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Sexualized violence is a citizenly issue. It is a phenomenon that, in the Canadian context, is formed and informed by the settler-colonial nation-state. Yet, as the spike in attention to instances of sexualized violence in news media suggests, sexualized violence is also a sociopolitical ill, one that causes harms to persons who experience it and those who care for them. How, then, might we ensure that sexualized violence is no longer a possibility? Feminist anti-sexualized violence advocates have created or contributed to several identifiable approaches to sexualized violence prevention: education about consent, teaching self-defence, and implicating bystanders in the continuation of sexualized violence. In this dissertation, I focus on two of these approaches to sexualized violence prevention – consent discourse and fighting strategies – and consider how their amenability to a normative form of rationality that governs conceptions of citizenship – neoliberalism – might not only limit the preventative efficacy of such approaches, but also work to (re)produce the very conditions that allow sexualized violence to occur in the first place. Analyzing these prevention approaches through close readings of academic theories of prevention and practical mobilizations of these approaches (i.e. a poster campaign, a short independent film), I ultimately argue that while neoliberalism’s idea(l)s of individualism, personal responsibility, and normative interpretations of ‘equality’ function to potentially limit or contradict a feminist anti-sexualized violence goal of emphasizing the structural causes of sexualized violence, it is also the case that these theoretical and practical projects can produce alternative understandings of what it means to be ‘human’ and to ‘live together.’ / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Today, one can scarcely turn on a television, open a newspaper, or visit an online news source without some mention of a case of sexualized violence. What are we doing to prevent this social ill? In this dissertation, I analyze two approaches to sexualized violence prevention: strategies that encourage the import of communication during intimate encounters (consent discourse) and strategies that encourage persons most vulnerable to sexualized violence to engage in defensive measures (fighting strategies). Through an investigation of academic theories and practical mobilizations of these prevention approaches, I consider their connection to dominant conceptions of the human and what it means to ‘live together.’ From these analyses, this dissertation ultimately argues that we must be attentive to the ways we think about, talk of, and implement prevention strategies so that we do not inadvertently reproduce the very oppressive conditions that enable sexualized violence to occur in the first place.

Approaches to projects and development have undergone considerable change in the last decade with significant policy shifts on governance, gender, poverty eradication, and environmental issues. Most recently this has led to the adoption and promotion of the sustainable livelihood (SL) approach. The adoption of the SL approach presents challenges to development interventions including: the future of projects and programmes, and sector wide approaches (SWAPs) and direct budgetary support. This paper `A Review of Approaches to Development Interventions in Tanzania: From Projects to Livelihood Approaches¿ is the third in the series of the project working papers. This is the output of a literature review and semi-structured interviewing in Tanzania. / Department for International Development

Approaches to projects and development have undergone considerable change in the last decade with significant policy shifts on governance, gender, poverty eradication, and environmental issues. Most recently this has led to the adoption and promotion of the sustainable livelihood (SL) approach. The adoption of the SL approach presents challenges to development interventions including: the future of projects and programmes, and sector wide approaches (SWAPs) and direct budgetary support. This paper `Review of development interventions and livelihood approaches in Uganda¿ is the fourth in the series of the project working papers. This is the output of a literature review and series of interviews on development interventions in Uganda. / Department for International Development

Yes / This study explores the downstream Pharmaceutical Supply Chain (PSC) and provides insight to the delivery process of medicines and associated operational inefficiencies. Design/methodology/approach: An exploratory, qualitative approach was adopted to examine PSC inefficiency within two European contexts: the UK and Greece. Data was gathered through interviews and a thematic analysis conducted to analyse the data and identify challenges faced by both supply chains. Findings: The medicines delivery system needs to be enhanced in terms of quality, visibility, speed and cost in order to perform effectively. The findings demonstrated that although the healthcare supply chains in the two European contexts have different operational structures, the results are in concordance with each other. Financial, communication, waste and complexity issues were the major concerns. Research limitations/implications: To our knowledge this is the first study to examine aspects of the medicines supply chain via a cross-case analysis in the UK and Greece and extends the body of knowledge. A broader sample of responses is warranted to further validate these findings. Practical implications: The study outputs can inform pharmacies’ strategic to instigate targeted improvement interventions. The implications of which may be extrapolated further to other European healthcare organisations. Originality/value: This research contributes to the academic literature by adding further theoretical insights to supply chain strategy development, especially those that have been characterised as highly complex. The study identifies 4 key areas of intervention needed within this supply chain (in both countries) to promote higher level efficiencies and effectiveness.

