The current economic climate in South Africa requires organisations to optimise available resources – human and otherwise – to successfully sustain business operations. This is especially true for the growing SMME sector in South Africa. Organisations utilising hydrocarbon based products for input products into their respective process - specifically fuels and lubricants – face an even greater challenge in optimising resource usage as fuel and lubricant prices have increased substantially over the last decade. Automated and advanced technological solutions to properly and effectively manage these fuel and lubricant resources must be employed within organisations. This is critical as fuel and lubricants can constitute a large part of the annual expenditure within an organisation. Such organisations can include: • Mining operations • Transport operations • Agricultural operations • Maritime operations Newcom Fluid Management has developed a Fuel & Fluid Management Solution which consists of an electronic control system and various other elements to assist organisations in managing these fuel and lubricant resources. The Newcom FMS makes use of physical hardware on the client’s site as well as an internet based software system to control, monitor and report on all fuel and lubricant usages. There is also a large human resource element behind the system which continuously maintains these remote systems such that clients can enjoy the availability of fuels and lubricants when desired. The Newcom FMS must be properly maintained and resources optimised to allow Newcom to not only make a profit, but to stay competitive in the market place by providing clients with a sustainable and available solution. Therefore a properly researched maintenance management strategy must be developed for Newcom and the Newcom FMS solution to ensure that not only the client’s resources are optimised, but also Newcom’s resources in order to maintain the Newcom FMS. The aim of this research was to: • Research the theory behind maintenance management; • Identify and develop a sustainable maintenance strategy for the Newcom FMS solution taking into account the success factors as required by Newcom; • Test the experimental strategy and the current maintenance program at current Newcom clients and capture data on the two strategies employed; • Analyse and compare the experimental data to determine the effectiveness of the experimental maintenance strategy versus the corrective strategy; • Provide the experimental maintenance strategy “product” to Newcom along with the data obtained in the experiment as well as the recommendations on the way forward with the data obtained from the experiment serving as inputs. The parameters which were measured in the experiment were: • System availability; • Strategy expenditure and • Resources usage. The parameters were selected by Newcom as being the most pertinent to their current operational environment. Achieving success in these areas would effectively increase the probability of a successful maintenance management strategy for Newcom. • The experimental data was captured for the period the experiment was executed for. This data was analysed, the results were interpreted a / Thesis (MIng (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

The current economic climate in South Africa requires organisations to optimise available resources – human and otherwise – to successfully sustain business operations. This is especially true for the growing SMME sector in South Africa. Organisations utilising hydrocarbon based products for input products into their respective process - specifically fuels and lubricants – face an even greater challenge in optimising resource usage as fuel and lubricant prices have increased substantially over the last decade. Automated and advanced technological solutions to properly and effectively manage these fuel and lubricant resources must be employed within organisations. This is critical as fuel and lubricants can constitute a large part of the annual expenditure within an organisation. Such organisations can include: • Mining operations • Transport operations • Agricultural operations • Maritime operations Newcom Fluid Management has developed a Fuel & Fluid Management Solution which consists of an electronic control system and various other elements to assist organisations in managing these fuel and lubricant resources. The Newcom FMS makes use of physical hardware on the client’s site as well as an internet based software system to control, monitor and report on all fuel and lubricant usages. There is also a large human resource element behind the system which continuously maintains these remote systems such that clients can enjoy the availability of fuels and lubricants when desired. The Newcom FMS must be properly maintained and resources optimised to allow Newcom to not only make a profit, but to stay competitive in the market place by providing clients with a sustainable and available solution. Therefore a properly researched maintenance management strategy must be developed for Newcom and the Newcom FMS solution to ensure that not only the client’s resources are optimised, but also Newcom’s resources in order to maintain the Newcom FMS. The aim of this research was to: • Research the theory behind maintenance management; • Identify and develop a sustainable maintenance strategy for the Newcom FMS solution taking into account the success factors as required by Newcom; • Test the experimental strategy and the current maintenance program at current Newcom clients and capture data on the two strategies employed; • Analyse and compare the experimental data to determine the effectiveness of the experimental maintenance strategy versus the corrective strategy; • Provide the experimental maintenance strategy “product” to Newcom along with the data obtained in the experiment as well as the recommendations on the way forward with the data obtained from the experiment serving as inputs. The parameters which were measured in the experiment were: • System availability; • Strategy expenditure and • Resources usage. The parameters were selected by Newcom as being the most pertinent to their current operational environment. Achieving success in these areas would effectively increase the probability of a successful maintenance management strategy for Newcom. • The experimental data was captured for the period the experiment was executed for. This data was analysed, the results were interpreted a / Thesis (MIng (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

