Australian universities are multi-million dollar operations employing tens of thousands of people. They attract revenue from a variety of government and non-government sources, and yet, as non-profit organisations they are judged by governments, peers and their communities on their performance in teaching and research rather than on a financial bottom line. In order to achieve these results, university managers must make decisions on how to allocate available funding throughout the university. Faced with competing demands on scarce funds, how do university managers make these choices? One option is to use a resource allocation model to 'crunch the numbers'. Resource allocation models can incorporate a number of elements - student and staff numbers, weightings and performance data, for example - to allocate available funds. These allocation models are used in different ways in different universities, but serve the same basic purpose of assisting decision-making on how much to allocate to different sections of the organisation. Such models operate within a process and context that includes the strategic aims of the University, the organisation structure, its committees and culture. This thesis contains case studies of resource allocation models and processes used in three Australian universities. It examines the methods used for resource allocation at the first and second levels within each university; that is, from the Vice-Chancellor to Dean (or equivalent), and from Dean to Head of School (or equivalent). Observations and conclusions are drawn on the models used, the processes surrounding the models, and the continuity between the two layers of allocations. The research finds all the case-study universities operate models at multiple levels in their organisations, and that there is a concerning lack of consistency and flow-through at these different levels. The messages that the university leadership intends to send through the allocations may be lost to managers one-process removed from them. The research also concludes that transparency is the most important element of the resource allocation process. University staff dealing with allocation processes will accept the results, even if they are not ideal, if they can understand how and why decisions were made. As a professional doctorate thesis, the aim is to provide a practical aid to people with responsibility for resource allocation in universities.

Le « masting » correspond à une dynamique de fructifications, commune chez de nombreuses plantes pérennes, et caractérisée par une production de fruits extrêmement fluctuante d’une année à l’autre et synchronisée à l’échelle populationnelle. Il a un impact important sur la démographie des populations de consommateurs de fruits, et par effet de cascade, sur l’ensemble de la dynamique des écosystèmes forestiers. Notre méconnaissance actuelle des causes proximales du « masting » empêche toute prédiction crédible sur la fréquence et l'intensité des fructifications, et sur leurs conséquences au niveau des écosystèmes forestiers, dans le contexte du changement climatique. Cette thèse vise à tester l’hypothèse selon laquelle le processus de pollinisation pourrait jouer un rôle clé dans le « masting » des chênes de région tempérée (Quercus petraea et Q. robur), ce qui pourrait le rendre extrêmement sensible au changement climatique. En combinant une approche empirique multi-sites à large échelle spatio-temporelle en France et une approche théorique basée sur l’utilisation d’un modèle mécaniste, j’ai montré que (i) la dynamique des fructifications est liée à la disponibilité en pollen pour la reproduction. Le pollen peut être limitant certaines années en raison d’une faible quantité de pollen produite ou de conditions météorologiques défavorables à l’émission et à la diffusion du pollen ; (ii) la phénologie pollinique est un caractère clé du « masting » : l’émission pollinique a lieu au début du printemps, dans des conditions météorologiques souvent défavorables à la pollinisation, ce qui conduit à de fréquents échecs de la fructification et explique le caractère rare et imprévisible des fructifications massives ; (iii) le « masting » deviendrait moins stochastique avec l’augmentation des températures printanières au cours des prochaines décennies, ce qui pourrait avoir des conséquences importantes sur la dynamique des consommateurs de fruits, et par effet de cascade, sur la capacité de régénération des chênaies / “Masting” designates a fruiting dynamics common in many perennial plants and characterized by seed production that is highly variable over the years and strongly synchronized among trees within populations. It is expected to strongly impact the population demography of seed consumers, and by cascade effect, the dynamics of forest ecosystems as a whole. Our lack of knowledge of the proximate causes of “masting” currently prevents any reliable prediction about the frequency and the intensity of fruiting, or about their consequences, under climate change. In this work I aimed to test the hypothesis that the pollination process is playing a key role in “masting” in temperate oak forests (Quercus petraea and Q. robur), which would make masting highly sensitive to climate change. By combining an empirical multi-site approach at large spatio-temporal scale in France and a theoretical approach based on a mechanistic model, I found that (i) fruiting dynamics depends on the annual amount of airborne pollen available for reproduction. This amount could be limited some years due to either low amounts of pollen produced at the population level, or harsh weather conditions affecting pollen release and aerial diffusion; (ii) pollen phenology is a key character of “masting”: pollen release takes place in early spring when weather conditions are typically unfavorable to pollination, which leads to frequent fruiting failure and explains thereby why mast years are rare and unpredictable; (iii) “masting” should become less stochastic in the upcoming decades because of the increase of spring temperatures, which should markedly influence the dynamics of seed consumers, and by cascading effect, oak forest regeneration

