La politique linguistique et l'avenir du Francais au Mexique:etude du cas de l'universite de Veracruz

In a linguistic context where it seems the entire world is only interested in learning English, it is worth considering the idea of whether French still has a place in Mexico. In spite of the predominance of English, there is nevertheless a feeling that French remains alive in Mexico, and indeed in certain areas has retained its strength and appeal. This hypothesis was to put to the test by exploring the current linguistic environment prevalent in the state of Veracruz. An investigation in the form of questionnaires and interviews of all those connected to the teaching of French (including students, teachers and employees and directors of language schools) shows that the desire of the Mexican government of promoting English for everyone is not necessarily consistent with the desire and expectations of the general populace. This in turn suggest the need of adopting a policy that enables us not only to take into consideration what people seem to be telling us regarding the learning of foreign learning but also of what they are not telling us. If the teaching and learning of French as a foreign language remains strong in Veracruz, it is explained much more by the long and friendly relationship that people in the state have had with French people (and their culture) than it is by any instrumental needs of learning their language. This is seen in the fact that students here consistently describe their motivation for learning French from an emotional or affective standpoint rather than from professional one. It seems that the ties between the Mexican and French people remain solid. Another interesting characteristic of students of French in Veracruz is the positive attitude they seem to have regarding languages in general, which in turn enables them to take further advantage of the benefits made available from globalization. In reality, there exists no rivalry between French and English and therefore it is unnecessary to adopt measures that would address such struggle. It is however a matter of great urgency that authorities in the arenas of politics and academia take a closer look at the policies they design regarding the study of foreign languages in general, and that they consider, specifically, a wholly alternative to the one language model of teaching and learning of foreign language – in this case English-, a model that for all intents and purposes has failed. In the midst of a globalized world, and during this current period of increased linguistic activity, the aforementioned assertions serve not only to support my initial hypothesis, but also to help shake off the dust of some out-dated belief systems and lay down the framework for a new, better informed and well thought-out policy of foreign languages planning.

Improved production of industrially relevant recombinant proteins: application of multi-factorial design of experiments and scalable process modelling

The work described in this thesis focuses on the use of a design-of-experiments approach in a multi-well mini-bioreactor to enable the rapid establishments of high yielding production phase conditions in yeast, which is an increasingly popular host system in both academic and industrial laboratories. Using green fluorescent protein secreted from the yeast, Pichia pastoris, a scalable predictive model of protein yield per cell was derived from 13 sets of conditions each with three factors (temperature, pH and dissolved oxygen) at 3 levels and was directly transferable to a 7 L bioreactor. This was in clear contrast to the situation in shake flasks, where the process parameters cannot be tightly controlled. By further optimisating both the accumulation of cell density in batch and improving the fed-batch induction regime, additional yield improvement was found to be additive to the per cell yield of the model. A separate study also demonstrated that improving biomass improved product yield in a second yeast species, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Investigations of cell wall hydrophobicity in high cell density P. pastoris cultures indicated that cell wall hydrophobin (protein) compositional changes with growth phase becoming more hydrophobic in log growth than in lag or stationary phases. This is possibly due to an increased occurrence of proteins associated with cell division. Finally, the modelling approach was validated in mammalian cells, showing its flexibility and robustness. In summary, the strategy presented in this thesis has the benefit of reducing process development time in recombinant protein production, directly from bench to bioreactor.

The effect of antifoam addition on protein production yields

Pichia pastoris is a widely used host for recombinant protein production. The foaming associated with culturing it on a large scale is commonly prevented by the addition of chemical antifoaming agents or "antifoams." Unexpectedly, the addition of a range of antifoams to both shake flask and bioreactor cultures of P. pastoris has been shown to alter the total yield of the recombinant protein being produced. Possible explanations for this are that the presence of the antifoam increases the total amount of protein being produced and secreted per cell or that it increases the density of the culture. Antifoaming agents may therefore have specific effects on the growth and yield characteristics of recombinant cultures, in addition to their primary action as de-foamers.

