Ra��l Castro's Government: Recent Economic Reforms and Some Political Considerations.

Four years after calling for structural and conceptual changes, Ra��l Castro finally unveiled a roadmap of substantive economic reforms. Over the next 18 months, at least a million workers will be laid off from the bloated state sector. Alternative forms of earning a living ��� self-employment, cooperatives, leasing of land or physical space, among others ��� are being authorized as old constraints on these alternatives are rescinded. From the perspective of ordinary Cubans, these reforms ��� called an actualizaci���n, or an update of the economic model ��� were long overdue. Yet, in hindsight, the slow-paced process can be explained, not in terms of the need for time to ���identify��� Cuba���s economic problems which have been known for decades, but by Ra��l Castro���s emphasis on la institucionalidad, the need to channel decision making through institutions. His brother left a chaotic state apparatus which first needed mending before an elite consensus on the reform package could be forged. Cuba is entering a situation without precedent: this package is likely to run its own course without the Comandante (Fidel Castro) stopping it. By 2015, Cuban society will probably look different than today, featuring unprecedented inequality and living standards that are on the rise.

Dimensions of gender relations and reproductive health inequity perceived by female undergraduate students in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam: a qualitative exploration

Introduction Increasing evidence indicates that gender equity has a significant influence on women���s health; yet few culturally specific indicators of gender relations exist which are applicable to health. This study explores dimensions of gender relations perceived by female undergraduate students in southern Vietnamese culture, and qualitatively examines how this perceived gender inequity may influence females��� sexual or reproductive health. Methods Sixty-two female undergraduate students from two universities participated in eight focus group discussions to talk about their perspectives regarding national and local gender equity issues. Results Although overall gender gaps in the Mekong Delta were perceived to have decreased in comparison to previous times, several specific dimensions of gender relations were emergent in students��� discussions. Perceived dimensions of gender relations were comparable to theoretical structures of the Theory of Gender and Power, and to findings from several reports describing the actual inferiority of women. Allocation of housework and social paid work represented salient dimensions of labor. The most salient dimension of power related to women in positions of authority. Salient dimensions of cathexis related to son preference, women���s vulnerability to blame or criticism, and double standards or expectations. Findings also suggested that gender inequity potentially influenced women���s sexual and reproductive health as regards to health information seeking, gynecological care access, contraceptive use responsibility, and child bearing. Conclusion Further investigations of the associations between gender relations and different women���s sexual and reproductive health outcomes in this region are needed. It may be important to address gender relations as a distal determinant in health interventions in order to promote gender-based equity in sexual and reproductive health.

Late adolescents in transition: Social networks, parent relations, and well -being

A two-year longitudinal study was conducted to investigate late adolescents in transition. An initial investigation with senior high school students assessed students prior to leaving home for college and after college entrance. Of the original 131 participants recontacted two years after their graduation, 78 returned surveys. The study (a) explored changes in social network structure and function, (b) determined whether late adolescent-parent-peer relations change over time, and (c) identified prospectively the impact of social support, adolescent-parent-peer relations, and attachment security on well-being and feelings about the transition after high school. Students attending college locally reported an increase in total network support at Time 2. Regardless of location, more support from friends was received after the transition from high school, whereas family support did not vary across time. Parent relations were closer after the transition and were predictive of various well-being measures and feelings about the transition from high school. ^

Children's perceptions of marital conflict, parent -child relations and anxiety in children: A proposed systemic model

