Racial Stereotypes in Fictions of Slavery: Uncle Tom´s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe and O Escravo by José Evaristo D’ Almeida

Most stereotypes about Africans and their descendants started with colonialism in the fifteenth century. The encounter between Africans and Europeans facilitated the creation of myths and stereotypes about the colonized peoples, which were made effective through the naturalization of differences. The relationship between skin color and slavery developed to produce a racialized system of forced labor on which colonialism depended for its survival. Stereotypes functioned to legitimize colonial authority by building the notion that the colonizer ruled over the colonized because of an innate superiority. Therefore, stereotyping is an effective "discursive strategy" (Bhabha) based on fixity and repetition with the aim of controlling the other. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and José Evaristo D’Almeida O Escravo both denounced the evils of slavery in the United States of America and Cape Verde respectively, claiming for the end of the institution. However, they are both ambivalent towards slaves and blacks, being unable to envisage social equality for the two races. Both authors construct their black characters as stereotypical others, but they depict the light-skin characters as superior both culturally and physically. The bi-racial characters are portrayed as the ones who possess beauty and intelligence as an inheritance from their European ancestry, while blacks are relegated to the margins. We need to consider, however, that slavery in Cape Verde had different characteristics from its counterpart in the United States of America. In Cape Verde the Africans outnumbered the Europeans and that circumstance favored miscegenation and the emergence of forms of mixed culture, which came to be seen as positive and natural. In the United States of America miscegenation was regarded as a taboo since early. And even after Emancipation, “the one-drop rule” made the offspring of an African descendant black, however 'white' he or she might be.

O turismo e a percepção dos seus impactes pela comunidade local : o caso da Ilha do Sal, Cabo Verde

The traditional analysis of tourism, having in mind only its economic impacts has been shown to be reductive and insufficient to explain the numerous and versatile modifications these can and will stimulate in a society at many levels, e.g. socially, culturally, politically and in the environment. The complexity of touristic activities and the insufficient measuring instruments that can provide exact data about these, gives terrain to the emergence of myths and value judgments around the effects in countries where tourism is a reality. This study aims at understanding how the impacts of tourism are grasped by the local community in Sal island – Cape Verde – convinced as we are that a quality and sustainable touristic offer can only be done by trialing the population, and involving them in the planning, managing and monitoring processes. The analysis of the perception of the impacts of touristic activities by the population tells us a lot about the levels of satisfaction of such communities towards the way in which the touristic development has been carried out in their surroundings. This study has been made through the inquiry of 231 locals, by means of a questionnaire, that showed that the population in this island has a very clear conscience of the impacts of tourism in their day-to-day lives. Conclusions drawn are that the negative economic and social impacts are greater than the positive; the cultural and environmental impacts are not so significant, and that the people feel that their voice has not been heard in what planning touristic activities is concerned. Nevertheless, they have high expectations regarding tourism as a way of ameliorating their life conditions. The inexistence of a linear behavior of impacts of touristic activities in the receptive countries and a perfect and adjustable model for tourism development make these countries delineate new politics aiming at the sustainability and the creation of conditions that help them monitor and mitigate its negative impacts.

O turismo e a percepção dos seus impactes pela comunidade local: o caso da Ilha do Sal, Cabo Verde

