Since the field of computer networks has rapidly grown in the last two decades, congestion control of traffic loads within networks has become a high priority. Congestion occurs in network routers when the number of incoming packets exceeds the available network resources, such as buffer space and bandwidth allocation. This may result in a poor network performance with reference to average packet queueing delay, packet loss rate and throughput. To enhance the performance when the network becomes congested, several different active queue management (AQM) methods have been proposed and some of these are discussed in this thesis. Specifically, these AQM methods are surveyed in detail and their strengths and limitations are highlighted. A comparison is conducted between five known AQM methods, Random Early Detection (RED), Gentle Random Early Detection (GRED), Adaptive Random Early Detection (ARED), Dynamic Random Early Drop (DRED) and BLUE, based on several performance measures, including mean queue length, throughput, average queueing delay, overflow packet loss probability, packet dropping probability and the total of overflow loss and dropping probabilities for packets, with the aim of identifying which AQM method gives the most satisfactory results of the performance measures. This thesis presents a new AQM approach based on the RED algorithm that determines and controls the congested router buffers in an early stage. This approach is called Dynamic RED (REDD), which stabilises the average queue length between minimum and maximum threshold positions at a certain level called the target level to prevent building up the queues in the router buffers. A comparison is made between the proposed REDD, RED and ARED approaches regarding the above performance measures. Moreover, three methods based on RED and fuzzy logic are proposed to control the congested router buffers incipiently. These methods are named REDD1, REDD2, and REDD3 and their performances are also compared with RED using the above performance measures to identify which method achieves the most satisfactory results. Furthermore, a set of discrete-time queue analytical models are developed based on the following approaches: RED, GRED, DRED and BLUE, to detect the congestion at router buffers in an early stage. The proposed analytical models use the instantaneous queue length as a congestion measure to capture short term changes in the input and prevent packet loss due to overflow. The proposed analytical models are experimentally compared with their corresponding AQM simulations with reference to the above performance measures to identify which approach gives the most satisfactory results. The simulations for RED, GRED, ARED, DRED, BLUE, REDD, REDD1, REDD2 and REDD3 are run ten times, each time with a change of seed and the results of each run are used to obtain mean values, variance, standard deviation and 95% confidence intervals. The performance measures are calculated based on data collected only after the system has reached a steady state. After extensive experimentation, the results show that the proposed REDD, REDD1, REDD2 and REDD3 algorithms and some of the proposed analytical models such as DRED-Alpha, RED and GRED models offer somewhat better results of mean queue length and average queueing delay than these achieved by RED and its variants when the values of packet arrival probability are greater than the value of packet departure probability, i.e. in a congestion situation. This suggests that when traffic is largely of a non bursty nature, instantaneous queue length might be a better congestion measure to use rather than the average queue length as in the more traditional models.

In 2019, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) funded a research study evaluating the performance measures of UDOT's expanded Incident Management Team (IMT) program. The number of IMTs patrolling Utah roadways increased from 13 to 25 between 2018 and 2020. Crash data were collected from the Utah Highway Patrol's Computer Aided Dispatch database and from the UDOT TransSuite database to compare IMT performance measures between the two years and to evaluate the benefits of the expanded IMT program. However, these data were compromised due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study collected data for 2022 using the same methodology as the Phase II study to compare IMT performance measures in 2022 with those of 2018 after traffic volumes had returned to a similar level as those of pre-pandemic levels. There were 283 and 307 incidents for the years of 2018 and 2022, respectively, that were analyzed for IMT performance measures which include response time, roadway clearance time, and incident clearance time. There were 172 and 236 incidents for the years of 2018 and 2022, respectively, that were analyzed for user impacts which were affected volume, excess travel time, and excess user costs. Results of the statistical analyses conducted on the 2018 and 2022 datasets show that IMTs can respond more quickly to incidents in a larger coverage area with significantly reduced user impacts. The expanded IMT program is also able to respond to more incidents, including those of high severity, while significantly decreasing congestion.

No description available.

