Fundamental to any business is the concept of performance. This can be compared by using the competition as a benchmark for achievement or by comparing performance with previously defined goals and objectives. Stakeholders constantly demand to know whether their investmerit in a company is obtaining an adequate return and whilst there are established accounting techniques to calculate return on investment or capital employed, calculating efficiency can be rather a grey area in some industries. Ports are no exception and it is only by comparison that performance can be evaluated. Ports are, however, a complex business with many different sources of inputs and outputs which make direct comparison among apparently homogeneous ports seem difficult. The subject is further complicated by the various types of port ownership and organisational structures that exist throughout the world. This thesis seeks to determine whether there is a particular type of ownership and organisational structure that leads to a more efficient port. This aim is achieved by examining the efficiency of differently owned container ports, comparing privately owned ports against those remaining in the public sector, and those that have elements of both public and private ownership patterns. In addition, the organisational structure of those ports examined is analysed and classified with the results placed into a singular conceptual model for a clear comparison. The conceptual model can be then applied to any type of business enabling the performance of ownership and organisational structures to be compared with ease. The results of this thesis show that there is a strong relationship between the relative efficiency of ports examined and organisational structure and a weaker relationship between port ownership patterns. These results should assist governments, port administrators and port owners in determining the different ways they can structure their ports.

Economic growth has continually remained an objective of every nation, particularly for lesser-developed countries such as the Small Island Developing States (SIDS). According to an UNCTAD (2014) report on “Small island developing States: Challenges in transport and trade logistics,” one way of attaining economic growth is by focusing attention on tackling the challenges faced by transport and trade logistics (UNCTAD, 2014). Given the unique characteristics of SIDS nations, notably high import content, insularity, geographic remoteness and small economies, populations and areas, all of these factors emphasize the importance of having “well-functioning, reliable, sustainable and resilient transportation systems, in particularly the maritime sector for SIDS development and international trade survival” (UNCTAD, 2014). Such policies would be consistent with what is generally referred to as ‘supply led' economic development, where improvements in transport related infrastructure result in economic growth (Cowie, 2010). Such an approach assumes there is a latent demand for a country/region's produce, but this is being prevented from being exploited, because of inefficiencies in, or a lack of adequate port infrastructures and human resources. These challenges constitute a key policy concern for the sustainable development of SIDS' ports and become not only a port concern but a national concern, as directing adequate funding to improving port efficiency, has become a top priority (UNCTAD 2014). For instance, according to the United Nations (UN), “benchmarks need to be established to monitor and improve port performance ... ”(UNCTAD, 2014), while SIDS such as the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) aim to improve their maritime sector, claims that “...enhancing the maritime sector has the potential to fuel CARICOMs trade, increase port productivity and generate significant cost savings...” (CARICOM, 2013). This research aims to measure, analyse and compare port efficiency and productivity over a ten-year period (2001-2011), on 69 seaports, using non- parametric DEA based tests. The primary focus is on the Caribbean SIDS (referred as the Caribbean for abbreviation purposes), benchmarked against top ports. This is investigated from the realm of how port policy and development strategies have affected efficiency and productivity over time. This research attempts to present greater insight into SIDS ports, with reference mainly to the Caribbean, whilst the approach can become a springboard, implemented on other port types and regions of the world. Additionally, its practical contribution may become a better guide for international (UNCTAD), regional (CARICOM) and country level decision makers. Evolutionary technical efficiency and productivity for the Caribbean's Small Island Developing States (SIDS) ports, during the period 2001-2011 are evaluated. Moreover, the region's port development initiatives are assessed over the same period. Top ports received an average efficiency of 72%, outperforming the overall 66% average for Caribbean ports as was expected. Interestingly enough, efficiencies for top ports decreased on average by 0.5% per annum over the decade, whilst increases of up to 0.7% were found for Caribbean ports. Moreover, the region's productivity grew by 3.2%, compared to their larger top counterparts, of up to 2% per annum. This research concludes that trade volumes play an integral part in affecting efficiency and productivity. Additionally, given port development initiatives, the Caribbean's progresses in efficiency/productivity has been mainly the effects of scale and technical progress respectively. Since these ports are usually smaller scale and yield lesser throughput (compared to their larger counterparts), when they begin to grow, the focus is on enlarging their production scales, however, this is at the expense of adjusting internal practises. Compared to TOP ports, increases in productivity is solely the consequence of technical progress. Since these are usually larger scale ports and so likely yield more throughput, will likely be operating at the size of decreasing returns to scale. This suggests, that they are not properly focusing on internal practices and sizing their production scales to accommodate the rise in technical progress. The research findings can potentially influence decisions made by local and regional authorities in the Caribbean, when it comes to port development initiatives, as it provides an overview of efficiency/productivity, but more so that which impedes these progresses.

