Faulkner and the World Culture of the Global South

Faulkner situates the history of U.S. cultural and narrative forms in the context of the larger histories of the hemispheric Americas in ways that are defining of the relationship between U.S. and Latin American fiction. In this paper, I argue that it is important to ask what happens if we pay attention to these inter-American connections in Faulkner’s works. How does the recognition of these transnational features affect our understanding of Faulkner in particular and American (literary) modernisms generally? I explore what emerges from a view of Faulkner in relation to what we may term the “global South.” I suggest that viewing Faulkner in this manner offers the possibility of understanding him not simply as a writer of the American South but also as a chronicler of the world culture of the global South

Las claves del crecimiento económico chino: Estado y política pública

China es poseedora de una historia milenaria apasionante, con páginas que pueden ser llenadas por dinastías del pasado, regímenes políticos muy variados, y una sociedad que aun cuando está en constante cambio, conserva parte de sus creencias y tradiciones. Se trata de un país peculiar, que se distingue por un fuerte sentimiento nacionalista arraigado durante toda su conocida existencia. La nación asiática ha dado al mundo numerosos inventos que han contribuido al desarrollo de la humanidad. “Fue cuna de la imprenta, la brújula (incluyendo el imán), la seda, el primer detector de terremotos, el reloj mecánico, barcos no sumergibles, entre otros inventos cruciales. También se habla de su buen nivel de alfabetismo desde épocas tempranas, en especial por el interés de difusión filosófico-espiritual” (Oubiña Falcon 2015 y Pato 2011, citados en Figueroa Delgado, 2018: 71. Traducción nuestra); figurando fuertemente el confucianismo y el taoísmo. Esta investigación, no obstante, no se inserta en el cúmulo de experiencias que esta nación puede ofrecernos a través de su rica historia, sino que emerge del interés por explicarnos el despunte económico que ha tenido en las últimas décadas, sus “secretos”, los elementos claves que encierra su estrategia de crecimiento económico, y que han hecho de China, un importante productor y exportador mundial. Ello en especial cuando tenemos en cuenta que parece haber iniciado su apertura económica con indicadores por debajo de los que teníamos en México en ese momento, por lo que creemos que su trayectoria reciente puede aportarnos enseñanzas, y es nuestra pretensión extraerlas. Partimos de la premisa de que el meollo de la cuestión yace en el papel asumido por el Estado, con particular énfasis en el impulso otorgado a la ciencia y tecnología. Para cumplir con nuestro cometido, consideramos en un primer capítulo, exponer información que muestra la relevancia actual de China en el escenario económico global, y que atañe a la expansión de su comercio y producción, su lugar como receptor de Inversión Extranjera Directa (IED) y la creciente salida de capitales chinos al mundo. No podía faltar la referencia al comportamiento del gasto en la Investigación y el Desarrollo (I+D), asumido por quien escribe como una de las principales claves del crecimiento económico de China. Al considerar pertinente esclarecer el punto de partida y la situación en que la nación asiática emprende la reorientación de su modelo de crecimiento, el segundo capítulo remite al desenvolvimiento conseguido durante la etapa maoísta, misma que abarca desde 1949 hasta finales de la década de 1970. Se destacarán avances y retrocesos derivados de las políticas sectoriales, al igual que las prioridades establecidas a través de los planes quinquenales. El tercer capítulo indaga en el periodo de reforma estructural que se gesta a partir de 1978, siendo medular para develar el tipo de Estado que conduce el proceso, su forma de hacerlo, y su trato a los distintos sectores. La política pública se sigue desde los cuatro grandes rubros objetos declarados de la modernización estatal: agricultura, industria, ciencia y tecnología, y defensa nacional. Este estudio fue fundamental para nuestros propósitos, permitiéndonos posteriormente —en una sección de Comentarios Finales— extraer las claves en síntesis, y someterlas a un modesto análisis comparativo con México, resaltando conductas polarizadas por cada Estado

Geometry and entanglement of two-qubit states in the quantum probabilistic representation

A new geometric representation of qubit and qutrit states based on probability simplexes is used to describe the separability and entanglement properties of density matrices of two qubits. The Peres--Horodecki positive partial transpose (ppt)-criterion and the concurrence inequalities are formulated as the conditions that the introduced probability distributions must satisfy to present entanglement. A four-level system, where one or two states are inaccessible, is considered as an example of applying the elaborated probability approach in an explicit form. The areas of three Triadas of Malevich's squares for entangled states of two qubits are defined through the qutrit state, and the critical values of the sum of their areas are calculated. We always find an interval for the sum of the square areas, which provides the possibility for an experimental checkup of the entanglement of the system in terms of the probabilities

