This thesis considers ways in which African women writers are exploring the subject of violence against women. Any attempt to apply feminist criticism to novels by African women must be rooted in a satisfactorily African feminism. Therefore, the history of black feminist thought is outlined showing how African feminisms have been articulated in dialogue with western feminists, black feminisms (developed by women in the African-American diaspora), and through recognition of indigenous ideologies which allowed African women to protest against oppression. Links will be established between the texts, despite their differences, which suggest that, collectively, these novels support the notion that gender violence affects the lives of a majority of African women (from all backgrounds) to a greater or lesser extent. This is because it is supported by the social structures developed and sustained in cultures underpinned by patriarchal ideologies. A range of strategies for managing violence arise from a cross-textual reading of the novels. These will be analysed in terms of their efficacy and rootedness in African feminisms’ principles. The more effective strategies being adopted are found in works by Ama Ata Aidoo and Lindsey Collen and these focus particularly on changing the meanings of motherhood and marriage.

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of a theory-based and culturally adapted community level behaviour change intervention to improve weaning-food preparation and handling in rural Gambia. Methods: (1) A systematic review of the literature on weaning-food hygiene interventions. (2) Mixed method formative research to identify critical control points (CCP) and motivational factors for mothers‟ behaviour on weaning-food, (3) Formulation of the weaning-food hygiene intervention including performing arts. (4) Implementation and evaluation of the intervention with a cluster randomized controlled trial (cRCT). Results: The systematic review found 4 RCTs on weaning-food hygiene interventions. Formative research prioritized 5 CCPs with 6 corrective messages and 5 motivational factors. For the intervention compared to the control arm the composite behaviour score primary outcome was 72% in the intervention versus 19% respectively (p < 0.001). Each individual behaviour was significantly improved except washing of pots dried on clean surface. There was a significant reduction of contamination of weaning-food immediately after cooking and before second feeding, of children's drinking water, of diarrhoea and respiratory symptoms reported for the past 7 days, and hospital admission for diarrhoea. Conclusion: Our public health, community level intervention for mother's hygienic preparation and handling of weaning-food was effective in rural Gambia.

In addition to the well known quantum confinement effects resulted from size and shape, interfacial bond structure is another factor, affecting the properties of the nanomaterial that is rarely studied. Inspired by the “Au-S-Au” staple motif discovered from the crystal structure of monothiol protected Au102 nanocluster (Science, 2007, 318, 430), dithiol molecules (e. g. 1, 2-dithiol, 1, 4-dithiol, etc.) with molecular structural constraint have been employed to create dithiolate protected clusters or mixed monothiolate and dithiolate protected clusters. The structure and properties of the Au clusters are expected to change due to two effects: The entropy gain of dithiol over monothiol protection and the constraint to the formation of the thiol bridging motif. DMPS (1, 2-dithiol molecule) stabilized clusters with characteristic absorption bands have been obtained, and characterized by multiple techniques. Monolayer reaction on gold core surface between the monothiol tiopronin and dithiol DMPS has been performed, and the mechanism has been probed. Mixed phenylethanethiolate and durene-dithiolate (1, 4-dithiol molecule) protected Au130 clusters with rich electrochemical features have been created, and the optical and electrochemical energetics have been successfully correlated based on core and core-ligand energy states. Furthermore, the impact of 1, 4-dithiolate-Au bonding on the near infrared luminescence has been studied.

In practice, a communication system works with finite blocklength codes because of the delay constraints and the information-theoretic bounds which are proposed for finite blocklength systems can be exploited to determine the performance of a designed system. In this thesis, achievable rates for given average error probabilities are considered for finite blocklength systems. Although classical bounds can be used to upper bound the error probability, these bounds require the optimization of auxiliary variables. In this work, a bound which is called the dependence testing (DT) bound that is free of any auxiliary variables is exploited. The DT bound is evaluated by introducing a normal approximation to the information density. Simulations carried out both for the Gaussian and discrete input alphabets show the proposed approximation enables very good prediction of the achievable rates. The proposed approximation is also used to calculate the average error probability for block fading channels. Simulations performed for Rayleigh block fading channels demonstrate that the total blocklength of the system in addition to the number of fading blocks should be accounted for especially when the number of fading blocks is large. A power allocation problem in block fading channels when the channel state information is available to the transmitting side is investigated in the final part of this work. The DT bound is optimized for a given channel state vector by allocating different power levels to each fading block by exploiting short-term power allocation. A simple power allocation algorithm is proposed which comes out with very similar results compared with the analytically computed values.

