Boa Noite, E Boa Sorte: Determinantes Da Demissão De Ministros Envolvidos Em Escândalos De Corrupção No Primeiro Governo Dilma Rousseff

What determines the dismissal of Ministers? This article analyzes the lot of corruption scandals involving ministers of the first Dilma Rousseff's administration. The research design combines descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis for test of the hypothesis that news political scandals, political competition, and management of the government's coalition have a positive effect on the odds of the accused minister to leave the Cabinet. This paper based in construction of a database with 677 headlines of the three major national newspapers: Folha de S. Paulo, O Estado de S. Paulo, and O Globo, over the first seventeen months of Rousseff's administration. The results show that the greater number of news articles covering the corruptions scandals involving the minister in question, the greater the probability that she/he will be fired. We desire that this case study contribute to the research agenda on the relationship political scandals/democratic institutions/accountability trying to place this phenomenon in recent Brazilian democracy.2219311

Tachyon Condensation and Black Strings

We show that under certain conditions, closed string tachyon condensation produces a topology changing transition from black strings to Kaluza-Klein "bubbles of nothing." This can occur when the curvature at the horizon is much smaller than the string scale, so the black string is far from the correspondence point when it would make a transition to an excited fundamental string. This provides a dramatic new endpoint to Hawking evaporation. A similar transition occurs for black p-branes, and can be viewed as a nonextremal version of a geometric transition. Applications to AdS black holes and the AdS soliton are also discussed.Comment: 23 pages, 1 figure, v2: references adde

Thermal conditions affecting heat transfer in FDM/FFE: a contribution towards the numerical modelling of the process

The performance of parts produced by Free Form Extrusion (FFE), an increasingly popular additive manufacturing technique, depends mainly on their dimensional accuracy, surface quality and mechanical performance. These attributes are strongly influenced by the evolution of the filament temperature and deformation during deposition and solidification. Consequently, the availability of adequate process modelling software would offer a powerful tool to support efficient process set-up and optimisation. This work examines the contribution to the overall heat transfer of various thermal phenomena developing during the manufacturing sequence, including convection and radiation with the environment, conduction with support and between adjacent filaments, radiation between adjacent filaments and convection with entrapped air. The magnitude of the mechanical deformation is also studied. Once this exercise is completed, it is possible to select the material properties, process variables and thermal phenomena that should be taken in for effective numerical modelling of FFE.This work was supported by Strategic Project - LA 25 - 2013–2014 [PEst-C/CTM/LA0025/2013]

Type IIB Solutions with Interpolating Supersymmetries

We study type IIB supergravity solutions with four supersymmetries that interpolate between two types widely considered in the literature: the dual of Becker and Becker's compactifications of M-theory to 3 dimensions and the dual of Strominger's torsion compactifications of heterotic theory to 4 dimensions. We find that for all intermediate solutions the internal manifold is not Calabi-Yau, but has SU(3) holonomy in a connection with a torsion given by the 3-form flux. All 3-form and 5-form fluxes, as well as the dilaton, depend on one function appearing in the supersymmetry spinor, which satisfies a nonlinear differential equation. We check that the fields corresponding to a flat bound state of D3/D5-branes lie in our class of solutions. The relations among supergravity fields that we derive should be useful in studying new gravity duals of gauge theories, as well as possibly compactifications.Comment: 27pp, v2 REVTeX4, typographical fixes and minor clarifications, v3 added ref, modified discussion of RR axion slightl

Experimental techniques for aberration retrieval with through-focus intensity images

Measurement techniques to determine the aberration of an optical system, by obtaining through-focus intensity images that are produced when the object is a point source at infinity, are shown. The analysis of the aberrations is made using the extended version of the Nijboer-Zernike diffraction theory. This theory provides a semi analytical solution of the Debye diffraction integral and thus a direct relation between the intensity distribution of the field at the focal region and the exit pupil of the optical syste

Large scale numerical investigation of excited states in poly(phenylene)

A density matrix renormalisation group scheme is developed, allowing for the first time essentially exact numerical solutions for the important excited states of a realistic semi-empirical model for oligo-phenylenes. By monitoring the evolution of the energies with chain length and comparing them to the experimental absorption peaks of oligomers and thin films, we assign the four characteristic absorption peaks of phenyl-based polymers. We also determine the position and nature of the nonlinear optical states in this model.Comment: RevTeX, 10 pages, 4 eps figures included using eps

Sucesso adaptativo e percepções das perturbações hidrológicas por populações ribeirinhas em rios do semiárido brasileiro

