The study was done within the local government environment. It was conducted with the aim of assisting municipalities to achieve optimum levels of operational efficiency, following the realisation that all over the world there is an increasing need for organisations, including government organisations, to become efficient. One of the major challenges facing governments worldwide is the need for them to supply basic services to their populations, who are increasing at a disproportionate rate to the resources available to sustain and improve the quality of life of these people. Thus for government to overcome these challenges, it needs to utilise its available resources cautiously to be able to meet these escalating challenges effectively. Therefore, ten practices were presented in this study as key instruments capable of bringing about efficiency to the manner in which local government operates or delivers services. It was found during the literature review that when these practices are deployed, they will ensure the achievement of operational efficiency within the local sphere of government. The empirical study was conducted in Matjhabeng Local Municipality (MLM), located in the Northern region of the Free State Province. This local municipality came into existence on the 5th of December 2000 after the amalgamation of the former six transitional local councils into one financially viable and economically sustainable municipality. It incorporates the city of Welkom and the towns of Virginia, Odendaalsrus, Hennenman, Allanridge and Ventersburg, with an estimated population of more than 500 000 people. During the background review of the municipality, several challenges were encountered which included parts of the population without access to proper sanitation and electricity. However, in all the municipal challenges presented, it was argued that the solution can be found in the effective management of municipal input with relation to its output, which means that the municipality has the huge task of managing its scarce resources in an efficient manner to be able to deliver on its mandate and to meet the expectations of its residents. Furthermore, the study was conducted from a sample consisting of the four senior managers and twenty line managers from the four departments within the municipality. A representative sampling method was employed to ensure that all relevant aspects (such as race, gender and department), considered important for selecting a sample, are included and to also obtain global responses from respondents selected to participate in the study. Furthermore this sample was drawn from a population of nine senior managers and 35 line managers. The research was conducted with the expressed permission from the office of the accounting officer. Different impressions of the responses made by the participants from this municipality were obtained and then analysed. Overall, there was a negative response from the majority of the participants regarding most of the questions on the ten practices identified. Moreover, in terms of the devised model for measuring efficiency of the municipality based on three levels, the most desirable being Level 3, it was found that the municipality could be classified as a Level 1 organisation, which means that the municipality is at an elementary phase as far as achieving efficiency in its operations is concerned. Lastly, recommendations were made based on the findings of the empirical research conducted. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

With increased demand for bandwidth-hungry applications such as video-on-demand, wavelength-division-multiplexing passive optical network (WDM-PON) has become a strong contender in overcoming the last mile bottle neck. However, the wide-scale deployment of WDM-PONs has been delayed mainly due to the high cost of wavelength-specific optical components. To realize cost-effective WDM-PONs, various wavelength-independent, so called colorless architectures, have been developed so that all the subscribers can have identical optical network units (ONUs). In such WDM-PONs, however, single-fiber bidirectional transmission results in degradation of system performance caused by interference between the signals and backreflections. This thesis investigates the impact of backreflections on single-fiber bidirectional WDM-PONs. A WDM-PON with various optical line terminals (OLTs) and colorless ONU configurations is presented. The dependence of the power penalty, caused by backreflections, on a variety of parameters is investigated. This includes parameters such as the source linewidths, receiver bandwidth, transmission line loss (TLL), ONU gain, chirp effect at the ONU and optical return loss (ORL), in various WDM-PON configurations. The WDM-PON with continuous wave (CW) seed light and remodulation schemes are both presented and studied experimentally. The impacts of the backreflections on the single-fiber bidirectional WDM-PON with various OLT and ONU configurations are compared and analyzed accordingly.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007. / Committee Chair: Al-Khayyal, Faiz; Committee Member: Barnes, Earl; Committee Member: Johnson, Ellis; Committee Member: Karimi, IA; Committee Member: Sokol, Joel.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. / Professor Michael D. Meyer, Committee Member ; Professor Ozlem Ergun, Committee Chair ; Professor Ellis Johnson, Committee Member ; Professor George L. Nemhauser, Committee Member ; Professor H. Venkateswaran, Committee Member.

Techn. Universiẗat, Diss., 2005--Darmstadt.

Zugl.: München, Techn. Univ., Diss., 2009

With increased demand for bandwidth-hungry applications such as video-on-demand, wavelength-division-multiplexing passive optical network (WDM-PON) has become a strong contender in overcoming the last mile bottle neck. However, the wide-scale deployment of WDM-PONs has been delayed mainly due to the high cost of wavelength-specific optical components. To realize cost-effective WDM-PONs, various wavelength-independent, so called colorless architectures, have been developed so that all the subscribers can have identical optical network units (ONUs). In such WDM-PONs, however, single-fiber bidirectional transmission results in degradation of system performance caused by interference between the signals and backreflections. This thesis investigates the impact of backreflections on single-fiber bidirectional WDM-PONs. A WDM-PON with various optical line terminals (OLTs) and colorless ONU configurations is presented. The dependence of the power penalty, caused by backreflections, on a variety of parameters is investigated. This includes parameters such as the source linewidths, receiver bandwidth, transmission line loss (TLL), ONU gain, chirp effect at the ONU and optical return loss (ORL), in various WDM-PON configurations. The WDM-PON with continuous wave (CW) seed light and remodulation schemes are both presented and studied experimentally. The impacts of the backreflections on the single-fiber bidirectional WDM-PON with various OLT and ONU configurations are compared and analyzed accordingly.

The diploma thesis is aimed to apply the theoretical concept of optimum currency areas, i.e. probably the most comprehensive approach to analyze the suitability of establishing a currency area, to the real and currently difficulties solving environment of EMU states. The first, theoretical-methodological part shows the development of the OCA theory, as founded by Robert A. Mundell and expanded upon by further contributors and critics thereafter. This part focuses especially on defining the optimality criteria, which are then analyzed in the empirical-analytical section. In order to assess the level of optimality, which the euro area members have reached during the common currency existence period, concrete and empirical data are analyzed - data, showing the previous development of the selected indicators, describing the criteria fulfilling. In the final part of the thesis, the author considers the overall optimality rate of euro area and points out its consequences for the Czech Republic, as a candidate country. Furthermore, the entry-timing question is discussed as well, when finished by a two possible scenarios of our accession to EMU. In relation to this issue, the author also discusses the relevancy to assess the readiness for entering the euro area according to the parameters of Maastricht criteria.

No description available.