While much research has established that gender has undesirable effects, and some has even concluded that subjective and social life would be preferable without it, there has been limited extension of these claims to the corollary of exploring how it might be eradicated and what could replace it. This thesis considers if and how this could be done. It provides a practicable elaboration of an alternative way of being to that of sex/gender difference by developing theory that argues that the eradication of sexual difference is possible and desirable, and presenting various practices that demonstrate this. Drawing on gender theory and feminist science, the durability of gender is traced back to its anterior spectre of an assumed stable and immutable sex, and specifically compulsory sexual difference. Also, drawing on philosophy and empirical sociological studies, it argues that this is not ontologically tied to the nature of sexual difference, but to socially and intersubjectively constituted and enacted factors, and therefore that social life without sexual difference is an ontological possibility and other ways of being and relating are possible. The normative argument that the existence of sexual difference is undesirable is made by appealing to an ideal of “autonomy,” which sexual difference serves to limit. Simone de Beauvoir’s ethical philosophy is drawn on to develop an ontological ethics that posits freedom or autonomy as a collective situated “doing” which sexual difference limits by presenting oppositional antagonism as universal. A more preferable (and practically possible) situated way of “doing” that maximises “autonomy” would be that of reciprocity. In elaborating the principle of reciprocity as a replacement for sexual difference and considering its practicability, it is evaluated in terms of the normative precepts that the thesis takes off from in order to consider its robustness and to avoid accidentally replicating the restriction on, or “violence” towards autonomy that it is intended to replace. Potential antinomies in realising such an ethic, specifically in “impure” real-world contexts are considered. Also, specific features to ensure and maintain reciprocity are developed, by treating the “androgyny” that I argue is inherent to reciprocity as a transcendence, and not combination or collapse, of the oppositional nature of sexual difference. These constitute a specific way of relating to others that is both specific to them individually and also encompasses the universal ethic of reciprocity. In making this ethic practicable, the thesis considers some possible means or strategies through which a reciprocal (in the specific sense developed) ethic could be fostered so that subjects could understand themselves and others without presumptions of sexual difference. It offers some illustrations of ways of perceiving and treating the self and others (and learning how to do so) that are reciprocal, drawing on real-world queer, anarchist and pedagogical practices that are compatible with the ontological, normative and practical precepts of the ethic of reciprocity. It also considers what the consequences for the eradication of sexual difference might be for “sexuality” and desire. My distinctive contribution to knowledge lies in taking critical, deconstructive theoretical work around gender that is often construed as abstract and impracticable, and attempting to render it socially relevant and utilisable, without undermining its antiuniversalising impulses. I have done this by teasing out the practical implications of such theoretical insights and by drawing on non-traditional sources of ideas / theory. Knitting divergent theories together in an original way, I have contributed to making such theories useful for social change by crafting what I argue is a thorough workable re-constructive ethic that is compatible with the impulses of deconstruction.

Context: Heterosexual transmission has been found to be the major route of HIV infection in Nigeria. Thus prevention of HIV infection by reducing risky behaviors has been identified as a public health priority. This study examines regional pattern and correlates of gender differences in HIV risk behaviors among Nigerian youths aged 15-24 years. As different geo-political regions have specific gender ideologies and practices, there is need to find out if gender differences in Nigeria regions drive HIV risk behaviors among youths. Method: Data from the 2003 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey were analyzed for never married, sexually experienced 342 males and 630 females. Multiple sex partnerships and pattern of condom use were the HIV risk behaviors examined. Respondents were asked the number of sexual partners in the last 12 months while pattern of condom use is a composite variable of four items in the 2003 NDHS. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analyses were done using STATA 9.SE. Binary and multinomial logistic models were used for multivariate analyses. Results: The study shows that there is high level of risk behaviours in the population. This cuts across gender and regions. For instance, 54% of males and 69% of females engage in inconsistent condom use and 30% of males and 9% of females in multiple sex partnership. This pattern is consistent across the regions. It is also shown that while correlates of HIV risk behaviours vary by gender, its regional variation by gender is inconsistent. The study highlights inconsistent gender differentiation by regions. Further investigation is necessary to explain this observation.

