do companies make for the remunerations over the years 2005-2009? The quantitative part of the research inductively tests the assumption that CEO remuneration has decreased during the past few years 2008 and/ or 2009 due to the impact of the financial crisis. The content analysis part of the research deductively tests if agency theory concerns and issues concerning attraction and retention play a role in determining remuneration policies. From this research, it is concluded that short-term variable pay is largely performance-based. Still, many other aspects serve as input factors when determining compensation levels. Based on the content analysis, it is revealed that interest alignment and attraction- and retention-issues are important determinants of remunerations. Subjective factors such as discretionary judgements also play a crucial role. The quantitative trends found in this study show that total remunerations have decreased markedly in 2008, and more vaguely in 2009. The financial crisis has had an impact on especially the short-term variable part of salaries, but also on base salary levels. Although not all companies that were investigated in the content analysis explicitly mention it in their annual reports, over the years 2005-2009, all of them become more concerned about remuneration policies and business risk factors. Over the investigated years, these companies also become more attentive to creating proactive and sophisticated value creating remuneration policies that are in line with international standards, in order to act legitimate towards stakeholders.