Death taxes are payable by individuals upon their death. It is therefore ironic that the living has devoted so much of their time and energy to arguing about the future of this tax. One can only presume that a person will not find any peace in the after-world if they felt that they were treated unfairly by the tax authorities upon their death. The arguments surrounding death taxes have been carrying on since the first country abolished the tax in 1978. Very few countries that have implemented the tax have not had in-depth research and discussion surrounding the tax and South Africa is no exception. Until now there have been no measures put in place to abolish the tax in South Africa, however the Minister of Finance has indicated that the future of the tax is currently being reviewed by the tax authority. Both the proponents and opponents believe that their views are correct regarding the future of the tax. Although their views might differ about the matter, both sides do agree that a decision about the tax needs to be made so that the government and academia can focus on other important matters. Both sides make use of case studies and research performed in other countries to support their views. However, South Africa has a very unique political, economic and social environment and therefore the findings and views applicable in other countries cannot simply be applied locally. The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages noted by international experts and academia against the unique South African climate. This is done to enable the researcher to determine what the possible political, economic and sociological effect might be on the country should death taxes either be abolished or kept for the foreseeable future. The conclusion is that due to the global recession and the abundance of poverty and unemployment in South Africa, the benefits of keeping death taxes outweigh the drawbacks thereof. Until such a time that the climate in the country has changed dramatically, death taxes should form part of the country’s tax regime. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / am2014 / Taxation / unrestricted

This evaluation of research investigates the advantageous and disadvantageous aspects of utilizing cooperative learning into the ESL (English as a second language) classroom for pupils at an elementary education level. Teachers need to be contemporary with their pedagogy and lesson design and implement methods that can enable that the national criteria regarding knowledge requirements in the syllabus for English are met. The methods within cooperative learning corresponds with sociocultural theories of Vygotsky as it is based on the zone of proximal development where high achievers can develop accordingly to their own qualifications, as well as low achievers. In the current study, we examine a selection of empirical studies on cooperative learning. The results of this analysis reveal that Cooperative learning is an advantageous way of reaching every individual to make sure that their English language acquisition is nurtured, but that the aspects of group grading make it difficult when grading each individual pupil. The findings also revealed that the implementation of cooperative learning into the ESL classroom had advantageous outcomes when it comes to vocabulary learning, writing skills, speaking skills and a lot of the pupils gained a better confidence and had a high achievement level in comparison to more traditional teacher focused pedagogy. Pupils also showed that their motivation and attitudes changed over time, when exposed of the cooperative learning methods in the ESL classroom. It is advised that teachers utilize cooperative learning in the ESL classroom hence it is beneficial for both pupils and teachers. Keywords: Cooperative learning, English as a second language, English as a foreign language, elementary school, group grading, ESL classroom and EFL classroom.

The following study examines system developer's perceived advantages and disadvantages of teleworking. The aim is to gain knowledge about system developers' perceived advantages and disadvantages of teleworking, as well as the effects it can have on the individual work performance and their day to day life. In this study, teleworking is defined as following: Teleworking is when performing ordinary tasks in a place that is away from the workplace. The authors have chosen to use and to make sure that this definition corresponds with the interviewees definition of telework. The study is done using qualitative methodology, in which five selected system developers have been interviewed. The prerequisites are the following, must work as a system developer and some experience with telecommuting. All participants fulfilled the prerequisites that were initially set for participation in the study. The data from the interviews have been collected and analyzed with thematic analysis. After the interviews, several advantages and disadvantages of telecommuting were identified. In summary, the study has shown that participants feel that there are more disadvantages to teleworking than working at their offices. At the same time, the study has also been able to show that there are great benefits for the participants in being able to work remotely.

