3,817 research outputs found
Akivis Superalgebras and speciality
In this paper we define Akivis superalgebra and study enveloping
superalgebras for this class of algebras, proving an analogous of the PBW
Theorem. Lie and Malcev superalgebras are examples of Akivis superalgebras. For
these particular superalgebras, we describe the connection between the
classical enveloping superalgebras and the corresponding generalized concept
defined in this work
Am I aware of my level of english? — comparing students’ perceptions of CEFR levels and diagnostic test results
University students in Portugal are often required to certify their level of English before, after or during their course of studies, either as a degree or international studies program requirement. Consequently, at the Catholic University in Lisbon, students are often asked to take writing and speaking diagnostic tests in order to assess their proficiency in the foreign language and place them into the right Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) level. Although students in Portugal are generally aware of the different levels, they seldom lack specific knowledge concerning the objectives or descriptors that the reference involves and hesitate when asked what is their level of English as a Foreign Language. This lack of knowledge constrains one of the advantages of the CEFR for learners which would be”to encourage practitioners in the language field to reflect on their current practice, particularly in relation to learners’ practical language learning needs, the setting of suitable objectives and the tracking of learner progress” (North, 2006). It would be desirable that such framework, which seems to offer such clear guidance for teachers, would also be beneficial for the students, particularly at tertiary level, given that most graduate and post-graduate course requirements around the world are now aligned with the CEFR standards. This study compares students’ diagnostic test results to their perception of their own CEFR levels. The data include a speaking interview to assess oral skills, a written diagnostic test to assess grammar, vocabulary and writing and a questionnaire based on the CEFR self-assessment grid. Two undergraduate classes enrolled in the Media Studies course participated in the study which main goal was to achieve a better understanding of students’ perception of the CEFR levels and, ultimately, to help increase student’s awareness of the language learning process.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
The effect of temperature on generic stable periodic structures in the parameter space of dissipative relativistic standard map
In this work, we have characterized changes in the dynamics of a
two-dimensional relativistic standard map in the presence of dissipation and
specially when it is submitted to thermal effects modeled by a Gaussian noise
reservoir. By the addition of thermal noise in the dissipative relativistic
standard map (DRSM) it is possible to suppress typical stable periodic
structures (SPSs) embedded in the chaotic domains of parameter space for large
enough temperature strengths. Smaller SPSs are first affected by thermal
effects, starting from their borders, as a function of temperature. To estimate
the necessary temperature strength capable to destroy those SPSs we use the
largest Lyapunov exponent to obtain the critical temperature () diagrams.
For critical temperatures the chaotic behavior takes place with the suppression
of periodic motion, although, the temperature strengths considered in this work
are not so large to convert the deterministic features of the underlying system
into a stochastic ones.Comment: 8 pages and 7 figures, accepted to publication in EPJ
Empowering Rural Citizen Journalism Via Web 2.0 Technologies
Once acquainted with the modern information and communication tools made available with the advent of the Internet, five Brazilian rural communities participating in a pilot project to develop a self-sustaining telecenter model, engaged in citizen journalism using inexpensive digital video cameras. Community members used Web 2.0 collaborative tools to post short videos on the telecenter portal. The 95 video blogs published between September 2006 and May 2008 recorded various aspects of community life,including religious celebrations,oral history arts and crafts traditions,folklore,and envirnmental concerns. This study evaluates the impact of video blogging in these communities
Active civic participation of immigrants in Portugal
Portugal’s historical past strongly influences the composition of the country’s immigrant
population. The main third-country foreign nationals in Portugal originate traditionally from
Portuguese-speaking African countries (namely Cape Verde, Angola, Guinea Bissau, and S.
Tomé e Príncipe) and Brazil. In 2001, a newly created immigrant status entitled “permanence”
authorization uncovered a quantitative and a qualitative change in the structure of immigrant
population in Portugal. First, there was a quantitative jump from 223.602 foreigners
in 2001 to 364.203 regularized foreigners in 2003. Secondly, there was a substantial qualitative
shift in the composition of immigrants. The majority of the new immigrants began coming
from Eastern European countries, such as Ukraine, Moldavia, Romania, and the Russian
Federation. Thus, European countries outside the E.U. zone now rank second (after African
countries) in their contribution of individuals to the stocks of immigrant population in Portugal.