A análise tradicional do turismo visando apenas a sua dimensão económica tem-se mostrado redutora e insuficiente para explicar as inúmeras e versáteis alterações que pode provocar a nível social, cultural, político e ambiental. A complexidade da actividade turística e a carência de instrumentos ajustados para avaliar e tornar mensuráveis os seus impactes constituem terreno fértil à emergência de mitos e de juízos de valor em torno dos efeitos por ele causado nos países receptores. A linha orientadora da investigação parte do pressuposto que a actividade turística só faz sentido e se torna viável se proporcionar uma experiência qualitativa aos principais agentes envolvidos: os turistas e os residentes. A tentativa de compreender a forma como os impactes do turismo são percepcionados pela comunidade receptora da ilha do Sal em Cabo Verde está intimamente associado à convicção que um turismo de qualidade e sustentável só é possível auscultando a população e envolvendo-a no planeamento, gestão e monitorização da actividade. A análise da percepção dos impactes da actividade turística por parte da comunidade desemboca indirectamente no conhecimento dos níveis de satisfação da comunidade em relação à forma como se tem realizado o desenvolvimento turístico na ilha. No âmbito do trabalho de investigação foram realizados duzentos e trinta e um questionários cujos resultados da investigação levam a acreditar que a comunidade local salense possui uma clara consciência dos impactes do turismo no seu quotidiano. Verifica-se que a percepção dos impactes económicos e sociais negativos reúnem maior consenso que os impactes positivos. Os impactes culturais e ambientais são ainda pouco perceptíveis por parte dos inquiridos. Por outro lado, os inquiridos na sua generalidade não se sentem envolvidos no planeamento da actividade turística, embora haja elevadas expectativas em relação à actividade como forma de melhoria das condições de vida da população. A inexistência de um comportamento linear dos impactes da actividade turística no destino e de um modelo de desenvolvimento turístico perfeito e ajustável a todas as realidades obriga a que sejam delineados por parte dos países receptores políticas de planeamento visando a sustentabilidade e condições para a monitorização e mitigação dos seus impactes.

Isolating DNA from sexual assault cases: a comparison of standard methods with a nuclease-based approach.

AbstractText BACKGROUND: Profiling sperm DNA present on vaginal swabs taken from rape victims often contributes to identifying and incarcerating rapists. Large amounts of the victim's epithelial cells contaminate the sperm present on swabs, however, and complicate this process. The standard method for obtaining relatively pure sperm DNA from a vaginal swab is to digest the epithelial cells with Proteinase K in order to solubilize the victim's DNA, and to then physically separate the soluble DNA from the intact sperm by pelleting the sperm, removing the victim's fraction, and repeatedly washing the sperm pellet. An alternative approach that does not require washing steps is to digest with Proteinase K, pellet the sperm, remove the victim's fraction, and then digest the residual victim's DNA with a nuclease. METHODS: The nuclease approach has been commercialized in a product, the Erase Sperm Isolation Kit (PTC Labs, Columbia, MO, USA), and five crime laboratories have tested it on semen-spiked female buccal swabs in a direct comparison with their standard methods. Comparisons have also been performed on timed post-coital vaginal swabs and evidence collected from sexual assault cases. RESULTS: For the semen-spiked buccal swabs, Erase outperformed the standard methods in all five laboratories and in most cases was able to provide a clean male profile from buccal swabs spiked with only 1,500 sperm. The vaginal swabs taken after consensual sex and the evidence collected from rape victims showed a similar pattern of Erase providing superior profiles. CONCLUSIONS: In all samples tested, STR profiles of the male DNA fractions obtained with Erase were as good as or better than those obtained using the standard methods.

O turismo e a percepção dos seus impactes pela comunidade local : o caso da Ilha do Sal, Cabo Verde

The traditional analysis of tourism, having in mind only its economic impacts has been shown to be reductive and insufficient to explain the numerous and versatile modifications these can and will stimulate in a society at many levels, e.g. socially, culturally, politically and in the environment. The complexity of touristic activities and the insufficient measuring instruments that can provide exact data about these, gives terrain to the emergence of myths and value judgments around the effects in countries where tourism is a reality. This study aims at understanding how the impacts of tourism are grasped by the local community in Sal island – Cape Verde – convinced as we are that a quality and sustainable touristic offer can only be done by trialing the population, and involving them in the planning, managing and monitoring processes. The analysis of the perception of the impacts of touristic activities by the population tells us a lot about the levels of satisfaction of such communities towards the way in which the touristic development has been carried out in their surroundings. This study has been made through the inquiry of 231 locals, by means of a questionnaire, that showed that the population in this island has a very clear conscience of the impacts of tourism in their day-to-day lives. Conclusions drawn are that the negative economic and social impacts are greater than the positive; the cultural and environmental impacts are not so significant, and that the people feel that their voice has not been heard in what planning touristic activities is concerned. Nevertheless, they have high expectations regarding tourism as a way of ameliorating their life conditions. The inexistence of a linear behavior of impacts of touristic activities in the receptive countries and a perfect and adjustable model for tourism development make these countries delineate new politics aiming at the sustainability and the creation of conditions that help them monitor and mitigate its negative impacts.

