The City of Johannesburg is facing the simultaneous challenges of an increased generation of solid waste in the City, unemployment and the running out of land to dispose the waste. Of the solid waste that is generated, 50% is recyclable while only 10% is recycled (SOER, 2003: 69). Solid waste recycling is mainly performed through private sector initiatives in the City of Johannesburg. Consequently, there is no proper coordination with government initiatives. In order for South Africa to increase and sustain economic growth that would decrease unemployment, there should be a culture of entrepreneurship (Mass, G & Herrington M, 2006:7). Solid waste buy-back centres assist in addressing the challenges of dealing with the increased generation of solid waste and the scarcity of land for disposal. These centres also reduce the challenges of unemployment through promoting entrepreneurs to operate solid waste recycling businesses. Developed economies have managed to increase the rate of solid waste recycling to 60%. The problems associated with solid waste have been reduced by promoting recycling through a combination of legislation and setting-up of agencies to deal with solid waste recycling. South Africa has legislation and stated programmes to deal with solid waste recycling. Nevertheless, there has been complexity with implementing recycling. This is the result of a lack of co-ordination between the role-players involved in the value chain of solid waste recycling. In order for the City of Johannesburg to increase the recycling of solid waste from 10% to optimal rates of between 50% and 60%, there should be co-ordination of programmes amongst all the role players. In addition, there should also be skills provision to existing and potential entrepreneurs operating the solid waste buy-back centres. All spheres of government should promote solid waste recycling business to potential entrepreneurs and the public in order to recycle 40% of the recyclable solid waste that is not being recycled. The establishment of a solid waste buy-back centre in the City of Johannesburg is economically viable with some buy-back centre realising a net-profit of least R5 000 and some more than R30 000 per month. In order for the solid waste buy-back centre to realise a net-profit of more than R30 000 per month, there must be more than 40 tons of recyclable solid waste received by the buy-back centre per month. This study has indicated that solid waste buy-back centres rely on the economies of scale. This means that the more recyclable solid waste is received and sold by the solid waste buy-back centres, the more profitable it becomes. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

Sex work is a highly debatable subject in the field of psychology but little has been said about sex work and resilience. Challenges associated with criminalisation of sex work are rife but sex work continues to exist. This study explored the ability of heterosexual street based female sex workers (FSW) to ‘bounce back’ from challenges they face. The study employed qualitative paradigm and a transcendental phenomenological design was used. Snowballing sampling was used to select twelve FSW who participated in semi structured interview. Thematic analysis was used to extract recurrent themes across participants. Participants reported being victimised and physically and verbally abused by clients and the public. FSW showed their resilience by rationalising their role with having a purpose in working as FSW, obligation as bread winners and regarding sex work as legitimate work. They adopted psychological survival techniques and used various safety techniques to cope. The results emphasised importance of employing resilience and strength based approaches in researching and developing training and psychological programmes for sex workers. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Empirical evidence indicates that companies that reduce information asymmetry by increased voluntary disclosures achieve several benefits, such as lower cost of capital, improved pricing, and liquidity of their shares. Despite the possibility of such benefits, many studies report varying degrees of voluntary disclosure behaviour that is attributable to various factors. Recent studies indicate that investors’ investment horizon has a significant effect on actions taken by management. Companies with predominantly short-horizon investors spend less on research and development, invest in shorter-term projects that are less profitable than longer-term projects, and are more likely to manipulate earnings to meet short-term earnings expectations. This study investigates whether investors’ investment horizon has an effect on the quality of companies’ information environment. Long-horizon investors should be familiar with their investee company’s risks and rewards, using both their own internal information gathering processes and the cumulative information disclosed by management over time. Moreover, over the course of a long-term relationship, they can become familiar with management’s capability to deliver long-term sustainable returns. Long-horizon investors should therefore be less concerned with short-term fluctuations of earnings and management’s public explanations and disclosures thereof. I hypothesise that higher (lower) proportions of long-horizon investors are associated with lower (higher) quality voluntary disclosure. The shareholder familiarity hypothesis was tested in this study, using an ordinary least squares regression. Voluntary disclosures were observed via the channel of companies’ websites. A checklist was compiled of best practices for online investor relations, and content analyses were conducted on the websites of 205 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Shareholder familiarity was proxied by shareholder stability, measured over nine years. The stability measure was lagged by one year to create a temporal difference between the shareholder profile and disclosure behaviour. I found that companies with a profile of unstable investors that are larger, younger, dual-listed and have a Big4 auditor have higher quality online investor relations practices. The hypothesis of a negative association between shareholder familiarity and voluntary disclosure quality is therefore accepted. This study extends the theory on information asymmetry and voluntary disclosure by providing evidence supporting the argument that investor horizon is a predictor of voluntary disclosure quality. The dictum of more is better does not hold in all scenarios. It is important for financial directors and investor relations officers to establish the investment horizon profile of their respective companies’ shareholders before they embark on extensive disclosure programmes. / Financial Intelligence

