In this Master's thesis there is discussed the subject of redundancy payment and other forms of compensation in labour-law relations. In individual chapters there are described different types of compensation, which the current labour law knows and at the same time there are mentioned even compensations for which employees shall have the right according to the previous legislation. Only marginally there are mentioned compensation provided within the civil service. The Master's thesis is divide into seven chapters. In the first chapter there is performed the systematic classification of compensations, which corresponds with the content of this thesis. Second chapter is focused on the general matters connected with severance payment such as the origin of claim for redundancy payment, difference between contractual and statutory redundancy payment, paying of redundancy payment or return of redundancy payment. There is perform also the comparison with redundancy payment according to the Act No. 65/1965 Coll., Labour Code in effect until 31st December 2006. Third chapter is focused on manners of the termination of labour relation establishing the claim for redundancy payment. In detail there are analysed manners of the termination of labour relation by an employer and termination of labour relation by...

In a series of experiments, with a total sample of over 2,400 participants, this thesis investigates how various threats that customers may encounter influence the customers’ subsequent purchase and choice behaviors. Furthermore, this thesis examines whether individuals’ predicted behaviors in certain consumer contexts are congruent with customers’ actual behaviors in these very contexts. Paper I takes an evolutionary approach and investigates whether a status threat to male customers, induced by exposure to physically dominant men, results in compensatory consumption of products that signal status through price or size. Paper II takes a reactance-based approach and examines whether customers whose freedom to touch has been threatened compensate by touching, and ultimately purchasing, a larger number of products. Paper III investigates whether threats to customers’ self-control in one domain influence choice behavior and consumption preferences in another unrelated domain. More specifically, the paper examines whether exposure to attractive opposite-sex faces (and hence a subtle activation of sexual desire and its associated pleasure-seeking mindset) makes individuals more motivated to choose and consume unhealthy-but-rewarding foods.      The main findings of this work can be summarized as follows: Consumer threats result in compensatory consumption, not only in the specific domain under threat, but also in unrelated or only symbolically similar domains. Such compensatory responses are in direct contrast to consumer lay beliefs and even the predictions made by marketing professors and other scholars, which suggests that people are generally unaware of the impact that certain threats have on their behavior. These results should be as interesting for customers who want to make informed choices and resist various influence attempts as for marketers, advertisers, and retail managers who want to influence customers. / In a series of experiments, this thesis investigates how threats that customers may encounter influence their subsequent purchase and choice behaviors. Moreover, this thesis examines whether individuals’ predicted behaviors are congruent with customers’ actual behaviors in certain consumer contexts. Paper I investigates whether a status threat to male customers, induced by physically dominant men, results in compensatory consumption of products that signal status through price or size. Paper II examines whether customers whose freedom to touch has been threatened compensate by touching, and ultimately purchasing, more products. Paper III investigates whether attractive opposite-sex faces threaten individuals’ self-control, thereby making them more motivated to choose and consume unhealthy-but-rewarding foods. The results reveal that consumer threats do indeed lead to compensatory consumption. Such compensatory responses are in direct contrast to lay beliefs and even predictions made by marketing professors, suggesting that people are generally unaware of the impact certain threats have on their behavior. These results should be as interesting for customers trying to make informed choices as for marketers, advertisers, and retail managers trying to influence customers.