This study examines the "TBWY" reform program, its design and efficacy. The program was carried out in an Israeli high school with the aim of improving equality of opportunity, narrowing educational achievement gaps (Friedlander & Leon-Elmakias, 2006), improving the climate for study and increasing the number of those eligible for the matriculation (Bagrut) examinations which, since 2006, had been decreasing. The reform program covered two types of class groups: "homogeneous learning groups” and “guided groups”. The homogeneous learning groups were based on the students' proven learning skills, thereby reducing the differences in the students' achievements. In this way, it was possible to focus on teaching methods suitable for the learning group in a uniform and focused way. The second group is a "guided group" made up of between 15 and 17 students. The "guided group" placed students with different peers to their ‘”learning group” according to matters of common interest among the students, their hobbies, common areas of study, youth movements, extramural activities, groups and students' requests to be together. Each group has a teacher/guide who has undergone extensive training as a group coordinator. The "guided group" involves a twice-weekly round-table meeting. In addition to these meetings, the group coordinator met with each student to build an annual program of work and a process for monitoring the student's achievements in all of the areas mentioned. This study included quantitative and qualitative constructivist methods focused on comparative research with students and teachers during two periods – before the reform program in 2006 and after it, in October 2009. Several criteria were examined: teachers’ perceptions of instruction strategies in homogeneous learning groups and resulting changes – gaps (Nahum, 2009) in educational achievements among the students, changes in the percentages of eligibility for matriculation certificates, school climate, a change in the students' feelings and the extent of teachers' feelings of responsibility for the failure and success of the students. Findings indicated a relationship between teachers' acceptance of responsibility for the students' success or failure and positive changes in teachers’ perceptions of student’s abilities, the feelings of students, a reduction in achievement gaps, and improved climate of the school. Furthermore, there was an increase in the number of students eligible for matriculation with an increase, in their grades from before the implementation of the program, until the present academic year, 2015. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the factors that enable greater scholastic achievement, together with an improved climate in an educational institution within the Israeli context. The research contributes to the understanding of the relationship between philosophical and psychological theories and their application in practice within the education system. The results of the research illustrate that a correct implementation of theories can create a change by reducing gaps in students' attainment by improving the school climate, by increasing the extent of the teachers' responsibility vis-à-vis students' success and increasing the number of students who are eligible for a matriculation certificate.

Le développement de nouveaux antimicrobiens devient une nécessité suite à l’augmentation de souches résistantes. Les isoprénoïdes sont une cible, car ils jouent un rôle important dans le maintien des fonctions propres à chaque organisme vivant. Ils dérivent de deux précurseurs : IPP et DMAPP, synthétisés via la voie du MVA ou du MEP. Cette dernière n’étant pas présente chez l’homme mais chez de nombreuses bactéries pathogènes, toutes les enzymes de cette voie peuvent être des cibles intéressantes et notamment la désoxyxylulose phosphate réductoisomérase (DXR). Les bactéries devenant résistantes à la fosmidomycine, un inhibiteur naturel efficace de la DXR, nous avons synthétisé des analogues de cet antibiotique, fonctionnalisés judicieusement pour cibler le site du NADPH ou une poche allostérique et le site du DXP (substrat naturel). En ciblant ces deux sites, nous devrions améliorer l’affinité et l’efficacité des inhibiteurs. Les approches biligand et bisubtrat, ont été mises en œuvre. Les composés ont montré des résultats intéressants avec des IC50 dans le bas micromolaire. Un inhibiteur en particulier a montré des résultats comparables à la fosmidomycine avec un IC50 de l’ordre du nanomolaire. / The development of new antimicrobial is a necessity due to the emergence of multidrug resistance. Isoprenoids are a key target as they play an essential role in the maintenance of proper functions in all living organisms. Isoprenoids derive from two precursors: IPP and DMAPP, synthesized via the MVA or MEP pathway. The last one, absent in human but present in many pathogenic bacteria, all the enzymes of the MEP pathway therefore represent efficient targets, as the desoxyxylulose phosphate reductoisomerase (DXR). Owing the rapid emergence of resistance toward fosmidomycine, an efficient inhibitor of DXR, we synthesized analogues of this anitbiotic, appropriately functionalized to target the NADPH binding site or an allosteric pocket, as well as the DXP, the natural substrate of DXR. By targeting both sites, we should improve the affinity and efficiency of the inhibitors. The biligand and bisubstrate approaches, have been implemented. The compounds have shown interesting results, with IC50 in the low micro-molar. Notably, one inhibitor has shown comparable results to the fosmidomycine with an IC50 at nanomolar level.

