http://hdl.handle.net/10204/900 2013-05-20T04:42:54Z http://hdl.handle.net/10204/6601 Title: Transport: improving traffic flows in Stellenbosch Authors: Sinclair, M; Bester, C; Van Dyk, E Abstract: No community can reach its full potential without an effective transport system. Transport has a direct bearing on most of the activities of the people of such a community – whether it is their daily commute to or from work, school or university or other activities such as business, shopping, recreation, etc. The economic viability of a town is highly dependent on the efficient movement of goods and the delivery of essential services by means of a transport network. Further, the safety of all users of transport has become a critical issue in many developing countries and especially so in South Africa. In the local context, issues around sustainability are framed largely in terms of what the current transport conditions are, and how they can be redesigned locally to achieve desired long term improvements. In this chapter the status quo of transport in Stellenbosch will be discussed, as well as specific problems and challenges that transport issues present for the town and the way forward towards the implementation of a sustainable, integrated and intermodal transport system. Description: Copyright: Sun Media publishing, Stellenbosch, South Africa 2012-07-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10204/6531 Title: An implementable routing solution for home-based care in South Africa Authors: Viljoen, NM Abstract: Home-based care (HBC) is an effective service model to reduce the burden on a country's health and welfare systems. In South Africa, the orphaned and vulnerable children crisis has become the focus of HBC programmes. These programmes are mostly within semi-urban settlements where the need is greatest. Successful software solution approaches developed to support HBC routing in other countries are difficult to implement in this low-tech, low-resource environment. A solution approach based on the spacefilling curve heuristic is presented as an easily implementable, adequately performing alternative to improve the routing of daily home visits. Description: 41st Annual Conference of the Operations Research Society of South Africa, Aloe Ridge Hotel, Muldersdrift, 16-19 September 2012 2012-09-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10204/6530 Title: Real interest rate persistence in South Africa: Evidence and implications Authors: Das, S; Gupta, R; Kanda, PT; Reid, M; Tipoy, CK; Zerihun, MF Abstract: The real interest rate is a very important variable in the transmission of monetary policy. It features in vast majority of financial and macroeconomic models. Though the theoretical importance of the real interest rate has generated a sizable literature that examines its long-run properties, surprisingly, there does not exist any study that delves into this issue for South Africa. Given this, using quarterly data (1960:Q2-2010:Q4) for South Africa, our paper endeavors to analyze the long-run properties of the ex post real rate by using tests of unit root, cointegration, fractional integration and structural breaks. In addition, we also analyze whether monetary shocks contribute to fluctuations in the real interest rate based on test of structural breaks of the rate of inflation, as well as, Bayesian change point analysis. Based on the tests conducted, we conclude that the South African EPPR can be best viewed as a very persistent but ultimately mean-reverting process. Also, the persistence in the real interest rate can be tentatively considered as a monetary phenomenon. Description: Copyright: 2012 Springer Science+Business Media. This is the preprint version of the work. The definitive version is published in Economic Change and Restructuring, DOI 10.1007/s10644-012-9132-5 2012-12-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10204/6528 Title: Keeping it simple in a data-sparse environment: The case of donor breastmilk demand and supply in South Africa Authors: Viljoen, NM; Celik, M; Cao, W; Swann, J; Ergun, O Abstract: Donor breastmilk could potentially save thousands of neonatal lives and save millions of Rands in treatment costs annually. A facility location-allocation model will be used to develop a strategic national network expansion plan based on an existing breastmilk banking service model. The disaggregate demand and supply data required by this location-allocation model do not exist as-is in South Africa. This is often the case when developing OR models for developing countries. This paper thus discusses a simple methodology whereby the input data for the location-allocation model are prepared and not the location-allocation model itself. The methodology combines demographic data, health statistics and insights from literature and subject experts to determine that in 2011 almost 90 000 premature infants without access to Mother s-own-Milk would have required more than 1.7 million bottles of pasteurised donor breastmilk to protect them from fatal infections during the first 14 days of life. Simultaneously, 160 000 bottles of unpasteurised donor breastmilk could be sourced from potential donors. The disaggregate estimates show that supply and demand are geographically disparate and that at most 43% of demand could be covered with the given demand. This has implications for the model development, specifically in accounting for equitable distribution. Description: Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference of the Operations Research Society of South Africa, Aloe Ridge Hotel, Muldersdrift, 16-19 September 2012 2012-09-01T00:00:00Z