Isolation and structural elucidation of natural products from Pentas bussei K. Krause, Pentas lanceolata (Forsk.) Deflers and Pentas parvifolia Hiern (Rubiaceae)

Since decades, plant-based drugs have played an essential role in the primary health care of a large part of the world's population. Several chemotherapeutic agents have been discovered as a result of chemical studies directed towards the isolation of the active substances from plants used in traditional medicine. Several plant species from the family Rubiaceae are widely used in African Folk medicines. Among them, Pentas species display a broad ranges of uses. However, the phytochemistry of these species is only scarcely investigated. From the about 40 known species, only Pentas longiflora Oliver and Pentas zanzibarica (Klotsch) Vatke have been studied. Aiming at the search for novel naturally occurring compounds which may be used as "lead" for the synthesis of potentially active compounds, this work describes the isolation and structural elucidation of natural products from Pentas bussei K. Krause, Pentas lanceolata (Forsk.) Deflers and Pentas parvifolia Hiern (Chapters II, III, IV). In addition, all the isolated natural compounds are being subjected to a bioactivity screening for antiviral (HIV and HCV) and anticancer activity (Chapter VI). Chapter V has been devoted to the synthesis and structural assignment confirmation of two natural products isolated from P. longiflora a species already investigated

Children’s agency in reducing poverty and environmental risk: Case study of Islamic Relief South Africa’s Orphan Sponsorship Programme.

Children are vulnerable and need protection from harm. Children is often only perceived from this view and not recognised that they have agency to participate in matters that concern them which is also their right. Poverty and environmental risks restrict children’s ‘aspirations and hopefulness’ to ‘creat[e] a more prosperous future’ (SAHR & UNICEF, 2014:7). Children have the right to participate in matters that concern their best interest (Hall, Richter, Mokomane & Lake, 2018:47). The goal of this study was to explore and describe how children’s agency is recognised and respected in programmes aimed at reducing poverty and environmental risks in Islamic Relief South Africa’s Orphan Sponsorship programme A qualitative research approach was adopted for the study. The research design was an instrumental case study and data was collected by means of one-on-one semi-structured interviews. Purposeful sampling was used to select five key informants and five child participants from Islamic Relief South Africa’s Orphan Sponsorship programme. Data was analysed through theme analysis. The findings of the study indicated that child participation is generally restricted to the planning and implementation phases of the programme which is related to how key informants perceive the child concept. Furthermore, to mitigate child poverty and environmental risks, the programme assists children with school fees, transport money, food, clothes and clean water. Furthermore, the children engage in cleaning campaigns and are educated on how to stop pollution. The study concludes that children’s agency is recognised and respected by hearing their views, but excluded from decisions about matters that affect them. The study recommends child consultation and participation from the conception phase of the programme throughout the implementation and evaluation phases of the programme, and continuous training of caregivers on child agency and children’s right to participation.Mini Dissertation (MSW (Social Development and Policy))--University of Pretoria, 2020.Social Work and CriminologyMSW (Social Development and Policy)Unrestricte

A performance comparison between relational databases and nonrelational databases : In connection with event-driven MES system

Syftet med detta arbete var att utvärdera om NoSQL databaser kunde fungera och erbjuda bättre prestanda än SQL databaser i samband med händelsedrivna MES System. Utvärderingen skedde hos ett utvecklingsteam på Volvo Group It i Skövde som tillhandhåller dessa system. Metoden för arbetet blev ett laboratorieexperiment, där olika databaser testades på en testbänk erbjuden av utvecklingsteamet. Testbänken hade ett befintligt system för att testa prestanda på databaserna. De undersökta NoSQL databaser var kolumnorienterade databaser med tillhörande plattform Cassandra och dokumentorienterade databaser med tillhörande plattform MongoDB. MongoDB hann inte implementeras färdigt och lämnades för framtida arbete. En testapplikation implementerad i .Net med språket C# utvecklat av utvecklingsteamet användes för att testa prestanda på databaserna. Resultatet som arbetet visade var att kolumnorienterade databaser kunde fungera med händelsedrivna MES system och att den kunde prestera bättre på grund av sin förmåga att de-normalisera data. SQL databaser passar fortfarande bra för många system.The purpose of this work was to evaluate whether NoSQL databases could work and offer better performance than SQL databases with event-driven MES Systems. The evaluation took place at a development team at Volvo Group It in Skövde, which provides these systems. The method of work was a laboratory experiment, where different databases were tested on a test bench offered by the development team. The test bench had an existing system for testing performance on the databases. The examined NoSQL databases were column-oriented databases with associated Cassandra platform and document-oriented databases with associated MongoDB platform. MongoDB was not fully implemented and was left for future work. A test application implemented in .Net with the language C # developed by the development team was used to test performance on the databases. The result that the work showed was that column-oriented databases could work with event-driven MES systems and could perform better because of their ability to denormalize data. SQL databases are still good for many systems

