This thesis provides a structure for understanding the various issues in the design and implementation of a petroleum tax system. Its main objective is to examine whether the Nigerian petroleum tax system is appropriately designed to achieve the benefits the country desires from its petroleum contractual arrangements. Informed by the literature reviewed, economic rent theory was adopted as a theoretical framework in the thesis. While other theories could have been applied as a framework, economic rent theory was deemed to be most appropriate because taxes levied on economic rent are not generally perceived to act as a disincentive to the initiation or continuation of business operations. Informed views on the petroleum fiscal system used in Nigeria were sought from a range of "experts" in the field via a large scale questionnaire. The empirical data collected were then subjected to statistical analysis to determine the overall response patterns of the respondents for each of the 58 variables surveyed. This analysis enabled tentative conclusions to be drawn about the validity of various hypotheses developed in the thesis. Further analysis was carried out to determine and critically assess statically significant responses between respondent groups. The study revealed that the Nigerian petroleum taxation system was viewed as being well-designed, insofar as it protects the interests of both the government and the international oil companies operating within Nigeria. Furthermore, the "expert" respondents were of the view that a majority of the measures put in place to ensure compliance with the petroleum taxation system have been effective. However, the study revealed differences in views amongst the various groups of "experts" to some questions which suggests that some groups may have articulated views based on partisan values. The differences suggest that the different groups may have vested interests in the petroleum taxation system. Given the role these groups play in the petroleum fiscal system in Nigeria, it is argued that these vested interests may well have negatively affected the design and operation of the petroleum fiscal system. This finding may have important implications for the future design and operation of the Nigerian petroleum taxation system. The literature reviewed and survey data analysed resulted in a number of conclusions. First, it is argued that it is very difficult to make a single petroleum tax system that serves the needs of different countries. Second, it is suggested Nigeria‘s petroleum tax regime is predicated upon a desire to capture as much revenue as possible for the government. Third, the thesis concludes that the implementation processes of the Nigerian petroleum tax system are fundamentally weak and require further improvement. Fourth, it is also the conclusion of this thesis that the Nigerian petroleum tax system lacks the capacity for timely review. Finally, it is shown that the Nigerian petroleum tax system is sensitive to changes in tax regulations across oil producing countries.

No description available.

Real-time quality monitoring continues to gain interest within the manufacturing domain as new and faster sensors are being developed. Unfortunately, most quality monitoring solutions are still based on collecting data from the end product. From a process improvement point of view, it is definitely more advantageous to proactively monitor quality directly in the process instead of the product, so that the consequences of a defective part can be minimized or even eliminated. In this dissertation, new methods for in-line process monitoring are explored using multiple sensors. In the first case, a new cutting force-based monitoring methodology was developed to detect out of control conditions in a broaching operation. The second part of this thesis focusses on the development of a test bed for monitoring the tool condition in a turning operation. The constructed test bed includes the combination of multiple sensors signals including, temperature, vibrations, and energy measurements. Here, the proposed SPC strategy integrates sensor data with engineering knowledge to produce quick, reliable results using proven profile monitoring techniques. While, the already existing methods are based on raw process data which requires more features to monitor without any loss of information. This technique is straight forward and able to monitor the process comprehensively with less number of features. Consequently, this also adds to the group of tools that are available for the practitioner. / Master of Science

