The Concise Garland encyclopedia of world music: v.1: Africa, South America, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, the United States and Canada, Europe, Oceania; v2: The Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia

2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (07) ◽  
pp. 46-3585-46-3585
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Middle East ◽  
South America ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
East Asia ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Central America ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Music ◽  
The Caribbean

English in Asia, Asian Englishes, and the issue of proficiency

English Today ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kingsley Bolton
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
East Asia ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Outer Circle ◽  
Asian Region ◽  
The World ◽  
Basic Issue

ABSTRACTThe contemporary visibility and importance of English throughout the Asian region coupled with the emergence and development of distinct varieties of Asian Englishes have played an important part in the global story of English in recent years. Across Asia, the numbers of people having at least a functional command of the language have grown exponentially over the last four decades, and current changes in the sociolinguistic realities of the region are often so rapid that it is difficult for academic commentators to keep pace. One basic issue in the telling of this story is the question of what it is we mean by the term ‘Asia’, itself a word of contested etymology, whose geographical reference has ranged in application from the Middle East to Central Asia, and from the Indian sub-continent to Japan and Korea. In this article, my discussion will focus on the countries of South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia, as it is in these regions that we find not only the greatest concentration of ‘outer-circle’ English-using societies but also a number of the most populous English-learning and English-knowing nations in the world.

scholarly journals Chagas Disease Serological Test Performance in U.S. Blood Donor Specimens

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey D. Whitman ◽  
Christina A. Bulman ◽  
Emma L. Gunderson ◽  
Amanda M. Irish ◽  
Rebecca L. Townsend ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South America ◽  
Central America ◽  
Chagas Disease ◽  
Blood Donor ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Chronic Phase ◽  
High Specificity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Confirmatory Test

ABSTRACT Chagas disease affects an estimated 300,000 individuals in the United States. Diagnosis in the chronic phase requires positive results from two different IgG serological tests. Three enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) (Hemagen, Ortho, and Wiener) and one rapid test (InBios) are FDA cleared, but comparative data in U.S. populations are sparse. We evaluated 500 seropositive and 300 seronegative blood donor plasma samples. Country of birth was known for 255 seropositive specimens, which were grouped into regions as follows: Mexico (n = 94), Central America (n = 88), and South America (n = 73). Specimens were tested by the four FDA-cleared IgG serological assays. Test performance was evaluated by two comparators and latent class analysis. InBios had the highest sensitivity (97.4% to 99.3%) but the lowest specificity (87.5% to 92.3%). Hemagen had the lowest sensitivity (88.0% to 92.0%) but high specificity (99.0% to 100.0%). The level of sensitivity was intermediate for Ortho (92.4% to 96.5%) and Wiener (94.0% to 97.1%); both had high specificity (98.8% to 100.0% and 96.7% to 99.3%, respectively). The levels of antibody reactivity and clinical sensitivity were lowest in donors from Mexico, intermediate in those from Central America, and highest in those from South America. Our findings provide an initial evidence base to improve laboratory diagnosis of Chagas disease in the United States. The best current testing algorithm would employ a high-sensitivity screening test followed by a high-specificity confirmatory test.

The New “Black Death”: Cholera in Brazil, 1855-1856

1986 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-488
Author(s):  
Donald B. Cooper
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Central America ◽  
North Africa ◽  
River Basins ◽  
The United States ◽  
Black Death ◽  
Northern Province ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Intense Heat ◽  
Effective Buffer

On repeated occasions in the nineteenth century, Asian cholera irrupted from its traditional center in the great river basins of India and spread in pandemic waves throughout parts of Europe, North Africa, and North America. In Spain alone 600,000 deaths resulted from cholera during four great invasions (Cárdenas, 1971: 224). The United States experienced terrifying outbreaks beginning in 1832, 1849, and 1866 (Rosenberg, 1962) which also touched parts of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. Initially South America escaped the onslaught. Some Brazilians speculated that the intense heat of the equator, or the vast expanse of the Atlantic ocean, somehow offered an effective buffer to the southward spread of cholera (Rego, 1872: 84). But this “sweet illusion” was shattered in 1855. Indeed the first city in Brazil struck by Asian cholera was Belém, capital of the vast northern province of Pará located astride the equator at the mouth of the Amazon river.

European Possessions in the Americas

1962 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-405
Author(s):  
E. Taylor Parks
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Central America ◽  
Mississippi River ◽  
New World ◽  
Geographic Location ◽  
The United States ◽  
National Defense ◽  
Strategic Value ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
The Antarctic

The United States of 1783 was composed of thirteen former English colonies and their hinterland extending to the Mississippi River. Except on the Atlantic side, the new republic was surrounded by European possessions. In fact, the remainder of the New World was claimed by European nations. It was inevitable, therefore, that the United States from the beginning would concern itself with these European possessions.The degree of concern has been determined largely by three factors: (1) the geographic location of the areas, (2) their economic and strategic value, and (3) the relative power and prestige of their current or prospective possessors. As regards the geographic location of the areas, the interest of the United States has expanded roughly in broad concentric arcs: (a) contiguous continental lands (Florida, Louisiana, Texas, California, Oregon Territory); (b) Alaska, Central America, and the Caribbean; (c) South America and off-shore islands; and (d) the Antarctic. This expansion of interest has been concomitant with the territorial and economic growth of the United States, the development of ever-more-rapid means of transportation and communication, and the changing concepts of national defense.