G. Bekefi, Sanborn C. Brown. / Reprinted from American journal of physics, v. 29, no. 7, 404-428, July, 1961. "February 14, 1961"--Cover. / Includes bibliographical references. / Army Signal Corps Contract DA36-039-sc-78108. Dept. of the Army Task 3-99-20-001 and Project 3-99-00-000.

The UK airport industry faced regulatory reform following the 1986 Airports Act. The regulatory reform not only included privatisation of the then nationalised British Airports Authority, but also changed the airports that used to be directly owned and managed by local authorities into autonomous pics. As a result, the industry includes four categories of institutional arrangement for the airports in the UK, i. e., (1) privatised airports with price regulation, (2) privatised airports without price regulation, (3) a local authority airport plc with price regulation, and (4) local authority airports plc without price regulation. The regulatory reform involves the imposition of price cap regulation on 'designated' airports' average airport charge levels. In this thesis focus is placed upon the predictions of outcome changes in this industry by the regulatory reform. The framework of the analyses is based on applied microeconomics, particularly on the theory of regulation. The predictions regarding the airport charges rebalancing effect and productive efficiency are accompanied by empirical analyses as to finding any performance changes. Predictions and empirical analyses were carried out mainly with regard to (1) allocative efficiency in price rebalancing and (2) technical efficiency in production. The price regulation's constraint form is the 'Average Revenue Approach' and some economists suggest this leads to efficiency distortion. 'Designated' airports' price cap constraint uses only the passenger numbers to 'average' the level of total airport charge revenue. The thesis shows that this approach would produce a different outcome from the general outcome predicted through a typical 'Average Revenue Approach' using both a simple model and interdependency demand model, followed by an empirical analysis using price ratio data. As to productive efficiency, after predictions of the outcome I used Data Envelopment Analysis to test efficiency scores in (A) the then nationalised British Airports Authority/privatised BAA as time series, and (B) private airports and local authority airports after the reform as a panel comparison.

Discontinuous dynamical system defined by impulsive autonomous differential equation is a field that has actually been considered rarely. Also, the properties of such systems have not been discussed thoroughly in the course of mathematical researches so far. This thesis comprises two parts, elaborated with a number of examples. In the first part, some results of the previous studies on the classical dynamical system are exposed. In the second part, the definition of discontinuous dynamical system defined by impulsive autonomous differential equation is formulated, and its properties are investigated, in the view of the known results of the studies on the classical dynamical system and impulsive differential equations.

