Angerona: Fatos e ficções sobre a fazenda de café de Cornelio Souchay e Ursula Lambert em Cuba

O artigo conta a história de Cornelio Souchay, um imigrante alemão que chega a Havana em 1807, vive uma relação amorosa com Ursula Lambert, uma mulata haitiana livre e se torna proprietário de uma fazenda de café exemplar, à qual dá o nome de Angerona, deusa do silêncio. O texto baseia-se em relatos, documentos, cartas de viajantes, filme e romances de autoria de homens ou mulheres, que visitaram Angerona em épocas diferentes. Ao contrário do filme “Roble de Olor” (2003) que festeja a relação amorosa de Cornelio com Ursula, o autor se interessa pela reconstrução da vida do imigrante e da fazenda, cujas ruínas transformadas em monumento nacional pelo Patrimônio Histórico cubano. Com efeito, a descrição minuciosa de diversos aspectos da fazenda, da casa do senhor e de sua relação com os escravos, não tem outro objetivo senão evidenciar o quanto o humanismo rígido de Cornélio e seu calculo racional contribuíram para a maior eficiência do sistema de dominação da fazenda

Max Weber: family history, economic policy, exchange reform

This article suggests that Weber’s cosmopolitandimension has much to do with his extended family history,which has been relatively neglected even though it influencedhis world view and oeuvre in significant respects. It first sketchesthe cosmopolitan family context and then turns to Weber’spolitical and scholarly agenda, especially the little-known storyof his strong political and professional engagement in the battleover exchange reform in the eighteen-nineties.L’auteur suggère que la dimension cosmopolite de Weber estassociée à son histoire familiale, qui a été relativement negligée malgrél’influence significative qu’elle eut sur sa vision du monde et son oeuvre.Premièrement, l’article trace le contexte familiale cosmopolite; ensuiteil se penche sur l’agenda politique et académique de Weber,particulièrement l’histoire méconnue de son engagement politique etprofessionnel dans la bataille pour la réforme du change dans les années90 du XIX siècle.O autor sugere que a dimensão cosmopolita de Weber estáassociada à sua história familiar, que tem sido relativamentenegligenciada embora tenha influenciado sua visão de mundo e suaobra em aspectos significativos. Na primeira parte, esboça o contextofamiliar cosmopolita, e depois examina a agenda política e acadêmicade Weber, particularmente a história pouco conhecida de seuenvolvimento político e profissional na batalha pela reforma cambialnos anos 90 do século XIX

The Political Context of Max Weber's Contribution on the German Economy in the Encyclopedia Americana

Für die Encyclopedia Americana verfasste MaxWeber 1905 einen Beitrag über die deutsche Wirtschaft, der bis vor kurzem unbekannt war. Hugo Münsterberg, der Herausgeber der dreiundzwanzig Beiträge über Deutschland, rekrutierte als zweiten Ökonomen Ernst von Halle, Admiral Tirpitz' Propagandachef für den kaiserlichen Schlachtflottenbau. Damit hatte er zwei hervorragende Verfechter einer imperialistischen Weltpolitik ausgewählt. Neben seinem Beitrag zum Gelehrtenkongreß in St. Louis 1904 gab dies Weber eine breitere Gelegenheit, der Rhetorik seiner Weltmachtpolitik nüchterne wirtschaftspolitische Argumente hinzuzufügen: Der rasch wachsende deutsche Industriestaat müsse in die Weltwirtschaft integriert werden, und zwar durch gemäßigte Zölle und Handelsverträge. Dies in Opposition zur konservativen Hochzollpolitik und ihrem Streben nach Autarkie, aber auch zu Joseph Chamberlains großer Kampagne, das britische Empire mit Schutzzöllen 'einzuhegen'. Mit Hilfe ausführlicher statistischer Materialien ermöglicht Weber dem Leser, die agrarischen und industriellen Entwicklungen Deutschlands und der USA, aber auch Englands und Frankreichs zu vergleichen. Er hält die deutschen und amerikanischen Zollschranken für überwindbar, warnt aber vor zunehmenden deutsch-englischen Spannungen. Seine Argumentation paßte zu Hugo Münsterbergs kulturpolitischer Agenda, die ein Rapprochement zwischen Deutschland und den USA durch die Förderung des Deutschtums und die Minderung der "angelsächsischen Hegemonie" beabsichtigte. Die geschichtliche Entwicklung ließ am Ende sowohl Münsterbergs Kulturpolitik als auch Webers Weltpolitik scheitern.In 1905 Weber wrote two articles, until recently unknown, on the German economy for the Encyclopedia Americana. Hugo Münsterberg, editor of the twenty-three articles on Germany, chose as second economist Ernst von Halle, Admiral Tirpitz's propaganda chief for Imperial Germany's naval expansion program. Thus he chose two outstanding advocates of an imperialist Weltmachtpolitik. The request gave Weber a larger opportunity than at St. Louis in 1904 to juxtapose his realistic economic policies to his aggressive rhetoric. He advocates the integration of Germany's rapidly expanding economy into the world economy by means of moderate tariffs and trade treaties. Presenting a great amount of statistical information, Weber compares the agrarian and industrial development of Germany and America, and, to a lesser extent, England and France. He considers American and German tariff barriers surmountable, but warns of exacerbating Anglo-German tensions. His reasoning fitted Münsterberg's cultural agenda, which aimed at a German-American rapprochement through promoting Deutschtum und weakening "Anglo-Saxon hegemony.