Organisational innovations and health care decentralisation: A perspective from Spain

Recent policy developments in public health care systems lead to a greater diversity in health care. Decentralisation, either geographically or at an institutional level, is the key force, because it encourages innovation and local initiatives in health care provision. The devolution of responsibilities allows for a sort of de-construction of the status quo by changing both organizational forms and service provision. The new organizations enjoy greater freedom in the way they pay their staff, and are judged according to their results. These organizations may retain financial surpluses, develop spin-off companies and commission a range of specialised services (such as Diagnostic and Treatment Centres in UK) from providers outside the institutional setting in order to have more access to capital markets. However this diversity may generate a feeling of lack of commitment to a national health service and ultimately a loss of social cohesion. By fiscal decentralisation to regional authorities or planned delegation of financial agreements to the providers, financial incentives are more explicit and may seem to place profit-making above a commitment to better health care. An evaluation of the myths and realities of the decentralization process is needed. Here, I offer an assessment pros and cons of the decentralization process of health care in Spain, drawing on the experience of regional reforms from the pioneering organisational innovations implemented in Catalonia in 1981, up to the observed dispersion of health care spending per capita among regions at present.

Ler melhor através dos temas e mitos na literatura cabo-verdiana : uma análise comparativista

Esta dissertação teve como ponto de partida a pergunta “Como se comportaram alguns temas e mitos ao longo da história da literatura de Cabo Verde? Que caminho percorreram?” Para tentar dar-lhe resposta recorremos à metodologia comparativista, com o objetivo de analisar as evoluções e possíveis mudanças ocorridas ao longo dos tempos, a partir do cruzamento transversal entre temas e mitos em épocas diferentes. Foi assim necessário abordar a literatura cabo-verdiana, na sua relação profunda com a história do país, considerando os seus três grandes momentos: um tempo “ indefinido” que vai até 1936, um segundo que vai de 1936 até 1975 e, por último, o que vai desde essa data até à atualidade. Ao longo dessa análise, e a partir de um corpus textual necessariamente circunscrito, fomos detetando as variantes, as diferentes atualizações ocorridas nesta literatura, geralmente provocadas por fatores de ordem geográfica, pela evolução histórico-social, por fatores ideológicos que se prenderam sobretudo com a falta de liberdade vivida até 1975. Esta abordagem comparativista, a análise intertextual que lhe é inerente, proporcionou, não uma simples comparação, mas o desvendar de relações múltiplas existentes entre as obras, o corpus literário escolhido, e os tempos que lhes deram origem, permitindo assim conhecer as partes e, consequentemente o todo através do “desocultamento do oculto”. Constatou-se uma migração dos temas e dos mitos entre as literaturas dos três momentos. Em certos casos, alguns elementos permaneceram, mas com novas representações, noutros assumem significados radicalmente diferentes dados os atuais contextos da sua recepção. Relativamente aos mitos, observou-se a sua crescente dessacralização, em sintonia com o progresso que o país foi conhecendo após a independência nacional. A leitura que fomos fazendo conduziu-nos deste modo a uma viagem ao passado do país. Esta leitura transversal, alicerçada na história, dando conta das transformações ocorridas ao longo dos tempos, mostrou-nos ainda de forma cabal a necessidade de se introduzirem mudanças no ensino da literatura nas escolas cabo-verdianas. Uma mudança que deverá passar por uma abordagem comparativista, que privilegia as relações entre textos de diferentes épocas, a sua perspetivação interdisciplinar com outras formas de expressão, capaz de transformar o aluno-mero-receptor num leitor ativo, implicado numa realidade que lhe diz respeito.

Iowa Uniform Crime Report, 2003

SERIOUS CRIMES: the rate decreased 6.6 percent from 3,669 crimes per 100,000 population in 2002 to the adjusted rate of 3,427 crimes per 100,000 population in 2003. Also known as the Crime Index, serious crimes include the violent crimes of murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault and the property crimes of burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft. VIOLENT CRIMES: decreased 5.2 percent from 2002 to 2003, violent crimes dropped from an adjusted rate of 313.8 crimes per 100,000 population reported in 2002 to 297.4 crimes per 100,000 population in 2003. PROPERTY CRIMES: decreased 6.7 percent from an adjusted rate of 3,355 crimes per 100,000 population in 2002 to 3,131 crimes reported in 2003.