Successful management of Environmental Education (EE) projects in schools is essential as it enhances teaching and learning in different subjects. The fact that EE is not a subject on its own, but is integrated into other subjects, has many detrimental effects with regard to the management of EE projects in schools. There are several barriers attached to the poor management of EE globally, in Africa and in South Africa. This study explored barriers to managing EE projects in Alexandra Township primary and secondary schools. This study was underpinned by total quality management theory. The research method used in the study followed a qualitative interpretative approach and data collection methods included a literature study, Participatory observation and open-ended questionnaires in order to examine the barriers to managing EE projects. Participants in the study were school principals, educators, subject facilitators and Institutional Development Support Officers (IDSOs). Findings indicated that, although school have EE projects, but there is a lack of competency and expertise in managing EE projects in schools. Non-governmental organisations are key role plays with expertise and competency in managing EE projects in schools. The study further indicated limited support offered by subject facilitators and IDSOs on how to manage EE projects in schools. However, there are number of factors that hinder successful management of EE projects in schools: these include lack of integration of EE into other subjects, lack of funds and other required resources, lack of time, and inadequate training. It was concluded that there were no systems in place that acted as a guideline for school principals and educators to overcome the barriers in EE project management in schools. It was concluded that school principals, educators and stakeholders, including subject facilitators and IDSO’s should work together in managing EE projects in schools. Hence, this study calls attention to the provision of in-service training for EE project management for school principals, educators, subject facilitators and IDSOs. Further, more relevant resources should be provided to schools in order to manage EE projects. / Science and Technology Education / D. Ed. (Didactics)

This study examined the nature of quality assurance frameworks in science education and the factors negatively affecting the quality of science education in the Johannesburg South district. The study explored the quality assurance practices, challenges that impede the attainment of quality science education in schools and the impact of quality assurance on the quality of science education. The Integrated Quality Management System, which encompasses whole-school evaluation, is the main policy used in secondary schools’ quality assurance system. A mixed methodology design was used in the research. The data collected was both qualitative and quantitative and was obtained from both primary and secondary sources. The qualitative data provided research opportunities which extended the type of information collected. It implied an interpretive or subjective approach with the focus being on how the respondents experienced and understood the quality assurance processes. Concurrent triangulation designs or convergent parallel design was used in order to develop a complete understanding of the research problem by obtaining different but complementary data for validation purposes and enhancing triangulation. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected at the same time and the findings were integrated in order to understand deeper the quality assurance mechanisms applied in science education. The use of multiple perspectives, theories and research methods resulted in rich information being gathered for analysis. The study revealed that quality assurance practices, ranging from Integrated Quality Management System, Whole-school Evaluation and Assessment Quality Assurance among others, had a positive influence on the quality of science education. The results indicated that quality assurance policies and mechanisms present were followed by schools and the district support helped to improve the quality of science education. The presence of quality assurance policies and mechanisms had a positive bearing on the quality of science education. The lack of infrastructural resources, non-availability of laboratory technicians, science educator work overload, parents’ non-involvement in academic support, poor learner subject selection criteria and non-rigorous quality assurance follow-up mechanisms were the main factors hindering the quality of science education. / Educational Studies / D. Phil. (Education)

