Estudio introductorio. Relaciones históricas hispano-estadounidenses: visiones del siglo XX en clave cultural

This study presents a dossier which analyzes diverse manifestations of the role of culture in contemporary relations between Spain and the United States, as a contribution to current historiographical approaches to international cultural relations. Spanish publications on this subject are relatively scarce, so the introductory essay aims to review the historiographical context in which the research has been produced, before commenting on each article and author of the dossier. It offers an overview of what has been published in Spain since 1999 on Spanish-U.S. cultural relations. It finds that the main approach of the majority of the published studies has been the documentation and analysis of perceptions of the ‘other’, and it identifies the specific subjects that have appeared under two broad headings: Spain as seen by the USAmericans, and the United States in Spanish perceptions.Este estudio presenta un dossier que analiza diversas manifestaciones del papel de la cultura en las conexiones contemporáneas entre España y los Estados Unidos, como contribución a las nuevas corrientes historiográficas sobre las relaciones culturales internacionales. Son relativamente escasas las publicaciones españolas sobre este tema, por lo que el propósito de este ensayo introductorio es revisar el contexto historiográfico en el cual se producen estas investigaciones, antes de comentar cada uno de los artículos y autores del dossier. Ofrece un balance de lo publicado en España desde el año 1999 sobre relaciones culturales hispano-estadounidenses. Halla que la mayoría de los estudios tienen como principal enfoque la documentación y el análisis de las percepciones del ‘otro’, e identifica los temas concretos que han aparecido dentro de dos grandes apartados: España vista por los estadounidenses, y los Estados Unidos en percepciones españolas

Mass and density of B-type asteroid (702) Alauda

Observations with the adaptive optics system on the Very Large Telescope reveal that outer main belt asteroid (702) Alauda has a small satellite with primary to secondary diameter ratio of $\sim$56. The secondary revolves around the primary in 4.9143 $\pm$ 0.007 days at a distance of 1227 $\pm$ 24 km, yielding a total system mass of (6.057 $\pm$ 0.36) $\times$ 10$^{18}$ kg. Combined with an IRAS size measurement, our data yield a bulk density for this B-type asteroid of 1570 $\pm$ 500 kg~m$^{-3}$.Comment: In press, ApJ 2011. 6 pages, 4 figure

The Spanish-American War of 1898 : queries into the relationship between the press, public opinion and politics

En vista de la importancia que se concede en muchas versiones del conflicto hispamo-americano de 1898 al papel de la opinión pública, este artículo analiza las divergencias interpretativas en la reciente historiografía española en torno a las relaciones entre opinión pública, prensa y la toma de decisiones políticas conducentes a la guerra, al objeto de reflexionar sobre el ejercicio del poder político y la atribución de responsabilidades históricas

IN MEMORIAM: S B JACKSON 8 December 1946 – 26 May 2012

Steven Brian Jackson was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and was educated at Campbell College in the same city. In his teens he was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis and, after experiencing acute heart failure in his thirties, lived with a complex combination of chronic illnesses for the rest of his life. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, he made the most of his earthly existence and followed the lives of others with empathy.1 He chose to lead an academic career and obtained a BA Honours degree in Classics from the University of Ulster in 1971 after which he taught Classics at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution from 1971-1985

EMERALDS AND EMBASSIES IN THE ETHIOPIAN STORY OF HELIODORUS

In The Ethiopian story of Heliodorus reference is made to a disputebetween the Persians and the Ethiopians over control of the emeraldmines to the south of Egypt. This disagreement leads to war betweenthese two nations and sets the action of the plot of the novel inmotion. When taken together with the similar manner in whichprecious stones are viewed in The Ethiopian story and in the pseudo-Orphic Lithica — a poem about the magical properties of stonesdated to the fourth century of our era — the argument overpossession of the mines can convincingly be placed in the context ofthe political and religious changes taking place at this time inEthiopia, as documented by Epiphanius of Cyprus in his sermonOn the gems. Under Constantine and his successor Constantius IIembassies were exchanged with the Ethiopians, specifically with thepeople of Axum (who appear to have displaced the people of Meroefrom power at about 350), the Blemmyes, and the Indians. The factthat embassies involving these peoples feature prominently in TheEthiopian story also provides yet more circumstantial evidence tosuggest that the novel belongs to a similar fourth-century milieu toother texts from the same period, especially the anonymous Lithicaand the Περὶ Καταρχῶν (On Beginnings) of Maximus of Ephesus

Opening the Doors of Invention: Institutions, Technology and Developing Nations

What can the knowledge economy offer developing countries? Can developing nations hope to transform existing social and economic relations into an information society? What are the roles of trust, social forces, laws, internal governance structures, financial and information intermediaries, regulators and civil society? Does the creation of an information society represent a paradigm shift in development that requires different thinking and a different path from that taken by agrarian societies that have industrialized? This article explores these questions, investigating the path that developing nations can follow to build a knowledge-based service economy