Thesis (M. Pharm. (Pharmacy Practice))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

According to the National Drug Policy one of the health services objectives is to ensure the availability and accessibility of essential drugs to all citizens. An economic objective of the same policy is to promote the cost-effective and rational use of drugs (Department of Health, 1996). Currently, there is no system to scientifically determine the usage of medicines in the public sector and whether the current usage is satisfactory enough (John, 2004:2). The World Health Organization states that "good drug supply management is an essential component of effective and affordable health care services globally (World Health Organization, 1998:1). In the South African context, even though the Essential Drug List helps health care professionals to treat diseases in the public sector, it does not prescribe the minimum guidelines for medicine supply systems (Department of Health, 2006a). The general objective of this study was to develop a therapeutic medicine budget model in a district hospital in the public sector of the North-West Province to control medicine usage. This can be done after analysing the medicine usage patterns and then developing a framework for therapeutic budgeting by evaluating appropriate systems, i.e. the International Code for Disease (ICD-10) classification system, with the therapeutic budget model framework. Retrospective drug utilisation of six months (January 2007 until June 2007) was documented. A random sample population of 25% was selected (n = 1 494). After the data collection period of 9 weeks, the actual study population was only 18.67% (only 1 166 of the 1 494 patients files had a medicine history). All the medicine items prescribed were classified in the therapeutic budget model. Patient confidentially was assured by using a unique pin number on the survey form, so that no names of patients or other biographical details were collected from the patient files onto the survey form, which is in line with the requirements of the Ethics Committee approval conditions for the North-West University. The total number of medicine items dispensed during the study period was 11 768. The average cost per medicine item was R19.36 ± 86.79 for inpatients. The total number of consultations was 3 220. The average number of medicine items per consultation was 3.66 ± 1.98. The total cost of medicine items during the study period was R244 677.11. The average medicine cost per consultation for inpatients was R70.80 ± 177.72. The top three budget groups according to frequency represented 68.11% of all medicine used according to budget groups. The top three pharmacological groups according to total cost represented 61.68% of the total cost of pharmacological groups. The top three therapeutic codes according to frequency represented 18.75% of all therapeutic codes. The top three ICD-10 codes based on total cost represented 59.35% of all medical conditions diagnosed. The total hospital budget for 2007 was predicted at R3 276 750.00. Of this budget, 75% was for pharmaceuticals (R2 457 562.50). The total pharmaceutical medicine cost (excluding surgicals) from the study was R224 677.11 (this was for 18.67% of the total patient visits for six months) which can be calculated at R2 406 824.96 for all patients visits in a full year. The correlation between the actual budget and the projected budget showed a R50 737.54 surplus in the budget of the hospital. A therapeutic budget model can also help in achieving the following: • Proper preparation and planning of budgetary policies in a phased manner based on scientific evidence; • Evaluation of budgetary compliance, cost-efficiency of therapy and standard treatment guidelines (STG) / Essential Drug List (EDL) / formulary compliance; • Better procurement strategies based on demand, expenditure and inventory control; and • Better delivery and maintenance of quality health care by evaluating operational and clinical policies. The therapeutic budget model is a more appropriate manner to use in the projections of budgets and medicine usage. The scope of a therapeutic budget model to be implemented in the hospitals in the public sector of the North-West Province seems to be promising. / Thesis (M. Pharm. (Pharmacy Practice))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Thesis (M. Pharm. (Pharmacy Practice))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

