The reasonableness approach of the South African Constitutional Court - making the constitutional right of access to housing "real" or effectively meaningless?

The South African Constitution explicitly guarantees the right of access to housing (section 26 of the Constitution). To consider whether the state has fulfilled its positive obligations to take appropriate steps to realise the right of access to housing within its available resources, the Constitutional Court – based on the text of the provision 26(2) of the Constitution – uses the test of reasonableness. Contrary to the minimum core concept, which was developed through the General Comments of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and which is used to measure state actions in regard of the right to housing under Article 11 para 1 of the ICESCR, the reasonableness approach shifts the emphasis from the reasonableness of the solution to the reasonableness of the steps taken, moving away from a substantive right towards administrative oversight, which makes – so the assumption goes – the constitutional right of access to housing effectively meaningless. However, in this dissertation it is argued that it is not the reasonableness approach per se which hinders the implementation of the right of access to housing but rather the choice of remedy and the lack of (individual) access to the Court. In doing so, this study will show that the Court by using the reasonableness approach is acting in accordance with the wording and the transformative character of the South African Constitution and its own institutional role within the constitutional framework based on the separation of powers. Subsequently the study demonstrates that the effectiveness of the right of access to housing depends on the remedy granted by the Court and the possibility of access to the Court rather than the approach reverted to by the Court. Against this backdrop, the dissertation scrutinises what can be done to expand access to justice for claims flowing from the right of access to housing and thus to facilitate the right

Oxidation protection of Mo-Si-B alloys by magnetron-sputtered coatings

Mo-Si-B alloys with melting temperature above 2000 °C are attractive high temperature materials offering significantly enhanced operating temperatures compared to those of the currently used Ni-based superalloys. However, their oxidation behavior is poor at temperatures below 1000 °C, suffering from evaporation of MoO3. Above 1000 °C oxidation is characterized by a transient state showing considerable mass loss followed by a steady state condition with reduced mass change. To mitigate this degradation by oxidation, application of coatings is an appropriate method ensuring the formation of slowly growing protective scales. The presentation summarizes recent results on overlay coatings that were deposited on coupons of a Mo-9Si-8B (in at.%) alloy using magnetron sputtering. A double layer design was applied: a 2 µm thick intermediate Mo5SiB2 layer to prevent interdiffusion and approximately 5 µm thick protective topcoats with different chemical compositions: Mo-45Si-25B, Mo-55Si-10B, Mo-29Si-15B, Mo-48Si-24Al, Mo-71Si-8Al (all in at.%). The amorphous as-deposited coatings were annealed in a vacuum furnace. In the boron containing Mo-Si topcoats, the MoSi2 and MoB phases formed as well as the Mo5Si3 phase in the Mo-29Si-15B coating. In the annealed Mo-48Si-24Al and Mo-71Si-8Al topcoats, the C40-Mo(Si,Al)2 and C11b-MoSi2 phases were observed, respectively. The oxidation behavior of the coated samples was investigated at 800, 1100 and 1300 °C under cyclic condition in laboratory air. The dwell time at high temperature was 10 or 20 h and the samples were tested for up to 10 cycles. Microstructural examinations of the coated samples were carried out using scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction measurements. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Lifetime of environmental/thermal barrier coatings deposited on an Nb/Nb5Si3- based alloy with FeB-Modified M7Si6-based bond coat

To enhance the performance of aircraft engines, high temperature materials are required being capable to operate at temperatures significantly higher than the temperature limit of about 1150°C approached for Ni-based superalloys currently employed. Nb/Nb5Si3-based composites are promising candidates for turbine engine applications at temperatures up to 1300°C, exhibiting balanced mechanical properties and reduced density compared to Ni-based superalloys [1]. To use these composites in gas turbine combustion atmosphere, environmental/thermal barrier coatings (E/TBCs) are required to protect them against heat, degradation in flowing water vapour and chemical attack of calcium-magnesium-alumino-silicate (CMAS)

Modularized Active Learning Solution for Labelling Text Data for Business Environment Analysis