This course project is made up of two parts. Part one is an investigation and implementation of pricing of financial derivatives using numerical methods for the solution of partial differential equations. Part two is an introduction of Monte Carlo methods in financial engineering. The name of course is MA573:Computational Methods in Financial Mathematics, spring 2009, given by Professor Marcel Blais.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science. September 26, 2014. / The aim of the dissertation is to extend on the work done by Hydon in [17]. We only consider second order ordinary difference equations and calculate their symmetry generators, first integrals and reduce their order, that is, find a general solution. We investigate the association between a symmetry generator and a first integral. Furthermore, we investigate when a reduced equation may be further reduced and lead to a double reduction. The examples considered are obtained from [17]. ii

Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease in both developed and developing countries. Blood pressure normally decreases at night and a number of studies have indicated that a reduced nocturnal decline in blood pressure (BP) increases the risk for cardiovascular disease. Nocturnal decreases in BP are attenuated in subjects of African as compared to European descent, but the mechanisms of this effect require clarity. In the present study I attempted to identify potentially modifiable factors that contribute toward nocturnal decreases in BP in a random sample of 171 nuclear families comprising 438 black South Africans living in Soweto. Prior studies have suggested that adiposity and salt intake may determine nocturnal decreases in BP. Adiposity and salt intake were considered to be potentially important factors to consider in the present study as 67% of the group studied were either overweight or obese and in 291 subjects that had complete 24-hour urine collections (used to assess salt intake) and BP measurements, Na+ and K+ intake was noted to be considerably higher and lower respectively than the recommended daily allowance in the majority of people. Moreover, a lack of relationship between either hypertension awareness and treatment and Na+ and K+ intake suggested that current recommendations for a reduced Na+ intake and increased K+ intake in hypertensives do not translate into clinical practice in this community. In order to assess whether adiposity or salt intake are associated with nocturnal decreases in BP in this community, ambulatory BP monitoring was performed using Spacelabs model 90207 oscillometric monitors. Of the 438 subjects recruited, 314 had ambulatory BP measurements that met pre-specified quality criteria (more than 20 hours of recordings and more than 10 and 5 readings for the computation of daytime and nighttime means respectively). To identify whether adiposity or salt intake are associated with a reduced nocturnal decline in BP, non-linear regression analysis was employed with indices of adiposity and urinary Na+ and K+ excretion rates and urine Na+: K+ ratios included in the regression model with adjustments for potential confounders. Neither body mass index, skin-fold thickness, waist circumference, waist-to hip ratio, urinary Na+ and K+ excretion rates, nor urine Na+: K+ ratios were associated with nocturnal decreases in systolic and diastolic BP. Indices of adiposity were however associated with 24 hour ambulatory systolic and diastolic BP. Unexpectedly, female gender was associated with an attenuated nocturnal decrease in BP. In conclusion, in the first random, community-based sample with large sample sizes conducted with ambulatory BP monitoring in Africa, I found that neither adiposity nor salt intake are associated with a reduced nocturnal decline in BP. The lack of association between either salt intake or adiposity and nocturnal decreases in BP was despite a high prevalence of excessive adiposity in the community, as well as clear evidence that current recommendations for a reduced Na+ intake and increased K+ intake do not translate into clinical practice in this community. Thus, based on this study, the question arises as to whether primordial prevention programs targeting excess adiposity or inappropriate salt intake are likely to modify nocturnal decreases in BP, in urban, developing communities of African ancestry in South Africa. However, unexpectedly I noted that females were more likely to have an attenuated nocturnal decrease in BP. Thus further work is required to explain this finding.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy / In 1990, Derrida added an introduction to his earliest long work, his student mémoire of 1954, which explained that he found in that work a “law” that had continued to impose itself across his oeuvre. This dissertation investigates selected works of the early Derrida, from that first student work of 1954 up to segments of Of Grammology, to demonstrate how Derrida’s “law” developed at least as far as his early system in 1967, as a basis for approach to Derrida’s overall oeuvre. / XL2018

