Exploring Changes in Cuba’s Ports and Hinterlands:: Transition from US to Socialist Sugar Markets

Bezugnehmend auf das Konzept der “Portale der Globalisierung”, analysiere ich die Verbindung zwischen Kubas Häfen und der Entwicklung der kubanischen Wirtschaft. Dabei gehe ich der Frage nach, wie diese in globale Netzwerke eingebunden wurden. Der Artikel verfolgt das Ziel, Veränderungen zu untersuchen, denen diese Häfen über einen Zeitraum, der sich vom frühen 9. Jh. bis heute erstreckt, unterlagen. Während ich mich im ersten Teil des Artikels auf jene Veränderungen konzentriere, die im 9. und frühen 20. Jh. im Hinterland stattfanden, als spanische und US-amerikanische Investoren die kubanische Zuckerindustrie dominierten, befasse ich mich in den daraufolgenden Abschnitten mit Hafenerneuerungen, die während des Kalten Krieges und in den letzten Jahren mit Hilfe ausländischer Investitionen getätigt wurden. Davon ausgehend, dass Veränderungen in den Hafenarealen mit jenen, die sich im Hinterland ereigneten, in Verbindung stehen, komme ich zu der Schlussfolgerung, dass die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung im kubanischen Hinterland im 9. und frühen 20. Jh. zu einem Ausbau der Häfen auf der Insel führte, während die Hafenmodernisierungen in der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jh.s wesentlich zu einem Wirtschaftsaufschwung Kubas beitrugen.Referring to the concept of portals of globalization, I examine Cuban ports in relation to the development of Cuba’s economy and how they became integrated into various global networks. The aim of this article is to analyse the changes these ports underwent over time, starting from the early nineteenth century until today. While I focus on changes in the hinterland that took place in the nineteenth and early twentieth century – when Spanish and US investors dominated the Cuban sugar industry – in the irst section of the article, I analyse port changes linked to foreign investments during the Cold War and in more recent years in the following two sections. By relating the changes at the ports to those that occurred in the hinterlands, I argue that the economic development in Cuba’s hinterland during the nineteenth and early twentieth century caused the island’s port expansion, while the modernization of the ports that has taken place since the second half of the twentieth century allowed Cuba’s economic recovery

Collecting to the Core--Advanced Astronomy Texts

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ALBUM: a tool for the analysis of slitless spectra and its application to ESO WFI data

ALBUM is a general-purpose tool to visualize and screen large amounts of slitless spectra. It was developed for a search for emission-line stars in SMC and LMC clusters. The observations were obtained with ESO's Wide Field Imager (WFI) and comprise ~8 million low-resolution spectra. The tool as well as the results of its application to the SMC part of the database are presented. The inferred frequency of Be stars is compared to the one in the higher-metallicity environment of the Milky Way.Comment: The 2007 ESO instrument calibration workshop, Garching bei Muenchen : Allemagne (2007); 4 page

Early-type PMS and MS objects in M16 and the Carina star-forming regions

Thanks to a variety of pertinent wide-angle facilities (WFI-slitless mode, VLT-FLAMES (Pasquini et al. 2002), SPITZER, 2MASS) it is possible to comprehensively study the nature of early-type objects in star-forming regions like the Eagle Nebula and Carina on large spatial scales. In them, the young open clusters NGC 6611, Trumpler 14, Trumpler 15, Trumpler 16, and their vicinities are of particular interest. With the WFI in its slitless mode (Baade et al. 1999), one can reliably and with little extra effort discriminate in thousands of spectra between intrinsic circumstellar emission as in HBe/Ae stars and diffuse interstellar line emission. The only bias results from the need of the equivalent width and absolute strength of the line emission to be sufficient for detection. VLT-FLAMES spectra combined with infrared data from SPITZER and 2MASS permit the nature of the objects with and without emission-lines to be derived. Following this approach, we report on the discovery and classification of new Herbig Be/Ae stars, pre-main sequence objects, and main sequence stars in these regions. Based on line-width measurements in VLT-FLAMES spectra, the evolution of the rotational velocities between pre-main sequence and main sequence phases is also discussed.Comment: Proceedings corresponding to poster 581 from the Special Session 7 about young stellar objects at the IAU-GA 200

Be stars in open clusters in the Small Magellanic Cloud

We report on the study of the population of B and Be stars in SMC young clusters, performed with the Wide Field Imager in slitless spectroscopic mode at ESO/T2.2m with a filter centered at Halpha. First, we explain the reduction methods we used and our selection of different types of objects. Second, we present results on the proportion of Be stars in SMC clusters, and we compare this proportion to the one observed in the Milky Way. Finally, we also present results on a statistical study of variability of Be stars with OGLE.Comment: sf2a 200

On the nature of early-type emission line objects in NGC6611

The number and the nature of emission line stars in the young open cluster NGC6611 is still the object of debates. Due to the presence of a strong and variable nebulosity in the cluster, the number of emission line stars is highly depending on the technique and the resolution used for the observations. Thanks to observations with the ESO-WFI, in slitless spectroscopic mode, and with the VLT-GIRAFFE we have been able to disentangle the circumstellar and nebular emissions. We confirm the small number of true emission line objects and we precise their nature: mainly Herbig Be stars.Comment: Sf2a 2007 PNP

Crosstalk between high-density lipoproteins and endothelial cells in health and disease: Insights into sex-dependent modulation

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. Intense research in vascular biology has advanced our knowledge of molecular mechanisms of its onset and progression until complications; however, several aspects of the patho-physiology of atherosclerosis remain to be further elucidated. Endothelial cell homeostasis is fundamental to prevent atherosclerosis as the appearance of endothelial cell dysfunction is considered the first pro-atherosclerotic vascular modification. Physiologically, high density lipoproteins (HDLs) exert protective actions for vessels and in particular for ECs. Indeed, HDLs promote endothelial-dependent vasorelaxation, contribute to the regulation of vascular lipid metabolism, and have immune-modulatory, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative properties. Sex- and gender-dependent differences are increasingly recognized as important, although not fully elucidated, factors in cardiovascular health and disease patho-physiology. In this review, we highlight the importance of sex hormones and sex-specific gene expression in the regulation of HDL and EC cross-talk and their contribution to cardiovascular disease

"Vielleicht muss der Leidensdruck noch steigen" : die Prognosen von Klimamodellen sind unsicher, aber auch im günstigsten Fall ist es höchste Zeit zu handeln

Der Paläontologe und Senckenberg-Direktor Prof. Dr. Volker Mosbrugger und der Meteorologe Prof. Dr. Christian D. Schönwiese im Gespräch mit Dr. Anne Hard