Decomposition in bunches of the critical locus of a quasi-ordinary map

A polar hypersurface P of a complex analytic hypersurface germ, f=0, can be investigated by analyzing the invariance of certain Newton polyhedra associated to the image of P, with respect to suitable coordinates, by certain morphisms appropriately associated to f. We develop this general principle of Teissier (see Varietes polaires. I. Invariants polaires des singularites d'hypersurfaces, Invent. Math. 40 (1977), 3, 267-292) when f=0 is a quasi-ordinary hypersurface germ and P is the polar hypersurface associated to any quasi-ordinary projection of f=0. We build a decomposition of P in bunches of branches which characterizes the embedded topological type of the irreducible components of f=0. This decomposition is characterized also by some properties of the strict transform of P by the toric embedded resolution of f=0 given by the second author in a paper which will appear in Annal. Inst. Fourier (Grenoble). In the plane curve case this result provides a simple algebraic proof of the main theorem of Le, Michel and Weber in "Sur le comportement des polaires associees aux germes de courbes planes", Compositio Math, 72, (1989), 1, 87-113

Aspectos gramaticales de tres novelas de Miguel Barnet: Biografía de un cimarrón, La canción de Rachel y Gallego

Con este trabajo se intenta contribuir al conocimiento del habla cubana actual en su vertiente literaria, mediante un estudio necesariamente selectivo y estableciendo un correlato entre los fenómenos más significativos detectados en el estudio de tres novelas de Miguel Barnet y los equivalentes en la norma lingüística del español general. Se ha dado prioridad al nivel morfosintáctico, aunque está incluido también algún aspecto léxico

Control of the pinewood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus by essential oils and extracts obtained from plants: a review.

The pinewood nematode (PWN), Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, is a serious threat to forest ecosystems at a global scale. The nematode has become a major quarantine problem due to its capability to completely destroy Pinus spp. trees, with great damage to the wood industry. Controlling the nematode inside a living tree is quite difficult, the techniques used being often ineffective and quite expensive. In the coming years, most chemicals used to control nematodes will be banned and replaced by safer and environmentally friendly products. As so, chemicals naturally produced by plants will play an important role in controlling diseases such as pine wilt. Plants, particularly aromatic ones, are commonly used due to the chemical properties of their secondary metabolites. Among these, essential oils and/or extracts are highly employed and are being tested as possible control of some organisms, like nematodes. Recent publications have evaluated essential oils derived from different plant species as natural nematicides [1; 2], antibacterial [3], anti-fungal [4] as well as insecticidal [5]. Concerning control of the PWN, a significant amount of information on plants tested, results obtained and employed techniques, is available. Our revision has extensively gathered this information, making it easier to search, read and use. It may become useful information for future studies on the subject, since it will be possible to check the plants already tested. Although numbers aren´t definitive, so far, tested plants are distributed amongst 148 families. The extracts or essential oils of plants belonging to the Asteraceae, Lamiaceae and Euphorbiaceae families show promising results on controlling the pinewood nematode

Testing BOI and BOB algorithms for solving the Winner Determination

Eighth International Conference on Hybrid Intelligent Systems, 2008. HIS '08. Barcelona, 10-12 September 2008Combinatorial auctions are a promising auction format for allocating radio spectrum, as well as other goods. An important handicap of combinatorial auctions is determining the winner bids among many options, that is, solving the winner determination problem (WDP). This paper tackles this computational problem using two approaches in a combinatorial first-price sealed bid auction. The first one, is an A* based on items (BOI). The second one, is an A* based on bids (BOB). These two techniques are tested in several scenarios for allocating radio spectrum licenses. The results obtained reveal that the search algorithm A* with the BOB formulation outperforms the other and always finds the optimal solution very quickly