In this thesis four topics are studied empirically. These are the level and pattern of consumption, production efficiency, tenancy and rural-urban migration. The analysis is based on data collected from some villages in rural Sudan and other published data. In the study of consumption, the demand for goods and services as related to the income level of households is analysed. The analysis reveals how consumers allocate marginal increases in their income among the various goods. Income elasticities were also estimated and the price elasticities are derived for a number of commodity groups using an extended version of the linear expenditure system. The perceived minimum subsistence expenditures on some commodities were estimated. The implication of the magnitude of the estimated subsistence level on food for poverty and policy of economic development were then discussed. In this part of the study we also deal with the income distribution which is an important determining factor of the structure of demand. The relationship between size of farm and output per acre is an important issue in production efficiency. We investigate this relationship and draw the implications for land distribution and land reform. One conclusion which emerges from the analysis is that efficiency and equity can be reconciled by the creation of a cooperative movement that could make available the agricultural inputs that farmers are lacking now and which enables risks in production to be undertaken jointly by those who participate in it. In tenancy it is argued that its incidence can be explained largely by imperfections in the market for some factors. One such factor which is found to be positively correlated with land lease is the labour power which is available in the family. The availability of tractor service, hired largely by well-off households, is also found to be positively related to land hire. Rural-urban migration is discussed within the broad framework of the socio-economic factors prevailing in the rural community at large and by focusing attention on some specific factors that are reflected at the household unit. Among the latter we examine the relationship of migration to the output and land holding per capita. The influence of other factors such as income earned outside the family farm, largely through the process of rural-rural migration, education and mechanization is also tested.

Submitted by Automa??o e Estat?stica (sst@bczm.ufrn.br) on 2016-07-26T00:34:28Z No. of bitstreams: 1 AlanSoaresBezerra_DISSERT.pdf: 1973624 bytes, checksum: be7c07504c6994ecc019750ef704dd90 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Arlan Eloi Leite Silva (eloihistoriador@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-08-08T19:41:41Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 AlanSoaresBezerra_DISSERT.pdf: 1973624 bytes, checksum: be7c07504c6994ecc019750ef704dd90 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-08T19:41:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 AlanSoaresBezerra_DISSERT.pdf: 1973624 bytes, checksum: be7c07504c6994ecc019750ef704dd90 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-18 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior (CAPES) / O presente trabalho teve por objetivo compreender como o segmento gospel - tendo por base o Minist?rio de Louvor Diante do Trono, se articula ? l?gica de mercado por sua inser??o na ind?stria fonogr?fica e se utiliza da l?gica simb?lica nas can??es temas dos seus CDs/DVDs. Nossa pesquisa caracterizou-se por estudo de caso, constituindo-se metodologicamente pela an?lise descritiva do processo de produ??o, distribui??o e veicula??o dos CDs da banda e da an?lise funcional da m?sica que permeou toda a disserta??o. Como corpus anal?tico, as seguintes can??es temas dos CDs: Preciso de Ti, Quero me Apaixonar, Tua Vis?o, Creio, Tu Reinas e Tetelestai. Partimos da hip?tese que as institui??es religiosas, como campo detentor da estrutura??o de bandas e artistas gospel, vivenciam uma nova din?mica que consiste em uma modernidade de superf?cie ratificada nas formas de comunicar dos bens simb?licos produzidos, ou seja, simulam uma modernidade religiosa mantendo valores tradicionais quanto aos dogmas da religi?o, mas incorporam procedimentos empresariais e publicit?rios na divulga??o de seus produtos. Os resultados encontrados apontam para a m?sica gospel como media??o, integrante do ritual religioso, por vezes como ora??o e por outras como prega??o, estimulante de consumo e de entretenimento, e, desempenha a a??o de dispositivo na constru??o referencial de bens simb?licos. / This study aims to understand how the gospel music genre - based on the gospel band Minist?rio de Louvor Diante do Trono - articulates itself to the logic of the market by its insertion in the music industry and use of symbolic logic in the available songs of their Cds and DVDs. Our research is a case study, methodologically being the descriptive analysis of the production process, distribution and broadcasting of the band's CDs and functional analysis of the music that permeates the entire thesis. The following songs are presented as an analytical corpus: Preciso de Ti,Quero me Apaixonar, Tua Vis?o, Creio, Tu Reinas e Tetelestai. Our hypothesis is that religious institutions - as a field responsible for the structure which maintains gospel artists - experiences a new dynamic that consists of a superficial modernity, ratified in the ways the symbolic goods produced communicate, that is, simulate a religious modernity maintaining traditional values regarding the dogmas of religion , but incorporate business and advertising procedures in the dissemination of its products The results point to gospel music as mediation, part of the religious ritual sometimes as prayer and other as preaching, stimulating consumption and entertainment, and performing as a device in the making of symbolic goods.