Hyresrätt är en populär boendeform i Sverige. Trots det är diskrepansen mellan utbud och efterfrågan stor. Ett utökat investeringsstöd till utvecklingen av nya hyresfastigheter pekar på att insatser görs för att möta det bristande utbudet, men få svenska studier har undersökt om nybyggnation av hyresfastigheter har någon påverkan på området de utvecklas i. Denna uppsats undersöker om en tillkomst av hyresfastigheter på Kungsholmen i Stockholms innerstad påverkat närliggande bostadsrättspriser genom de attribut som hyresrätter för med sig, vilket i första hand antas vara låginkomsttagare. Via en difference-in-differences-regression, där data över genomsnittliga kvadratmeterpriser, medelinkomst och andel utrikes födda används, framkommer ett statistiskt signifikant resultat som säger att prisutvecklingen bland bostadsrätterna i SAMS-området Östra Stadshagen hade varit 8,2% högre om inte tre nya hyresfastigheter hade tillkommit i området år 2011. Resultaten bör dock tolkas med viss försiktighet, och författarna uppmanar till fler studier på området för att med säkerhet kunna fastslå om en tillkomst av hyresfastigheter har några priseffekter på närliggande bostadsområden.

My main goal while writing this dissertation became to mark off a differend between John Dewey’s philosophy of education and a couple of its contemporaneous Pragmatist readers, on the one hand, and Jean-François Lyotard’s postmodern condition and a couple of its contemporaneous readers sympathetic to the French philosophy of difference, on the other. The Kantian sublime feeling is the pivotal point to establish a differend here between these two traditions. I hope to show the reader the possibility that this differend has to become a litigious situation in educational research. Therefore, the practical impact of this dissertation derives from the sense that a litigious situation shapes the understanding of philosophical discourses organized to produce practical knowledge to form teaching practices in teaching preparation. This dissertation thus creates the space to debate the role of the teacher/-educator in Colleges of education. In this case, the permanent Hegelian deposit in Dewey’s thought, his own trajectory along the historical lines of the construction of the American Bildung, and ultimately his theory of communication are crucial in the establishment of a litigious situation in educational research between contemporaneous thinkers in the field of philosophy and education. In the Preface, I thematize the infancy of a voice that precedes language in relation to the Kantian sublime feeling in the postmodern condition. That the work of thematizing this voice based on the sublime condition is lacking in John Dewey’s philosophy of education is the problem this thesis addresses. In the Introduction, I contextualize the main sources in my attempt to interpret the permanent Hegelian deposit in Dewey’s thought and his trajectory along the historical lines of the construction of the American Bildung. I also contextualize the main source in my attempt to interpret a voice based on the sublime condition. Hence, chapter one presents the renewal of Dewey’s philosophy of education. It was based on Dewey’s reconstruction of Hegel’s absolute idealism. In this case, I focus on Dewey’s metaphysical concerns on judgment’s movements, meaning creation, and social participation as they find a domicile in the American Bildung as a mode of education whose purpose is growth. I conclude this chapter by pointing out to a litigious situation in educational research based on the critique that postmodernists fail to achieve growth in experience because they linger too long to avoid consummation once they juxtapose consummation and foundationalism. In chapter two I focus on the value that Jim Garrison and Larry Hickman attribute to Dewey’s theory of communication at the same time I establish another litigious scene in educational research by criticizing their positions, which are rooted on the notion of unity of experience in Dewey. The critique is based on the works of Gert Biesta and Pedro Pagni. The point of tension is twofold: the formers’ assumption that postmodernists lack a concern for the public to dwell in the arts; and the latter’s accusation that Dewey’s theory of communication implies that language become an antecedent element in experience and, thus, outside of experience. I also introduce the political philosophy of Hannah Arendt. She became crucial in this dissertation because she allowed me to connect Dewey and Lyotard. She criticizes Dewey’s appreciation for the problems of men as one detached from the reality of certain groups who had suffered the most particularly because of the advancements of democracy, science and technology. Meanwhile, Lyotard criticizes Arendt for rushing through the sublime feeling in her lectures on Kant’s Critique of Judgment. In chapter three I finally debate in more depth Lyotard’s reading of the Kantian sublime and the sense of terror of abandonment. I also introduce his reading of sensus communis in Kant, the distinction between sublime feeling and the aesthetic of sublime, and the notions of different and inhuman in education. I conclude by addressing the question regarding professional knowledge and skills and the role of the curriculum in what Lyotard means by philosophizing, which is rooted in the sublime feeling and the condition of the infancy of thought in the search for a voice in teachers preparation.

