M.Tech. (Biological and Health Technology) / The manner in which ritual slaughterings are executed in the R.S.A. is unknown to the majority of the population. The requirements with which religious slaughterings must comply as well as the facilities used for that purpose are even less familiar. The subject of the Jewish method of slaughter (Shechita) has especially elicited much discussion, due to the major divergence of opinion between the Jewish community and animal welfare organisations, as far as the slaughter technique and restraining facilities are concerned. This study was undertaken in an endeavour to find a solution to the problems in the form of restraining facilities acceptable to both groups. The first phase comprised a literature study of Shechita. The second phase consisted of a study tour to the United States of America and Israel, to become acquainted with the latest technology employed for Shechita. The last phase entailed the construction of a prototype restrainer facility at the Johannesburg Abattoir to facilitate experiments for the development of a head clamp. The function of the head clamp is to restrain the animal in such a manner that it can be slaughtered in the upright position but still in full compliance with the rules of Shechita. This study represents an endeavour to contribute meaningfully to and supplement existing knowledge and know-how applicable in South African circumstances.

Dans les situations présentant un élément d’extranéité, le droit international privé a vocation à intervenir afin de découvrir quelle loi sera applicable. En effet, il s’agit d’une discipline spéciale en ce sens que sa fonction consiste, par le biais de règles indirectes, à déterminer le champ d’application dans l’espace des lois en conflit par le biais d’une méthode scientifique consistant à localiser la loi la plus proche de la situation internationale en cause. C’est pourquoi le droit international privé répond, en principe, d’une justice conflictuelle c’est-à-dire qu’il doit garantir aux sujets de droit un traitement de leur situation internationale neutre et objectif. En d’autres termes, la recherche de la loi applicable procède d’une analyse exempte de considérations substantielles dont le résultat conduit indifféremment à la compétence de la lex fori ou de la loi étrangère. Toutefois si, en droit positif, le droit international privé, assure toujours cette fonction, il répond également d’une justice matérielle, et se décline au travers de nombreuses règles lesquelles se fractionnent sous différentes formes, en fonction des catégories de rattachement auxquelles elles se lient, mais également au regard des sources dont elles découlent. Ainsi, la discipline a fait, et fait encore l’objet d’une grande variété au sein de la société internationale depuis sa première systématisation au XVIème siècle sous la plume de d’Argentré. La présente thèse vise alors à démontrer que, malgré l’objectif inhérent auquel répond le droit international privé, à savoir la justice conflictuelle, cette matière ne conduit pas dans sa forme actuelle, à assurer aux sujets de droit privé une justice égalitaire. Cette recherche consiste donc à mettre en évidence les points défectueux de la discipline au travers d’une étude minutieuse tant de sa structure que de son régime dans le but d’évincer les obstacles qui se dressent face à l’égalité de traitement des sujets de droit. Ainsi, cette démonstration permettra de considérer, par le biais d’une approche systémique, quelle règle de droit et quel régime protègent a maxima le principe d’égalité en droit international privé. / Le résumé en anglais n'a pas été communiqué par l'auteur.

In this study an evaluation of the Group Areas Act as a major piece of 'governmental law' is undertaken. The Act (originally introduced in 1950) is a prime example of what may be termed governmental law because it constitutes the centre-piece of a comprehensive legislative and administrative regime aimed at implementing political objectives of a far-reaching and long-term nature. The system of group areas is widely recognised as a cornerstone of the policy of apartheid (racial segregation) pursued by the South African government. The main purpose of group areas legislation, which explains its complexity and essential characteristics, is to bring about the territorial segregation of the racial groups defined in the Act. Existing legal publications which deal with group areas in a comprehensive way generally cover only the 'black letter' aspects of the law involved and are presently outdated in certain important respects. In the present study (which covers the period up to the end of 1986) the 'black letter' legal aspects are also analysed in fair detail, but the system of group areas is further evaluated thematically and critically from the perspective of constitutional and administrative law, and also with reference to issues in the fields of jurisprudence, the interpretation of statutes and the interaction between public and private law. Thus, the cardinal role played by the wide discretionary powers and specific policies (such as selective non-enforcement) of the executive branch of government is discussed and evaluated with reference to doctrines such as the Rule of Law, and the concern in administrative law relating to the confining, structuring and checking of discretionary administrative powers. An extensive analysis of judicial attitudes and approaches in group areas cases is undertaken and these are related to the aspects of the doctrine of legal positivism. In respect of judicial attitudes, the conclusion is reached that the Supreme Court, and in particular the Appellate Division, failed in its duty to serve as buttress between the citizen and draconian government powers, and in certain key decisions actually indulged in what may be termed 'apartheid thinking'.

