The aims and objectives of this study are notably, to provide an overall understanding of the history of Liberia, from the country’s foundation, through the civil war, up to the present day post-conflict scenario. It intends to identify the strategies and schemes put in place by Liberian officials and other stakeholders, while outlining the importance of attaining the goals attached to these various plans. The difficulties of achieving these post-conflict development goals will also be noted, and finally, It analyses whether the concepts used in Liberia might also be implemented in post-conflict societies not only in Africa, but all over the world.

This research engages with a contemporary theoretical debate in the literary field, namely the ability of fictional texts to contribute to archival records. Contemporary research in archival discourse suggests that there are many intersections between fiction and the archive. Using Hamilton and others’ seminal text Refiguring the Archive (2002) and Pasco’s “Literature as Historical Archive” (2004) as point of departure, this dissertation offers an analysis of the South African English translation of Marlene van Niekerk’s Agaat (2004, translated 2006). In both form and function, the novel is viewed as a simulation of an archive. In Agaat, Van Niekerk has compiled a fictional archive of two indigenous South African cultures through her portrayal of the two main characters: Afrikaner culture during apartheid as embedded in the focalization of Milla de Wet and remnants of Khoi and/or San culture as emerge from the fictionalised subjectivity of her coloured housekeeper-nurse, Agaat. Through a conceptual and theoretical exploration of archival discourse, I argue that literary texts, such as Van Niekerk’s novel, have the potential to refigure (or creatively redefine) the archive and to enhance its scope and relevance, especially as South Africa undergoes transformation.

This research focused on derivative instruments which are financial securities whose values are derived from the values of underlying assets, such as shares, bonds, currencies or interest rates. Derivatives are predominantly used to manage risks in portfolios (hedging) and trading (speculation). Derivatives have been used for centuries and have developed into one of the largest global financial markets. The most common derivative instruments available to investors are options, futures, swaps and contracts for difference, as they are fairly easy to understand and apply. During the 2008/2009 global financial crisis derivatives, especially credit derivatives, made headlines and although they did not cause the crisis, they accelerated it. Furthermore, the 2008/2009 financial crisis also increased the negative sentiments many investors have towards derivatives. As a result of the crisis the growth in the global derivatives market came to a halt for the first time in decades. In light of the above, the primary objective of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of derivatives trading in emerging markets, especially in the South African context, as these financial securities are very useful portfolio management tools. The aim of this study was to describe the current state of the South African derivatives market; to investigate the role that derivative instruments played in the 2008/2009 global financial crisis; and to identify the variables influencing investors’ decisions whether or not to include derivatives in their portfolios. Given the nature of the problem stated a qualitative or phenomenological research paradigm was adopted. This paradigm was deemed suitable given the exploratory nature of the research. Primary and secondary data for this study were obtained through semi-structured personal interviews with 21 experts in the South African financial services industry and through an extensive literature review, respectively. A research instrument, based on the literature review was developed to facilitate the interviewing process. The results of the empirical investigation show that although the majority of respondents use derivative instruments in managing their portfolios, the South African derivatives market is still in its development phase. Many investors do not use derivatives frequently as they lack knowledge about derivative instruments, receive uncompetitive prices, are restricted by rules and regulations as well as investment mandates. Fourteen variables were identified as having a possible impact on investors' decisions whether or not to use derivatives in their portfolios. The five variables identified in the empirical investigation as being the most important, were the level of information available and the transparency of price determination; investor’s knowledge of different derivative instruments; investor’s level of risk tolerance; the level of liquidity in the market; and investor's knowledge and familiarity with financial markets. The findings of this study suggest that financial institutions, selling and trading derivative instruments, should concentrate on these five variables to make derivatives more attractive investment alternatives for investors. In order for South African investors to consider derivatives as suitable investments more often, it is strongly recommended to educate investors better about these products and decrease the negative sentiments investors have towards derivatives. This should be done by showing and explaining to investors that derivatives are useful hedging and portfolio management tools. It is necessary to state the dangers and benefits of derivatives, as well as the features differentiating them. Financial institutions trading derivative instruments, local education facilities (e.g. universities) and financial markets related organisations should educate investors by providing various educational tools, such as online courses, booklets, seminars or presentations about derivative products on offer. Furthermore, it is highly recommended to make derivative markets more transparent through adequate and appropriate regulations. In that, investors are better protected from counterparty risks and trade in a safer environment due to clearing houses.