Affinity purification of plasmid DNA directly from crude bacterial cell lysates

We have shown previously that a sequence-specific DNA-binding protein based on the Lac repressor protein can isolate pre-purified DNA efficiently from simple buffer solution but our attempts to purify plasmids directly from crude starting materials were disappointing with unpractically low DNA yields. We have optimized tbe procedure and present a simple affinity methodology whereby plasmid DNA is purified directly by mixing two crude cell lysates, one cell lysate containing the plasmid and the other the protein affinity ligand, without the need for treatment by RNaseA. After IMAC chromatography, high purity supercoiled DNA is recovered in good yields of 100-150 μg plasmid per 200 mL shake flask culture. Moreover, the resulting DNA is free from linear or open-circular plasmid DNA, genomic DNA, RNA, and protein, to the limits of our detection. Furthermore, we show that lyophilized affinity ligand can be stored at room temperature and re-hydrated for use when required. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Setting up a bioreactor for recombinant protein production in yeast

Scale-up from shake flasks to bioreactors allows for the more reproducible, high-yielding production of recombinant proteins in yeast. The ability to control growth conditions through real-time monitoring facilitates further optimization of the process. The setup of a 3-L stirred-tank bioreactor for such an application is described. © 2012 Springer Science+business Media, LLC.

Hybrid Fe3O4 /GaAs (100) structure for spintronics

Fe3O4 GaAs hybrid structures have been studied using reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), and low-temperature vibrating-sample magnetometry (VSM). The samples were prepared by oxidizing epitaxial Fe thin films in a partial pressure of 5× 10-5 mbar of oxygen at 500 K for 180 s. Clear RHEED patterns were observed, suggesting the epitaxial growth of Fe oxides with a cubic structure. The XPS spectra show that the oxides were Fe3O4 rather than γ- Fe2O3, as there were no shake-up satellites between the two Fe 2p peaks. This was further confirmed by the XMCD measurements, which show ferromagnetic coupling between the Fe cations, with no evidence of intermixing at the interface. The VSM measurements show that the films have a magnetic uniaxial anisotropy and a "quick" saturation property, with the easy axes along the [011] direction. This detailed study offers further insight into the structure, interface, and magnetic properties of this hybrid Fe3O4 GaAs (100) structure as a promising system for spintronic application. © 2005 American Institute of Physics.

[Poster] Friends of the Island

This poster presentation will exhibit the ongoing design work within two small islands adjacent to Diner Key Marina gifted by the City of Miami to the non-profit organization, Shake-A-Leg. This organization works to blur the lines between access, recreation, and skill, redefining what is possible. Abled and disabled children, adolescents, and young adults go to Shake-A-Leg to participate in a myriad of activities such as sailing, kayaking, swimming, painting, and socializing in these islands regardless of their inadequate walkways and installations. The users are people from different social statuses, physical and mental abilities. This poster will exhibit the design proposal to enhance the islands’ infrastructure to provide seamless access to all its visitors through the lush habitat in these islands. The proposed program challenges the disabilities of the person and helps them to mediate and transform them into new possibilities and abilities. The program proposes ten components which include a nature trail, restrooms, dinning center, art studio, and observation deck. The design of each space draws from the sailing boat to create solutions were the user will explore, participate and enjoy. The location encourages a feeling of challenge but at the same time it is a place for relief and freedom, allowing them to discover the diversity through experimentation and interaction with the environment. This poster presents design principles that value equal access and experience, celebrating the differences among users and the environment, blurring the lines between nature and access.

Musical commonplace book : manuscript, [approximately 1790-approximately 1810]

Contains songs, partly from English operas, and instrumental music.

