The way in which a city is spatially laid out effects the natural environment of the planet (for example: pollution and the depletion of natural resources) as well as the social environment (the community and daily life) of its residents. Through the exploration of various modern urban planning theories, I will begin to look at some different approaches to urban planning. This document favours the compact city approach which advocates higher densities, mixed use development, public transport and community living. This approach relates to initiatives currently underway in the inner city of Johannesburg. This document is about the exploration of how people live in the city and the issues surrounding housing in the urban context. The proposed architectural project is a housing scheme located in Newtown, Johannesburg. Central concepts include: urban regeneration, inner city living, visual variety in the urban realm, street edge conditions and public to private hierarchies

Text in English / Fungal species and their mycotoxins are the most predorminant contaminants of dried agricultural products in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and the main species of fungi that can synthesize mycotoxins are Aspergillus, Fusarium and Penicillium. In Africa, aflatoxin is labelled as a great threat to human and animal health due to its high contamination levels reported of aflatoxins in foods. The aim of this study was to survey fungi and aflatoxin contamination of small-scale processed foodstuffs sold at informal retail outlets in the Johannesburg metropolis, South Africa. A total of 270 food samples (10 starch and legume based foods, 11 meat and fish based foods, 22 spices and local condiments, 14 dried fruits and vegetables) were collected from retailers; and analysed four (4) times in different seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter. Out of the 270 samples analysed, only 27.8% were contaminated with fungal. Of all the six categories of foods analysed, roots and tubers (60.0%), nuts and seeds (40.0%), dried vegetables (37.1%), and the Meat and Insect foods (33.3%) respectively, had the most contaminated samples with fungal respectively. The least contaminated food groups were the fish foods (10.0%) and spices and local condiments (16.7%) respectively. Twenty percent of the 270 dried food analysed were contaminated by Aspergillus species out of which 61.1% of the contaminated samples had fungal counts above 103 cfu/g. Aspergillus niger was the most predominant Aspergillus species identified in all the categories of food samples analysed. Fruits and vegetables (24.4%) and the nuts and seeds (20.0%) food groups had the highest number of samples contaminated with aflatoxin. Peanut flour and Cardamom had the most incidence of aflatoxin. AFB1, AFB2 & AFG1 were the most prominent aflatoxin types recovered from the food samples. Almost all the food samples in which aflatoxin were identified had aflatoxin values above 10μg/ml. / Life and Consumer Sciences / M.Sc. (Life Science)

Thesis presented in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Management (in the field of Public Sector Monitoring and Evaluation) to the Faculty of Commerce, Law, and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, March 2018 / The purpose of this research was to assess beneficiaries’ perceptions regarding improvements in their safety and residential quality of life following a housing intervention programme in Itsoseng Informal Settlement. Initially, this study interrogated literature to comprehend assessments carried out in various housing interventions. Maslow Hierarchy of Needs, Quality of Life Theory and Max- Neef Human Needs Theory of Development were the theoretical frameworks used to understand how beneficiaries perceived the upgrading programme. Improvement in their residential quality of life is realised through the possibilities that are available to satisfy their crucial needs. For this reason, this research focused on assessing the beneficiaries’ perceptions on their safety and residential quality of life following the upgrade programme. Univariate analysis, bivariate analysis, paired sample t-test statistics and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was utilised to analyse the perceptions of beneficiaries following a housing upgrade. The findings showed a good level of agreement between beneficiaries regarding their safety and residential quality of life, and there were no significant difference in the perceptions of male and female beneficiaries. Open-ended questions gave insight on the need to further improve beneficiaries’ satisfaction, particularly regarding services such as electricity, clinics, schools and safety walls. Pulling all these things together, the study highlighted the need to prioritise the preferences of beneficiaries, complemented by a comprehensive improvement on safety and residential quality of life to ensure user satisfaction. Insights from the findings further highlighted that holistic improvement in housing conditions, safety, basic services, building a good sense of belonging and tenure security is crucial and goes a long way towards enhancing improvement in the residential quality of life. This study facilitated the recommendations on improvement in the design of the houses in order to satisfy human needs rather than just focusing on the physical aspects of the house. This further allowed this study to emphasise that development is about people not objects, and that it is vital to steer the development process. / XL2019

No abstract.

Thesis (M.M. (Finance & Investment))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2013. / This paper replicates Jegadeesh`s (1990) paper entitled “Evidence of Predictable Behavior of Security Returns”. Jegadeesh (1990) states that by using the observed systematic behaviour of stock returns it is possible to make “one-step-ahead return forecasts”. That is forecast the return one month in the future. The aim of this research is to assess the predictability of monthly returns on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) by analysing the monthly returns of stocks and portfolios of stocks from the JSE. This thesis will show that it is not possible to accurately or reliably forecast future returns for individual stocks or portfolios of stocks from the JSE. In addition the findings in this paper also indicate that stocks and portfolios of stocks from the JSE follow the random walk theory.

