Where did all these books come from? The Publishing Industry and American Intellectual Life

The American book publishing industry shapes the character of American intellectual life. While the newspaper and television industries have been accused of and investigated for bias and lowering America’s intellectual standards, book publishing has gone largely unexamined by scholars. The existing studies of the publishing industry have focused on finance, procedure and history. “There are few ‘theories’ of publishing – efforts to understand the ‘whys’ as well as the ‘hows.’ Few scholarly scientists have devoted significant scholarly attention to publishing” (Altbach and Hoshino, xiii). There are many possible reasons for this lacuna. First, there is a perception that books have always been around, that they are an “old” technology and therefore they don’t appear to have had as much of an impact on our society as television and other media (which were developed quickly and suddenly) seem to have had (Altbach and Hoshino, xiv). Also, despite books’ present and past popularity, television, radio, and now the internet reach more people more easily, and are therefore more topical points of study and observation. In studying the effects of mass media on everyday American life, television and the internet may be the most logical points of study. Regarding public intellectual life however, books play a much more important role. Public intellectual life has always been associated with independent thinkers publishing their work for the masses. For this reason, this I focus on trade publishing. Trade publishing produces fiction and non-fiction works for the general reading public, as opposed to technical manuals, textbooks, and other fiction and nonfiction books targeted to small and specific audiences. Although, quantitatively speaking, “the largest part of book publishing business is embodied in that great complex of companies and activities producing educational, business, scientific, technical, and reference books and materials,” (Tebbel 1987, 439) the trade industry publishes most of the books that most people read. It is the most public segment of the industry, and the most likely place to find public intellectualism. Trade publishing is not only the most public segment of the industry, but it is also the most susceptible to corruption and lowered intellectual standards. Unlike specialty publishing, which caters to a specific, known segment of society, trade publishers must compete with countless other publications, as well as with other forms of media, for the patronage of the general public. As John Tebbel (author of a widely referenced history of the publishing industry) puts it, “The textbook, scientific, or technical book is subjected to much more rigorous scrutiny by buyers and users, and in an intensively competitive market inferior products are quickly lost" (Tebbel 1987, xiv). Since the standards for trade publishing are not nearly as specific – trade books simply need to catch the attention of a significant number of readers, they don’t have to measure up to a given level of quality – the quality of trade books is much more variable. And yet, a successful trade publication can have a much greater impact on society than the most rigorously researched and edited textbook or scholarly study.

Palestras e eleição marcam o XIV encontro dos executivos de futebol

Dados retirados da ABEX Futebol

Os BRICS na OMC: políticas comerciais comparadas de Brasil, Rússia, Índia, China e África do Sul

O objetivo deste livro é realizar uma análise comparada das políticas comerciais de cada integrante do BRICS, tendo a Organização Mundial de Comércio (OMC) como quadro de referência. Assim, busca-se examinar a inserção de cada um deles no comércio internacional, bem como sua participação no regime multilateral de comércio, tanto em seu pilar diplomático-jurídico, o sistema de solução de controvérsias, quanto em seu pilar político-negociador, as negociações da Rodada Doha, nas quais se observa um importante exercício de articulação entre os países do grupo. O capítulo I apresenta os principais momentos do desenvolvimento da interação política dos BRICS e revive a história da participação de Brasil, Índia e África do Sul no GATT e na OMC, além de traçar as fases de acessão da China e da Rússia à organização. O capítulo II traz análises do perfil do comércio internacional de cada país, apresentando a evolução dos principais indicadores de comércio desde o início da década de 2000. A partir deste quadro geral, os dez capítulos seguintes, do capítulo III ao XII, examinam os principais temas de política comercial: tarifas de bens agrícolas e não agrícolas; agricultura; barreiras técnicas, sanitárias e fitossanitárias; defesa comercial (antidumping, medidas compensatórias, salvaguardas); serviços; propriedade intelectual; investimentos; acordos plurilaterais (tecnologia da informação e compras governamentais); novos temas (temas de Cingapura e meio ambiente); e acordos preferenciais. No capítulo XIII, destaca-se a participação de cada país do BRICS em uma das instâncias mais relevantes da OMC, o Órgão de Solução de Controvérsias (OSC), fórum de resolução de conflitos comerciais e de interpretação de importantes conceitos que, devido ao esforço de se concluir a Rodada Uruguai, foram deixados na ambiguidade. O capítulo XIV trata da participação de cada integrante do BRICS na Rodada Doha, examinando suas principais propostas e posições. Analisam-se detalhadamente as primeiras iniciativas de articulação política em diferentes temas de negociação, como o G20 Agrícola e o Grupo sobre Acesso ao Mercado de Produtos Não Agrícolas (Nama-11). Por fim, no capítulo de síntese e conclusões, destacam-se os pontos de convergência e os de divergência em cada tema de política comercial analisado nesta obra, com o objetivo de ilustrar as dificuldades enfrentadas para coordenar posições e identificar os temas em que a cooperação poderia ser realizada de forma mais ativa