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The aim of this thesis was to analyse coexisting disadvantages in the older Swedish population. Coexisting disadvantages are those that occur simultaneously in various life domains. A person who simultaneously experiences several disadvantages may be particularly vulnerable and less well-equipped to manage daily life and may also need support from several different welfare service providers. Concerted actions may be needed for older people who experience not only physical health problems and functional limitations, but also other problems. Research that encompasses a wide range of living conditions provides a basis for setting political priorities and making political decisions. The studies in this thesis used data from two Swedish nationally representative surveys: the Level of Living Survey, which includes people aged 18 through 75, and the Swedish Panel Study of Living Conditions of the Oldest Old, which includes people aged 77 and older. Study I showed that the probability of experiencing coexisting disadvantages was higher in people 77 and older than in those aged 18 through 76. These age differences were partly driven by a high prevalence of physical health problems in older people. In all age groups, coexisting disadvantages were more common in women than men. The longitudinal analyses in Study II indicated that coexisting disadvantages in old age persist in some people but are temporary in others. Moreover, the results suggested a pattern of accumulating disadvantages: reporting one disadvantage in young old age (in particular, psychological health problems) increased the probability of reporting coexisting disadvantages in late old age.   Study III showed that physical health problems were a central component of coexisting disadvantages. The results also showed that being older; female; previously employed as a manual labourer; and divorced/separated, widowed or never married were associated with an increased probability of experiencing coexisting disadvantages. However, the experience of coexisting disadvantages differed: the groups associated with coexisting disadvantages tended to report different combinations of disadvantage. Study IV showed that the prevalence of coexisting disadvantages in those 77 and older increased slightly between 1992 and 2011. Physical health problems became more common over time, whereas limited ability to manage daily activities (ADL limitations), limited financial resources and limited political resources became less common. Associations between different disadvantages were found in all survey years, but certain associations changed over time. The results suggest that in general, the composition of coexisting disadvantages in the older population may have altered over time. In sum, results showed that coexisting disadvantages were associated with specific demographic and socio-economic groups. Physical health problems and psychological health problems were of particular importance to the accumulation and coexistence of disadvantages in old age. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 3: Manuscript. Paper 4: Manuscript.</p><p> </p>

By increasing the volume and complexity of datasets, Visual Data Mining (VDM), new visualization techniques evolved and new techniques released. However, some of these techniques performing well and cover all expectations; the others failed to save their positions. The main issue of such techniques is problem dependency.In this study, after a short description about necessity of Visual Data Mining techniques, I will provide a classified review of previous researches. This will result in a deep understanding as well as simple accessibility to previous researches, in a concise manner. This will facilitate the extraction of the specifications of 3D visualization technique and will provide a comprehensive knowledge of this technique in a classified manner. After that, all possible combination of 3D visualization technique will review.3D Visualization technique as a popular technique is a concrete foundation for visualization of multi-dimensional datasets, but it has some limitations. To overcome these limitations, previous studies in literature as well as the experiences of professionals will gather. The results will prove the theoretical findings as well as offering new hybrid techniques (combination with 3D visualization and other visual data mining techniques).The contribution of professionals will empower and complement the results of this study, as they can address solutions for the weaknesses of 3D Visualization technique in their business which is new combination of techniques. These combinations of techniques will create the basis for future researches in order to discover new limitations and provide solutions to overcome by use of hybrid techniques. / Program: Magisterutbildning i informatik

Cohesion is essential for team harmony and performance. It is universally sought in sport teams. The benefits have been extensively studied and are a requirement of team success. Counter to wide held belief, cohesion is not an intrinsically positive phenomenon. This thesis aimed to develop more understanding of the potential disadvantages or costs of high cohesion in sport teams to fill a significant gap in the literature. Study 1 examined the extent and nature of these costs. Athletes perceived similar costs. Fourteen categories of costs were identified with perceived pressures and communication issues demonstrated to be strongly significant. Study 2 was framed in narrative theory to explore costs experienced over the life-span career of a retired professional motor sport co-driver. The most significant costs experienced were pressure to perform and pressure to conform. The key influencing factors were a performance narrative along with what was identified as a new narrative type, the team performance narrative. Study 3 utilised the lens of narrative theory to explore when and where costs were not experienced by a current elite motorsport sport driver and his team. Buffers were indicated. Study 4 was a case study of a high performing team where across the entire season team cohesion was high but performance wasn’t reciprocated accordingly. High cohesion produced costs of conformity and normative influence, rigid demands and methods with narrow goal focus, communication issues and pressure to perform. These costs are all inter-related and interacted to have a negative impact on performance. This thesis raises awareness of the potential costs of high cohesion in sport teams and, by offering a new model – the Cohesion Costs’ Reduction Model - for identifying strategies to minimise these potential costs, aims to improve individual wellbeing in a team and improve team performance.

