Thomas Pynchon’s V. is often criticized for its preoccupation with meaninglessness and the  inability to make sense of ‘who’ or ‘what’ V. is about. The failure to make sense of V. is thematized within the novel particularly during the sacred moments or epiphanies which critics describe as ‘bizarre’, ‘disturbing’ or ‘unsettling’. These sacred moments raise issues that cannot be answered by traditional tools. Yet, critics and readers have responded to the novel with readings that reinscribe conventional modes of making sense and show a resistance to the inadequacy of traditional tools. This dissertation examines how Pynchon undermines modernist notions of the sacred moment as “moments of vision” which yield a higher knowledge or revelation. I argue that the sacred moments in V. allude to George Bataille’s notion of waste within a restricted and general economy. The violence of the sacred moments in V. are examined in relation to waste, sacrifice, the erotic, the inanimate, sovereignty and laughter. I conclude that rather than bringing about death, entropy and apocalyptic endings, the epiphanies’ violence and wasteful expenditure reveal the power structures at work in the literary use of the sacred. Paradoxically, the necessary existence of wasteful expenditure increases sense-making and offers the critic/reader the possibility of confronting waste, “the accursed share”.

SETTLEMENT SHARE AND DETERMINATION OF ITS AMOUNT ABSTRACT The subject of my thesis is to analyse the legal regulation governing the settlement share and determination of its amount. The aim is to provide comprehensive picture of the issue of the settlement share both in terms of the commercial law, as well as in terms of the tax and accounting law. With regard to the recent and significant changes in private law, and thus in the area of settlement share, there is devoted ample space in the thesis to comparison of the current and former legal framework including application of the available judicature. The change of the particular law brought a lot of new questions and disputed interpretations, which are subsequently identified and analysed. My thesis consists of introduction, seven chapters and conclusion. Chapters one to four represent a general part in relation to the settlement share. The first chapter gives the definition of a settlement share from both the legal and economical perspective. It includes also consideration about possible treatment with the settlement share. The second chapter deals with the termination of the participation of a partner, which leads to the constitution of the settlement share. Chapter three analyses the various options for determining the value of the settlement share...

Diplomová práce - Soňa Součková: Simulation of pension reform impact on real estate market Abstract The objective of this thesis is to estimate the impact of pension reform on commercial property market in the Czech Republic during the period of 2013 -2017. Our hypothesis is that a potential pension reform would have a positive significant impact on property investment volumes via institutions constituting the second pillar. In the first step, we provide analysis of pension reforms recently applied in Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Given analysis of selected countries and specifics of the proposed Czech pension reform, we estimate that the institutions in the second pillar may face additional yearly cash inflows beginning on EUR 1.23 billion in 2013 and further increasing to EUR 2.59 billion in 2017. Furthermore, we estimate that a likely share allocation by second pillar institutions into real estate would lie in the region of 0 - 14% depending on the discrete decision of the regulators. Using a conservative leverage of 40% for bank financing, we estimate that the expected investment volumes allocated by second pillar institutions into real estate would be EUR 61 - 287 million in year 2013. Given the average investment volumes of EUR 1334 million p.a. allocated into commercial...