Yes / This research aims to design a green Pharmaceutical Supply Chain (PSC ) that reduces preventable pharmaceutical waste and effectively disposes of inevitable pharmaceutical waste. The main output of this study is the formulation of an integrated green PSC model involving all critical stakeholders, leading to improved environmental, economic and safety performance in medication management and delivery. The research is based on literature and on secondary resources. To green the PSC, every producer of waste is duty bound to facilitate the safe handling and disposal of waste. A Cross boundary Green PSC (XGPSC) approach is proposed to identify participants’ contribution to the PSC. Peripheral influences are also recognised from professional and regulatory bodies. This study focuses solely on community PSC in the UK where patients receive medication from local community pharmacies and thus may be limited. The proposed XGPSC approach also needs to be tested and validated in practice. It may also be difficult to transfer some of the environmental practices proposed in this research into practice. The environmental practices and actions proposed provide invaluable insight into various PSC activities, including purchasing, product design, prescription patterns and processes, medication use review, and customer relationship management. The proposed environmental actions encourage firm commitment from everyone to reduce, recycle or effectively dispose of pharmaceutical waste, with patients becoming stewards of medication rather than only consumers. A cross boundary approach is developed to green the PSC, and it encourages total involvement and collaboration from all participants in PSC.

Thesis (PhD (Economics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / The primary financial objective of a firm is the maximisation of its shareholders’ value. A problem faced by the shareholders of a firm is that it is difficult to determine the effect of management decisions on the future share returns of the firm. Furthermore, it may be necessary to implement certain monitoring costs to ensure that management is focused on achieving this objective. A firm would, therefore, benefit from being able to identify those financial performance measures that are able to link the financial performance of the firm to its share returns. Implementing such a financial performance measure in the valuation and reward systems of a firm should ensure that management is aligned with the objective of shareholder value maximisation, and rewarded for achieving it. A large number of traditional financial performance measures have been developed. These measures are often criticised for excluding a firm’s cost of capital, and are considered inappropriate to be used when evaluating value creation. Furthermore, it is argued that these measures are based on accounting information, which could be distorted by Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (GAAP). Studies investigating the relationship between these measures and share returns also provide conflicting results. As a result of the perceived limitations of traditional measures, value based financial performance measures were developed. The major difference between the traditional and value based measures is that the value based measures include a firm’s cost of capital in their calculation. They also attempt to remove some of the accounting distortions resulting from GAAP. Proponents of the value based measures present these measures as a major improvement over the traditional financial performance measures and report high levels of correlation between the measures and share returns. A number of studies containing contradictory results have been published. On the basis of these conflicting results it is not clear whether the value based measures are able to outperform the traditional financial performance measures in explaining share returns. The primary objectives of this study are thus to: • Determine the relationship between the traditional measures earnings before extraordinary items (EBEI) and cash from operations (CFO), and shareholder value creation; • Investigate the value based measures residual income (RI), economic value added (EVA), cash value added (CVA) and cash flow return on investments (CFROI), and to determine their relationship with the creation of shareholder value; • Evaluate the incremental information content of the value based measures above the traditional measures. The information content of the traditional measures and the value based measures are evaluated by employing an approach developed by Biddle, Bowen and Wallace (1997). The first phase of this approach entails the evaluation of the relative information content of the various measures in order to determine which measure explains the largest portion of a firm’s market-adjusted share returns. The second phase consists of an evaluation of the incremental information content of the components of a measure in order to determine whether the inclusion of an additional component contributes statistically significant additional information beyond that contained in the other components. The study is conducted for South African industrial firms listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange for the period 1991 to 2005. The data required to calculate the measures investigated in the study are obtained from the McGregor BFA database. This database contains annual standardised financial statements for listed and delisted South African firms. It also contains EVA, cost of capital and invested capital amounts for those firms listed at the end of the research period. Including only these listed firms in the research sample would expose the study to a survivorship bias. Hence these values are estimated for those firms that delisted during the period under review by employing a similar approach to the one used in the database. The resulting sample consists of 364 firms providing 3181 complete observations. Since different information is required to calculate the various measures included in the study, different samples are compiled from this initial sample and included in the tests conducted to evaluate the information content of the measures. The results of this study indicate that the value based measures are not able to outperform EBEI in the majority of the relative information content tests. Furthermore, the measures EVA, CVA and CFROI are also not able to outperform the relatively simple value based measure RI. The results from the incremental information content tests indicate that although some of the components of the value based measures provide statistically significant incremental information content, the level of significance for these relatively complex adjustments is generally low. Based on these results, the claims made by the proponents of the value based measures cannot be supported. Furthermore, if a firm intends to incorporate its cost of capital in its financial performance measures, the measure RI provides most of the benefits contained in the other more complex value based measures.