Simbologías trágicas en el flamenco audiovisual. Un enfoque docente

En un marco investigador flamenco donde predominan los enfoques historicistas, es necesario adoptar simbióticamente una orientación analítica de los signos flamencos y sus sentidos, subrayando los inevitables y enriquecedores vínculos que mantienen con otros discursos y con los procesos culturales de que derivan. En este sentido, se recogen a continuación las líneas generales de una propuesta docente que tiene por objeto descubrir al alumnado los estrechos nexos de la estética flamenca con toda una trayectoria cultural occidental, marcada esta sobremanera por el llamado pensamiento trágico. Los resultados vienen siendo satisfactorios, por cuanto se abandonan posturas inmanentistas sobre el universo flamenco y el alumnado –a menudo, profesional– asimila enfoques que integran de lleno este arte en el amplísimo universo de la cultura occidental y que, sin olvidar las raíces, subrayan su potencial para comunicar según las pautas estéticas más contemporáneas. Como material de estudio se recurre principalmente a la filmografía musical de Carlos Saura (1981-2011).As the flamenco research usually focuses on historic points of view, it turns necesary to adopt an analytic posture about flamenco and its signs in order to underline their solid links with other aesthetic discourses and the cultural processes they come from. This work is a synthesys of my doctrate lessons in the University of Seville, where I pay special attention to the tragic cultural heritage and its effects over the musical cinema of Carlos Saura and the flamenco art itself, proving that they are a pretty complex result of one the most influencing philosophical and artistic attitudes in our culture: the so called «tragic thought».Dans un cadre de recherche du flamenco avec des approches historicistes, il faut adopter en symbiose une orientation analytique des signes flamencos et leur sens, en soulignant les liens inévitables et enrichissantes qu’ils ont avec d’autres discours et avec des processus culturels d’où ils procèdent. De cette façon je présenteune proposition visant à enseigner aux élèves de découvrir les liens étroits du flamenco à l’esthétique culturelle de l’Occident, marqués par la pensée tragique. Les résultats sont toujours satisfaisants, car les positions immanents au sujet des univers flamencos sont abandonnées et les étudiants, qui sont souvent des professionnels, assimilent des approches qui intégrent cet art dans le vaste monde de la culture occidentale et, sans oublier les racines, ils remarquent leur potentiel à communiquer selon les directives esthétiques les plus contemporaines. Comme matériel d’étude est principalement utilisé pour les films musicaux de Carlos Saura (1981-2011)

Formally Verified Bug-free Implementations of (Logical) Algorithms

Notwithstanding the advancements of formal methods, which already permit their adoption in a industrial context (consider, for instance, the notorious examples of Airbus, Amazon Web-Services, Facebook, or Intel), there is still no widespread endorsement. Namely, in the Portuguese case, it is seldom the case companies use them consistently, systematically, or both. One possible reason is the still low emphasis placed by academic institutions on formal methods (broadly consider as developments methodologies, verification, and tests), making their use a challenge for the current practitioners. Formal methods build on logics, “the calculus of Computer Science”. Computational Logic is thus an essential field of Computer Science. Courses on this subject are usually either too informal (only providing pseudo-code specifications) or too formal (only presenting rigorous mathematical definitions) when describing algorithms. In either case, there is an emphasis on paper-and-pencil definitions and proofs rather than on computational approaches. It is scarcely the case where these courses provide executable code, even if the pedagogical advantages of using tools is well know. In this dissertation, we present an approach to develop formally verified implementations of classical Computational Logic algorithms. We choose the Why3 platform as it allows one to implement functions with very similar characteristics to the mathematical definitions, as well as it concedes a high degree of automation in the verification process. As proofs of concept, we implement and show correct the conversion algorithms from propositional formulae to conjunctive normal form and from this form to Horn clauses

Simulación Uno. Un encuentro mediático entre comunicación ficcional y universo empírico