A ressonância magnética nuclear no domínio do tempo (RMN-DT), possui inúmeras vantagens em relação à RMN de alta resolução tais como: baixo custo do equipamento, de análise e manutenção e não precisa de operador especializado. Apesar disso a técnica de RMN-DT ainda tem um campo muito grande de desenvolvimento para análise de componente com baixa mobilidade molecular como sólidos amorfos e cristalinos. Isto requer o desenvolvimento de instrumentação e/ou métodos de análise que se consiga medir o sinal de RMN em menos de 10 &micro;s, após a irradiação da amostra. O tempo entre o final da excitação e o começo da aquisição do sinal é conhecido como tempo morto. A opção estudada nesta dissertação para redução do tempo morto foi o uso de pulsos formatados, que já são utilizados em experimentos de RMN em alta resolução e de imagens por RMN, para excitação seletiva. No entanto, pulsos formatados não têm sido utilizados em RMN-DT. A principal vantagem desses pulsos é que eles são projetados para que a potência no final do pulso seja mínima, o que diminui o tempo morto do espectrômetro. No caso do pulso convencional, na forma retangular, a potência no final do pulso é máxima, o que aumenta o tempo morto. Os pulsos formatados utilizados foram pulsos Sinc, Sine e também pulsos com início similar aos pulsos retangulares, com potência máxima, e que depois de certo tempo tem decaimento similar aos pulsos Sinc e Sine. Esses pulsos inéditos foram denominados Reta-Sine e Reta-Sinc. Foram avaliados amostras heterogêneas (solido-líquido) e sólidas como CaSO4.2H2O, farelo de soja, polímeros amido e Policaprolactona. Esses pulsos também foram usados para monitorar reações de polimerização da resina epóxi com poliamida (Araldite®). Com esses métodos foi possível reduzir o tempo morto de espectrômetro de 23MHz 23 &micro;s para 14 &micro;s e de 20 Mhz de 9 para 6 &micro;s. Com isso conclui-se que o pulsos formatados podem reduzir significativamente o tempo morto de espectrômetro de RMN-DT, sem acessórios ou custo financeiro, pois as sequências podem ser instalada e usadas em qualquer espectrômetro moderno. / The nuclear magnetic resonance in the time domain (TD-NMR) It has numerous advantages over the high-resolution NMR such as low cost of equipment, analysis and maintenance and requires no specialized operator. Nevertheless NMR DT technique also has a very large development field for component analysis with a low molecular mobility as amorphous and crystalline solids. This requires the development of instrumentation and / or analysis methods that can measure the NMR signal in less than 10 &micro;s, after irradiation of the sample. The time between the end of excitation and signal acquisition the beginning is known as dead time. The option studied in this work to reduce the dead time was the use of formatted pulses, which are already used in NMR experiments in high resolution and NMR imaging for selective excitation. However, formatted pulses have not been used in NMR DT. The main advantage of these pulses is that they are designed so that the power in the pulse end is minimized, which reduces the dead time of the spectrometer. In the case of conventional pulse in rectangular form, the power in the pulse end is maximum, which increases the dead time. Formatted pulses used were Sync pulses, Sine and also pulses beginning similar to rectangular pulses with maximum power, and after a while has similar decay to Sync and Sine wrists. These unpublished wrists were called Sine and Straight-Line-Sync. They were evaluated heterogeneous samples (solid-liquid) and solid as CaSO4.2H2O, soybean meal, starch polymers and Polycaprolactone. These pulses are also used to monitor polymerization reactions the polyamide epoxy resin (Araldite®). With these sequences it was possible to reduce the dead time of 23 &micro;s 23MHz spectrometer to 14 &micro;s e 20 Mhz from 9 to 6 &micro;s. With this it is concluded that the formatted pulses can significantly reduce the dead time DT-NMR spectrometer, without fittings or financial cost because the sequences can be installed and used in any modern spectrometer.