Nanoparticles (particles less than 100 nm in at least one dimension) exhibit chemical properties that differ from their bulk counterparts. Furthermore, they exhibit increased potential for systemic toxicities due to their deposition deep within pulmonary tissue upon inhalation. Thus, standard regulatory assays alone may not always be appropriate for evaluation of their full spectrum of toxicity. Systems biology (e.g., the study of molecular processes to describe a system as a whole) has emerged as a powerful platform proposed to provide insight in potential hazard, mode of action and human disease relevance. This work makes use of systems biology to characterize carbon black nanoparticle-induced toxicities in pulmonary and extra-pulmonary tissues (i.e., liver and heart) in mice over dose and time. This includes investigations of gene expression profiles, microRNA expression profiles, tissue-specific phenotypes and plasma proteins. The data are discussed in the context of potential use in human health risk assessment. In general, the work provides an example of how toxicogenomics can be used to support human health risk assessment.

Orientadores: Anna Paula Silva Gouveia, Ana Paula de Campos / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Artes / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-24T11:24:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fernandes_Mirla_M.pdf: 111615006 bytes, checksum: 4dacb5c961d742397f77bff07ea4a1c6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: Esta dissertação teve como objetivo uma investigação sobre a linha enquanto elemento comum do desenho e da joia. Esta última, é aqui entendida como produto da arte-joalheria, campo que se apresenta como resultado de intercâmbios e contaminações com outras linguagens e práticas em arte contemporânea. A pesquisa envolveu três estratégias de investigação realizadas simultaneamente, e que se influenciaram mutuamente: uma pesquisa bibliográfica, o desenvolvimento de um trabalho plástico, e a realização de entrevistas com artistas-joalheiros, que trazem a linha como elemento em seus trabalho, indicando uma possível fonte de novas e diversas relações desenho/joia. A pesquisa bibliográfica levantou conteúdos pertinentes ao desenho e, sobretudo, à arte-joalheria, buscando trabalhos que se caracterizassem por um diálogo entre linguagens artísticas, configurando produções transversais que se afinam a conceitos levantados por Bourriaud, e a inscrevem no campo da arte contemporânea. A investigação plástica levou ao desenvolvimento ao conjunto de trabalhos Ensaios de Imprecisões, exibidos pela primeira vez em Agosto de 2013, na Galeria da Casa do Lago, Campinas. As entrevistas foram uma solução encontrada para suprir a ausência de literatura específica sobre o assunto, e elucidaram os processos criativos e entendimento das poéticas dos artistas entrevistados: Otto Künzli, Doris Betz e Dani Soter. As reflexões e resultados, levantados nas diferentes estratégias, corroboraram para um entendimento da linha, como elemento comum entre o desenho e a joia, que ultrapassa o sentido formal evidente, ampliando-se em jogos simbólicos e estratégias relacionais. A linha tece novas relações de aproximação entre desenho/joia, reiterando a prática da arte-joalheria, como produção de arte contemporânea / Abstract: This dissertation had as objective an investigation on the line as common element of drawing and jewelry. This last one is here understood as a product of art-jewelry, field that presents itself as a result of exchanges and contaminations with other languages and practices in contemporary art. The research involved three strategies undertaken simultaneously, and that influenced each other: a bibliographical research, the development of an artistic work, and interviews with jewelry-artists, who had the line as an element in their work, indicating so a possible source of new and diverse relationships drawing/jewel. The bibliographical research revealed relevant content about drawing and especially art-jewelry, looking for works that were characterized by a dialogue between artistic languages, configuring crossing over productions that are in tune with the concepts raised by Bourriaud, and are inscribed in the field of contemporary art. The artistic practices led to the development of the body of works Ensaios de Imprecisões, shown for the first time in August 2013 at Galeria Casa do Lago, Campinas. Interviews were a solution to overcome the absence of specific literature on the subject, and elucidated the creative processes and understanding of the poetics of the artists interviewed: Otto Künzli, Doris Betz, and Dani Soter. The ideas and results, raised in the different strategies, corroborated to an understanding of the line, the common element between drawing and jewelry, that exceeds the formal evident sense, extending it into symbolic games and relational strategies. The line weaves new relations of proximity between design / jewelry, reiterating the practice of art-jewelry such as contemporary art production / Mestrado / Artes Visuais / Mestra em Artes Visuais

