Tax avoidance In New Zealand

This study aims to critically review and analyse the causes and solutions for tax avoidance in New Zealand. The research will explore relevant sections of the Income Tax Act and make recommendations for further research and development. Tax avoidance is gaining further awareness amongst people as are the legal implications that surround tax avoidance. This study makes use of secondary research in which data is collected primarily through review of literature that is made available through published journal articles, periodicals and books. During the research, it was found that the general public has different understandings of tax avoidance. The research also aims to review the sections of the New Zealand Income Tax Act 2004, particularly the sections containing the anti-avoidance laws and ways in which the operation of New Zealand's tax avoidance laws can improve. It will also analyse and recommend what a model tax system should be and the legislation that it should follow to eliminate tax-avoidance

High staff turnover at a central city motel

This study aims to investigate the high staff turnover at a central city motel and to develop a human resource strategy to improve retention. The study uses a qualitative approach in which data was collected through semi-structured interviews and was analysed by themes to obtain results. The thematic analysis of results led to finding causes of high employee turnover at the motel and also helped in recommending strategies to curb the issue. The study found that career advancement and work-life balance were the main factors affecting employee turnover. It also found other factors such as training and motivation lead to high turnover. The study recommends that to retain staff at a central city motel, a strategic human resource plan to develop a career pathway should be adopted. Also, to reduce the struggle between work and personal interests, steps to create a balance should be explored. Research must be conducted on a broader platform to analyse employees from other motels and the hospitality industry to determine their views on high staff turnover

Development of a surrogate bruising detection system to describe potential bruising patterns associated with common childhood falls.

Child abuse is a leading cause of fatality in children aged 0-4 years. An estimated 1,700 children die annually as a result of child abuse of which threequarters (75.7%) of the children were younger than 4 years old1. Infants (younger than 1 year) had the highest rate of fatalities among the group. Many of the serious injuries and fatalities could have potentially been prevented if clinicians and child protective services were able to better distinguish between injuries associated with abuse versus those caused by accidents. Missed cases of child abuse have been shown to be as high as 71% of all admitted cases, where children are presented at hospitals for their injuries and not evaluated as being abused 2. Additionally, when child abuse is legally pursued for criminal charges, a little more than half of the cases move forward to prosecution as opposed to being screened out for reasons including the need for further investigation or insufficient evidence 3. Therefore there is a need to provide clinicians, child protective services and law enforcement personnel with improved knowledge related to the types of injuries that are possible from common household accidents that are often reported to be the underlying cause of injury in child abuse. Bruising is an early sign of abuse, and can be an effective indicator of child abuse. Although not life threatening, bruising injuries or bruising patterns provide a “roadmap” documenting a child’s exposure to impact. Previous research has relied upon the use of instrumented anthropomorphic test devices, or test dummies, to investigate injury risk in common childhood falls and accidents in addition to head injury and bone fracture risk in children 4-7. However, the ability to predict bruising patterns occurring in association with falsely reported events in child abuse does not exist, and could prove extremely useful in the distinction between abusive and accidental injuries. This study required the modification of an existing pediatric test dummy to allow for the prediction of potential bruising locations and bruising patterns in children during common household fall events that are often stated as false scenarios in child abuse. The scope of this project included the development of a “sensing skin” that was adapted to a commercial pediatric test dummy. This modified test dummy was then used in mock laboratory experiments replicating common household injury events while the “sensing skin” measured and recorded levels of impact force and locations of impact on the human surrogate. The data from the “sensing skin” was acquired and compiled in a computerized visual body map image displaying the areas of contact or impact locations. This body map image provided a “roadmap” of the human surrogate’s contact exposure during the specific fall event and defined a compatible impact roadmap–specific event combination. Impact roadmap–event combinations for various common household falls provide an indication of where potential bruising could occur. This knowledge of potential bruising patterns could aid clinicians in distinguishing between abusive and accidental injuries for specific fall types

Neutronic analysis of light water Small Modular Reactor with flexible fuel configurations