Bakgrund: Den tredje januari 2018 trädde EU-direktivet Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) i kraft. Direktivet ämnar öka investerarskyddet genom att eliminera informationsasymmetri och intressekonflikter på finansmarknaden, och samtidigt harmonisera reglerna mellan EU-länder. Inom investeringsrådgivning innebär det nya regelverket ökad dokumentation, ett större fokus på att försäkra sig om att investerarna förstår risker, hårdare krav på hur avgifter kommuniceras och striktare regler kring incitament. Allt detta för att skydda investerarna, som ofta visat sig ha en bristfällig finansiell kunskap och ett lågt intresse för privatekonomi. Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att utifrån värdepappersföretagens perspektiv skapa förståelse för vilken påverkan EU-direktivet MiFID II har haft på principal-agent problem som uppstår vid investeringsrådgivning. Genomförande: Uppsatsen är en kvalitativ fallstudie. Vidare har ett fenomenologiskt forskningsperspektiv använts, med en abduktiv ansats. Det empiriska materialet har samlats in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med sammanlagt sju respondenter som alla jobbar på värdepappersföretag, vilka valdes ut med ett målstyrt bekvämlighetsurval. Resultat: Uppsatsen kommer fram till att principal-agent problemen inom investeringsrådgivning inte har eliminerats. Informations- asymmetrin är enligt vår tolkning av de traditionella teorierna närmast obefintlig, men utgör fortfarande ett stort problem på grund av investerarnas ointresse och relativt låga förmåga att ta till sig informationen. Vi argumenterar därav att dessa dimensioner bör inkluderas i teorin för vilka trösklar som kan orsaka informationsasymmetrin. Intressekonflikterna har reducerats, men finns till viss mån fortfarande kvar. Motivationen att agera i ett egenintresse har dock inte påverkats. Uppsatsen visar således på att MiFID II inte har förflyttat principal-agent relationen till en stewardship relation. Kunskapsbidrag: Det teoretiska bidraget gällande informationsasymmetri utmanar antagandet om att principalen vill ha information som är relevant för denne. Uppsatsen visar att så inte alltid är fallet. Förutom att det uppstår informationsasymmetri om det är kostsamt eller svårt att ta reda på agentens handlingar, kan det även uppstå i situationer där principalen är ointresserad av, eller oförmögen att ta till sig av informationen enligt vår mening. Vidare har MiFID II inneburit att det är svårare för agenten att tillgodose sitt egenintresse om detta strider mot principalens. Däremot har direktivet inte inneburit att den interna motivationen ändrats och det går därför inte att förutsätta att ett kontraktsförhållande som haft en principal-agent relation övergår till en stewardship relation när dessa problem elimineras. Genom en ökad förståelse för hur tvingande lagstiftningar påverkar principal-agent problem kan det empiriska bidraget hjälpa tillsynsmyndigheter i sitt arbete att hantera principal-agent problem. Uppsatsen skulle således kunna underlätta vidareutveckling av regleringen som finns idag, likväl som utformningen av framtida direktiv och lagar. Med ett utomstående perspektiv på vilka intressekonflikter som kan uppstå vid investeringsrådgivning skulle det empiriska bidraget också kunna vara gynnsamt för värdepappersföretag och deras arbete för att hantera intressekonflikter. / Background: On January 3, 2018, the EU directive Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) came into effect. The directive is intended to expand investor protection through eliminating information asymmetry and conflicts of interest in the financial market, while also harmonizing the regulations between nations within the EU. For investment advising, the directive results in more extensive documentation and stricter regulation of how fees and risks are communicated, as well as how incentives are handled; all with the aim of protecting investors. At the same time, the general public shows low interest in personal finance, as well as inadequate financial knowledge. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to further the understanding of how the introduction of the EU directive MiFID II has affected the principal-agent problem that arises during investment advising, from an investment firm perspective. Completion: This is a qualitative case-study which utilizes a phenomenological research perspective and an abductive approach. The empirical material has been collected through semi-structured interviews at investment firms with a total of seven respondents, whom were selected through goal-oriented convenience sampling.  