Virtual sign : a real time bidirectional translator of portuguese sign language

Promoting equity, equal opportunities to all and social inclusion of people with disabilities is a concern of modern societies at large and a key topic in the agenda of European Higher Education. Despite all the progress, we cannot ignore the fact that the conditions provided by the society for the deaf are still far from being perfect. The communication with deaf by means of written text is not as efficient as it might seem at first. In fact, there is a very deep gap between sign language and spoken/written language. The vocabulary, the sentence construction and the grammatical rules are quite different among these two worlds. These facts bring significant difficulties in reading and understanding the meaning of text for deaf people and, on the other hand, make it quite difficult for people with no hearing disabilities to understand sign language. The deployment of tools to assist the daily communication, in schools, in public services, in museums and other, between deaf people and the rest may be a significant contribution to the social inclusion of the deaf community. The work described in this paper addresses the development of a bidirectional translator between Portuguese Sign Language and Portuguese text. The translator from sign language to text resorts to two devices, namely the Microsoft Kinect and 5DT Sensor Gloves in order to gather data about the motion and shape of the hands. The hands configurations are classified using Support Vector Machines. The classification of the movement and orientation of the hands are achieved through the use of Dynamic Time Warping algorithm. The translator exhibits a precision higher than 90%. In the other direction, the translation of Portuguese text to Portuguese Sign Language is supported by a 3D avatar which interprets the entered text and performs the corresponding animations

Translating a Portuguese poem in LIBRAS. Linguistic considerations and form-focused tasks.

Abstract The teacher of deaf children in primary education is called to apply sign bilingualism in his/her teaching, and hence to use sign language - such as LIBRAS - as the first language during in-class time, and as a school subject. This again means that all other subjects - among them Portuguese - need to be taught in SL. In fact, Portuguese is taught as the second language of deaf children. In such educational setting, the teacher needs to develop learning materials for LIBRAS. Current research lacks recording such practices, although, unofficially, it is common knowledge that teachers translate existing school materials that have been developed for Portuguese and for hearing pupils in primary education. In this paper, a LIBRAS translation is presented of the poem “As abelhas” by Vinícius de Moraes, with the scope to demonstrate its linguistic use for the teaching of LIBRAS as a first language. Apart from its target vocabulary items, form-focused tasks are demonstrated, indicating their implementation for the development of deaf children’s receptive and productive skills. In doing so, the poem is presented following the A-level descriptors (A1, A2) of the Common European Framework of Reference for Sign Languages

Trade and Portuguese Immigration

This manuscript examines the link between trade and migration flows using a gravity model for the period 1995-2007 between Portugal and European Union countries. We also include in our sample the Portuguese speaking countries (PALOPS), i.e., ex-colonies. Globalization drives people to migrate, in some countries, immigration being more pronounced las in Portugal, in last decade, this country receiving foreign residents. This is a new reality to Portuguese economy. For many years, the Portuguese have emigrated to European countries, the United States of America and other countries. Currently, Portugal is witnessing a reverse trend, Brazilian, Cape Verde, Ukrainian and Romanian communities choose Portugal as a destination country. We find evidence that immigration has a positive influence in bilateral trade. We also introduce economic size and regional trade agreements (RTA); these proxies confirming a positive impact of bilateral trade. These results show that the gravity model can explain the pattern of bloc’s trade. Our results also confirm the hypothesis that trade increases if the transport decreases.Trade, Immigration, Gravity model; Portugal

Migrant Working in West Norfolk

During 2002 and 2003 there has been a rise in the number of migrant workers in West Norfolk. A number of agencies, including King's Lynn Borough Council became concerned about the possible implications of the new migration for community cohesion and also about the risks facing migrant workers due to multiple occupancy housing, inadequate access to health services, and illegal and exploitative employment relations. As a result Norfolk County Council commissioned the University of East Anglia to carry out an initial one month study to draw together information held by key agencies and individuals in the borough as a first step towards further action. This report details the findings of the study. It is made up of seven main sections covering the scale of migrant working in Norfolk, undocumented migration and illegal employment practices, housing, health, translation and language, crime, racism and community tension. The last section suggests ways forward including current and future support for migrant workers

Effects of Immigration on Intra-Industry Trade: A logit analysis

This study estimates the effects of the immigration stock, as well as those of immigrants’ characteristics, such as having the same language as that of the host country and the level of qualification or entrepreneurship, on Portuguese intra-industry trade (IIT) by types, controlling for the effects of other socio-economic factors, like economic dimensions, price indexes and distance. In addition to the member-countries of the EU-27, the group of countries studied includes five African countries with Portuguese as their official language, known as the PALOPs, and the BRIC countries. Since indexes are fractional variables, the pseudo-likelihood Logit estimator was used on the panel data to obtain the empirical results. The study found that an increase of the immigrant stock will produce an increment in the trade indexes considered and this effect is enhanced if immigrants originate from a country where Portuguese is the official language, or if they are highly qualified, whereas immigrant entrepreneurs have no significant effect.Immigration; trade; skills; entrepreneurship; panel data; Portugal. Classification-C33, F11, F12, F22.

