A Research Report submitted to the Faculty of Education, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education. / As a front-end analysis, the present study seeks to investigate two ways in which Creativity-Action-Service [CAS), an activities-based experiential learning programme, can be implemented alongside the overly content-focused curriculum in South African schools in an era of transformation to democracy and as a means of contributing to nation building. Two research questions which relate to two possibilities for the implementation of CAS in Gauteng schools are investigated: (1) How can CAS be implemented in all public secondary schools in District C1, Gauteng? and (2) How can CAS be implemented in a single purpose-built private secondary school? The research design adopted is largely descriptive in nature and the methodology includes gleaning data from disparate sources including key informants and recent state policy documents. From the data it is argued that that CAS can be implemented in response to the first question by means of a combined top-down bottom-up curriculum implementation strategy, namely, Mutual Adaptation and Development, and, in the case of the second question, by means of the Problem Solving/ Critical Factor strategy which is driven by the identification of felt needs. / AC2017

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Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Social Work. / This study aimed at analyzing the social service programmes of 30 randomly selected 'progressive organisations' in terms of: 1. the nature of services offered 2. their rationale for service delivery 3. the goals of service delivery 4. the values and principles underlying service delivery 5. the strategies and methods used for service delivery 6. the outcome of services as perceived by the progressive organisations. on the basis of the information gathered, it was intended that this study would contribute towards an evolving understanding of the indigenisation process ocourring in social service delivery in South Africa. A qualitative-descriptive research design was used. A total of 103 organisations which met the requirements of a 'progressive organisation' with a 'social service programme' Were identified in the PWV area. From this universe, a 26% sample of 27 organisations was randomly drawn. An administered schedule was utilised in order to gather data from the respondents. Data was prooessed according to the SAS (Statistical Analysis of the Social sciences) programme. It was found that a move towards indigenisation has begun to emerge. This model of welfare has been in direct contrast to the traditional formal welfare system in South Africa Which historically was based on the ideology of apartheid. The major conclusions arising out of this study were that the progressive social service organisations under study were contributing towards the development of authentic social service delivery by: Incorporating social services into their programmes in order to meet the unmet social welfare needs of people, These unmet needs arose as a direct result of an inadequate formal welfare system in South Africa. Playing a major role in fulfilling peoples' unmet soclial welfare needs by offering services which welte traditionally not offered by most welfare organisations in South Africa. Incorporating new methodologies in to their service delivery as part of their commitment to make their services accessible and accountable to consumers. Being acutely conscious of the duality of their political and service objectives and delliberately striving to promote both. This combination of political and service objectives was carried out by including social development principles into service delivery. A general theme encapsulates the recommendations of this study. This refers to incorporating the experiences of the progressive social service movement into: social policy making education and training of social workers and, into furthering the process of authentication and indigenisation of social welfare in South Africa. It is further recommended that the indigenisation experiences of other countries should be studied in order to provide 'useful insights in the planning of a more appropriate model of social welfare in South Africa. / Andrew Chakane 2019

A research report submitted to the Discipline of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Clinical Psychology Johannesburg, South Africa December 2015 / Extensive literature emphasises that good quality maternal care is crucial for infants to develop secure attachments which positively shapes their future mental health. In a developing society such as South Africa where many mothers are raising children in contexts of multiple adversities, interventions which focus on improving the quality of maternal care are vital. Home visiting programmes are an effective way to support mother-baby dyads. In South Africa, it has been found that lay women from local communities trained to work as home visitors can make a significant difference to these mother-infant relationships. Ongoing supportive supervision has been found to be particularly important for lay home visitors. The evaluation and improvement of these intervention programmes is recommended. One aspect of programme evaluation is the investigation of the programme staff experiences. Currently, there is a dearth of research focusing on the experiences and supervision of lay community health care workers, internationally as well as in South Africa. The Ububele Mother Baby Home Visiting Project, run in the Alexandra Township in Johannesburg, is one such intervention and no evaluation of this intervention from the perspective of the staff has, as yet, been conducted. It was felt that research into the experiences of the home visitors and their supervisors would be beneficial in gaining clarity regarding which aspects of the project they perceive to have been effective and those that have been challenging, as well as to assist the team in developing their intervention further. The current research aimed to gain insight into these experiences and to gain an understanding of the main concerns. The form of data included 10 semi-structured in-depth interviews with the staff of the programme: the home visitors, the supervising psychologists and the director of the project. An interpretive thematic analysis was used to interpret the results. The findings indicated that the staff’s experience included a mixture of positive and challenging experiences. The staff all agreed on their passion for the project and their belief in the effectiveness of their work in improving the bonds between mothers and babies in the community. The challenges included working in a community faced with multiple adversities, as well working in a team divided by education level, race, culture and socioeconomic class. Suggestions for the Ububele Mother Baby Home Visiting Project team are also provided.

