No abstract available. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Mercantile Law / unrestricted

In this dissertation, I examine the changes to the nature of the accounting paradigms of U.S. GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) over the course of the U.S. GAAP and IFRS convergence project. I further examine whether the changes to the nature of IFRS following convergence impacts the financial reporting quality. The motivation for this study is to provide an initial review of the progress of the convergence process between U.S. GAAP and IFRS that aims to converge both sets of standards towards more principles-based paradigms. The ultimate goal of the convergence process was the development of globally recognized high quality financial reporting standards (FASB, 2002) and the development of principles-based accounting standards was identified as an essential component of such a goal. Extant literature and professional practice agree that U.S. GAAP is more rules-based whereas IFRS is more principles-based. Thus, both the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) agreed that the convergence process would be an ideal vehicle to converge both sets of standards towards more principles-based paradigm. I document that over the course of the convergence project, the underlying accounting paradigm of U.S. GAAP has remained consistent whereas the accounting paradigm of IFRS has become more rules-based. Amendments to existing International Standards and newer standards added over the course of the convergence have moved IFRS towards a more rules-based nature which was not the intended outcome of the convergence process. I further examine if the changes in rules vs. principles-based nature of IFRS has impacted the accounting quality. Using a firm level instrument developed in Folsom et al. (2016) that measures the extent to which firms rely on principles-vs –rules-based accounting, standards I find a relation between firm reliance on principles-based standards and earnings persistence. I also find an association between firm reliance on principles-based standards and earnings ability to predict future cash flows as well as concurrent returns. More, importantly the results of my study provide initial evidence that these associations are significantly manifested in the post-convergence period.

Esta pesquisa trata de uma abordagem dos princípios de custeio e Custeio ABC como ferramentas para a tomada de decisão gerencial de uma empresa agrícola de Primavera do Leste – MT, através do levantamento e análise dos custos da safra de soja que ocorreu de Setembro de 2011 a Abril de 2012. Tem-se por objetivo principal o desenvolvimento de um controle de custos em pequenas propriedades agrícolas, tendo como escopo o cultivo da soja. Apresenta-se uma análise dos custos da soja através dos princípios de custeio e utiliza-se do método de Custeio ABC para encontrar os recursos disponíveis da safra de soja, as principais atividades desenvolvidas, bem como os produtos que as absorvem e seus custos. Nos resultados, destaca-se que os sócios beneficiam-se de maiores retiradas por usarem os próprios recursos nos custeios de plantio; o manejo correto do solo com o plantio direto evita o reparo do mesmo na safra da soja, o que é favorável na medida que a cultura reparadora de milheto deve ser feita no mesmo período da safra de milho, que é um produto de valor inferior no mercado; a cultura do milho absorve uma parcela dos custos alocados para a soja, devido à utilização no plantio direto de mão-de-obra e máquinas; as atividades do processo de plantio e de controle são as que mais custos absorvem e devem receber atenção especial através da gestão financeira; a atividade do processo de colheita é a que absorve maior energia de maquinários e mão-de-obra, sendo importante que esta atividade seja acompanhada por uma boa gestão de pessoas com métodos de motivação, treinamento e qualidade de trabalho. / This paper treats of costs issues and ABC costs as management tools for an agricultural company of Primavera do Leste – MT, through the research and analysis of the soybean harvest that occurred from September/2011 through April/2012. The main objective is the development of a system proposal to evaluate and control the costs of agricultural properties, where the main activity is the soybean production. Presents an analysis of soybean costs, through the costing issues. Uses the ABC costing to find the available resources to the soybean harvest, the main activities that have been developed, as well the products which evolves its costs. Results it was possible to get a conclusion that the partners benefit from the biggest gets, because use their own resources in the planting costs; the correct soil dealing with the correct planting avoids its repairing in the soybean harvest the repairing culture from millet must be done in the same period of corn harvest, that is a cheaper product in the commercial market; the corn cultivation absorbs part of the soybean resources because of its utilization in the direct planting, labor and machines. The activities from the planting process and control are those which absorb the most of costs and must receive special attention through the financial management; the activity of harvesting is the one which absorbs the most of energy’s machinery and labor, so must have agility and ability because of the short time to be realized, it’s important to control it, through the people’s management and motivation activities, training and labor quality.

No description available.