Trata da escrita educacional como problema. Para isso, experimentase e interroga-se como praticar tal escrita, não à procura dos significados, mas um exercício de experimentação com a linguagem para liberar as volições de um texto. A partir da proposta de uma língua menor, desenvolvida por Gilles Deleuze e Félix Guattari, bem como por procedimentos literários de várias ordens, essa escrita busca produzir junto com esses autores, um bloco de sensações, isto é, um composto de perceptos e afectos. Com Roland Barthes o texto educacional torna-se escritura de prazer. Num cruzamento entre filosofia, arte e literatura, encontram-se outros intercessores: Paul Valéry, Samuel Beckett, Fernando Pessoa, Clarice Lispector, Caio Fernando Abreu, Raduan Nassar, Hilda Hilst, Lautréamont e outros mais. A escritura torna-se aqui, máquina revolucionária de inventividade e de produção de desejo e de diferença no campo da educação. O texto discorre sobre a experiência de um corpo educador-escrileitor-pesquisador, e aposta numa scrita nuova como objeto de prazer desse mesmo corpo. / It is about writing – seen as a problem – in the field of educational theory. In line with this, the practice of this writing is submitted to an experiment and to an interrogation, not in search of meanings, but as an exercise in experimentation with language in order to liberate the volitions of a text. Taking as a point of departure the concept of a minor language, such as it was developed by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, and having recourse to a variety of literary procedures, this writing tries to produce a block of sensations, that is, a composite of percepts and affects. If we follow Roland Barthes, the educational text becomes a writing of pleasure. At the point where philosophy, art and literature cross each other, we find other intercessors: Paul Valéry, Samuel Beckett, Fernando Pessoa, Clarice Lispector, Caio Fernando Abreu, Raduan Nassar, Hilda Hilst, Lautréamont and many others. Writing becomes here a revolutionary machine of invention and production of desire and of difference in the field of education. The present text is about the experience of a body which is the body of an educator-writer- researcher and puts its stakes in a scrita nuova seen as an object of pleasure of that same body.

Objective: Natural tooth is composed of different structures with different optical properties. The aim of this observational study is to investigate the difference between the dentin color and the tooth color in CIE LAB* color coordinates and Delta E at incisal, middle and cervical thirds of maxillary anterior teeth . Methods: Sound natural extracted maxillary anterior teeth were used. Horizontal and vertical grooves were cut into enamel to be used as a reference for the measurement locations. Teeth were mounted on a dentoform with a bite registration material (Regisil, DENTSPLY). An image of the tooth was captured with an image-based spectrophotometer (Spectroshade Micro, MHT Optic Research). The thickness of enamel for each tooth was determined with a radiograph. Enamel was grinded to expose the facial dentin with a diamond bur. Then an image of the facial dentin was captured. The color of the tooth and the dentin was compared based on the CIE LAB color space at nine locations in the incisal, middle and cervical thirds. Color difference between the whole tooth color measurement and the corresponding dentin color measurement was calculated for each tooth. Results: 89 maxillary extracted anterior teeth were included in the study. Based on the paired-samples t-test, the data provided evidence that there was a significant difference between the color of dentin and the color of tooth (p<0.05 in each instance), except for the color parameter L* measured at the incisal third (p=0.9251). For parameters L* and b*, the results indicated that the mean color of dentin was greater than the mean color of tooth, while it was lower for parameter a*. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the dentin is higher in value than the tooth. In addition, the dentin color was higher in b* but lower in a* than the tooth color. The difference between the color of the tooth and the dentin was the least in the cervical third.