They Still Have a Dream: a research paper on the emergence of the BLM movement as a consequence of racial profiling by police force and the reproduction of racist messages in mass media

This academic paper focuses on the racial profiling and discursive bias against African American people in the United States. The aim of this paper is twofold: first, to illustrate and develop the Black Lives Matter movement as a consequence of racism as well as the legislation and different programs that have been created to reduce police brutality and, second, to evince the way mass media reproduces and perpetrates racist messages. This academic paper was written by means of collecting information retrieved from varied sources and assorted experts of each area mentioned as well as by applying the discursive strategies proposed by linguist Van Dijk. Ultimately, the authors of this work concluded that structural racism is a trait that prevails in the American society in spite of the creation of social movements and regulations that aim to combat racial profiling

Ecologia Política Latino-americana : a visão da Gestão Ambiental - UNB/FUP sobre a Ecologia Política Latino-americana

Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso (graduação)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Planaltina, 2017.Atualmente a relação entre os indivíduos da sociedade, sendo principalmente os da América Latina com a natureza, tem se intensificado. As variadas discussões abordadas em congressos e reuniões internas ou externas de grupos socioambientais, tem debatido sobre um assunto relativamente atual, que é a Ecologia Política Latino-americana, que diversos autores descrevem como tendo uma relevância internacional, com indivíduos ligados ao ativismo ambiental em seus respectivos países. O objetivo geral deste estudo é analisar como a Ecologia Política Latino-americana é abordada dentro da Universidade de Brasília – UNB, no curso de Gestão Ambiental. Buscou-se também identificar na base curricular do curso de Gestão Ambiental/UnBas disciplinas que convergem ou não para o tema Ecologia Política na América Latina. A pergunta de pesquisa foi: como o curso de Gestão Ambiental – UnB discorre sobre a importância ou até mesmo a existência da Ecologia Política Latino-americana com os discentes? A metodologia utilizada neste estudo, foi a revisão bibliográfica de autores que abordam em suas obras a Ecologia Política Latino-americana. Baseado nestas informações, foi possível a elaboração e aplicação de um questionário sobre o tema para os discentes que estão no final do curso de Gestão Ambiental. O principal resultado deste estudo foi mostrar para os discentes que um tema de relevante importâncianão tem sido abordado de maneira grandiosa como deveria, já que a omissão de informações para os indivíduos que serão o futuro de um país, vai piorando cada vez mais, fazendo com que seja de tamanha dificuldade dissipar esse tipo de informação e assunto para todos que estão não somente inclusos neste meio, mas como aqueles que irão trabalhar com essa temática

Density mismatch in thin diblock copolymer films

Thin films of diblock copolymer subject to gravitational field are simulated by means of a cell dynamical system model. The difference in density of the two sides of the molecule and the presence of the field causes the formation of lamellar patterns with orientation parallel to the confining walls even when they are neutral. The concentration profile of those films is analyzed in the weak segregation regime and a functional form for the profile is proposed.Comment: 9 pages and 8 figures. Needs EPSF macros. Submitted to PR

Neutron imaging with a Micromegas detector

The micropattern gaseous detector Micromegas has been developed for several years in Saclay and presents good performance for neutron detection. A prototype for neutron imaging has been designed and new results obtained in thermal neutron beams are presented. Based on previous results demonstrating a good 1D spatial resolution, a tomographic image of a multiwire cable has been performed using a 1D Micromegas prototype. The number of pillars supporting the micromesh is too large and leads to local losses of efficiency that distort the tomographic reconstruction. Nevertheless, this first tomographic image achieved with this kind of detector is very encouraging. The next worthwhile development for neutron imaging is to achieve a bi-dimensional detector, which is presented in the second part of this study. The purpose of measurements was to investigate various operational parameters to optimize the spatial resolution. Through these measurements the optimum spatial resolution has been found to be around 160 microns (standard deviation) using Micromegas operating in double amplification mode. Several 2D imaging tests have been carried out. Some of these results have revealed fabrication defects that occurred during the manufacture of Micromegas and that are limiting the full potential of the present neutron imaging system.Comment: 6 pages, 10 figures, presented at IEEE 2004 conference in Roma, Ital

Hémisynthèse d'analogues de la guttiférone A

Symphonia globulifera is a widespread tropical tree used in African and American traditional medicine. Several phytochemical investigations have been carried out leading to the isolation of approximately 40 secondary metabolites, including a dozen polycyclic polyprenylated acyl phloroglucinols. Guttiferone A, one of the most representative compounds of this series, demonstrated promising antiparasitic activities in the micromolar range. Previous works developed an easy access to guttiferone A with multigram scale so this molecule underwent further pharmacomodulation studies and the activity was improving over the generation of analogues. The first generations of analogues concerned the modification of the phloroglucinol and the catechol moity. Those results leds us to focus on the third part of the molecule, the prenyl side chaines, but this part was difficult to modify. The biotransformation of guttiferone A by endophytes of Symphonia globulifera was therefore considered. These microorganisms being in permanent contact with the secondary metabolites of the plant, they might adapt their enzymatic system to their environment. Several strains of endophytes were tested and all led to the synthesis of 3,16-oxyguttiferone A and 1,16-oxyguttiferone A, metabolites naturally occuring in small amounts in the plant. The strain giving the best results has been identified as Bipolaris cactivora. Finally, the search for the parasitic targets of guttiferone A in Plasmodium falciparum was initiated during a previous work but did not led to a satisfying result because of too many non-specific bonds formed between the probe and the parasite proteins. A smaller probe was synthesized and we designed a newstrategy to visualize the target proteins. This new strategy relies on UV initiated thiol-ene coupling.Le Symphonia globulifera est un arbre tropical largement utilisé en médecine traditionnelle africaine et américaine. Cet arbre a donc fait l'objet d'études phytochimiques approfondies et une quarantaine de métabolites secondaires ont pu être ainsi décrits, dont une douzaine de phloroglucinols acylés polycycliques polyprénylés (PPAPs). La guttiférone A , l'un des métabolites les plus abondants dans cette plante et appartenant à la famille des PPAPs, montre des activités antiparasitaires intéressantes de l'ordre du micromolaire. Cette matière première qui peut être facilement obtenue, a donc fait l'objet de précédentes études de pharmacomodulation, améliorant l'activité au fil des générations d'analogues. L'obtention des deux premières générations a été basée sur des modifications des parties phloroglucinol et catéchol. Ces résultats ont encouragé la poursuite de travaux hémisynthétiques mais la troisième partie de la molécule, les chaînes prényles, possède une réactivité particulière. La biotransformation de la guttiférone A par les endophytes de Symphonia globulifera a donc été envisagée. En effet, ces microorganismes étant en contact permanent avec les métabolites secondaires de la plante, ils ont pu adapter leur système enzymatique à leur environnement. Plusieurs souches d'endophytes ont donc été testées et ont toutes conduit à la synthèse de la 3,16-oxyguttiférone A et à la 1,16-oxyguttiférone A, métabolites naturellement présents en faible quantité dans la plante. La souche donnant les meilleurs résultats a été identifiée comme Bipolaris cactivora. Enfin la recherche des cibles parasitaires de la guttiférone A chez Plasmodium falciparum avait été initiée lors d'une précédente thèse mais n'avait pas abouti car trop de liaisons non spécifiques se formaient entre la sonde et les protéines du parasites. Ces travaux ont donc été abordés sous un nouvel angle, en synthétisant une sonde plus petite et une stratégie de visualisation des protéines reposant sur une photoaddition thiol-ène a été imaginée pour coupler un fluorophore sur la guttiférone A