M. Tech. Quantity Surveying (Structured) / This research project was aimed at identifying challenges facing emerging contractors around Gauteng Province. The focus areas of the study included: to find out the success rates of emerging contractors; to contribute in assisting stakeholders in creation of monitoring and evaluation programmes and not only development programmes; to find out how some of the barriers can be eliminated in the procurement processes; to find out an easy access to construction projects within the industry, and to establish how government can ensure that payment processes are not delayed.

M.Comm. (Economics) / The Gauteng provincial government is currently exploring possible sources for raising revenue to finance the increasing demand in social services. In the current fiscal stance, the bulk of provincial government revenue is constituted of funds transferred from the national government in the form of equitable share to provinces. Thus, the main purpose of this study is to assess the overall impact of the increase in the motor vehicle license fees and tourism levy, as important sources of the Gauteng provincial government own sources of revenue, on economic activities in the Gauteng Province. The study uses the provincial Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model to simulate an increase in motor vehicle license fees and tourism levy, and to determine how such increases in taxation will affect provincial socio-economic variables such as the gross domestic product (GDP), employment and household consumption expenditure. The findings of the study are that a 10% increase in motor vehicle license fees or tourism levy negatively affects the Gauteng GDP, employment and household consumption. Nonetheless, the effect on provincial government revenue is positive. Given the negative effect of such an increase in taxation on key socio-economic variables, the study suggests that an increase in taxation on motor vehicle license fees or tourism levy should not be considered as options for raising revenue for the Gauteng Province.

Ph.D. (Economics) / In this thesis the primary research objective is to construct quality of life measures to measure and compare the quality of life across the Gauteng City-Region in South Africa, while considering the diversity of the population residing in the region. In addressing the primary research question we also investigate secondary research objectives, namely to validate a new instrument of quality of life, to determine the interrelationships between the dimensions of quality of life, to construct a composite index with fixed weighting to measure and compare the quality of life across different demographic and socio-economic groups, to measure and compare the quality of life within diverse municipalities, each with its own unique character, and to analyse the factors that influence the wellbeing of a unique group of people in Gauteng, namely refugees and asylum seekers. A validated measuring instrument of quality of life contributes to the construction of robust composite indices, which can give a good estimate of quality of life in a region. Furthermore, identifying the interrelationships between the dimensions of quality of life can assist in the formulation of integrated policies aimed at improving quality of life. The measurement and comparison of quality of life of different socio-economic groups and different municipal regions can contribute to identifying the groups and municipal areas with low levels of quality of life, as well as the dimensions of quality of life that are below average and should be attended to in order to increase quality of life in the region. Lastly, determining the factors that influence the wellbeing of urban refugees and asylum seekers can contribute to better understanding of this unique group of people. To address the primary and the secondary research aims various novel methodologies are utilised. The methodologies used include Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to validate an instrument of quality of life and determine the interrelationships between the quality of life dimensions; Nicoletti et al.’s method based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to build a fixed weighted composite index of quality of life; Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Value Efficiency Analysis (VEA) as weighting methodologies to construct composite indices with flexible weighting that considers the unique characteristics of the municipalities in the region; and cross-sectional regressions to analyse the determinants of the subjective wellbeing of refugees and asylum seekers. In the analysis of the primary and the secondary research questions two data sets were used. In Chapter 2 to 4 a data set collected by the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) on quality of life in the Gauteng City-Region (GCR) was used. In Chapter 5 we used a data set collected by the Forced Migration Studies Program (FMSP) on Migration in New African Cities. A key finding of Chapter 2 is that the indicator variables of the dimensions ‘housing and infrastructure, ‘social relationships’, ‘socio-economic status’, ‘health’, ‘governance’ and ‘safety’ were found to be good measures of the dimensions of quality of life. Positive relationships were found between all the dimensions of quality of life, with the exception of the relationship between ‘housing and infrastructure’ and ‘health’, which was found to be statistically insignificant. Using the newly constructed composite index, in Chapter 3 we found the quality of life among African, lower-income groups, females and older people to be lower than that of other socio-economic and demographic groups. In addition, we found that ‘housing and infrastructure’ contributes most to the variance in the data set of the group with lower levels of quality of life. Using the flexible weighted composite indices to measure the quality of life within the different municipal regions of the GCR in Chapter 4, we found that the municipalities with the highest levels of quality of life to be Johannesburg and Midvaal, with, overall, above-average scores on all the dimensions of quality of life. The municipalities with the lowest quality of life in the GCR are Nokeng, Westonaria, Madibeng, Matlosana and Merafong. In the municipalities with the lowest quality of life scores, for those municipalities in the Gauteng Province, the ‘housing and infrastructure’ dimension was below average, while for the municipalities outside the Gauteng Province’s borders, it was found that the ‘health’ dimension was below average. In all the municipalities with low levels of quality of life it was found that the income variable is relatively low, except in Nokeng, which has relatively high income levels. Chapter 5 analyses the determinants of the subjective wellbeing of refugees and asylum seekers. It was found that additional factors to the standard determinants that explain the wellbeing of people in general should be added to the model to explain the wellbeing of urban refugees and asylum seekers.

