This thesis undertakes an in-depth examination of the power of human rights advocacy in combating women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. Focusing on sub-Saharan Africa, the thesis explores the gender discrimination that lies at the core of women's susceptibility to the virus. Culturally-imposed social roles are depicted as the fundamental cause of the violation of women's human rights, including their right to health. The objective of the thesis is to analyze the potential of using a human rights approach to address this issue. It adopts the assumption that "the mobilization of shame" triggered by civil society's actors can alter states' human rights practices. Looking at a specific type of actors, namely the transnational advocacy networks, the thesis concludes that "the human rights approach to HIV/AIDS" can be an efficient and effective strategy to pressurize governments to implement their international human rights obligations.

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Pour chercher à mieux résoudre les problèmes de sélectivité des capteurs à base d'oxyde d'étain vis-à- vis des oxydes d'azote (NO_x), trois points ont été étudiés : - Approfondir les connaissances des propriétés des oxydes d'azote que les capteurs sont amenés à détecter : pour cela une étude expérimentale et théorique des gaz présents dans nos conditions opératoires (aspect thermodynamique) et de leurs vitesses de transformation (aspect cinétique) est effectuée. - Comprendre les interactions NO_x-SnO₂ à l'origine de la variation de conductance des capteurs : des études de la conversion des NO_x à la surface du dioxyde d'étain à l'aide d'un réacteur différentiel permettent de préciser le mécanisme réactionnel de la réaction 2 NO + O₂ = 2 NO₂. La caractérisation des espèces adsorbées met en évidence l'adsorption de NO₂ en grande quantité sous la forme nitrate ainsi que le rôle clef de ces espèces dans le mécanisme catalytique. Suite à cette étude, une modélisation des variations de conductance d'un capteur à base de SnO₂ sous NO, NO₂ et O₂ est proposée. - Optimiser les propriétés des capteurs de gaz : apres avoir mis en évidence la forte influence sur la sensibilité du capteur de l'association électrodes-SnO₂, une étude sur les effets de la géométrie des électrodes est effectuée. Aucune amélioration majeure de la sensibilité n'est constatée. Afin de résoudre les problèmes de sélectivité des capteurs vis à vis des NO_x l'ajout de MoO₃ avec SnO₂ est envisagée. Cette ajout permet d'améliorer fortement la sensibilité au monoxyde de carbone et au monoxyde d'azote à 450°C. Il ne résout cependant pas les problèmes de sélectivité. De cette étude l'élaboration d'un capteur NO_x total capable de mesurer la somme des teneurs en NO et NO₂ est envisagée.

The purpose of the study has been to assess the question of sustainability of economic growth and human development, particularly using sub-Saharan Africa in context. Sub-Saharan Africa is an interesting case study because, on the one hand, it has been mired in poverty and remains the least developed region in the world, and on the other, it has experienced a revival in economic growth since the mid-1990s. Economists tend to use the term economic development and economic growth interchangeably. However, questions have been raised about whether Africa’s latest growth episode is indeed ‘development’. Although there are many issues at stake, the key question, and the focus of this thesis, is whether sub-Saharan Africa’s revival is sustainable. The paper sets out the debate between the ‘World Bank view’ and the ‘alternative view’. The main debate lies around how genuine development should be achieved. Firstly, the ‘World Bank view’ claims that economic growth is necessary and sufficient condition to achieve development. Economic growth will be generated by ‘orthodox’ policies and this growth will automatically trickle-down and stimulate development. Secondly, the ‘alternative view’ argues that economic growth is necessary but it is not sufficient to stimulate sustainable development. Economic growth without ‘qualitative’ change is not ‘sustainable’. Indeed, human development shortfalls (as well as other, social, political and structural problems), if not addressed through appropriate policy interventions, can undermine economic growth. The ‘alternative view’ appears to be strongly supported by evidence from other developing regions such as Latin America and East Asia. The empirical study conducted in this thesis reinforces doubts about ‘sustainability’. Even though there are signs of convergence in some indicators; this is not the case for all indicators. More importantly the gap between sub-Saharan Africa and other developing regions remains very wide. Sub-Saharan Africa’s development path remains uncertain. The intention in this study is not to be conclusive that sub-Saharan Africa cannot achieve sustainable development. Rather the study attempts to identify potential hindrances to sub-Saharan Africa’s development and to provide a solid foundation for further research in the same direction.

