The United States Congress and Venezuela's Hugo Chávez

The Soviet Union's dissolution in December 1991 marks the end of the Cold War and the elimination of the United States' main rival for global political-economic leadership. For decades U.S. foreign policymakers had formulated policies aimed at containing the spread of Soviet communism and Moscow's interventionist policies in the Americas. They now assumed that Latin American leftist revolutionary upheavals could also be committed to history. This study explores how Congress takes an active role in U.S. foreign policymaking when dealing with revolutionary changes in Latin America. This study finds that despite Chávez's vitriolic statements and U.S. economic vulnerability due to its dependence on foreign oil sources, Congress today sees Chávez as a nuisance and not a threat to U.S. vital interests. Devoid of an extra-hemispheric, anti-American patron intent on challenging the United States for regional leadership, Chávez is seen by Congress largely as a threat to the stability of Venezuela's institutions and political-economic stability. Today both the U.S. executive and the legislative branches largely see Bolivarianism a distraction and not an existential threat. The research is based on an examination of Bolivarian Venezuela compared to revolutionary upheaval and governance in Nicaragua over the course of the twentieth century. This project is largely descriptive, qualitative in approach, but quantitative data are used when appropriate. To analyze both the U.S. executive and legislative branches' reaction to revolutionary change, Cole Blasier's theoretical propositions as developed in the Hovering Giant: U.S. Responses to Revolutionary Change in Latin America 1910-1985 are utilized. The present study highlights the fact that Blasier's propositions remain a relevant means for analyzing U.S. foreign policymaking.

The Basis of Support for Hugo Chávez: Measuring the Determinants of Presidential Job Approval in Venezuela

Since 1999, Venezuela has experienced a dramatic transformation of its political system with the coming to power of Hugo Chávez and his movement, known in Venezuela as Chavismo. Chávez has dismantled the previous political system and established neo-populist structures that rely on his personal appeal and the close collaboration of the armed forces. Chávez has relied heavily on significant support from the poor and those who felt economically and politically excluded by the “Punto Fijo system.” President Chávez has built an impressive record of electoral victories; winning every electoral contest except one since coming to power in 1999. He continues to receive relatively high levels of support among sectors of Venezuelan society. However, there is evidence of growing discontent with high crime rates, high levels of inflation, and significant corruption in the public administration. Using data from the AmericasBarometer surveys conducted in 2007, 2008 and 2010, this paper seeks to examine the basis of Chávez’s popular support. In general, the AmericasBarometer findings suggest that Venezuelans support for President Chávez is closely linked to the access to social programs and that as long as the government is able to fund these social programs or missions, particularly MERCAL and Barrio Adentro, it will possess an important tool to garner and sustain support for President Chávez. Our analysis, however, also indicates that evaluations of the national economic situation, more than crime or insecurity, are a key factor that could undermine support for the regime.

The United States Congress and Venezuela's Hugo Chávez

The Soviet Union's dissolution in December 1991 marks the end of the Cold War and the elimination of the United States' main rival for global political-economic leadership. For decades U.S. foreign policymakers had formulated policies aimed at containing the spread of Soviet communism and Moscow's interventionist policies in the Americas. They now assumed that Latin American leftist revolutionary upheavals could also be committed to history. This study explores how Congress takes an active role in U.S. foreign policymaking when dealing with revolutionary changes in Latin America. This study finds that despite Chavez's vitriolic statements and U.S. economic vulnerability due to its dependence on foreign oil sources, Congress today sees Chavez as a nuisance and not a threat to U.S. vital interests. Devoid of an extra-hemispheric, anti-American patron intent on challenging the United States for regional leadership, Chavez is seen by Congress largely as a threat to the stability of Venezuela's institutions and political-economic stability. Today both the U.S. executive and the legislative branches largely see Bolivarianism a distraction and not an existential threat. The research is based on an examination of Bolivarian Venezuela compared to revolutionary upheaval and governance in Nicaragua over the course of the twentieth century. This project is largely descriptive, qualitative in approach, but quantitative data are used when appropriate. To analyze both the U.S. executive and legislative branches' reaction to revolutionary change, Cole Blasier's theoretical propositions as developed in the Hovering Giant: U.S. Responses to Revolutionary Change in Latin America 1910- 1985 are utilized. The present study highlights the fact that Blasier's propositions remain a relevant means for analyzing U.S. foreign policymaking.

