Sections 15 and 16 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amended Act 32 of 2007 regulate consensual sexual acts between children. Both these sections criminalised children engaging in consensual sexual acts. The constitutionality of sections 15 and 16 of the Act where tested before the Constitutional Court by the Teddy Bear Clinic and RAPCAM. The Constitutional Court held that both articles are unconstitutional and ruled that these articles violate children's right to human dignity, privacy and the best interest of the child. The objective of this dissertation is to investigate whether children’s best interests are protected by law when they are involved in consensual sexual conduct. In order to answer this question, the historical background of legislation that regulated consensual sexual acts between children is analysed. Legislation that gives and protects children’s right to self-determination is examined. International instruments are also analysed. The High Court and the Constitutional Court judgements relating to children involved in consensual sexual conducts are discussed. The negative consequences of both these articles are discussed. The best interest principle is discussed according to case law. Ultimately a conclusion is reached. / LLM (Comparative Child Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Sections 15 and 16 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amended Act 32 of 2007 regulate consensual sexual acts between children. Both these sections criminalised children engaging in consensual sexual acts. The constitutionality of sections 15 and 16 of the Act where tested before the Constitutional Court by the Teddy Bear Clinic and RAPCAM. The Constitutional Court held that both articles are unconstitutional and ruled that these articles violate children's right to human dignity, privacy and the best interest of the child. The objective of this dissertation is to investigate whether children’s best interests are protected by law when they are involved in consensual sexual conduct. In order to answer this question, the historical background of legislation that regulated consensual sexual acts between children is analysed. Legislation that gives and protects children’s right to self-determination is examined. International instruments are also analysed. The High Court and the Constitutional Court judgements relating to children involved in consensual sexual conducts are discussed. The negative consequences of both these articles are discussed. The best interest principle is discussed according to case law. Ultimately a conclusion is reached. / LLM (Comparative Child Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

A critical and in-depth discussion of the powers of the labour court to review arbitration awards of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, the application of the author's findings relating to common-law, legislation and case law and a critical analysis thereof. Special reference is made to the provisions of sections 145 and 158(1)(g) of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 including, in particular, the alternative application thereof in practice and scope for improvement in order to address potential prejudice to parties occasioned by the compulsory nature of (certain) dispute resolutions. This thesis incorporates a comparative study of the British and German labour law systems with reference to the relevant appeal and/or review procedures (as applied in their tribunals/courts), together with a discussion and application of certain other provisions relevant to South Africa labour law. / Jurisprudence / LL.M

The paper is an attempt to deal with the non-transferable cheque. Three questions have been addressed: (a) Whether sections 58, 79 and 83 apply to non-transferable cheques; (b) whether the non-transferability of a cheque implies only that a cambial transfer is excluded, but transfer by means of a ordinary cession is still possible; (c) whether the collecting and drawee banks can be held liable for damages to the owner of a non-transferable cheque. (a) It is clear that section 58 does not apply to non-transferable cheques. After the decision in Eskom, it is also clear that section 79 does apply to such cheques. Regarding the applicability of section 83 to non-transferable cheques, there is uncertainty. (b) Whether the rights arising from a non-transferable cheque can be transferred by means of an ordinary cession, it is not yet clear. (c) That a collecting bank can be held delictually liable under the extended lex Aquilia was decided in lndac Electronics. By way of analogy, the same applies to a drawee bank acting negligently. / Mercantile Law / LL.M.

