Transport coefficients and nonextensive statistics

We discuss the basic transport phenomena in gases and plasmas obeying the $q$-nonextensive velocity distribution (power-law). Analytical expressions for the thermal conductivity ($K_q$) and viscosity ($\eta_q$) are derived by solving the Boltzmann equation in the relaxation-time approximation. The available experimental results to the ratio {$K_q$}/$\eta_q$ constrains the $q$-parameter on the interval $0.74 \leq q \leq 1$. In the extensive limiting case, the standard transport coefficients based on the local Gaussian distribution are recovered, and due to a surprising cancellation, the electric conductivity of a neutral plasma is not modified.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, REVTEX, submitted to PR

Rank-1 Tensor Approximation Methods and Application to Deflation

Because of the attractiveness of the canonical polyadic (CP) tensor decomposition in various applications, several algorithms have been designed to compute it, but efficient ones are still lacking. Iterative deflation algorithms based on successive rank-1 approximations can be used to perform this task, since the latter are rather easy to compute. We first present an algebraic rank-1 approximation method that performs better than the standard higher-order singular value decomposition (HOSVD) for three-way tensors. Second, we propose a new iterative rank-1 approximation algorithm that improves any other rank-1 approximation method. Third, we describe a probabilistic framework allowing to study the convergence of deflation CP decomposition (DCPD) algorithms based on successive rank-1 approximations. A set of computer experiments then validates theoretical results and demonstrates the efficiency of DCPD algorithms compared to other ones

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThis dissertation provides a linguistic description and analysis of Desano, an endangered Tukanoan language of the Vaupes region of Brazil. Much valuable knowledge would be lost if this language were to become extinct without documentation. Several of the Tukanoan languages in the upper Amazon are highly endangered. The Eastern Tukanoan people are famous for their linguistic exogamy and ‘obligatory' multilingualism; there are some twenty languages in the region whose speakers must marry someone who speaks a different language. There are a number of linguistic traits in Desano described in this dissertation which are of particular interest to linguists in general, because they are rare in the world's languages, and they stand to contribute much to our understanding of the full range of possibilities in human grammar (and consequently also of some of the limits of human cognition). These include: nasal harmony (in phonology), the noun classifier system (in morphology), and the evidential system (in the interface of morphology-syntaxsemantics). The dissertation begins with an introduction of the Desano people and their language; including sociolinguistic information and some historical background. The second chapter presents a phonological description. It then proceeds with a description of the parts of speech in Desano and the characterization of the ‘word' in Desano, in Chapter 3. The bulk of the dissertation is devoted to the morphosyntax of Desano, with chapters devoted to nominal morphology and verbal morphology

Discriminação baseada no peso: representações sociais de internautas sobre a gordofobia

The concept of fat phobia has been usually used to define ways of discrimination towards overweight bodies. The present work aimed to know the social representations of fat phobia elaborated by internet users. A documental research was conducted based on internet comments on an article about fat phobia published by the Superinteressante magazine. Selected opinions comprised a textual corpus which was submitted to a lexical analysis through IRAMUTEQ, revealing five thematic classes: (i) "Health as discourse to justify discrimination", (ii) "Fat versus Slim: instituting differences", (iii) "Weight loss: reinforcement versus deconstruction of the standard", (iv) "Fat phobia: invention or reality?" and (v) "Fat phobia and the (in)appropriateness of affirmative actions". Anchored on the technical and scientific argument which affirms that obesity is an epidemic disease, the representations of internet users legitimized discrimination and prejudice processes against overweight people. Moreover, ironic propositions against quota policy for overweight people showed a dissatisfaction about the existence of affirmative actions that promote equality among social groups, ratifying the idea that the privileges cannot be granted to “inferior groups” or depreciated groups, and these groups, in order to be respected by society, should try to fit their bodies into the refined standard. In this context, aiming to make fat phobia an irrelevant topic, disqualifying the magazine’s approach on this topic, representational strategies directed to deny its existence by comparing suffering between groups or setting differences (fats x thins) was observed. Considering the lack of researches about discrimination against overweight in Brazil, other studies on this topic are suggested