This dissertation explores the place that jus cogens occupies in contemporary international legal thought and practice. More specifically it looks at the place that the concept occupies within the discourse surrounding constitutionalism in international law. The question is asked whether it is viable to posit a specific constitutional structure for international law and whether such structure can be legitimized by the existence of certain values that are held in common by the international community. Both structural and value-based approaches posit a place for norms of jus cogens as possibly being seen as constitutional norms to some extent. Jus cogens as a now widely accepted concept in international law, continues to be the subject of much contemporary debate. The nature and function of the concept as proposed by various authors is looked at and the problematic aspects set out. Although there is a large amount of literature acknowledging the existence and importance of jus cogens, this has not been supported by international judicial practice. It seems that it is the practical difficulties surrounding the functioning of normative hierarchy that is the main reason for this. Chapter 1 introduces the approaches to the constitutionalism debate that have posited a legitimate place for norms of jus cogens. It also provides an introduction to the concept of jus cogens within contemporary international law. Chapter 2 starts out by defining certain concepts involved in the discourse surrounding constitutionalism. The strands of thought involved in the constitutionalism debate are then set out in order to provide the context for the placements of jus cogens posited by various authors. Chapter 3 looks at the evolution of the concept of jus cogens and the limited practical effect that has been given to the concept in international judicial practice. The main consideration here is the perceived inapplicability of jus cogens within cases concerning jurisdictional immunity. It therefore seems that jus cogens is, in general, limited to application against rules directly contradicting the substance of the jus cogens norm. Chapter 4 provides a critique of normative hierarchy theory, which is a main aspect dealt with in much constitutionalist thought. The chapter shows how the proposed functionality of normative hierarchy theory is unconvincing as only negative prohibitions can function as jus cogens under this construction. This further limits the instances where jus cogens can be seen as effective under constitutional thought. Chapter 5 concludes that under a strict conception of normative hierarchy, jus cogens is unlikely to receive much practical legal effect. This is due to the inapplicability of jus cogens in procedural matters and the limited number of norms that can function as jus cogens under normative hierarchy. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Public Law / unrestricted

