This study is based on in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted with six former combatants residing in the Kathorus area, East of Gauteng. The main aim of this study was to explore the challenges facing former combatants after twelve years of democracy. The key findings in the study indicate that many former combatants have not defined their identities beyond the militarised masculine identity they identified with during the conflict on the East Rand and this has resulted in some negative social and psychological consequences for these former combatants. Challenges including stigmatisation from the communities in which they reside, unemployment, trauma, and betrayal also emerge from the findings. In conclusion, the many challenges that former combatants face twelve years into democracy highlight the faults and flaws in the demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration process that occurred post apartheid. Some key recommendations that can be made based from this study relate to processes of future demobilisation and social and economic reintegration.

This research project focuses on helping Hispanic students in the East Tennessee region excel in higher education with existing resources from various organizations. Hispanic high school students were identified to complete a survey. Findings showed that these students are facing legal, financial and social challenges when thinking about higher education. Even though these students are facing these challenges, they still want to pursue higher education in order to make a positive impact in their communities. The collective impact idea is proposed as part of the solution for this social complex problem. Since it is impossible for an individual to solve this alone, the goal is for these organizations to work together to help this population and their families. The conclusion of this project reminds us that data shows that the Hispanic population is growing in this region of Tennessee and that helping and educating this population is extremely important.

Thesis (MBA.) --University of Limpopo, 2018 / In a country with a high unemployment rate, such as South Africa, the role played by small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) cannot be undermined in creating jobs. SMMEs are crucial in the labour market, as they aim to curb and stimulate economic growth and development in South Africa. The aim of this study is to revisit or establish challenges and opportunities for the growth of SMMEs. The study was based on data collected from SMME entrepreneurs in the Sekhukhune area of Fetakgomo Municipality in Limpopo Province. The population of this study consisted of 53 respondents. The researcher had previously administered the instruments to a pilot group to examine the user-friendliness, comprehensiveness and adequacy of the data collection procedures and instruments. In addition, the data were analysed to establish the adequacy of the data analysis plan of actionSampling refers to the procedure by which a given number of subjects from a population are selected to represent that population. According to Babbie et al. (2001:104), a sample representative of a population or universe is taken from any portion of that population or universe. In terms of sample size consideration, according to Maree (2007), larger samples are better in terms of representativeness, statistical analysis and accuracy. In the present study, 53 people were interviewed to thoroughly determine the challenges and opportunities of SMMEs in the area. Snowball and convenience sampling methods were utilised to interview the SMMEs.The data were analysed using descriptive statistics. The results indicate that to improve the growth of SMMEs, the government should actively hold campaigns to enlighten the public of their supportive service structures that they offer to encourage emerging SMMEs to partake in various local business chambers to access business support. Internally, the entrepreneurs and their staff should engage in business training to enhance their entrepreneurial skills. The study recommends that the government needs to realign the current policy on SMMEs to encompass the dynamic economic changes in supporting the role made by this sector in the business environment with a view to improve their growth. The study established the need for an increased awareness to emerging SMMEs on opportunities available to them to develop and grow their businesses. Furthermore, this development and growth can be improved by creating incentives for financiers to extend their credit and loan offers to SMMEs, coupled with tax incentives for that comply.

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DevOps is a collection of practices used to automate theprocesses between the development and the operations teams. Thereexist various barriers between these two teams as they are traditionallyseparate. As a result, software organizations implement DevOpsto mitigate these challenges. At the same time, communication challengesarise while implementing DevOps as it is not a simple task. The aim of the research is to investigate the communicationchallenges faced by developers while implementing DevOps andderiving strategies to overcome these challenges. The overall researchgoal is to find out how communication takes place in a software organization/multinational company, the communication challenges faced during the implementation of DevOps and finally the strategies followedto overcome these challenges. An empirical study has been conducted using SystematicMapping method and Interview method for data collection. 18 outof 538 papers have been selected, to identify various factors affectingcommunication and perform systematic mapping. For the interviewprocess, six participants working at various companies in the roles relatedto DevOps have been selected and semi-structured interviewshave been conducted. The data analysis has been performed usingimmersion approach and data triangulation method. A total of 12 factors affecting communication in DevOpshave been identified from the Systematic mapping. Though no newchallenge has been reported by the participants, the factors identifiedfrom the literature have been confirmed from the responses of theinterview participants and the mitigation strategies to the challengesfaced by each of these participants have been listed out by them. These findings can be used by companies struggling toimplement DevOps, to curb various communication challenges beforethey arise as well as to mitigate already facing challenges by followingthe strategies implemented by other companies. It has to be notedthat this list is not complete as new challenges may arise dependingon the software development practices of the company.

