Slavery at the Court of the ‘Humanist Prince’: Reexamining Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen and his Role in Slavery, Slave Trade and Slave-smuggling in Dutch Brazil

From 1630 until its fall in 1654, the Dutch West India Company maintained a colony in northeastern Brazil where it tried to profit from the cultivation of sugar using enslaved African labor. Count Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen served as this colony’s governor-general from 1636 until 1644, this being the most heavily studied period of the colony’s existence. But the role of Johan Maurits in the transatlantic slave trade and enslavement in Brazil is poorly covered by research, with some historians recently arguing that there is ‘no proof’ of any personal involvement. This article presents a clear argument for the personal involvement of Johan Maurits in the slave trade and shows his involvement in slave-smuggling. Understanding the social relations between the count, his court and the Luso-Brazilian elite is in fact simply impossible without bringing in the trade and smuggling of enslaved Africans.Horizon 2020(H2020)715423Cities, Migration and Global Interdependenc

Prospective longitudinal study of coagulation profiles in children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome from stage I through Fontan completion

ObjectiveThe risk for thrombosis is increased after the Fontan operation. It is unknown whether children with univentricular heart disease have an intrinsic coagulation anomaly or acquire a defect in coagulation during the course of the staged repair. This prospective, longitudinal study evaluated changes in coagulation profiles in a cohort of patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome from stage I palliation through completion of the Fontan operation.MethodsThirty-seven patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome were enrolled prospectively, and the concentration of factors II, V, VII, VIII, IX, X, proteins C and S, fibrinogen, antithrombin, serum albumin, and liver enzymes were measured before stage I palliation (mean age 4 ± 2 days), before bidirectional Glenn (mean age 5.9 ± 1.8 months), before the Fontan procedure (mean age 27.1 ± 6.6 months), and after the Fontan procedure (mean age 49 ± 17.6months). Healthy children were used as age-matched controls for coagulation factors. Demographic, hemodynamic variables, and elapsed time after the Fontan procedure were evaluated as possible predictors of coagulation abnormalities.ResultsSignificantly lower levels of both procoagulation and anticoagulation factors were demonstrated through to completion of the Fontan procedure. After the Fontan procedure, there was a significantly higher factor VIII level (P < .005) but no correlation with hemodynamic variables or liver function.ConclusionThis longitudinal study in patients with identical cardiac disease and staged surgical procedures confirms the increase in factor VIII level after the Fontan procedure. This is an acquired defect, and although the cause remains to be determined, monitoring factor VIII levels after the Fontan operation could indicate a subset of patients at risk for thrombosis

Prospective longitudinal study of coagulation profiles in children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome from stage I through Fontan completion

ObjectiveThe risk for thrombosis is increased after the Fontan operation. It is unknown whether children with univentricular heart disease have an intrinsic coagulation anomaly or acquire a defect in coagulation during the course of the staged repair. This prospective, longitudinal study evaluated changes in coagulation profiles in a cohort of patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome from stage I palliation through completion of the Fontan operation.MethodsThirty-seven patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome were enrolled prospectively, and the concentration of factors II, V, VII, VIII, IX, X, proteins C and S, fibrinogen, antithrombin, serum albumin, and liver enzymes were measured before stage I palliation (mean age 4 ± 2 days), before bidirectional Glenn (mean age 5.9 ± 1.8 months), before the Fontan procedure (mean age 27.1 ± 6.6 months), and after the Fontan procedure (mean age 49 ± 17.6months). Healthy children were used as age-matched controls for coagulation factors. Demographic, hemodynamic variables, and elapsed time after the Fontan procedure were evaluated as possible predictors of coagulation abnormalities.ResultsSignificantly lower levels of both procoagulation and anticoagulation factors were demonstrated through to completion of the Fontan procedure. After the Fontan procedure, there was a significantly higher factor VIII level (P < .005) but no correlation with hemodynamic variables or liver function.ConclusionThis longitudinal study in patients with identical cardiac disease and staged surgical procedures confirms the increase in factor VIII level after the Fontan procedure. This is an acquired defect, and although the cause remains to be determined, monitoring factor VIII levels after the Fontan operation could indicate a subset of patients at risk for thrombosis

Determination of the cosmic far-infrared background level with the ISOPHOT instrument

The cosmic infrared background (CIRB) consists mainly of the integrated light of distant galaxies. In the far-infrared the current estimates of its surface brightness are based on the measurements of the COBE satellite. Independent confirmation of these results is still needed from other instruments. In this paper we derive estimates of the far-infrared CIRB using measurements made with the ISOPHOT instrument aboard the ISO satellite. The results are used to seek further confirmation of the CIRB levels that have been derived by various groups using the COBE data. We study three regions of very low cirrus emission. The surface brightness observed with the ISOPHOT instrument at 90, 150, and 180 um is correlated with hydrogen 21 cm line data from the Effelsberg radio telescope. Extrapolation to zero hydrogen column density gives an estimate for the sum of extragalactic signal plus zodiacal light. The zodiacal light is subtracted using ISOPHOT data at shorter wavelengths. Thus, the resulting estimate of the far-infrared CIRB is based on ISO measurements alone. In the range 150 to 180 um, we obtain a CIRB value of 1.08+-0.32+-0.30 MJy/sr quoting statistical and systematic errors separately. In the 90 um band, we obtain a 2-sigma upper limit of 2.3 MJy/sr. The estimates derived from ISOPHOT far-infrared maps are consistent with the earlier COBE results.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 17 page

The COBE Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment Search for the Cosmic Infrared Background: I. Limits and Detections