This study tested a systemic model in which internalizing behaviors in a clinically-referred sample of children are predicted by children's perceptions of marital conflict in the context of three additional, well-researched, familial variables: parent-child relations, mother's emotional functioning, and children's perception of social support. After finding preliminary support for the model, its generalizability was tested in a combined sample of the clinically-referred group and a community-based group of elementary school children. ^ The clinical group consisted of 31 participants from a specialty clinic for children's anxiety disorders: 15 boys and 16 girls, aged 6 to 16, from both intact and divorced homes. Children's reports and mothers' reports of children's internalizing behaviors were submitted to separate analyses. Mothers' reports of children's internalizing behaviors were predicted only by mothers' emotional functioning. As hypothesized by the model, children's own reports of their internalizing behaviors were predicted significantly by children's perceptions of marital conflict. Parent-child relations, children's perception of social support, and one interaction term, children's perception of marital conflict x children's perception of parental rejection, contributed to the regression solution, while mother's emotional functioning failed to meet entry criterion. ^ The combined sample added 37 community-based children, 18 boys and 19 girls, aged 6 to 11, creating a total of 68 subjects. The model was replicated on the combined sample. ^ Findings of the study suggest child perceptions of marital conflict have a strong direct effect on child internalizing behaviors, accounting for 28% of the variance between marital conflict and child outcome in the clinical sample and 42% in the combined sample. In the past only about 10% of the variance in children's internalizing behaviors was explained by marital conflict. Importance implications are made for optimal assessment and specific treatment strategies for children and families experiencing marital conflict, especially for those at risk for anxiety disorders. ^

Corpus annotation of causal relations and their signals in English and Spanish

El estudio de las relaciones causales y su expresi��n ling����stica ha sido com��nmente estudiado desde diferentes perspectivas en los a��os recientes. Sin embargo, pocos estudios han intentado combinar diferentes enfoques para establecer el significado de estas relaciones, y han investigado de manera contrastiva las se��ales usadas para expresarlas. Este trabajo de fin de master es un proyecto para avanzar el conocimiento en este ��rea mediante la investigaci��n de: a) la posibilidad de caracterizar las relaciones causales en diferentes tipos, usando caracter��sticas que combinan un enfoque funcional y cognitivo; b) los tipos de relaciones causales preferidas en los textos expositivos en ingl��s y sus traducciones al espa��ol; c) las expresiones ling����sticas preferidas para expresar dichas relaciones causales en los textos originales en ingl��s y sus traducciones al espa��ol. La metodolog��a usada en esta investigaci��n se basa en la anotaci��n manual de un corpus biling��e compuesto de un total de 37 textos expositivos (incluyendo los textos originales en ingl��s y sus traducciones al espa��ol) extra��dos del corpus MULTINOT, un corpus de alta calidad, con registros diversificados y multifuncional biling��e ingl��sespa��ol, actualmente compilado y anotado multidimensionalmente por los miembros del grupo de investigaci��n FUNCAP con el proyecto MULTINOT (v��ase Lavid et al.2015) El estudio se llev�� a cabo en cuatro pasos principales: primero, un esquema de anotaci��n para las relaciones causales en ingl��s y espa��ol fue dise��ado constando de tres sistemas interrelacionados y sus correspondientes caracter��sticas; tras ello, se compil�� un inventario de se��ales para las relaciones causales en ingl��s y espa��ol, y una categorizaci��n en diferentes tipos; seguidamente, el esquema de anotaci��n fue implementado en la herramienta UAM Corpus Tool y el conjunto de textos biling��es fue anotado por el autor de este estudio; finalmente, los datos extra��dos de la anotaci��n fueron analizados estad��sticamente para comprobar las posibles diferencias entre los textos originales en ingl��s y sus traducciones al espa��ol respecto a la selecci��n del tipo de relaci��n de causa y sus se��ales. El an��lisis estad��stico de los datos anotados sugiere que los tipos de relaciones de causa preferidos en los textos originales en ingl��s y son los tipos de contenido y no volitivos, que el orden de aparici��n de estos tipos de se��ales preferido es la segunda posici��n, y las se��ales m��s recurrentes usadas para expresar dichas relaciones son las conjunciones, seguidas de los sintagmas verbales. El an��lisis de las traducciones al espa��ol revela un alto grado de similitud con los datos de los textos originales en ingl��s, lo que sugiere que en las traducciones al espa��ol se conservan las preferencias de los textos originales en la mayor��a de los casos y que estas elecciones pueden considerarse un indicativo de los textos expositivos en ingl��s. Proyectos futuros se centraran en el an��lisis de los textos originales en espa��ol para comprobar si las tendencias observadas en los textos originales en ingl��s y sus traducciones al espa��ol son tambi��n validas en textos originales en espa��ol, y en la especificaci��n de patrones que puede ayudar al an��lisis autom��tico de estas relaciones

The Crisis in the UK's High Streets: can the evening and night-time economy help?