ABSTRACT The environment in which services are provisioned in existing networks has a number of shortcomings. Neither the service domain nor the services therein have a standardised structure. Signalling between terminals and services uses network protocols that are inappropriately oriented towards bearer management. The control of bearer connections, and the view of call states, is maintained in the network layer, making bearer management difficult and limited. A service-centric service provisioning environment is proposed, which advocates a structured service domain, and a structured approach to service development and provisioning. A direct communication path between terminals and services at the application layer, that utilises high-level, service-oriented protocols, is proposed. Control of the call / session layer and the bearer network, and view of connection states is relocated to the application layer, facilitating bearer manipulation by services located in the service domain. It is shown that the capabilities and features of services provisioned in the proposed service provisioning environment are of a greater range, more advanced and more complex. It is also shown that the proposed service provisioning environment brings about potential efficiency gains for the initiation of 2-party calls, and significant efficiency gains for the initiation of multiparty calls.

A common decline in marital functioning has been observed in couples as they adjust to first-time parenthood. This prospective, longitudinal study examined the trajectories of change in marital quality and observed warm and hostile behaviors across the transition to parenthood. Changes in patterns of marital quality were assessed to determine if they were a function of observed marital behaviors prior to childbirth or changes in observed marital behaviors across this transition. For both parent husbands and wives (N = 260 couples, 520 individuals) and nonparent husbands and wives (N = 107 couples, 214 individuals) participating in the Family Transitions Project (FTP; Conger & Conger, 2002), latent growth curve analyses were conducted on marital quality data and observed behavior data collected at two year intervals before childbirth, shortly after birth, and two years later to examine the rates of change. A general pattern of deterioration was observed for new parents in marital quality and observed warm and hostile behaviors. Observed warm and hostile behaviors prior to parenthood were significant in predicting both spouses' marital trajectories across this transition. Results from interlocked growth curves indicated that changes in observed warm and hostile behaviors did not significantly predict changes in marital quality. Finally, rates of change across four years did not significantly differ between parents and nonparents for marital quality or behavior. Clinical implications for marriage and family therapists are discussed. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Family and Child Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2011. / Date of Defense: March 30, 2011. / Transition to parenthood, Marital quality, Behavior / Includes bibliographical references. / B. Kay Pasley, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Ming Cui, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Thomas Joiner, University Representative; Lenore McWey, Committee Member.

Loneliness in older adults is a problem. Loneliness negatively impacts the physical, mental and social health of an individual leading to problems including increased risk of poor health, cognitive decline, and death. As older adults utilize over 2.7 times more of U.S. personal health care expenses than should occur given their proportion of the population, the health of older adults is a societal issue. The current study examines the feasibility of a method to reduce loneliness in older adults by teaching participants various methods of computer-mediated communication (CMC). Participants were older adults who qualified as lonely utilizing a loneliness scale. The study was conducted in two phases. The first phase was a test of the intended intervention – a course on computer-mediated communication taught to a group of lonely older adults. In Phase 1, the researcher examined participant loneliness scores before and after the course was given, and the course on computer-mediated communication was examined for areas of improvement. The second phase implemented the intervention, with the changes recommended in Phase 1. The second phase also included the examination of hypotheses related to: the connections between CMC training and the level of use of computer mediated communication by older adults, the link between CMC training and computer self-efficacy in older adults, the determination of if an increase in CMC use by older adults is followed by improvement in social support or social network (two constructs linked with loneliness), and the determination if CMC use is followed by a reduction in social or emotional loneliness. / A Dissertation submitted to the College of Social Work in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2018. / October 16, 2018. / computer, computer-mediated communication, gerontology, loneliness, older adults, social media / Includes bibliographical references. / Bruce A. Thyer, Professor Directing Dissertation; Mia Liza A. Lustria, University Representative; Stephen J. Tripodi, Committee Member; Penny A. Ralston, Committee Member.

In the engineering domain, customers traditionally purchase a product by paying a one-off price to the supplier. Currently, customers are increasingly demanding engineering services in different disciplines, such as in the aerospace, defence, manufacturing and construction sectors. This means that the customer may buy a product, which includes an integrated service or purchase the usage of a product/service (i.e. availability and capability) rather than the ownership of a product. To meet this demand for engineering services rather than stand-alone products, many companies have moved from providing a tangible product to offering such services. In both academia and industry, the majority of the activities have focused on estimating the cost for products with little in the area of estimating the cost of providing engineering services. There appears to be a clear knowledge gap in the field of costing models and rules for providing such services. It is this gap in knowledge, which is the focus of the research presented in this thesis. This research is focused on estimating the cost for engineering services using parametrics and the bathtub failure model. This is illustrated through the application to a Chinese manufacturing and service provider. Eight years of cost-related data such as historical bills, service charges, maintenance records, and costs for storage has been collected. Observations, questionnaires and structured meetings have been conducted within the company. A methodology and a cost model for estimating the cost for engineering services are provided. The major contribution of this research is the creation of an approach, which is to estimate the cost of engineering services using parametrics and the bathtub failure model.

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