Typical deep level mines use up to 27 ML water per day for mining operations. Multistage centrifugal pumps up to 2500 MW are used in an upward cascading manor to dewater the shaft. The dewatering systems at some mines are automated to enable surface control. Automation of the pumps is typically based on the best practice procedure known when implemented. Best practice procedures are used to ensure safe pumping operations. It was found that pump failures could still occur even with the best practice implemented. Unexpected failures of pumps are of major concern because they can result in the flooding of a mine. Flooding increases the risk of environmental damage and injury to the mining personnel. An additional concern is the maintenance cost of multistage centrifugal pumps. Overhaul cost of a seized multistage centrifugal pump is almost R1-million. The aim of this study was to improve established best practice procedures for pump automation. This could be achieved by investigating the general root cause of failures of automated pumps. Additional instrumentation and protection devices to prevent similar incidents were examined. Revised system control parameters were developed to ensure that the pumps operated within the design specifications. The improved best practices proved to prevent failures as a result of overheating and cavitation. Increasing the pump reliability and availability enabled surface control. The control of the automated dewatering system realised an electricity cost saving of R6-million. The automated system also made it possible to calculate the real-time pump efficiency within 5%. Previous best practice procedure was found to be inadequate to prevent all possibilities of failure. Additional precaution measurements were added to prevent pump failure. / MIng (Mechanical Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The aim of this study is to identify the best practices in traditional and electronic banking operations strategy in Jordan as a case study of developing economies over the period 1999 to 2008. During this period numerous changes faced banks in Jordan: new banking law was launched, the banks were directed towards complying with the Basel Accord II, and the banks adopted more e-banking channels. Only the practices of all local banks were investigated due to their superior performance. A number of questionnaires were used to collect the data from different individuals in these banks. Further, annual reports were analysed and websites were reviewed. Two data-analysis approaches were used to identify the key strategies of traditional and electronic banking in Jordan: competitive position analysis and cluster analysis. Analysis revealed eight best practices of traditional banking and four best practices of electronic banking were adopted. Best practices are presented as prediction models. These models combine actions with capabilities and performance. The traditional banking predication models are: branches urban accessibility, branches sites accessibility (percentage of sites covered), branches sites accessibility (number of branches sites covered), account transaction time, new credit product flexibility, account customer waiting time, account transaction cost, loan approval costs, and branches layout quality. The e-banking prediction models are: Internet banking transaction time, telephone banking volume flexibility, ATM suburban accessibility, and ATM sites accessibility. This research revealed that; financial performance achieved by e-banking strategy patterns is significantly lower than traditional banking. Also customers satisfaction, retention, and deposit market of e-banking are significantly lower than traditional banking, which indicates that the best operational practices in Jordan are still more traditional oriented despite the significant direction of banks in Jordan toward adopting e-banking channel.

Being exposed to serious games showed that some simulations widely vary in quality and learning outcome. In order to get to the bottom of best practices a detailed review of business management simulation literature was conducted. Additionally, an industry analysis was performed, by interviewing 17 simulation companies, testing a range of full and demo games, and conducting secondary research. The findings from both research efforts were then collated and cross-referenced against each other in order to determine three things: firstly, the practices and features used by simulation companies that have not yet been the subject of academic research; secondly, the most effective features, elements and inclusions within simulations that best assist in the achievement of learning outcomes and enhancement the user experience; and finally, 'best practices' in teaching a business management course in a university or company with the assistance of a simulation. Identified gaps in the current research were found to include the effectiveness of avatars, transparent pricing and the benefits of competing the simulation against other teams as opposed to the computer. In relation to the second and third objectives of the research, the findings were used to compile a business plan, with detailed recommendations for companies looking to develop a new simulation, and for instructors implementing and coordinating the use of a simulation in a business management context. (author's abstract)