Changes in retailing over the last half century have had a detrimental effect on the UK���s local high streets. The recession of 2008-2012 exacerbated these trends leading to a high number of vacancies and neglected properties. The impact was sufficiently severe for the term ���crisis��� to be used in connection with the British high street. In the academic and commercial reports generated by the recognition that the high street needed to adapt to changing circumstances, a view emerged that the leisure component of high street activity would gain in importance. This article reviews the relationship of the evening and nighttime economy to the high street and considers its potential in reinventing the vitality that is normally associated with these mixed-use urban corridors. The article argues that there is hope in the high street offering a different type of experience to the mainstream forms of entertainment that are consolidating in major town and city centres. It concludes by suggesting that for this to be successful, some public support is necessary.

The Devil and Views on the ���Other��� in Part One of Pedro Cieza de Le��n���s "Cr��nica del Per��" (1553)

Many 16th century Spanish chroniclers and missionaries, arriving at what they interpreted as a New World, saw the Devil as a ���hermeneutic wildcard��� that allowed them to comprehend indigenous religions. Pedro Cieza de Le��n, a soldier in the conquest of Peru, is a case in point. Cieza considers the Devil responsible for the most aberrant religious practices and customs of the Indians, although he views the natives in a positive light, as men susceptible to divine salvation. From a providentialist perspective of the history of the conquest, Cieza interprets that the evangelization and conversion of the Indians and the implantation of Christian civilization by the Spanish Crown, were able to defeat the Devil.

Select Document: Sir George Radcliffe���s ���Original of Government��� (1639) and Absolutist Political Theory in Stuart Ireland

A seventeenth-century manuscript miscellany, which once belonged to Archbishop James Ussher of Armagh, contains a short treatise on the origins of government by Sir George Radcliffe. Radcliffe was legal assistant to Sir Thomas Wentworth, lord deputy of Ireland (from January 1640 earl of Strafford and lord lieutenant). The treatise insisted on the divine origin of all human political power and implied that the best form of government was absolute monarchy, in which the monarch was free of all human law and subject to divine restraint alone. It will be suggested below that the composition of this treatise can be dated to the summer of 1639. This introduction will offer an outline of Radcliffe���s education and political career, explain the genesis of his treatise on government, point out some pertinent aspects of its argument, and finally assess the document���s significance.

The vertical dimension of social relations and accurate interpersonal perception: A meta-analysis

There is little consensus regarding how verticality (social power, dominance, and status) is related to accurate interpersonal perception. The relation could be either positive or negative, and there could be many causal processes at play. The present article discusses the theoretical possibilities and presents a meta-analysis of this question. In studies using a standard test of interpersonal accuracy, higher socioeconomic status (SES) predicted higher accuracy defined as accurate inference about the meanings of cues; also, higher experimentally manipulated vertical position predicted higher accuracy defined as accurate recall of others��� words. In addition, although personality dominance did not predict accurate inference overall, the type of personality dominance did, such that empathic/responsible dominance had a positive relation and egoistic/aggressive dominance had a negative relation to accuracy. In studies involving live interaction, higher experimentally manipulated vertical position produced lower accuracy defined as accurate inference about cues; however, methodological problems place this result in doubt.

The Greek monetary system and its derivations over other ancient Mediterranean systems.

One of the main features of the Greek currency are the big differences between emissions of the polis, which did not match either in their iconographic message types, not even in the met-rical pattern of their values. These differences were reflected in exchange systems ruled by the main sanctuaries that shrines stipu-lated thus giving official status to change.