Международно-правовые проблемы иммунитета действующих глав государств и практика Международного уголовного суда

The article deals with international legal issues relating to the immunity of the sitting heads of state in the context of the International Criminal Court's activities. The main attention is paid to the analysis of customary and conventional norms of international law on the immunity of heads of state, the positions of the International Court of Justice, the UN International Law Commission and the practice of the International Criminal Court (ICC) vis-a-vis the heads of states that are not parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC. The author argues that there are contradictions between the provisions of the Rome Statute of the ICC, the customary international-law norms on the immunity of heads of state and the provisions of other international treaties, in particular the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969, and that the heads of states that are not parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC continue to enjoy immunity until their states take other measures to waiver their immunity.В статье рассматриваются международно-правовые проблемы, касающиеся иммунитета действующих глав государств в контексте осуществления Международным уголовным судом (МУС) своей деятельности. Основное внимание уделяется анализу обычных и договорных норм международного права, регулирующих иммунитет глав государств, позиций Международного суда ООН, Комиссии международного права ООН и практики МУС в отношении главы государства, не являющегося участником Римского статута МУС. Автор приходит к выводу, что имеются противоречия между положениями Римского статута МУС, обычными нормами международного права об иммунитете глав государств и положениями других международных договоров, в частности Венской конвенции о праве международных договоров 1969 г., и что главы государств, не являющихся участниками Римского статута МУС, продолжают пользоваться иммунитетом до тех пор, пока их государства не примут иные меры для лишения его иммунитета

Factors Influencing Personal Common Financial Mistakes: The Case of USIU Employees

A Research Project Report Submitted to the Chandaria School of Business in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Masters in Business Administration (MBA)The main objective of the study was to examine the factors influencing personal common financial mistakes using a case of USIU-Africa employees. The following research questions were used for the study: first, to determine how attitude influences common financial mistakes among USIU-Africa employees second, to determine how level of education influences common financial mistakes among USIU-Africa employees, and third, to determine how financial literacy can overcome the common financial mistakes among USIU-Africa employees. This research project was limited to the employees of the United States International University-Africa. The population for the study was composed of top management and general staff who work for the United States International University-Africa on a permanent basis. The study adopted a descriptive research design. This design was appropriate for this study because it necessitated the collection, organization, and summarizing of data from a sample in order to makeinferences about the entire population. The collected data was analyzed using the SPSS software version 20. The data analysis involved measures of central tendency, frequencies, as well as simple regression analysis, which was used to measure the relationship between variables. The analyzed data was presented using bar graphs, pie charts and frequency tables. The study revealed that people’s experiences in life such as unique attitudes towards investments and personal plan alternatives, lack of financial discipline, lack of commitment to a budget, spendthrift behavior, and personal willingness to bear risk, influence personal financial mistakes. The study further revealed that training on financial management would help people avoid financial mistakes. Finally, the study revealed that majority of the respondents have attended financial literacy programs, and that USIU-Africa has put in place employee training programs on financial literacy and adopted the use of practical approaches to stimulate employee’s participation. The study concluded that personal common financial mistakes are influenced by individual attitudes, education level and financial literacy among other factors. The study established significant positive relationships between the identified factors and common financial mistakes among employees in USIU-Africa. The study recommends that there is the need for USIU-Africa employees to have financial discipline, a necessary skill for proper financial management. Additionally, the study recommends that USIU-Africa employees should engage in budgeting, a necessary tool that should help them plan their financial expenditures. Finally the study recommends that organizations should train their employees on financial management. Furthermore, financial literacy programs should be incorporated in school curriculums