The question that I investigate here is what emotion work is performed by child protective investigators in order to be successful at their work, and how do they manage these emotional challenges within a community of their peers? Many different workers, from airline employees (Hochschild, 1983) to mortuary science students (Cahill, 1999) to 911 operators (Shuler & Sypher, 2000), have been studied to examine strategies and effects of emotion management. Yet scholars do not agree on whether emotion management at work is positive or negative. For my research, I conducted interviews with ten investigators and observed a night unit of child protective investigators in a Central Florida Sheriff's Office. I observed three different types of strategies, which I discuss in detail: office based strategies, field based strategies, and personal strategies. Office based strategies include group humor, practical support and sharing experiences. Field based strategies include calming down the parent, enlisting the client, and distancing humor. Personal strategies include accentuating importance and blaming the parent. In the conclusion I summarize my research and discuss the finding that both novice and veteran child protective investigators use these strategies. I end with policy recommendations and I stress the importance of building a supportive professional community through further training.

The research focus of this study hoped to answer: “Do mothers have a more difficult time coping with their child’s challenging behaviors when they were using drugs, than they do when they are sober?” Mothers using street drugs may have challenges with their children after using drugs, whether illegal or legal (like alcohol or methadone). Mothers may have challenges during drug use with these children, but are the challenges the same once mothers are clean and sober? This research took on the positivist paradigm in hopes to answer this question. The researcher got an understanding of these challenges by asking questions about the drugs used during and after pregnancy, and the challenges they had with their child’s behavior while using drugs as opposed to the challenges they have with child’s behavior while sober. These questions were asked at the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission where many women are referred and mandated by the courts, or Child Protective Services, behind past or current substance use. Results of these findings indicated that there was a reduction in problematic behaviors that seemed to be correlated with mother’s sobriety

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of music therapy among the elderly. This qualitative study utilized interviews as a means to extract themes from the experiences of music therapists who have provided music therapy to the elderly. Results were transcribed to written form. Qualitative analysis procedures were followed to identify themes and subthemes. Areas of particular interest to the social work profession were the emotional, social, physical, and mental benefits and challenges of music therapy among the elderly. Through the guidance of systems theory and the concept of holism, spiritual benefits and challenges were also introduced.

The purpose of this study was to explore the various challenges and needs single Latino fathers faced in different areas such as the parent-child relationship, personal, physical, mental, and the financial aspect. It also explored the father’s perspectives and needs of formal and informal systems. This study used qualitative design using face -to- face interviews. This study found that single Hispanic fathers had a really good relationship with their children despite cultural factors that would enable them to have a challenging relationship such as the lack of acculturation, machismo, and the different fatherhood values between Hispanic and American culture. Another major theme that came up was the use of family support and the need for more formal support from local and state agencies and organizations. This study will help social workers and other professionals learn and understand the needs and challenges single Hispanic fathers face which will help social workers be competent to work with this specific population. It is recommended that more formal support such as access to counseling centers, support groups, and father-child community activities are needed to support and sustain Latino single fathers.

The purpose of this dissertation was to explore critical issues and challenges that might arise in agile software development processes with Scrum. It also sought to provide management guidelines to help organizations avoid and overcome barriers in adopting the Scrum method as a future software development method. A qualitative research method design was used to capture the knowledge of practitioners and scrutinize the Scrum software development process in its natural settings. An in-depth case study was conducted in two organizations where the Scrum method was fully integrated in every aspect of two organizations' software development processes. One organization provides large-scale and mission-critical applications and the other provides small- and medium-scale applications. Differences between two organizations provided useful contrasts for the data analysis. Data were collected through an email survey, observations, documents, and semi-structured face-to-face interviews. The email survey was used to refine interview questions; all of the interviews were audio-taped and transcribed, and later coded for analysis. Triangulation in the data collection process provided useful information for different perspectives on the issues, allowed for cross-checking, and yielded stronger substantiation of concepts and common categories. The research presented four common categories of issues and challenges of the Scrum method, and management guidelines to help organizations that are already using the Scrum method or planning to employ it in the future. The framework for a hybrid software development model is then proposed as a future study.