Fundamental advances in cathode materials are key to lowering the operating temperature of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Detailed understanding of the structural, electronic and defect formation characteristics are essential for rational design of cathode materials. In this thesis we employ first principles methods to study La(Mn/Co)O3 and LnBaCo2O5+δ (Ln = Pr, Gd; δ = 0.5, 1) as cathode for SOFCs. Specifically, factors affecting the O vacancy formation and migration are investigated. We demonstrate that for LaMnO3 the anisotropy effects often neglected at high operating temperatures become relevant when the temperature is lowered. We show that this fact has consequences for the material properties and can be further enhanced by strain and Sr doping. Tensile strain promotes both the O vacancy formation and migration in pristine and Sr doped LaMnO3, while Sr doping enhances the O vacancy formation but not the migration. The effect of A-site hole doping (Mg2+, Ca2+ or Ba2+) on the electronic and magnetic properties as well as the O vacancy formation and migration in LaCoO3 are studied. All three dopants are found to facilitate O vacancy formation. Substitution of La3+ with Ba2+/Mg2+ yields the lowest O vacancy formation energy for low/intermediate spin Co, implying that not only the structure, but also the spin state of Co is a key parameter. Only for low spin Co the ionic radius is correlated with the O migration barrier. Enhanced migration for intermediate spin Co is ascribed to the availability of additional space at the transition state. For LnBaCo2O5+δ we compare the O vacancy formation in GdBaCo2O5.5 (Pmmm symmetry) and GdBaCo2O6 (P4/mmm symmetry), and the influence of Sr doping. The O vacancy formation energy is demonstrated to be smaller in the already O deficient compound. This relation is maintained under Sr doping. It turns out that Sr doping can be utilized to significantly enhance the O vacancy formation in both compounds. The observed trends are explained on a microscopic level. Furthermore, we consider antisite defects as they may modify the electronic and O migration properties but are rarely studied in double perovskite oxides. It turns out that O vacancy formation is significantly easier in PrBaCo2O5.5 than in GdBaCo2O5.5, the difference in formation energy being hardly modified by antisite defects. Finally, having established that the O vacancy formation energy is significantly lower in PrBaCo2O5.5 than in GdBaCo2O5.5, we study the O Frenkel energy and migration of O ions in PrBa(Co/Fe)2O5.5. The electronic structure and charge redistribution during defect formation are analyzed. We demonstrate that Co↔Fe substitution strongly affects the formation of defects and, consequently, the O migration. The low O Frenkel energy points to a high concentration of O vacancies. The migration of the O ions shows a distinct anisotropy.