Con la película Simone (Niccol, 2002) como objeto de estudio y adoptando un enfoque pragmático y estético, se aborda la trascendencia social empírica de los textos ficcionales en los medios de comunicación de masas: los efectos empíricos de lo llamado virtual, las dinámicas de simulación y duplicación puestas al servicio de la industria cultural... todo ello articulado mediante las lógicas no verificables, según criterios proposicionales, de los lenguajes secundarios.With the movie Simone (Niccol, 2002) as main objetc and adopting a pragmatic and aesthetic point of view, it is studied the empiric social trascendence of the ficcional texts on the mass media: the empiric effects of the so called virtual, the dynamics of simulation and duplication as tools of the cultural industry... each of these items articulated by the non checkable logics, under propositional criterions, of the secondary languages

Saving our savings: A beauty contest of monetary alternatives to keep reserve value and to allow for companies and individuals to transact more efficiently

Purpose – The main objective of this thesis is to study what commodities/assets/currencies can be considered as “feasible alternatives” to fulfill the role of “money” in society in comparison to the already established fiat currencies in circulation. Between those same alternatives, which specific advantages each have and what is their potential future. Design/Methodology/Approach – Dividing the study into two main sectors, the quantitative part looking into past prices of each possible currency and a qualitative part looking specifically into the characteristics that they have. For the first part, the main focus is on the concept of reserve of value, driven by the more or less stable the currency has been, and for the second part, six characteristics are laid down as thru them, a specific commodity can be analyzed properly. Findings - Gold is clearly the one performing the best for the quantitative analysis while Nano and Monero are the currencies with “the best characteristics for money”. Surprisingly, in general, the quantitative analysis is not so good for precious metals while some cryptocurrencies do perform better than what was expected. Research limitations/implications – A 2-year period of analysis while making all assumptions and conclusions in a context of a bull market and with historically very low interest rates. Originality/value – The study provides a methodology easily appliable to more commodities while crossing a comprehensive and extended multi-factor criteria.Meta – O principal objetivo desta tese é estudar quais ativos/moedas podem ser consideradas como “alternativas viáveis” para preencherem o papel de “dinheiro” na sociedade em comparação com as já estabelecidas moedas fiduciárias em circulação. Entre essas alternativas, quais vantagens específicas cada tem e qual o potencial futuro. Design/Metodologia/Abordagem – Dividindo o estudo em dois principais setores, a parte quantitativa observando preços passados de todas as potenciais moedas e a parte qualitativa, observando especificamente as caraterísticas que detêm. Para a primeira parte, o principal foco é no conceito de reserva de valor, conduzido pela mais ou menos estabilidade que a moeda tem mostrado e a segunda parte onde seis caraterísticas são analisadas para cada ativo em específico. Resultado – O ouro é claramente aquele que mais se destaca na análise quantitativa enquanto Nano e Monero são as moedas que detêm “as melhores caraterísticas como dinheiro”. Surpreendentemente, em geral, a análise quantitativa não mostra uma clara supremacia dos metais preciosos enquanto algumas cripto moedas preformam melhor do que o esperado. Restrições da Pesquisa – O período de 2 anos de análise enquanto todas as suposições e conclusões são feitas e retiradas no contexto de um “bull market” e com taxas de juro historicamente baixas. Originalidade/Valor – O estudo fornece uma metodologia facilmente aplicável a mais ativos enquanto cruza uma análise compreensiva com um critério de múltiplos fatores

Implementing an Android Tool for Visually Impaired Students of E-Learning

This article aims to describe the process of learning and development of an educational tool designed for mobile devices (smartphones) with Android technology. In summary, the application was developed based on the virtual learning environment Moodle and aims to develop a learning environment that supports the visually impaired students of e-learning, allowing them to ask questions, discuss and share ideas through forums and use chat rooms in real time. The fundamental purpose of this application is to cooperate with scientific knowledge in the sense that this is a representation of technological advance on the accessibility tools in distance education mode and provide comfort, flexibility and accessibility for the visually impaired students, realizing that education should always be inclusive