scholarly journals Hydrodynamics of the Caribbean Low-Level Jet and Its Relationship to Precipitation

2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 1477-1494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerry H. Cook ◽  
Edward K. Vizy
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Caribbean Basin ◽  
Low Level ◽  
The North ◽  
South Central ◽  
Central United States ◽  
Low Level Jet ◽  
The Caribbean

Abstract The easterly Caribbean low-level jet (CLLJ) is a prominent climate feature over the Intra-America Seas, and it is associated with much of the water vapor transport from the tropical Atlantic into the Caribbean Basin. In this study, the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) is analyzed to improve the understanding of the dynamics of the CLLJ and its relationship to regional rainfall variations. Horizontal momentum balances are examined to understand how jet variations on both diurnal and seasonal time scales are controlled. The jet is geostrophic to the first order. Its previously documented semidiurnal cycle (with minima at about 0400 and 1600 LT) is caused by semidiurnal cycling of the meridional geopotential height gradient in association with changes in the westward extension of the North Atlantic subtropical high (NASH). A diurnal cycle is superimposed, associated with a meridional land–sea breeze (solenoidal circulation) onto the north coast of South America, so that the weakest jet velocities occur at 1600 LT. The CLLJ is present throughout the year, and it is known to vary in strength semiannually. Peak magnitudes in July are related to the seasonal cycle of the NASH, and a second maximum in February is caused by heating over northern South America. From May through September, zonal geopotential gradients associated with summer heating over Central America and Mexico induce meridional flow. The CLLJ splits into two branches, including a southerly branch that connects with the Great Plains low-level jet (GPLLJ) bringing moisture into the central United States. During the rest of the year, the flow remains essentially zonal across the Caribbean Basin and into the Pacific. A strong (weak) CLLJ is associated with reduced (enhanced) rainfall over the Caribbean Sea throughout the year in the NARR. The relationship with precipitation over land depends on the season. Despite the fact that the southerly branch of the CLLJ feeds into the meridional GPLLJ in May through September, variations in the CLLJ strength during these months do not impact U.S. precipitation, because the CLLJ strength is varying in response to regional-scale forcing and not to changes in the large-scale circulation. During the cool season, there are statistically significant correlations between the CLLJ index and rainfall over the United States. When the CLLJ is strong, there is anomalous northward moisture transport across the Gulf of Mexico into the central United States and pronounced rainfall increases over Louisiana and Texas. A weak jet is associated with anomalous westerly flow across the southern Caribbean region and significantly reduced rainfall over the south-central United States. No connection between the intensity of the CLLJ and drought over the central United States is found. There are only three drought summers in the NARR period (1980, 1988, and 2006), and the CLLJ was extremely weak in 1988 but not in 1980 or 2006.

scholarly journals Temporal Trends in Age at HIV Diagnosis in Cohorts in the United States, the Caribbean, and Central and South America

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 1599-1608 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda Crabtree-Ramírez ◽  
Yanink Neried Caro Vega ◽  
Bryan E. Shepherd ◽  
Megan Turner ◽  
Gabriela Carriquiry ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South America ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
The United States ◽  
Hiv Diagnosis ◽  
The Caribbean

Seeking Influence Abroad

2020 ◽  
pp. 209-253
Author(s):  
Atul Kohli
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Central America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Imperial Power ◽  
Pacific Asia ◽  
The Caribbean

Born an anticolonial nation, the United States burst upon the global scene as an imperial power at the end of the nineteenth century. This chapter analyzes the American expansion into the Caribbean, Central America, and Pacific Asia. When the United States became a major industrial power in the late nineteenth century, it sought profit and power overseas, especially new economic opportunities. The United States experimented with colonialism but settled on creating stable but subservient regimes in peripheral countries as the main mechanism of control. Benefits to the United States included gains in trade, opportunities for foreign investments, and profitable loans. Countries under US influence, including the Philippines, Cuba, and Nicaragua, experienced some economic growth but became commodity exporters with sharp inequalities and poor-quality governments.

The United States and Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons Program, 1975–1990

2019 ◽  
pp. 112-159
Author(s):  
Jeffrey W. Taliaferro
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Middle East ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
The United States ◽  
Military Assistance

Chapter 4 examines the proliferation dispute between the United States and Pakistan. As with the Middle East, averting containment failure in South Asia was the overriding aim of the Ford, Carter, and Reagan administrations. Slowing or halting the clandestine Pakistani nuclear weapons program was always a subordinate goal. The Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 was the turning point. Chapter 4 examines the oscillations in US nonproliferation policies toward Pakistan, from the Ford administration’s offer of advanced fighters for nuclear restraint in 1975–1976, to the Carter administration’s imposition of sanctions in early1979, to the Reagan administration’s provision of a $1.4 billion foreign military assistance package and efforts to circumvent nonproliferation legislation in exchange for Pakistani dictator General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq’s pledge not to cross four nuclear “red lines” from 1981 to 1988, to the George H. W. Bush administration’s resumption of sanctions after the Soviet pullout from Afghanistan in 1990.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document