Thermal maturity estimation of carbonaceous material from proterozoic organic-walled microfossils assemblages (DRCongo, Mauritania and Australia) by using Raman spectroscopy

Biostratigraphie, Chémostratigraphie et caractérisation de la matière organique du Supergroupe de Mbuji-May

The Dual Targeting of FcRn and FcγRs via Monomeric Fc Fragments Results in Strong Inhibition of IgG-Dependent Autoimmune Pathologies

Novel molecules that directly target the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) and/or Fc gamma receptors (FcγRs) are emerging as promising treatments for immunoglobulin G (IgG)-dependent autoimmune pathologies. Mutated Fc regions and monoclonal antibodies that target FcRn are currently in clinical development and hold promise for reducing the levels of circulating IgG. Additionally, engineered structures containing multimeric Fc regions allow the dual targeting of FcRn and FcγRs; however, their tolerance needs to first be validated in phase I clinical studies. Here, for the first time, we have developed a modified monomeric recombinant Fc optimized for binding to all FcRns and FcγRs without the drawback of possible tolerance associated with FcγR cross-linking. A rational approach using Fc engineering allowed the selection of LFBD192, an Fc with a combination of six mutations that exhibits improved binding to human FcRn and FcγR as well as mouse FcRn and FcγRIV. The potency of LFBD192 was compared with that of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg), an FcRn blocker (Fc-MST-HN), and a trimeric Fc that blocks FcRn and/or immune complex-mediated cell activation through FcγR without triggering an immune reaction in several in vitro tests and validated in three mouse models of autoimmune disease

Parcerias e pobreza no Brasil : as contradições dos arranjos realizados entre entidades governamentais e empresas privadas para combater a pobreza no Brasil dos últimos 20 anos