The main purpose of this study was to examine the use of mobile phones by Generation Y students in the city of Johannesburg in order to increase understanding of this segment's consumer behaviour. Generation Y is an important market segment in that it is making more independent purchase-related decisions and has a large amount of disposable income. The primary data for this study is based on focus group interviews and a quantitative study of a sample of 200 Generation Y tertiary students. Some of the findings are as follows: * Generation Y's use of mobile phones: Generation Y respondents have owned a mobile phone for between three to five years; the majority own Nokia mobile phones, are on prepaid packages and are not big spenders on airtime; furthermore, SMS is seen as the most cost-effective way to communicate. * Competition in the mobile phone market: The perceptions of this segment are that Vodacom is the "cool" operator, MTN is the most "expensive" network operator and Cell C is "cheap and youthful". * Mobile phone brand awareness: Nokia was the most cited brand of mobile phone and was found to be the first choice of many of the respondents. Samsung was reported as the second most cited brand with Motorola, Siemens and Sony Ericsson following. The results have implications for network providers, handset manufacturers and marketers alike as they will ultimately improve these stakeholder's chances of marketing effectively to this dynamic youth market. / Business Management / M. Comm. (Business Management)

D.Phil. (Geography) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M. Ed. (Tertiary Didactics) / This study is part of a more extensive research project undertaken by a number of M.Ed.-students. The Bureau for University Education at the Rand Afrikaans University has accepted the question of the development of selection mechanisms with a view to accepting students for a university course as part of its assignment. The problem concerning a selection process for students can have dire repercussions, not only for those students who fail as a result of inadequate or erroneous selection, but also for the university as well as for the community. Individual members of the research team have devoted their attention to the evaluation of the existing selection criterium currently being implemented in order to select first-year students for further study in the various faculties. The objective of this research effort is particularly to determine whether the current selection programme, according to which first year students are selected for the Faculty of Education, is effective. An extensive literature study on existing selection procedures at universities abroad as well as at South African universities has been undertaken. At South African universities, and in particular at the Rand Afrikaans University, a variation of the Swedish Formula, the M-Score, is used as a selection mechanism. This M-Score has also been used as the research instrument in this research study. The M-Score comprises the allocation of different numerical values to the symbols attained in matriculation subjects, The research group consisted of full-time first-year students who registered at the RAU in the Faculty of Education for the degrees or diploma B.Prim.Ed., B.Cur., and H.E.D. in 1990. During the empirical research a cross-reference table on which the entire research group's final results of each first-year subject was entered in· certain intervals opposite the student's various M-Scores, was compiled. Likewise a crossreference table for each different field of study was compiled, in order to compare each field of study with the findings of the total research group. An additional table containing the frequencies, cumulative frequencies, and the percentages of both the successful as well as the unsuccessful courses as regards the total research group, has also been compiled. The percentage of successful courses per M-Score for the total research group has also been graphically indicated.

M.Ed. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

D.Ed. / Cognitive flexibility and didactically opportunities in teacher training. effective learning There is consensus amongst educationalists that the task of the teacher is to ensure that the pupils learn meaningfully. The teacher should create opportunities for meaningful learning to occur. Opportunities must be devised to stimulate pupils to think; by solving problems, making discoveries and experimenting. Futhermore, educationalists agree, that a meaningful learning opportunity is one where the interaction between the teacher and the pupils operates on higher cognitive dimensions and is not restricted to the lower cognitive levels - which is usually the case. This, however, does not imply that the interaction should necessarily be confined to a higher cognitive level. The teacher should be flexible enough to change from one cognitive tactic to another, and plan and act in accordance with the prevailing didactical situation. The concern of the writer and the reason for this investigation is the assumption and conviction that cognitive inflexibility and the lack of meaningful learning opportunities are symptomatic and " problem areas of the school practice. Rote learning and memorisation have become important teaching objectives. The purpose of this investigation is to ascertain whether it is possible for student-teachers to acquire the skill to plan effective learning opportunities and to enhance their cognitive flexibility.