Negotiating queer and religious identities in higher education: queering ‘progression’ in the ‘university experience’

This article addresses the negotiation of ‘queer religious’ student identities in UK higher education. The ‘university experience’ has generally been characterised as a period of intense transformation and self-exploration, with complex and overlapping personal and social influences significantly shaping educational spaces, subjects and subjectivities. Engaging with ideas about progressive tolerance and becoming, often contrasted against ‘backwards’ religious homophobia as a sentiment/space/subject ‘outside’ education, this article follows the experiences and expectations of queer Christian students. In asking whether notions of ‘queering higher education’ (Rumens 2014 Rumens, N. 2014. “Queer Business: Towards Queering the Purpose of the Business School.” In The Entrepreneurial University: Public Engagements, Intersecting Impacts, edited by Y. Taylor, 82–104. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.) ‘fit’ with queer-identifying religious youth, the article explores how educational experiences are narrated and made sense of as ‘progressive’. Educational transitions allow (some) sexual-religious subjects to negotiate identities more freely, albeit with ongoing constraints. Yet perceptions of what, where and who is deemed ‘progressive’ and ‘backwards’ with regard to sexuality and religion need to be met with caution, where the ‘university experience’ can shape and shake sexual-religious identity.

Large Numerical Models in Continuous Hybrid Simulation

Hybrid simulation is a technique that combines experimental and numerical testing and has been used for the last decades in the fields of aerospace, civil and mechanical engineering. During this time, most of the research has focused on developing algorithms and the necessary technology, including but not limited to, error minimisation techniques, phase lag compensation and faster hydraulic cylinders. However, one of the main shortcomings in hybrid simulation that has pre- vented its widespread use is the size of the numerical models and the effect that higher frequencies may have on the stability and accuracy of the simulation. The first chapter in this document provides an overview of the hybrid simulation method and the different hybrid simulation schemes, and the corresponding time integration algorithms, that are more commonly used in this field. The scope of this thesis is presented in more detail in chapter 2: a substructure algorithm, the Substep Force Feedback (Subfeed), is adapted in order to fulfil the necessary requirements in terms of speed. The effects of more complex models on the Subfeed are also studied in detail, and the improvements made are validated experimentally. Chapters 3 and 4 detail the methodologies that have been used in order to accomplish the objectives mentioned in the previous lines, listing the different cases of study and detailing the hardware and software used to experimentally validate them. The third chapter contains a brief introduction to a project, the DFG Subshake, whose data have been used as a starting point for the developments that are shown later in this thesis. The results obtained are presented in chapters 5 and 6, with the first of them focusing on purely numerical simulations while the second of them is more oriented towards a more practical application including experimental real-time hybrid simulation tests with large numerical models. Following the discussion of the developments in this thesis is a list of hardware and software requirements that have to be met in order to apply the methods described in this document, and they can be found in chapter 7. The last chapter, chapter 8, of this thesis focuses on conclusions and achievements extracted from the results, namely: the adaptation of the hybrid simulation algorithm Subfeed to be used in conjunction with large numerical models, the study of the effect of high frequencies on the substructure algorithm and experimental real-time hybrid simulation tests with vibrating subsystems using large numerical models and shake tables. A brief discussion of possible future research activities can be found in the concluding chapter.

Design Without Borders: A Multi-Everything Masters

Design is increasingly a global activity: addressing issues that challenge and affect people and populations other than our own, involving stakeholders from many cultures, realized through borderless networks of knowledge, services, materials, manufacturing and distribution. There is an appetite among graduates, especially in design and engineering, to broaden horizons and raise ambitions, to tackle big issues through innovation to bring about life-changing or world-changing impact. Employers demand such thinkers and doers: culturally attuned, multidisciplinary and T-shaped, unafraid to shake things up. In 2013, twelve postgraduates embarked on a new joint Masters course in London; students from eight different nations, studying together in three capital cities over two years. This programme is a collaboration between four centres of academic excellence in UK, USA and Japan; these students soon become its first graduating cohort, having experienced differing teaching styles, perspectives and specialisms around design, technology and innovation from four world-class institutions; immersion in three very different cultures; collaboration with students and faculty from many diverse disciplines and cultures; forming friendships and networks spanning the globe. This paper outlines the rationale and philosophy of the course, the challenges in its realisation and development so far, and its likely future evolution.

