Submitted by Maykon Nascimento (maykon.albani@hotmail.com) on 2016-05-31T18:11:13Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Dissertacao Raphael Fae.pdf: 1458087 bytes, checksum: 9bb5536b81d595e791fccfd83888e8e9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Patricia Barros (patricia.barros@ufes.br) on 2016-06-30T13:18:11Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Dissertacao Raphael Fae.pdf: 1458087 bytes, checksum: 9bb5536b81d595e791fccfd83888e8e9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-30T13:18:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Dissertacao Raphael Fae.pdf: 1458087 bytes, checksum: 9bb5536b81d595e791fccfd83888e8e9 (MD5) / O sentido ordinário dado à secularização no ocidente aponta para o expurgo do religioso das esferas públicas e da sociedade, em cujos debates evidenciam-se um embate polarizado entre discursos religiosos e científicos, com vantagem para estes. Charles Taylor pretende demonstrar o quão tímida e enviesada é essa perspectiva. No bojo da resposta à questão “o que mudou, entre crença e descrença, em 500 anos de civilização ocidental, de 1500 a 2000?”, ele considera um conjunto de reelaborações e ressignificações nos antigos e novos modos de pensar, agir e se envolver no tocante à espiritualidade e seus modos de imbricação social. O propósito, aqui, é analisar a chave de leitura tayloriana sobre a secularização, o quadro no qual se desenvolverão as condições da crença e da descrença atuais, com amplas repercussões políticas, sociais, éticas, antropológicas, etc., em indivíduos e em sociedades. / The ordinary meaning given to the secularization in the West, points to the purge of the religious view in public places and society, in which debates evidentiate themselves in a polarized clash between religious and scientific discourse, with the advantage of these last. Charles Taylor intends to demonstrate how timid and biased is this perspective. In the midst of the answer to the question “what has changed between belief and unbelief, in 500 years of Western civilization, from 1500 to 2000?”, he considers a set of redrafts and new meanings in old and new ways of thinking, acting and engage regarding to spirituality and its modes of social embeddedness. The aim here is to analyze the Taylorian reading key about secularization, the framework within which are going to be developed the current conditions of the belief and unbelief, with wide political, social, ethical, anthropological, and so forth, repercussions, on individuals and societies.

Grounding its approach in historical and discursive institutionalist frameworks, this thesis examines the process of judicial review through an evaluation of Hogg et al.’s Charter dialogue hypothesis as it pertains to judicial invalidation of sections of the Charter of the French Language (CFL) and the legislative sequels produced by the National Assembly of Quebec (i.e. Bills 178 and 86). When examined from an historical institutionalist perspective, the National Assembly of Quebec appears to have strategized its response through an assertion of parliamentary sovereignty, rather than the desire to engage in a “dialogue” with the Supreme Court of Canada. However, a closer examination of how the Bourassa government crafted Bill 178 reveals that the first ‘legislative response’ to the Supreme Court’s decision in Devine and Ford was crafted exclusively by the executive branch, in virtual secrecy among a handful of Bourassa’s cabinet members. Displeased with the outcome of Bill 178, Anglophone civil society actors challenged the legitimacy of the CFL, as well as the notwithstanding mechanism at an international level, with their submission of Ballantyne, Davidson, McIntyre v. Canada to the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC). In 1993, the UNHRC ruled that Bill 178 violated sections of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The UNHRC’s decision eventually pressured the National Assembly of Quebec to amend Bill 178 with the passage of Bill 86, and consequently brought the Supreme Court’s remedies into partial effect. However, Quebec’s subsequent amendment to the CFL, Bill 86, was not a “legislative sequel” in response to judicial nullification; rather it was primarily a response to comply to international human rights norms. Bill 86 amended sections 58 and 68 of the CFL, but contrary to the recommendations of linguistic equality set forth by the Supreme Court, the Bourassa government ensured that French remained the predominant language on signage. The evidence in this thesis suggests that Charter compliance was an almost secondary effect caused by the primary objective of Quebec’s adherence to international human rights norms for the purpose of continued participation in international affairs. In its rejection of the Charter dialogue model, this thesis uncouples the pairing of the notwithstanding clause with the notion of parliamentary sovereignty and, in doing so, raises critical questions regarding the roles of the provincial executive and legislative branches during the process of constitutional interpretation. This thesis concludes that in lieu of Charter dialogue, a modified version of Baker’s model of coordinate interpretation is a more appropriate model of judicial review for summarizing the interaction of actors within the case studies of Bills 178 and 86.