Thin-walled cold-formed steel (CFS) has exhibited inherent structural and architectural advantages over other constructional materials, for example, high strength-to-weight ratio, ease of fabrication, economy in transportation and the flexibility of sectional profiles, which make CFS ideal for modern residential and industrial buildings. They have been increasingly used as purlins as the intermediate members in a roof system, or load-bearing components in low- and mid-rise buildings. However, using CFS members in building structures has been facing challenges due to the lack of knowledge to the fire performance of CFS at elevated temperatures and the lack of fire design guidelines. Among all available design specifications of CFS, EN1993-1-2 is the only one which provided design guidelines for CFS at elevated temperatures, which, however, is based on the same theory and material properties of hot-rolled steel. Since the material properties of CFS are found to be considerably different from those of hot-rolled steel, the applicability of hot-rolled steel design guidelines into CFS needs to be verified. Besides, the effect of non-uniform temperature distribution on the failure of CFS members is not properly addressed in literature and has not been specified in the existing design guidelines. Therefore, a better understanding of fire performance of CFS members is of great significance to further explore the potential application of CFS. Since CFS members are always with thin thickness (normally from 0.9 to 8 mm), open cross-section, and great flexural rigidity about one axis at the expense of low flexural rigidity about a perpendicular axis, the members are usually susceptible to various buckling modes which often govern the ultimate failure of CFS members. When CFS members are exposed to a fire, not only the reduced mechanical properties will influence the buckling capacity of CFS members, but also the thermal strains which can lead additional stresses in loaded members. The buckling behaviour of the member can be analysed based on uniformly reduced material properties when the member is unprotected or uniformly protected surrounded by a fire that the temperature distribution within the member is uniform. However if the temperature distribution in a member is not uniform, which usually happens in walls and/or roof panels when CFS members are protected by plaster boards and exposed to fire on one side, the analysis of the member becomes very complicated since the mechanical properties such as Young’s modulus and yield strength and thermal strains vary within the member. This project has the aim of providing better understanding of the buckling performance of CFS channel members under non-uniform temperatures. The primary objective is to investigate the fire performance of plasterboard protected CFS members exposed to fire on one side, in the aspects of pre-buckling stress distribution, elastic buckling behaviour and nonlinear failure models. Heat transfer analyses of one-side protected CFS members have been conducted firstly to investigate the temperature distributions within the cross-section, which have been applied to the analytical study for the prediction of flexural buckling loads of CFS columns at elevated temperatures. A simplified numerical method based on the second order elastic – plastic analysis has also been proposed for the calculation of the flexural buckling load of CFS columns under non-uniform temperature distributions. The effects of temperature distributions and stress-strain relationships on the flexure buckling of CFS columns are discussed. Afterwards a modified finite strip method combined with the classical Fourier series solutions have been presented to investigate the elastic buckling behaviour of CFS members at elevated temperatures, in which the effects of temperatures on both strain and mechanical properties have been considered. The variations of the elastic buckling loads/moments, buckling modes and slenderness of CFS columns/beams with increasing temperatures have been examined. The finite element method is also used to carry out the failure analysis of one-side protected beams at elevated temperatures. The effects of geometric imperfection, stress-strain relationships and temperature distributions on the ultimate moment capacities of CFS beams under uniform and non-uniform temperature distributions are examined. At the end the direct strength method based design methods have been discussed and corresponding recommendations for the designing of CFS beams at elevated temperatures are presented. This thesis has contributed to improve the knowledge of the buckling and failure behaviour of CFS members at elevated temperatures, and the essential data provided in the numerical studies has laid the foundation for further design-oriented studies.

La présente étude visait à développer un protocole de fixation et d'échantillonnage pour le poumon équin suivant les directives publiées sur l’utilisation d’une approche stéréologique de type « design-based ». Les poumons gauches de chevaux contrôles et atteints du souffle ont été fixés avec du formaldéhyde 10% pendant 48h à une pression constante de 25-30 cm d’H2O. Les poumons ont été sectionnés en 20-21 tranches d’une épaisseur d'environ 2,5 cm chacune; de 10-11 tranches ont été sélectionnées de façon aléatoire et systématique pour la mesure du volume de référence avec la méthode de Cavalieri. Un protocole d’échantillonnage systématique, aléatoire et uniforme utilisant le principe du « smooth fractionator » et un poinçon à biopsie de 17 mm ont été utilisés pour échantillonner une fraction représentative de chaque poumon. Les méthodes d’échantillonnage de sections verticales, uniformes et aléatoires (VUR) et d’échantillonnage isotropique, uniforme et aléatoire (IUR) ont toutes deux été effectuées pour comparer le nombre de voies respiratoires en coupe perpendiculaire obtenues à partir de chaque méthode. L'architecture globale et la qualité des tissus fixés ont également été évaluées. Des spécimens pulmonaires équins ont été échantillonnés avec succès selon un protocole visant à produire des données morphométriques valides. Les tissus ont été fixés avec un minimum d'artéfacts et contenaient une quantité suffisante de voies respiratoires en coupe perpendiculaire dans les deux types d’échantillons. En conclusion, un protocole de fixation et d'échantillonnage adapté au poumon équin permettant l'utilisation d'une approche stéréologique de type « design-based » a été élaboré pour l’étude du remodelage des voies respiratoires. / The present study aimed at developing a fixation and sampling protocol for the horse lung in agreement with recent published guidelines for a design-based stereology approach. The left lungs from control and from heaves-affected horses were fixed in 10% formaldehyde for 48hr at a controlled constant pressure of 25-30 cm H2O. Lungs were cut into 20-21 slices of a thickness of approximately 2.5cm each; 10-11 slices were then randomly and systematically selected for the measurement of the reference volume using the Cavalieri method. A systematic, uniform and random sampling (SURS) protocol using a 17 mm punch biopsy and the smooth fractionator principle was used to select a representative fraction of each lung. The vertical uniform random (VUR) and isotropic uniform random (IUR) sampling methods were both performed to compare the number of perpendicular airways obtained with each method. The general architecture and the quality of the fixed tissues were also evaluated. Equine lung tissues were successfully sampled with a protocol designed to yield accurate morphometric data. The tissues were fixed with minimal artifacts and contained an adequate amount of perpendicular airways in both VUR and IUR sections. In conclusion, we developed a fixation and sampling protocol adapted to the equine lung allowing the use of a design-based stereology approach to study airway remodeling.

