Da Madraça à Universidade: itinerários de jovens tamacheque no Egito

This paper focus on the itineraries of young Tamasheq students in Egypt that began their education in Koranic or French-Arabic schools (madrasahs). They were all attracted by Al-Azhar, revered tertiary institution and a household name in the Islamic world. However, all of them have considered the University of Cairo as a more promising place to continue their studies on the postgraduate level, providing them with access to what they call ‘modern’ studies. This paper is based on fieldwork carried out in Cairo between 2010 and the beginning of 2015 and in Mali between 2010 and 2017. Our reflexions spring from a set of observation strategies, daily life interviews, group tours, participation in festive events, meetings and discussions. We have attempted to trace the importance of a space of emerging exchanges through the mobility of students, as well as the current importance of travel in search for knowledge in the Sahara.A atenção neste artigo recai sobre os itinerários formativos de jovens tamacheque no Egito, que iniciaram seus estudos em escolas corânicas (madraças). Eles foram atraídos por Al-Azhar, importante universidade muçulmana, no entanto, todos entenderam a importância de realizar estudos pós-graduados na Universidade do Cairo, que lhes daria acesso ao que chamam de ‘estudos modernos’. A discussão baseia-se em trabalho de campo – realizado no Egito entre 2010 e 2015 e no Mali, entre 2010 e 2017 –, com diferentes momentos de observação, entrevistas, convívio, passeios e viagens de grupo. As narrativas convergem para a experiência e percepção da importância dos estudos por eles chamados de “modernos”, sobretudo, no contexto da vida de pessoas que iniciaram sua formação nas escolas corânicas ou franco-árabes. Esses jovens atravessaram fronteiras de diversas ordens – físicas, afetivas e simbólicas –, construindo projetos possíveis, movimentando-se por meio do real que foram, simultaneamente, criando

As percepções de alguns professores sobre a importância e as dificuldades do ensino da geometria

O enfoque desse artigo é mostrar a percepção de alguns professores sobre a importância e as dificuldades de ensinar Geometria. Foram entrevistados 21 professores que lecionam no Ensino Básico em escolas de âmbito federal, estadual e municipal de uma cidade do interior de um estado do Brasil. Para a realização da pesquisa utilizamos as redes sociais, em específico, o facebook e a whatsApp, no intuito de obter os dados de forma mais espontânea. Para análise desses dados utilizamos os pressupostos teóricos da Semiótica peirceana. Os resultados apresentados apontam que os professores demonstram conhecer a importância do ensino de Geometria para o processo formativo dos estudantes, no entanto, se esbarram em dificuldades de cunho pessoal na sua formação inicial; indisponibilidade temporal para planejar aulas que proporcione o uso de materiais concretos e da tecnologia; a falta de capacitação e direcionamento de como trabalhar com esses materiais e o “engessamento”do currículo ao qual estão submetidos

One Health-ness Evaluation of Cysticercosis Surveillance Design in Portugal

The increasing occurrence of human cysticercosis, a zoonotic neglected disease, is challenging the traditional prevention and control paradigm and calling for One Health (OH) solutions in industrialized countries. OH solutions for health interventions are increasingly being used to capture expected and unexpected outcomes across people, animals, and the environment. The Network for Evaluation of One Health (NEOH) proposes an evidence-based framework, relying on systems and mixed methods approaches to evaluate the One Health-ness. In this case study, this tool is used to evaluate the design of the Observatory of Taeniasis and Cysticercosis, as an example of intersectorial collaboration for surveillance in Portugal. The OH Initiative (drivers and expected outcomes) and its system (boundaries, aim, dimensions, actors, and stakeholders) were described. The different aspects of this Initiative were scored with values from 0 (=no OH approach) to 1 (=perfect OH approach). The OH index was 0.31. Its OH ratio is 1.98. Overall scores were as follows: OH thinking 0.75; OH planning 0.60; OH working 0.60; OH sharing 0.35; OH learning 0.50; and systemic organization 0.50. Operational levels of the Initiative are the main strengths, indicating a comprehensive multidimensional innovative approach and transdisciplinarity. Critical issues in the supporting infrastructure were observed, related to communication, learning and organizational gaps in the project, with the evaluation being conducted as the project is being designed and implemented. The strengths and weaknesses detected may be used to refine the Initiative. This case study therefore exemplifies and supports OH assessment also for ongoing projects, at design and early implementation stages for guiding and guaranteeing an OH-oriented perspective.publishersversionpublishe