The contribution of Victor Hugo to the liberation, emancipation, and changing perceptions of women in 19th century French society

The over-riding perceptions of Victor Hugo’s attitudes towards women are intensely coloured by his deep-seated Romanticism and his well-testified, stifling and over-bearing treatment of women in his personal life. As such, Hugo’s contribution to the feminist struggle of his time has been woefully overlooked in the larger scheme of his social and political activism. Through a close examination of his largely unstudied public discourse on women’s rights, this thesis situates Hugo’s feminist views firmly in the context of Enlightenment feminism and 19th century feminism, while also drawing heavily on the illuminating principles of Enlightenment feminism. In particular, this thesis examines Hugo’s support for several of the most determining issues of 19th century French feminism, including women’s right to education, equal citizenship, universal suffrage rights, and the issue of regulated prostitution. Further, by examining the way in which Hugo’s views on women’s maternal role extended far beyond the limited vision of domesticity bolstered by the ideology of ‘republican motherhood’, this thesis engages in a re-appraisal of Hugo’s literary representation of maternity which identifies the maternal as a universal quality of devotion and self-sacrifice to which all humankind must aspire for the creation of a just, egalitarian, and democratic society. Though at times inevitably constrained by his Romanticism, this thesis demonstrates the extent to which Hugo’s feminism is grounded in his wider vision of social emancipation and is underpinned by a profound empathy, compassion, and moral conscience – qualities which are just as fundamental today, as they were for Hugo when participating in the fitful, though decisive, feminist struggle in 19th century France.

The Wounded Me: a novel and critical essay on Hugo Simberg's oeuvre and the literary engagement with his painting The Wounded Angel

No abstract available.

La construcci?n de los sujetos discursivos desde la noci?n de mundo posible en 10 editoriales de dos medios de circulaci?n nacional: el tiempo y el espectador, en relaci?n a la convalecencia de Hugo Ch?vez [recurso electr?nico]

Tras el anuncio de Hugo Ch?vez, extinto Presidente venezolano, de su regreso a Cuba para someterse a un nuevo tratamiento m?dico ante la reaparici?n del c?ncer que lo aquejaba, el d?a 8 de diciembre de 2012; se gener? un estado de tensi?n e incertidumbre en Venezuela, situaci?n que capt? el inter?s de los medios y la opini?n p?blica de todo el mundo hacia el tema se?alado. Es en el marco de los momentos que vivi? el extinto Presidente venezolano es que se construy? a nivel medi?tico toda una serie de representaciones. Se realizaron m?ltiples textos de diferentes g?neros period?sticos, con diferentes niveles de profundidad, entre los que se destacan las columnas de opini?n y los editoriales. Los diferentes medios de comunicaci?n del mundo, entre los que se encuentran los colombianos como El Tiempo y El Espectador produjeron materiales noticiosos, audiovisuales, radiof?nicos y de prensa escrita bien sea impresa o virtual, encaminados a mostrar la realidad del periodo tanto de convalecencia como de la muerte del Presidente venezolano para ese momento, diciembre de 2012 a marzo de 2013. Las declaraciones de Hugo Ch?vez, al momento de su partida a Cuba y el manejo que le dieron a dicha informaci?n los diferentes medios de comunicaci?n como la prensa colombiana, son el objetivo del presente an?lisis; describir, a partir de la noci?n de mundo posible, el proceso de construcci?n de los sujetos discursivos en dos medios impresos de circulaci?n nacional, en relaci?n con la convalecencia del presidente Hugo Ch?vez Fr?as. La propuesta se enmarca en el an?lisis del discurso desde la Din?mica Enunciativa de Mart?nez y su propuesta integrativa, se basa adem?s en aportes de Charaudeau, Fairclough, entre otros y en el an?lisis de construcci?n de los sujetos discursivos desde la noci?n de mundos posibles de Umberto Eco.

Propuesta de un programa de capacitación de calidad en el servicio al cliente dirigido al personal de la unidad de salud de Mejicanos Dr. Hugo Morán Quijada.