Conclusion: The study concludes that the principal-agent problems in investment advising have not been eliminated. According to our interpretation of the traditional theories, information asymmetry is nearly non-existent. Yet it remains a significant problem due to lack of interest and an inability to assimilate the information. Thus, we argue that the theoretical framework should be revised to include these barriers, as they may lead to information asymmetry. Conflicts of interest have been reduced, but still remain to some extent. Furthermore, the motivation to act based on self-interest still remain. Hence, the study shows that MiFID II has not turned the principal-agent relationship into a stewardship relationship. Contribution: The theoretical contribution to information asymmetry challenges the assumption that the principal is interested in all the information that is of relevance for them. The study show that this is not always the case. Apart from information asymmetry arising when ascertaining the actions of the agent is expensive or difficult, it can also arise due to the principal’s lack of interest or inability to assimilate the information. Moreover, MiFID II has made it more difficult for the agent to act in their own self-interest, should it deviate from the interest of the principal. The directive has not, however, affected the intrinsic motivation of the agent. Thus, we cannot assume that the elimination of these problems causes a principal-agent relationship to transform into a stewardship relationship. Through an increased understanding of how binding legislation affects principal-agent problems, the empirical contribution can help regulatory bodies in their work to mitigate the aforementioned problems. Hence, the study may help to not only expand existing legislation, but also in the development of future legislation and directives. By providing an outside perspective of what conflicts of interests could arise in investment advising, the empirical contribution could also be of use for investment firms in their work to identify and manage conflicts of interest

L’étude du rôle de l’activisme actionnarial des hedge funds (HF) en matière de gouvernancedans la création de valeur des entreprises françaises constitue l’objet principal de cette thèse.Les réflexions menées, issues de la théorie de la gouvernance nous ont permis d’apporter lespremiers éléments de réponse à notre question centrale. L’approche exploratoire de cephénomène nous a conduits à déterminer un modèle français de l’activisme des HF. De notreapproche hypothético-déductive, nous avons pu élaborer un profil type des entreprises viséescotées et examiner les déterminants de la réaction du marché financier avant de mesurerl’effet de l’activisme des HF sur la création de valeur. Il en ressort que ce dernier est àl’origine de nouvelles situations d’équilibre organisationnel. Il est toutefois entravé par laréticence de la coalition de contrôle, renforcée par les caractéristiques spécifiques de lagouvernance et du contexte juridique en France, à entreprendre ces aménagements. Résultat,des coûts de conviction excessifs, des coûts d’enracinement et l’attentisme des investisseurssur le marché français. Contrairement aux investisseurs traditionnels, il est à admettre quel’activisme des HF est un mécanisme alternatif de contrôle efficient, là où certainsmécanismes de gouvernance actionnariale et partenariale semblent être insuffisammentdisciplinaires. Cependant, il est insuffisant pour inciter la coalition de contrôle à agir dansl’intérêt des différentes parties prenantes de l’entreprise. En France, la concentration et lanature actionnariale limitent, voire bloquent, les actions activistes des HF, contrairement auxentreprises américaines où le capital n’est pas verrouillé. La performance des entreprisesfrançaises est donc l’apanage du pouvoir managérial face à une influence activiste des HF. / This research aims to analyse the role of hedge fund (HF) activism in corporate governanceand French firms value creation. The reflections devoted the theory of governance haveenabled us to provide first elements to our central question. The exploratory study allowed usto determine a French model of HF activism. Our hypothetical-deductive approach enabledus to develop a typical profile of a target-listed firm and to examine the determinants of themarket reaction before measuring the effect of HF activism on value creation. The resultsshow that HF activism is causing new organizational equilibrium situations. However, it isopposed by the reluctance of the control coalition due to French governance and legalcontext. Hence, the exorbitant costs of activism in addition to entrenchment problems andinvestors wait-and-see attitude on the French market. As opposed to traditional investors, HFactivism appears as an efficient alternative control mechanism, where some shareholder andstakeholder governance mechanisms seem to be insufficiently disciplinary. Still, HF activismis unable to encourage the reluctant control coalition to act in the firms’ stakeholders’interest. In France, the controlling and family shareholders are opposed to HF activism. It ismore difficult for them to act as they do in American firms where capital is not locked. Thevalue creation is thus confined to managerial power over HF activism.