Optimization of lipase production from yeasts strains isolated from olive mil wastewater

Dissertação submetida à Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências para a obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Microbiologia Aplicada.

Ability of Gordonia alkanivorans strain 1B for high added value carotenoids production

Currently, carotenoids are valuable bioactive molecules for several industries, such as chemical, pharmaceutical, food and cosmetics, due to their multiple benefits as natural colorants, antioxidants and vitamin precursors. Hence, the increasing interest on these high added-value products has led to the search of alternatives, more cost-effective and with better yields, towards their industrial production. Indeed, microbial metabolism offers a promising option for carotenoids production. Herein it is shown the potential of the dibenzothiophene desulfurizing bacterium Gordonia alkanivorans strain 1B as a high carotenoid-producer microorganism. The novel carotenoids, produced under different culture conditions, were extracted with DMSO and then further analyzed both through spectrophotometry and HPLC. When grown in glucose-sulfate-light, strain 1B was able of achieving 2015 g carotenoids per g DCW in shake-flask assays, with about 60% corresponding to lutein, canthaxanthin and astaxanthin. Further optimization studies open a new focus of research aiming to get a hyper pigment-producer strain that may be applied towards different industrial sectors.

Comparing the expression of human DNA topoisomerase I in KM71H and X33 strains of Pichia pastoris

Background: Human is an essential cellular enzyme that is found in all human cells. As this enzyme is upregulated in cancer cells exceedingly, it is used as a target for cancer chemotherapeutic drug development. As such, producing the in-house enzyme for the purpose to speed up the search for more cost-effective and target specific hTopoI inhibitors is warranted. This study aims to compare the optimised conditions for the expression of hTopoI in KM71H (MutS) and X33 (Mut+) strains of Pichia pastoris P. pastoris transfected with an hTopoI recombinant vector was used for the optimization of a higher level of hTopoI expression. Results: In the process, fed-batch cultivation parameters that influence the expression of hTopoI, such as culture temperature, methanol induction and feeding strategy, were optimised in the transfected KM71H and X33 P. pastoris strains in a shake flask system. The cell density and total protein concentration (protein level) of transfected P. pastoris were compared to determine the optimum culture conditions for each transfected P. pastoris strain. A higher hTopoI level was observed in the transfected KM71H culture supernatant (2.26 ng/mL) when the culture was incubated in the optimum conditions. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that MutS strain (KM71H) expressed and secreted a higher level of hTopoI heterologous protein in the presence of methanol compared to the Mut+ strain; X33 (0.75 ng/mL). However, other aspects of optimization, such as pH, should also be considered in the future, to obtain the optimum expression level of hTopoI in P. pastoris.

Toppling Analysis of Precariously Balanced Rocks under Earthquake Excitation

Toppling analysis of a precariously balanced rock (PBR) can provide insights into the nature of ground motion that has not occurred at that location in the past and, by extension, realistic constraints on peak ground motions for use in engineering design. Earlier approaches have targeted simplistic 2-D models of the rock or modeled the rock-pedestal contact using spring-damper assemblies that require re-calibration for each rock. These analyses also assume that the rock does not slide on the pedestal. Here, a method to model PBRs in three dimensions is presented. The 3-D model is created from a point cloud of the rock, the pedestal, and their interface, obtained using Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS). The dynamic response of the model under earthquake excitation is simulated using a rigid body dynamics algorithm. The veracity of this approach is demonstrated by comparisons against data from shake table experiments. Fragility maps for toppling probability of the Echo Cliff PBR and the Pacifico PBR as a function of various ground motion parameters, rock-pedestal interface friction coefficient, and excitation direction are presented. The seismic hazard at these PBR locations is estimated using these maps. Additionally, these maps are used to assess whether the synthetic ground motions at these locations resulting from scenario earthquakes on the San Andreas Fault are realistic (toppling would indicate that the ground motions are unrealistically high).