Public rules about using and owning real estate in Cuba

The discussion on urban land continues to be absent in most of the specialized Cuban literature about planning and economic policies, despite its relevance. In very thorough essays about the present challenges and future development of the Cuban economy, nothing is said about the need for adequate public land policies and the implementation of public value capture mechanisms as part of the economic development of the country. The issue is complex, there is a void of almost half a century of not dealing with land value, but these reasons are not sufficient to justify the continued lack of vision in this direction, all the more when the Cuban cities are in desperate need to reverse the deterioration and stagnation that affects them. The Cuban state determines the general rules under which citizens and organisations may own and use real estate. These are rules about property rights and about the limitations - in compliance with aspects such as state security, environmental and heritage protection, economic development, social equity and human and civil rights – on exercising those rights. In doing this, the Cuban state is no different from other states: most states make such rules and enforce them when necessary. What is particular to Cuba is the content of those rules. In particular, the Cuban state has the monopoly to perform land development and management. There are public institutions to plan and deal with all of these aspects, and there are no recognised real estate markets in the country. Another important aspect is the utmost importance given to planning. But in spite of this, Cuban urban planners have rarely been certain of what will be built and where. The main reason for this may be that, despite the numerous master plans to study and anticipate development trends, most of the decisions ultimately involve top officials who envision the projects and establish the investment priorities according to the public interests or needs and the historical moment, irrespective of the plans. This article intends to give a clear picture of how things are done in the public sector, how the administration works, and under which legal framework. I will look at the physical planning system and its importance in the location and implementation of land use, investment projects and housing programs, and at the legal procedures that include licenses for construction, demolition, habitat and other licenses for heritage conservation and redevelopment. I will analyze the difficulties faced by the Cuban planning and legal system with respect to land and urban development, in the attempt to understand the limits imposed by the government on land and urban development, and I will explore to what extent those limits are to blame for the increasing irregularities and violations at all levels of the formal procedures for land and property. I will also introduce the public and personal rights concerning housing, buying and selling, permutes, donations and other tenure alternatives; and clarify the civil responsibilities, namely types of ownership, properties, property registers and so forth in order to expose the opportunities and accessibility of the system but also its limitations

Low-energy Coulomb excitation of 62^{62}Fe and 62^{62}Mn following in-beam decay of 62^{62}Mn

Sub-barrier Coulomb-excitation was performed on a mixed beam of $^{62}$Mn and $^{62}$Fe, following in-trap $\beta^{-}$ decay of $^{62}$Mn at REX-ISOLDE, CERN. The trapping and charge breeding times were varied in order to alter the composition of the beam, which was measured by means of an ionisation chamber at the zero-angle position of the Miniball array. A new transition was observed at 418~keV, which has been tentatively associated to a $(2^{+},3^{+})\rightarrow1^{+}_{g.s.}$ transition. This fixes the relative positions of the $\beta$-decaying $4^{+}$ and $1^{+}$ states in $^{62}$Mn for the first time. Population of the $2^{+}_{1}$ state was observed in $^{62}$Fe and the cross-section determined by normalisation to the $^{109}$Ag target excitation, confirming the $B(E2)$ value measured in recoil-distance lifetime experiments.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure

He Puts Out His Hand. You Put Out Your Hand. Emerging, Urban, Aboriginal Theatre-Makers. What Does it Take to Emerge?

The largest percentage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia live in Sydney. Despite this large Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, there is there is very little recorded evidence of a prominent artistic presence of Aboriginal theatre-makers who are creating new, contemporary expressions of urban culture. From 2007-2011, PACT centre for emerging artists (PACT) created a series of Aboriginal-specific opportunities and programs for emerging, urban, Aboriginal theatre-makers who were interested in experimenting in new methods of creation and exploring their urban, lived experience. These opportunities generated a small, critical mass of Aboriginal theatre-makers. The program was in many aspects successful, however it also faced various challenges and misunderstandings. When one of the participating artists, Björn Stewart, presented a new performance work that expressed confusion, dislike and a sense of manipulation in the opportunities he was being offered as an artist by various organisations, it highlighted that perhaps the opportunities being offered to these theatre-makers were not what was perceived as being needed, and that there are varying motivations, agendas and expectations behind such opportunities by those providing them. This study identifies three key stakeholders who contribute to different points of the development of opportunities and new Aboriginal works: the funding body, the arts organisation and the artists. Using PACT’s Aboriginal-specific opportunities as a case study, this research set out to discover: (i) if current opportunities being offered to urban, emerging, Aboriginal theatre-makers are effective; (ii) what are the stakeholders’ perceptions about what is required; and most importantly, (iii) do these perceptions align with each other, and if not, what is the impact on Sydney, urban, emerging Aboriginal theatre-makers? To date, there has been no record of emerging, urban, theatre-makers having been consulted or given the opportunity to voice what they believe an emerging, urban, Aboriginal theatre-maker requires to “emerge”. This study begins that record