Uma nova metodologia para a medida absoluta da fração efetiva de nêutrons atrasados βeff, baseada em técnicas de análise de ruído microscópico e no modelo de Duas- Regiões, foi desenvolvida no reator IPEN/MB-01. Diferentemente das demais técnicas, tais como o Método de Bennet Modificado, o Método do Número de Nelson e o Método da fonte de 252Cf, a principal vantagem da metodologia proposta é a obtenção de βeff de um modo puramente experimental, sem a necessidade de quaisquer outros parâmetros, sejam estes calculados ou provenientes de outros experimentos. Com a finalidade de validar este novo método, uma série de experimentos Rossi-α e Feynman-α foram realizados no reator IPEN/MB-01. De acordo com a metodologia proposta, βeff foi estimado com uma incerteza de 0.67%, a qual atende aos requisitos de precisão almejados. Além disso, o tempo de geração de nêutrons prontos , dentre outros parâmetros, também foi obtido experimentalmente via esta metodologia. Em geral, os parâmetros medidos estão em acordo com resultados provenientes de experimentos de análise de ruído macroscópico. Nas comparações teoria-experimento, os valores de βeff medidos neste trabalho mostram que a biblioteca JENDL3.3 apresenta a melhor performance (dentro de 1%). Esta concordância justifica a redução no yield de fissão do 235U proposta por Sakurai e Okajima. / A new method for absolute measurement of the effective delayed neutron fraction, βeff , based on microscopic noise experiments and the Two-Region Model was developed at the IPEN/MB-01 Research Reactor facility. In contrast with other techniques like the Modified Bennet Method, Nelson-Number Method and 252Cf-Source Method, the main advantage of this new methodology is to obtain the effective delayed neutron parameters in a purely experimental way, eliminating all parameters that are difficult to measure or calculate. In this way, Rossi-α and Feynman-α experiments for validation of this method were performed at the IPEN/MB-01 facility, and adopting the present approach, βeff was measured with a 0.67% uncertainty. In addition, the prompt neutron generation time, , and other parameters were also obtained in an absolute experimental way. In general, the final results agree well with values from frequency analysis experiments. The theory-experiment comparison reveals that JENDL-3.3 shows deviation for βeff lower than 1% which meets the desired accuracy for the theoretical determination of this parameter. This work supports the reduction of the 235U thermal yield as proposed by Okajima and Sakurai.