De senaste årens krav på hållbarhet, har tillsammans med en önskan att göra städerna renare, tystare och mer tillgängliga, resulterat i att cykeln kommit att prioriteras inom samhällsplaneringen. I syfte att främja en hållbar stadsutveckling och uppmuntra fler människor att cykla har allt fler städer valt att upprätta hyrcykelsystem. En av dessa städer är Gävle som under våren 2016 genomför en pilotstudie för att undersöka möjligheten att införa ett regionalt hyrcykelsystem riktat till pendlare. Syftet med denna studie är därför att applicera en metod för att optimera lokaliseringen av cykelstationer i ett hyrcykelsystem i Gävle. För att uppnå detta har en GIS-baserad multikriterieanalys (MKA) upprättats. Multikriterieanalysen resulterade i att ett antal platser pekades ut som lämpliga för etablering av hyrcykelsstationer. Genom vidare analys och diskussion av resultatet prioriterades antalet platser ned ytterligare. Detta mynnade ut i en rekommendation över de två lämpligaste platserna i Gävle för etablering av hyrcykelstationer. Dessa platser är Södermalm och Rådhustorget. / The desire to make our cities cleaner, quieter and more accessible has given the bicycle a higher priority in urban planning in recent years. In order to promote sustainable urban development and encourage people to cycle an increasing number of cities have chosen to set up bike-share systems. During the spring of 2016 the city of Gävle is conducting a pilot study to examine the possibility of introducing a bike-share system. The purpose of this study is therefore to apply a method to optimize the location of bike stations in a bike-share system in Gävle. To achieve this, a GIS-based multi-criteria analysis (MCA) was established. The MCA resulted in a number of sites identified as suitable for the establishment of bike-share stations. Through further analysis and discussion the number of stations was prioritized even further. This resulted in a recommendation of the two most suitable locations for establishment of bike-share stations in Gävle. These places are Södermalm and Rådhustorget.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / Can a country function without a legislative framework able to inform decisionmaking processes taken at different spheres of government? To what extent would actions conducted at various spheres of government be efficiently coordinated and informed by appropriate channels of constitutional provisions and legislative amendments to consolidate financial and intergovernmental fiscal relations policy-making tools for the realization of an efficient local developmental state? Answers to the above mentioned two questions refer to normative fiscal policy principles and prescriptive instruments of intergovernmental fiscal transfer design, whose orientation suggests better ways of framing sound and coherent programs and interventions that strengthen cooperative synergy and transfer knowledge of experience gained in empirical investigations and various South African environments of higher academic learning. Growing evidence acknowledges South Africa as one of the young democratic countries that has been going through a period of transition over the past three years as it changes its system of public finance from a structure suited to the old apartheid system to one consistent with the new South African Constitutional dispensation. While the former system was highly centralized, the newconstitution makes a clear commitment to municipal governments as important providers of government services, with greater tax and spending powers. Even as local autonomy has been substantially increased, there remains uncertainty as to the most appropriate design of a system of intergovernmental fiscal grants to metropolitan areas and townships. This study analyses this situation and further develops a generic design for intergovernmental transfers and its suitability to the realities of South African municipalities on the ground within the framework of Cooperative Government. This study concludes that fiscal management, as a cross-cutting discipline, is a powerful instrument for government’s revenue sources at the national, provincial and local government levels. Financial management should be regarded as a co-coordinating mechanism managing government’s expenditure and catalyzing sound financial relationship for an efficient management in the country, thus allowing government to budget effectively for the delivery of goods and services in order to attain the constitutional mandate of a developmental state. / South Africa