No description available.

Drawing on the findings of a small-scale qualitative survey of those affected by the Child Support Act 1991 - parents, new partners, child support officers and solicitors - this thesis focuses on the impact of this legislation on families, especially new families, concluding that financial, employment and family situations are complex and diverse and that the mechanistic and inflexible formula-based regulations introduced by the Act have failed to support children. Whilst acknowledging the real problems faced by lone parent families, this research argues that plans for reform pay insufficient attention to the fact that this issue increasingly affects two parent families, as couples separate and recombine, and that this omission has major implications for policy proposals in this area. The background to and history of child maintenance, in the context of the British welfare state, is examined, along with the fiscal crisis faced by the existing income-maintenance system. In addition, the multifarious pressures that are currently placed on the family - as regards being both the source of and the solution to the crisis in modern society - are revealed, exposing the dilemmas that face separating couples when reaching decisions about their children's futture. The current debate on poverty measurement is considered and the sample group are described in terms of the most commonly used indicators as well as in their own perceptions. The results of the research show that child welfare is a high priority - especially if considered in a wider than financial context - and that there is considerable support for community responsibility in this area. Having considered the child support systems in other countries, and with reference to the issues that policy is designed to address, proposals which embrace the welfare of all children are advanced as the starting point for meaningful child support reform.

This thesis proposes a method for the re-modularisation of legacy COBOL. Legacy code often performs a number of functions that if split, would improve software maintainability. For instance, program comprehension would benefit from a reduction in the size of the code modules. The method aims to identify potential reuse candidates from the functions re-modularised, and to ensure clear interfaces are present between the new modules. Furthermore, functionality is often replicated across applications and so the re-modularisation process can also seek to reduce commonality and hence the overall amount of a company's code requiring maintenance. A 10 step method is devised which assembles a number of new and existing techniques into an approach suitable for use by staff not having significant reengineering experience. Three main approaches are used throughout the method; that is the analysis of the PERFORM structure, the analysis of the data, and the use of graphical representations. Both top-down and bottom-up strategies to program comprehension are incorporated within the method as are automatable, and user controlled processes to reuse candidate selection. Three industrial case studies are used to demonstrate and evaluate the method. The case studies range in size to gain an indication of the scalability of the method. The case studies are used to evaluate the method on a step by step basis; both strong points and deficiencies are identified, as well as potential solutions to the deficiencies. A review is also presented to assesses the three main approaches of the methods; the analysis of the PERFORM and data structures, and the use of graphical representations. The review uses the process of software evolution for its evaluation using successive versions of COBOL software. The method is retrospectively applied to the earliest version and the known changes identified from the following versions are used to evaluate the re-modularisations. Within the evaluation chapters a new link within the dominance tree is proposed as is an approach for dealing with multiple dominance trees. The results show that «ach approach provides an important contribution to the method as well as giving a useful insight (in the form of graphical representations) of the process of software evolution.

Bibliography: leaves 302-359. / xxvi, 392 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 2000?

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1987. / Bibliography: leaves [238]-241.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--York University, 2007. Graduate Programme in Education. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 132-141). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR29549

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Queensland, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1968. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-81).