Thesis (MBA) --University of Limpopo, 2011 / Socio-economic development of the communities around the mines is enhanced through effective mining beneficiation. The aim of this study was to provide an analysis of the perceptions of the Amandelbult mine and the community of Schilpadnest informal settlement, in relation to the mining beneficiation provided to this community by the mine. The study analysed the perceptions related to employment creation, corporate social investment, as well as the communication and collaboration of the mine with the local community and other sectors. This study used the census as a sampling method. A questionnaire, with a combination of closed and open ended questions, was used to collect data. The members of community structures within the Schilpadnest as well as the mine management were the target population for the study. The results indicated that the beneficiation role of the mine in terms of the socio-economic development of the community is perceived to be inadequate in terms of employing local people and supporting the local SMMEs. Lack of required skills and communication are perceived to be the possible hindrances to beneficiation opportunities. The study recommends that: · The mine should consider setting a particular target for employing people. · A communication strategy for interacting with the local community be developed by the mine. · A comprehensive needs analysis for the local community be developed by the mine. · The mine should consider developing a database for the local SMMEs for the purposes of procurement and skills development.

Thesis (M. Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2013 / Urbanisation is one among the pressing issues facing human kind today and with it large number of rural poor immigrated to cities, failed by economic growth to get formal employments, large number of the poor are now found in informal settlements around cities where abject poverty, unemployment and extreme hunger is concentrated. Urban Agriculture is viewed as one of the strategies the urban poor employs to cushion themselves from the hardships of poor economic conditions. In contrast, there is a view that urban agriculture exploits labour, generates below poverty incomes and land fetches higher prices in cities, as such providing scarce public resources to this practice is not of economic importance. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of urban agriculture on poverty, more precisely on the contribution of the practice towards job creation, cash incomes and food security. To determine if, urban agriculture can become a potential avenue for local economic development in the informal settlements of Soweto. Descriptive and quantitative assessments of the variables of urban agriculture in the study area were attempted to validate whether urban agriculture can emerge as a substantial mechanism to eradicate poverty and bring forth a potential area for local economic development in the study area. A questionnaire was used as an instrument for data collection. In the study, some of the facts revealed were that large proportion of the practitioners of urban agriculture are women and few went pass the matric. Moreover, large proportion of the urban farmers were doing so to supplement food at home and surplus sold, on average generating below poverty incomes and no job opportunities were recorded. The study concluded by providing recommendations on how city municipalities, development scientists and policy administrators can ensure that Urban Agriculture is supported in order to offer a potential avenue for local economic development. Some of the recommendations proposed, to cite a few, are that bottlenecks that limit development of Urban Agriculture must be removed, such as policy biasness, especially to livestock production in the cities, provision of infrastructure, tenure system and access to credits to improve productivity of the practice. Provision of advisory service must be conducted in indigenous language to improve adoptability and comprehension to facilitate technological transfer.

Using a three-essay approach, I focus on two issues related to the labor market: the effect of changes in regulatory costs on informal sector employment, and the role of endogeneity in the relationship between education and earnings. In the first essay, I analyze the implications of regulatory costs on skill-based wage differences and informal sector employment. I use a two sector matching model with exogenous skill types for workers where firms have sector-specific costs and workers have sector-specific bargaining power. In general, there are multiple equilibria possible for this model. I focus on the equilibrium that best resembles the situation in the developing countries of sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia. My results show that government policies which reduce regulatory costs decrease unemployment, earnings inequality, and the fraction of skilled workers in the informal sector. The different types of regulatory costs affect the skill premium differently and non-monotonically. In the second essay, I test the hypothesis of linearity in returns to education in the Mincer regression with endogenous schooling and earnings. I estimate the marginal rate of return to education using a polynomial model and a semiparametric partial linear model based on the standard Mincer regression. To perform the analysis, I use a control function approach for IV estimation with spousal and parental education as instruments. Results suggest that estimates not accounting for endogeneity understate returns at the tails of the education spectrum and overstate returns for education levels between middle-school and college. In the third essay, I empirically test the claim of Mookherjee and Ray (2010), based on a theoretical model of skill complexity, that "the return to human capital is endogenously nonconcave." I estimate the functional form of returns to education for India using a semiparametric partial linear model based on the standard Mincer regression. Marginal returns are estimated to test the nonconcavity of the functional form under both exogenous and endogenous schooling assumptions. My results show that the marginal rate of return declines during primary education and increases until high school, followed by stable returns for college and higher studies. However, the test of robustness of the functional form based on uniform confidence bands fails to reject the presence of nonconcavity in returns to education for India. This lends support to the claim of Mookherjee and Ray (2010).

This dissertation provides a history of Mexicana/os' participation in three modes of education: formal, non-formal, and informal, in the midwestern states of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, and Missouri, from 1910 to 1955. Informed by Critical Race Theory and LatCrit Theory, the study addresses the social constructions of race, gender, and class as it analyzes how these ongoing and complex constructions influenced not only how dominant society structured and practiced education offered to Mexicana/os but also how Mexicana/os participated in education and made education work for them in parochial and public schools, in settlement houses, in churches and missions, and in familial and community settings.