Employee share plans are commonly used to provide a staff incentive to employees who have served long and continuously, as well as to compensate the employees for their commitment in reaching company goals and performance criteria. Because any person, including employers implementing such schemes, will always structure transactions to achieve the best possible tax outcome, many schemes and structures have become available to achieve those ends. A recent employee share scheme was structured through the incorporation of a wholly- owned subsidiary, which was incorporated for the sole purpose of administering and managing the employee share plan on behalf of the holding company. This would include acquiring holding company shares in the open market and the subsequent transfer thereof to the holding company’s employees. The payment made to the subsidiary for the services rendered and to enable the subsidiary to acquire holding company shares in the open market, was structured as a fee together with a risk premium payable and not as an intercompany interest-free loan. A study of the investigation and evaluation of the adequacy and legality of such schemes and structures and whether or not appropriate tax principles were applied to achieve possible tax benefits, creates several research challenges. Although previous research has been conducted on the tax implications for employees under a share-based plan, payments structured as interest-free loans and several case law on the deductibility of payments structured as interest-free loans, there is a lack of extensive previous academic research on the funding of employee share plans structured as a fee together with a risk premium, made to wholly-owned subsidiaries to manage and administer an employee share plan. The aim of this study is to help to fill the gap in relevant research, case law and legislation regarding the tax implications of this new funding structure of conditional employee share plans. The tax implications for both the holding company and the subsidiary will be taken into consideration to assess whether or not the scheme will be beneficial to all parties involved. AFRIKAANS : Aandeelgebaseerde skemas vir werknemers word algemeen gebruik om personeelvoordele aan werknemers te verskaf wat lang en deurlopende diens gelewer het, asook om vergoeding te bied aan werknemers vir hul toewyding in die bereiking van die maatskappy se doelwitte en prestasie-kriteria. Verskeie skemas en strukture het al ontstaan as gevolg van die feit dat enige persoon, onder wie werkgewers wat sulke skemas implementeer, deurgans transaksies sal struktureer om die beste moontlike belastinguitkoms te bewerkstellig. ’n Onlangse aandeelgebaseerde skema vir werknemers is soos volg gestruktureer: Die houermaatskappy het ’n volfiliaal ingelyf met die uitsluitlike doel om die administrasie en bestuur van die aandeelgebaseerde skema, namens die houermaatskappy te onderneem. Die verkryging van die houermaatskappy-aandele in die ope mark en die daaropvolgende oordrag daarvan aan die houermaatskappy se werknemers is beplan. Die betaling aan die filiaal vir die dienste gelewer en om die filiaal in staat te stel om die houermaatskappy se aandele in die ope mark te bekom, is gestruktureer as ’n fooi en ’n risiko-premie betaalbaar eerder as ’n rentevrye intergroep-lening as sodanig. ’n Studie oor die ondersoek en evaluering van die geskiktheid en wettigheid van sulke strukture en of die korrekte belastingbeginsels toegepas is om moontlike belastingvoordele te bereik, skep verskeie navorsingsuitdagings. Hoewel vorige navorsing onderneem is oor die belastingimplikasies vir werknemers in die lig van aandeelgebaseerde transaksies, betalings wat gestruktureer is as rentevrye lenings en verskeie wetsbepalings ten opsigte van die aftrekbaarheid van betalings wat gestruktureer is as rentevrye lenings, is daar ’n gebrek aan uitgebreide vorige akademiese navorsing oor die befondsing van aandeelgebaseerde skemas deur ’n fooi insluitende ’n risikopremie. Die doel van hierdie studie is om te help om die die gaping in relevante navorsing, regspraak en wetgewing ten opsigte van die belastingimplikasies van die nuwe finansieringstruktuur van voorwaardelike aandeelgebaseerde skemas vir werknemers te vernou. Die belastingimplikasies vir die houermaatskappy en filiaal sal in ag geneem word om vas te stel of die skema voordelig is vir albei die betrokke partye Copyright 2011, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Van Wyk, C-L 2011, A critical analysis of the income tax implications of conditional employee share plans in South Africa, MCom dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-03202012-150330 / > F12/4/173/gm / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Taxation / unrestricted

The capital maintenance rules stem from the English company law and were primarily aimed at protecting the rights of a company’s creditors. Before the introduction of the Companies Amendment Act 37 of 1998, a company was prohibited from purchasing its own shares. After this legislation was passed, a company was able to do so, provided that it satisfied the solvency and liquidity test and also complied with the new statutory provisions set out by sections 85 to 89 of the Companies Act 61 of 1973. Section 48 of the Companies Act 71 of 2008 now regulates the acquisition by a company of its own shares, as well as the acquisition of shares in its holding company by a subsidiary company. The above actions also fall under the ambit of a “distribution” as defined in the Act and therefore need to satisfy the requirements of section 46 of the Act as well. Unlike its predecessor, the provisions in the new Act are very broad and devoid of guidelines. The emphasis is placed on companies satisfying the principles of solvency and liquidity. Non-adherence to these provisions gives rise to the personal liability of the company’s directors. The provisions of section 48 do not apply where a dissenting shareholder exercises his appraisal rights in terms of section 164 of the new Act, or where a company redeems redeemable securities. These exceptions do, however, still amount to “distributions” and will accordingly need to satisfy the requirements contained in section 46 of the Act. Redeemable securities were initially not exempted from the provisions of section 48. This would potentially have given rise to a situation where a company could approach a court in terms of section 48(6) to reverse a redemption of its securities. It would have had dire consequences for financing by way of redeemable securities. In terms of the Companies Amendment Act 3 of 2011 redeemable securities are now specifically exempted from the provisions of section 48. In terms of the new Act a subsidiary company is allowed to purchase shares in its holding company to a maximum of 10% in the aggregate of the issued shares of any share class, provided that no voting rights attached to such shares may be exercised. The new Act fails to properly address some of the issues regarding the “round-tripping” of dividends and the declaration of a dividend in specie that were already identified as far back as 2001. Where the consideration for a repurchase constitutes a “dividend” as defined in the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962, the company will be liable to pay secondary tax on companies in respect thereof. If a distribution does not constitute a dividend, capital gains tax is payable with regard to it. Share repurchases are allowed in terms of Canadian corporate law after the legislative reform which occurred in that country during the 1970’s. The Canadian Business Corporations Act contains provisions that bear a striking resemblance to the provisions of the new Act adopted in South Africa. Whilst the basis and rationale behind the new corporate legislation cannot be faulted, a host of issues and concerns still remain. The unfortunate consequence is that the new Act lacks transparency and is fraught with clumsy errors. Copyright / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Mercantile Law / unrestricted