Safety and effectiveness of CIMAvax-EGF administered in community polyclinics

In spite of the advances in immunotherapy and targeted therapies, lung cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer-related death. The epidermal growth factor receptor is an established target for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and its overactivation by the ligands can induce accelerated proliferation, angiogenesis, and metastasis as well as proinflammatory or immunosuppressive signals. CIMAvax-EGF is an epidermal growth factor (EGF)-depleting immunotherapy that is approved for the treatment of NSCLC patients in Cuba. The study was designed as a phase IV trial to characterize the safety and effectiveness of CIMAvax-EGF in advanced NSCLC patients treated in 119 community polyclinics and 24 hospitals. CIMAvax-EGF treatment consisted of four bi-weekly doses followed by monthly boosters. Overall, 741 NSCLC patients ineligible for further cancer-specific treatment were enrolled. CIMAvax-EGF was safe, and the most common adverse events consisted of mild-to-moderate injection site reactions, fever, chills, tremors, and headache. For patients completing the loading doses, the median survival was 9.9 months. For individuals achieving at least stable disease to the frontline and completing vaccination induction, the median survival was 12 months. Most of the functional activities and symptoms evaluated through the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-C30 questionnaire improved over time. In conclusion, this real-world trial demonstrated that CIMAvax-EGF was safe and effective in patients who were vaccinated in the maintenance scenario. A larger effect was seen in subjects with poor prognosis like those with squamous tumors and high EGF levels. Remarkably, this community-based intervention was very important because it demonstrated the feasibility of treating advanced lung cancer patients with active immunotherapy in primary care institutions. In addition to CIMAvax-EGF, patients received supportive care at the community clinic. Vaccine administration by the family doctors at the polyclinics reduced the patients’ burden on the medical oncology services that continued providing chemotherapy and other complex therapies. We conclude that community polyclinics constitute the optimal scenario for administering those cancer vaccines that are safe and require prolonged maintenance in patients with advanced cancer, despite the continuous deterioration of their general condition.Clinical trial registrationhttps://rpcec.sld.cu/trials/RPCEC00000205-En, identifier RPCEC00000205

Imagining Cultures: The Transnational Imaginary in Postrace America

Forthcoming in The Imaginary and Its Worlds: American Studies after the Transnational Turn, ed. Laura Bieger, Ramón Saldívar, and Johannes Voelz (Dartmouth College Press/University Press of New England, 2013).Ramón Saldívar‘s contribution is a wide-ranging and spirited piece of critical analysis that deals with the “color line” and its relation to the “cultural imaginary” of Americans. Making virtuosic use of examples drawn from texts by a panoply of different Black, Latino, and Asian American authors, Saldívar interrogates the nature (and existence) of “postethnic fiction.

Imagining Cultures: The Transnational Imaginary in Postrace America

Forthcoming in The Imaginary and Its Worlds: American Studies after the Transnational Turn, ed. Laura Bieger, Ramón Saldívar, and Johannes Voelz (Dartmouth College Press/University Press of New England, 2013).Ramón Saldívar‘s contribution is a wide-ranging and spirited piece of critical analysis that deals with the “color line” and its relation to the “cultural imaginary” of Americans. Making virtuosic use of examples drawn from texts by a panoply of different Black, Latino, and Asian American authors, Saldívar interrogates the nature (and existence) of “postethnic fiction.

Geometry and entanglement of two-qubit states in the quantum probabilistic representation

A new geometric representation of qubit and qutrit states based on probability simplexes is used to describe the separability and entanglement properties of density matrices of two qubits. The Peres--Horodecki positive partial transpose (ppt)-criterion and the concurrence inequalities are formulated as the conditions that the introduced probability distributions must satisfy to present entanglement. A four-level system, where one or two states are inaccessible, is considered as an example of applying the elaborated probability approach in an explicit form. The areas of three Triadas of Malevich's squares for entangled states of two qubits are defined through the qutrit state, and the critical values of the sum of their areas are calculated. We always find an interval for the sum of the square areas, which provides the possibility for an experimental checkup of the entanglement of the system in terms of the probabilities