A report on a study project presented to the Department of Social Work School of Human and Community Development, Faculty of Humanities University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Masters in Occupational Social Work, March 2017 / Managing absenteeism is one of the most challenging issues that managers have to deal with because it is an issue that affects all businesses regardless of sector, size or age. The aim of the study was to gain an insight and explore the experiences of line managers when it comes to managing absenteeism within the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD) focusing on the gaps, challenges, what they encounter or undergo and the dynamics involved when managing and addressing absenteeism within the department. A qualitative research approach using a case study research design will be used to understand the challenges associated with managing absenteeism. The population of the study comprised of managers. Eleven managers from the GDARD were purposively sampled for the study. Data was collected using in-depth; semi-structured interviews to allow the researcher a platform to ask open response questions, when exploring the managers experiences and perceptions about the management of absenteeism. Data was analyzed using thematic analysis by carefully identifying significant themes that emerged from the informants’ experiences and perceptions about management of absenteeism. The findings revealed that managers have negative perceptions and experinces when it comes to the challenges that they have encountered. The study derived recommendations on how to enhance the management of absenteeism within the department. / XL2018

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science / Existing priority assessment procedures are reviewed with a view to identifying a methodology which will be appropriate for use in the Central Witwatersrand Regional services Council area. It is concluded that a two stage methodology is most appropriate, adopting a.successive sub-setting technique and a detailed sufficiency rating technique respectively, The methodology is tested on the 1992/93 project list. / AC2017

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Johannesburg 2017. / Pre-colonial Stone Walled Structures (SWS) in southern Africa have been studied since the 17th Century. Studies focused on establishing the origins of SWS, classification and other socio-economic components associated with these settlements. The physical environment played a significant role in shaping these communities, therefore making it important to establish the correlation between these pre-colonial cultures and the physical environment. Using Google Earth and GIS Sadr and Rodier (2012) undertook a settlement analysis of a 350 area near the Suikerbosrand nature reserve in southern Gauteng. They observed that settlement patterns revealed a shift from small and dispersed egalitarian societies to more stratified communities between the 15th and 19th century. Using the same techniques that Sadr and Rodier (2012) employed, a settlement pattern analysis was conducted on the rest of the research area in southern Gauteng which is slightly under 9000. Results from an exploratory and a statistical analysis from the research area revealed observations made by Sadr and Rodier 2012 from a 350 concur with the observations made from the rest of the study area. / LG2018

M. Tech. Construction Management / Semi-skilled labourers are group of construction workers that are more prone to risks especially falls from heights, which is the basic motive for this study. Falls from heights could be classified as a safety risk compared to other risks that workers experienced in other economic disciplines. The purpose of this study is to identify the major risks encountered by semi-skilled labourers on construction sites in Gauteng and to make recommendations to mitigate the adverse impacts thereof.

M. Tech. Policing / This study is concerned with Community Policing Forums in the Gauteng North policing areas and the local communities, as well as police's knowledge, about the concept. The study investigates the implementation and effectiveness of Community Policing Forums as a crime prevention tool method and how it is managed.

