"Raíñas de pedra": a Humanizing Review of Inés de Castro’s Life and Death

The tragic love between Pedro I from Portugal and Inés de Castro became, in its earlier stages, a recurrent theme of the Portuguese, Spanish and European cultural scene. The dead queen came to represent the universal myth of the innocent woman sacrificed due to the Reason of State and she became the personification of the victory of love beyond death. However, despite its strong connection with Galicia, this figure was excluded from Galician literature for many years. This article’s purpose is to review and analyse the main work that introduced the figure of Inés de Castro to the Galician literary scene, Raíñas de Pedra, by Cándido Pazó, emphasising its originality and innovation in relation to the rest of the corpus.

A Validation Study of Vascular Cognitive Impairment Genetics Meta-Analysis Findings in an Independent Collaborative Cohort

Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI), including its severe form, vascular dementia (VaD), is the second most common form of dementia. The genetic etiology of sporadic VCI remains largely unknown. We previously conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of all published genetic association studies of sporadic VCI prior to 6 July 2012, which demonstrated that APOE (ɛ4, ɛ2) and MTHFR (rs1801133) variants were associated with susceptibility for VCI. De novo genotyping was conducted in a new independent relatively large collaborative European cohort of VaD (nmax = 549) and elderly non-demented samples (nmax = 552). Where available, genotype data derived from Illumina's 610-quad array for 1210 GERAD1 control samples were also included in analyses of genes examined. Associations were tested using the Cochran-Armitage trend test: MTHFR rs1801133 (OR = 1.36, 95% CI 1.16-1.58, p = <0.0001), APOE rs7412 (OR = 0.62, 95% CI 0.42-0.90, p = 0.01), and APOE rs429358 (OR = 1.59, 95% CI 1.17-2.16, p = 0.003). Association was also observed with APOE epsilon alleles; ɛ4 (OR = 1.85, 95% CI 1.35-2.52, p = <0.0001) and ɛ2 (OR = 0.67, 95% CI 0.46-0.98, p = 0.03). Logistic Regression and Bonferroni correction in a subgroup of the cohort adjusted for gender, age, and population maintained the association of APOE rs429358 and ɛ4 allele.

VLSI design and implementation of 2-D Inverse Discrete Wavelet Transform

This paper proposes a JPEG-2000 compliant architecture capable of computing the 2 -D Inverse Discrete Wavelet Transform. The proposed architecture uses a single processor and a row-based schedule to minimize control and routing complexity and to ensure that processor utilization is kept at 100%. The design incorporates the handling of borders through the use of symmetric extension. The architecture has been implemented on the Xilinx Virtex2 FPGA.

Effect of dental tissue conditioners and matrix metalloproteinase inhibitors on type I collagen microstructure analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Uppskattning av betalningsviljan för Peace & Love 2011

I denna uppsats skattas betalningsviljan hos besökarna på Peace & Love-festivalen år 2011. Med hjälp av enkätdata baserad på avslöjade och uttalade preferenser presenteras en regressionsanalys med olika oberoende variabler som karaktäriserar en festivalbesökare. Total budget är den beroende variabeln i regressionsanalysen och tolkas i uppsatsen som ekvivalent med besökarnas betalningsvilja. Analysen visar att män i genomsnitt spenderar 301 kronor mer än kvinnor, att turister i genomsnitt spenderar 1 124 kronor mer än en icke-turist samt att den genomsnittliga besökaren har en betalningsvilja på 4 183 kronor. Ett skattat konsumentöverskott har också värderats, vilket uppgick till 743 kronor per person och cirka 37 miljoner kronor totalt för de 50 000 festivalbesökarna. Uppsatsen tar inte hänsyn till de ekonomiska effekter som festivalen har på Borlänge som stad.

"We Bring Love" Les discours sur l'autochtonéité au sein du mouvement Healing Our Spirit Worldwide

La présente recherche porte sur Healing Our Spirit Worldwide (HOSW), un mouvement autochtone de guérison international. Les rassemblements HOSW, qui se déroulent à un intervalle variable dans différents pays, sont des lieux de célébration de la résilience des peuples autochtones et contribuent à l’émergence d’un sentiment de communauté et de solidarité entre les participants. Une description brève du mouvement, notamment vis-à-vis de son historique, son mandat et sa structure, est complétée par l’exemple du sixième rassemblement qui s’est déroulé à Honolulu, Hawai’i en septembre 2010. Celui-ci est mis à profit pour illustrer plus clairement la nature du mouvement et mettre en relief les discours des conférenciers lors de cet événement sur les thèmes de la guérison et de l’autochtonéité qui sont au cœur des intentions de recherche. La recherche met en lumière la dimension relationnelle de la guérison et de l’autochtonéité telles qu’elles sont décrites au sein du mouvement HOSW.

A simple but efficient voice activity detection algorithm through Hilbert transform and dynamic threshold for speech pathologies

A simple but efficient voice activity detector based on the Hilbert transform and a dynamic threshold is presented to be used on the pre-processing of audio signals -- The algorithm to define the dynamic threshold is a modification of a convex combination found in literature -- This scheme allows the detection of prosodic and silence segments on a speech in presence of non-ideal conditions like a spectral overlapped noise -- The present work shows preliminary results over a database built with some political speech -- The tests were performed adding artificial noise to natural noises over the audio signals, and some algorithms are compared -- Results will be extrapolated to the field of adaptive filtering on monophonic signals and the analysis of speech pathologies on futures works

Multiresolution analysis (discrete wavelet transform) through Daubechies family for emotion recognition in speech