Submitted by Wilson Nobre Filho (wilson.nobre@fgv.br) on 2013-07-16T21:54:48Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao de Mestrado – Wilson Nobre 2013.pdf: 2816404 bytes, checksum: bd330cdfccbdec4ced5db374509a28bc (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Suzinei Teles Garcia Garcia (suzinei.garcia@fgv.br) on 2013-07-17T12:24:17Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao de Mestrado – Wilson Nobre 2013.pdf: 2816404 bytes, checksum: bd330cdfccbdec4ced5db374509a28bc (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-07-17T13:33:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao de Mestrado – Wilson Nobre 2013.pdf: 2816404 bytes, checksum: bd330cdfccbdec4ced5db374509a28bc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-06-18 / Este trabalho visa identificar práticas de design thinking (DT), isto é, as abordagens características da disciplina do design para criação de inovações, que possam ser incorporadas ao processo de desenvolvimento de novos produtos (DNP). Cinco dessas práticas – abordagem centrada em pessoas, estilo de trabalho colaborativo, pensar fazendo, visualização e combinação de abordagens divergente e convergente – foram analisadas por meio do estudo de caso em profundidade de três empresas polares: um escritório profissional de design, uma empresa de produtos para cuidados pessoais e um fabricante de ferramentas profissionais. A discussão teórica apoiou-se em autores de DNP e de DT que estudaram a evolução desses campos em gerações de maturidade, trazendo também visões bem recentes que apontam para a relevância das mudanças em curso. Entre os achados da pesquisa, observou-se que o modelo de gestão e a estrutura organizacional – orientada por projetos com times multifuncionais ou por processos com estrutura funcional – tem influência na adoção das práticas de DT. Outro achado, esse menos evidente, mostrou que a forma como a empresa se relaciona com clientes e usuários, guarda semelhança com a forma como trata seus profissionais de DNP. Uma descoberta interessante é a função moderadora do alinhamento de propósitos entre empresa e colaborador, para a adoção dessas práticas. Como contribuição ao campo de estudo, apresenta-se um diagrama de cinco gerações de evolução da oferta de novos produtos (ONP), termo utilizado para incorporar não só os produtos com inovações desenvolvidas e de propriedade da empresa focal, mas também aquelas desenvolvidas pelos próprios usuários e as inovações construídas nas redes sociais e oferecidas pela empresa focal. / This work aims to identify practices in design thinking (DT), that is, the approaches that characterize the discipline of design to create innovations, that can be brought into the process of new product development (NPD). Five of these practices–—people-centered approach, collaborative work style, thinking by doing, visualization and combining divergent and convergent approaches–—were analyzed by means of in-depth case study of three selected companies: a professional design office, a company of personal care products and a manufacturer of professional tools. The theoretical discussion was based on authors in NPD and DT fields that have studied the evolution of these fields in generations of maturity, also shedding light on new visions that underscore the relevance of the changes underway. Among the findings of the research, it was observed that the management model and organizational structure–—project-oriented with cross-functional teams or process-oriented with functional structure–—influences the adoption of DT practices. A less obvious finding showed that the way a company connects with customers and users is clearly tied in with the way it treats its NPD employees. An interesting finding is the moderating role of alignment of purpose between company and employee, for the adoption of these practices. As a contribution to the research field, this work presents a five generation diagram of the evolution of new products offering (NPO), a term used to incorporate not only the products with innovations developed and owned by the focal firm, but also those developed by the users and innovations constructed in social networks and distributed by the focal firm.