The aim of this study was to describe ways in which Grade 1 teachers use creative teaching practice in Mathematics. An interpretivistic approach was used with qualitative research principles guiding the research process. The research design was a case study design. Three primary school teachers at an Afrikaans private school were purposefully selected. A multi-method approach to data gathering was taken. Firstly, the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (Foundation Phase): Mathematics was analysed to determine the guidelines of the Department of Basic Education regarding creative teaching practice in Mathematics. Secondly, the three participants each made a visual representation (poster) of their understanding of creative teaching practice in Mathematics, where after each participant's poster was discussed with her. Thirdly, a total of five Mathematics lessons were observed and one semi-structured interview was conducted with each participant. Fourthly, personal opinions, reflective thoughts and impressions of the research study were noted in the researcher's research journal. Results were derived from inductive thematic analysis of the documented data. After member checking, four themes were identified. Firstly, some fundamental principles for the use of creative teaching practice in Mathematics were deducted, which included sensitivity for learner differences, the use and development of learners' current knowledge, active learner participation in lessons, interest and joy in Mathematics lessons, and the inclusion of the life world of the learners in the Mathematics lessons. Secondly, the participants suggested possible implementation strategies for creative teaching practice in Mathematics, namely the implementation of problem solving skills, concrete experiences and resources, group learning and social interaction. Thirdly, some teacher qualities that promote creative teaching practice in Mathematics were indicated, namely teachers as specialist subject experts in Mathematics, motivators of learners, creators of a positive learning and teaching environment, interpreters and designers of learning programmes and material, and adaptability. The fourth theme emphasized the challenges regarding the use of creative teaching practice in Mathematics where environmental factors were indicated. Based on the findings the conclusion can be made that domain relevant skills, skills regarding creativity, intrinsic task motivation and the social environment are components that can be incorporated to promote the successful use of creative teaching practice in Mathematics. / Die doel van hierdie studie was om te beskryf op welke wyses Graad 1-onderwysers kreatiewe onderrig in Wiskunde gebruik. Die studie is vanuit 'n interpretivistiese benadering onderneem met kwalitatiewe navorsingsbeginsels wat die navorsingsproses onderlê het. 'n Gevalstudie-ontwerp is as navorsingsontwerp gebruik. Drie laerskoolonderwysers, verbonde aan 'n Afrikaanse privaatskool, is deur 'n gerieflikheidseleksie geselekteer. Data is deur 'n multi-metodiese benadering versamel. Eerstens is die Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (Foundation Phase): Mathematics ge-analiseer, om sodoende die Department van Basiese Onderwys se riglyne betreffende kreatiewe onderrigpraktyk in Wiskunde te identifiseer. Tweedens het die drie deelnemers elk 'n visuele voorstelling (plakkaat) gemaak wat hul begrip aangaande kreatiewe onderrigpraktyk in Wiskunde uitbeeld, waarna elke deelnemer se plakkaat met haar bespreek is. Derdens is vyf Wiskunde-lesse in totaal waargeneem en een semi-gestruktureerde onderhoud met elke deelnemer gevoer. Vierdens is persoonlike opinies, reflektiewe gedagtes en indrukke van die navorsingstudie aangeteken in die navorser se navorsingsjoernaal. Induktiewe tematiese analise van die gedokumenteerde data het gedien as basis vir die resultate. Deelnemerkontrole is uitgevoer en vier temas is geïdentifiseer. Eerstens is van die fundamentele beginsels vir die gebruik in kreatiese onderrigpraktyk in Wiskunde afgelei, wat insluit sensitiwiteit vir leerderverskille, die gebruik en ontwikkeling van leerders se bestaande kennis, aktiewe leerderbetrokkenheid by lesaanbieding, interessantheid en genotvolheid van Wiskunde-lesse, en die insluiting van leerders se leefwêreld by Wiskunde-lesse. Tweedens het die deelnemers moontlike implementeringstrategieë vir kreatiewe onderrigpraktyk in Wiskunde aangedui, naamlik die implementering van probleemoplossingsvaardighede, konkrete ervaringe en hulpbronne, groepsleer en sosiale interaksie. Derdens is sommige onderwyserkwaliteite ter bevordering van kreatiewe onderrigpraktyk in Wiskunde aangedui, naamlik onderwysers as spesialis vakkenners in Wiskunde, leerder-motiveerders, skeppers van 'n positiewe leer- en onderrigomgewing, interpreteerders en ontwerpers van leerprogramme en -materiaal, en aanpasbaarheid. Die vierdie tema het die uitdagings rondom die gebruik van kreatiewe onderrigpraktyk in Wiskunde beklemtoon, waar onder andere omgewingsfaktore aangedui is. Op grond van die bevindinge kan die gevolgtrekking gemaak word dat domein-relevante vaardighede, kreatiwiteitsvaardighede, intrinsieke taakmotivering en die sosiale omgewing komponente van die samestellende teorie van kreatiwiteit (Amabile, 2012) is, wat ingesluit kan word om die suksesvolle gebruik van kreatiewe onderrigpraktyk in Wiskunde te bevorder. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Educational Psychology / MEd / Unrestricted

Point defects in silicon, vanadium dioxide, and doped ceria are investigated by density functional theory. Defects involving vacancies and interstitial oxygen and carbon in silicon are after formed in outer space and significantly affect device performances. The screened hybrid functional by Heyd-Scuseria-Ernzerhof is used to calculate formation energies, binding energies, and electronic structures of the defective systems because standard density functional theory underestimates the bang gap of silicon. The results indicate for the A-center a −2 charge state. Tin is proposed to be an effective dopant to suppress the formation of A-centers. For the total energy difference between the A- and B-type carbon related G-centers we find close agreement with the experiment. The results indicate that the C-type G-center is more stable than both the A- and B-types. The electronic structures of the monoclinic and rutile phases of vanadium dioxide are also studied using the Heyd-Scuseria-Ernzerhof functional. The ground states of the pure phases obtained by calculations including spin polarization disagree with the experimental observations that the monoclinic phase should not be magnetic, the rutile phase should be metallic, and the monoclinic phase should have a lower total energy than the rutile phase. By tuning the Hartree-Fock fraction α to 10% the agreement with experiments is improved in terms of band gaps and relative energies of the phases. A calculation scheme is proposed to simulate the relationship between the transition temperature of the metal-insulator transition and the dopant concentration in tungsten doped vanadium dioxide. We achieve good agreement with the experimental situation. 18.75% and 25% yttrium, lanthanum, praseodymium, samarium, and gadolinium doped ceria supercells generated by the special quasirandom structure approach are employed to investigate the impact of doping on the O diffusion. The experimental behavior of the conductivity for the different dopants is understood in terms of the calculated lattice constants and the O migration barriers obtained from nudged elastic band calculations.