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Since the advent of South Africa‘s democracy in 1994 there have been several changes in the policy and legislative arena specifically promoting public-private-partnerships in the health sector. These initiatives have given rise to opportunities for inter-sectoral policy transfer under the rubric of ―best practices‖. This exploratory study examines the character, obstacles and contested nature of a selection of policy transfers between private and public health institutions in a single province of South Africa. The study looks at the dynamics at play around envisaged, current and past transfers of policies and organisational practices in relation to administrative systems and technologies used in four different hospital settings – two public and two private hospitals in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. This thesis explores the views of managers and labour organisations about policy transfer focusing on local contexts, and how various parties construct policy transfer, hence providing a perspective of policy at the ―plant‖ level. In this research, special focus is placed on different agents‘ role and understandings of their contexts and how and why policies move and contradictions of these developments. In-depth interviews were conducted at four major Eastern Cape hospitals. The thesis argues that in practice, policy transfer is messy, politicized and traversed by power and vested interests and that organised labour plays a key role in policy transfer process. The thesis focuses on the different philosophical/ideological underpinnings, socio-political values and operational environments in each sector. This study is designed to contribute to existing knowledge on practices particularly between the public and private sectors in order to widen the understanding of the complexity of transferability.

The goal of this thesis was set to meet the demands of a telecommunication operator that needed to solve its problems with lack of capacity by switch translocation. This thesis thus may significantly increase the chances of success of this organizationally challenging task by finding relevant best practise ITIL. The thesis sets the method for relevant best practice ITIL selection using the table where columns represent metrics and risks of the project while rows represent elements from chapter Release and Deployment Management. Results of this method are recommendations that should be implemented in the project plans. The advantage of this ITIL-based method is that it is customer oriented and uses clear terminology. The benefits of this method may be increased when used in synergy by companies that implemented ITIL processes.

The focus of this study was individual and community assets and barriers that African American students living in disadvantaged low income communities encounter in their efforts to complete high school. The research questions were focused on understanding the high school experiences of students who graduated and of students who dropped out. The study was a comparison of the data collected from interviews of former students to the 15 interventions identified as most effective by the National Dropout Prevention Network (http://dropoutprevention.org/effective-strategies/). Findings suggested that 6 of the 15 developmental assets were effective for enabling African American students to graduate from high school. These developmental assets were school-community collaboration, mentoring, family engagement, alternative schooling, after school opportunities, and active learning. The findings of this study may improve teaching and learning in K-12 schools and communities to increase graduation rates for minority students.

Because of the growing prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), there is an increased need for effective professional training models for autism treatment and education. Individuals with ASD receive care and therapy across multiple disciplines, so such training models should also be interdisciplinary in nature. In the medical field, pediatricians, nurses, psychiatrists, and many others work with individuals with ASD. In the education field, teachers, speech language pathologists, school psychologists, and others work with children with ASD. Some therapists work in both systems. Thus far, there has been little research done considering training delivery models (i.e., in-person and online training) in interdisciplinary best practices in ASD. This study examined outcomes of both an in-person delivery of an interdisciplinary, professional continuing education workshop and online (remote) delivery of the same content. We looked at preferred delivery methods, social validity, and dissemination of information related to each training format according to profession, experience, and levels of previous training. Results indicate that a one-day interdisciplinary training program can result in 70% of participants self-reporting changes in practice and at least 60% report they feel more confident working with children who have ASD. Participants also reported an increased rate of referrals for services outside of their own discipline and increased interest in training in ASD best practices (91% interested at follow up). The social validity of the training was very high with 91% agreeing that the training was worth their time.

The steady increase in project failure rates is leaving businesses searching for better integration techniques to virtualize their project environments. Through virtualization, organizations may have positive impacts on communities across geographical boundaries and resource constraints. The focus of this phenomenological study was to explore, via the experiences of successful project management practitioners, best practice strategies for integrating virtual project teams through data analysis. The conceptual framework included von Bertalanffy's general systems theory, decomposition model of business process and project management frameworks, and the recomposition approach. Twenty-two senior project managers with more than 5 years of experience managing virtual project environments participated in semistructured telephone interviews. The van Kaam process employing normalization and bracketing approaches in data analysis resulted in the emergence of 10 thematic categories. The 10 themes culminated in the identification of strategies for implementing best practices relevant to the integration of successful virtual project teams. The major themes pertained to 3 broad areas: (a) structure that accommodates skills and technology for virtual team success, (b) governance leading to efficient virtual project team management, and (c) collaboration practices across diverse environments. Findings may help leaders improve project management leadership practices involved in adopting a virtual project management framework for business infrastructure. Suggestions for future research include additional attention to virtualization problems with respect to the transferability of the systems theory models.

