A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce in Information Systems, School of Economic and Business Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2018 / The purpose of this study was to identify and test the factors that affect mobile Point of Sale (mPOS) adoption in Johannesburg, South Africa. The adoption of mPOS technology by merchants has not been as widespread compared to developed countries, which begs the question as to what is hindering the adoption in this context. By using a positivist approach, the study tested adoption factors using the Technology-OrganisationalEnvironment (TOE) framework. The framework looked at seven adoption factors that could potentially influence merchant level adoption of mPOS in Johannesburg, South Africa by Small Medium Enterprises. This relational study used researcher administered face-to-face questionnaires to collect data from one hundred SMEs based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Results of this study were used to answer the question as to what the adoption factors are and the extent to which these factors have affected mPOS adoption in Johannesburg, South Africa. The results of the study showed that, mPOS technology has not been widely adopted by SMEs in Johannesburg. The study also revealed that of the seven adoption factors that were anticipated to affect mPOS adoption, perceived value proposition and size of the firm had a significant impact on mPOS adoption. Furthermore, the study also uncovered significant associations between perceived value proposition, perceived competition, industry regulation and perceived security / MT 2019

Thesis (MSc (Geography and Environmental Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / The substantial growth of the Internet during the past few years has sparked the adaptation of several fields of current technologies to its demanding and cutting-edge standards. Mobile wireless cellular engineering and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are two such technologies. Integrating these two technologies has resulted in the possibility of providing a type of useful functionality in the form of a technological service to the public in terms of their geographical location, named Location Based Services (LBS). An LBS can be defined as any service or application that extends spatial information processing or GIS capabilities to end users via the Internet and/or wireless networks. Thanks to wireless cellular engineering, GIS, computer programming and a little intellectual ingenuity, LBS now has the ability to provide a solution to the persisting problem of the intractable incapability of prevalent technology to extend utile spatial information to a user in terms of his/her geographical location. The purpose of this study is to investigate how geographical information, derived from GIS processing, can be supplied and presented in a useful manner to users' mobile electronic devices, using today’s available technology. A sample LBS application will demonstrate how this is achieved in the South African context. It includes features such as position location, street finding, shortest street route calculation, and map display, all on a mobile cellular device. Relevant issues such as impending wireless cellular technology, development cycles, implementation, costs, revenues and shortcomings are also discussed.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is widely regarded as a key tool for bringing about development to people who live in underserved areas. Technologies such as mobile phones and Wi-Fi are seen as advantageous because they can be made available to poor places without the cost of building extensive physical infrastructure. However, researchers argue that ICTs have failed to live up to their potential in the context of development. Researchers point out developing countries lack frameworks to guide them through the implementation of ICTs in this context. The objective of this study is to come up with a framework that can be used in rural areas in South Africa to implement ICT projects. The researcher interviewed individuals who have been directly involved in an ICT initiative in a rural setting in the Eastern Cape Province to learn from their experiences. The researcher also studied publications that have been produced from these initiatives in order to gain a richer understanding. The findings of the study show that participants share similar views about how ICT projects should be approached and implemented in rural areas in South Africa. The views are grouped according to similarity into themes and discussed in detail in the study. From these themes a framework that can help implement ICT projects in rural areas is developed.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are capable of expanding access to quality education, educational resources, and also provide teachers with new skills. Nevertheless, a majority of rural public schools have limited ICTs, mainly due to geographical landscape, lack of service delivery and poverty. As a result, they currently seem not to be adequately benefiting from current advancements in ICTs. The main objective of this research study was to investigate an appropriate broadband services delivery model using wireless access technologies, such as a Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) and Enhanced data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) to deliver electronic-based educational information to resource-constrained public high schools. An exploratory case study approach was adopted to identify and understand the challenges faced by rural schools in the Greater Tubatse Municipality (GTM), including educational services and content considered by the schools as relevant and useful. The research results indicate that resource-constrained schools in the GTM are facing challenges of lack of access to electronic educational information and services, and as a result, teaching and learning becomes limiting and challenging. Based on the research findings, the results show that having access to learning material via electronic platforms could afford educators and learners the opportunity to interact with the outside world, improve learning and teaching and benefit the community as a whole. The broadband services delivery conceptual model (BSDCM) was proposed, developed and evaluated to address the lack of electronic educational information and services for resource-constrained public high schools. The BSDCM is composed of both technical and non-technical components that consider requirements of all role players, ICT challenges, policy makers and Information Communication Technology for Education (ICT4ED) interventions. The proposed model addressed some of the challenges regarding lack of access to educational content. However, it is recommended that the ICT4ED policies governing the use of mobile devices in the classrooms be introduced by the relevant authorities. In addition, a comparative analysis of other network technologies should be conducted to establish if the TCP/IP header compression on Point to Point Protocol (PPP) improves the performance of the network in resource-constrained environments. Furthermore, it is recommended that further research and experiments be conducted to determine if other various third party content providers could create and deploy various educational services and content for different computing platforms using the proposed BSDCM. / School of Computing / M. Tech (Information Technology)

Dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master Of Technology: Marketing, Durban University Of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2016. / The classical view that an industry is a customer-satisfying process and not a goods-producing process is vital for all businesses to understand. Today the mobile industry have produced a smartphone which represents a dramatic departure from traditional computing platforms as they no longer represent a static notion of context, where changes are absent, small or predictable. Therefore, today’s industries need to begin the production process with customer’s needs and not with patents, raw materials, products or selling skills. With this view rather, an organisation can only create the environment and the circumstances in which the consumer could have an experience. Furthermore, an organisation cannot grant an experience to the consumer in isolation. In seeking to expand an understating of the above classical view, this study inquired into customer experience derived from owing and using the most decorated product of the era, that is, the smartphone. The essence of this study aimed at investigating customer experience by studying smartphone usage from the students’ perspective. It studied the gap between students’ expectation and the subsequent experiences in order to determine satisfaction levels. Furthermore, cognitive dissonance was investigated to determine if there were any remorse feelings towards the smartphone. A descriptive study was employed with a quantitative inquiry and the survey used the convenience sampling method. A questionnaire was administered to students within the Durban University of Technology (DUT) fraternity. The Statistical Package for Social Science Software (SPSS) version 21 was used to analyse and to interpret the data. The key findings of the study indicate that South African university students (DUT) have positive experiences with the smartphones. Albeit, the findings indicate positive experiences, minimal presence of cognitive dissonance is also depicted. The presence of dissonance highlights that an idea cannot have a single measure which is universally meaningful. Therefore, the study expose that every product will always be exposed to suggestions of change, no matter how it can be deemed smart. / M

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in the field of Strategic Marketing / Menstrual Hygiene Management is a process of keeping clean by girls and women through washing, changing and disposal of sanitary protection during their monthly periods. When schools provide a conducive environment for girls to manage their menses, girls become empowered and confident to participate in education without fear and embarrassment. Lasi High school in Mpolonjeni constituency is a rural school in low income settings whose girls like many girls in the area have to manage their monthly menstruation. The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences and practices of rural school girls in Mpolonjeni community in managing their menses. A qualitative exploratory and descriptive study was undertaken through focus group discussions. The researcher managed to purposively select a sample of two focus groups with ten participants, each, three teachers and the Deputy Head Teacher. The study finding reveals that girls experience a number of challenges when managing their menses in the school setting which the school administration is not entirely aware of. Some of the issues raised by the girls can be addressed without unreasonable costs implications but through empathy and general support. The study recommends a further investigation for Education and school policies that will enhance enabling school environments to support girls in managing menstruation at school. / GR2018

Natural phenomena such as rainfall are responsible for communication service disruption, leading to severe outages and bandwidth inefficiency in both terrestrial and satellite systems, especially above 10 GHz. Rainfall attenuation is a source of concern to radio engineers in link budgeting and is primarily related to the rainfall mechanism of absorption and scattering of millimetric signal energy. Therefore, the study of rainfall microstructure can serve as a veritable means of optimizing network parameters for the design and deployment of millimetric and microwave links. Rainfall rate and rainfall drop-size are two microstructural parameters essential for the appropriate estimation of local rainfall attenuation. There are several existing analytical and empirical models for the prediction of rainfall attenuation and their performances largely depend on regional and climatic characteristics of interest. In this study, the thrust is to establish the most appropriate models in South African areas for rainfall rate and rainfall drop-size. Statistical analysis is derived from disdrometer measurements sampled at one-minute interval over a period of two years in Durban, a subtropical site in South Africa. The measurements are further categorized according to temporal rainfall regimes: drizzle, widespread, shower and thunderstorm. The analysis is modified to develop statistical and empirical models for rainfall rate using gamma, lognormal, Moupfouma and other ITU-R compliant models for the control site. Additionally, rain drop-size distribution (DSD) parameters are developed from the modified gamma, lognormal, negative exponential and Weibull models. The spherical droplet assumption is used to estimate the scattering parameters for frequencies between 2 GHz and 1000 GHz using the disdrometer diameter ranges. The resulting proposed DSD models are used, alongside the scattering parameters, for the prediction and estimation of rainfall attenuation. Finally, the study employs correlation and regression techniques to extend the results to other locations in South Africa. The cumulative density function analysis of rainfall parameters is applied for the selected locations to obtain their equivalent models for rainfall rate and rainfall DSD required for the estimation of rainfall attenuation. / Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