Les paiements informels (PI) sont des sommes d’argent supportées par les patients, ou exigées indument par le personnel sanitaire, à l’occasion d’une prestation de soins qui est pourtant censée être prise en charge. Dans les systèmes de soins publics des pays en développement (PED), ces paiements constituent une pratique courante. Puisque ces systèmes de santé sont souvent réputés pour être peu efficients, nous proposons dans cette étude une analyse des possibles liens entre le versement de PI et l’efficience d’un système de santé. Dans la première partie de ce travail, nous mettons en évidence une corrélation négative entre les PI et l’efficience du système de soins : à des taux élevés de PI sont typiquement associées de faibles performances sanitaires. Nous expliquons qu’il est par conséquent légitime de penser qu’une réduction des niveaux de PI entrainerait une amélioration des prestations fournies ou/et une réduction des dépenses sanitaires. Dès lors, il semble pertinent d’examiner les motifs qui poussent les patients et le personnel sanitaire à s’adonner à des paiements informels. Nous explorons cette voie en partant d’une analyse coût-bénéfice. Pour cette dernière, quatre déterminants majeurs de la conduite de l’agent seront identifiés au cours de cette analyse : le salaire, les conditions physiques de travail, la responsabilité légale et les normes sociales. Partant du postulat que l’agent ne changera d’attitude que si un comportement intègre lui procure au moins autant de satisfaction qu’un comportement opportuniste (corrompu), nous déduisons de cela quelques pistes susceptibles de réduire le versement de PI. / Informal payments (IP) are sums of money paid voluntarily by patients, or unduly demanded by medical staff, for the provision of care that is supposed to be already financed. In the public healthcare systems of developing countries (DC), these payments are a common practice. Since these healthcare systems are often considered to be inefficient, we propose in this study an analysis of the possible links between the payment of IP and the efficiency of a healthcare system.In the first part of this work, we highlight a negative correlation between IPs and the efficiency of the healthcare system: high levels of IP are typically associated with poor health outcomes. We explain that it is therefore legitimate to think that a reduction in IP levels would improve the services provided or / and a reduction in health expenditure.If one wishes to reduce IPs, it seems relevant to examine the reasons that push patients and health personnel to indulge in informal payments. In the second part of this work, we explore this path from a cost-benefit analysis. Hence, four major determinants of the agent's behavior are identified: wages, physical working conditions, legal accountability and social norms. Starting from the premise that the agent will change his attitude only if a behavior of integrity gives him at least as much satisfaction as a corrupted behavior , we deduce from this some strategies likely to reduce IPs.

No description available.

Past research into defining and measuring the characteristics of learning environments in Science Education Centres and Science Museums (SECSMs) has been based upon low-inference measures, such as observations and interviews. Many searchers feel that the diversity of informal education settings in SECSMs makes it difficult to develop high-inference measures for informal learning environments. This study used the semiformal environment of the CSIRO Science Education Centres as a stepping-stone between formal and informal learning environments. A review of learning environment research identified a possible procedure for the development of, and a format for, a suitable instrument. Research in SECSMs was reviewed to identify learning environment factors that defined the CSIROSEC learning environment. A pilot study was conducted to determine the feasibility of developing a learning environment instrument for CSIROSECs. This led to the more formal process of developing a learning environment instrument for CSIROSECs based upon the five scales of Affect, Social Interaction, Novelty, Independence and Involvement. / A number of cycles of testing of the instrument, statistical analyses, and subsequent refinements resulted in the Learning Environment Instrument for CSIRO Science Education Centres (LEI for CSIROSECs). The instrument measures distinct, if somewhat overlapping, aspects of the learning environment. The LEI for CSIROSECs displays comparable measures for internal consistency (alpha reliability) and discriminant validity to existing learning environment instruments. The sensitivity of the instrument has been demonstrated for the comparison of different classes, comparison of teacher-student perceptions, comparison of primary and secondary classes, and the comparison of CSIROSEC programs. Suggestions have been made for applications of the LEI for CSIROSECs and its further development,as well as its potential use in research.

This research aimed to investigate land use change in the area surrounding the Surabaya Industrial Estate Rungkut (SIER) in Surabaya, Indonesia. It was found that the industrial location has encouraged unplanned land use occupation, particularly the growth of informal sector activities. Analysis of government action sees the existence of the informal sector as a problem due to its non-taxpayer status, its illegal occupation of land and the poor environment and image it creates for the wider city. The government’s response to such a situation is to bulldoze the activities and associated development. The land use change that has occurred in the study area identified a precinct designated for residential uses that is currently occupied by commercial activity. This research identified the networks between the formal industrial activity in the industrial estate, and this commercial activity, both formal and informal. It also assessed the impact of the surrounding residential community on land use change. The study then analysed the planning approaches adopted that attempt to segregate land use between industrial and non-industrial uses and the attempts to limit the development of an informal, unplanned, unregulated land use. The study found that the current zoning regulations adopted from developed countries face many implementation problems particularly in providing for the accommodation of a large number of rural migrants. The appropriateness of land use segregation via zoning regulations to minimize the negative impact of industrial activity and to optimise the benefit of industrial land use networks was evaluated. The study recommends the creation of a more flexible and updated planning approach to land use change in Indonesia.