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Ciências Humanas, Departamento de Serviço Social, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Política Social, 2009.No Brasil, como no resto do mundo, tem crescido de forma significativa a realização, em caráter voluntário, de associações entre organizações governamentais e empresas privadas para combater a pobreza. São exemplos disso: a doação de alimentos de uma indústria para um programa público de combate à desnutrição infantil; a alocação de recursos de uma associação empresarial para a construção de cisternas no bojo de uma política governamental de convivência com o semiárido; o apoio financeiro de diversas empresas a programas oficiais de Educação de Jovens e Adultos (EJA); a participação de empresas em campanhas lideradas por entidades governamentais que visam eliminar o trabalho infantil e o trabalho escravo. Essas associações, chamadas de parcerias público-privadas do social (PPPs) – de acordo com a nomenclatura utilizada pelas Nações Unidas – inscrevem-se nos movimentos, globais e nacionais, de responsabilidade social das empresas (RSE) e de investimento social privado (ISP). As razões que explicam o crescimento desse fenômeno social são diversas e, por vezes, contraditórias. Para uns, as parcerias têm por objetivo complementar a diminuição dos recursos públicos resultante do recuo do Estado na área social. Para outros, trata-se da demanda de consumidores, cada vez mais conscientes, que pressionam as empresas para que incorporem nos seus negócios novas dimensões, além da organização econômica, que dizem respeito à vida social, cultural e à preservação ambiental. Há ainda os que entendem as PPPs como um recurso de marketing utilizado pelas empresas para minimizar as críticas pelo poder excessivo que hoje detem. E, por fim, outros grupos da sociedade avaliam que tais parcerias integram o movimento neoliberal que busca desmanchar as referências aos direitos sociais considerados como entraves à acumulação do capital. Essas diferentes e, mesmo, antagônicas visões, nos levaram a querer aprofundar a temática – além do fato de que no mundo acadêmico ainda são pouco numerosas as reflexões sobre o assunto. Assim, a questão central que procuramos responder nesta tese de doutorado refere-se ao papel que as empresas privadas podem vir a exercer na implementação de políticas de combate à pobreza, ou seja, até que ponto o setor empresarial pode partilhar com o Estado o atendimento de direitos sociais básicos. Para tanto, buscamos investigar as ambivalências e as ambiguidades que caracterizam o processo de institucionalização das PPPs no Brasil, especialmente a partir da década de 1990. Partimos da hipótese de que a atual conformação, no país, das parcerias entre entidades governamentais e empresas privadas para combater a pobreza, inserem-se num movimento global que busca despolitizar a questão das desigualdades sociais e contempla o enfrentamento da pobreza a partir de seu deslocamento da esfera dos direitos. Para realizar nossa reflexão, a par da discussão teórica, apoiamo-nos nos resultados de fontes primárias e secundárias de informações. No que se refere às fontes primárias, realizamos uma pesquisa qualitativa, por meio de entrevistas semi-estruturadas, com atores relevantes para a construção da agenda das parcerias no Brasil. As entrevistas buscaram reconstruir o processo e a movimentação dos atores, bem como suas motivações, interesses, ideias e instituições, de modo a auxiliar no estudo e na verificação de nossa hipótese inicial de trabalho. _________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTIn Brazil, as in the rest of the world, volunteer associations between governmental organizations and private corporations to fight poverty have been growing at a fast pace. Examples of this fact are: the donation of food products by an industry to a public program against child malnutrition; funds being allocated by an entrepreneurial association to building cisterns under a governmental policy for improving living conditions in Brazil's semiarid region; financial support from various companies to official Youth and Adult Education (EJA) programmes; the participation of private companies in campaigns led by government organizations designed to eliminate child labor and slave labor. These associations, which are referred to as public-private partnerships (PPPs) – according to the nomenclature used by the United Nations – are part of global and national movements to promote corporate social responsibility (CSR) and private social investment (PSI). There are many, and at times contradictory, reasons that explain the growth observed in this social phenomenon. For some people, these partnerships are aimed at complementing a decrease in the availability of public funds resulting from a reduced presence of the State in the social area. For others, they resulted from a demand from increasingly aware consumers, who are pressing companies to take into account new dimensions, beyond economic organization, in their business activities, which are related to social and cultural life and environmental preservation. Others believe that these PPPs are a marketing resource which companies have been resorting to with the aim of minimizing any criticism against them based on the excessive power that they have today. Finally, other groups in society believe that these partnerships are an element of the neoliberal movement designed to play down references to social rights that are seen as hurdles to accumulating capital. These different and even antagonic views have led us to want to discuss these themes in greater depth, because, among other reasons, not many debates on this subject are being held in academic circles. Therefore, the key issue that we intend to address in this doctor's degree thesis refers to the role private corporations can play in policies against poverty, i.e. to what extent can the corporate sector share actions with the State in meeting basic social rights. For this purpose, we sought to investigate ambivalences and ambiguities that characterize the process of institutionalizing PPPs in Brazil, particularly since the 1990s. Our initial assumption was that the way partnerships are being established between governmental organizations and private corporations to fight poverty in Brazil suggests that they are part of a global movement aimed at depoliticizing the issue of social inequalities, making it possible for poverty to be addressed as an issue detached from the sphere of rights. In this reflection, apart from theoretical discussions, we relied on results of primary and secondary information sources. As primary sources, we carried out a qualitative survey based on semi-structured interviews with relevant actors for building the partnership agenda in Brazil. These interviews sought to rebuild the process, the actions of the actors involved and their motivations, interests, ideas and institutions, with the aim of producing inputs for our reflections and checking our initial assumption. ___________________________________________________________________________________ RESUMÉAu Brésil, comme dans le reste du monde, on voit augmenter significativement le nombre d’associations volontaires entre organisations gouvernementales et entreprises privées destinées à combattre la pauvreté. On peut citer comme exemples de ces collaborations: les dons d’aliments d’une industrie à un programme publique contre la malnutrition infantile; l’attribution de fonds d’une association d’entreprises à la construction de citernes, dans le cadre d’une politique gouvernementale d’adaptation à la sécheresse dans une région semiaride; le financement par diverses societés de programmes officiels de lutte contre l’analphabétisme parmi les jeunes et les adultes; ou encore la participation d’entreprises dans des campagnes contre le travail des enfants et le travail forcé. Ces associations appelées ‘partenariats public-privés’ du social (PPPs) – selon la nomenclature utilisée para les Nations Unies – font partie des mouvements, globaux et nationaux, de responsabilité sociale des entreprises (RSE) et d’investissement social privé (ISP). Les facteurs explicatifs de la croissance de ce phénomène sont variés et parfois même contradictoires. Pour certains, ces partenariats ont comme objectif de compenser la réduction des budgets publiques à la suite du recul de l’État dans le domaine social. Pour d’autres, il s’agit de demandes des consommateurs, de plus en plus conscients et qui font pression sur les entreprises pour qu’elles incluent dans leur stratégie de nouvelles variables non pas économiques, mais sociales, culturelles et de protection de l’environnement. Pour d’autres encore, les PPPs représentent une stratégie de marketing que les entreprises utilisent pour minimiser les critiques qui leur sont faites en raison du pouvoir excessif qu’elles détiennent. Finalement, pour encore d’autres, ces partenariats font partie du mouvement néo-libéral qui cherche à détruire les références aux droits sociaux, considérés comme des barrières à l’accumulation du capital. Ces interprétations diverses et même antagonistes nous ont amenée à vouloir approfondir ce thème, d’autant plus que dans le monde académique les réflexions sur ce sujet ne sont pas encore très nombreuses. C’est pourquoi la question centrale à laquelle nous nous efforçons de répondre dans cette thèse de doctorat a trait au rôle que les entreprises privées peuvent jouer au sein des politiques publiques contre la pauvreté. En d’autres termes, jusqu’où les compagnies peuvent-elles partager avec l’État la satisfaction des droits sociaux? Nous nous sommes donc proposé d’étudier les ambivalences et les ambiguités qui caractérisent le processus d’institutionalisation des PPPs au Brésil, particulièrement a partir des années 1990. Nous sommes partis de l’hypothèse que de la manière dont ces partenariats se structurent de nos jours dans ce pays, ils s’inscrivent dans un mouvement global qui cherche à dépolitiser la question des inégalités sociales et qui permette une réponse à la pauvreté qui soit extérieure à la sphère politique des droits sociaux. Pour soutenir notre recherche, au delà d’une réflexion théorique, nous nous sommes appuyés sur des données primaires et secondaires. Les informations primaires ont été recueillies au moyen d’une enquête qualitative que nous avons réalisée parmi des acteurs fondamentaux dans l’institutionnalisation des partenariats public-privés au Brésil. Les interviews ont cherché à reconstruire le processus des PPPs dans le pays, le mouvement des différents acteurs ainsi que leurs motivations, leurs intérêts, leurs idées et leurs institutions, de manière à éclairer notre réflexion et à vérifier notre hypothèse initiale de travail

