Symbolic Computation of Variational Symmetries in Optimal Control

We use a computer algebra system to compute, in an efficient way, optimal control variational symmetries up to a gauge term. The symmetries are then used to obtain families of Noether's first integrals, possibly in the presence of nonconservative external forces. As an application, we obtain eight independent first integrals for the sub-Riemannian nilpotent problem (2,3,5,8).Comment: Presented at the 4th Junior European Meeting on "Control and Optimization", Bialystok Technical University, Bialystok, Poland, 11-14 September 2005. Accepted (24-Feb-2006) to Control & Cybernetic

International refugee law: definitions and limitations of the 1951 refugee convention

This post is one of four articles to be published as part of this week’s intensive series on refugee and migration rights. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s article on the principle of non-refoulement

The Benguela Coastal Low-Level Jet in a Changing Climate

The main focus of this thesis was the study of the Benguela Coastal Low-Level Jet (CLLJ) variability, dynamics and structure, in the present and future climates. A fundamental first step was the development of an improved CLLJ detection algorithm to provide more accurate positive results. The analysis of the Benguela CLLJ was performed initially at a global scale, including the other CLLJ regions, using an ensemble of reanalyses at 0.7o. It was shown that the Benguela CLLJ occurs along the entire year and is characterized by a spatial displacement with two local maxima where the Benguela CLLJ is more frequent (-26oS and -17.5oS). Nonetheless, a more detailed analysis was needed to understand the physical mechanisms behind the occurrence of this coastal jet. The analysis of the present climate and future projections was done through dynamical downscaling at high resolution (25 km) with uncoupled and coupled atmosphere-ocean simulations. At a regional scale the importance of the local forcing in enhancing the frequency of occurrence of the Benguela CLLJ, particularly when the coastal jet is located more north, was shown. Under a warming climate, the frequency of occurrence and intensity of the Benguela CLLJ is projected to increase due to the changes in the St. Helen High, which intensifies the flow offshore the west coast of South Africa, and due to the intensification of the land-sea thermal contrasts. However, during spring, associated to the decrease in near-surface wind speed due to higher SSTs, the frequency and intensity of the Benguela CLLJ is expected to decrease near -17.5oS. The wind resource in the Southwestern African offshore region was analysed and revealed great potential in present and future climates, particularly in the areas where the Benguela CLLJ occurs

Os pedagogos da regência: um diálogo com o Maestro Jean-François Rivest, segundo ato

Understanding the didactic-pedagogical structures concerning the teaching-learning process of the conducting, are not summarized to the technical-gestural aspects, it permeates administrative, logistics and psych-pedagogical elements. To visualize this perspective in the light of labor reality, the narratives of academic, artistic and professional life are resorted through a cycle of interviews with national (Brazil) and international conductors. The professional to be interviewed is the Canadian conductor and professor Jean-François Rivest. Considered one of the most prominent violinist of his generation, Rivest studied at Julliard School with Ivan Galamian, and his musical path soon led him to a fruitful international career. As a Professor at the Université de Montréal, founded the institution's Symphony Orchestra. Giving voice to conductors as Rivest allows us to visualize new practical, conceptual and pedagogical perspectives, and directs us to look at the real needs of the field of conducting: to think and act beyond the gestural technique.A compreensão das estruturas didático-pedagógicas concernentes ao processo de ensino-aprendizagem da regência, não estão resumidas aos aspectos técnico-gestuais, perpassam por elementos administrativos, logísticos e psicopedagógicos. Para visualizar essa perspectiva à luz da realidade laboral, recorre-se as narrativas da vida acadêmica, artística e profissional, por meio de um ciclo de entrevistas com Maestros e Professores internacionais e nacionais (Brasil). O segundo a ser entrevistado é o Maestro e Professor Canadense Jean-François Rivest. Considerado um dos mais proeminentes violinistas da sua geração, Maestro Rivest estudou na Julliard School com Ivan Galamian, e seu percurso musical logo lhe conduziu para uma profícua carreira internacional na regência. Professor da Université de Montréal, fundou a orquestra sinfônica da instituição. Dar voz a Maestros como Rivest permite visualizar novas perspectivas práticas, conceituais e pedagógicas, e nos direciona o olhar para as reais necessidades do campo da regência: pensar e agir para além da técnica gestual

