Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are becoming increasingly pervasive in a number of applications. Due to the nature of WSNs, one of their biggest constraints is limited node energy. As WSNs grow in popularity, the prevalent issue remains to keep wireless sensor nodes alive for as long as possible, or risk disrupting the network. This dissertation develops a model based on the principles of game theory to improve the energy efficiency of wireless sensor nodes and increase the network lifetime by influencing the way routing takes place. The benefit of this model is a routing algorithm that is easily implementable and increases network lifetime by improving energy efficiency in the network. / MIng (Computer and Electronic Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

At cable winding today one uses one portal, one caterpillar, one spooling boom and one tower and the same kind of set of equipment for unwinding. This kind of solution is both expensive and unpractical when one of the components of unwinding/winding is stationary for a long time without being used. To save unnecessary expenditure and maintenance it would have been practical to only use one set of caterpillar, tower, spooling boom and portal that later on can be rotated around the turntable when exporting the cable. The project that this work includes is to bring a concept that excludes two sets and thus provides the system with a rotatable spooling system. To get as much information about the product and of the manufacturing as possible several interviews has been done of the forging shop Ronneby Svets & Smide and also their fitters. At the concept generation several proposals was developed and to go further with only one of them a QFD and a SWOT analysis was made to get the best concept. Verification of solid mechanics on the construction with FEM-analysis has been implemented on beams, tubes and tube constructions. The project comprises constructing of details and drawings for structure of the concept and also commitment of assembly, maintenance, ergonomics and shipping. At the assembly has bolted joints been used on most attachments for fast assembling on site instead of welds. For commitment of maintenance it is thought that one should easily access for control and tighten afterwards of example the slewing ring. At the ergonomics the idea is put for example to accessing the workspace or maintenance areas in form of a ladder or a staircase. The shipping has played a major role for the construction parts and has then been divided for easiest and most practical way to be transported smoothly.

Published Article / The paper presents a critique of passive and active thermal comfort strategies. Extensive review of literature on passive thermal comfort energy efficiency interventions and their benefits was under taken. The paper explains the correlation between climatic comfort and energy efficiency. The applicability of the energy management process in ensuring energy efficiency is presented. Passive thermal comfort energy efficiency interventions have been seen to provide thermal comfort as well as energy efficiency. Their major shortcoming is their disability to work in all kinds of weather, heating in the winter and cooling in the summer. There is need to optimize passive thermal comfort energy efficiency interventions so that they provide heating in the winter and cooling in the summer.

Published Article / This article traces the early development and implementation of an extended curriculum in the Faculty of Humanities, Development and Social Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Following Volbrecht and Boughey (2004) and Boughey (2007), it analyses the programme in the context of the development of Academic Development over two decades. The programme represents a conceptual shift from a foundation year model to a more holistic, integrated intervention which extends to the end of the second year. Prompted primarily by pedagogical and academic considerations, it is also a response to increasing emphasis on throughput and success and to the need to increase and enhance efficiency in Higher Education. The tension between the potential benefits of such a curriculum and challenges and constraints impacting on it is discussed in an attempt to develop a curriculum which is sustainable and which will result in higher success rates and the wider transformation of the curriculum.

Published Article / Municipalities in South Africa are under pressure as a result of poor financial control and lack of accountability, leading to extensive corruption and financial mismanagement with detrimental consequences for effective and efficient service delivery. Financial control is of the utmost importance when it comes to determining the success or failure of local government in South Africa. Currently, several challenges exist that hamper effective and efficient financial management at municipalities. These challenges include, amongst others, a lack of expertise, an inability to collect arrear debt, extensive corruption, exorbitant salaries and bonuses, and so forth. These challenges also contribute towards ineffective and inefficient municipal service delivery. If municipalities want to overcome these challenges, it is essential for those involved to address matters in a sincere, honest and ethical manner. In this article the author investigates the challenges facing local government and proposes ways of overcoming the challenges by means of the enforcement of strict financial control measures for public accountability. This in effect serves as a guarantee for sound municipal financial management in South Africa.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 18-21, 2004 / Town & Country Resort, San Diego, California / Digital modulation schemes that are power and bandwidth efficient are highly desirable. After non-linear amplification has been done, signal modulation schemes having constant or quasi-constant envelopes are not as susceptible to spectral regrowth as those with non-constant envelopes. Since such distortion generates interference in the adjacent channels, the power operation of the amplifier in non-constant envelope modulations is typically backed off, resulting in systems with reduced power efficiency. On the other hand, constant envelope modulation may have different bandwidth spectra. This paper examines the statistical characteristics of N-GMSK and N-FQPSK [1] signals to assess the bandwidth efficiency in the presence of amplifier nonlinearities.

This study is an exposition of research into the effect of operational efficiency to global competitiveness, with the Richards Bay Dry Bulk Terminal (DBT) being the case study. The Richards Bay DBT is the main dry bulk terminal in the South African ports, operated by Transnet Ports Terminals (TPT), which is a division of the state-owned Transnet Ltd. Because of the strategic position of the DBT as the main dry bulk terminal of the country and also that it is a state owned entity, its competitiveness or otherwise is a reflection of South Africa the country as a trade destination. The research seeks to investigate the problem of the declining volumes handled by the DBT, which is traced to the possible operational inefficiencies and is likely to impede competitiveness of the DBT. While this study will not propose the ultimate solutions to the DBT’s problems, it will identify the root causes and symptoms of the problems, which will ultimately guide what needs to be tested as a better solution. Based on this, it is argued that this topic should generate a lot of interest to the stakeholders both locally and internationally.

ITC/USA 2006 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Second Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 23-26, 2006 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California / Research at Morgan State University shows a means of enabling both a mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) and a cellular network to operate simultaneously in the same spectrum. This enhanced frequency efficiency would facilitate the creation of a hybrid or Mixed Cellular/MANET network (MCMN) in which each of the MCMN sub-networks would have access to the entire allotted spectrum. Interference rejection and excision have been identified as a means of distinguishing between and isolating the two different kinds of signals. This paper shows the promising performance of such techniques within the MCMN environment as a part of the integrated Network Enhanced Telemetry (iNET) project.

This item was digitized as part of the Million Books Project led by Carnegie Mellon University and supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Cornell University coordinated the participation of land-grant and agricultural libraries in providing historical agricultural information for the digitization project; the University of Arizona Libraries, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the Office of Arid Lands Studies collaborated in the selection and provision of material for the digitization project.

ITC/USA 2007 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Third Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 22-25, 2007 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Modern telemetry systems using state of the art field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and signal processing components require lower voltage supplies to support various CMOS core geometries while still needing multiple higher voltage rails to support legacy interfaces. Addressing these power supply requirements efficiently requires switching power supply topologies that if left unchecked can generate high input surge currents and high levels of detrimental noise for both the sensitive analog signal processing circuitry and the power supply input source. This paper focuses on the design considerations and tradeoffs associated with implementing an efficient telemetry encoder power supply while mitigating the resulting noise effects typically associated with switching power supplies. This noise can negatively affect the power supply input source and the linear signal processing circuitry within the telemetry encoder.