Taxing owner-occupied housing: comparing the Netherlands to other European Union countries

This paper compares owner-occupied housing tax regimes in the Netherlands and the other countries in the EU-15. The Nether-lands appears to stand apart in two respects. First, in Luxembourg and the Netherlands owner-occupiers have to include an imputed rental income in their taxable income. Second, in the Netherlands, the tax-deductibility of mortgage interest payments is almost unre-stricted. The tax regime of owner-occupied homes increasingly erodes the personal income tax base in the Netherlands, so that higher tax rates are needed to collect a given amount of revenue. However, elimination or reduction of the mortgage interest deduction can only be realized gradually. Due to a lack of data both within the various tax regimes and across time periods, a comprehensive multivariate time-series comparison among the various tax regimes in the EU-15 is not pos-sible. Thus, the statistical analysis is limited to bivariate compari-sons.owner-occupied housing, mortgage interest deduction, imputed rental income

The role of selected pre-match covariates on the outcome of One-day International (ODI) cricket matches

Background: The identification of key factors that systematically influence a team’s success is important and has led to the application of statistical models in sport. Predicting the outcome of a One Day International (ODI) cricket match, using only pre-match covariates, has been minimally investigated. Objectives: This research sought to investigate the impact that venue, toss outcome, toss decision, and match type have on the chances of winning an ODI match. Methods: A total of 1228 men’s international ODI matches were analysed. A logistic regression model was used to identify the significance of these pre-match covariates on the result of the matches. Results: The results varied across all teams, suggesting that there are individualised factors driving these differences and that generalising the impact pre-match covariates have in every team is unrealistic. New Zealand and India displayed a significant home advantage effect, whereas Australia had a strong tendency towards a significant disadvantage when they won the toss. However, for most teams, toss outcome, toss decision, and match type did not significantly impact the outcome of an ODI match. Conclusion: New Zealand and Australia were the most predictable teams, whereas South Africa and Pakistan were regarded as unpredictable when pre-match covariates were used to forecast the outcome of their ODI matches

Determinants of student satisfaction with campus residence life at a South African University

Although there are a number of studies on the determinants of general quality of life among university students, these occur mainly in developed countries and do not focus specifically on campus-based residence life. It has long been accepted that factors outside the classroom (“the other curriculum”) can contribute to academic success, as well as the achievement of other important outcomes such as the appreciation of human diversity. Striving towards equality of residence life satisfaction across different racial and gender groups, for example, is thus important for academic outcomes and for the development of well-functioning citizens. This study is based on the 2011 Quality of Residence Life (QoRL) Survey, conducted at a South African university, comprising roughly 2 000 respondents. Based on descriptive analyses and ordered probit regressions, the study investigates the association between satisfaction with QoRL and (i) residence milieu and characteristics, (ii) direct and indirect discrimination, (iii) perceptions of drug and alcohol issues in residence, (iv) safety, and (v) individual student characteristics. One of the main findings is that there are no significant differences in satisfaction with QoRL across racial and gender groups; a finding that suggests significant progress in university transformation and equity goals. The general atmosphere and characteristics of residences are also important predictors of QoRL satisfaction.Economic Research Southern Africa (ERSA) is a research programme funded by the National Treasury of South Africa

Multivariate analysis of selected honeybee populations in Africa

Morphometric characters and sting pheromones of worker honeybees, Apis mellifera Linnaeus were analysed by multivariate methods to characterise selected honeybee populations along five transects in Africa at a meso-scale level of sampling distance resolution. In some, but not all, areas pheromonal clusters were found to be coincident and concordant with the morphometric clusters, thus indicating that different honeybee traits have dispersed variably among populations. All transects were found to contain areas of significantly high variance. High intracolonial variance was taken to indicate localised genetic variation coupled with out-cross matings. Centroids of high intercolonial variance occured at and between cluster boundaries and were typical of transitions between, and rainfall-temperature discontinuities within, ecological-climatological zones, hence areas of ecological instability. Principal component and stepwise discriminant analysis yielded three morphometric clusters corresponding to A. m. sahariensis and A. m. intermissa in Morocco and to A. m. iberica (with three biometric populations) in Spain, but no pheromone clusters. The combined morphometric and pheromonal variance spectra indicated regions of natural hybridisation along a Sahara-Pyrenees transect. In the Horn of Africa, discrete and statistically homogeneous populations were identified: A. m. jemenitica, A. m. bandasii, A. m. sudanensis in Ethiopia and an unclassified group in southwestern Somalia. Areas of high intercolonial variance were interpreted as zones of hybridisation between the populations. Along a transect in west central Africa, three distinct homogeneous populations and two zones of hybridisation were found. These bees were designated as A. m. adansonii whose area of distribution was intruded by an un-named mountain group of bees and a third group, A. m. jemenitica. The delineation of the hybrid zones was supported by intercolonial variance spectra and these significant asymmetries were found to be coincident with transitions between the ecological-climatological zones. In southwestern Africa, two discrete homogeneous populations and a zone of hybridisation between them were identified: A. m. scutellata in northern South Africa and southern Namibia and A. m. adansonii in northern Namibia. Along a transect in the southeastern woodland savanna of Africa, three discrete populations were classified: A. m. litorea in Mozambique, A. m. scutellata in Zimbabwe and A. m. adansonii in northwestern Zambia. A zone of introgression between the last two subspecies occured in south-central Zambia and in the Zambezi valley

