The genus Prorops Waterson, 1923 (Hymenoptera, Bethylidae) from Madagascar

Three species of the genus Prorops Waterson, 1923 occur in Madagascar. Prorops nasuta Waterson, 1923 is recorded for the first time from Madagascar and two new species are described and illustrated: P. sparsa sp. nov. and P. impotens sp. nov., both based on the morphology of males and females. A brief discussion of the status of the genus, illustrations, and a key to Madagascan species of Prorops are provided

A note on convergence rates in the strong law of large numbers for associated sequences

Let $X_n,\,n\in \N$, be a strictly stationary sequence of centered and associated real random variables. Sufficient conditions for the strong law of large numbers to hold are known, but no rates of convergence where given. We derive an upper bound for this convergence rate. This rate is made explicit for geometrically decreasing covariances.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

On the kernel estimation of a multivariate distribution function under positive dependence

In this paper, we consider the kernel estimator of the p-dimensional marginal distribution function of a stationary, positively associated sequence of random variables. For this setting, we state results concerning the asymptotic behaviour of this estimator extending some characterizations available in the literature. In addition, we present a simulation study about the empirical process constructed from such a estimator illustrating its asymptotic normality.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologi

On the multivariate kernel distribution estimator for distribution functions under association

In this note we consider the estimation of the multivariate distribution function Fp of the p-dimensional marginal of a stationary associated sequence. We show, under certain regularity conditions, the almost sure consistency and characterize the asymptotic behavior of the MSE. We also characterize the asymptotic optimal bandwidth. Under some stronger assumptions on the covariance this bandwidth rate is shown to be the same as for the independent case.Centro de Matemática da Universidade do Minho (CMAT).Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - Programa Operacional Ciência e Inovação (POCI) - 2010

Portuguese sentiment analysis applied to a reality show using Twitter and NLP in real time

The motivation for this study was to measure the impact that Twitter publications have on voting and the choosing of winners. To this end, an experimental study was carried out based on a set of data collected from tweets (published on Twitter) related to the reality show “Big Brother - A Revolução”, broadcast on a television station in Portugal, TVI. The procedure adopted for conducting the experiment consisted of creating a completely self-contained service, built from scratch for this project, and the correspondent implementation, in order to allow the collection, storage, cleaning, pre-processing and analysis of as many tweets as possible, as long as they are associated with the program. A tool to analyze the polarity (positive, negative or neutral) of the sentiment was implemented and applied to the phrase (or phrases) contained in the tweet and stored in a database. Then, running in the database, the tweets were divided according to how they referred to one or more competitors. Throughout the time that the reality show existed, the results of this experiment were public presented in daily/weekly summaries and posted on Twitter through a “Twitter bot”.FCT-CEECIND/04331/201

Guerra à pobreza: EUA, 1964

Este artigo procura fazer um balanço historiográfico a respeito do programa Guerra à Pobreza lançado pelo Presidente Lyndon Johnson, focalizando em especial os programas de desenvolvimento comunitário. Recupera-se sua concepção e dinâmica de funcionamento, valorizando-se a participação de atores sociais que procuraram conceder ao programa um sentido político diverso do pretendido originalmente. Conclui-se que a Guerra à Pobreza foi atravessada pelo confronto entre culturas e projetos políticos que marcou a sociedade norte-americana nos anos 60.This article presents a historiographical review of War on Poverty, proposed by President Lyndon Johnson, focusing mainly on Community Development Programs. Their conception and dynamics are traced, stressing the role of social actors who tried to push the programs to political directions extremely diverse from what was originally planned. The conclusion was that War on Poverty was profoundly affected by the clash of different political cultures and projects that took place during the 60's

Promoção da saúde, sustentabilidade e agroecologia: uma discussão intersetorial.

Analisando a abordagem conceitual dos ideários de Agroecologia e da Promoção da Saúde, percebe-se a aproximação desses campos científicos e práticos a partir de suas diretrizes comuns de fomentar a democracia,promover a cidadania, o empowerment, a autonomia e a participação comunitária dos atores sociais, resgatar saberes e práticas tradicionais e populares, além de promover saúde, qualidade de vida e sustentabilidade nos níveis ambiental, social e econômico. Entretanto, apesar de suas interfaces comuns, esses dois campos não têm dialogado. A Agroecologia e sua potencial ação de promoção de saúde no meio rural não têm sido discutidas na Saúde Pública e na Promoção da Saúde; por sua vez, tais áreas tampouco têm produzido conhecimentos que possam contribuir para o fortalecimento da Agroecologia enquanto estratégia de promoção da saúde. Esse artigo pretende ressaltar a relação entre esses dois campos de estudos, explorando-os conceitualmente. Além disso, o artigo sinaliza a Agroecologia como uma estratégia intersetorial de promoção da saúde, de sustentabilidade e de segurança alimentar e nutricional

Possible reusing of household ceramic wastes as mineral admixtures in ecological cement/concrete

Both the Ceramic wastes and the pollution of the cement industry can cause strong damage to the environment and the sustainable development. In the present study, the pozzolanic activity of household ceramic waste powder was investigated by SAI test and Frattini Test; the possibility of the partial substitution of Portland cement blended with ceramic waste powder was analyzed. The results indicate that the compressive strengths of mortar containing ceramic waste at both early age and after 28 days were generally increased as the ceramic waste ratio increased up to at least 15\% replacement, and the ground ceramic waste show clear pozzolanic activity.The authors acknowledge the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant: 51578109), and Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (SFRH/BPD/22680/ 2005).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Experimental investigation on the composite effect of steel rebars and macro fibers on the impact behavior of high performance self-compacting concrete

In this study, the impact behavior of ten types of high performance self-compacting concrete (HPSCC) was explored using the drop-weight method. The HPSCC specimens were reinforced with steel rebars and different fibers for comparison with plain concrete. The reinforcement mechanism of the influences of steel rebars and different fibers on failure impact energy was explained. The composite effects of hybrid use of steel rebars with different fibers on the failure impact energy were also compared. The penetration depth for each mixture was analyzed. Test results showed that the macro fibers could greatly improve the failure impact energy both in plain and reinforcement concrete. Moreover, the toughness, penetration depth, stress redistribution could be improved obviously due to the positive hybrid effect of rebars and macro fibers in reinforced concrete. The statistical analysis technique was introduced to evaluate the experimental data, and the goodness of fit tests showed that the distribution of the blow numbers to the first crack and up to the final failure followed the two-parameter Weibull distribution.The authors gratefully acknowledge the National Natural Science Foundation of China: Grants: 51578109 and 51121005.DUT and Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia(SFRH/BPD/22680/2005).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Hybrid use of steel and carbon-fiber reinforced concrete for monitoring of crack behavior

In order to study the damage after concrete cracking, the influence of the combined use of steel fiber and carbon fiber on the conductivity and crack resistance of concrete beam under flexural loading were investigated. Carbon fiber and steel fiber were added as diphasic conductive materials to produce the electric conductive and ductile concrete. This paper reports the experimental and analytical work associated with establishing the crack width in relation to the fractional change in resistance of electric conductive concrete. After cracking, the electrical resistance change was found to correlate linearly with the crack width on the tension side of concrete beam.(undefined