A replication study confirms the association of TNFSF4 (OX40L) polymorphisms with systemic sclerosis in a large European cohort

<p><b>Objectives</b> The aim of this study was to confirm the influence of TNFSF4 polymorphisms on systemic sclerosis (SSc) susceptibility and phenotypic features.</p> <p><b>Methods</b> A total of 8 European populations of Caucasian ancestry were included, comprising 3014 patients with SSc and 3125 healthy controls. Four genetic variants of TNFSF4 gene promoter (rs1234314, rs844644, rs844648 and rs12039904) were selected as genetic markers.</p> <p><b>Results</b> A pooled analysis revealed the association of rs1234314 and rs12039904 polymorphisms with SSc (OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.31; OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.29, respectively). Significant association of the four tested variants with patients with limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc) was revealed (rs1234314 OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.38; rs844644 OR 0.91, 95% CI 0.83 to 0.99; rs844648 OR 1.10, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.20 and rs12039904 OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.33). Association of rs1234314, rs844648 and rs12039904 minor alleles with patients positive for anti-centromere antibodies (ACA) remained significant (OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.37; OR 1.12, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.25; OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.38, respectively). Haplotype analysis confirmed a protective haplotype associated with SSc, lcSSc and ACA positive subgroups (OR 0.88, 95% CI 0.82 to 0.96; OR 0.88, 95% CI 0.80 to 0.96; OR 0.86, 95% CI 0.77 to 0.97, respectively) and revealed a new risk haplotype associated with the same groups of patients (OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.26; OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.35; OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.42, respectively).</p> <p><b>Conclusions</b> The data confirm the influence of TNFSF4 polymorphisms in SSc genetic susceptibility, especially in subsets of patients positive for lcSSc and ACA.</p&gt

Short-range oscillators in power-series picture

A class of short-range potentials on the line is considered as an asymptotically vanishing phenomenological alternative to the popular confining polynomials. We propose a method which parallels the analytic Hill-Taylor description of anharmonic oscillators and represents all our Jost solutions non-numerically, in terms of certain infinite hypergeometric-like series. In this way the well known solvable Rosen-Morse and scarf models are generalized.Comment: 23 pages, latex, submitted to J. Phys. A: Math. Ge

Mental healthcare utilization among head and neck cancer patients:A longitudinal cohort study

Objective: To investigate utilization of mental healthcare among head and neck cancer (HNC) patients from diagnosis to 2 years after treatment, in relation to psychological symptoms, mental disorders, need for mental healthcare, and sociodemographic, clinical and personal factors. Methods: Netherlands Quality of life and Biomedical Cohort study data as measured before treatment, at 3 and 6 months, and at 1 and 2 years after treatment was used (n = 610). Data on mental healthcare utilization (iMCQ), psychological symptoms (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Cancer Worry Scale), mental disorders (CIDI interview), need for mental healthcare (Supportive Care Needs Survey Short-Form 34, either as continuous outcome indicating the level of need or dichotomized into unmet need (yes/no)) and several sociodemographic, clinical and personal factors were collected. Factors associated with mental healthcare utilization were investigated using generalized estimating equations (p &lt; 0.05). Results: Of all HNC patients, 5%–9% used mental healthcare per timepoint. This was 4%–14% in patients with mild-severe psychological symptoms, 4%–17% in patients with severe psychological symptoms, 15%–35% in patients with a mental disorder and 5%–16% in patients with an unmet need for mental healthcare. Among all patients, higher symptoms of anxiety, a higher need for mental healthcare, lower age, higher disease stage, lower self-efficacy and higher social support seeking were significantly associated with mental healthcare utilization. Conclusion: Mental health care utilization among HNC patients is limited, and is related to psychological symptoms, need for mental healthcare, and sociodemographic, clinical and personal factors.</p