Music as Formal and Signifying Feature in García Márquez’s Mature Fiction

Music has played a varying role in García Márquez’s work since the passing reference to traveling troubadour “Francisco el Hombre” in One Hundred Years of Solitude and the novel’s concealed presence of Colombian vallenato song. In The Autumn of the Patriarch music becomes more prominent, with such musical traits as romantic bolero formulas, quotations from folk tunes, children’s jingles, and allusions to Caribbean pop rhythms. These musical insertions help provide markers to the relentless verbal flow of the work. In addition, the larger form of the novel is, by admission of the author, modeled after the string quartets of Bela Bartok. Classical music, moreover, contributes some black humor, as in the refined, cultured thug José Ignacio Sáenz de la Barra’s attachment to Mozart and Bruckner. A vallenato serves as the epigraph to Love in the Time of Cholera and also foreshadows crucial events. Musical references, moreover, furnish chronological and character markers in that novel, with Florentino and Juvenal employing music to captivate Fermina, the first communicating directly with his self-trained violin playing and the other hiring a professional to perform on a grand piano under her balcony. During their one encounter, the two men turn from the economic issue at hand to a discussion of music. García Márquez’s last novel fuses Florentino and Juvenal into a modernist musical voice in his narration of Memories of My Melancholy Whores. Punctuating his recollections with “high art” musical allusions, he also communicates directly by singing a medieval Spanish ballad to his sleeping beauty.

Natural Products Induce Lysosomal Membrane Permeabilization as an Anticancer Strategy

Cancer is a global health and economic issue. The majority of anticancer therapies become ineffective due to frequent genomic turnover and chemoresistance. Furthermore, chemotherapy and radiation are non-specific, killing all rapidly dividing cells including healthy cells. In this review, we examine the ability of some natural products to induce lysosomal-mediated cell death in neoplastic cells as a way to kill them more specifically than conventional therapies. This list is by no means exhaustive. We postulate mechanisms to explain lysosomal membrane permeabilization and its role in triggering cell death in cancer cells.

The Philosophy of Bitcoin and the Question of Money

Money has been a polarising and unresolved socio-economic issue for more than 300 years. In this article, we explore how the state became increasingly involved in money and, through the words of prominent monetary theorists, identify the problem of the state in money. We analyse Bitcoin to see if it is a solution to this problem but move on to contend that the political dimension needs to be the focus of theory in the 21st century and that control of the supply of money, and the power that it gives, is the root of contention.

MAPPAJA’ PRACTICES IN AGRICULTURAL COMMODITY TRADING IN THE DISTRICT OF WEST SINJAI, SINJAI REGENCY

This study will elaborate on the form of mappaja' trading, which is considered as an attractive economic issue as in its transactions, people do not use a system of weighing scales in trading their harvests, but with a cost estimation system for the goods. Therefore, in the trading practice, there is often a discrepancy between the harvest and the buyer’s expectation, because it may contain an element of gharar/obscurity of the goods, which can lead to an invalid transaction and harm one of the parties. This study indicated that the practice of mappaja' for agricultural commodities has occurred for a long time. The mechanism is by estimating the number of plants based on mutual trust and responsibility. The agricultural commodities used as the mappaja' objects are cloves and vegetables (carrots, cabbage, and tomatoes). The payment method in mappaja' practice is carried out in two ways, namely full payment and twice payment. Twice payment refers to the transaction where half of the payment was handed over on the agreement as a down payment and a sign of completion, then the rest of the payment were handed after the harvest. The condition of the plant is ready to harvest or not ready for harvest in the transaction of mappaja’. The rights and obligations of both parties are that traders are obliged to make payments to farmers according to the agreement and for the farmers, they have to keep taking good care of the plants if at the time of the transaction the condition of the plants is still not ready for harvest.