This study examines the design and implementation of Common Task Assessment as a Grade 9 summative assessment specifically of Economic Management Sciences. The main focus is on understanding how the quality of the design and implementation thereof at Sedibeng-West and Sedibeng-East schools are managed. The research was undertaken in response to the researcher’s personal observation and experience of how educators were struggling to implement Common Task Assessment, due to lack of resources and the challenges they faced in implementing new policies introduced by the Department of Education. From an international perspective, the literature reveals that Common Task Assessment is problematic in other countries as well, so it is not abnormal to discover similar problems emerging at South African schools during implementation. This thesis presents an overview of the relevant literature which was studied in order to validate the research problem: gaining a perspective on how the design and the implementation of Common Task Assessment concerning the Economic Management Sciences are presently managed at Sedibeng-East and Sedibeng-West schools. Attention was focused on aspects such as the conceptual framework on which the study was grounded, namely that there is a very specific societal relationship within a school which should be honoured at all times. The research paradigm was based on a positivist and post positivist worldview and the empirical investigation comprised of quantitative research, combined with a small dimension of qualitative research. The strategy of inquiry was non-experimental, descriptive survey research carried out with the participation of on Grade 11 learners who had completed the Common Task Assessment of Economic Management Sciences in 2009 and Grade 9 educators who teach this subject. Two structured questionnaires (one for learners and the other for educators) were used, consisting of Likert scale and open-ended questions. Key issues were identified, bolstering strengths and combatting weaknesses in managing the design and implementation of school-based assessment.Educators and learners‟ data revealed far-reaching implications for Common Task Assessment, which should be taken into consideration in order to improve this type of assessment instrument. In everything ethical principles were strictly adhered to. The results from the data analyses were organized into themes concerning the design of Common Task Assessment, as well as the implementation and management thereof. Challenges put forward by learner participants, as well as those put forward by educators, received prominence and the urgency of training educators in the implementation of school-based assessment was accentuated. Findings made from the literature study were compared with those which emerged from the questionnaires, simplifying the task of highlighting the contributions of the study to the theory and the practice of managing school-based assessment and the logic of the recommendations. The thesis suggests numerous guidelines toward a management intervention plan to improve the quality of the design and implementation of school-based assessment. These guidelines were compiled in line with the aims and principles of the New Curriculum Statement (CAPS). The main thrust of the research is therefore not the negative aspects which were identified, but the positive assurance that managing school-based assessment professionally while keeping it CAPS relevant, is not an insurmountable task. / "PhD awarded posthumously."--p.22, Autumn Graduation Ceremony, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

Does your program do what it is supposed to be doing? Without running the program providing an answer to this question is much harder if the language does not support static type checking. Of course, even if compile-time checks are in place only certain errors will be detected: compilers can only second-guess the programmer’s intention. But, type based techniques go a long way in assisting programmers to detect errors in their computations earlier on. The question if a program behaves correctly is even harder to answer if the program consists of several parts that execute concurrently and need to communicate with each other. Compilers of standard programming languages are typically unable to infer information about how the parts of a concurrent program interact with each other, especially where explicit threading or message passing techniques are used. Hence, correctness guarantees are often conspicuously absent. Concurrency management in an application is a complex problem. However, it is largely orthogonal to the actual computational functionality that a program realises. Because of this orthogonality, the problem can be considered in isolation. The largest possible separation between concurrency and functionality is achieved if a dedicated language is used for concurrency management, i.e. an additional program manages the concurrent execution and interaction of the computational tasks of the original program. Such an approach does not only help programmers to focus on the core functionality and on the exploitation of concurrency independently, it also allows for a specialised analysis mechanism geared towards concurrency-related properties. This dissertation shows how an approach that completely decouples coordination from computation is a very supportive substrate for inferring static guarantees of the correctness of concurrent programs. Programs are described as streaming networks connecting independent components that implement the computations of the program, where the network describes the dependencies and interactions between components. A coordination program only requires an abstract notion of computation inside the components and may therefore be used as a generic and reusable design pattern for coordination. A type-based inference and checking mechanism analyses such streaming networks and provides comprehensive guarantees of the consistency and behaviour of coordination programs. Concrete implementations of components are deliberately left out of the scope of coordination programs: Components may be implemented in an external language, for example C, to provide the desired computational functionality. Based on this separation, a concise semantic framework allows for step-wise interpretation of coordination programs without requiring concrete implementations of their components. The framework also provides clear guidance for the implementation of the language. One such implementation is presented and hands-on examples demonstrate how the language is used in practice.