Adolescent(e)s migrant(e)s et sexualité [Migrant adolescents and sexuality].

Besides its emotional, hormonal and physical components, sexuality has also an important social function. Analyzing these interactions in immigrant adolescents who are challenged at the same time by developmental changes and modified cultural and social rules--especially if they differ from the rules assimilated during childhood--might help professionals to access better comprehension. Personal experience, individual and external resources, whether they are family oriented or professional, are prone to influence on behavior, perception and outcome related to sexual health. The subject is discussed on the base of scientific literature and medical practice.

Conocer los tsunamis: un seguro de vida = Knowing the tsunamis: an insurance of life

This monographic explain what it happened last December on Indonesia, the origin of the tsunamis, the effects on the coast, tsunami warning system, etc. To finish we want to emphasize the importance that has the knowledge of this phenomenon and the knowledge of the tsunami and earthquake safety rules. This article presents how explain risks in the classroom with examples about myths, legends, survivors’ chronicles, literature etc

Conviction Statistics as an Indicator of Crime Trends in Europe from 1990 to 2006

Convictions statistics were the first criminal statistics available in Europe during the nineteenth century. Their main weaknesses as crime measures and for comparative purposes were identified by Alphonse de Candolle in the 1830s. Currently, they are seldom used by comparative criminologists, although they provide a less valid but more reliable measure of crime and formal social control than police statistics. This article uses conviction statistics, compiled from the four editions of the European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics, to study the evolution of persons convicted in European countries from 1990 to 2006. Trends in persons convicted for six offences -intentional homicide, assault, rape, robbery, theft, and drug offences- and up to 26 European countries are analysed. These trends are established for the whole of Europe as well as for a cluster of Western European countries and a cluster of Central and Eastern European countries. The analyses show similarities between both regions of Europe at the beginning and at the end of the period under study. After a general increase of the rate of persons convicted in the early 1990s in the whole of Europe, trends followed different directions in Western and in Central and Eastern Europe. However, during the 2000s, it can be observed, throughout Europe, a certain stability of the rates of persons convicted for intentional homicides, accompanied by a general decrease of the rate of persons convicted for property offences, and an increase of the rate of those convicted for drug offences. The latter goes together with an increase of the rate of persons convicted for non lethal violent offences, which only reached some stability at the end of the time series. These trends show that there is no general crime drop in Europe. After a discussion of possible theoretical explanations, a multifactor model, inspired by opportunity-based theories, is proposed to explain the trends observed.

Die Herausforderungen der Mythenforschung an die Finnougristik

Abstract

The effects of gamma-hydroxybutyrate, baclofen and GABAB receptors on brain activity and sleep in mice and humans

Currently, there is an increased interest in γ-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) and its effects onsleep. This compound, sometimes referred to as 'rape drug', was recently approved as atreatment for the sleep disorder narcolepsy. Although several studies suggest that GHBinduces slow-wave sleep duration and improves sleep quality by increasing EEG slow-waveactivity, others question its ability to induce physiological sleep. GHB's mechanism of actionis still unclear, although in vivo and in vitro it seems to act at high doses as a low-affinityagonist of GABAB receptors. Furthermore, the role GABAB receptors play in sleep and theelectroencephalogram (EEG) is largely unknown.The aim of this project was therefore to investigate the effects of GHB on sleep and EEG, theinvolvement of GABAB receptors in mediating these effects, as well as the intrinsic role ofeach GABAB receptor subunit in the regulation of sleep. Thus, we administered GHB andbaclofen (BAC, a high-affinity agonist at GABAB receptor) to mice lacking the different GABABreceptor subunits and to healthy human volunteers.Our results, both in mice and humans, showed that GHB produced slow waves exclusivelythrough the stimulation of GABAB receptors, but did not induce physiological sleepnecessary to reduce sleep need and to increase cognitive performance. Unlike GHB, BACaffected the homeostatic regulation of sleep (sleep need) and induced a delayedhypersomnia. Finally, GABAB receptor and its subunits seem to play an important role insleep and in particular its circadian distribution.