The focus of this thesis is on the acquisition of major capital equipment within Australia's defence system. For the purposes of this analysis, major capital equipment constitute selected projects with a total value of at least $200 million. The projects selected for examination are from each of the three arms of the military service. These projects are: the Royal Australian Air Force's BLACKHAWK helicopters, the Army's PERENTIE vehicles, and the Royal Australian Navy's Australian FFG-7 FRIGATES. These projects were chosen because they share similar planning and management related characteristics. They represent substantial public sector investments. The technology used in each of the systems is available 'off-the-shelf but the way in which the systems were ultimately assembled and produced are uniquely Australian: this adaptation and local innovation involved developmental work. Since each of these projects is almost complete, a comprehensive analysis of the project has been possible. The study of these particular projects provides the basis for a comparative analysis of the acquisition of major defence projects, and facilitates the development of project planning and management 'lessons'. Since current Australian public (and private) sector policies seek to maximise the use of leading edge technology by adapting it to meet specific local requirements; the examination of these three projects provides an objective determination of the validity of such policies.

Requirements engineering in a system-engineering project is a key factor in the success of a project. In the current state, stand-alone research has been conducted tackling this area, however, few studies addressed the requirements based on a probabilistic approach. In this thesis, a multi-scale probabilistic approach has been developed, named Bayesian Network, to evaluate the requirements engineering of a complex systems In order to pursue the aim of this paper, the FFG(X) navy ship is chosen to serve as a case study and to validate the proposed model. Results indicate the sub-requirements that highly affect the FFG capability/performance. These sub-requirements are: 1) guns, 2) ballistic missiles, 3) antisubmarine, and 4) radar.

Hydropeaking is important to meet peak demand of electricity on the Swedish powergrid. The rapid changes in discharge may affect the ecology of streams and rivers negatively downstream of hydropeaking powerplants. In this study, the composition of five functional feeding groups (FFG) was investigated in the families Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera (EPT) in samples collections by Hester-Dendy-sampler in 27 locations in streams and rivers with and without hydropeaking. The groups shredders, grazers, gatherers, filter feeders and predators were identified for each toxon. I expected that the flow regime downstream of a hydropeaking powerplant would affect the composition of FFG compared to non-hydropeaking streams and rivers, except for the group predators. No significant differenses in FFG between the streams and rivers with and without hydropeaking was found. These results indicate that effects from hydropeaking on FFG is not general and that spatially-explicit investigations may be needed to shed light on the effects of hydropeaking. / För att reglera effektbehovet på det svenska elnätet är korttidsregleringen från vattenkraftverk en viktig faktor. Dessa snabba förändringar i flödesregimen medför dock en påverkan på ekologin i vattendraget. I den här studien undersöktes sammansättningen av fem olika funktionella födosöksgrupper (FFG) hos Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera och Trichoptera (EPT) från insamling av evertebrater med Hester-Dendy-provtagare i 27 lokaler i vattendrag med och utan korttidsreglering. Identifiering av grupperna shredders, grazers, gatherers, filter feeders och predators gjordes för varje taxon. Jag förväntade mig att flödesregimen som förekommer nedströms korttidsreglerade vattenkraftverk skulle påverka sammansättningen av FFG i jämförelse med ett icke korttidsreglerat vattendrag, förutom för gruppen predators. Data visade att det inte fanns någon signifikant skillnad hos FFG mellan vattendragen med vs. utan korttidsreglering. Detta visar att påverkan på FFG av korttidsreglering inte är generell och att platsspecifika undersökningar kan behövas för att belysa regleringens effekter.

This work deals with performance and security testing of blockchain protocols based on the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus model. It describes properties, problems, but also the use of blockchain systems. On theoretical levels, this thesis compares the properties and resistance to various attacks of numerous PoS protocols, specifically Algorand, Casper, Gasper, Snow White, Stellar and Decred. Additionally, this work implements a protocol simulator of Algorand, Casper FFG and Gasper. The simulator is built on top of the Bitcoin Simulator simulation tool, which is based on the NS-3 discrete network event simulator. Then, it compares the properties of the implemented protocols using discrete simulation.