Cette thèse propose une méthode théorique innovante pour l'étude des spectres d'excitation à un électron, mesurée par spectroscopie de photoémission directe et inverse.La plupart des calculs actuels au niveau de l’état de l’art reposent sur des fonctions de Green à plusieurs corps et des self-énergies complexes et non locales, évaluées spécifiquement pour chaque matériau. Même lorsque les spectres calculés sont en très bon accord avec les expériences, le coût de calcul est très important. La raison est que la méthode elle-même n'est pas efficace, car elle fournit beaucoup d'informations superflues qui ne sont pas nécessaires pour l'interprétation des données expérimentales.Dans cette thèse, nous proposons deux raccourcis par rapport à la méthode standard. Le premier est l'introduction d'un système auxiliaire qui cible, en principe, le spectre d'excitation du système réel. L'exemple type est la théorie de la fonctionnelle de la densité, pour lequel le système auxiliaire est le système de Kohn-Sham : elle reproduit exactement la densité du système réel par l'intermédiaire d'un potentiel réel et statique, le potentiel de Kohn-Sham. La théorie de la fonctionnelle de la densité est, cependant, une théorie de l'état fondamental, qui ne fournit que rarement des propriétés d'état excités : un exemple est le fameux problème de la sous-estimation de la bande interdite. Le potentiel que nous proposons (le potentiel spectral), local et dépendant de la fréquence, mais réelle, peut être considéré comme une généralisation dynamique du potentiel de Kohn-Sham qui donne en principe le spectre exact.Le deuxième raccourci est l'idée de calculer ce potentiel une fois pour toute dans un système modèle, le gaz d'électrons homogène, et de le tabuler. Pour étudier des matériaux réels, nous concevons un connecteur qui prescrit l'utilisation des résultats du gaz pour calculer les spectres électroniques.La première partie de la thèse traite de l'idée de systèmes auxiliaires, montrant le cadre général dans lequel ils peuvent être introduits et les équations qu'ils doivent satisfaire. Nous utilisons des modèles de Hubbard solubles exactement pour mieux comprendre le rôle du potentiel spectral ; en particulier, il est démontré que le potentiel peut être défini uniquement chaque fois que le spectre est non nul, et donne toujours les spectres attendus, même lorsque la partie imaginaire ou les contributions non locales de la self-énergie jouent un rôle de premier plan.Dans la deuxième partie de la thèse, nous nous concentrons sur les calculs pour les systèmes réels. Nous évaluons d'abord le potentiel spectral dans le gaz d'électrons homogène, puis l'importons dans le système auxiliaire pour évaluer le spectre d'excitation. Toute l’interdependence non triviale entre l'interaction électronique et l'inhomogénéité du système réel entre dans la forme du connecteur. Trouver une expression pour cela est le véritable défi de la procédure. Nous proposons une approximation raisonnable basée sur les propriétés locales du système, que nous appelons approximation du connecteur dynamique local.Nous mettons en œuvre cette procédure pour quatre prototypes de matériaux différents : le sodium, un métal presque homogène ; l'aluminium, encore un métal mais moins homogène ; le silicium, un semi-conducteur ; l'argon, un isolant inhomogène. Les spectres que nous obtenons avec cette approche concordent de manière impressionnante avec ceux qui sont évalués via la self-énergie, très coûteuse en temps de calcul, démontrant ainsi le potentiel de cette théorie. / This thesis proposes an innovative theoretical method for studying one-electron excitation spectra, as measured in photoemission and inverse photoemission spectroscopy.The current state-of-the-art realistic calculations rely usually on many-body Green’s functions and complex, non-local self energies, evaluated specifically for each material. Even when the calculated spectra are in very good agreement with experiments, the computational cost is very large. The reason is that the method itself is not efficient, as it yields much superfluous information that is not needed for the interpretation of experimental data.In this thesis we propose two shortcuts to the standard method. The first one is the introduction of an auxiliary system that exactly targets, in principle, the excitation spectrum of the real system. The prototypical example is density functional theory, in which the auxiliary system is the Kohn-Sham system: it exactly reproduces the density of the real system via a real and static potential, the Kohn-Sham potential. Density functional theory is, however, a ground state theory, which hardly yields excited state properties: an example is the famous band-gap problem. The potential we propose (the spectral potential), local and frequency-dependent, yet real, can be viewed as a dynamical generalisation of the Kohn-Sham potential which yields in principle the exact spectrum.The second shortcut is the idea of calculating this potential just once and forever in a model system, the homogeneous electron gas, and tabulating it. To study real materials, we design a connector which prescribes the use of the gas results for calculating electronic spectra.The first part of the thesis deals with the idea of auxiliary systems, showing the general framework in which they can be introduced and the equations they have to fulfill. We then use exactly-solvable Hubbard models to gain insight into the role of the spectral potential; in particular, it is shown that a meaningful potential can be defined wherever the spectrum is non-zero, and that it always yields the expected spectra, even when the imaginary or the non-local parts of the self energy play a prominent role.In the second part of the thesis, we focus on calculations for real systems. We first evaluate the spectral potential in the homogeneous electron gas, and then import it in the auxiliary system to evaluate the excitation spectrum. All the non-trivial interplay between electron interaction and inhomogeneity of the real system enters the form of the connector. Finding an expression for it is the real challenge of the procedure. We propose a reasonable approximation for it, based on local properties of the system, which we call dynamical local connector approximation.We implement this procedure for four different prototypical materials: sodium, an almost homogeneous metal; aluminum, still a metal but less homogeneous; silicon, a semiconductor; argon, an inhomogeneous insulator. The spectra we obtain with our approach agree to an impressive extent with the ones evaluated via the computationally expensive self energy, demonstrating the potential of this theory.