Problem: In today’s competitive business world, companies are faced with challenges due to increasing competition, changes in customer demands, new technologies, and globalization. Due to these changes, competition does not take place between single companies anymore but rather whole SCs. To cope with such challenges, more and more companies focus on SCI. Business managers and academics emphasize the potential of integration. However, existing literature shows a gap concerning the integration of LSPs. In this thesis, LSPs are divided into three different types; carriers, intermediaries, and 3PL providers. Due to differences in their business focus and the deriving logics, their way of integrating with customers will likely differ. Hence, based on these differences and the gap in literature concerning the integration of LSPs, this thesis focuses on an investigation of two carriers, two intermediaries, and two 3PL providers. Purpose: The purpose of this Master thesis is to explore how and why LSPs integrate with their main customers. Therefore, motivators and obstacles, advantages and disadvantages, as well as the extent of integration and possible integration approaches are investigated. Method: This qualitative study makes use of a case study strategy which includes six companies. Data is gathered from semi-structured interviews and documentary secondary data. The findings are analyzed using a two-stage process. First, a comparison of the findings for each of the three types of LSP is conducted. Second, a cross-analysis among carriers, intermediaries, and 3PL providers is performed in order to identify similarities and differences. Conclusions: The findings of this thesis reveal integration of technologies and systems, flows, and relationship evaluation as approaches for LSPs. Further, LSPs integrate externally, upstream and downstream in terms of intermediaries and 3PL providers and downstream in regards to carriers, and on different levels ranging from relatively shallow in case of carriers to deep in terms of 3PL providers. Moreover, LSPs are motivated by factors such as competition, differentiation, and business safety, whereas aspects such as resource investments and customer power differences present potential obstacles. Furthermore, LSPs benefit from integration, e.g. due to improved problem-solving ability, expansion of business, and better responsiveness to market changes. In contrast, aspects such as increased customer expectations, the risk of sunk costs, and dependence present potential disadvantages for LSPs.

Mathematics is a central topic in today's education debate, including discussion of its educational quality and various teaching methods. Today basically two different teaching methods are used; one is the textbook based method, with the book in focus and the other one the laboratory method by which teaching is performed through practical applications. The purpose of this study was to examine four primary school teachers' view of these two teaching methods by means of four relevant inquiries. By interviewing the four teachers, advantages and disadvantages were highlighted and the purpose was achieved. In order to support the analysis, two theories applied; the socio-cultural perspective and the cognitive perspective. The results of this study together with previous research disclosed advantages and disadvantages of both methods and none turned out to be better than the other. However, two aspects were prominent in the study;   time saving and   individual adaptation.   Time saving was considered a major advantage of textbook based instruction because it facilitates the work of teachers in planning lessons. In contrast, the laboratory approach was considered time consuming.  However, individual adaptation was considered to be more beneficial by the laboratory teaching method. Thus, it is important to be aware of that implementing individualized education also is time consuming, and teachers must ask themselves whether they have time to do or not to do this. Finally, it is central that teachers are aware of the two teaching methods, with their opportunities and constraints, and that the teachers consider this when choosing teaching method. Of course it is not necessary to select either method; it is also possible to mix both of them.

Facing a highly competitve environment, companies usually manipulate all kinds of strategies to succeed in their business. One of these manipulative strategies is the timing of entering the market. For the most past, studies on timing of entry have asserted that early entrants could help to build lasting competitive advantages, which is so called the ¡§first-mover advantages.¡¨ However, in recent studies, studies have proved that some late movers could also perform quite well, or even better than those early movers in the market. In this paper, we focus exclusively on those successful late movers and try to figure out how they win a victory over the first mover in the market. We also adopt both the RBV and social capital theory to interpret the process of building late-mover advantages and forming first-mover disadvantages. The paper utilizes the case of TFT-LCD industry and the wholesaling industry in Taiwan to illustrate the issues involved. After interviewing some top managers and analyze related data, we get five discoveries: (1)The resources and social capital of a company do affect its enrty timing. (2)Different industries would have different kind of key resources and social capitals, and the reason for late-movers to beat first-movers and to win in the last is because late-movers could allot its own resources more effectively. (3)Late-mover advantages and first-mover disadvantages are proved to exist in the market. Besides, the content of different industries and companies would be different, too. (4)"High uncertainty of the market¡¨ is the challenge that first-movers are sure to encounter, but what counts is that whether the first-mover could conquer this problem by using its own resources successfully or not. (5)The relationship of resources and (dis)advantages are not only one way direction. Companies¡¦ resources would affect its own (dis)advantages, and on the other hand, (dis)advantages would also turn back to affect the forming of its own resources.