Récemment, la convergence des techniques radio à 60 GHz sur fibre optique (radio over fiber - RoF) et des réseaux d’accès optiques passifs à multiplexage en longueurs d’ondes (wavelength division multiplexing-WDM) a suscité un très grand intérêt dans la communauté scientifique. L’objectif de cette thèse est d’étudier les solutions pour faire converger les systèmes RoF à 60 GHZ et les réseaux passifs optiques (passive optical network – PON) utilisant le WDM, appelés dans la suite PON-WDM. Les résultats principaux de cette thèse axée sur la technologie des systèmes RoF et l’intégration des systèmes RoF avec les réseaux d’accès PON-WDM sont les suivants : Un système RoF utilisant un démultiplexeur WDM, compatible avec les réseaux d’accès PON-WDM, est proposé dans cette thèse. Nous avons mené une étude théorique complète du bruit de phase. Elle inclut la contribution des bruits de phase des générateurs de signaux électriques et celle de la conversion de bruit de phase optique en bruit d’intensité. Cette dernière conversion est due à la détection de deux signaux cohérents, retardés l’un par rapport à l’autre si les longueurs optiques entre les deux canaux optiques se recombinant sont différentes. La densité spectrale de puissance du signal millimétrique généré optiquement est analysée théoriquement et démontrée expérimentalement. Son étude donne une méthode pour compenser un éventuel délai optique │τd│. L’amplitude du vecteur d’erreur (error vector magnitude –EVM) est théoriquement calculée et expérimentalement démontrée, en fonction du rapport │τd│/τcOP où τcOP est la durée de cohérence de la source optique utilisée. Cela donne une règle de conception pour insérer le démultiplexeur optique dans le système d’hétérodynage optique.  Nous avons validé expérimentalement la technique d’hétérodynage optique qui utilise un démultiplexeur pour générer un signal millimétrique respectant le standard ECMA 387. Nous avons proposé un système combinant une partie RoF et un réseau PON-WDM, permettant la génération simultanée d’un signal millimétrique respectant le standard ECMA 387 et la transmission d’un signal en bande de base à plusieurs gigabits par seconde. Nous avons réalisé expérimentalement avec succès la transmission simultanée d’un signal à 60 GHZ, modulé avec une modulation BPSK par un signal à 1588 Mbit/s et celle d’un signal en bande de base à 10 Gbit/s.  Nous avons proposé une nouvelle technique de modulation multi-bandes : la modulation de phase parallèle utilisant un unique modulateur de Mach-Zehnder. Cette technique présente des avantages significatifs comparée à n’importe quelle autre technique de modulation multi-bandes. Il n’y a aucun impact de la modulation en bande de base sur la génération millimétrique. L’impact de la modulation RF sur la transmission en bande de base (impact dû à la non-linéarité de la modulation de phase) est limité. Le taux d’erreurs binaires du signal en bande de base intégrant l’effet du signal RF a été théoriquement calculé et expérimentalement validé. Cela donne des règles de conception pour la technique de modulation de phase parallèle avec un unique modulateur de Mach-Zehnder. Nous avons proposé une architecture et réalisé un démonstrateur d’un système bas-coût bidirectionnel pour la transmission RoF. Ce système utilise le mélange optoélectronique et la technique d’hétérodynage optique. Nous avons prouvé que :  Des signaux à 60 GHz modulés à 397 Mbit/s et 794 Mbit/s avec une modulation BPSK sont convertis vers la bande basse de fréquence en utilisant la technique de mélange optoélectronique : les contraintes du standard ECMA 387 sont respectées.  Pour la liaison descendante utilisant la technique d’hétérodynage optique, aucune pénalité sur l’EVM n’est causée par le choix du régime non linéaire de la photodiode. / Recently, convergence of 60 GHz radio over fiber (RoF) technique with wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) passive optical networks (PON) has raised great interests because it provides the possibility for simultaneous broadband 60 GHz signal generation and multi-gigabit per second wireline transmission. The objective of the thesis is to study the solutions for converged 60 GHz RoF and WDM-PON technique. In this thesis, we have made the following achievements for RoF technology and the integration of RoF technology with WDM-PON access networks: A RoF system using WDM DEMUX which is supposed to be compliant with WDM-PON access networks is proposed in this thesis. Phase noise including optical phase to intensity noise conversion contribution due to the delayed coherent detection induced by the different optical lengths between the two optical channels and the phase noise contribution due to the electrical generators has been theoretically studied. PSD of the optical mmW is theoretically analyzed and experimentally demonstrated, which gives a solution to compensate different optical delay │τd│ EVM as function of │τd│/τcOP is theoretically derived and experimentally proved, which gives a design rule for optical heterodyning using WDM DEMUX The optical heterodyning technique using WDM DEMUX for mmW generation respecting ECMA 387 standard is validated by the experiment. We proposed a simple combination of RoF with WDM-PON supporting mmW generation respecting ECMA 387 standard and multi-gigabit per second baseband transmission. Simultaneous transmission of 1588 Mbps BPSK 60 GHz signal and 10 Gbps baseband signal is experimentally proved. A novel WDM-RoF-PON access networks with multi-band modulation technique is proposed in order to lower the cost of infrastructure. We propose a novel parallel phase modulation technique with a single MZM. This technique can offer several significant advantages compared to any other multi-band modulation technique. No impact from baseband modulation to mmW generation. Limited impact from RF modulation to baseband transmission due to the non-linearity of the phase modulation. BER of baseband signal with RF impact is theoretically studied and experimentally demonstrated, which gives a design rule for parallel phase modulation technique with a single MZM A low-cost bidirectional RoF transmission using optoelectronic mixing and optical heterodyning technique is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. It has been proved that: 397 Mbps and 794 Mbps BPSK 60 GHz uplink signal is down-converted to IF band respecting the ECMA 387 standard by using the optoelectronic mixing technique. No EVM penalty is paid to the non-linearity biased PD for downlink transmission by optical heterodyning technique. 6 dB power penalty need to be paid for the non-linear biased PD, which can be compensated by using high gain LNA after the PD.

