Magister Artium (Child and Family Studies) - MA(CFS) / Parental practices play a vital role in children lives. The manner in which parents interact with their children, can promotes and support the physical, emotional, social and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood. It could be describe as the process, whereby children learn to be responsible, and the consequences of their actions with the assistance of their parents. The aim of the study was to assess the perceptions of parental practices, which could place children at risk for abuse and neglect. This study used the quantitative method with a cross-sectional comparative design to examine and compare parental practices of parents, whose children were victims of abuse or neglect across gender, marital status and socio economic status. A sample of 163 participants (87 mothers and 76 fathers), who were either single or married and their socio economic status varied from the lower to the higher income group participated in the study. The participants completed the questionnaire, which was based on the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) and the data was analyzed by means of the Statistical Package in the Science (SPSS version 20). The results suggest that there are no significant differences between parents based on socio-economic status and marital status. However, there were significant differences between mothers‟ and fathers‟ care and overprotection.Furthermore, mothers were identified as being affectionless controlling in their parenting practices (low care and high overprotection) and fathers as affectionately constraining in their parenting practices (high care and high protection). Recommendations are provided for this study.

The purpose of this study was to investigate corruption and its effects on the development of the construction industry in Malawi. The major causes were identified and probable solutions as well as preventive measures suggested for all stakeholders in the construction industry in Malawi and neighbouring countries to follow in order to combat bribery and corruption. This treatise consisted of a literature review for the causes of bribery, fraud and corruption, effects of corruption on the construction industry, preventive measures, probable solutions to corruption and a descriptive survey involving responses from building and civil engineering contractors, the built environment professionals, home owners, developers, public works officers amongst others from the construction industry in Malawi. According to the literature study, the construction industry is one of the most corrupt industries in the world, which is a huge concern and threat both to governments, investors and humanity at large. This must be addressed by all the official players in the construction industry, from the innovator of a project to the tradesmen employed on that site. The research showed that all players in the construction industry are aware of the impact of corruption on the development of the construction industry in Malawi. Furthermore, there is room for improvement as far as prevention, reduction and elimination of corruption is concerned.

This dissertation is a survey and analysis of the ideal of severe asceticism conveyed in early religious Daoist texts. “Severe asceticism” in this study refers to religious practices that entail hardship, suffering and the rejection of basic human needs, along with the beliefs and attitudes that serve as justification and motivation for such practices. The period dealt with in the study is roughly the first six centuries of the common era. The study addresses three basic questions: 1) What specific severe ascetic training methods and ways of behavior were being carried out by Daoists? 2) What attitudes and beliefs served as motivation for such practices? 3) How and to what degree did the severe ascetic practices and the beliefs and attitudes dictating them evolve during the period in question? The study finds that throughout the period discussed, severe asceticism was always an important ideal for Daoists, especially for advanced adepts. The prominent severe ascetic practices included fasting, celibacy, sleep-avoidance, wilderness seclusion and selfimposed poverty. Highly uncommon and generally disapproved of were austeries which harmed and weakened the body with no purpose of ultimately strengthening it. In general, the motives for severe asceticism were (1) the strengthening and transformation of the body, (2) contact and participation in what is sacred and transcendent and (3) disdain and fear of the world and society. However, it is also discussed how during the latter part of the period examined, the emergence of new, partly Buddhist-influenced, soteriological and cosmological beliefs intensified the inherent tension between the two primary sotenological objectives, longevity and transcendence, and may have given justification to austenties which harmed the body and contradicted the archaic ideal of bodily immortality. In order to be able to analyze the phenomenon of severe asceticism in its full integrity, an approach has been taken that emphasizes comprehensiveness. This is because the phenomenon was much too widespread and diverse to be accurately assessed on the basis of one authoritative text. Thus a wide variety of sources have been utilized so that severe asceticism in early Daoist religion can be viewed to its fullest and understood properly based on a broad base of information. / Arts, Faculty of / Asian Studies, Department of / Graduate

MPH / Department of Public Health / Occupational Health and Safety has become one of the leading concerns throughout the cleaning industry. Compliance with safety regulations among cleaners of the University of Venda is still a challenge. The study aims to investigate factors contributing to non-compliance with safety regulations among cleaners: A selected rural university in South Africa. The study was conducted at the University of Venda, South Africa. A quantitative approach using cross-sectional descriptive survey design was employed. A pre-test was carried out to determine the reliability of the researcher-developed questionnaire. A total population will be applied and all the 164 was included in the study. The data collected was analyzed using SPSS 23.0. Data was presented in the form of graphs, tables and charts. A self-administrated questionnaire was used to collect data. Results: A total population of 164 cleaners took part in the research project, 119 (74%) were females and 45 (26%) were males. Among the participant 5%, n = 9 had no form of education background, 28%, n = 46 with a primary education background, 48%, n = 79 with a secondary education back and only 19%, n = 30 with a post-secondary background. Participants with a post- Matric back ground showed significant understanding (90%, n = 27) on the importance of complying with safety guidelines, as compared to those with no form of formal education (44%, n = 4). There was a significant relationship between gender and level of education with regards to the factors contributing to non-compliance with safety regulations among cleaners. The study revealed that the female participants are more likely to adhere to safety regulations (65%, n = 74) as compared to male participants (63%, n = 26). Majority of cleaners have a fair knowledge on the safety compliance within the working environment, however there is a need to put more effort on the safety regulations practice. Conclusion: The study concludes that female participants are more cautious within the workplace as compared to the male participants and that the level of education also has significant relationship on the level of compliance with regards to safety regulations. Recommendations: There is a need to have a functional safety committee that will ensure that all safety protocols are being followed, the committee may also amend the existing policy on given period of time. / NRF