Open data, public budget and its relations to people’s rights in Brazil

Results of a quantitative survey confirm findings of the qualitative research, regarding the need to improve the process of opening up data in Brazil. Accessible information is usually not complete, timely and/ or reliable. However, despite limitations of access to proper data, intermediaries believe that as a result of opening up data, progress has been made in the field of human rights. The Institute for Socioeconomic Studies (INESC) undertook the research to measure the impact on people’s rights of Brazilian national and sub-national budget transparency websites under the Open Data for Developing Countries (ODDC) initiative of the World Wide Web Foundation

Agrofuels and Family and Peasant Agriculture: Inputs for the debate

This report summarises the seminar held in Rio de Janeiro on July 12-13, 2007 focusing on Agrofuels and its consequent effects on family and peasant farming within the context of Brazilian agriculture and rural development. The paper is divided into three chapters ranging from the context and problems relating to agrofuels in Brazil to the challenges and prospects for agrofuels in the country. Each chapter was a presentation at the seminar and the paper later discusses the ideas within the debate and tries to identify the key points raised at the seminar. The event was based on the initiative of the Working Group on agriculture of Rede Brasileira pela Integração dos Povos – REBRIP (Brazilian Network for the Integration of the Peoples) and Federação de Órgãos para Assistência Social e Educacional – FASE (Federation of Agencies for Social and Educational Assistance), with the support from ActionAid Brazil, the Heinrich Boll Foundation and Oxfam International

A climate model from 200 AD to 1200 AD for the Hautes-Fagnes plateau (East Belgium) : based on pollen grains, testate amoebae, and humification analyses

Several peat cores were extracted from the Misten bog, on the Hautes-Fagnes plateau (East Belgium). Analyses of pollen grains, testate amoebae and the degree of peat humification have been standardised and combined into a palaeo-hydro-climatic model from 200 AD to 1200 AD. The reconstruction shows 9 distinctive phases of near-surface water tables, which may be used to infer changes in the atmospheric water balance of eastern Belgium during the Subatlantic stage

Raman microspectroscopy, bitumen reflectance and illite crystallinity scale: comparison of different geothermometry methods on fossiliferous Proterozoic sedimentary basins (DR Congo, Mauritania and Australia)

Sedimentary rocks containing microfossils are crucial archives to reconstitute early life evolution on Earth. However, the preservation of microfossils within rocks depends on several physico-chemical factors. Among these factors, the thermal evolution of the host rocks can be decisive. Here, we investigated carbonaceous shale samples containing exquisitely preserved organic-walled microfossils assemblages from three Proterozoic shallow marine sedimentary sequences: the Mbuji-Mayi Supergroup (Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo Basin), the Atar/El Mreïti Group (Mauritania, Taoudeni Basin) and the Kanpa Formation (Australia, Officer Basin). Thermal maturity of these rock samples is evaluated with Raman geothermometry, Raman reflectance, solid bitumen reflectance, illite crystallinity and Thermal Alteration Index. The comparison of results coming from these different techniques validates the use of Raman reflectance on Proterozoic carbonaceous material and especially for poorly-ordered carbonaceous material. We show that extracted kerogen (microfossils and amorphous organic material) is more accurate to estimate the thermal maturity of low-grade temperature Proterozoic sequences than kerogen in thin section. All techniques provide consistent range of temperatures except for Raman geothermometry, giving slightly higher estimates. Raman reflectance appears to be a fast, robust and non-destructive tool to evaluate the thermal maturity of poorly-organized carbonaceous material from Proterozoic rocks.Early Life Tarces, Evolution and implications for Astrobiolog

Holocene dust record in a NW European peat bog: A multiproxy approach

Dust deposition in southern Belgium is estimated from the geochemical signature of an ombrotrophic bog. The analyses of Rare Earth Elements (REE) and lithogenic element concentrations as well as Nd isotopes were performed by HR-ICP-MS and MC-ICP-MS respectively, in a 6 m peat section representing 5300 years, from 30 BC to 5300 BC dated by the 14C method. REE concentration variations in peat samples were used as a dust proxy and the Nd isotopes to trace the sources. Peat humification and testate amoebae were used to evaluate hydroclimatic conditions. The range of dust deposition varied from 0.03 to 4 g m-2 yr-1. The highest dust fluxes were observed from 800 to 600 BC, and from 3200 to 2800 BC and correspond to cold periods. The Nd values show large variability, between -5 and –13, identifying three major sources of dust: local soils, distal volcanic and desert particles. By comparing our results with the dust recorded in other peat bogs and ice cores from different latitudes, we evidence that the Misten peat is a valid archive for dust deposition