M.Com. (IT Management) / Vehicle traffic congestion on Gauteng’s metropolitan and national roads in South Africa remains a challenge, especially during peak hours and also when incidents occur. They hamper the flow of vehicle traffic. Traffic congestion has negative consequences for business and for commuters’ quality of life. The goal of this research project is to identify variables that influence the flow of traffic and to design a vehicle traffic prediction model which will predict the traffic flow pattern in advance, given a set of predictor variables that will enable motorists to make appropriate travel decisions ahead of time. The traffic flow was categorised into three classes, namely traffic jam, free flowing and flowing congestion. In this study, the artificial intelligence algorithms that include Bayesian Networks, K-Nearest-Neighbour, Multi-layer Perceptron (MLP) and C4.5 Decision Tree were used individually for predicting the vehicle traffic flow. The results obtained from these algorithms were compared using the predictive performance and prediction costs. The best predictive model is one that has lower cost and good performance. The results show that the MLP was the best performing algorithm in terms of predictive performance and low prediction costs. In order to predict a novel instance, a feed forward Multi-layer Perceptron network was built using Matlab and was used to predict the unseen vehicle traffic instance, also called a novel instance. The (MLP) model accurately predicts vehicle traffic flow on a single novel instance with a prediction performance of 80% (16 out of 20) on novel instances.

M.Cur. / The recently introduced fetal growth monitoring technique - the symphysis fundal height measurement (SFHM) - has brought along a few problems. This technique was introduced in conjunction with the new antenatal card system. With this system the card is no longer kept at the health institution but carried by the mother. This mother carried antenatal card (MCAC) has a gravidograph on which measurements of fundal height are plotted graphically. Midwives in most clinical settings have experienced problems when making recordings on the gravidograph. In some centres doctors were also complaining that the symphysis fundal height measurements (SFHM) are plotted incorrectly. Midwives started to feel inadequate when doctors were constantly complaining that the gravidograph is not plotted correctly. The SFHM technique then became unpopular with midwives and most of them decided to go back to abdominal palpation - an old system which was used to monitor fetal growth. The problem most commonly found with the SFHM technique was that different midwives performed it differently. There was no uniformity in performance. This resulted in vast discrepancies of fluidal height measurements. Due to this, many problems arose with regard to proper management of pregnancy. A lot of literature surveyed by the researcher supported the fact that the SFHM technique was the best method for monitoring fetal growth. The graviphical display of SFHM on the gravidograph also facilitated early identification of intra-uterine growth retardation (IUGR). IUGR has also been found to be a major contributory factor in perinatal mortality. The survival rate of infants who have suffered IUGR can be increased through early diagnosis of IUGR and prompt referral. A seminar was staged by the researcher at the initial stages of the study to obtain views and opinions from other stakeholders regarding the SFHM technique and the MCAC. A considerable'amount of input was gained at this seminar and this contributed a great deal to the data needed for the completion of this study. The goal of this study is, therefore, to assess the ability of midwives in: performing the SFHM technique; and making recordings on the gravidograph section of the card. A quantitative, descriptive and exploratory design was followed. The study population consisted of a total of 15 registered midwives and 45 pregnant mothers. Each midwife was allocated 3 mothers according to selected criteria. This study was done within the context of two specific hospitals and two specific clinics. Tools were first tested for validity and reliability in a pilot study. Testing of the tools was done with the assistance of an experienced midwife researcher. No major changes were made. Data was gathered in two phases. Phase I was completed by direct observation, using a checklist. Phase II was a semi-structured interview. The medium of communication was English. Informed verbal consent was obtained from both midwives and pregnant mother subjects. Their right to refrain from participation was also explained. Data was analysed according to descriptive statistics in the form of tables and graphs. The concerns of the researcher were validated by the results in that the findings revealed that both the SFHM technique and recordings made on the gravidograph were done incorrectly in most cases. The results of this study have highlighted the need to formulate the SFHM technique standard. This would serve as guidelines and also as criteria against which performance can be measured. Delays in standardizing the technique may result in increased instead of decreased perinatal mortality rates. There is also a need to ensure that the gravidogram section of the card is filled in correctly. It is recommended that midwives should be thoroughly in-serviced about new procedures before being expected to implement them. Standards which serve as guidelines for practice should also be formulated, together with new procedures, so that excellence in practice is achieved.