This thesis provides an overview over the existing and emerging correlation of the Internet and Human Rights with the main focus on the human right to freedom of expression. It looks at how freedom of expression is protected and curtailed at the same time by regulation in the global context and nationally and how it could be protected in the future. Firstly, it will address general issues and problems connected with the Internet and Human Rights, like equal access to the new technology, and terrorism and the defence of freedom. It will look at the relationship of freedom of expression and other human rights, especially the right to privacy. Secondly, it will examine the applicability of international human rights agreements and the opportunities offered by them. It will also look at the possibility of drafting a new piece of international legislation and the effectiveness of national regulation. Although in some areas international consensus may be easier to achieve, for example in many aspects of criminal law enforcement, it is unrealistic to expect that countries with different cultural values will agree upon a single set of rules for the whole world. International harmonisation strategies are clearly an important response to the jurisdictional difficulties of Internet regulation, but they can't be the ultimate and single solution. But national regulation faces its problems, too. Due to the character of the Internet as a transnational medium and its borderless flow of information the nation state only has limited possibilities to effectively regulate the Internet within its borders and it has to accept a loss of sovereignty in cyberspace. Although regulation in some areas may be effective, complete control is impossible which will be shown. Thirdly, it will consider the different approaches that are available to regulate and control content on the Internet, their effectiveness and their influence on the human right to freedom of expression. It will illustrate in various examples in form of case studies the difficulties of Internet regulation. It will also provide an overview over selfrating schemes and filtering and blocking software and the problems connected with them. The liability of Internet Service Providers will be examined and alternatives to government control of the Internet will be discussed.

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The research study assessed the user-friendliness of a hospital information system within a telemedicine context at Tertiary Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital (IALCH) in order to achieve the broad objective of developing a model for managing the implementation of these systems in the province. The current situation with the Hospital Information System implemented in IALCH is that doctors and nurses have difficulties in accessing the X-Ray images; ordering drugs, making patient notes, and accessing patient records at follow up sessions at a later date in the format they want. There are also problems with patient and staff confidentiality for some types of records. These problems raise the following questions: Have doctors adapted to change from traditional to computerised Hospital Information Systems implemented in IALCH? Have nurses adapted to this change and how user-friendly is the Hospital Information System at IALCH? The effectiveness and efficiency of the MEDICOM hospital information system and telemedicine system at IALCH for these groups in relation to their participation in the hospital information system and telemedicine system related activities was investigated using Geyser’s (1992) framework for a user-friendly information system and frameworks from Coiera, Westbrook and Wyatt (2006), Rigby (2006), and IMIA (2006). The population of the study were seven hundred and eighty six (786) doctors and one thousand eight hundred and sixteen (1816) nurses working at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital. Pertinent questions regarding the user-friendliness of the MEDICOM hospital information system and telemedicine system were addressed and answered. Based on surveys by questionnaire survey, focus group interviews and observation the factors that affect the user-friendliness of MEDICOM hospital information system and telemedicine system were identified. The survey data was evaluated and analysed manually. The study revealed that the nursing, pharmacy and billing modules of MEDICOM hospital information system were not user-friendly, but the system was reliable and always in operation when needed. The users could manipulate the logical operators of the system effectively, generally could control the system and handle errors. They were happy with the output of the hospital information system in terms of layout. However, the system provided technical support only and users wanted more training on the system. In summary, the study concludes that the Department of Health in KwaZulu-Natal should not roll-out the MEDICOM hospital information system to all hospitals in the province as yet. Since there is no single hospital information system or health information system in South Africa, it is therefore time to develop an eHealth Strategy for South Africa to enable a patient-centric focus to health care delivery across a networked model of care. Therefore, a single integrated and comprehensive hospital information system could be implemented in South Africa provided the issues raised for attention in the study are addressed. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

Several decades after A.K. Erlang originated the theory of queues and queueing networks, D.V. Lindley added impetus to the development of this field by determining a recursive relation for waiting times. Part I of this thesis provides a theoretical treatment of single-server and multiserver queues described by the basic Lindley relation and its extensions, which are referred to collectively as Lindley-Loynes equations. The concepts of stability, and minimal and maximal solutions are investigated. The interdependence of theory and practice becomes evident in Part II, where the results of recent and current research are highlighted. While the main aim of the first part of the thesis is to provide a firm theoretical framework for the sequel, the objective in Part II is to derive generalised forms of the Lindley-Loynes equations from different network protocols. Such protocols are regulated by different switching rules and synchronization constraints. Parts I and II of the thesis are preceded by Chapter 0 in which several fundamental ideas (including those on notation and probability) are described. It is in this chapter too that a more detailed overview of the concept of the thesis is provided. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1993.

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