d=3 Bosonic Vector Models Coupled to Chern-Simons Gauge Theories

We study three dimensional O(N)_k and U(N)_k Chern-Simons theories coupled to a scalar field in the fundamental representation, in the large N limit. For infinite k this is just the singlet sector of the O(N) (U(N)) vector model, which is conjectured to be dual to Vasiliev's higher spin gravity theory on AdS_4. For large k and N we obtain a parity-breaking deformation of this theory, controlled by the 't Hooft coupling lambda = 4 \pi N / k. For infinite N we argue (and show explicitly at two-loop order) that the theories with finite lambda are conformally invariant, and also have an exactly marginal (\phi^2)^3 deformation. For large but finite N and small 't Hooft coupling lambda, we show that there is still a line of fixed points parameterized by the 't Hooft coupling lambda. We show that, at infinite N, the interacting non-parity-invariant theory with finite lambda has the same spectrum of primary operators as the free theory, consisting of an infinite tower of conserved higher-spin currents and a scalar operator with scaling dimension \Delta=1; however, the correlation functions of these operators do depend on lambda. Our results suggest that there should exist a family of higher spin gravity theories, parameterized by lambda, and continuously connected to Vasiliev's theory. For finite N the higher spin currents are not conserved.Comment: 34 pages, 29 figures. v2: added reference

Solving ill-posed bilevel programs

This paper deals with ill-posed bilevel programs, i.e., problems admitting multiple lower-level solutions for some upper-level parameters. Many publications have been devoted to the standard optimistic case of this problem, where the difficulty is essentially moved from the objective function to the feasible set. This new problem is simpler but there is no guaranty to obtain local optimal solutions for the original optimistic problem by this process. Considering the intrinsic non-convexity of bilevel programs, computing local optimal solutions is the best one can hope to get in most cases. To achieve this goal, we start by establishing an equivalence between the original optimistic problem an a certain set-valued optimization problem. Next, we develop optimality conditions for the latter problem and show that they generalize all the results currently known in the literature on optimistic bilevel optimization. Our approach is then extended to multiobjective bilevel optimization, and completely new results are derived for problems with vector-valued upper- and lower-level objective functions. Numerical implementations of the results of this paper are provided on some examples, in order to demonstrate how the original optimistic problem can be solved in practice, by means of a special set-valued optimization problem

A cell-free organelle-based in vitro system for studying the peroxisomal protein import machinery

Here we describe a protocol to dissect the peroxisomal matrix protein import pathway using a cell-free in vitro system. The system relies on a postnuclear supernatant (PNS), which is prepared from rat/mouse liver, to act as a source of peroxisomes and cytosolic components. A typical in vitro assay comprises the following steps: (i) incubation of the PNS with an in vitro-synthesized 35 S-labeled reporter protein; (ii) treatment of the organelle suspension with a protease that degrades reporter proteins that have not associated with peroxisomes; and (iii) SDS-PAGE/autoradiography analysis. To study transport of proteins into peroxisomes, it is possible to use organelle-resident proteins that contain a peroxisomal targeting signal (PTS) as reporters in the assay. In addition, a receptor (PEX5L/S or PEX5L.PEX7) can be used to report the dynamics of shuttling proteins that mediate the import process. Thus, different but complementary perspectives on the mechanism of this pathway can be obtained. We also describe strategies to fortify the system with recombinant proteins to increase import yields and block specific parts of the machinery at a number of steps. The system recapitulates all the steps of the pathway, including mono-ubiquitination of PEX5L/S at the peroxisome membrane and its ATP-dependent export back into the cytosol by PEX1/PEX6. An in vitro import(/export) experiment can be completed in 24 h.We thank M. Fransen, Katholieke Universiteit-Leuven, for critical comments on the manuscript and for the plasmid encoding histidine-tagged PEX19. We thank P. van Veldhoven, Katholieke Universiteit-Leuven, and P. Maciel, Universidade do Minho, for the expression plasmids encoding prePHYH and GST-Ub, respectively. This work was funded by FEDER—Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional through the COMPETE 2020—Operacional Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalization (POCI), Portugal 2020, Portugal’s FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia/ Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação in the framework of the projects ‘The molecular mechanism of protein import into peroxisomes’ (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-019731-PTDC/BIA-BCM/118577/2010), ‘Institute for Research and Innovation in Health Sciences’ (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007274) and ‘The molecular mechanisms of peroxisome biogenesis’ (PTDC /BEX-BC M/2311/2014) and Norte 2020—Programa Operacional Regional do Norte, under the application of the ‘Porto Neurosciences and Neurologic Disease Research Initiative at i3S (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000008)’, awarded to J.E.A. T.A.R., T.F., A.F.D. and C.P.G. were supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Programa Operacional Potencial Humano do QREN and Fundo Social Europeu