During the past three decades, much research has occurred into students' conceptions as well as factors influencing them and how the conceptions are formed. This study reports on students' conceptions involving energy and the human body. Initially, a number of student conceptions within the overarching area of energy and the human body were identified by developing and administering questionnaires to 610 students ranging from Year 8 through to Year 12. Students' responses to the questionnaire items resulted in previously identified conceptions as well as a number of unreported ones. The unreported notions included: carbohydrates are different to sugars; energy is needed for organs to function; fats and their role in energy storage; the eye and ear do not convert energy but transfer it to the brain; sweat cools the skin due to contact with air; objects need energy to start moving but not to move; and aspects of respiration and digestion. Conceptions such as the particulate nature of energy, energy's usefulness, conservation and transfer of energy, role of digestion and respiration, sources of energy were associated with previously identified notions which were derived from both informal and formal learning situations. But, it was not possible to distinguish which source knowledge was derived from. From these notions, a series of possible pathways for conceptual development within the area of energy and the human body were described. Further analysis of the data indicated a number of ontological changes that can occur as the student-cohort became older. These ontological changes included a decline in the notion of energy being particulate to being non-particulate and not being described, through to being involved in the chemical bonds of molecules, the role and processes of digestion, the number of energy types and energy sources and how the eye and ear function. / All these conceptions changed with student age and became more scientifically acceptable in their nature as students' formal education increased. Based upon the findings of the above questionnaires, a diagnostic paper and pencil instrument set of 20 items based upon a modified two tier multiple-choice format was developed to identify student held conceptions on energy and the human body. Subsequently, an interventionist strategy was designed and implemented to help students avoid the development of misconceptions as they construct acceptable concepts related to digestion and to respiration. This strategy follows the passage of food from its ingestion through to the absorbed foods conversion into ATP for use by the body. The findings of this study are to be of use to science teachers worldwide, not only in Western Australia as the findings of this thesis are relevant to educators of students in Years 8 to 12. The findings are related to energy in general but specifically to the students' own body. These findings relate directly to an intrinsically interesting feature, the student's own body. Another outcome of these misconception findings are two instruments which are likely to be of value to educators of Years 8 to 12 students. These are a diagnostic instrument designed to identify a number of alternative conceptions learners may hold and secondly a lesson sequence dealing with digestion and respiration and the role these have in the conversion and transfer of energy in the body.

Te Papa-o-Rotu Marae is a Māori community settlement located in the Waikato region of New Zealand. Its hapu (sub-tribe) community was one of 33 hapu that formed the Tainui confederation claiming compensation from the Crown for land confiscated in the nineteenth century. The claim was settled in 1995 and it was within this context that research for this study was conducted at the marae from August 1997 to December 1999. This ethnographic study examines the way that the community at Te Papa-o-Rotu Marae managed its affairs through its two management bodies, the Marae Committee and the Trustees. It is argued in this thesis that the marae's mode of management is in transition from an informal to formal mode, and from an inward to outward looking focus. Bureaucratic administration, it is argued, has been the major catalyst for the transition and has been introduced into marae operations through an accumulation of state legislation affecting Māori land and communities. Furthermore, some aspects of bureaucratic administration have been legitimated and appropriated by the iwi authority, which has passed this on to the Marae Committee. The community have been complicit in the adoption of bureaucratic administration by accommodating the requirements of both the state and the iwi authority. However, a persistent question was whether the marae could maintain its own rangatiratanga (authority, self-determination, control) and separate identity in the face of increasing pressure to conform to a bureaucratic management style. The community managed the marae communally by way of hui (gatherings) and meetings, which were observed using a combined methodological approach of Kaupapa Māori research and ethnography, as described in Chapter 2. The philosophy of kotahitanga (solidarity) underpinned the social organisation of the Tainui tribal confederation, so understanding the place of the marae in its wider socio-political environment has helped in comprehending the nature of the pressure on the community to increase its scale of operations and is explained in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 introduces the accumulation of influences that have brought about a change of managerial style from informal to formal organising. The practical effect of these influences are demonstrated in the management structure and administrative systems that the community used. These are described phenomenologically in Chapters 5 and 6 respectively. The management plan, compiled since 1995, had a strong emphasis on management structural review and participation in tribal development initiatives and is discussed in Chapter 7. The implementation of a collaborative development project between the iwi authority and Marae Committee is described in Chapter 8. The final chapter reflects on the impact of bureaucratic administration on marae management as well as the dynamism of the community and how the rangatiratanga of the marae has thus far been maintained.