Black box testing techniques are important to test the functionality of the system without knowing its inner detail which makes sure correct, consistent, complete and accurate behavior or function of a system. Black box testing strategies are used to test logical, data or behavioral dependencies, to generate test data and quality of test cases which have potential to guess more defects. Black box testing strategies play pivotal role to detect possible defects in system and can help in successful completion of system according to functionality. The studies of five companies regarding important black box testing strategies are presented in this thesis. This study explores the black box testing techniques which are present in literature and practiced in industry as well. Interview studies are conducted in companies of Pakistan providing solutions to finance industry, which is an attempt to find the usage of these techniques. The advantages and disadvantages of identified Black box testing strategies are discussed, along with it; the comparison of different techniques with respect to most defect guessing, dependencies, sophistication, effort, and cost is presented as well.

SAMMANFATTNING Bakgrund: Vid hjärnundersökningar finns även andra strukturer utanför hjärnan som är innerverade av nervsystemet. Det är möjligt att sjukdomen i hjärnan avspeglas där också. Det finns många sjukdomar och tillstånd med liknande symptom och att ställa rätt diagnos kan vara svårt. Många sjukdomar påverkar det autonoma nervsystemet och ett sätt att hitta rätt diagnos kan vara att undersöka hur det fungerar.  Syfte: Att se vilka variationer av radioaktivitetsupptag som fanns i parotiskörtlarna mellan patienterna som avbildades med 11C-PE2I PET/DT. Samt att kunna se om denna information kan utnyttjas till att identifiera dysfunktion av autonoma nervsystemet (MRT-bilder är även en tillhjälps verktyg). Metod: Studiedesignen var en retrospektiv kvantitativ studie. Hundra (konsekutiva) patienter indelades i grupper så som: normal, Parkinsons, Parkinsons sjukdom med kombination av vaskulära förändringar och atypisk Parkinson sjukdom. Isotopupptag i basala ganglier och parotiskörtlar har mätts. Några patienters MRT- bilder var tillgängligt till kvantifiering.   Resultat: kombinerade gruppen med Parkinsons sjukdom, atypisk Parkinsons sjukdom och vaskulära förändringar har en uppreglering av antalet fria dopaminreceptorer i parotis jämfört med friska (även i bara PSP samt bara vaskulära grupper) med (p &lt;0.05).   Slutsats: Det finns variation av upptaget mellan en del av grupper därmed kan sjukdomen i hjärnan avspeglas i körtlar också.   Nyckelord: Neurodegenerativa sjukdomar, Autonom dysfunktion, 11CPE2I-PET/DT, parotiskörtlar, basala ganglier / ABSTRACT Background: At brain examination, there are also other structures outside the brain that are innervated by the nervous system. It is possible that the disease of the brain is reflected there as well. There are many diseases and conditions with similar symptoms and making the right diagnosis can be difficult. Many diseases affect the autonomic nervous system and one way to find the right diagnosis may be to investigate how it works.     Purpose: to see what variations in radioactivity uptake were found in the parotic glands between the patients depicted with the 11C-PE2I PET/CT. As well as being able to see how valuable this information is in being used to identify dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system (MRT- images are also an aids tool).   Method: The study design was a retrospective quantitative study. One hundred (consecutive) patients were divided in groups such as normal, Parkinson's, Parkinson's disease with combination of vascular changes and atypical Parkinson's disease. Isotope uptake in basal ganglia and parotic glands has been measured. Some patients' MRT images were available for quantification.     Result: the results show that the combined group of Parkinson's disease, atypical Parkinson's disease and vascular changes has an upregulation of the number of free dopamine receptors in parotid compared to healthy ones (also in PSP only and only vascular groups) with (p &lt;0.05).    Conclusion: There is variation of uptake between some of the groups thus the disease in the brain can be reflected in glands as well.     Keywords: Neurodegenerative Diseases, Autonomic Dysfunction, 11CPE2I-PET/CT, Parotid Glands, Basal Ganglia