Taxing owner-occupied housing: comparing the Netherlands to other European Union countries

This paper compares owner-occupied housing tax regimes in the Netherlands and the other countries in the EU-15. The Nether-lands appears to stand apart in two respects. First, in Luxembourg and the Netherlands owner-occupiers have to include an imputed rental income in their taxable income. Second, in the Netherlands, the tax-deductibility of mortgage interest payments is almost unre-stricted. The tax regime of owner-occupied homes increasingly erodes the personal income tax base in the Netherlands, so that higher tax rates are needed to collect a given amount of revenue. However, elimination or reduction of the mortgage interest deduction can only be realized gradually. Due to a lack of data both within the various tax regimes and across time periods, a comprehensive multivariate time-series comparison among the various tax regimes in the EU-15 is not pos-sible. Thus, the statistical analysis is limited to bivariate compari-sons

The role of gaping behaviour in habitat partitioning between coexisting intertidal mussels

Background Environmental heterogeneity plays a major role in invasion and coexistence dynamics. Habitat segregation between introduced species and their native competitors is usually described in terms of different physiological and behavioural abilities. However little attention has been paid to the effects of behaviour in habitat partitioning among invertebrates, partially because their behavioural repertoires, especially marine benthic taxa, are extremely limited. This study investigates the effect of gaping behaviour on habitat segregation of the two dominant mussel species living in South Africa, the invasive Mytilus galloprovincialis and the indigenous Perna perna. These two species show partial habitat segregation on the south coast of South Africa, the lower and upper areas of the mussel zone are dominated by P. perna and M. galloprovincialis respectively, with overlap in the middle zone. During emergence, intertidal mussels will either keep the valves closed, minimizing water loss and undergoing anaerobic metabolism, or will periodically open the valves maintaining a more efficient aerobic metabolism but increasing the risk of desiccation. Results Our results show that, when air exposed, the two species adopt clearly different behaviours. M. galloprovincialis keeps the shell valves closed, while P. perna periodically gapes. Gaping behaviour increased water loss in the indigenous species, and consequently the risk of desiccation. The indigenous species expressed significantly higher levels of stress protein (Hsp70) than M. galloprovincialis under field conditions and suffered significantly higher mortality rates when exposed to air in the laboratory. In general, no intra-specific differences were observed in relation to intertidal height. The absence of gaping minimises water loss but exposes the invasive species to other stresses, probably related to anoxic respiration. Conclusions Gaping affects tolerance to desiccation, thus influencing the vertical zonation of the two species. Valve closure exposes the invasive species to higher stress and associated energy demands, but it minimizes water loss, allowing this species to dominate the upper mussel zone, where the gaping indigenous P. perna cannot survive. Thus even very simple behaviour can influence the outcome of interactions between indigenous and invasive species

Determinants of student satisfaction with campus residence life at a South African University

Publisher versionAlthough there are a number of studies on the determinants of general quality of life among university students, these occur mainly in developed countries and do not focus specifically on campus-based residence life. It has long been accepted that factors outside the classroom (“the other curriculum”) can contribute to academic success, as well as the achievement of other important outcomes such as the appreciation of human diversity. Striving towards equality of residence life satisfaction across different racial and gender groups, for example, is thus important for academic outcomes and for the development of well-functioning citizens. This study is based on the 2011 Quality of Residence Life (QoRL) Survey, conducted at a South African university, comprising roughly 2 000 respondents. Based on descriptive analyses and ordered probit regressions, the study investigates the association between satisfaction with QoRL and (i) residence milieu and characteristics, (ii) direct and indirect discrimination, (iii) perceptions of drug and alcohol issues in residence, (iv) safety, and (v) individual student characteristics. One of the main findings is that there are no significant differences in satisfaction with QoRL across racial and gender groups; a finding that suggests significant progress in university transformation and equity goals. The general atmosphere and characteristics of residences are also important predictors of QoRL satisfaction.Economic Research Southern Africa (ERSA) is a research programme funded by the National Treasury of South Africa