The study was focused on the analysis of light water Small Modular Reactor (SMR) with flexible fuel configurations. The core design, based on the Westinghouse UO2 SMR with less than 5% enrichment was developed using the Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) code. Neutronics analyses of a reference core with UO2 fuel was performed to characterize parameters such as the radial neutron flux profile, the maximum to average flux ratio, the reactivity coefficient and critical boron concentration at beginning of life; which confirmed good performance in comparison to a standard UO2 based pressurized water reactor. Using this uranium oxide (UOX) core as a reference, the SMR was then investigated with mixed oxide (MOX) and transuranic (TRU) fuels. The TRU fuel used was an inert matrix fuel with 8% UO2 spent fuel as the fissile material and 92% Yttrium Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) as the fertile inert matrix. The use of inert matrix enhanced the ability of the fuel to achieve better depletion. The results obtained for MOX and TRU fuels were also found to be within the requirements. The burnup analysis for the actinides and the fission products for each of the oxide fueled cores was also determined which is necessary for the reactor criticality-safety design studies. The depletion analysis for MOX and TRU fuels indicated a higher fuel burn-up with an overall Pu239 consumption of 54% for reactor grade MOX core, 74% for weapon grade MOX core and 94% for TRU core respectively. In conclusion, the results indicated a satisfactory behavior of SMR core with UOX, MOX and TRU fuels. To confirm the viability of this flexible fuel option, it is necessary to further validate this results and also analyze the core for its thermal-hydraulics behavior. --Abstract, page iii

Investigation Of Mutations In Nuclear Genes That Affect The Atp Synthase

The F1 domain is the catalytic subunit of the mitochondrial ATP synthase. Studies with respiratory-deficient yeast identified ATP1 and ATP2 as nuclear genes encoding the alpha and beta subunits, respectively, of the mitochondrial F1-ATPase. The mutations in the atp1 and atp2 genes were cloned and sequenced, and they appear to affect the ATP synthase. Most yeast strains with mutations in the or the subunit primarily show an F1 assembly defective phenotype. This feature is similar to the assembly-defective mutants missing the chaperones required for assembly of the F1 oligomer or either the alpha/beta subunits. Some of the atp2 and atp1 yeast mutants are interesting because they show evidence of a soluble F1 oligomer with new phenotypic characteristics. The yeast strains E892 and E793 with a mutation in the P-loop are capable of assembling the F1 in vivo, but extraction of the F1Fo from the inner mitochondrial membrane using detergent renders it unstable forming oligomeric structures. The yeast mutant E323 has a phenotypic characteristic that resembles F1 assembly defective mutants. However, the defect is not because the mutation affects the structural stability of the protein but due to the inability of the dimers to assemble a soluble F1. The yeast mutant N15 presents two mutations (G227D, D469N) in the beta subunit with impaired catalytic activity. Work in our lab has shown that atp2 yeast mutants with the G227D mutation are incapable of assembling the F1Fo. We suggest that the D469N mutation rescues the deleterious phenotypic effect of the G227D mutation. The F1- and subunits are assembled into a soluble hexamer with the aid of two nuclear-encoded chaperones Atp12p and Atp11p respectively. Chaperones maintain the activity of proteins that are destabilized by mutations. Prokaryotes show increased levels of chaperones to alleviate the deleterious effects of mutations. To explore this possibility, we overexpressed the ATP11 and ATP12 genes to determine if it rescues the mutant phenotype. Our efforts so far have proved unsuccessful. Thus, to summarize, we biochemically evaluated the effect of mutations in the atp1 and atp2 genes of the F1-ATPase. The work presented here will give valuable insight into the role of individual amino acids in the functioning of the ATP synthase. Mutational studies combined with structural data will allow us to completely understand the mechanism of the ATP synthas

The Power to Consent and the Criminal Law

I examine what it is to have the ability to validly consent, and conclude that it is a Hohfeldian power. On that basis, I argue that the necessary conditions for the grant of consent must include all the necessary conditions for the exercise of a power. Using this idea, I attempt to isolate context-independent minimum conditions necessary for the grant of consent. I argue that the grant of consent requires an exercise of volition - the making of a choice - and that there exists no general requirement either that this choice be to invite a boundary crossing rather than merely to permit it, or that the choice invariably be accompanied by a performative token. Furthermore, I argue that the power to consent cannot be exercised so as to have retrospective effect. At most, the expectation of ratification may give rise to an entitlement to a supervening defence