In 2015, Europe experienced the most significant refugees' outbreak in modern history. Millions of displaced persons crossed the external borders of the European Union. Some of the EU member states represented and handled the outbreak as an opportunity. Some others framed and dealt with the migratory pressures as a security threat. The designation of an issue as an existential threat to a referent object constitutes a security speech act. According to the Copenhagen School of Security Studies, when extraordinary measures and the acceptance of the audience follow a security speech act, then we observe successful securitization. Motivated by the desire to examine the securitization of the refugee crisis in Europe, from a Copenhagen School's perspective, I performed a thorough assessment of the relevant literature which brought into the light a research gap. Despite the persistence of the Copenhagen School's scholars to underline the importance of their analytical framework's 'audience acceptance' component, most of the securitization literature focuses on the other two components of a successful securitization: the security speech act and the emergency action. As a result, the audience acceptance component suffers from under-theorization, underdevelopment, and under-assessment. To enhance the analytical potential of the Copenhagen School's theorem, I develop two methodological novelties -the Triangulation Method of Audience Identification and the Comprehensive Securitization Empirical Framework. The first guarantees the accurate identification of the securitization audience. The second classifies ten different forms of securitization based on the presence or absence of the three securitization components and on the placement of the 'audience acceptance' within the securitization's timeline. To demonstrate the applicability of the novel analytical tools, I test them on the securitization of the European refugee crisis. To support my findings, I perform a comparative case study of five case studies: Greece, Poland, Hungary, Germany, and the EU. To draw my conclusions, I consult thousands of official statements, hundreds of surveys and opinion polls, dozens of relevant books and peer-reviewed articles and several in-person interviews with renowned decision-makers. The outcomes of the research suggest that, in the case of the European refugee crisis, the primary targeted audience was the general public. However, the opinion of the general public about the designation of the existential threat and about the necessity of the extraordinary measures' adoption was rarely considered after the utterance of the security speech acts. In most of the cases, the securitizing actors assessed the feelings of the general public before uttering the speech acts. The findings of this research also indicate that the higher the negativity of the general public towards immigrants and refugees, the most likely the political elites to perform a security speech act and to resort to emergency action. Despite the indisputable impact of the public opinion, the final decision about the securitization of the refugee crisis belongs to the political actors

Adlerian Summer School, Clonmel, Ireland, July, 2006; McAbee-Maryland Adlerian Society, October, 2004; ICASSI, Cork, Ireland, July – August, 2004.

This text offers an analysis of the power apparatuses (dispositifs) employed in the management of the early 21st century Covid-19 pandemic. The paper is divided into two sections. The first part is oriented both towards a charac- terization of the mode of government that preceded the onset of the viral disease and towards an exposition of the power apparatuses it instrumentalized. This mode of go- vernment is referred to in the text as «capitalistic gover- mentality», a practice combining regimes of knowledge, economically encoded materialities, subjective formations and power apparatuses in order to maintain the valorization of private capital. The second part exposes the ways in which the apparatuses of capitalistic governmentality are modified and articulated in the context of the pandemic, through a phenomen given the provisional name of «viropolitics».