Includes bibliographical references / The thesis researches literacy practices in South Africa's criminal justice system by focusing specifically on the production and flow of police dockets across institutional boundaries in a police station and regional courts renamed Blue Hills police station and Blue Hills regional courts in the Western Cape Province respectively. Through the use of ethnography, the production and flow of police dockets are tracked across three moments - Moment One, Moment Two and Moment Three - in the criminal justice system. The three moments also show how the production of the police docket allows humans and nonhumans to be displaced across these institutional boundaries. Apart from drawing on the New Literacy Studies (also referred to as Literacy Studies in this thesis), the research draws extensively on Actor Network Theory - a theory which argues that the social world and therefore reality are constructed through the creation of networks of associations or networks of relations consisting of human and nonhuman entities. In this study, these associations or relations are referred to as material - semiotic relations. When the relations between human and nonhuman entities achieve some form of stability, that is when they hold, they can have intended and unintended ordering effects on the social world. Therefore, the primary focus of the research is to understand how trans-contextual order is created by building the network of the criminal justice system - referred to as "the network" in this study - through the production of the police docket by police officers (Uniform Branch police officers and detectives) and state prosecutors. The three moments that are identified in the study highlight the complexity of the literacy practices which lead to the production and flow of the police docket across institutional contexts. These moments are snapshots of the possible ways in which the network can be built through assemblies of con figurations of material - semiotic relations. Moment One focuses on the opening of a police docket. During this moment the literacy practices between Uniform Branch police officers and detectives are highlighted when they attempt to classify the crime which should be recorded in the police docket after a member of the public visited the police station to report a possible crime. Moment Two deals with the investigation of crimes. This moment documents the literacy practices of detectives as they attempt to produce written witness statements for inclusion in the police docket from potential state witnesses. The literacy practices that are highlighted here focus on the strategies detectives employ to encode potential state witnesses with meaning and their strategies to ensure that witnesses do make it to court to act as spokespersons on behalf of the network and circulate in the network. Moment Three, the final moment, deals with how state prosecutors animate witnesses and their written witness statements in court so that the network can secure a successful prosecution. By highlighting the literacy practices and text production that characterize the three moments, the research concludes that network stability is contingent on three factors which are inter-related. The first, 'material durability', refers to the level at which material - semiotic relations are successful at staying intact. The second, 'strategic durability', refers to the successes of various strategies (which include specific literacy practices) employed by officials to ensure that entities in the network perform their specific functions in order to ensure trans-contextual stability. Finally, 'discursive stability' refers to institutional ways of measuring productivity in the criminal justice system and which must have trans - contextual reach and ordering effects on literacy and literacy practices across the three moments so that the network can achieve some form of stability.

Living sustainability is a set of behaviors for the long-term functioning of society. Sustainability VALS provides the clothing and textiles industry distinctive insight into comprehending the phenomenon through the application of the appropriate theoretical platform. The objectives are to identify the dimensionality of sustainability value, sustainability practices and sustainability stewardship in consumers’ perceptive, and to examine the impacts of sustainability value and stewardship on sustainability practices. Analyzing data (n = 239) from a southwestern university reveals the critical dimensions of sustainability lifestyle practices, sustainability value and sustainability stewardship. 62 out of 64 hypotheses were confirmed the significant impacts of sustainability values and stewardship on sustainability lifestyle practices. The findings revealed that the altruistic, openness to change, anthropocentrism, and ecocentrism values are influential sustainability values affecting on sustainability lifestyle practices. Given the theoretical perspective of sustainability VALS, sustainability stewardships can facilitate the holistic idea to incur consumer’s sustainability lifestyle practices.

The research question for this study was: Did the Kindergarten Teacher Reading Academy (KTRA) Professional Development Model impact the kindergarten teachers¡¯ instructional practices? Moat (2004) indicated that professional development should be job-embedded with substantive and sustaining power. This research employed a qualitative method. The Participant Knowledge Survey (pre-and posttest), was administered to all kindergarten participants at the KTRA. Six kindergarten teachers were then selected to participate in follow-up. This follow-up included a classroom observation and teacher interview at each teacher¡¯s school. All participants are certified kindergarten teachers that teach in public schools in Mississippi. The results of the interview revealed that these teachers¡¯ instructional practices were very different. Teachers that received on going support and guidance throughout the academic year provided more instruction in kindergarten. These teachers have been trained on all professional development models held in the state. After the initial trainings, participants attend Peer Coaching Study Teams weekly (2 hours per week). These teachers are given time to reflect on their practices, and are provided moral support from their peers and administrator. Teachers that participated in this study indicated that they valued the activities and strategies from the KTRA. They have implemented the topics from the KTRA Professional Development Model. The results of the study indicate that attending a professional development session is not enough. Teachers need direct support and guidance if they want to improve their instructional practices. The KTRA did have an instructional impact on all of the kindergarten teachers that attended the session.

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This multiple case study describes the relationships between literate practices of five self-identified Mennonite youth and their faith identities. It also examines other salient identity enactments for each participant and the relationships among salient identities. Specifically, this research addresses the question: How do Mennonite high school students who engage in leisure reading enact identities in their literate practices? Participants were in 11th grade at a Mennonite high school. Theoretically based on the social practice theory of identity, data sources included field notes from nine weeks of observations in English and Bible classes, interviews with each participant and the English and Bible teachers, written documents from both classes, and two verbal protocols for each participant with self-selected texts, one of which was faith-related. Multiple analytics were used to analyze the various data sources. Findings suggest that the relationship between faith identity performances and literate practices plays out in different ways for different youth based, in part, on the salience of the faith identity. / Literacy & Learners