We propose a study of the mathematical properties of voice as an audio signal -- This work includes signals in which the channel conditions are not ideal for emotion recognition -- Multiresolution analysis- discrete wavelet transform – was performed through the use of Daubechies Wavelet Family (Db1-Haar, Db6, Db8, Db10) allowing the decomposition of the initial audio signal into sets of coefficients on which a set of features was extracted and analyzed statistically in order to differentiate emotional states -- ANNs proved to be a system that allows an appropriate classification of such states -- This study shows that the extracted features using wavelet decomposition are enough to analyze and extract emotional content in audio signals presenting a high accuracy rate in classification of emotional states without the need to use other kinds of classical frequency-time features -- Accordingly, this paper seeks to characterize mathematically the six basic emotions in humans: boredom, disgust, happiness, anxiety, anger and sadness, also included the neutrality, for a total of seven states to identify

"Secretary in Fashion" and "Love-Letters": a study of socio-cultural and pragmatic-linguistic features in the late 17th century English language

Epistolary manuals are conspicuous historical documents for the pedagogy of letter writing; however, their actual usage as manuals by letter writers is unknown. "Secretary in Fashion" by Serre (1668), an epistolary manual, and "Love-Letters between a Nobleman and his Sister" (1684), an epistolary novel attributed to Behn, both give insights into epistolary conventions. Their inception and nature is interesting, considering their historical context. Despite the Restoration of Charles II, 17th century England was in a confused political state; as a result, texts regarding social convention or politics interested contemporary readers (the novel is inspired by a scandal of Lord Grey, an ardent Whig opposing Charles II). Past epistolary studies focus on 18th rather than 17th century manuals; the latter is typically used as supplementary information. Similarly, past epistolary fiction studies focus on 18th century texts; moreover, linguistic studies on Behn and the novel are deficient. Thus, this study addresses the research questions: 1) What are the socio-cultural and pragmaticlinguistic features represented in "Secretary in Fashion"? 2) What are the socio-cultural and pragmatic-linguistic features represented in "Love-Letters between a Nobleman and his Sister", and do any of these features correlate with the features represented in "Secretary in Fashion"? How far do the characteristic linguistic features of "Love-Letters between a Nobleman and his Sister" correlate with the practices recommended by the manual? Both texts were qualitatively analysed from an historical pragmatic perspective, which observes the potential effects of the socio-cultural and historical context. Also, as the texts concern shared discourses, comparisons were made with Gricean and Politeness Theory. The results show that the manual is a typical 17th century epistolary manual, aligning particularly with the "Academies of Complements", as it concerns the social conventions of the gentry. The novel mainly upheld instructions on form and matter; deviations occurred due to the amatory nature of some letters, and the narrative force affecting the style. Unfortunately, neither research question elucidates the actual usage of manuals. However, this study does show the epistolary practices of two writers, within specific contexts. It reveals that their 17th century English language use is affected by socialisation, in terms of social conventions concerning social rank, age, and gender; therefore, context varies language use. Also, their popularity reveals the interests of the 17th century society. Interest in epistolary-related texts, surely piques the interest of the modern reader as to why such epistolary-related texts were interesting.

Nine for ones in nine: a schizophrenic cyborg love story.

By appropriating the images of the schizophrenic and the cyborg from Deleuze and Guattari, and from Donna Haraway respectively, this paper seeks to discuss the relationship between human and computer, composer and performer in a way that undermines and subverts the normal binaries commonly employed, and even implied in the descriptions of these relationships in this paper. “Nine for ones in nine”, despite employing the use of the OpenMusic software in its composition, retains a degree of choice and indeterminacy for the performers; despite employing the use of precise just harmony in its design and intent, the work depends upon the imprecision of human control rather than ceding to the precision of a synthesiser. Given the vast possibilities opened up to composers by the use of computers to calculate and create sound, why then do composers continue to employ performers in the realisation of their designs, and rely on sometimes hundreds of years-old technology to articulate them in real time? The very social and imprecise aspect of the act of performance is key to the messy, compromised, and complicit product that scores such as Nine for ones in nine aim to produce.

From engaging to enabling : could an asset-based approach transform Indigenous affairs?

From social action to business action - A qualitative research on the professionalization process of a blogger: Case P.s. I Love Fashion -blog

Blogging is one of the most common forms of social media today. Blogs have become a powerful media and bloggers are settled stakeholders to marketers. Commercialization of the blogosphere has enabled an increasing number of bloggers professionalize and blog as a full-time occupation. The purpose of this study is to understand the professionalization process of a blogger from an amateur blogger to a professional actor. The following sub-questions were used to further elaborate the topic: What have been the meaningful events and developments fostering professionalization? What are the prerequisites for popularity in blogging? Are there any key success factors to acknowledge in order being able to make business out of your blog? The theoretical framework of this study was formed based on the two chosen focus areas for professionalization; social drivers and business drivers. The theoretical framework is based on literature from fields of marketing and social sciences, as well as previous research on social media, blogging and professionalization. The study is a qualitative case-study and the research data was collected in a semi-structured interview. The case chosen to this study is a lifestyle-blog. The writer of the case blog has been able to develop her blog to become a full-time professional blogger. Based on the results, the professionalization process of a blogger is not a defined process, but instead comprised of coincidental events as well as considered advancements. Success in blogging is based on the bloggers own motivation and passion for writing and expressing oneself in the form of a blog, instead of a systematic construction of a successful career in blogging. Networking with other bloggers as well as affiliates was seen as an important success factor. Popularity in the blogosphere and a high number of followers enable professionalization, as marketers actively seek to collaborate with popular bloggers with strong personal brands. Bloggers with strong personal brands are especially attractive due to their opinion leadership in their reference group. A blogger can act professionally either as entrepreneur or blogging for a commercial webpage. According to the results of this study, it is beneficial for the blogger’s professional development as well as career progress, to act on different operating models