The DIRBE on the COBE spacecraft was designed primarily to conduct systematic search for an isotropic CIB in ten photometric bands from 1.25 to 240 microns. The results of that search are presented here. Conservative limits on the CIB are obtained from the minimum observed brightness in all-sky maps at each wavelength, with the faintest limits in the DIRBE spectral range being at 3.5 microns (\nu I_\nu < 64 nW/m^2/sr, 95% CL) and at 240 microns (\nu I_\nu < 28 nW/m^2/sr, 95% CL). The bright foregrounds from interplanetary dust scattering and emission, stars, and interstellar dust emission are the principal impediments to the DIRBE measurements of the CIB. These foregrounds have been modeled and removed from the sky maps. Assessment of the random and systematic uncertainties in the residuals and tests for isotropy show that only the 140 and 240 microns data provide candidate detections of the CIB. The residuals and their uncertainties provide CIB upper limits more restrictive than the dark sky limits at wavelengths from 1.25 to 100 microns. No plausible solar system or Galactic source of the observed 140 and 240 microns residuals can be identified, leading to the conclusion that the CIB has been detected at levels of \nu I_\nu = 25+-7 and 14+-3 nW/m^2/sr at 140 and 240 microns respectively. The integrated energy from 140 to 240 microns, 10.3 nW/m^2/sr, is about twice the integrated optical light from the galaxies in the Hubble Deep Field, suggesting that star formation might have been heavily enshrouded by dust at high redshift. The detections and upper limits reported here provide new constraints on models of the history of energy-releasing processes and dust production since the decoupling of the cosmic microwave background from matter.Comment: 26 pages and 5 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophyical Journa

Three-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Foreground Polarization

We present a full-sky model of polarized Galactic microwave emission based on three years of observations by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) at frequencies from 23 to 94 GHz. The model compares maps of the Stokes Q and U components from each of the 5 WMAP frequency bands in order to separate synchrotron from dust emission, taking into account the spatial and frequency dependence of the synchrotron and dust components. This simple two-component model of the interstellar medium accounts for at least 97% of the polarized emission in the WMAP maps of the microwave sky. Synchrotron emission dominates the polarized foregrounds at frequencies below 50 GHz, and is comparable to the dust contribution at 65 GHz. The spectral index of the synchrotron component, derived solely from polarization data, is -3.2 averaged over the full sky, with a modestly flatter index on the Galactic plane. The synchrotron emission has mean polarization fraction 2--4% in the Galactic plane and rising to over 20% at high latitude, with prominent features such as the North Galactic Spur more polarized than the diffuse component. Thermal dust emission has polarization fraction 1% near the Galactic center, rising to 6% at the anti-center. Diffuse emission from high-latitude dust is also polarized with mean fractional polarization 0.036 +/- 0.011.Comment: 9 pages with 8 figures. For higher quality figures, see the version posted at http://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/product/map/dr2/map_bibliography.cf

The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Source Catalog

We present the list of point sources found in the WMAP 5-year maps. The technique used in the first-year and three-year analysis now finds 390 point sources, and the five-year source catalog is complete for regions of the sky away from the galactic plane to a 2 Jy limit, with SNR > 4.7 in all bands in the least covered parts of the sky. The noise at high frequencies is still mainly radiometer noise, but at low frequencies the CMB anisotropy is the largest uncertainty. A separate search of CMB-free V-W maps finds 99 sources of which all but one can be identified with known radio sources. The sources seen by WMAP are not strongly polarized. Many of the WMAP sources show significant variability from year to year, with more than a 2:1 range between the minimum and maximum fluxes.Comment: 31 pages Latex with 4 embedded figures. Version accepted by the ApJ Supplement

Nine-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Cosmological Parameter Results

We present cosmological parameter constraints based on the final nine-year WMAP data, in conjunction with additional cosmological data sets. The WMAP data alone, and in combination, continue to be remarkably well fit by a six-parameter LCDM model. When WMAP data are combined with measurements of the high-l CMB anisotropy, the BAO scale, and the Hubble constant, the densities, Omegabh2, Omegach2, and Omega_L, are each determined to a precision of ~1.5%. The amplitude of the primordial spectrum is measured to within 3%, and there is now evidence for a tilt in the primordial spectrum at the 5sigma level, confirming the first detection of tilt based on the five-year WMAP data. At the end of the WMAP mission, the nine-year data decrease the allowable volume of the six-dimensional LCDM parameter space by a factor of 68,000 relative to pre-WMAP measurements. We investigate a number of data combinations and show that their LCDM parameter fits are consistent. New limits on deviations from the six-parameter model are presented, for example: the fractional contribution of tensor modes is limited to r<0.13 (95% CL); the spatial curvature parameter is limited to -0.0027 (+0.0039/-0.0038); the summed mass of neutrinos is <0.44 eV (95% CL); and the number of relativistic species is found to be 3.84+/-0.40 when the full data are analyzed. The joint constraint on Neff and the primordial helium abundance agrees with the prediction of standard Big Bang nucleosynthesis. We compare recent PLANCK measurements of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect with our seven-year measurements, and show their mutual agreement. Our analysis of the polarization pattern around temperature extrema is updated. This confirms a fundamental prediction of the standard cosmological model and provides a striking illustration of acoustic oscillations and adiabatic initial conditions in the early universe.Comment: 32 pages, 12 figures, v3: Version accepted to Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. Includes improvements in response to referee and community; corrected 3 entries in Table 10, (w0 & wa model). See the Legacy Archive for Microwave Background Data Analysis (LAMBDA): http://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/product/map/current/ for further detai