Tree Speech: An Analysis of Discourses on Permanent Reserved Forests in Malaysian Debates since 1959

As a country that once relied heavily on the forestry industry, Malaysia is slowly trying to change their economic dependence to a more sustainable resource, however, the continued reliance on forest resources is creating a conflict between protection as well as development of the forest reserves. To better understand the conflict that exists within the debates among the political elites in Malaysia, this paper examines the speeches on permanent reserved forests by decision makers in the Malaysian Parliamentary debates. These parliamentary debates (n = 229) were analysed using content analysis where three major themes in PRFs were identified: (1) industry and economic development; (2) environmental protection, conservation and impact; and (3) social development and community rights. Results show that economic concerns related to agriculture, timber and development dominated the parliamentary debates throughout the early discussions and the topic of PRF has been framed as primarily an economic issue by the political elites throughout the period of analysis. While there have been environmental issues discussed frequently in the debates, little change has occurred in the discussions on PRFs, which means the fundamental policy underpinning the management of these forests has not changed since colonial times. Peaks in the discussion of permanent reserved forests are associated with key legislations and events within Malaysia. This analysis indicates that the governance of PRF is largely unchanged, and while the new government indicated change could occur, the fact that they fell within two years of election does not lend to a positive note. The analysis has implications for future governance of forestry in Malaysia, which is decidedly embedded within the principle of resource use, inherited from the British era. If forests are to be protected, the fundamental principle of resource use has to be reconstructed entirely.

Transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of demyelinating diseases

Demyelinating diseases, especially multiple sclerosis (MS) is not only medical but also socio-economic issue. Unsatisfactory quality of life and high degree of disability in these patients require the implementation of the advanced treatments, such as stem cell transplantation. Numerous experimental and clinical studies are being conducted, revealing new mechanisms of the action of stem cells in demyelinating diseases. Further research is needed to understand many more aspects of clinical use. This review is devoted to the use of regenerative cell technologies in the treatment of demyelinating diseases, the current state and prospects of the approach to the treatment of such pathology with stem cells.

Exploitation of Lagoon Water Bodies and Conflicts of Use: the Case of The Lagoons of Grand-Lahou (Cote D’ivoire)

Demographic pressure, the reduction of arable land and the instability of income generated by export crops have forced the people of Grand-Lahou to show more interest in fishing activities. Thus, the exploitation of water bodies is an important strategic and economic issue for the neighbouring populations. However, in recent years, this exploitation of aquatic resources has led to conflicts between operators. The aim of this article is to analyse the procedures for resolving these conflicts and to assess their effectiveness. The methodological approach has integrated field observations and analyses carried out on the basis of information collected through interviews with stakeholders. The results reveal various forms of conflict resolution with relative levels of effectiveness. This situation is a hindrance to the efficient use of Ivorian aquatic areas. It is therefore desirable for the State to play its role by proposing more effective ways of managing these conflicts.

Eén bril, vele visies?

One outlook, many perspectives? Diversity in Flemish news media and the perception of the audience A diverse range of actors and viewpoints can safeguard the quality of news reporting and the distribution of attention to different sides to a story. In this study, we look at the differences in content diversity between the news coverage on two (one socio-economic and one socio-cultural) cases in the Flemish news environment and how these differences translate into perceptions of diversity and bias with the audience. Despite limited differences in content diversity, we find that news items on the sociocultural and socio-economic case highlight different actors. Moreover, news items on the socio-cultural case are more neutral, while the coverage on the socio-economic issue contains more (balanced) viewpoints. These differences in content are largely translated into differences in perception. However, we find that a slight bias in perception of tone in the coverage on the socio-cultural issue is due to personal characteristics and issue-relevant attitudes.

Digital Transformation of Enterprises in the Post-Pandemic Era

<p>The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 has brought great impact on China’s economic development. How to scientifically and effectively help the economy has become the most important economic issue at present. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the service industry has been directly affected, while small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have also been seriously hit, and the negative impacts on export-oriented enterprises cannot be underestimated as well. It is critical and urgent for these enterprises to quickly recover from the crisis and find ways to secure a viable competitive position in their respective industries in post-pandemic era. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has not only brought unprecedented impact on China’s economic and social development, but also provided new opportunities for traditional industries to achieve digital transformation. Taking service industry, foreign trade enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises for example, this study focuses on how China’s industries and enterprises in the post-pandemic era can recover from the impact of the pandemic by taking advantage of digital transformation opportunities: (1) Transferring services online and promoting upgradation of online business; (2) Cooperating with e-commerce platforms to transfer exports to domestic sales and catering to the need of domestic consumers; (3) Applying flexible production and shared manufacturing to better cope with external changes and reduce operation costs of small and mediumsized enterprises. Fintech also helps to reduce financing costs.</p>