La présente thèse a pour ambition d’évaluer la structure de marché du transport maritime de lignes régulières, en particulier au regard de l’intégration maritime au sein de l’ASEAN. Les problématiques principales abordées dans le cadre de ce travail sont liées aux déterminants fondamentaux des taux de fret, à la connectivité maritime, à l’efficacité portuaire et à la compétition sur les routes maritimes. Les analyses reposent sur l’utilisation d’outils méthodologiques précis tels que les modèles Markov-Switching Vecteur Autorégressifs, la Théorie des graphes, l'Analyse d'enveloppement des données, l'Analyse en composantes principales et le partitionnement de données. Les résultats permettent d’identifier trois cycles économiques entre 2003 et 2017, et montrent que le développement de la flotte a eu des effets négatifs non négligeables sur les taux de fret. L’étude illustre que le classement portuaire change en fonction des différents coefficients de centralités. Les résultats de l’analyse de la modularité confortent l’intuition d’une bonne connectivité maritime intra-ASEAN. De plus, le réseau maritime de l’ASEAN possède des attributs similaires aux flux d’échanges commerciaux. Cette analyse de l’intégration maritime régionale est complétée par une étude plus approfondie permettant de visualiser les ports les plus efficaces de la communauté. Une dernière analyse de la compétition sur les routes maritimes met en avant les trajets sur lesquels le nombre d’entreprises en concurrence est le plus élevé. Au final, la thèse permet de mieux comprendre comment est organisé le transport de conteneurs au niveau mondial et régional, et comment s’effectue l'intégration maritime de l’ASEAN dans la chaîne d'approvisionnement mondiale. / This dissertation aims to analyze the structure and the evolution of the Container Liner Shipping Industry by paying particular attention to the maritime integration of ASEAN member states. The factors behind freight rates, maritime connectivity, port efficiency and competition on maritime routes are the central topics of research. Methodological tools such as Markov-Switching Vector Autoregressive Approach, Graph Theory, Data Envelopment Analysis, as well as Principle Component Analysis and Cluster Analysis are employed. The findings from the research show that between 2003 and 2017 three economic cycles occurred and that fleet development had the most profound negative impact on freight rates. The Network Analysis of 153 ports confirms a hub-and-spoke nature of the shipping network. The study illustrates that port rankings change according to different centrality measures. It also demonstrates that ASEAN member states form a cluster of interconnected ports, and their shipping network has the same features as the intra-regional country exports. To complete the analysis of ASEAN maritime integration, this research outlines the most efficient ports within the community and the optimum container handling capacity. Competition on maritime routes, with respect to the country and region of origin and the destination, is also evaluated by highlighting the most concentrated routes in terms of number of competing firms. Moreover, the findings of this dissertation provide key answers to understanding how the industry is organized at global and regional levels, and the extent of maritime integration of the ASEAN region within the global supply chain.

This study consists of four chapters. In the first chapter we give some historical background of the problem, basic definitions and properties. Basic integral operators of complex analysis and and Schwarz problem for model equations are presented in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 is devoted to the investigation of the properties of a class of strongly singular integral operators. In the last chapter we consider the Schwarz boundary value problem for the general partial complex differential equations of higher order.

In this thesis, we introduce two new classes of differential equations, which essentially extend, in several directions, impulsive differential equations and equations on time scales. Basics of the theory for quasilinear systems are discussed, and particular results are obtained so that further investigations of the theory are guaranteed. Applications of the newly-introduced systems are shown through a center manifold theorem, and further, Hopf bifurcation Theorem is proved for a three-dimensional discontinuous dynamical system.

This dissertation addresses the new models in mathematical neuroscience: artificial neural networks, which have many similarities with the structure of human brain and the functions of cells by electronic circuits. The networks have been investigated due to their extensive applications in classification of patterns, associative memories, image processing, artificial intelligence, signal processing and optimization problems. These applications depend crucially on the dynamical behaviors of the networks. In this thesis the dynamics are presented by differential equations with discontinuities: differential equations with piecewise constant argument of generalized type, and both impulses at fixed moments and piecewise constant argument. A discussion of the models, which are appropriate for the proposed applications, are also provided. Qualitative analysis of existence and uniqueness of solutions, global asymptotic stability, uniform asymptotic stability and global exponential stability of equilibria, existence of periodic solutions and their global asymptotic stability for these networks are obtained. Examples with numerical simulations are given to validate the theoretical results. All the properties are rigorously approved by using methods for differential equations with discontinuities: existence and uniqueness theorems / stability analysis through the Second Lyapunov method and linearization. It is the first time that the problem of stability with the method of Lyapunov functions for differential equations with piecewise constant argument of generalized type is investigated. Despite the fact that these equations are with deviating argument, stability criteria are merely found in terms of Lyapunov functions.