M.A. (Counselling Psychology) / Family life is a universal human experience. The family is generally applIed to be the primary and almost powerful. system that an individual belongs to, as it shapes and determines the course and outcome of the lives of its members (Perkins & Kahan, 1979). Given this assumption, it is evident that the understanding of how differences in family structure affect family system functioning is vitally important. however, the impact of family structure on the family system has not been systematically examined by researchers. 'this is particularly true of the structurally unique system of the reconstituted family...

M.Com. (Business Management) / The aim of this research study was to suggest the business sophistication levels of the informal sector hairdressing salons in Cosmo City. This aim was achieved through two research objectives, namely; identifying the characteristics that categorise the hairdressing salons as informal sector enterprises under the umbrella of Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs), and determining the business management practices that are currently implemented by the hairdressing salons. South Africa’s informal sector has the potential to contribute towards poverty alleviation and employment amongst the semi–skilled and unskilled poor. However, businesses in this sector apply less developed business management practices as compared to their formal counterparts. Furthermore, the challenges faced by these enterprises in implementing sound business management practices contribute to a lack of sophistication in their business operations, which in turn reduces their performance and sustainability. The adoption of good business management practices can have a significant impact on the performance of an enterprise, as well as on its productivity and output. This is true for an enterprise of any size. As a business becomes more mature in the implementation of business management practices, the longer that enterprise’s sustainability horizon may become. The research was conducted amongst Cosmo City’s hairdressing salon and the data was collected by means of interviewer–administered questionnaires. A total of 24 out of the 36 hairdressing salons that were identified to participate in the research study completed the questionnaires. The study employed a qualitative research approach during the data collection process; however the data analysis was quantitative in nature. In support of the first research objective, it was confirmed that the hairdressing salons operated within the informal sector, specifically in the lower end Business Sophistication Measures (BSM) categories 1, 2 and 3. With regards to the second research objective, it was confirmed that particularly because the informal sector hairdressing salons had low BSM they lacked good business management practices. Due to the size and nature of their operations, low managerial competence and skills, limited business support, small–scale marketing initiatives, the lack of documentation of policies and procedures and inadequately maintained business information; the informal sector hairdressing salons are too undeveloped to embrace good business management practices and as such have lower to low medium business sophistication levels that may prevent further growth and sustainability.

M.Cur. / The purpose of nursing, as a human clinical health science, is to give a comprehensive, purposeful service to mankind in totality. This service must be supported by sound theoretical background. In ~he nurse's training, theoretical knowledge must be integrated with the practical situation to encourage the development of the student as a professional person, to an experienced practitioner. For the purpose of this study, a descriptive contextual research was done to determine to what extent the present block system training program facilitates the integration of theory and practice to the first year student. Through relevant literature search and by using the Nursing for the Whole Person theory, the model for accompaniment and the curriculum development model, a conceptual framework was compiled.

M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / The high failure rate of especially first year students at tertiary institutions with its financial and manpower implications poses a problem. A report of the work committee of the Committee of University Principals Identified the lack of research on the learning needs of students as well as the need for a student learning profile and ways in which learning style research results can be utilised in the tertiary instruction programme. The implications of learning styles on the reading development of university students are still in doubt. Reading demands a vast amount of a student's study hours and reading ability underachievement occurs to a great extent. Consequently reading development programmes were introduced at tertiary Institutions to offer students the opportunity of developing and improving their reading skills. At the Rand Afrikaans University three different reading courses are offered, but during the past years it has become evident that not all students benefit equally from a specific course. These three courses accentuate the two main components of the reading act. namely the optical-mechanical (in course A), or the cognitive linguistic (in course B) as against the integration of both these components (in course C). The problem is which factors determine to which specific course a student should be assigned to optimise his reading ability. One probability is that a student's learning style could be such a factor. Hypotheses were posed to examine this. The aim of this study is to determine whether a student's learning style has any implications for the different reading courses which are conducted at the Student Counseling Bureau at RAU. An attempt was made to determine the preferred learning style of students in order to ascertain whether 8 student with 8 specific learning style would benefit more from a specific reading course (or courses).