After facing the economic recession, the South–African and global business sectors started revaluating their human capital and the positions they represent within an organisation. Each individual now had to prove that they contributed towards the organisation’s bottom line, as each and every cent had to be counted and accounted for. Some functions within organisations could easily prove their contribution towards the bottom line by providing production or sales outputs. The public relations practitioners and the corporate communication efforts they offered, however, faced a bleak future, as their contribution towards the tangible assets was very rarely recognised (Kim, 2000:276). The financial services sector however, in which an advisor’s contribution towards the organisational bottom line is easily quantified, started to acknowledge the need for this sector to improve upon its ‘softer’ intangible assets such as client communication and client relationships. The sector believes that communication establishes relationships, and sound client relationships is the only way to sell financial products and services, as people seldom entrust their life earnings or financial dreams to strangers (Christiansen & DeVaney, 1998:7). Public relations practitioners know how to use communication optimally in the quest for building client relationships, and financial services need those skills in order to sell their products and contribute towards the bottom line. These two functions could thus work together towards the achievement of their goals - public relations to prove their bottom line contribution, and the financial services sector towards improving client relationships. These statements led to the general Research Question of this study: “What is the nature of the relationship between (i) corporate communication efforts, (ii) client communication satisfaction and (iii) client relationship satisfaction, and these concepts’ relationship to (iv) client economic contribution, within a financial services organisation?” This Research Question is answered from the systems theory as meta–theory with the support of the strategic communication, excellence and relationship management theories, and Futurum Financial Group (FFG) services as the financial services organisation for this study. A qualitative and quantitative research approach was followed to establish the constructs, and the relationships between the constructs. The Financial Advisors and public relations practitioner in FFG have a good understanding of the need for strategic communication efforts, and a relationship between their efforts and the client communication satisfaction and client relationship satisfaction could therefore be indicated. A further relationship between the client communication satisfaction and client relationship satisfaction and the client economic contribution was also established. Recommendations to improve the situation within FFG included a better focus on database administration, corporate communication consistency, Financial Advisor diligence, and providing clients with more frequent updates regarding their financial situation. The greatest strengths were client–advisor trust and corporate communication professionalism. This study thus contributes to the argument that communication efforts add tangibly, by means of client economic contribution, to the organisation’s bottom line, within the financial services industry. The study furthermore provides some recommendations for the financial services industry to improve their communication skills in order to build client relationships. / Thesis (M.A. (Communication Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

After facing the economic recession, the South–African and global business sectors started revaluating their human capital and the positions they represent within an organisation. Each individual now had to prove that they contributed towards the organisation’s bottom line, as each and every cent had to be counted and accounted for. Some functions within organisations could easily prove their contribution towards the bottom line by providing production or sales outputs. The public relations practitioners and the corporate communication efforts they offered, however, faced a bleak future, as their contribution towards the tangible assets was very rarely recognised (Kim, 2000:276). The financial services sector however, in which an advisor’s contribution towards the organisational bottom line is easily quantified, started to acknowledge the need for this sector to improve upon its ‘softer’ intangible assets such as client communication and client relationships. The sector believes that communication establishes relationships, and sound client relationships is the only way to sell financial products and services, as people seldom entrust their life earnings or financial dreams to strangers (Christiansen & DeVaney, 1998:7). Public relations practitioners know how to use communication optimally in the quest for building client relationships, and financial services need those skills in order to sell their products and contribute towards the bottom line. These two functions could thus work together towards the achievement of their goals - public relations to prove their bottom line contribution, and the financial services sector towards improving client relationships. These statements led to the general Research Question of this study: “What is the nature of the relationship between (i) corporate communication efforts, (ii) client communication satisfaction and (iii) client relationship satisfaction, and these concepts’ relationship to (iv) client economic contribution, within a financial services organisation?” This Research Question is answered from the systems theory as meta–theory with the support of the strategic communication, excellence and relationship management theories, and Futurum Financial Group (FFG) services as the financial services organisation for this study. A qualitative and quantitative research approach was followed to establish the constructs, and the relationships between the constructs. The Financial Advisors and public relations practitioner in FFG have a good understanding of the need for strategic communication efforts, and a relationship between their efforts and the client communication satisfaction and client relationship satisfaction could therefore be indicated. A further relationship between the client communication satisfaction and client relationship satisfaction and the client economic contribution was also established. Recommendations to improve the situation within FFG included a better focus on database administration, corporate communication consistency, Financial Advisor diligence, and providing clients with more frequent updates regarding their financial situation. The greatest strengths were client–advisor trust and corporate communication professionalism. This study thus contributes to the argument that communication efforts add tangibly, by means of client economic contribution, to the organisation’s bottom line, within the financial services industry. The study furthermore provides some recommendations for the financial services industry to improve their communication skills in order to build client relationships. / Thesis (M.A. (Communication Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.