El enfoque de la calidad se ha convertido en una nueva forma o filosofía de trabajo de las organizaciones la cual se proyecta eficientemente en las relaciones con los clientes o usuarios de los productos o servicios. Esto hace que las organizaciones realicen cambios ya sea en la presentación, diversidad de los productos, imagen corporativa y/o estructura organizacional; formulando políticas que contribuyan a proyectar una imagen favorable a la institución a través de la prestación de servicios con calidad con el fin de responder a las necesidades y expectativas de los usuarios, ya que ellos son la razón de ser de las mismas. En tal sentido, las inversiones en capital humano son de vital importancia para las instituciones, ya que es un medio a través del cual se puede lograr un adecuado desempeño de la fuerza laboral en los puestos que ocupan. Por lo tanto, presente trabajo se creó con la propósito de detectar las necesidades de capacitación del personal de la Unidad de Salud de Mejicanos Dr. Hugo Morán Quijada, relacionados con el servicio al cliente y calidad en el servicio con el fin de proponer un programa de capacitación que sea la herramienta que contribuya al personal de la institución brindar servicios con calidad. La investigación de campo se realizó haciendo uso de fuentes primaria de información tales como la entrevista y encuesta; también de fuentes secundarias entre las cuales se encuentran libros de texto, trabajos de graduación, artículos de internet, y seminarios de capacitación. La elaboración del diagnóstico de la situación actual del personal de la Unidad de Salud se realizó mediante una entrevista realizada a 41 de los empleados que tienen un mayor contacto con el usuario. Para el diagnóstico de la situación actual de los usuarios de la Unidad de Salud; se efectúo una encuesta a los mismos, con el objeto de comparar el servicio proporcionado por personal en las diferentes unidades y servicios que brinda la institución. En éste se identificaron hallazgos relacionados con: tiempo, servicio más solicitado y atención personal, lo que permitió detectar problemas y proponer soluciones que incorporen la filosofía de la calidad en el servicio. Posteriormente se analizó la información recopilada en la investigación de campo, en la cual se encontró que existe insatisfacción en los usuarios por el desinterés y la falta de amabilidad que reciben por parte del personal, asimismo se determinó que la mayoría de los empleados no cuentan con incentivos para realizar mejor su trabajo y carecen de conocimientos básicos de servicio al cliente y calidad en el servicio; lo cual se encuentra sustentado en las deficiencias cognoscitivas identificadas casi en la totalidad de los empleados en las áreas antes citadas. Por tal razón se recomienda implementar un programa capacitación de calidad en el servicio que sirva de guía para la ejecución de las diferentes actividades del proceso de atención y contribuirá a ofrecer servicios de calidad.

As Fábulas teatrais de Valter Hugo Mãe

O texto apresenta os textos inéditos, escritos pelo romancista português Valter Hugo Mãe para o teatro. Analisa as afinidades entre a escrita romanesca e a escrita teatral de um autor que, preocupado com a História, narra pequenas histórias com personagens mergulhadas nos problemas da sociedade actual.

Melhoria da Atenção à Saúde das Pessoas com Hipertensão Arterial e/ou Diabetes Mellitus na UBS Gomes, Hugo Napoleão/PI

AGRAMONTE, YadiraEchemendia. Melhoria da atenção aos usuários com Hipertensão Arterial e diabetes na UBS Gomes, Hugo Napoleão/PI. 2015. 80f. Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso (Curso de Especialização em Saúde da Família) - Departamento de Medicina Social, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas, 2015. Hipertensão Arterial e Diabetes Mellitus constituem os principais fatores de risco para doenças cardiovasculares. Neste contexto, o acompanhamento demonstra ser uma importante estratégia de controle destas condições de saúde. Nossa intervenção foi realizada na Unidade Básica de Saúde Gomes, no município de Hugo Napoleão/Piauí e foi realizada entre os meses de maio, junho e julho de 2015 e voltada aos usuários com HAS e/ou DM. Escolheu-se o foco de intervenção após verificar e deficiências encontradas na unidade de saúde e decidia com a equipe de acordo com as necessidades de saúde da população. O objetivo geral foi melhorar a atenção às pessoas com hipertensão arterial sistêmica e/ou diabetes mellitus na UBS Gomes. Utilizou-se como protocolo o manual técnico de hipertensão arterial sistêmica e/ou diabetes mellitus, do Ministério da Saúde de 2012 e instrumentos do curso, como ficha-espelho e planilha eletrônica de coleta de dados. As atividades foram programadas considerando-se os quatro eixos temáticos como, organização e gestão do serviço, monitoramento e avaliação, engajamento público e qualificação da prática clínica. A cobertura de atenção à pessoa com hipertensão arterial sistêmica, antes da intervenção, era de 16 (19%)pessoas e de três (13%) pessoas com diabetes mellitus. A cobertura ao final da intervenção foi de 85 (100%) usuários com hipertensão arterial sistêmica e 25 (100%) usuários com diabetes mellitus. Os indicadores de qualidade do programa, também, melhoraram muito.Nossa equipe alcançou 100% dos usuários com exames complementares realizados, na proporção de 100% dos usuários com registros adequados na ficha de acompanhamento, na proporção de 100% dos usuários com orientações sobre a prática de atividade física regular, sobre o risco do tabagismo e os que receberam orientação sobre higiene bucal. Enfim, melhoramos a assistência às pessoas, desenvolvemos capacitações com os profissionais atuantes, ações educativas com a comunidade, melhoria dos registros, visitas domiciliares, incremento na qualidade das consultas e melhoria no acompanhamento odontológico. Palavras-chave:Atenção Primária à Saúde; Saúde da Família; Hipertensão Arterial Sistêmica; Diabetes Mellitus; Saúde Bucal.

