Investigation in the Use of Infrared Absorption Spectrophotometry

Three rather unrelated projects in infrared spectrophotometry were carried out by the writer. First, some effort was expended in trying to find cell windows which were suitably transparent to infrared radiation and yet water insoluable. Secondly, B, the effects of dilution on certain w-lactams was investigated to check for hydrogen bonding effects on their spectra. Thirdly, C, some trial investigations were made using a silver chloride polarizer unit recently acquired for use with the Perkin-Elmer Model 21 spectrophotometer

The Danube River Basin: International Cooperation or Sustainable Development

The environmental deterioration of the Danube River basin calls for unprecedented cooperation among the ten riparian and seven non-riparian basin countries, the majority of which are undergoing major economic and political transformations after the breakup of the Soviet Union. This paper discusses the recent legal and institutional developments along with the political hurdles leading to a post-Soviet regime for managing the Danube River and promoting sustainable development in the basin. After reviewing the geography and ecology, the conflicts and political issues of the Danube, the current efforts at building cooperative institutions are discussed. The question whether the Danube will be exclusively the responsibility of the basin countries, will include the Russian Federation and other countries of the Black Sea, or will be the responsibility of pan-European institutions in close connection with the European Union is addressed

Transnational Insights for Climate Litigation at the European Court of Human Rights: A South-North Perspective in Pursuit of Climate Justice

The global climate crisis is increasingly recognised as an issue of climate injustice, including because it is causing (and worsening) inequalities and human rights violations. Moreover, responsibility for emissions and vulnerability to climate impacts are not evenly distributed. They vary among and within states. In order to tackle these issues of justice both within and among states, litigants have taken to domestic and regional courts to engage in climate litigation. A body of transnational climate jurisprudence is emerging in which courts are increasingly looking to laws beyond their relevant state or region, engaging with the moral aims of human rights law, and solidifying international climate commitments. In adjudicating climate cases, courts have become important sites of climate justice. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is currently adjudicating several important climate cases and could become a key player in responding to the climate crisis. From the point of departure that in a time of climate crisis courts have a crucial role to play in advancing climate justice, we conceptualise climate (in)justice and its significance in climate adjudication. Then, we examine how, in addressing questions of standing and transboundary harm, looking beyond the European Convention on Human Rights legal regime to the Global South (South Africa and the Inter-American System of Human Rights, respectively) could offer valuable transnational insights as the ECtHR adjudicates climate cases. In doing so we hope to contribute to the ongoing transnationalisation of climate jurisprudence

Longitudinal psychosocial functioning following mastectomy with or without breast reconstruction

Each year in the United Kingdom 48000 women receive a diagnosis of breast cancer (Jemal et at 2014). Most women opt to either have a mastectomy with or without reconstruction (Mortenson et al 2004). The aim of this thesis was to assess the longitudinal psychosocial functioning following mastectomy with or without breast reconstruction. The study highlighted that women who undergo immediate breast reconstruction suffer psychologically and physically more than women who have no reconstruction

Procedural fairness as a component of legality : is a reconciliation between Albutt and Masetlha possible?

In Albutt v Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation 2010 (3) SA 293 (CC) the Constitutional Court expanded the concept of legality. It did so by finding that rationality, as a component of legality, required that the victims of politically motivated crimes had first to be afforded a hearing before the President could exercise his power to pardon prisoners who had been found guilty of committing these crimes, and who had not sought amnesty from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission ('TRC'). The effect of Albutt is that the principle of legality is now capable of imposing procedural-fairness standards on the exercise of public power where it would be irrational not to do so, regardless of whether the exercise of such power amounts to administrative action in terms of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act 3 of 2000 ('PAJA'). Surprisingly, the Constitutional Court held that it was 'not necessary' to determine whether the exercise of the President's pardoning power amounts to administrative action in terms of the PAJA (Albutt para 83).http://www.jutalaw.co.za/catalogue/itemdisplay.jsp?item_id=3601am201

A critique on previous work in vision aided navigation

This paper presents a critique on previous work in the field of vision aided navigation, particularly in the fusion of visual and inertial sensors for navigation. Several improvements and updates are proposed for the existent systems. GPS receivers have allowed for accurate navigation for many vehicles and robotic platforms. GPS based navigation can, however, prove to be impractical in applications where there is no GPS reception such as underground, indoors or in some urban areas. This pertains, in particular, to many robotic applications where position must be known in global coordinates or relative to a reference point. An inertial navigation system (INS) can be used to calculate one’s relative navigation state via dead-reckoning calculations. The downfall of a low-cost INS is the errors associated with the system. While these errors are initially small, integration causes large drift errors over time. To combat this problem, cameras can be used to estimate the errors present in the INS readings. These results can then be used to correct the navigation state output from the INS. While the motion estimations from the cameras are not error-free, this method is made highly effective because of the complementary nature of the errors from the cameras and INS. Several improvements are proposed for this method; algorithmically, in updates to its hardware, and with the introduction of graphics processors to improve computational performance. The overall system performance, individual steps, algorithms, and results are compared to results from similar works to those of the proposed improvements. It is shown that the accuracy, responsiveness and overall performance of the system can potentially be greatly improved

The role of administrative law in enforcing socio-economic rights : revisiting Joseph

Joseph v City of Johannesburg has been both applauded by administrative lawyers, as a case in which formalism was rejected and a substantive model of administrative law adjudication was embraced, and condemned by human rights lawyers, as a case that focused on procedural fairness rather than ‘the hard rights of citizens and their plight’. I argue that because Joseph concerned a group of poor and vulnerable occupiers of an inner-city building deprived of their electricity, resulting in an inability to meet their basic needs: to cook, refrigerate their food, heat their homes, do homework, operate medical equipment, etc, Joseph is primarily a socio-economic rights case in which a requirement of the administrative law, procedural fairness, was invoked so as to protect and enforce a right to electricity. I critique the administrative law strategy invoked on behalf of the occupiers in Joseph to enforce the occupiers’ claim to have their electricity reconnected; the courts’ treatment of that strategy; and whether it is an effective and, if so, desirable tool for the enforcement of socio-economic rights in the future.This article is based on a presentation given at the Poverty and Justice Seminar that was held on 17–18 October 2012 at the University of Pretoria.http://www.jutalaw.co.za/catalogue/itemdisplay.jsp?item_id=3600am201