Educação ambiental na formação inicial de professores: um levantamento no Colégio Estadual Professor Flávio Warken

Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso apresentado ao Instituto Latino-Americano de Arte, Cultura e História da Universidade Federal da Integração Latino- Americana, como requisito parcial à obtenção do título de Licenciado em História. Orientador: Profa. Dra. Luciana Mello RibeiroEste trabalho teve por objetivo investigar como o processo de formação ambiental na formação inicial de professores influência no momento do docente trabalhar com Educação Ambiental (EA), tomando o caso específico de treze professores do Colégio Estadual Professor Flávio Warken, localizado na cidade de Foz do Iguaçu – PR. O instrumento da pesquisa consistiu em um questionário composto por questões de múltipla escolha e respostas curtas e contou com a participação de profissionais de diversas áreas do conhecimento atuantes no ensino Fundamental II e Médio. Constatou-se que na maioria dos casos analisados a formação inicial contribuiu pouco para o trabalho com educação ambiental; que a área de conhecimento tem fraca relação com o grau de intensidade com que a EA apareceu na formação; e que apenas cinco entre os treze pesquisados já participou de algum curso de capacitação em EA, embora oito dentre o total de participantes tenham afirmado já ter realizado EA na escola ou em outra instituição, o que indica que a falta de um curso de capacitação ou a baixa contribuição para o trabalho com a temática na formação inicial não foi um fator determinante para o professor fazer ou não EA.Este trabajo tuvo como objetivo investigar cómo influye el proceso de educación ambiental en la formación inicial de los maestros en el momento en que el maestro trabaja con Educación Ambiental (EA), tomando el caso específico de trece maestros del Colégio Estadual Professor Flávio Warken, ubicado en la ciudad de Foz do Iguaçu – PR. El instrumento de investigación consistió en un cuestionario compuesto por preguntas de opción múltiple y respuestas cortas y contó con la asistencia de profesionales de diversas áreas del conocimiento que trabajan en la escuela primaria y secundaria. Se encontró que en la mayoría de los casos analizados, la capacitación inicial contribuyó poco al trabajo con la educación ambiental; que el área de conocimiento está poco relacionada con el grado de intensidad con el que apareció EA en la formación; y que solo cinco entre los trece investigados han participado en un curso de capacitación de EA, aunque ocho del total de participantes informaron que ya habían realizado EA en la escuela u otra institución, lo que indica que la falta de un curso de capacitación o la baja contribución al trabajo con el tema en la formación inicial no fue un factor determinante para que el maestro hiciera o no a E

mt5se: An Open Source Framework for Building Autonomous Traders

Autonomous trading robots have been studied in artificial intelligence area for quite some time. Many AI techniques have been tested for building autonomous agents able to trade financial assets. These initiatives include traditional neural networks, fuzzy logic, reinforcement learning but also more recent approaches like deep neural networks and deep reinforcement learning. Many developers claim to be successful in creating robots with great performance when simulating execution with historical price series, so called backtesting. However, when these robots are used in real markets frequently they present poor performance in terms of risks and return. In this paper, we propose an open source framework, called mt5se, that helps the development, backtesting, live testing and real operation of autonomous traders. We built and tested several traders using mt5se. The results indicate that it may help the development of better traders. Furthermore, we discuss the simple architecture that is used in many studies and propose an alternative multiagent architecture. Such architecture separates two main concerns for portfolio manager (PM) : price prediction and capital allocation. More than achieve a high accuracy, a PM should increase profits when it is right and reduce loss when it is wrong. Furthermore, price prediction is highly dependent of asset's nature and history, while capital allocation is dependent only on analyst's prediction performance and assets' correlation. Finally, we discuss some promising technologies in the area.Comment: This paper replaces an old version of the framework, called mt5b3, which is now deprecate