The peroxisomal matrix protein translocon is a large cavity-forming protein assembly into which PEX5 protein enters to release its cargo

A remarkable property of the machinery for import of peroxisomal matrix proteins is that it can accept already folded proteins as substrates. This import involves binding of newly synthesized proteins by cytosolic peroxisomal biogenesis factor 5 (PEX5) followed by insertion of the PEX5– cargo complex into the peroxisomal membrane at the docking/translocation module (DTM). However, how these processes occur remains largely unknown. Here, we used truncated PEX5 molecules to probe the DTM architecture. We found that the DTM can accommodate a larger number of truncated PEX5 molecules comprising amino acid residues 1–197 than full-length PEX5 molecules. A shorter PEX5 version (PEX5(1–125)) still interacted correctly with the DTM; however, this species was largely accessible to exoge-nously added proteinase K, suggesting that this protease can access the DTM occupied by a small PEX5 protein. Interestingly, the PEX5(1–125)–DTM interaction was inhibited by a polypeptide comprising PEX5 residues 138 – 639. Apparently, the DTM can recruit soluble PEX5 through interactions with different PEX5 domains, suggesting that the PEX5–DTM interactions are to some degree fuzzy. Finally, we found that the interaction between PEX5 and PEX14, a major DTM component, is stable at pH 11.5. Thus, there is no reason to assume that the hitherto intriguing resistance of DTM-bound PEX5 to alkaline extraction reflects its direct contact with the peroxisomal lipid bilayer. Collectively, these results suggest that the DTM is best described as a large cavity-forming protein assembly into which cytosolic PEX5 can enter to release its cargo.This work was supported in part by Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) funds through the COMPETE 2020-Operational Pro-gramme for Competitiveness and Internationalization (POCI), Portugal 2020 and by Portuguese funds through Fundação para a Ciência e a Tec-nologia/Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação in the framework of the projects “Institute for Research and Innovation in Health Sciences” (Grant POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007274) and “The molecular mechanisms of peroxisome biogenesis” (Grant PTDC/BEX-BCM/2311/2014) and through Norte 2020-Programa Operacional Regional do Norte under the application of the “Porto Neurosciences and Neurologic Disease Research Initiative at i3S” (Grant NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000008). The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest with the contents of this article

Axion Protection from Flavor

The QCD axion fails to solve the strong CP problem unless all explicit PQ violating, Planck-suppressed, dimension n<10 operators are forbidden or have exponentially small coefficients. We show that all theories with a QCD axion contain an irreducible source of explicit PQ violation which is proportional to the determinant of the Yukawa interaction matrix of colored fermions. Generically, this contribution is of low operator dimension and will drastically destabilize the axion potential, so its suppression is a necessary condition for solving the strong CP problem. We propose a mechanism whereby the PQ symmetry is kept exact up to n=12 with the help of the very same flavor symmetries which generate the hierarchical quark masses and mixings of the SM. This "axion flavor protection" is straightforwardly realized in theories which employ radiative fermion mass generation and grand unification. A universal feature of this construction is that the heavy quark Yukawa couplings are generated at the PQ breaking scale.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figure