This study examines the design and implementation of Common Task Assessment as a Grade 9 summative assessment specifically of Economic Management Sciences. The main focus is on understanding how the quality of the design and implementation thereof at Sedibeng-West and Sedibeng-East schools are managed. The research was undertaken in response to the researcher’s personal observation and experience of how educators were struggling to implement Common Task Assessment, due to lack of resources and the challenges they faced in implementing new policies introduced by the Department of Education. From an international perspective, the literature reveals that Common Task Assessment is problematic in other countries as well, so it is not abnormal to discover similar problems emerging at South African schools during implementation. This thesis presents an overview of the relevant literature which was studied in order to validate the research problem: gaining a perspective on how the design and the implementation of Common Task Assessment concerning the Economic Management Sciences are presently managed at Sedibeng-East and Sedibeng-West schools. Attention was focused on aspects such as the conceptual framework on which the study was grounded, namely that there is a very specific societal relationship within a school which should be honoured at all times. The research paradigm was based on a positivist and post positivist worldview and the empirical investigation comprised of quantitative research, combined with a small dimension of qualitative research. The strategy of inquiry was non-experimental, descriptive survey research carried out with the participation of on Grade 11 learners who had completed the Common Task Assessment of Economic Management Sciences in 2009 and Grade 9 educators who teach this subject. Two structured questionnaires (one for learners and the other for educators) were used, consisting of Likert scale and open-ended questions. Key issues were identified, bolstering strengths and combatting weaknesses in managing the design and implementation of school-based assessment.Educators and learners‟ data revealed far-reaching implications for Common Task Assessment, which should be taken into consideration in order to improve this type of assessment instrument. In everything ethical principles were strictly adhered to. The results from the data analyses were organized into themes concerning the design of Common Task Assessment, as well as the implementation and management thereof. Challenges put forward by learner participants, as well as those put forward by educators, received prominence and the urgency of training educators in the implementation of school-based assessment was accentuated. Findings made from the literature study were compared with those which emerged from the questionnaires, simplifying the task of highlighting the contributions of the study to the theory and the practice of managing school-based assessment and the logic of the recommendations. The thesis suggests numerous guidelines toward a management intervention plan to improve the quality of the design and implementation of school-based assessment. These guidelines were compiled in line with the aims and principles of the New Curriculum Statement (CAPS). The main thrust of the research is therefore not the negative aspects which were identified, but the positive assurance that managing school-based assessment professionally while keeping it CAPS relevant, is not an insurmountable task. / "PhD awarded posthumously."--p.22, Autumn Graduation Ceremony, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

Millions of dollars are spent every year to plan and introduce educational innovation initiatives in the developing world with the hope of bringing about economic development, social progress, and educational reform (Kozma, 2008; Kombe, 2016). But the challenges with introducing and maintaining any educational innovation are multifold in developing countries, which are plagued by economic instability and a lack of resources. This situation worsens when the innovation involves any form of technology. The end result in most technology enhanced educational innovations (TEEIs) in such contexts is disillusionment -- either because expected outcomes have not been met or the positive impact is not sustainable. This disillusionment is usually caused by multiple gaps in the planning and implementation of the innovation or the unrealistic expectation that technology is the panacea of all ills. Studies on educational innovation endeavors (Vergara & Grazzi, 2008; Jhurree, 2005; Kozma & Vota, 2014) have identified a significant lack of research in developing countries. Building on these concerns, this dissertation is a qualitative introspective case study exploring different perspectives of the various change agents (Fullan, 2016; Rogers, 2003) involved in facilitating a TEEI project in Pakistan, namely Digital Hall Study (DiSH). Combining the experiences of these change agents, the study attempts to improve understanding of the factors that facilitate and/or hinder the process of designing, planning, implementing, adopting, and sustaining a TEEI project in the low resource educational settings of developing countries like Pakistan. Findings have shown four categories of factors that influence TEEI by offering support and posing challenges to the implementers and users: social context-based, institution-based, teacher-based, and innovation project-based factors. This study has also demonstrated that reevaluating the innovation process in TEEI projects is essential to ensure that needs analyses are conducted before those projects are designed.

The main topic of this thesis is design and implementation of decision support systems in the environment of Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access by a programmer or advanced user. The thesis provides basic theory regarding principles and the history of decision support systems. The thesis explains technologies that are the backbone of Microsoft Office suite and applies these technologies to create set of "best practices" for designing and programming decision support systems and demonstrates this set with two sample implementatios. Both implementations are compared, advantages and disadvantages of each are shown.

In this paper, we introduce and evaluate ScaleMesh, a scalable miniaturized dual-radio wireless mesh testbed based on IEEE 802.11b/g technology. ScaleMesh can emulate large-scale mesh networks within a miniaturized experimentation area by adaptively shrinking the transmission range of mesh nodes by means of variable signal attenuators. To this end, we derive a theoretical formula for approximating the attenuation level required for downscaling desired network topologies. We present a performance study in which we validate the feasibility of ScaleMesh for network emulation and protocol evaluation. We further conduct singleradio vs. dual-radio experiments in ScaleMesh, and show that dual-radio communication significantly improves network goodput. The median TCP goodput we observe in a typical random topology at 54 Mbit/s and dual-radio communication ranges between 1468 Kbit/s and 7448 Kbit/s, depending on the current network load.

No description available.