M.A. / Aihoewel die tradisionele organisasie oor die algemeen 'n soliede vergoedingstelsel met 'n sterk fokus op koste-effektiwiteit en administratiewe presisie gehad het, het die moderne organisasie, wat gekenmerk word deur platter organisasiestrukture, groter buigsaamheid, 'n meer deelnemende bestuurstyl en 'n groter mate van openheid, ander vereistes gestel aan die tradisionele vergoedingstelsel. Die modeme vergoedingstelsel, wat die modeme organisasie kenmerke ondersteun, word beskou as 'n stelsel wat uitset gerig is, met min salarisvlakke, wat min of geen status simbole bevat, wat groter deursigtigheid bevorder en waar meganistiese beheer stelsels vervang word met analitiese bestuursbeheer. Dit het aanleiding gegee daartoe dat nuwe moderne vergoedingspraktyke, onder meer ook bandverbreding, die lig gesien het. Die verhandeling het ten doel om bandverbreding, wat gedefinieer word as die vermindering van posvlakke en die dienooreenkomstige verbreding van salarisbande, om sodoende 'n platter organisasiestruktuur te skep wat groter aanpasbaarheid en dinamika tot gevolg sal he, te verken en te omskryf. Die fokus val veral op die ontwerp en die proses van implementering van bandverbreding binne 'n Suid-Afrikaanse organisasie. Die tradisionele posevalueringstelsel, wat die hart van enige vergoedingstelsel gevorm het, het sterk onder die vergrootglas gekom nadat die bandverbredingsproses bekendgestel is. Die invloed van bandverbreding op die onderskeie posevalueringstelsels asook op die plek daarvan binne 'n holistiese vergoedingstrategie word van naderby bekyk en beskryf Die teoretiese oorsig dek ook onder andere die redes waarom organisasies bandverbreding implementeer, die gereedheid van organisasies vir die bandverbredingsproses, die praktiese probleme waarmee organisasies gekonfronteer word wanneer bandverbreding geimplementeer word en mites aangaande die proses. Twee Suid-Afrikaanse organisasies binne die finansieledienste bedryf wat bandverbreding in sy voile omvang geimplementeer het, het die basis gevorm van die ondersoek. Die faktore wat aanleiding gegee het tot die implementering van bandverbreding, en wat die gereedheid van die organisasie beinvloed het, die potensiele struikelblokke, die ontwerp van die bandverbredingstrukture asook die implementeringsproses wat beide organisasies gevolg het, het die navorser in staat gestel om 'n aanbeveling to maak aangaande 'n implementeringsmodel. Die implementeringsmodel, wat beskou kan word as 'n opsomming van die bevindinge van die navorsing, beveel aan dat bandverbreding as deel van 'n holistiese vergoedingstrategie geimplementeer word en dat die proses deur 'n vergoedingsfilosofie, wat die bandverbredingsfilosofie komplimenteer, ondersteun word. Dit is egter duidelik dat alhoewel die bandverbredingskonsep 'n groot bydrae kan maak tot die vestiging van die modeme organisasie, die sukses daarvan opgesluit le in die effektiewe implementering en toepassing daarvan.

Loss of earning capacity is a concept that is relevant to actions in which a wrongdoer is held liable for the detrimental effect of his actions on a claimant’s capacity to generate an income.Take the example of a claimant who had worked as a shift leader in a mine but after a damage-causing event is only capable of working above ground as a clerk. By comparing his salary pre-morbid with his salary post-morbid, it is possible to calculate the difference. This difference, if the former is the greater, constitutes the damage suffered by the claimant and, as such, the amount constitutes what he can claim as compensation.In an instance where a person is not in a position to furnish evidence about his earnings pre- and post-morbid, nevertheless, the court may award compensation for the claimant’s loss of earnings.Essentially, the compensation is payment for loss of earning capacity and not for loss of earnings.In making such an award, the court recognises that the claimant experiences a partial or total impairment of his capacity to generate an income.Koch states that in such problematic cases the courts often shy away from quantifying a claimant’s estimated annual income.Instead of employing the sum-formula approach,the courts opt for a general assessment using the “some-how-or-other” approach.What seems at first like a straightforward pre- and post-morbid calculation therefore is fraught with intricate theoretical questions. Although this problem is more evident in cases of unemployed claimants and children, it may also occur in other cases where loss of earning capacity is one of the heads of damages. / Prof. J.W.G. Van der Walt

M. Com. (Business Management) / Managers are increasingly expressing their anxiety about their future security, and are more concerned than ever about their job security and a stable set of rewards. This concern has been triggered by the employers who are having to make increasingly difficult decisions about their workforce compensation and its relationship to performance. There is a general perception that organisations use ‘one size fits all’, type of rewards to motivate their managers. There is also a perception that managers are only motivated by financial rewards as compared to non-financial rewards in order for them to stay with the company. The aim of the study: The aim of this study was to determine whether rewards are perceived as a motivator by managers at a furniture retail company. Motivation for the study: The rationale for this study was to find out the perception of managers with regards to rewards as a motivator. Research design, approach and method: This survey study used quantitative methods to determine the perceptions of rewards amongst managers at a furniture retail company. The target population of the study was 172 junior and middle-level managers working for a furniture retail company. In this study the target population included women and men of different age groups, race groups, and so forth. Non- probability sampling (purposive sampling) was employed as the intent was to survey junior and middle managers only. SPSS Version 15 was used to analyse the data to ensure that a quantitative analysis for the study could be conducted. The completed questionnaires by the respondents were coded and analysed to calculate frequency distribution to analyse personal data, central tendency and percentage distribution. These statistics were presented in the form of computer graphics with the help of STATKON for data analysis. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for this study to distinguish between two groups of samples in the population in order to decide whether there was a statistically significant difference. Main findings: The results for this study showed that there were statistically significant relationships between age and compensation. The results revealed that there was a significant difference in the level of importance attributed to compensation from management between female managers and their male counterparts. For gender and compensation, the results revealed that there was a significant difference between female and male managers in the level of importance attributed to compensation from management.. Regarding salary earned and compensation, there was a significant difference between higher earning and lower earning managers in the level of importance attributed to compensation from management Conclusion, limitations and recommendations: The respondents showed general satisfaction when it came to the rewards offered in the organisation. The results of the study revealed that rewards do motivate employees, especially in making decisions whether to stay with the company or not. The employees were very satisfied with the rewards that they received in the organisation. A major limitation of this study is that the research was only conducted in one organisation and therefore, given the diversity of companies in the retail industry, the results cannot be generalised to all organisations and other industries. In future, research should be conducted on a larger scale including more organisations within the same sector as well as across sectors so that comparisons can be made which can also be used for benchmarking. Contribution/value-add: This study has attempted to add to the body of knowledge in terms of understanding the role that rewards play in motivating managers and how these can change their behaviour in the course of achieving company objectives. The study also examined the relevant rewards perceived to be motivators by both junior and middle managers in a company.