According to the National Drug Policy one of the health services objectives is to ensure the availability and accessibility of essential drugs to all citizens. An economic objective of the same policy is to promote the cost-effective and rational use of drugs (Department of Health, 1996). Currently, there is no system to scientifically determine the usage of medicines in the public sector and whether the current usage is satisfactory enough (John, 2004:2). The World Health Organization states that "good drug supply management is an essential component of effective and affordable health care services globally (World Health Organization, 1998:1). In the South African context, even though the Essential Drug List helps health care professionals to treat diseases in the public sector, it does not prescribe the minimum guidelines for medicine supply systems (Department of Health, 2006a). The general objective of this study was to develop a therapeutic medicine budget model in a district hospital in the public sector of the North-West Province to control medicine usage. This can be done after analysing the medicine usage patterns and then developing a framework for therapeutic budgeting by evaluating appropriate systems, i.e. the International Code for Disease (ICD-10) classification system, with the therapeutic budget model framework. Retrospective drug utilisation of six months (January 2007 until June 2007) was documented. A random sample population of 25% was selected (n = 1 494). After the data collection period of 9 weeks, the actual study population was only 18.67% (only 1 166 of the 1 494 patients files had a medicine history). All the medicine items prescribed were classified in the therapeutic budget model. Patient confidentially was assured by using a unique pin number on the survey form, so that no names of patients or other biographical details were collected from the patient files onto the survey form, which is in line with the requirements of the Ethics Committee approval conditions for the North-West University. The total number of medicine items dispensed during the study period was 11 768. The average cost per medicine item was R19.36 ± 86.79 for inpatients. The total number of consultations was 3 220. The average number of medicine items per consultation was 3.66 ± 1.98. The total cost of medicine items during the study period was R244 677.11. The average medicine cost per consultation for inpatients was R70.80 ± 177.72. The top three budget groups according to frequency represented 68.11% of all medicine used according to budget groups. The top three pharmacological groups according to total cost represented 61.68% of the total cost of pharmacological groups. The top three therapeutic codes according to frequency represented 18.75% of all therapeutic codes. The top three ICD-10 codes based on total cost represented 59.35% of all medical conditions diagnosed. The total hospital budget for 2007 was predicted at R3 276 750.00. Of this budget, 75% was for pharmaceuticals (R2 457 562.50). The total pharmaceutical medicine cost (excluding surgicals) from the study was R224 677.11 (this was for 18.67% of the total patient visits for six months) which can be calculated at R2 406 824.96 for all patients visits in a full year. The correlation between the actual budget and the projected budget showed a R50 737.54 surplus in the budget of the hospital. A therapeutic budget model can also help in achieving the following: • Proper preparation and planning of budgetary policies in a phased manner based on scientific evidence; • Evaluation of budgetary compliance, cost-efficiency of therapy and standard treatment guidelines (STG) / Essential Drug List (EDL) / formulary compliance; • Better procurement strategies based on demand, expenditure and inventory control; and • Better delivery and maintenance of quality health care by evaluating operational and clinical policies. The therapeutic budget model is a more appropriate manner to use in the projections of budgets and medicine usage. The scope of a therapeutic budget model to be implemented in the hospitals in the public sector of the North-West Province seems to be promising. / Thesis (M. Pharm. (Pharmacy Practice))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Thesis (M. Pharm. (Pharmacy Practice))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The main aim of this thesis is the design of an optical wireless link that is transmitted in free space, in the atmosphere. The thesis describes the composition of heads of the atmospheric optical link. One part of this work focuses on the issue of the spread of optical beam in the atmosphere. The facts which have a major impact on the transmission of optical radiation in free space are pointed out here as well. In this work phenomena of absorption, refraction of light, turbulence and dispersion are discussed. Wavelengths spread in the atmosphere with different decline and therefore this thesis provides an analysis of the use of wavelengths between 750 and 1600 nm depending on the meteorological visibility. It describes the basis of the design of AOS through stationary model using power balance equation. It depicts the description of the statistical model, which makes possible to determine the availability on the basis of probability. Current possibilities of AOS are in general described in this work. The practical part of the work is focused on the design of simulation model of transmitter and receiver AOS in the program Pspice. The receiver and transmitter are designed to replace transiver in the media converter. The receiver plays a key role, and therefore big part of the thesis is given to it. Receiver model is composed of a photodiode and of an transimpedance amplifier. The receiver circuit has been tested. The model of transmitter shows the principle of modulating of current, which flows in laser diode. This work does not carried the model of atmosphere, which would serve as a link between the receiver and the transmitter. The circuit of the receiver is subjected to the noise analysis. Parameter NEP and SNR is designed. Link budget is calculated for models of the receivers and the transmitters. The maximum distance of heads is set based on the requirements for a BER error rate which combine this condition. The design of the practical implementation results from the models of transmitters and receivers. Printed circuit boards are designed in EAGLE. Within the frame of this thesis no curcuit diagram is carried out.