21世紀是供應鏈與供應鏈之間的戰爭。從近幾年Fortune雜誌調查發現，美國前500強企業多以創新的供應鏈管理見長，供應商管理能力已經躍升為今日企業之核心能耐，企業不再單打獨鬥，而是靠跨組織的合作才能贏得商戰。 為了管理日漸龐雜的供應商關係，「供應商計分卡」普遍運用於企業，然而實際走訪電子業界卻發現，供應商計分卡績效衡量指標非常不足，更大的問題是供應商計分卡績效衡量指標欠缺與總公司策略的連結！一個缺乏策略與戰術的衡量指標很容易使組織的管理走向明日黃花。 有鑑於此，本研究期以化策略為行動的績效管理工具平衡計分卡，為企業提供供應商績效衡量指標全新架構，我們稱這套嶄新的管理工具為「供應商平衡計分卡」，供應商平衡計分卡能帶領企業結合跨組織力量，不僅拉升企業績效，更能有效應付未來挑戰。 / The 21st century is the age of supply chain war. In recent years, Fortune magazine survey found that most of the top 500 US companies are known for innovation of supply chain management, and the supplier management capability has emerged as the core competence of today's enterprises. The enterprises can no longer compete solely on themselves, and “inter-organizational cooperation” will be the key to the success. In order to manage increasingly complicated and numerous supplier relationships, “supplier scorecard” is generally used in business. However, after actually interviewing with the electronics industry, we found that the performance measures of supplier scorecard are insufficient. In particular, the supplier performance measurement scorecard lacks for links with the head office strategy. In this study, we introduce a strategy tool which incorporates with the performance management tool Balanced Scorecard. It aims to provide enterprises with a new supplier performance metrics framework, and we call this new management tool “Supplier Balanced Scorecard.” The “Supplier Balanced Scorecard” not only can lead the enterprises to combine inter-organizational efforts, but also pull up business performance, more effectively in meeting the challenge of the new century.

The research topic is: Tools for the revision of a maintenance strategy for an explosives manufacturing plant, using asset management principles. This research has specific reference to the SASOL Prillan plant based in SASOL, Sasolburg. The purpose of this research is to identify tools for the revision of a maintenance strategy for an explosives manufacturing plant, using asset management principles. These tools must be aimed to increase the proactive work capacity index, Figure 3, and to identify and/or develop tools that can be used by the engineering team of this explosives manufacturing plant to increase equipment reliability and performance. In this research assets include people. The meaning and application of asset management principles were researched and the tools needed to combine existing efforts and future needs are discussed. The human element to ensure the successful implementation of an asset management culture was researched and attributes of leaders and a change model is presented. This research was done into the wider engineering management discipline and not only maintenance. The method used to gather data was by means of interviews of a sample group within this organization. As this manufacturing unit makes use of subject matter experts, these support functions and plant personnel that were not interviewed, were issued with questionnaires to ensure that the sample group is a fair representation of the total manufacturing facility. To obtain a holistic view of potential shortcomings within the current maintenance strategy, all disciplines and levels within this operation were interviewed and commonalities of various asset management models were determined and used to define existing problem areas. This data was used to determine statistical correlations. The case study presented in Chapter 1 indicates that there is a case for change that can improve the proactive work capacity index of the engineering team. The results of this research confirm that there is in fact a real requirement to increase spares accuracy, improve on technical training as well as a need to establish visual performance indicators (dashboard) to measure overall equipment efficiency with the goal toTools for the revision of a maintenance strategy for an explosives manufacturing plant, using asset management principles increase equipment reliability and performance. The technical training referred to in this research reflects on training of people on equipment after investment in new technology. The current spares holding strategy is lacking equipment description accuracy. Furthermore, it is recommended that the implementation of career paths and development plans for individuals must be developed to create an environment of learning. The use of user status information captured on the computerized maintenance management system (SAP R/3) can add to the management of works orders and indicate where the focus must be to complete overdue work orders. Open work orders should be used to manage expenditure, to measure planning efficiency and to manage the cash flow of