The main focus of this thesis is the threshold beyond which compensation is payable for breach of a stabilisation clause. The discussion is based on the tax stability clauses contained in the mining development agreements unilaterally cancelled by the Government of the Republic of Zambia in early 2008. The outstanding characteristic feature of the tax stability clauses was government’s undertaking that it shall not, for the stability periods ranging between 10 to 20 years, introduce new fiscal measures resulting in a “material adverse effect” on the distributable profits of the mining companies or the dividends received by the shareholders of the companies. Government further undertook to ‘fully’ and ‘fairly’ compensate mining companies should such measures be introduced during the stability periods. The question investigated by the thesis is whether the fiscal measures introduced by government in early 2008, as amended in 2009, have resulted in a “material adverse effect” on the distributable profits of mining companies or the dividends received by the shareholders of the companies and, therefore, entitle mining companies to compensation from government. The main findings of the thesis, among others, are that: <ul> <li>The threshold beyond which the obligation to pay compensation is triggered varies considerably depending on the specific contractual formulation of the stabilisation clause involved. However, it is significantly lower than the threshold beyond which host States must pay compensation in regulatory taking cases.</li> <li>Although there are several international arbitral awards in which payment of compensation has been ordered for breach of a freezing stabilisation clause, there is no known similar award in cases involving breach of an economic equilibrium stabilisation clause.</li> <li>Even in cases in which compensation has been ordered for breach of a stabilisation clause, there is no evidence of how much the presence of a stabilisation clause contributes to the total quantum of the compensation awarded. The tribunals either take a "contractual perspective" or an "expropriation perspective" to arrive at their respective decisions on the quantum of compensation.</li> <li>International arbitral tribunals take into account any ‘excessive’ or ‘windfall profits’ made by investors in deciding the quantum of compensation payable to the investor for breach of a stabilisation clause.</li> <li>The tax stability clauses contained in the mining development agreements cancelled by the Zambian government are typical economic equilibrium stabilisation clauses.</li> </ul> Based on these findings, among others, the thesis has concluded that there are equal chances that the Zambian government may or may not be ordered to pay compensation to the aggrieved mining companies. Notwithstanding this conclusion, however, the thesis has noted that government’s unilateral cancellation of the mining development agreements has potential to negate the country’s investment image. Against this background, the recommendation of the thesis is that government and the aggrieved mining companies must engage in discussions with a view to reaching at an amicable solution to their standoff. The rationale behind the recommendation is that an amicable solution presents a perfect opportunity for both parties to come up with a decision that is mutually beneficial to their interests. Also it is less costly than international arbitration. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Centre for Human Rights / unrestricted

Collective bargaining was impacted by the confrontation at Marakina and the role players, employers and unions were left looking for new creative alternatives to reward operational employees (blue collar workers).Then, finding a well-designed pay system is crucial for the success of the organisation, since collective bargaining is under pressure. The following determinants, job based pay, performance based pay, skills based pay, education and training, and tenure based pay were constructed from literature to formulate the conceptual model for the pay of operators in the manufacturing sector of Port Elizabeth. There are a number of factors that are at play in the determination and design of pay systems, which need to be considered. Two major pay systems are at the centre of this study and they are those based on the worth of the job and those that are based on employees’ skills, productivity, education and training, and tenure. Pay equity is at the heart of employment relationship and is the reference point with regard to the distribution of resources when economic productivity and profitability are achieved. The findings presented indicated that all the determinants, job based pay, performance based pay, skills based pay and education and training, with the exception of tenure based pay, were significant to the pay of operational employees. However, the multivariable regression model found that job based pay is more significant and should be modelled as the foundation of the pay system for operational employees. Other pay determinants, such as performance and skills based pay are best modelled as additional increments that accelerate employees’ pay.