The differences between the new and traditional immigration flows are visible in the geographical
distribution of immigrants and in their insertion into the labour market. While the
traditional flows would congregate around the metropolitan area of Lisbon and in the Algarve,
the new migratory flows tend to be more geographically dispersed and present in less urbanized
areas of Portugal. In terms of insertion in the labour market, although the construction
sector is still the most important industry for immigrant labour, Eastern European workers
may also be found in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
The institutional conditions that encourage immigrants’ civic participation are divided at three
different levels: the state, the local, and the civil society levels. At the state level, the High
Commissioner for Migrations and Ethnic Minorities is the main organizational structure along
with a set of interrelated initiatives operating under specific regulatory frameworks, which act
as mediators between state officials and the Portuguese civil society, and more specifically,
immigrant communities. At the local level, some municipalities created consultative councils
and municipal departments aiming at encouraging the participation and representation of interests
from immigrant groups and association in local policies. In the civil society sphere, the
main actors in Portugal spurring immigrants civic participation are immigrant associations,
mainstream associations directed toward immigration topics, and unions. The legal conditions
framing immigrants’ access to social housing, education, health, and social security in
Portugal are also considered to be positive. Conditions restricting immigrants’ civic participation
are mainly normative and include the Portuguese nationality law, the regulations shaping
the political participation of immigrants, namely in what concerns their right to vote, and
employment regulations restricting immigrants’ access to public administration positions.
Part II of the report focuses on the active civic participation of third country immigrants.
First, reasons for the lack of research on this issue in Portugal are explained. On the one hand,
the recent immigration history and the more urgent needs regarding school and economic integration
kept this issue out of the research spotlight. On the other hand, it was just in the beginning
of the 1990s that immigrants took the very first steps toward collective mobilisation.
Secondly, the literature review of Portuguese bibliography covers research on third country
immigrants’ associative movement, research on local authorities’ policies and discussion
about ethnic politics and political mobilisation of immigrants in Portugal.
As political mobilisation of these groups has been made mainly through ethnic and/or migrant
organisations, a brief history of immigrants' associative movement is given. Immigrant associations
develop multiple roles, covering the social, the cultural, the economic and the political
domains. Political claiming for the regularisation of illegal immigrants has been a permanent
and important field of intervention since the mid-1990s. Research results reveal the com5
plex relations between ethnic mobilisation and the set of legal and institutional frameworks
developed by local and national governmental authorities targeted to the incorporation of minority
groups. Case studies on the Oeiras district and on the Amadora district are then presented.
Conclusions underline that the most active immigrant groups are those from Cape Verde and
Guinea Bissau, since these groups have constituted a higher number of ethnic associations,
give priority to political claiming and present a more politicised discourse.
Reflecting on the future of research on civic participation of third country immigrants in Portugal,
the authors state that it would be interesting and relevant to compare the Portuguese
situation with those of other European countries, with an older immigration history, and analyse
how the Portuguese immigrants’ associative movement will be affected by a changing
legal framework and the emergence of new opportunities within the set of structures regarding
the political participation of minority groups.Country Report prepared for the European research project POLITIS, Oldenburg
2005, www.uni-oldenburg.de/politis-europ
Can ICT help overcome L1 interference in L2 writing? — implications and challenges for the EFL classroom
Learning English as a foreign language can posit a number of difficulties to students whose native language is Latin-based and therefore ethymologically different from a Germanic language such as English. Despite the abundance of Latin vocabulary in the English language, syntax and morphology may be difficult to master for a speaker of a Latin language, namely Portuguese students. A number of studies (Silva 1993, Picard 2002, Bhela 1999, for example) have already highlighted how L1 can deeply interfere with the learning of L2 and how some processes of transfer are regularly applied by speakers of a foreign language. The aim of this paper is to identify the most common processes of L1 interference and transfer based on a corpus of 1st year Portuguese university students who are taking English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at a B1/ B2 level. The processes of interference and transfer that constitute mistakes in the target language will be coded for syntax, morphology and/or lexicon and remedial procedures to overcome these difficulties will then be set up for two different control groups. One group of students will be subjected to the flipped approach (Huba & Freed 2000, Crouch & Mazur 2001), whereby they will be given full autonomy to work on the technology-based activities posted on the Moodle platform and which will be designed to help them overcome their specific linguistic short comings, be it syntax, morphology or vocabulary. The second group of students will be exposed to a traditional approach, mostly teacher-centered and will have to submit print handouts to their teacher based on the most common syntax and grammar mistakes they have made. This paper will thus examine the following: the most common mistakes in the target language that may result from L1 interference in the context of tertiary EFL teaching in Portugal; and whether the highly acclaimed flipped approach is an efficient remedial, pedagogic method to help students improve their learning experience and mastering of English as a foreign language. Namely, this paper aims at testing the "flipped" approach to hopefully derive meaningful conclusions as to which it is efficient in terms of empowering students, boosting learning autonomy and develop language awareness.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