Fibre optic humidity sensor designed for highly alkaline environments

This paper presents the design of a sensor packaging for a Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) based fibre optic humidity sensor. The evaluation of the developed fibre optic sensor was performed under experimental conditions and verified its capability to withstand highly alkaline environments. Therefore, the sensor can be applied to monitor the concrete humidity level and thus to indicate the maintenance of concrete structures

Advances in Nondietary Management of Children with Atopic Dermatitis

This paper discusses recent advances in therapy of atopic dermatitis (AD), excluding those that include dietary management. Some of these therapies are anecdotal, experimental, or somewhat controversial. It is important to emphasize that physicians should not try what is new without first having given standard therapy a long and reasonable chance to succeed. This is important because AD does not last forever, and in many patients, mild disease heals spontaneously.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72467/1/j.1525-1470.1989.tb00820.x.pd

Efficacy and safety of the anti-IL-12/23 p40 monoclonal antibody, ustekinumab, in patients with active psoriatic arthritis despite conventional non-biological and biological anti-tumour necrosis factor therapy: 6-month and 1-year results of the phase 3, multicentre, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised PSUMMIT 2 trial

Objective: Assess ustekinumab efficacy (week 24/week 52) and safety (week 16/week 24/week 60) in patients with active psoriatic arthritis (PsA) despite treatment with conventional and/or biological anti-tumour necrosis factor (TNF) agents. Methods: In this phase 3, multicentre, placebo-controlled trial, 312 adults with active PsA were randomised (stratified by site, weight (≤100 kg/>100 kg), methotrexate use) to ustekinumab 45 mg or 90 mg at week 0, week 4, q12 weeks or placebo at week 0, week 4, week 16 and crossover to ustekinumab 45 mg at week 24, week 28 and week 40. At week 16, patients with <5% improvement in tender/swollen joint counts entered blinded early escape (placebo→45 mg, 45 mg→90 mg, 90 mg→90 mg). The primary endpoint was ≥20% improvement in American College of Rheumatology (ACR20) criteria at week 24. Secondary endpoints included week 24 Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ-DI) improvement, ACR50, ACR70 and ≥75% improvement in Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI75). Efficacy was assessed in all patients, anti-TNF-naïve (n=132) patients and anti-TNF-experienced (n=180) patients. Results: More ustekinumab-treated (43.8% combined) than placebo-treated (20.2%) patients achieved ACR20 at week 24 (p<0.001). Significant treatment differences were observed for week 24 HAQ-DI improvement (p<0.001), ACR50 (p≤0.05) and PASI75 (p<0.001); all benefits were sustained through week 52. Among patients previously treated with ≥1 TNF inhibitor, sustained ustekinumab efficacy was also observed (week 24 combined vs placebo: ACR20 35.6% vs 14.5%, PASI75 47.1% vs 2.0%, median HAQ-DI change −0.13 vs 0.0; week 52 ustekinumab-treated: ACR20 38.9%, PASI75 43.4%, median HAQ-DI change −0.13). No unexpected adverse events were observed through week 60. Conclusions: The interleukin-12/23 inhibitor ustekinumab (45/90 mg q12 weeks) yielded significant and sustained improvements in PsA signs/symptoms in a diverse population of patients with active PsA, including anti-TNF-experienced PsA patients

A uniform asteroseismic analysis of 22 solar-type stars observed by Kepler

Asteroseismology with the Kepler space telescope is providing not only an improved characterization of exoplanets and their host stars, but also a new window on stellar structure and evolution for the large sample of solar-type stars in the field. We perform a uniform analysis of 22 of the brightest asteroseismic targets with the highest signal-to-noise ratio observed for 1 month each during the first year of the mission, and we quantify the precision and relative accuracy of asteroseismic determinations of the stellar radius, mass, and age that are possible using various methods. We present the properties of each star in the sample derived from an automated analysis of the individual oscillation frequencies and other observational constraints using the Asteroseismic Modeling Portal (AMP), and we compare them to the results of model-grid-based methods that fit the global oscillation properties. We find that fitting the individual frequencies typically yields asteroseismic radii and masses to \sim1% precision, and ages to \sim2.5% precision (respectively 2, 5, and 8 times better than fitting the global oscillation properties). The absolute level of agreement between the results from different approaches is also encouraging, with model-grid-based methods yielding slightly smaller estimates of the radius and mass and slightly older values for the stellar age relative to AMP, which computes a large number of dedicated models for each star. The sample of targets for which this type of analysis is possible will grow as longer data sets are obtained during the remainder of the mission.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures in the main text, 22 figures in Appendix. Accepted for publication in Ap

A VALUE PLATFORM ANALYSIS PERSPECTIVE ON CUSTOMER ACCESS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Customer access information technologies (CAITs) provide a link between a firm and its customers. Firms invest in CAITs to reduce costs, increase revenues and market share, lock in existing customers and capture new ones. These benefits, however, are notoriously difficult to measure. This paper proposes an evaluative method for CAlT deployment called value platform analysis, that is based on a conceptual model drawn from the theory of retail outlet deployment in marketing science. The model focuses on the impact of CAIT features and environmental features on transactions generated by the CAIT. Specific econometric models are developed for deployment. Hypotheses regarding the likely impact of automated teller machine (ATM) location design choices and environmental features on ATM transactions are evaluated. The results indicate that there are a number of key features influencing ATM performance. Two distinct ATM deployment scenarios emerge: one for servicing a bank's own customers, and another for providing transaction services for customers for a fee.Information Systems Working Papers Serie