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A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Engineering to the Graduate School of Engineering and the Built Environment of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg March 2017 / Large-scale strategic ventures to build, add or improve an asset are being delivered in different sectors of industries around the world. These ventures resort to the intensive use of capital and resources and are mostly referred to as “capital projects”. Because of the large-scale nature of these capital projects, they have profound effects on their host countries, and their impact is larger than simply client and turnover, thereby influencing different areas of surrounding society. The nature and extent of this impact are (i) environmental, (ii) political, (iii) socio-economic and (iv) cultural. Amongst the socio-economic objectives is the capability to provide on-the-job training and create more job opportunities than would otherwise be possible. Recently there has been a surge of these capital projects in sub-Saharan Africa. However, sub-Saharan Africa continues to experience high levels of unemployment and a lack of skillsets. In an attempt to help address these problems, this research project evaluates employment creation and skills transfer during the delivery of capital projects in sub-Saharan Africa. Three case studies (researched between October 2013 and February 2015) were selected to collect data for this research project: (1) Nacala Corridor Railway Project (Malawi), (2) the Medupi Power Project (Republic of South Africa) and (3) the Gautrain Project Phases 1 and 2 (Republic of South Africa). The research findings illustrate clearly that there has been a significant positive shift in the creation of employment and skills transfer on capital projects. However, there are areas of weakness which have been identified even though the three case studies produced different results. In conclusion, the main weaknesses identified in all three projects are the lack of local high-level skilled employees and a clear indication that these capital projects are not being capitalised efficiently to develop skills amongst the locals, which are essential for such projects. Recommendations are provided for the sustainability of skills development and employment creation on capital projects. / MT 2017

La décomposition d'un solide S₁ en un solide S₂ et un gaz G : S₁→S₂ + G, peut-être décrite par les processus de germination et de croissance de la nouvelle phase. Une modélisation géométrique peut permettre de déterminer la réactivité de croissance et la fréquence de germination. Nous avons étudié les variations de celles-ci en fonction des contraintes physico-chimiques température et pression du gaz produit. La méthode des décrochements et l'étude de grains uniques ont permis de valider les valeurs des vitesses obtenues. A ce stade, la modélisation physico-chimique, c'est-à-dire l'établissement d'un mécanisme réactionnel détaillé propre à chacun des deux processus est effectuée. La comparaison des vitesses théoriques issus des modèles aux variations expérimentales permettra de valider le mécanisme. L'effet smith-topley observe sur les variations expérimentales peut alors être expliqué par une variation de la taille des germes en fonction de la pression. De plus, l'étude de calcaires naturels a permis de faire apparaître une forte influence des impuretés sur les réactivités spécifiques de croissance et les fréquences spécifiques de germination lors de leur décomposition.

Sub-Saharan Africa is marginalised in the world economy and lags behind other developing regions in world trade. This is attributable to sub-Saharan Africa's inability to industrialise and diversify its exports base. Sub-Saharan Africa is still largely dependent on the exports of primary commodities, and agriculture is a vital export sector for many Sub-Saharan African economies with the majority of their exports reliant on traditional commodities. Most countries in the sub-Saharan African region have low levels of agricultural output and food security problems. Against this background, this study first discusses the problems associated with primary commodity dependence and then examines the need and economic rationale for sub-Saharan Africa to diversify its exports from agriculture into other sectors. From this, it follows that, diversifying agricultural production and exports into organic produce could be one way to create a more sustainable development path for sub-Saharan African trade and food security. With this in mind, this study discusses the economic viability, including the policy considerations, for organic product diversification in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, to ascertain the empirical position of this study, a statistical assessment of the supply-side food security situation in three sub-Saharan African major organic converters and exporters (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) is presented. The empirical results indicate that among the three countries, considering data trends and variances, Uganda's food security outlook is the most optimistic. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

Daily event data on a group of sub-Saharan African nations from 1975 to 1982 are analyzed to determine the nature of the short term relationship between acts of regime repression and dissident reaction. The results support the Relative Deprivation prediction of an "Inverted U" relationship between acts of repression and acts of Turmoil. Conversely, the concurrence of "U-shape" and "Negative Linear" relationships between repression and acts of Internal War suggest that a mixture of frustration-aggression and cost-benefit analysis may affect dissident behaviour. Moreover, the simultaneous strength of the deprivation indicators and the weakness of the mobilization indicators support the conclusion that a synthesis of the two main approaches to the study of social movement behaviour is in order.