Hyperbolic conservation laws form a special class of partial differential equations. They describe phenomena that involve conserved quantities and their solutions show discontinuities which reflect the formation of shock waves. We consider one-dimensional systems of hyperbolic conservation laws and produce approximations using finite difference, finite volume and finite element methods. Due to stability issues of classical finite element methods for hyperbolic conservation laws, we study the discontinuous Galerkin method, which was recently introduced. The method involves completely discontinuous basis functions across each element and it can be considered as a combination of finite volume and finite element methods. We illustrate the implementation of discontinuous Galerkin method using Legendre polynomials, in case of scalar equations and in case of quasi-linear systems, and we review important theoretical results about stability and convergence of the method. The applications of finite volume and discontinuous Galerkin methods to linear and non-linear scalar equations, as well as to the system of elastodynamics, are exhibited.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / I address state voter identification laws and test to see if they cause lower voter turnout. My hypothesis states a significance that voter ID laws have in determining voter turnout in each state’s election. The focus is on each of the fifty states elections and examines them from 2000 through 2016. With voter ID laws being the independent variable and turnout a control variable, the study was able to determine a statistical significance between the two. There is no readily available data table for voter ID laws, the table created will advance any further research done within voter ID laws.

The research for this thesis was done on a comparative, documentary level, rather than on an empirical one. The issue as to whether or not dagga is physiologically harmful will probably be finally settled by medical and pharmacological study. This thesis does not go into these aspects; instead it attempts to set the development of dagga smoking as a social problem in historical perspective. The research has been done from secondary sources. These include the original works of some of the theorists on deviant behaviour, the reports of government committees of inquiry, as well as commentary on drug abuse in various academic and professional journals and in more popular publications. Special mention must be made of the use of newspaper reports as sources of reference in this study. In evaluating the rapidly- changing problem of drug abuse and social attitudes towards this phenomenon, it is often Press reports that carry the most up-to-date information on current research and changes in social policy. For this reason references to professional journals and other academic sources have in some instances been supplemented by relevant newspaper articles and reports. The validity of this approach is especially evident when dealing with South Africa. For example, the dimensions of the drug problem in the Republic were first revealed in a series of reports in a Johannesburg newspaper, the Rand Daily Mail, which brought home to the public the extent to which the problem of dagga abuse involved the youth of South Africa. These reports contributed directly to the appointment in 1970 of a Committee of Inquiry to investigate the abuse of drugs in this country.

In my Dissertation, I consider the system of thermoelasticity endowed with poly- convex energy. I will present the equations in their mathematical and physical con- text, and I will explain the relevant research in the area and the contributions of my work. First, I embed the equations of polyconvex thermoviscoelasticity into an aug- mented, symmetrizable, hyperbolic system which possesses a convex entropy. Using the relative entropy method in the extended variables, I show convergence from ther- moviscoelasticity with Newtonian viscosity and Fourier heat conduction to smooth solutions of the system of adiabatic thermoelasticity as both parameters tend to zero and convergence from thermoviscoelasticity to smooth solutions of thermoelasticity in the zero-viscosity limit. In addition, I establish a weak-strong uniqueness result for the equations of adiabatic thermoelasticity in the class of entropy weak solutions. Then, I prove a measure-valued versus strong uniqueness result for adiabatic poly- convex thermoelasticity in a suitable class of measure-valued solutions, de ned by means of generalized Young measures that describe both oscillatory and concentra- tion e ects. Instead of working directly with the extended variables, I will look at the parent system in the original variables utilizing the weak stability properties of certain transport-stretching identities, which allow to carry out the calculations by placing minimal regularity assumptions in the energy framework. Next, I construct a variational scheme for isentropic processes of adiabatic polyconvex thermoelasticity. I establish existence of minimizers which converge to a measure-valued solution that dissipates the total energy. Also, I prove that the scheme converges when the limit- ing solution is smooth. Finally, for completeness and for the reader's convenience, I present the well-established theory for local existence of classical solutions and how it applies to the equations at hand.

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