The products of the Cdx genes, Cdx1, Cdx2 and Cdx4, are known to play essential roles in many developmental processes including neural tube closure, axial elongation and patterning the anterior-posterior axis of the developing embryo. Cdx1 and Cdx2 are both expressed in the endoderm of the embryo and persist throughout adulthood in the intestinal epithelium, but their functions and mechanisms of action in this lineage are poorly understood, in part due to the peri-implantation lethality of Cdx2-/- mice. To circumvent this limitation, a conditional loss of function strategy was used to inactivate Cdx2 in the intestinal epithelium. These conditional mutants were also crossed to Cdx1-/- mice, which are viable and fertile, to examine potential functional compensation between these family members. The major findings of this study are that Cdx2 regulates patterning and differentiation of the small intestinal epithelium, while Cdx1 does not appear to make a contribution to either process. Furthermore, Cdx operates upstream of Notch ligand Delta-like 1 (Dll1) in endoderm and mesoderm derivatives, demonstrating that Cdx function is similar in different lineages. Finally, Cdx2 cannot fulfill the requirement for Cdx1 in regulation of its own promoter in the intestine. This is the first in vivo evidence that these two family members have context-dependent functional specificity. Altogether, this study underscores critical roles and mechanisms of action for Cdx members in the developing intestine and mesoderm.

Les études à long-terme confirment que la combinaison d’un déficit calorique et d’un programme d’exercice est une intervention plus profitable quant à la perte de poids qu’un régime hypocalorique ou un programme d’exercice seul. Toutefois, la perte de poids moyenne de l’approche combinée est en générale inférieure à celle estimée sur la base du déficit calorique et de la dépense énergétique du programme d’exercice. L’objectif principal de cette étude portait sur l’investigation des effets d’un déficit calorique et de l’exercice sur l’apport calorique, la dépense énergétique totale, la thermogenèse d’origine autre que l’exercice et la compensation alimentaire post-exercice chez les jeunes femmes. Huit jeunes femmes de poids normal et inactives ont participé à quatre conditions expérimentales : contrôle; exercice, où une séance d’exercice à intensité modérée a été réalisée; déficit calorique, où un déficit calorique de 25% pour une période de 3 jours consécutifs a été respecté; et exercice/déficit calorique. À la suite de chaque session, un repas ad libitum à l’heure du dîner a été offert aux participantes et des boîtes à lunch contenant des aliments à volonté choisis par l’entremise de menu ont été remises à ces dernières pour couvrir l’apport calorique pour la journée (jour 1) ainsi que la journée subséquente (jour 2). De plus, un accéléromètre a été remis à chaque participante après chaque séance expérimentale pour être en mesure d’estimer la dépense énergétique liée à l’activité physique pour le jour 1 et jour 2. Aucune différence significative n’a été observée entre les différentes conditions expérimentales pour l’apport calorique au repas ad libitum post-exercice, au jour 1 ainsi qu’au jour 2. De plus, aucune différence significative n’a été notée pour la dépense énergétique totale ainsi que la thermogenèse d’origine autre que l’exercice et aucune compensation alimentaire post-exercice n’a été observée en fonction des conditions expérimentales. Ces résultats suggèrent que la combinaison d’un déficit calorique de 3 journées consécutives avant une séance d’exercice d’intensité modérée n’influence pas l’apport calorique post-exercice, la dépense énergétique totale, la thermogenèse d’origine autre que l’exercice et n’engendre pas de compensation alimentaire post-exercice. Un déficit calorique combiné à l’exercice d’une période plus prolongée pourrait être nécessaire afin d’observer une augmentation de la compensation alimentaire post-exercice pendant une intervention qui vise à induire une perte de poids.

In this paper, a Kinect-based distributed and real-time motion capture system is developed. A trigonometric method is applied to calculate the relative positions of Kinect v2 sensors with a calibration wand and register the sensors’ positions automatically. By combining results from multiple sensors with a nonlinear least square method, the accuracy of motion capture is optimized. Moreover, to exclude inaccurate results from sensors, a computational geometry is applied in the occlusion approach to discover occluded joint data. The synchronization approach is based on the NTP protocol, which synchronizes the time between the clocks of a server and of clients dynamically, leading to the proposed system being real time. Experiments to validate the proposed system are conducted from the perspective of calibration, occlusion, and accuracy. More specifically, the mean absolute error of the calibration results is 0.73 cm, the proposed occlusion method is tested on upper and lower limbs, and the synchronization component guarantees the clock synchronization and real-time performance for more than 99% of the measurement process. Furthermore, to demonstrate the practical performance of our system, a comparison with previously developed motion capture systems (the linear trilateration approach [52] and the geometric trilateration approach [51]) with the benchmark Opti Track system is performed for the tracked joints of the head, shoulder, elbow, and wrist, therein showing that the accuracy of our proposed system is 38.3% and 24.1% better than the aforementioned two trilateration systems. Quantitative analysis is also conducted on our proposed system with the commercial inertial motion capture system Delsys smart sensor system by comparing the measurements of lower limbs (i.e., hips, knees, and ankles), and the standard deviation of our proposed system’s measurement results is 4.92 cm.