Doctor Pharmaceuticae - DPharm / The popularity and increasing complexity of sustained release dosage forms has resulted in increased costs to the patient. One approach to achieve cheaper, yet effective, sustained release medication is through the simplification of production processes. Matrix tablets have been used to sustain the release of numerous drugs and are cheap to prepare. Since they are single-unit dosage forms, however, they display less predictable transit through the gastrointestinal tract. Hence, they provide less reliable blood levels of the drug in comparison with multi particulate dosage forms. Of the various types of multiparticulates available, pellets are popular for oral administration. A fairly recent innovation, in pelletization technology, is extrusion and spheronization. With this technique it is possible to produce pellets with a high degree of drug loading directly and rapidly. The drug loaded beads are usually coated for a sustained release effect. If one could omit the coating step, it would avoid many problems (thus reducing the number of quality control procedures required) and save chemicals, labour and capital for the purchase of additional equipment. The primary aim of this project was to investigate the preparation of non-coated, spheronized sustained release pellets, while a secondary aim was to prepare beads that can be compressed into sustained release tablets. A tablet can accommodate a larger mass and the compaction forces involved may enhance the sustained release effect. Several techniques were used in an attempt to sustain the release of drugs of different solubilities. In one series of formulations, a novel method was used to incorporate a binder consisting of ethylcellulose in ethanol. Using this technique, the release of Theophylline was sustained for approximately 8 hours. In other formulations, several materials were added to beads with the aim of forming sustained release matrixes. Only magnesium stearate was able to prolong the release of Acetaminophen and Theophylline for a reasonable time. In an attempt to explain why materials that were successfully used in sustained release matrix tablets were of very limited value in beads, an equation was developed to calculate the approximate distance between the retardant particles. Calculations using this equation revealed that the retardant particles were too far apart, within each bead, to expect consolidation to occur. The discrete retardant particles do not retard drug release effectively. Eudragit?-containing beads, which sustained the release of the drug to a small extent, were successfully compressed into tablets, both on their own and in combination with non pareil seeds. In each case, the sustained release effect was improved by compaction. In the case of the products manufactured with non pareil seeds, the tablets disintegrated rapidly to release the beads, thus ensuring that the advantages of multiparticulates were maintained. Because it was realised that a large amount of the matrix material could not be incorporated within the beads if a high dose drug was formulated with Avicel? PH 101, the idea of forming the matrix outside the beads was developed. Several materials were tried in an attempt to form a sustained release external matrix. Eudragit? RSPO prolonged the dissolution of Theophylline for more than four hours. Magnesium stearate was able to sustain the release of Acetaminophen and Theophylline appreciably. In the latter case, the dissolution, in water, of a standard adult dose of the drug was prolonged for more than 12 hours. However, the dissolution in an acidic medium was much faster. The described technique represents an advance in extrusion and spheronization technology. While beads containing Cutina? HR did not show promise as sustained release units, they compacted to form sustained release tablets of good appearance and acceptable strength. These tablets were considered to have been efficiently prepared because the constituent beads were easily manufactured and showed good flowability, and because a glidant and a lubricant were not required. The production of sustained release Indomethacin beads with a more steady release profile than the innovator's product has also been described in other experiments. The research described in this thesis represents progress towards the widespread commercial production of effective non-coated sustained release beads and may encourage further work towards this goal.