No abstract

Johannesburg, South Africa has stated ambitions of becoming a “sustainable city” and a “world-class African city.” Many factors may contribute to the realization of these aims. One is a “sustainable” water supply, since water is fundamental to life and to economic activity. But South Africa (SA) is a “water-stressed” country, indeed, globally, it is one of the twenty most water-deficient countries and Gauteng province (where Johannesburg is located) may run out of water by 2015. Many demand and supply factors conspire to affect adversely the “sustainability” of water and any “sustainable development” trajectory in SA. Accordingly, I survey the literature on “sustainability” and “sustainable development” (S/SD) to see if it might offer some way out of SA's water dilemma. This is a vast, complex and contested body of literature, but overall, S/SD appears to be “common cause.“ But this does not necessarily mean that S/SD concepts are either well understood or integrated, especially as applied to the water sector in SA. I suggest that a comprehensive understanding of what might be contemplated by S/SD concepts as regards the water sector is lacking, so I seek to determine how the concepts of S/SD “play out,“ how they can be translated and understood, and what import selected S/SD concepts may have in terms of the water sector in Johannesburg. This is accomplished by means of a broad literature review and by conducting interviews with mostly senior personnel in Johannesburg who are responsible for water and sustainability public policy and issues in Johannesburg and in SA. This research describes several major ramifications of water and sustainability in Johannesburg and contributes empirically, by examining the intersection of S/SD, water and Johannesburg and theoretically, by developing a heuristic model (HM), so that understanding of S/SD (especially as it relates to water in SA) can be crystallized and provide a platform for further debate, contestation, interpretation and implementation. The lexicon emerging from the HM will help leaders to balance the competing claims and tensions during conception and implementation of relevant water policies. The model depicts the interplay of sustainability premises with actual conditions in an important developing nation. / Ph. D.

This thesis interrogates the dynamics of urbanisation, gender and migration in contemporary Johannesburg through the voices and images of migrant women from the rest of the African continent, now living in Johannesburg. By revealing the lives of a population group that is often hidden from view, it provides details of women’s migration to Johannesburg, and their everyday encounters in the host city. Using these experiences, it sheds light on contemporary migration and urbanisation processes on the continent, expanding our knowledge of the contours of power that shape urban life in Johannesburg and elsewhere. Using the metaphor of the “border” or “borderlands” this thesis explores how women negotiate, cross and remain “in between” the multiple physical, social and imagined borders they encounter in the city. It finds that analyses that read the city through class relationships and capital accumulation do not give adequate weight to the multiple identities and forms of solidarity that exist in cities. Women’s narratives reveal that while their class is an important identity, other identities such as ethnicity, nationality and gender also powerfully shape solidarity and modes of belonging in the city. Moreover, state-centric governance frameworks that have dominated urban policy and scholarly work on the continent are often blinded to the ways in which urban dweller’s actions shift our understanding of the nature and character of state power. Women’s encounters with the state reveal the multiple regimes of power that constitute the city, and the ways in which these subvert, fragment, and yet at times reinforce state power in unpredictable ways. The epistemological approach and findings of this research bring to the fore broader questions around the paradigmatic lenses used to read, interpret and understand African cities. Dominant paradigms tend to draw on western models of cities in ways that undermine African cities’ empirical realities and theoretical potential. For as long as scholars and policy makers fail to see African urbanity in its own terms rather than in relation to how cities elsewhere have evolved, we will continue to miss critical socio-political and economic dynamics that are shaping urbanisation in the twenty first century. / Sociology / D. Phil. (Sociology))

This thesis interrogates the dynamics of urbanisation, gender and migration in contemporary Johannesburg through the voices and images of migrant women from the rest of the African continent, now living in Johannesburg. By revealing the lives of a population group that is often hidden from view, it provides details of women’s migration to Johannesburg, and their everyday encounters in the host city. Using these experiences, it sheds light on contemporary migration and urbanisation processes on the continent, expanding our knowledge of the contours of power that shape urban life in Johannesburg and elsewhere. Using the metaphor of the “border” or “borderlands” this thesis explores how women negotiate, cross and remain “in between” the multiple physical, social and imagined borders they encounter in the city. It finds that analyses that read the city through class relationships and capital accumulation do not give adequate weight to the multiple identities and forms of solidarity that exist in cities. Women’s narratives reveal that while their class is an important identity, other identities such as ethnicity, nationality and gender also powerfully shape solidarity and modes of belonging in the city. Moreover, state-centric governance frameworks that have dominated urban policy and scholarly work on the continent are often blinded to the ways in which urban dweller’s actions shift our understanding of the nature and character of state power. Women’s encounters with the state reveal the multiple regimes of power that constitute the city, and the ways in which these subvert, fragment, and yet at times reinforce state power in unpredictable ways. The epistemological approach and findings of this research bring to the fore broader questions around the paradigmatic lenses used to read, interpret and understand African cities. Dominant paradigms tend to draw on western models of cities in ways that undermine African cities’ empirical realities and theoretical potential. For as long as scholars and policy makers fail to see African urbanity in its own terms rather than in relation to how cities elsewhere have evolved, we will continue to miss critical socio-political and economic dynamics that are shaping urbanisation in the twenty first century. / Sociology / D. Phil. (Sociology))

Aims: The study was aimed at exploring adolescents‟ level of knowledge of HIV/AIDS and the influence this knowledge has on their sexual behaviour. Methods: In total, 20 in- depth interviews were conducted from a group of 20 (both males and females) secondary school learners. The interviews were audio taped with consent from participants. Results: The results of the study showed that participants possess basic knowledge of HIV/AIDS, including methods of prevention and transmission. No serious misconceptions about modes of transmission of HIV were found in this study. Although, participants reported condom use, no sexual intercourse with multiple concurrent partners and no intergenerational sexual relationships, the findings revealed some risk factors such as early sexual debuts, early dating, multiple sexual partnerships. Conclusions: The aforesaid sexual behaviours and the sexual activeness among learners is a cause for angst. Thus, these findings highlighted the need for a comprehensive approach to sexual reproductive health education by all interested parties in order to enhance and sustain behaviour change among young people. / Health Studies / M.A. (Public Health)