A client focused business intelligence & analytics solution for the hospitality sector
Project Work presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Knowledge Management and Business IntelligenceOne of the greatest needs of today's business is to know the customer or the type of customer it
wants to reach, which makes a customer database a strategic weapon and one of the most important
investments a company can make. The business world is becoming more competitive every day, we
are constantly overwhelmed with advertisements of products we may like, product promotions we
usually buy or discounts on the next purchase if we subscribe to the company’s newsletter. All of this
creates a client customization, and any company that is not able to do this cannot keep up with its
competition. This report details the project developed at Pestana Hotel Group, which consisted of a
Business Intelligence solution, more specifically the development of a customer database with the
creation of two tabular models using SQL Server tools, one specific for loyal customers and another,
more general, with information about all Pestana customers, and two Power BI reports that allow
the visualization of the information obtained in an effective and simplified way. This report contains
a literature review that situates the reader on the subject addressed in this project, a chapter
dedicated to the data modeling used to create the tabular models, and another on the creation of
the reports.Uma das maiores necessidades dos negócios atuais é conhecer o seu cliente ou o tipo de cliente que
quer atingir, o que torna uma base de dados de cliente uma arma estratégica e um dos mais
importantes investimentos. O mundo empresarial está cada dia mais competitivo, somos
constantemente assoberbados com anúncios de produtos que podemos gostar, promoções de
produtos que costumamos comprar ou descontos na próxima compra caso subscrevamos a
newsletter. Tudo isto cria uma personalização para o cliente, e qualquer empresa que não o consiga
fazer não conseguirá acompanhar a concorrência. Este relatório detalha o projeto feito no Pestana
Hotel Group, que consistiu numa solução de Business Intelligence, mais especificamente na
construção de uma base de dados do cliente com a criação de dois modelos tabulares através de
ferramentas do SQL Server, um específico para clientes fidelizados e outro mais geral com
informação sobre todos os clientes Pestana, e dois relatórios em Power BI que permitem a
visualização da informação obtida de uma forma eficaz e simplificada. O relatório contém uma
revisão de literatura que situa o leitor sobre os assuntos abordados neste projeto, um capítulo
dedicado à modelação dos dados de forma a criar os modelos tabulares e outro sobre a criação dos
relatórios
Action Recognition in Videos: from Motion Capture Labs to the Web
This paper presents a survey of human action recognition approaches based on
visual data recorded from a single video camera. We propose an organizing
framework which puts in evidence the evolution of the area, with techniques
moving from heavily constrained motion capture scenarios towards more
challenging, realistic, "in the wild" videos. The proposed organization is
based on the representation used as input for the recognition task, emphasizing
the hypothesis assumed and thus, the constraints imposed on the type of video
that each technique is able to address. Expliciting the hypothesis and
constraints makes the framework particularly useful to select a method, given
an application. Another advantage of the proposed organization is that it
allows categorizing newest approaches seamlessly with traditional ones, while
providing an insightful perspective of the evolution of the action recognition
task up to now. That perspective is the basis for the discussion in the end of
the paper, where we also present the main open issues in the area.Comment: Preprint submitted to CVIU, survey paper, 46 pages, 2 figures, 4
table
Estilo de vida, percepção e estado de saúde em estudantes do instituto politécnico de Viseu: influência da área de formação
Recentemente, as ciências sociais e humanas têm dado um contributo
importante para o estudo da saúde e do bem estar das populações.
Neste contexto pensa-se que uma das principais funções dos profissionais de
saúde é ajudar a promover nas pessoas comportamentos saudáveis. Porém, muitos
destes profissionais, quando sugerem que, por exemplo, não se beba em excesso, que se
faça exercício físico ou que não se fume, etc., em pouco tempo se apercebem e
interiorizam que os seus bem intencionados programas de intervenção não têm um
resultado satisfatório, não se verificando, muitas vezes, mudanças significativas nos
comportamentos dos indivíduos.
Assim, para que seja viável promover a aprendizagem de estilos de vida
saudáveis não basta a boa vontade e o bom senso. É preciso muito mais. Há que
compreender a dinâmica da saúde-doença nas pessoas. Há que conhecer quais os
factores – biológicos, sociais e psicológicos – que acentuam a vulnerabilidade e como
agir para reforçar a resilience individual
The concept of hybridization and its contribution to urban ethnobiology
Both ethnozoological and ethnobotanical studies carried out in cities mention the complexity of these cases and the need for shortcuts to aid understanding of the different social, cultural, economic and ecological processes which interact. In this work we propose and discuss a possible shortcut that could be useful in studies related to urban ethnobiology, the use of the concept of process of hybridization. Particularly, we show in the case of the study of medicinal plant use in cities that the hybridization process can be detected and described in a more complete way if we take into account some sub processes such as: fusion or juxtaposition, re-localization, recombination, restructuring, special segregation, new developments in production, circulation and consumption and simultaneous coexistence of different symbolic universes. We propose that these seven processes could be used as a quali-quantitative check list in future urban ethnobiological studies in order to visualize, contextualize and characterize hybridization more profoundly.Fil: Ladio, Ana Haydee. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación En Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Comahue; ArgentinaFil: Albuquerque, Ulysses Paulino. Universidade Federal Rural Pernambuco. Departamento de Biologia. Laboratorio de Etnobotanica Aplicada; Brasi
- …