The United States and the European Union operate in the world’s two most powerful systems of competition law and policy, whose enforcement and judicial institutions employ similar concepts and legal language. Nevertheless, the two systems have reached different results across a number of significant antitrust issues. One such issue is the approach taken towards vertical price fixing and, in particular, the practice referred to as resale price maintenance. Resale price maintenance generally includes the predetermination of a fixed or minimum retail price in a vertical distribution agreement.   In European competition law, resale price maintenance is considered a hardcore restriction of competition and is thereby presumed to infringe Article 101(1) TFEU by its object. The presumption is strong and has proved difficult to rebut in practice. In the United States, the US Supreme Court changed its approach towards resale price maintenance in its 2007 landmark decision Leegin. The majority overturned its nearly century old precedent regarding resale price maintenance, concluding that the practice is no longer to be treated as a per se violation of antitrust law but should instead be subject to a rule of reason analysis. The judgment was the last in a series of different cases, all demonstrating a complete reversal in the approach towards both price and non-price vertical restraints. The change of approach in the United States was largely influenced by developments in economic thinking addressing the potential pro-competitive effects of resale price maintenance. Even though the European Union has modernised and renewed its competition rules to be more in line with economic theory, some uncertainties and difficulties seem to remain regarding the scope of the prohibition on anti-competitive agreements and the possible efficiencies resulting from vertical price fixing. These issues have constituted the main focus for this thesis, which aims to examine vertical price fixing and the prohibition on anti-competitive agreements in Article 101(1) TFEU.   The policy view towards resale price maintenance in the European Union has been subject to great discussion and debate, and it has been argued that the approach towards the restriction is too strict. The legal framework for vertical agreements is now up for review and it is of interest to examine the appropriateness of the prohibition on resale price maintenance, especially in the light of two recent judgments. The thesis shows that there might be sufficient arguments for a change of approach towards resale price maintenance also in the European Union.

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / This dissertation explores the apparent mismatch between the expectations of first year students in the English department at the University of the Western Cape, and those who teach them. By exploring the perceptions of some of the students, lecturers and tutors in the department, I investigate how meaning within the discipline of English studies is negotiated and to what extent the learning experiences in the department contribute to the facilitation of "epistemological access" (Morrow, 1993). An important aspect of meaning negotiation is the redefining and rethinking of concepts such as "academic literacy" and "critical literacy

Desрite discretionаry exclusion ground рrovided by Аrticle 57(4)(d) of the Directive 2014/24 thаt аllows contrаcting аuthorities to exclude unreliаble tenderers from рrocurement рrocedures, there is still uncertаinty regаrding both the scoрe of this рrovision аnd the рrinciрle of рroрortionаlity used by contrаcting аuthorities under the Аrticle. Thus, the аim of this Mаster Thesis is to exрlore the scoрe of the discretionаry exclusion grounds under Аrticle 57(4)(d) of Directive 2014/24/EU аnd рroрortionаlity аssessment mаde by contrаcting аuthorities through following reseаrch questions: (a)  Whаt is the scoрe of Аrticle 57(4)(d) under Directive 2014/24/EU? (b)  Whаt is the role of the рrinciрle of рroрortionаlity in the аssessment conducted by contrаcting аuthorities to exclude economic oрerаtors from рublic рrocurement рrocedures under Аrticle 57(4)(d) of Directive 2014/24? Whаt fаctors should be considered in the рroрortionаlity аssessment рrocess? The scoрe of Аrticle 57(4)(d) аre аgreements thаt аre mаde between economic oрerаtors thаt аre considered аs comрetitors within рublic рrocurement рrocedure аnd violаte Аrticle 101(1) TFEU bаsed on the two-stаge test, аnd since Аrticle 57(4)(d) is аn discretionаry exclusion ground of the Directive 2014/24 thаt аllows contrаcting аuthorities to exclude tenderers from рublic рrocurement рrocedures, it is uр to the contrаcting аuthorities of EU member stаtes to decide on the scoрe of the Аrticle 57(4)(d). However, it is still uncleаr how the рrinciрle of рroрortionаlity under Аrticle 57(6) of Directive 2014/24 shаll be used by contrаcting аuthorities uрon mаking such а decision. Therefore, the аuthor concludes thаt contrаcting аuthorities could use the рrinciрle of рroрortionаlity under Аrticle 101(1) TFEU рrior mаking а decision whether to exclude economic oрerаtors from the рublic рrocurement рrocedures under Аrticle 57(4)(d) or not. On the contrаry, Аrticle 101(3) TFEU could be used by contrаcting аuthorities when exercising “wide mаrgin of аррreciаtion” to evаluаte economic oрerаtors’ submitted evidence in order to mаke а conclusion whether the economic oрerаtor concerned mаnаged to restore its reliаbility аnd, thus, is аllowed to continue раrticiраting in рublic рrocurement рrocedures аfter “self-cleаning” meаsures tаken under Аrticle 57(6).