Hermenêutica existencial em Agostinho de Hipona e Martin Heidegger

The thesis presents interpretations of Augustine of Hippo with regard to the first three chapters of genesis, the first book of the Bible. These interpretation are found in the works Literal Commentary on Genesis, concerning Genesis Against the Manicheans, Literal Commentary on Genesis, Unfinished, Books Xi-XIII of the Confessions, as well a brief exposition in Books XI-XIV of the City of God. Exposition of these Augustinian Commentaries seeks to demonstrate various interpretations made by author in one group of texts revealing a hermeneutics centered in the interpreter and not in established interpretive rules. In sequence there is described succinctly the evolution of textual hermeneutics during the modern period up to the reflections conducted by Martin Heidegger in the first half of the twenties. Based in Heidegger s existential commentaries on the Pauline Epistles (Galatians and I-II Thessalonians) and on the tenth Book of the Confessions, there is shown a return to a interpreter-based hermeneutics, such as practiced by Augustine. The concern manifested by Heidegger with regard to given bases foundations, existent in Dasein, foundations which can influence self-comprehension, constitute themselves in possibilities of explication as much for Augustinian interpretive variations, as for the existential approach applied by Heidegger to the Pauline epistles and Augustine s text

Palavra de púlpito e erudição no século XIII: A Legenda aurea de Jacopo de Varazze

A partir da consideração do mais importante exemplar da hagiografia medieval, a Legenda aurea do dominicano Jacopo de Varazze, o texto pretende discorrer sobre os diversos níveis de erudição dos clérigos cristãos no século XIII e sua importância para a consideração das fontes documentais do período.

Factor XIII Val34Leu is a genetic factor involved in the aetiology of venous thrombosis

A mutation in the factor XIII gene (FXIII Val34Leu) gene was recently reported to confer protection against myocardial infarction, but its relationship with venous thrombosis is unknown. In addition, a mutation in the 5'-untranslated region of the FXII gene (46 C→T) was identified which is associated with low plasma levels of the protein. Its prevalence in patients with venous thrombosis is also unknown. We investigated the frequency of the FXIII Val34Leu and FXII 46 C→T mutations in 189 patients with deep venous thrombosis and in 187 age-, gender- and race-matched controls. FXIII Val34Leu was detected in 38.6% of the patients and in 41.2% of the controls. Interestingly, homozygosity for the FXIII mutation was found in 1.6% of the patients and in 9.6% of the controls. yielding an odds ratio (OR) for venous thrombosis of 0.16 (95% CI: 0.05-0.5). The OR for heterozygotes was 1.1 (95% CI: 0.7-1.7). The FXII 46 C→T mutation was detected in 46.0% of the patients and in 48.6% of the controls. The OR for heterozygotes was 0.9 (95% CI: 0.6-1.4) and for homozygotes the OR was 0.8 (95% CI: 0.3-1.9). Our data indicate that the FXII 46 C→T mutation is unlikely to be a major risk factor for venous thrombotic disease. In contrast, the homozygous state for FXIII Val34Leu is a strong protective factor against venous thrombosis, which emerges as a novel generic factor involved in the aetiology of thrombophilia.

Estrategia económica regional: los casos de Escocia y la región de Yorkshire y Humber

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