In dieser Arbeit wurde eine neue Markierungsstrategie von Antikörpern mit dem Markierungsreagenz MeCAT (Metal Coded Tag) unter physiologischen Reaktionsbedingungen, sowie deren Anwendung in einem 8-fach Multiplex-Immunoassay von in Formalin-fixierten und in Paraffin-eingebetteten Gewebeschnitten entwickelt. Für eine aussagekräftige LA-ICP-MS Detektion von MeCAT-modifizierten Antikörpern, wurde eine Standardisierung für biologische Proben auf NC-Membranen, basierend auf einer homogenen Aufbringung eines internen Standards und Kalibrierstandards durch einen kommerziell verfügbaren Tintenstrahldrucker entwickelt und mit der ICP-MS Analyse von Lösungen evaluiert. Die LA-ICP-MS wurde in zwei 8-fach Multiplex-Immunoassays von Tissue Micro Arrays vom Prostatakarzinom und in Maushirngewebeschnitten zur Einschätzung von neurogenerative Erkrankungen erfolgreich eingesetzt werden. Es konnte hierbei gezeigt werden, dass das Nachweisvermögen, der hier entwickelten Methode bereits ausreicht, um die gängigen klinischen Biomarker mit guter Ortsauflösung nachzuweisen. / In this work a new tagging strategy of antibodies with the tagging reagent MeCAT (Metal Coded Tag) was developed under physiological reaction conditions. Their application was proved in an 8-fold multiplex immunoassay of formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue sections. For a significant LA-ICP-MS detection of MeCAT tagged antibodies standardization for biological samples owere developed. The standardization based on a homogeneous deposition onto the NC membrane via conventional CD-ink-jet printer was validated in addition with the ICP-MS analysis of solutions. The internal standardization of LA-ICP-MS was successfully applied in two 8-fold multiplex immunoassays for Tissue Micro Arrays (TMA) of prostate cancer and for detection of biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases in mouse brain tissue sections. In both examples it could be shown that the detection capability of the new tagging strategy in combination with the printing standardization allows the detection of the clinical biomarker with good spatial resolutions.

Uma nova metodologia para a medida absoluta da fração efetiva de nêutrons atrasados βeff, baseada em técnicas de análise de ruído microscópico e no modelo de Duas- Regiões, foi desenvolvida no reator IPEN/MB-01. Diferentemente das demais técnicas, tais como o Método de Bennet Modificado, o Método do Número de Nelson e o Método da fonte de 252Cf, a principal vantagem da metodologia proposta é a obtenção de βeff de um modo puramente experimental, sem a necessidade de quaisquer outros parâmetros, sejam estes calculados ou provenientes de outros experimentos. Com a finalidade de validar este novo método, uma série de experimentos Rossi-α e Feynman-α foram realizados no reator IPEN/MB-01. De acordo com a metodologia proposta, βeff foi estimado com uma incerteza de 0.67%, a qual atende aos requisitos de precisão almejados. Além disso, o tempo de geração de nêutrons prontos , dentre outros parâmetros, também foi obtido experimentalmente via esta metodologia. Em geral, os parâmetros medidos estão em acordo com resultados provenientes de experimentos de análise de ruído macroscópico. Nas comparações teoria-experimento, os valores de βeff medidos neste trabalho mostram que a biblioteca JENDL3.3 apresenta a melhor performance (dentro de 1%). Esta concordância justifica a redução no yield de fissão do 235U proposta por Sakurai e Okajima. / A new method for absolute measurement of the effective delayed neutron fraction, βeff , based on microscopic noise experiments and the Two-Region Model was developed at the IPEN/MB-01 Research Reactor facility. In contrast with other techniques like the Modified Bennet Method, Nelson-Number Method and 252Cf-Source Method, the main advantage of this new methodology is to obtain the effective delayed neutron parameters in a purely experimental way, eliminating all parameters that are difficult to measure or calculate. In this way, Rossi-α and Feynman-α experiments for validation of this method were performed at the IPEN/MB-01 facility, and adopting the present approach, βeff was measured with a 0.67% uncertainty. In addition, the prompt neutron generation time, , and other parameters were also obtained in an absolute experimental way. In general, the final results agree well with values from frequency analysis experiments. The theory-experiment comparison reveals that JENDL-3.3 shows deviation for βeff lower than 1% which meets the desired accuracy for the theoretical determination of this parameter. This work supports the reduction of the 235U thermal yield as proposed by Okajima and Sakurai.

Les dévellopements récents des faisceaux exotiques, et en particulier avec le dispositif SPIRAL du GANIL, nous ont permis d'initier l'étude, dans l'9He, de l'inversion de couches déjà observée dans les isotone N=7, pour le 11Be et le 10Li. Une partie du travail est consacré à l'étude et au développement d'un détecteur servant aussi de cible (cible active) appelé MAYA, ainsi qu'au développement des outils informatiques nécessaires à son exploitation. l'9He a été étudier par la détermination des propriétés de ses états isobariques analogues (IAS) dans le 9Li. Les caractéristiques de ces états IAS sont obtenues par l'analyse des résonances dans les sections efficaces de diffusion élastique, du système 8He+p entre 2 et 3.9 MeV/n. Une étude rapide des réaction (p,d) et (p,t) est aussi présenté. Cette étude a permis, par la comparaison des résultats expérimentaux et des calculs de diffusion potentielle avec résonances, une assignation de spin et parité pour deux états de l'9He.