Healthcare in the US continues to suffer from the poor data quality practices processes that would ensure accuracy of patient health care records and information. A lack of current scholarly research on best practices in data quality and records management has failed to identify potential flaws within the relatively new electronic health records environment that affect not only patient safety but also cost, reimbursements, services, and most importantly, patient safety. The focus of this study was to current best practices using a panel of 25 health care industry data quality experts. The conceptual lens was developed from the International Monetary Fund's Data Quality Management model. The key research question asked how practices contribute to identifying improvements healthcare data, data quality, and integrity. The study consisted of 3 Delphi rounds. Each round was analyzed to identify consensus on proposed data quality strategies from previous rounds that met or exceeded the acceptance threshold to construct subsequent round questions. The 2 best practices identified to improve data collection were user training and clear processes. One significant and unanticipated finding was that the previous gold standard practices have become outdated with technological advances, leading to a higher potential for flawed or inaccurate patient healthcare data. There is an urgent need for health care leaders to maintain heightened awareness of the need to continually evaluate data collection and management policies, particularly as technology advances such as artificial intelligence matures. Developing national standards to address accurate and timely management of patient care data is critical for appropriate health care delivery decisions by health care providers.

Research into the location decision of Australian international firms was primarily directed toward investigating motivations of Australian investors for setting up their foreign direct investments (FDI) in specific foreign countries. Nevertheless, the strategic decision-making process concerning the selection of a beneficial foreign country for either Australian or Western Australian international operations has been neglected in the existing literature; hence, an evident and significant gap was identified. Therefore, the current exploratory investigation used an interpretive paradigm to examine ‘how do Western Australian internationalising firms arrive at a beneficial foreign location choice for their international operations and hence attain successful international expansion. As an attempt to provide rich and deep insights into managerial actions and procedures, as well as critical success factors, that should be considered in effective international location decision-making process to attain a beneficial foreign location choice, five empirical comparative in-depth case studies excluding a pilot case study were purposefully selected from among sixteen potential Western Australian firms which established manufacturing and service operations abroad. Furthermore, seven international location decision-making processes were examined within these five cases through relying on several data sources: in-depth face to face interviews, short telephone and follow-up interviews and questionnaire instrument as primary data sources besides field notes, documents review when available and internet sources as secondary data sources. Two main stages of analysis were undertaken in the current research, namely, within and cross-case analyses. / The empirical findings of the extant research show that a thorough consultative and international experience-based strategic decision process should be considered to attain effective foreign country selection decisions. The consultative decision process encompasses five crucial managerial phases; that is, (1) strategic analysis of internationalisation drivers, (2) strategic searching and development of location factors and alternatives, (3) acquiring of adequate and relevant information about the prospective locations and, hence, strategic assessment for these alternatives, (4) strategic selection of final beneficial foreign location choice, and finally, (5) effective implementation of the selected location choice. Results reveal that the decision process cannot separately lead to the selection of a beneficial foreign location choice in the absence of four critical success factors, i.e., (1) international business experience of the selected location team, (2) the country knowledge about the potential foreign locations, (3) in-house and external consultations with international business experts and (4) identification of a trustworthy and internationally experienced manager or local partner for the international operation. The findings also illustrate that the comprehensive foreign country selection decision process is a multi-stage decision process which incorporates three separate location selection processes, namely, (1) country selection, (2) city selection and (3) site selection process. The current research extends the satisficing or bounded rational decision theory by confirming the appropriateness and the effectiveness of the theory in foreign country selection decisions. / In addition, the earlier critical success factors are adding new and important aspects of knowledge to the existing research on location decision-making process in international business, as well as foreign direct investment decisions. Accordingly, the former management phases and critical success factors were integrated into a conceptual model. The major and the unique contribution of the current thesis to existing theory is the development of a decision model which combines two fields of management research; that is, strategic decision-making and location decision-making in international business. The research provides important methodological contributions to international business research in relation to an effective multiple case study approach to capture elements of the comprehensive and complex international location decision-making process. Finally, the research findings and decision model have practical managerial implications for both international and internationalising firms by assisting them to improve the effectiveness of their foreign country selection decision processes. Further, the findings provide benefits for foreign investment policy-makers as well as local development officials in both home and host countries by assisting them to increase their outward FDI and attract more inward FDI and, consequently, boost the economic development movement in their countries.