Since the emergence of Recommender Systems (RS), most of the research has focused on improving the capability of a recommender system to predict and provide an accurate recommendation. However, the literature has demonstrated increasing evidence that providing accurate recommendations is not sufficient to increase users’ acceptance of the provided recommendations. Hence, it is vital for a recommender system to focus not only on the accuracy of the provided recommendations but also on other factors that influence the acceptance of recommendations and the extent to which these recommendations are convincing or persuasive. Consequently, there becomes a need for new research paradigms to help improve the capabilities of recommender systems, which goes beyond the recommendation accuracy. One of the recently emerged research directions that consider this need fosters the idea of adopting human-related theories from the social sciences domain, such as persuasiveness of social communication. In this context, however, a challenging, non-trivial, and not fully explored issue that arises is: how to integrate human-related theories into a recommender system to be one of its intrinsic characteristics in order to improve its performance beyond its accuracy? This thesis aims to address the above issue from two angles: first, it investigates improving recommender systems by increasing users’ acceptance of the recommendations. To achieve this, the influence of persuasion principles on users of recommender systems is investigated. Then a reference architecture framework to adapt and integrate persuasion features as a substantial characteristic of recommender systems is proposed. The proposed framework, named Personalized Persuasive RS (PerPer), adopts concepts from the social sciences literature, namely personality traits and persuasion principles. In addition, PerPer adapts machine learning concepts, in particular, the Learning Automata, to support its learning capabilities. Second, the thesis discusses evaluating recommender systems beyond their accuracy. Particularly, it proposes two evaluation approaches that aim to evaluate recommender systems in a comprehensive way that goes beyond evaluating accuracy only. The first evaluation approach is called the Comprehensive Performance evaluation (ComPer). It adopts concepts from the human learning domain and provides a simple, thorough, and setting-independent evaluation approach for recommenders. The essence of ComPer is to consider a recommender system as a human being, and hence the former’s outcomes (i.e., recommendations) can be evaluated and validated in a way similar to how humans’ learning outcomes are evaluated. The second evaluation approach adopts goal-oriented modeling to provide an evaluation that does not only assess recommenders beyond their accuracy but also considers the multi-stakeholders of RSs. We demonstrate, empirically, and by user studies, the feasibility and usefulness of the proposed approaches. The contributions of the thesis are: (1) A characterization of recommender systems as systems supported with human traits and features, which goes beyond the conventional recommender systems known in the literature. (2) A user study that examines the impact of persuasive principles on users of recommender systems. (3) A Personalized Persuasive RS (PerPer) reference architecture framework to enrich recommender systems with persuasion capabilities that are personalized and adaptive for different users. (4) A mapping between human’s cognitive skills and the recommendation process. (5) The Comprehensive Performance evaluation (ComPer) framework to provide a comprehensive assessment of recommender systems considering multiple evaluation dimensions other than accuracy. And (6) a goal-oriented evaluation approach to assess the impact of multiple alternatives for recommendation approaches on the satisfaction of RSs stakeholders’ goals.

This dissertation consists of three essays on banking. The first two chapters analyze, theoretically and empirically, the relationship between bank capital and macroeconomic activity. The third chapter addresses a policy question about financial deepening in some emerging market economies. The first chapter develops a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model to examine the impact of macroprudential regulation on the bank's financial decisions and the implications for the real sector. It explicitly incorporates costs and benefits of capital requirements. We model an occasionally binding capital constraint and approximate it using an asymmetric nonlinear penalty function. It is seen that higher capital requirements can dampen business cycle fluctuations and stronger regulation can induce banks to hold buffers and hence mitigate an economic downturn. We also see that higher capital requirements can enhance the welfare of the economy as a whole. Lastly, we find that switching to a counter-cyclical capital requirement regime can help moderate business cycle fluctuations and raise welfare. The second chapter empirically evaluates the impact of bank capital on lending patterns using an innovative instrumenting strategy. We construct an unbalanced quarterly panel of around nine thousand commercial banks over sixty quarters, from 1996 to 2010. Using different measures of capital, we find a moderate relationship between bank equity and lending. The relationship is also found to differ by size. The bigger banks have a greater responsiveness of lending to capital than smaller ones. The third chapter evaluates financial deepening in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) and compares their performance with other top performers in Africa. First, we use an unbalanced panel of 16 countries and 158 banks and document some key areas that need immediate policy attention. Next, we use the financial possibility frontier methodology to benchmark the performance of some important economies in our sample, with respect to each other and their estimated potential. We find that the WAEMU countries perform poorly compared to the control group and their own estimated potential. We make policy recommendations to solve this problem and increase financial depth.

No description available.