Clinal morphometric variation in wild honey bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in South Africa

As a result of side effects of the accidental dispersal of the Cape honey bee, it has become of agroeconomic importance to delineate the region within South Africa where thelytokous worker honey bees occur so that apicultural movement of bees does not exacerbate the problem. Thelytokous workers are believed to be unique to Apis mellifera capensis, so that the problem is to find morphological markers distinguishing this race from its A. m. scutellata neighbours. However, no evidence of the expected hybrid zone demarcating races could be found. Factor analysis revealed only one spherical cluster of samples. Trend surfaces of the local mean morphometric factor scores showed a cline that paralleled latitude, with distortions relating to montane and continental effects. Discriminant function analysis implicated certain mountain ranges in amplifying the effects of latitude. Trend surfaces of local intercolony factor variance showed morphometric homogeneity across most of the country. We conclude that there is only a single population of honey bees in South Africa, and that it shows climate-correlated clinal variation. If the transportation of bees for commercial apiculture is to be successfully regulated to solve the `capensis calamity', further research should focus on the geographical distribution of thelytokous workers rather than on the capensis phenotype. Such workers have a wider distribution than capensis, occurring also at high frequencies around the type locality of A. m. scutellata

Reproductive Biology of the Cape Honeybee: A Critique of Beekman et al: A critique of "Asexually Produced Cape Honeybee Queens (Apis mellifera capensis) Reproduce Sexually,” authors: Madeleine Beekman, Michael H. Allsopp, Julianne Lim, Frances Goudie, and Benjamin P. Oldroyd. Journal of Heredity. 2011:102(5):562-566

Laying workers of the Cape honeybee parthenogenetically produce female offspring, whereas queens typically produce males. Beekman et al. confirm this observation, which has repeatedly been reported over the last 100 years including the notion that natural selection should favor asexual reproduction in Apis mellifera capensis. They attempt to support their arguments with an exceptionally surprising finding that A. m. capensis queens can parthenogenetically produce diploid homozygous queen offspring (homozygous diploid individuals develop into diploid males in the honeybee). Beekman et al. suggest that these homozygous queens are not viable because they did not find any homozygous individuals beyond the third larval instar. Even if this were true, such a lethal trait should be quickly eliminated by natural selection. The identification of sex (both with molecular and morphological markers) is possible but notoriously difficult in honeybees at the early larval stages. Ploidy is however a reliable indicator, and we therefore suggest that these "homozygous” larvae found in queen cells are actually drones reared from unfertilized eggs, a phenomenon well known by honeybee queen breeder

The pheromones of laying workers in two honeybee sister species : Apis cerana and Apis mellifera

When a honeybee colony loses its queen, workers activate their ovaries and begin to lay eggs. This is accompanied by a shift in their pheromonal bouquet, which becomes more queen like. Workers of the Asian hive bee Apis cerana show unusually high levels of ovary activation and this can be interpreted as evidence for a recent evolutionary arms race between queens and workers over worker reproduction in this species. To further explore this, we compared the rate of pheromonal bouquet change between two honeybee sister species of Apis cerana and Apis mellifera under queenright and queenless conditions. We show that in both species, the pheromonal components HOB, 9-ODA, HVA, 9-HDA, 10-HDAA and 10-HDA have significantly higher amounts in laying workers than in non-laying workers. In the queenright colonies of A. mellifera and A. cerana the ratios (9-ODA)/ (9-ODA+9-HDA+10-HDAA+10-HDA) are not significantly different between the two species, but in queenless A. cerana colonies the ratio is significant higher than in A. mellifera, suggesting that in A. cerana, the workers’ pheromonal bouquet is dominated by the queen compound, 9-ODA. The amount of 9-ODA in laying A. cerana workers increase by over 585% compared to the non-laying workers, that is 6.75 times higher than in A. mellifera were laying workers only had 86% more 9-ODA compared to non-laying workers.Financial support was provided to Ken Tan by Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology of Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, and Yunnan Agricultural University.http://www.springer.com/life+sci/zoology/journal/359hb2013ab201