Worldwide, more than half of all HIV-infected individuals are women. Since mucosal surfaces are the primary gateway for HIV entry, maintaining the integrity of the female reproductive tract (FRT) is essential for preventing infection. The FRT employs many immune mechanisms that serve as the first line of defense against HIV transmission. Among these are vaginal fluid secretions rich in antimicrobial peptides, and commensal bacteria that colonize the vagina and prevent infections. We sought to study vaginal fluid as an innate immune component of the FRT in the prevention of HIV infection. Additionally, we investigated the anti-HIV microbicide candidate RC-101 as a possible treatment against pathogenic bacteria that disrupt the healthy microbiota of the FRT and create a suboptimal immune state that increases host susceptibility to viruses, such as HIV. Here we report that vaginal fluid collected from healthy females inhibits HIV infection. Moreover, our studies reveal that vaginal fluid collected from Black and White women exhibit disparate anti-HIV activity, possibly rendering Black women more susceptible to HIV infection. In addition, we show that RC-101, which is active against HIV, can also inhibit pathogenic bacteria that compromise FRT innate immunity, providing a dual mechanism of protection against HIV acquisition. Overall, these findings show that vaginal fluid is an important part of female innate immunity that protects the host from heterosexual HIV acquisition. Furthermore, the microbicide RC-101 may prevent HIV infection by both directly preventing viral entry, and by restricting the growth of pathogenic bacteria that disrupt the protective commensal vaginal flora. Together, innate mechanisms and bolstered protection present a multifaceted approach to maintaining effective host immunity.

Roads can negatively impact the survival of wildlife populations through additional mortality from road kill and population fragmentation caused by road avoidance behaviors. The 11.9 mile section of State Route 101 between the towns of San Luis Obispo and Atascadero, CA, USA, cross a mountain lion movement corridor and an area important to maintaining ecological connectivity between protected lands in the Los Padres National Forest to the north and south. I examined the spatial patterns and landscape and roadway factors associated with road kill occurrence for six taxa; large mammals, mesocarnivores, squirrels, rabbits, birds and raptors. Between 1 May 2009 and 30 June 2010 road kills were documented using vehicle-based surveys. Small mammals were the most common road kill (58.3%), followed by mesocarnivores (10.9%), birds (10.6%), rabbits (5.1%), large mammals (3.3%) and raptors (3.2%). Twenty-nine large mammal road kills were observed during the survey period; eighteen mule deer, six black bears and five feral pigs. Road kill was highest in the middle of the survey area between the top of Cuesta Grade and the southern edge of Atascadero and lowest along the Cuesta Grade. I modeled road kill occurrence using logistic regression to determine which landscape and roadway characteristics were associated with road kill locations. Large mammal and mesocarnivore road kills were more likely to occur near riparian corridors. Mesocarnivore and squirrel road kills were associated with locations with greater roadside tree cover. Squirrel and rabbit road kills were more likely to occur along sections of the road with large grassy center medians. I documented animal activity patterns around the roadway during three survey periods (summer 2009, fall 2009 and spring 2010) using remote cameras placed on game trails and underpasses along the roadway. Mule deer displayed crepuscular activity patterns with peaks in activity in the morning between 05:00h and 07:00h and in the evening between 16:00h and 18:00h. Mesocarnivores generally displayed a nocturnal activity patterns with the majority of activity occurring between 18:00h and 06:00h. I used logistic regression to determine if there was a relationship between animal activity patterns and traffic patterns while controlling for time of day, day of the week, and season. Mule deer and mesocarnivore activity patterns varied significantly by time of day and mule deer activity also varied significantly by season; however only mesocarnivore activity varied significantly in relation to traffic volume suggesting that mesocarnivores are less activity when traffic volume is high. Using traffic volume and animal activity patterns I calculated a collision potential value for both mule deer and mesocarnivores. Collision potential for mule deer was high in the morning, between 06:00h and 08:00h, and in the evening, between 16:00h and 18:00h in all three seasons. Collision potential for mesocarnivores was high in the evening in fall 2009 (18:00h and 21:00) and spring 2010 (17:00h), and high in the morning in summer 2009 (09:00h).

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