M.Tech. (Biomedical Technology) / Drinking water in the greater Johannesburg area is produced by Rand Water and is transported to local Johannesburg Water where it is stored in reservoirs for distribution. At any point during the production, distribution and storage of the water, contamination with free-living amoebae, potentially containing amoeba resistant bacteria, may occur. Free-living amoebae are often resistant to the biocides used by water treatment industries and may thus be transmitted to public facilities, consumers’ homes and informal settlements through water distribution systems and during storage in small containers. The aim of our study was to analyse the water quality around Johannesburg with regard to free-living amoebae and amoeba resistant bacteria. A total of 182 tap and 5 storage tank water samples, collected from Hillbrow, Bertrams, Riverlea, Braamfischerville and Hospital Hill, were analysed for amoebae, indicator organisms, Legionellae, environmental mycobacteria, Shigella, Salmonella and Vibrio species using amoebal enrichment method. Direct microscopy indicated the presence of amoebae in 96.1% of samples. Acanthamoeba cysts were present in 69.0% of the samples. In 55.0% of these samples visibly active intracellular bacteria were observed within the sample suspensions. In the 46 samples analysed by polymerase chain reaction, the presence of Acanthamoeba species was confirmed in 65.2%, and the intracellular bacteria such as Legionella pneumophila and Mycobacterium avium was confirmed in 23.9% and 73.9% respectively. All samples indicated the presence of Shigella species while one sample contained Salmonella species on xylose lysine desoxycholate agar after amoebal enrichment processing. Vibrio species was not confirmed in the samples. Our results indicated a high risk of transmission of amoeba resistant bacteria through drinking water to people living in these areas.

M.Ing. / An investigation was conducted on on-site leakage in selected suburbs of Johannesburg to determine the average leakage flow rate of water lost per property, as well as the distribution patterns of leakage flow rates for two categories of properties: Residential (single domestic houses on stands) and Other (non-domestic and large domestic users). The incentive of this research project, funded by the Water Research Commission (WRC) of South Africa, was to provide figures and to gain insight into the magnitude of water lost at the consumer level, also defined as "on-site leakage". Little was published on on-site losses compared to water losses in municipal distribution systems. The key information for this study was collected through physical inspection of a group of randomly selected properties and by means of measurements taken from municipal water meters used for billing purpose. The project was assisted by Johannesburg Water (Pty) Ltd who provided a list of 233 properties having water meters of less than five years old. These properties were chosen at random and included properties whose meters were replaced due to meter failure or customer complaints. The results of the research show that overall 64 % of investigated properties had measurable on-site leakage at an average rate of 22.9 I/h per property, equivalent to a monthly volume loss of 16.5 kl per property. The median rate was 5.7 I/h per property, translated into a volume loss of 4.1 kl/month per property. An analysis of the data revealed that the general extreme value distribution and its derivatives (Frechet, Wakeby, Exponential and Gamma) provide good descriptions of the distribution of on-site leakage rates. The apparent losses resulting from metering errors were also estimated. The results of this study should be of interest to water engineers and to decision-makers involved in water demand management. It could form a basis for further investigation in the analysis of on-site leakage on a large scale in South Africa by systematically monitoring all segregated categories of users throughout different cities and towns in South Africa.

M.A. (Information & Knowledge Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. (Counseling Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. (Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Tech. (Architectural Technology) / In a small opening by the edge of a ridge a solitary worshipper– dressed in her full uniform – kneels. Her hands clasped tightly together and lips vigorously moving in prayer. A cluster of people - dressed in white - sit atop a rocky outcrop. One man stands addressing his followers: women on the right and men on the left. Over time his speaking ceases and the sitting people stand and join together in song, clapping hands stretched to the sky. There are numerous ‘frontiers’ – gaps - in the City of Johannesburg where people gather for different purposes. Some gatherings are religious, some social, some a combination. This dissertation will attempt to describe the narrative and spatial story of the Highlands Ridge as a ‘frontier’ site, while investigating the possibility of how an architecture could interact with these sacred anomalies.