Antioxidant And Antiproliferative Activities Of Methanolic Extract From A Neglected Agricultural Product: Corn Cobs.

Neglected agricultural products (NAPs) are defined as discarded material in agricultural production. Corn cobs are a major waste of agriculture maize. Here, a methanolic extract from corn cobs (MEC) was obtained. MEC contains phenolic compounds, protein, carbohydrates (1.4:0.001:0.001). We evaluated the in vitro and in vivo antioxidant potential of MEC. Furthermore, its antiproliferative property against tumor cells was assessed through MTT assays and proteins related to apoptosis in tumor cells were examined by western blot. MEC showed no hydroxyl radical scavenger capacity, but it showed antioxidant activity in Total Antioxidant Capacity and DPPH scavenger ability assays. MEC showed higher Reducing Power than ascorbic acid and exhibited high Superoxide Scavenging activity. In tumor cell culture, MEC increased catalase, metallothionein and superoxide dismutase expression in accordance with the antioxidant tests. In vivo antioxidant test, MEC restored SOD and CAT, decreased malondialdehyde activities and showed high Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity in animals treated with CCl4. Furthermore, MEC decreased HeLa cells viability by apoptosis due an increase of Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, caspase 3 active. Protein kinase C expression increased was also detected in treated tumor cells. Thus, our findings pointed out the biotechnological potential of corn cobs as a source of molecules with pharmacological activity.

Iis--integrated Interactome System: A Web-based Platform For The Annotation, Analysis And Visualization Of Protein-metabolite-gene-drug Interactions By Integrating A Variety Of Data Sources And Tools.

High-throughput screening of physical, genetic and chemical-genetic interactions brings important perspectives in the Systems Biology field, as the analysis of these interactions provides new insights into protein/gene function, cellular metabolic variations and the validation of therapeutic targets and drug design. However, such analysis depends on a pipeline connecting different tools that can automatically integrate data from diverse sources and result in a more comprehensive dataset that can be properly interpreted. We describe here the Integrated Interactome System (IIS), an integrative platform with a web-based interface for the annotation, analysis and visualization of the interaction profiles of proteins/genes, metabolites and drugs of interest. IIS works in four connected modules: (i) Submission module, which receives raw data derived from Sanger sequencing (e.g. two-hybrid system); (ii) Search module, which enables the user to search for the processed reads to be assembled into contigs/singlets, or for lists of proteins/genes, metabolites and drugs of interest, and add them to the project; (iii) Annotation module, which assigns annotations from several databases for the contigs/singlets or lists of proteins/genes, generating tables with automatic annotation that can be manually curated; and (iv) Interactome module, which maps the contigs/singlets or the uploaded lists to entries in our integrated database, building networks that gather novel identified interactions, protein and metabolite expression/concentration levels, subcellular localization and computed topological metrics, GO biological processes and KEGG pathways enrichment. This module generates a XGMML file that can be imported into Cytoscape or be visualized directly on the web. We have developed IIS by the integration of diverse databases following the need of appropriate tools for a systematic analysis of physical, genetic and chemical-genetic interactions. IIS was validated with yeast two-hybrid, proteomics and metabolomics datasets, but it is also extendable to other datasets. IIS is freely available online at: http://www.lge.ibi.unicamp.br/lnbio/IIS/.

Cross-sectional Study Comparing Different Therapeutic Modalities For Cystic Lymphangiomas In Children.

Here, we describe our experience with different therapeutic modalities used to treat cystic lymphangiomas in children in our hospital, including single therapy with OK-432, bleomycin and surgery, and a combination of the three modalities. We performed a retrospective, cross-sectional study including patients treated from 1998 to 2011. The effects on macrocystic lymphangiomas and adverse reactions were evaluated. Twenty-nine children with cystic lymphangiomas without any previous treatment were included. Under general anesthesia, patients given sclerosing agents underwent puncture of the lesion (guided by ultrasound when necessary) and complete aspiration of the intralesional liquid. The patients were evaluated with ultrasound and clinical examinations for a maximum follow-up time of 4 years. The proportions of patients considered cured after the first therapeutic approach were 44% in the surgery group, 29% in the bleomycin group and 31% in the OK-432 group. These proportions were not significantly different. Sequential treatment increased the rates of curative results to 71%, 74% and 44%, respectively, after the final treatment, which in our case was approximately 1.5 applications per patient. The results of this study indicate that most patients with cystic lymphangiomas do not show complete resolution after the initial therapy, regardless of whether the therapy is surgical or involves the use of sclerosing agents. To achieve complete resolution of the lesions, either multiple operations or a combination of surgery and sclerotherapy must be used and should be tailored to the characteristics of each patient.