Эволюция взаимодействия Международного уголовного суда и африканских стран

The article is devoted to analysis of the evolution of relations between the International Criminal Court (ICC) and African countries. The article examines the main stages of development of these relations since the participation of African countries in the establishment of the International Criminal Court and its development through the holding of regional meetings dedicated to the establishing of the ICC, also through the majority voting of African countries at the Rome conference in 1998 for the adoption of the ICC Statute. The author notes that the in that tome the Organization of African Unity called upon all Member States to support and cooperate with the ICC. The author points out that recently the critically worsen relations between the African countries and the International Criminal Court for various reasons: the influence of non-States parties to the Rome Statute on the ICC, which violates the principles of independence and impartiality of the Court, international legal background, in particular the contradiction of the provisions of the Rome Statute and the conduct of prosecutions by the ICC to a greater extent only with respect to situations in African countries, which causes criticism from some researchers, and African leaders. In this regard, it becomes necessary to conduct relevant reform of the ICC to ensure its independence and effective performance of its functions by combating impunity and preventing the international crimes.Статья посвящена анализу эволюции отношений между Международным уголовным судом (МУС) и африканскими странами. Исследуются основные этапы развития данных отношений, начиная с участия африканских стран в создании Международного уголовного суда и его развитии путем проведения региональных совещаний, посвященных вопросам создания МУС, а также голосования подавляющим большинством стран Африканского континента на Римской конференции в 1998 г. за принятие Статута МУС. Отмечается, что тогдашняя Организация африканского единства призывала все государства-члены к поддержке и сотрудничеству с МУС. Автор указывает, что в последнее время критически ухудшаются отношения между африканскими странами и Международным уголовным судом по разным причинам: влияние государств, не являющихся участниками Римского статута, на деятельность МУС, что нарушает принципы независимости и беспристрастности Суда; международно-правовые предпосылки, в частности противоречивость положений Римского статута и проведение преследований МУС в большей степени только в отношении ситуаций в государствах Африки, что вызывает критику со стороны некоторых исследователей и африканских лидеров. В связи с этим возникает необходимость провести соответствующую реформу МУС для обеспечения его независимости и эффективного осуществления своих функций по борьбе с безнаказанностью и предупреждению совершения международных преступлений

Эволюция взаимодействия Международного уголовного суда и африканских стран

The article is devoted to analysis of the evolution of relations between the International Criminal Court (ICC) and African countries. The article examines the main stages of development of these relations since the participation of African countries in the establishment of the International Criminal Court and its development through the holding of regional meetings dedicated to the establishing of the ICC, also through the majority voting of African countries at the Rome conference in 1998 for the adoption of the ICC Statute. The author notes that the in that tome the Organization of African Unity called upon all Member States to support and cooperate with the ICC. The author points out that recently the critically worsen relations between the African countries and the International Criminal Court for various reasons: the influence of non-States parties to the Rome Statute on the ICC, which violates the principles of independence and impartiality of the Court, international legal background, in particular the contradiction of the provisions of the Rome Statute and the conduct of prosecutions by the ICC to a greater extent only with respect to situations in African countries, which causes criticism from some researchers, and African leaders. In this regard, it becomes necessary to conduct relevant reform of the ICC to ensure its independence and effective performance of its functions by combating impunity and preventing the international crimes.Статья посвящена анализу эволюции отношений между Международным уголовным судом (МУС) и африканскими странами. Исследуются основные этапы развития данных отношений, начиная с участия африканских стран в создании Международного уголовного суда и его развитии путем проведения региональных совещаний, посвященных вопросам создания МУС, а также голосования подавляющим большинством стран Африканского континента на Римской конференции в 1998 г. за принятие Статута МУС. Отмечается, что тогдашняя Организация африканского единства призывала все государства-члены к поддержке и сотрудничеству с МУС. Автор указывает, что в последнее время критически ухудшаются отношения между африканскими странами и Международным уголовным судом по разным причинам: влияние государств, не являющихся участниками Римского статута, на деятельность МУС, что нарушает принципы независимости и беспристрастности Суда; международно-правовые предпосылки, в частности противоречивость положений Римского статута и проведение преследований МУС в большей степени только в отношении ситуаций в государствах Африки, что вызывает критику со стороны некоторых исследователей и африканских лидеров. В связи с этим возникает необходимость провести соответствующую реформу МУС для обеспечения его независимости и эффективного осуществления своих функций по борьбе с безнаказанностью и предупреждению совершения международных преступлений