the business. The use of overall equipment efficiency and engineering efficiency measures is recommended and must be visually displayed on a “dashboard”. It was recommended that the engineering and operations personnel of this manufacturing plant be trained in asset management principles and that balanced scorecards are developed to ensure that the strategies of the various departments are aligned with the business strategy. Diagram 1 best illustrates the thinking and process flow of this research. The flow diagram shows five distinct stages and the appropriate objectives and/ or elements that were considered. The dissertation is also structured in this manner. All abbreviations, acronyms and definitions used in this document were listed in APPENDIX B / Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The research topic is: Tools for the revision of a maintenance strategy for an explosives manufacturing plant, using asset management principles. This research has specific reference to the SASOL Prillan plant based in SASOL, Sasolburg. The purpose of this research is to identify tools for the revision of a maintenance strategy for an explosives manufacturing plant, using asset management principles. These tools must be aimed to increase the proactive work capacity index, Figure 3, and to identify and/or develop tools that can be used by the engineering team of this explosives manufacturing plant to increase equipment reliability and performance. In this research assets include people. The meaning and application of asset management principles were researched and the tools needed to combine existing efforts and future needs are discussed. The human element to ensure the successful implementation of an asset management culture was researched and attributes of leaders and a change model is presented. This research was done into the wider engineering management discipline and not only maintenance. The method used to gather data was by means of interviews of a sample group within this organization. As this manufacturing unit makes use of subject matter experts, these support functions and plant personnel that were not interviewed, were issued with questionnaires to ensure that the sample group is a fair representation of the total manufacturing facility. To obtain a holistic view of potential shortcomings within the current maintenance strategy, all disciplines and levels within this operation were interviewed and commonalities of various asset management models were determined and used to define existing problem areas. This data was used to determine statistical correlations. The case study presented in Chapter 1 indicates that there is a case for change that can improve the proactive work capacity index of the engineering team. The results of this research confirm that there is in fact a real requirement to increase spares accuracy, improve on technical training as well as a need to establish visual performance indicators (dashboard) to measure overall equipment efficiency with the goal toTools for the revision of a maintenance strategy for an explosives manufacturing plant, using asset management principles increase equipment reliability and performance. The technical training referred to in this research reflects on training of people on equipment after investment in new technology. The current spares holding strategy is lacking equipment description accuracy. Furthermore, it is recommended that the implementation of career paths and development plans for individuals must be developed to create an environment of learning. The use of user status information captured on the computerized maintenance management system (SAP R/3) can add to the management of works orders and indicate where the focus must be to complete overdue work orders. Open work orders should be used to manage expenditure, to measure planning efficiency and to manage the cash flow of the business. The use of overall equipment efficiency and engineering efficiency measures is recommended and must be visually displayed on a “dashboard”. It was recommended that the engineering and operations personnel of this manufacturing plant be trained in asset management principles and that balanced scorecards are developed to ensure that the strategies of the various departments are aligned with the business strategy. Diagram 1 best illustrates the thinking and process flow of this research. The flow diagram shows five distinct stages and the appropriate objectives and/ or elements that were considered. The dissertation is also structured in this manner. All abbreviations, acronyms and definitions used in this document were listed in APPENDIX B / Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.