In today’s interconnected world, the pace of change is increasing gradually and the effects of an event can propagate and disrupt industries, organizations or companies more dramatically and quickly. Therefore, having a comprehensive overview of the environment is a precious asset for resilience and sustainable growth. One enabler of the above-mentioned interconnectedness is the rapid flow and vast availability of information in text form, which can be also used as the fundamental resource to understand the shifting environment. Hence, actors can be able to become aware of changes at an early stage. The underlying patterns to filter relevant information can be detected by learning from data, or more specifically machine learning. Natural language processing (NLP) techniques can be applied because text data is analyzed. However, to embed the expertise and perspective of the user into the initial model, data should be labeled. This requires valuable expert time from the organization for the labeling, thus it should be minimized. This study aims to present an efficient and user-friendly solution for data labeling. To achieve this, a modularized Active Learning-based backend is combined with an intuitive interface. The output of this labeling process will be used further to train a model for environment analysis. Nevertheless, the main focus of this paper is the development of a solution to maximize efficiency during data labeling for environment analysis. After an introduction to the problem, the overview of the suggested solution accompanied by a prototype will be demonstrated

Connected Digital Twin for incorporating material flow simulation during product development

Changeable production systems do not consider the development and design of a product comprehensively enough. Material flow simulations are useful for considering product changes from a production point of view when used to verify concepts in the planning phase and to check for weak points. While simultaneous engineering is made possible by creating a material flow simulation at an early stage of product development, the creation of simulations is very time consuming and the added value of a simulation is often not fully recognised. In this paper, a concept is presented that helps to reduce the effort of creating and adapting simulation models by relying on the properties of flexibility and easy reconfigurability of adaptive production systems

Considerations on implementation of the newest treatment for symptomatic uterine fibroids : oral GnRH antagonists

Peer reviewe

Galleria mellonella: A Novel Invertebrate Model to Distinguish Intestinal Symbionts From Pathobionts

Insects and mammals share evolutionary conserved innate immune responses to maintain intestinal homeostasis. We investigated whether the larvae of the greater wax moth Galleria mellonella may be used as an experimental organism to distinguish between symbiotic Bacteroides vulgatus and pathobiotic Escherichia coli, which are mammalian intestinal commensals. Oral application of the symbiont or pathobiont to G. mellonella resulted in clearly distinguishable innate immune responses that could be verified by analyzing similar innate immune components in mice in vivo and in vitro. The differential innate immune responses were initiated by the recognition of bacterial components via pattern recognition receptors. The pathobiont detection resulted in increased expression of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species related genes as well as antimicrobial peptide gene expression. In contrast, the treatment/application with symbiotic bacteria led to weakened immune responses in both mammalian and insect models. As symbionts and pathobionts play a crucial role in development of inflammatory bowel diseases, we hence suggest G. mellonella as a future replacement organism in inflammatory bowel disease research

Die Impfung gegen COVID-19 in Deutschland zeigt eine hohe Wirksamkeit gegen SARS-CoV-2-Infektionen, Krankheitslast und Sterbefälle

Um die Bevölkerung vor den akuten und langfristigen Auswirkungen einer COVID-19-Infektion zu schützen und die Pandemie langfristig einzudämmen, sind zum einen nicht-pharmakologische Präventionsmaßnahmen und zum anderen eine Schutzimpfung notwendig. Basierend auf den Ergebnissen einer mathematischen Modellierung wurden Effekte der Impfung gegen COVID-19 auf den Pandemieverlauf in Deutschland im Zeitraum Januar bis Juli 2021 quantifiziert. Die Analysen zeigen, dass die Impfungen gegen COVID-19 bisher geschätzt 706.000 Meldefälle, 76.600 stationäre und etwa 19.600 intensiv-medizinische Fälle sowie mehr als 38.300 Sterbefälle verhindert hat. Insbesondere in der Altersgruppe ≥ 60 Jahre wurde die Anzahl der zu erwartenden Fälle für jeden der genannten Endpunkte um mehr als 40% reduziert.Peer Reviewe