D. Litt. et Phil. / The white paper on privatisation and deregulation in the Republic of South Africa, was tabled in 1987. This paper outlined a policy for the possible privatisation of state-owned enterprise. Generally this step was favourably met by "Big Business" and a number of political players, but rejected and resisted by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). This phenomena led to the central assumption of this study. It was assumed that the rejection of privatisation (or manifestations thereof, such as commercialisation) by COSATU, would not necessarily be indicative of the cognitions and attitudes which labour union employee members, hold of privatisation/commercialisation. The purpose of this study was to explore this assumption. This assumption was to be researched among a sample of official members of the South African Railway and Harbours Workers Union (SARHWU); an affiliate of COSATU. A further purpose was to explore the influence which an official communication action, (aimed at the employees of a commercialised parastatal), may have had on the cognition and attitude of the sample. The aim was to draw from these findings to formulate directives for the internal strategic communication management of commercialisation to black SARHWU members. To achieve this purpose, the concept privatisation and commercialisation were conceptualised, and fundamental differences between the two concepts highlighted. An extensive "theoretical study was undertaken to identify the communication principles on which the communication of innovation (change) are based. The concepts of privatisation/commercialisation and the principles of the communication of innovation, were integrated into a framework for the formulation of a communication strategy and strategic communication plan for commercialisation.

Mobile commerce, due to its inherent characteristics of mobility and reachability in enhancing personalized services provides an excellent means for life insurers to exploit such avenue in their service offerings. The objective of this study was to determine whether mobile commerce can be used to improve the services of life insurance post-sale activities. This objective was achieved with the relevant literature and empirical study. To accomplish the objective of this treatise, a triangulated research approach was selected and a multiple-case study consisting of four cases was conducted. The four cases selected comprised of leading insurers with large market share in the life insurance market in South-Africa. The primary data were collected through questionnaire and face-to-face interviews with selected respondents. The main finding shows that the respondents had a positive view about mobile commerce and its application in their companies. This was demonstrated by 80 percent of respondents who agreed that mobile commerce was more of an opportunity rather than a challenge or even a threat for the life insurance market. The results also indicate that customer relationship management, mobile messaging services and field service automation functions were used by all the insurers; although minor discrepancies were observed due to the efficiency of each firms IT infrastructure. The Internet was found to assist in the collection of more precise data, to increase service performing abilities. Some of the major obstacles that were found to hinder the deployment of mobile commerce in the industry were security concerns, low and infrequent internet usage and performance by supporting industries. Cumbersome and inefficient legacy systems were declared as the greatest technological weakness particularly by respondents from case 1 and 2. Conversely, hardware and network infrastructure, lack of software packages, lack of technical expertise and the fear of disintermediation was rated low in hindering the deployment of mobile commerce. However, according to the findings the key benefits derived from engaging in increased mobile commerce activities include enhancing customer contact and service, more transparency and speed of claims management, increasing client retention and policy extension rates hence increasing overall company profit.

M.Ed. / However much ideologically diffuse argument there may be about the purposes of education, few would deny that it plays an integral part in the political and economical processes of societies. For the realities of power and the organisation of socio-economic structure are perhaps nowhere more clearly revealed than in a country's educational institutions. Education can maintain the existing social order as well as promote varying kinds of change (Toffler, 1971). Social scientists accept that "education is perhaps the most directly effective socialising activity serving the interests of dominant establishments" (Schlemmer, 1986: 1). Its curricula is a means of inculcating the political values as well as the skills required in the system of control and production in society (Wellington, 1987: 6). Education takes place relatively unobtrusively in homogenous societies but in deeply divided societies, it can become the focus of intense and often violent conflict. "In South Africa education is failing badly in what modern education is supposed to do draw different groups or classes together (Schlemmer, 1986: Preface). Hanf (1980), in addition, argues that education can do little to solve conflict in divided societies. He stresses that the significance of education in some societies lies in its negative role as a focus of conflict. Access to and equality of education for different groups has indeed been at the source of very bitter conflict throughout the world...