Intresset för företags ekonomiska prestationer har sedan länge varit stort. På senare år har även intresset för företagens sociala och miljömässiga prestationer ökat. För att möta detta ökade intresse publicerar ett stort antal av världens företag hållbarhetsrapporter där det rapporteras om detta. Ett flertal organisationer har skapat riktlinjer för att standardisera dessa rapporter för att underlätta jämförelser mellan företag. Riktlinjerna upprättade av Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) är de mest frekvent använda. Det ökade intresset för sociala och miljömässiga prestationer har även fått EU att upprätta ett direktiv som kräver att alla större företag ska upprätta hållbarhetsrapporter i enlighet med GRI:s riktlinjer.På grund av den stora produktionen av hållbarhetsrapporter som även kan tänkas öka i och med EU:s direktiv är det av intresse att veta vilken nytta intressenter har av dessa rapporter. En av dessa intressenter är aktieägare. Tidigare studier har visat att information som är användbar för aktieägarnas investeringsbeslut kommer att påverka aktiekursen. Denna studie undersökte vilken nytta aktieägare har av hållbarhetsrapporter upprättade i enlighet medGRI:s riktlinjer. För att undersöka detta studerades sambandet mellan företagens hållbarhetsrapportering och aktiekursen genom regressionsanalyser och t-test.Resultatet av studien visar att de företag som upprättat hållbarhetsrapporter har en högre aktiekurs än de som inte upprättat hållbarhetsrapporter. Detta tyder alltså på att aktieägare använder hållbarhetsrapporter vid sina investeringsbeslut och att dessa rapporter därmed är av nytta för denna typ av intressenter. Omfattningen av hållbarhetsrapporten tycks däremot intepåverka aktiekursen positivt medan kvaliteten på hållbarhetsrapporten tycks ha en positiv påverkan på aktiekursen. / The economic performance of businesses has for a long time been of great interest. Lately the interest of businesses’ social and environmental performance have increased. To meet this increased interest a large amount of the world’s businesses publishes sustainability reports in which social and environmental performance is presented. Several organizations have createdguidelines to standardize these reports in order to make it easier to compare different business performance. The guidelines established by Global reporting initiative (GRI) is the most commonly used. The increased interest in the social and environmental performance has also led EU to draw up a directive that requires all of the large companies to create sustainability reports in accordance with GRI’s guidelines. This great production of sustainability reports raises the question of the usefulness of these reports. One of the stakeholders that uses business information is the shareholders. Several studies have shown that information that the shareholders finds useful will affect the share price. This study has examined shareholders’ usefulness of sustainability reports prepared in accordance with GRI’s guidelines. To examine this the relationship between the share price and the business sustainability reports has been investigated trough regression analysis and t-test.The results of the studies were that businesses which have published sustainability reports prepared in accordance with GRI’s guidelines in general have a higher share price than businesses that do not have published this reports. These results indicate that shareholders value the sustainability reports when investments are made. Therefore the sustainabilityreports seems to be useful to shareholders. The study also indicates that the shareholders do not value the quantity of the report but the quality.

My thesis is concentrated on basic types of securities, their measurement and reporting, according to Czech legislation, International Financial Reporting Standards and US GAAP. I deal with origin occasions of individual accounting systems and their structure at the beginning of my thesis. Then I describe different classification of securities. The main part is about equity and debt securities. I use shares and bonds to show right way of measurement, recognition and reporting of securities, according to Czech legislation, IFRS and US GAAP. In conclusion I compare measurement and reporting methods of individual accounting systems and their influence on reports.

The thesis presents an analysis of the area collective investment in Czech republic. The focus is aimed primarily at historic development one of the most important way of saving money in The Czech capital market. The thesis analysis by details the process of formation collective investment by methods named "kupónová privatizace" and principles and guidelines of formation new capital market subjects. The function and purpose change of the subject of collective investment during short period existence was the cause of absences in the Czech legislation. Based on comparing of selected collective investment subject is described the present of collective investment in Czech republic according to law and outlined probable further development and improvement of investment commended assets.