Enacting the multiple spaces and times of portuguese migration to France in YouTube humor: chronotopic analysis of Ro et Cut’s Vamos a Portugal

We examine the production and contested reception of a YouTube comedic performance by France-based comedic duo, Ro et Cut, involving Portuguese migrants in France. Specifically, we analyze Vamos a Portugal, a video which depicts one Portuguese migrant family’s preparation for their annual summer return trip from France to the Portuguese “homeland.” We use Bakhtin’s notion of chronotope, i.e., discursive formulations of space, time, and person mobilizable in interaction, to analyze how performers and commenters construct spatiotemporally situated images of Portuguese migrants, while simultaneously positioning themselves spatio-temporally in relation to these images. In particular, we compare how France-based Lusodescendant and nonmigrant Portuguese commenters construct and react to the video. Many Lusodescendant commenters embrace the video as evoking a nostalgic personal, familial, and Portuguese past, from the perspective of an urban French present. However, nonmigrant Portuguese viewers in Portugal reject the video as evoking an outmoded and illegitimate version of Portuguese culture, from the perspective of a contemporary Portuguese present. Our comparison of the chronotopes through which differently positioned commenters interpret the video illuminates the contested politics surrounding performances of Portuguese migrant and national culture in the diaspora in France versus in Portugal.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Energy consumption and foreign direct investment: a panel data analysis for Portugal

This research considers the relationship between energy consumption and foreign direct investment (FDI) for the period 1990-2011. As econometric strategy, we use unit root test and panel data. The empirical results illustrate that the income per capita and political globalization present a positive impact on energy consumption. The selected components of globalization (cultural, social and political) show that these variables promote Portuguese foreign direct investment. The econometric models also considered two control variables, trade openness and exchange rate. These proxies are positively correlated with FDI. The variables of income per capita and the squared income per capita validate the environmental Kuznets curve assumptions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Using the Gravity Equation to Explain the Portuguese Immigration-trade Link

This paper tests the relation between immigration and Portuguese bilateral trade. Using a panel data analysis, the results show that the stock of immigrants has a positive effect on Portuguese exports, imports and bilateral intraindustry trade. The underlying assumption is that immigration contributes to decrease the costs of transactions, which in turn promotes trade flows. The results do not confirm the hypothesis of a negative effect of immigration on Portuguese exports. Our findings suggest that when immigrants to Portugal come from a Latin partner-country, the effects on trade are stronger than in the case of immigrants from non-Latin countries. The study is based on an extended gravitational model, in order to incorporate the qualitative factors as control variables.intra-industry trade; immigration; gravity model; panel data.

A Cross-Linguistic Preference For Torso Stability In The Lexicon: Evidence From 24 Sign Languages

When the arms move in certain ways, they can cause the torso to twist or rock. Such extraneous torso movement is undesirable, especially during sign language communication, when torso position may carry linguistic significance, so we expend effort to resist it when it is not intended. This so-called “reactive effort” has only recently been identified by Sanders and Napoli (2016), but their preliminary work on three genetically unrelated languages suggests that the effects of reactive effort can be observed cross-linguistically by examination of sign language lexicons. In particular, the frequency of different kinds of manual movements in the lexicon correlates with the amount of reactive effort needed to resist movement of the torso. Following this line of research, we present evidence from 24 sign languages confirming that there is a cross-linguistic preference for minimizing the reactive effort needed to keep the torso stable

Pushing back the origin of Bantu lexicography: the vocabularium congense of 1652, 1928, 2012

In this article, the oldest Bantu dictionary hitherto known is explored, that is the Vocabularium Latinum, Hispanicum, e Congense, handed down to us through a manuscript from 1652 by the Flemish Capuchin Joris van Gheel, missionary in the Kongo (present-day north-western Angola and the southern part of the Lower Congo Province of the DRC). The manuscript was heavily reworked by the Belgian Jesuits Joseph van Wing and Constant Penders, and published in 1928. Both works are currently being digitized, linked and added to an interlingual and multimedia database that revolves around Kikongo and the early history of the Kongo kingdom. In Sections 1 and 2 the origins of Bantu lexicography in general and of Kikongo metalexicography in particular are revisited. Sections 3 and 4 are devoted to a study of Van Cheers manuscript and an analysis of Van Wing and Fenders rework. In Sections 5 and 6 translation equivalence and lexicographical structure in both dictionaries are scrutinized and compared. In Section 7, finally, all the material is brought together