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Determination of metal in milk powder and soil by slurry sampling electrothermal vaporization inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

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Magister Legum - LLM / This thesis examines the sexual rights violation in Eastern DRC, which has been described as the worst in the world. The sexual violence against women and children in this country is systematic and widespread and perpetrated by armed groups, and increasingly also by civilians. The prosecution of sexual offences should contribute to the reduction of these offences, but the Congolese state prosecutes very few cases. The resulting impunity became an obstacle to the state to stop sexual violence, which become unable to overcome the obstacles to prosecutorial action. The successful prosecution of sexual offenders in Eastern DRC faces many obstacles and requires an exceptional jurisdiction which must provide a minimum of better freely conditions to the prosecutors and better unrestrained justice access to the victims. The enforcement of the international instruments of justice will be possible only by this jurisdiction. The victims of sexual violence need more confidence in the jurisdiction which is really working for them to attain justice.

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Humanoid robots have captured the imagination of authors and researchers for years. Development of the bipedal walking necessary for humanoid robots began in earnest in the late 60's with research in Europe and Japan. The the unique challenges of a bipedal locomotion led to initial robots keeping power, computation, and perception systems off-board while developing the actuators and algorithms to enable locomotion. As technology has improved humanoid and exoskeleton systems have finally incorporated all the various subsytems to build a full independent system. Many of the groups building these platforms have developed them based on knowledge acquired through decades of prior development. For groups developing new humanoid systems little guidance on the pitfalls and challenges of humanoid design exist. Virginia Tech's robot ESCHER, developed for the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC), is the 4th generation full sized humanoid developed at the University. This paper attempts to quantify the design trades and techniques used to predict performance of ESCHER and how these trades specifically affected the design of the upper body. The development of ESCHER became necessary when it became obvious that the original design assumptions behind the previous robot THOR left it incapable of completing the DRC course and the necessary upgrades would require an almost complete redesign. Using the methods described in this paper ESCHER was designed manufactured and began initial testing within 10 months. One and a half months later ESCHER became the first humanoid to walk the 60 m course at the DRC. The methods described in this paper provide guidance on the decision making process behind the various subsystems on ESCHER. In addition the methodology of developing a dynamic simulation to predict performance before development of the platform helped provide design requirements that ensured the performance of the system. By setting design requirements ESCHER met or exceeded the goals of the team and remains a valuable development platform that can provide utility well beyond the DRC. / Master of Science / Long a product of science fiction, humanoid robots have been in development by researchers since the late 60’s but still haven’t reached their promised potential. The DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) was an inducement prize contest held in 2013 and 2015 to help accelerate the use of robotic systems for disaster response scenarios. Team VALOR Virginia Tech’s entry into the competition was required to build a completely new humanoid in 10 months, resulting in the Electric Series Compliant Humanoid for Emergency Response or ESCHER. The rapid development of ESCHER was made possible by system engineering and a analysis to ensure ESCHER could meet all the competition goals. At The DRC ESCHER became the first humanoid to walk the 60m course. Humanoid research labs have used intuition and knowledge gained through decades of experience to design their systems. This paper discusses techniques used to design the upper body of ESCHER as well as modeling and simulation to predict performance when designing a humanoid. By using trade analysis and modeling researcher’s new to the field can design to a predicted performance point with confidence in a chiving accurate results.

Abstract  The severe situation of female child soldiers worldwide continues, and the harsh reality they stand in front of once returning back to their communities is often concealed. By the time former female child soldiers begin their journey back to civilian life and a life of dignity, they face various difficulties. Females are often exposed to marginalisation, stigmatisation, discrimination and isolation, and their livelihood and safety tend to be jeopardised. Females are often disregarded and are desperately fighting a battle to become accepted and to receive needed assistance. Since gender roles and gender identities vary around the world and between regions, communities tend to treat females and males very differently. Expectations of females vary depending on structures in communities and therefore communities tend to treat females in a certain way. This study seeks to explore national reintegration strategies in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and how the gap between these strategies and traditional cultural and social expectations of females affect reintegration processes in the country. The complex situation of female child soldiers in the DRC in terms of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR), with particular focus on reintegration is addressed in this thesis. The objective of this study is to analyse to what extent national reintegration strategies in the DRC are adapted to meet the needs of females and their home community. The findings indicate that the national program of DDR in the DRC, the PNDDR, is not aligned with existing cultural and social expectations of females, which have major consequences in reintegration processes. The findings demonstrate that there are many systems which are vital and have to be considered for reintegration to be effective. These systems have to be considered by the PNDDR on a broader level since there are shortcomings in these systems. It is significant to have knowledge about females to be able to streamline DDR processes and once designing programs of DDR. If reintegration of females is unsuccessful, this has negative effects for peace. This study draws on qualitative approaches and a desk study is performed. A created analytical framework taking surrounding environments, child development and social and cultural components into account is used. Keywords: DDR, DRC, Females, Reintegration, Traditional Social Expectations, Traditional Cultural Expectations

Magister Legum - LLM / This thesis examines the sexual rights violation in Eastern DRC, which has been described as the worst in the world. The sexual violence against women and children in this country is systematic and widespread and perpetrated by armed groups, and increasingly also by civilians. The prosecution of sexual offences should contribute to the reduction of these offences, but the Congolese state prosecutes very few cases. The resulting impunity became an obstacle to the state to stop sexual violence, which become unable to overcome the obstacles to prosecutorial action. The successful prosecution of sexual offenders in Eastern DRC faces many obstacles and requires an exceptional jurisdiction which must provide a minimum of better freely conditions to the prosecutors and better unrestrained justice access to the victims. The enforcement of the international instruments of justice will be possible only by this jurisdiction. The victims of sexual violence need more confidence in the jurisdiction which is really working for them to attain justice.

MA, International Relations, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011 / The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a vast country in the Great Lakes region of Africa torn apart by repeated armed conflicts. As from September 1998, the conflict in the country attracted attention of the international community with the number of deaths estimated at around 3.3 million people. The 1998 armed conflict was the most complex in Africa, due to an intricate cluster of international and external factors, with up to nine states militarily involved inside the Congolese territory. These are grouped into two opposing sides, composed on the one side by the Kinshasa government with its Angolan, Namibian and Zimbabwean allies and on the other side a divided set of rebel groups composed of the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie (RCD) and the Mouvement pour la Libération du Congo (MLC) with their allies from Rwanda and Uganda. The United Nations (UN) Security Council is engaged in supporting international peace and security according to Chapters VI, VII and VIII of the UN Charter. The UN Organisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) is a special mission sanctioned by the UN as an effort to solving the political problems in the DRC in line with the adoption of resolutions 1355 (2001), 1376 (2001), 1417 (2002), 1445 (2002), 1493 (2003), 1565 (2004) and 1625 (2005) by the UN Security Council. It was established that MONUC confronted challenges of peace implementation, especially in the Eastern DRC. The aim of this research is to examine the role of MONUC with regard to the promotion of democracy and human rights in the DRC. Thus, from November 1999, MONUC started to operate in the Congolese peace process for the restoration of democracy, as well as the promotion of human rights in the country. This research report will demonstrate that MONUC contributed with strong political support towards the organisation of the 2006 national democratic elections. Meanwhile, the war was ended throughout the country, but human rights abuses continued to be committed in some Eastern areas up to date.