Brazilian semi-arid streams are characterized by extreme hydrological events, with short periods of flooding and long periods of no surface water flow. Human populations living in the surroundings of these systems must be adapted to such hydrological disturbances. This paper evaluates the perceptions of riverine human populations in the Brazilian semi-arid, in relation to the hydrological disturbances, adaptations of such populations to withstand drought while maintaining social structure, and their utilization of the watershed during times of flooding. Data presented was collected from three riverine human populations that live near intermittent streams in the semi-arid region of Brazil. These populations rely mostly on the intermittent water supply from these systems and on the production from small-scaled agriculture and livestock. The surveyed populations maintain the stability of their social structures and organizations by producing an identification process through representations of hydrological disturbances (floods and drought). The resistance and resilience to these events basically involve strategies to avoid social ruptures, through the practice of subsistence agriculture, and the search for opportunities (e.g. adequate sites) to build weirs, wells and “cacimbas” (water holes). A simple yet well-structured scheme to utilize the watershed was found to be important during wet periods. The history of human adaptation to the Brazilian semi-arid depends on the configurations that both ecosystem and the social system take at each hydrological cycle. These aspects should be taken into account by decision-makers, and should be included in development-oriented policies adopted for the region. Any attempt to manage the semi-arid ecosystems should include the utilization of hydrological disturbances as part of the human element and its dimensions. Key words: riverine populations, survival strategies, flood, drought, stability, intermittent stream, semi-arid.Os rios do semiárido brasileiro são caracterizados por extremos hidrológicos, com curtos períodos de inundação e longos períodos de ausência de água. Populações humanas vivendo próximas a esses sistemas devem estar adaptadas a tais perturbações hidrológicas. Este trabalho avalia a percepção de populações ribeirinhas no semiárido brasileiro, considerando as perturbações hidrológicas, suas adaptações para resistir à seca enquanto mantêm a estrutura social e o uso da água durante os períodos de inundação. Este estudo foi realizado em três populações que vivem próximas a rios intermitentes na região semiárida do Brasil. Essas populações dependem principalmente da água de rios intermitentes para a agricultura em pequena escala e para a pecuária. As populações estudadas mantêm a estabilidade de suas estruturas e organizações sociais por meio das representações das perturbações hidrológicas (inundação e seca). A resistência e a resiliência a esses eventos envolvem basicamente estratégias para evitar rupturas sociais através da prática de agricultura de subsistência e pela procura de oportunidades (locais adequados) para construir açudes, poços e cacimbas. Um esquema simples e bem estruturado de utilização de água é também importante durante períodos de inundação. O histórico da adaptação humana no semiárido brasileiro resulta da conformação do ecossistema e do sistema social a cada ciclo hidrológico. Estes aspectos devem ser levados em conta por tomadores de decisões e devem ser considerados nas políticas que orientam o desenvolvimento dessa região. As ações de manejo nos ecossistemas do semiárido devem incluir a utilização das perturbações hidrológicas como parte do elemento humano e suas dimensões. Palavras-chave: populações ribeirinhas, estratégias de sobrevivência, inundação, seca, estabilidade, rio intermitente, semiárido

Soil biochemistry and microbial activity in vineyards under conventional and organic management at Northeast Brazil.

The São Francisco Submedium Valley is located at the Brazilian semiarid region and is an important center for irrigated fruit growing. This region is responsible for 97% of the national exportation of table grapes, including seedless grapes. Based on the fact that orgThe São Francisco Submedium Valley is located at the Brazilian semiarid region and is an important center for irrigated fruit growing. This region is responsible for 97% of the national exportation of table grapes, including seedless grapes. Based on the fact that organic fertilization can improve soil quality, we compared the effects of conventional and organic soil management on microbial activity and mycorrhization of seedless grape crops. We measured glomerospores number, most probable number (MPN) of propagules, richness of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) species, AMF root colonization, EE-BRSP production, carbon microbial biomass (C-MB), microbial respiration, fluorescein diacetate hydrolytic activity (FDA) and metabolic coefficient (qCO2). The organic management led to an increase in all variables with the exception of EE-BRSP and qCO2. Mycorrhizal colonization increased from 4.7% in conventional crops to 15.9% in organic crops. Spore number ranged from 4.1 to 12.4 per 50 g-1 soil in both management systems. The most probable number of AMF propagules increased from 79 cm-3 soil in the conventional system to 110 cm-3 soil in the organic system. Microbial carbon, CO2 emission, and FDA activity were increased by 100 to 200% in the organic crop. Thirteen species of AMF were identified, the majority in the organic cultivation system. Acaulospora excavata, Entrophospora infrequens, Glomus sp.3 and Scutellospora sp. were found only in the organically managed crop. S. gregaria was found only in the conventional crop. Organically managed vineyards increased mycorrhization and general soil microbial activity

A Quantum-mechanical Approach for Constrained Macromolecular Chains

Many approaches to three-dimensional constrained macromolecular chains at thermal equilibrium, at about room temperatures, are based upon constrained Classical Hamiltonian Dynamics (cCHDa). Quantum-mechanical approaches (QMa) have also been treated by different researchers for decades. QMa address a fundamental issue (constraints versus the uncertainty principle) and are versatile: they also yield classical descriptions (which may not coincide with those from cCHDa, although they may agree for certain relevant quantities). Open issues include whether QMa have enough practical consequences which differ from and/or improve those from cCHDa. We shall treat cCHDa briefly and deal with QMa, by outlining old approaches and focusing on recent ones.Comment: Expands review published in The European Physical Journal (Special Topics) Vol. 200, pp. 225-258 (2011