The increasing engagement of China in Africa after the cold war has steered debates concerning the growing complexion of this relationship. However, the emphasis of assessment has mainly been narrowed to the bilateral relationship between China and African countries. Insufficient consideration has been focused to the increasing relationship concerning China and African Union which is the continental Regional Organization of African states. This study explores the nature and impact of China-African Union relationship and its consequences to the African Union member states generally. The study examines the significance of this relationship and demonstrates how both China and African Union are using this relationship to fulfill their objectives and the ultimate effect to the African Union member states that have bilateral relations with China. By using qualitative design and the lens of constructivism this study has tested the extent of the application of China's objectives under the China African policy and the African Union objectives under the Constitutive Act and Agenda 2063 by analyzing the extent the parties are using this relationship to enhance the fulfillment of their objectives, by testing the study on the objectives of infrastructure development, peace and security, health, and capacity development as the research variables. This study shows the extent at which the parties' relations has led to the achievement of these objectives thus demonstrating the importance of the relationship between China and African Union. This relationship has enhanced peace and security preservation of the African continent, facilitated the development of African Union Centre for Disease Control and Prevention to boost the health objective on the continent, as well as aggrandized skill development through capacity development initiatives on the continent. China has also supported, consistently praised and acknowledged the role of the AU in solving African problems as well as constructing for it the biggest office block hence giving the continental organization a new face. Nevertheless, the study shows that China is using this relationship to project itself as a more active external partner for the AU and the African continent compared to the rest. Similarly, China is trying to use this relationship with the AU to socialize the AU member states towards its own priorities, and the relationship is positioning China to initiate, maintain and increase its Soft power interests on the African continent as well as advance its norms. Equally, China is carefully using its relationship with the AU to promote its geostrategic and political interests on the African continent for instance through its recent establishment of the Chinese military base in Djibouti. The study also highlights how Chinese Africa relations is not only based on interest of exploiting African resources entirely as described by previous authors, but there is also commitment towards increasing its engagement with the African Union basing on each other's policies and priorities in order to fulfill their objectives

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This thesis turns to Martin Heidegger to develop an interpretive framework to answer the question that has increasingly been thrust to the fore of 21st century society: what is the nature of the relationship between technology and society? And related to this central question is the matter of how society and social being is altered by technology and its modalities of vision? The basic argument that has been advanced to address this question revolves around the fact that in as much as we use technology as a means to serve practical ends, it displaces certain tasks and functions, which would otherwise be necessary, and thus truncates or reduces the scope of social practices in our everyday social routines. However, it does not simply end there as we illustrate that social practices encompass, to varying degrees, a different range and scope of social relationships which are instantiated in their wake. Considered together we found that these relations constitute a nexus of social connections, which we take up as the quality of sociality. The implications for our argument that sociabilities and sociality converge to produce an understanding of social being means that any technological encroachments which displace our social practices and social connectives alters our understanding of social being and thus how we understand ourselves, the world and others. We take up this theme of the displacement of our social being, sociality and sociabilities by considering two outcomes that modern technology seems to open up: equipmentality and curiosity.Firstly, as regards equipmentality we have noted that it connect us to our sociality and sociabilities and thus inures our understanding of social being, however, by contrast Heidegger finds in (idle) curiosity a second outcome that dooms us to the dystopian fate of nihilism. There is thus no fait accompli as regards modern technology’s nihilistic tendencies. This does not mean that we can be complacent about our future. But it does mean, on a positive note, that we human beings do have a responsibility to recognize technology’s efficacious ontological dimension for disclosing our being and the world.By contrast, on the negative task, our responsibility does extend to resisting modern technology’s nihilistic ontological wasteland, which does not admit objects, things or for that matter human beings, but only the flattened insubstantial being of resources as standing reserve for the technological system, bereft of sociality, humanity and an understanding of social be-ing.