Improving Feature Representation Based on a Neural Network for Author Profiling in Social Media Texts

We introduce a lexical resource for preprocessing social media data. We show that a neural network-based feature representation is enhanced by using this resource. We conducted experiments on the PAN 2015 and PAN 2016 author profiling corpora and obtained better results when performing the data preprocessing using the developed lexical resource. The resource includes dictionaries of slang words, contractions, abbreviations, and emoticons commonly used in social media. Each of the dictionaries was built for the English, Spanish, Dutch, and Italian languages. The resource is freely available

Entre o texto e a vida: uma leitura sobre as políticas de educação especial

À margem da agenda política do Estado, a educação especial tradicionalmente se organizou como atendimento educacional especializado substitutivo ao ensino comum, em classes e escolas especiais. Nas últimas décadas, o Brasil, em consonância com movimentos internacionais, estabeleceu uma série de leis, políticas e programas para combater as desigualdades e a exclusão escolar. Nesse movimento, sujeitos com transtornos globais do desenvolvimento (TGD), tradicionalmente apartados dos processos de escolarização, são recebidos nas salas de aula e no velho pátio da escola. Quais racionalidades sustentam as formas de nomear e identificar esses alunos? Como compreender as relações entre os diagnósticos, as políticas e a inscrição das (im)possibilidades escolares? Em que medida as políticas inclusivas de educação especial desconstroem sentidos que relacionam os TGD à ineducabilidade, ou, ainda, a diferença à anormalidade e à inferioridade? O presente ensaio discute a implementação das diretrizes inclusivas considerando o texto político e seus efeitos no contexto da prática. A hermenêutica filosófica oferece os tempos e os focos da leitura. O argumento é tecido com e a partir das falas de um aluno e de professores, em diferentes campos de pesquisa. Do texto à vida, o incremento das matrículas; a proliferação dos sentidos sobre esses alunos e as possibilidades escolares; a atualização de antigos impasses perante o novo, o diferente. Se, no âmbito dos princípios, são reconhecidas a igualdade e as diferenças, na concretude das escolas ainda persiste a noção do diferente como desigual. Da inclusão ao pertencimento, aposta-se no diálogo como valoração da alteridade e condição de pertença.On the sidelines of the State political agenda, special education has traditionally been organized as the specialized educational catering that substitutes regular teaching in special classes and schools. In the last decades, Brazil, in tune with international movements, has established a series of laws, policies and programs to tackle inequalities and social exclusion. In such movement, subjects with global learning difficulties (GLD), traditionally excluded from schooling processes, are accepted in the classroom, and in the old school yard. What rationalities give support to the forms of naming and identifying who are these pupils? How do we understand the relation between the diagnostics, the policies, and the inscription of the school (im) possibilities? To what extent inclusive policies of special education deconstruct the meanings that associate GLDs with ineducability or, still, difference with abnormality and inferiority? This essay discusses the implementation of guidelines of inclusion considering the political text and its effects on the context of the practice. Philosophical hermeneutics offers the times and focus for this reading. The argument is woven with and from the speeches of a pupil and of teachers in different fields of research. From text to life, the increase in enrolments; the proliferation of the meanings about these pupils and the school possibilities; the re-enactment of old impasses faced with the new, the different. Although within the sphere of principles equality and differences are both recognized, in the concrete life in schools the notion of the different as unequal still endures. From inclusion to belonging, we put our hopes here in the dialogue as valuation of alterity and requirement of belonging

Conselheiros usuários do conselho municipal de saúde de Belo Horizonte: características sociais e representatividade

A preocupação com os representantes dos usuários do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) em Conselhos Municipais de Saúde é uma realidade, pois mesmo com todo aparato jurídico que garante a paridade com relação aos demais membros, não se pode garantir a representatividade de sua participação. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi conhecer os Conselheiros Usuários do Conselho Municipal de Saúde de Belo Horizonte, suas características sociais, bem como sua relação com a base que representa. Foram aplicadas técnicas de pesquisa quantitativa para conhecer as características e qualitativa para avaliar o relacionamento com a base. Quanto às características encontradas, observa-se que os conselheiros são na maioria homens, aposentados e com baixa escolaridade. Os mandatos repetem-se sugerindo profissionalização dessa categoria. O relacionamento com a base apresenta limitações, principalmente quanto à comunicação, e, ao que tudo indica, a educação continuada dos conselheiros pode ser uma solução para esse problema.The concern about the representatives of the users of SUS (Brazil's National Health System) in Municipal Health Councils is a reality, because even with all the legal apparatus that guarantees parity with regard to the other members, it is not possible to guarantee the quality of their participation. The objective of this research was to learn who the Councillors Users of the Municipal Health Council of Belo Horizonte are, their social characteristics, as well as their relation with the base they represent. Quantitative research techniques were applied to learn the characteristics, and qualitative techniques were employed to evaluate the relationship with the base. Regarding the characteristics, it was observed that the majority of the Councillors are retired men with low level of schooling. The terms of office are repeated, suggesting professionalization of this category. The relationship with the base has limitations, mainly concerning communication, and it seems that the continuing education of the Councillors to work adequately with their base may be a solution to this problem

Corridor Gothic

This article investigates the role of the corridor in Gothic fiction and horror film from the late eighteenth century to the present day. It seeks to establish this transitional space as a crucial locus, by tracing the rise of the corridor as a distinct mode of architectural distribution in domestic and public buildings since the eighteenth century. The article tracks pivotal appearances of the corridor in fiction and film, and in the final phase argues that it has become associated with a specific emotional tenor, less to do with amplified fear and horror and more with emotions of Angst or dread

New World Civitas, Contested Jurisdictions and Intercultural Conversation in the Construction of the Spanish Monarchy

Jurisdictional frontiers were created, contested, and negotiated among a wide range of actors, including native Americans and Europeans, with reference to the cities founded in Castilla del Oro (roughly present-day Panama). This research deals, first, with the reshaping of the concept of a city in the New World, based on its inhabitants' sense of civitas. It analyses, secondly, the creation and redefinition of jurisdiction during political conflicts and, third, the construction and maintenance of jurisdiction through local relations with indigenous populations described as "conversation". The analysis of the creation and preservation of local jurisdictions allows for an interpretation of the complexities involved in the configuration of political power and political space from below in the territories claimed by the Spanish Monarchy.Art Empir