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Discusses how Havana's official communist newspaper called `Granma' recently tried something new by using dried sugar-cane pulp or bagasse for paper. Shortages of paper and newsprint since the collapse of the former Soviet Union; How the circulation of newspapers, magazines, and books has been cut back; More.

Due to its impact on human health and its capacity to cause damage, disasters are one of the global problems that most concern the international community. However, and in spite of the efforts made by many health systems, the reduction of vulnerabilities and the lack of strategies to avoid or minimize risks have not received enough attention yet. As Cuba is located in an area of permanent danger of disasters, its health sector has accumulated considerable experience in the management of risks and in the assurance of less risky future scenarios, with active participation of the community and a planned and organized process to address the impact of climate change. This paper summarizes some of these experiences and describes the dangers, vulnerabilities, and risks of disasters in Cuba, its Civil Defense System, and planning and organization in the health sector for disaster reduction, as well as the main effects and challenges of climate change in the health system. Lessons learned and good practices support the key role of human resources to reduce vulnerabilities; the greatest challenges are to avoid or minimize risks, to advance research, to train professionals for climate change, and to optimize the organization of health systems and services in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to describe the opportunities and challenges of training processes in the coordination of regional and national communication initiatives for arboviral disease prevention, using the lessons learned in the Cuban context as an example. In February 2016 and December 2017, professional staff from the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine attended workshops for strengthening communication capacities for arboviral disease prevention in primary health care settings through gradual introduction of the most recent approaches promoted by the Pan American Health Organization in this regard. National, provincial, municipal, and health area specialists with diverse professional profiles were trained; multidisciplinary teams were strengthened at the different levels; specific tasks were assigned and coordinated at each level; and demonstration sites were established for the communication approaches promoted in the workshops. Learning needs in the field of mass communication were also identified, and activities for training technical staff and for monitoring and evaluation were introduced in the national strategy 2018-2021 to guarantee the implementation and sustainability of communication activities. Notwithstanding, participating institutions will have to address the challenges characteristic of communication for arboviral disease prevention, which include the rotation of trained personnel, the mobilization of resources for communication, and the identification of appropriate evaluation indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents, in the context of the universal health strategy, some general considerations and economic actions on financing, efficiency and other economic challenges of public health in Cuba. Official bibliographic sources of the Cuban state were revised up to 2015. The analyses of time series were adjusted to constant prices of 1997 and the official exchange rate of 1 Cuban peso = 1 US dollar. The Cuban National Health System has a solid infrastructure, consisting of a wide network of health facilities that guarantee full coverage, access and equity in the services provided to the population through qualified human resources. An economic analysis was carried out under the conceptual framework of the universal health strategy, with an emphasis in financing, efficiency and challenges of the Cuban public health system to maintain the right to health of its citizens, equity, coverage and access to the services provided, including the elimination of economic, sociocultural and gender barriers, as well as solidarity with the Cuban population and the world. It was concluded that in Cuba, universal health is considered one of its most valuable achievements, although it is needed a most efficient analysis of reliable and available sources, research and application of results to practice on the strengths and weaknesses of the system regarding health economics, updating and a better use of resources and technologies, as well as deepening the lessons learned and facing remaining challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The achievements and challenges arising from the application of eHealth in the Cuban context to support universal health are presented. The Ministry of Public Health defi- ned the Computerization Strategy, whose lines of work are based on the components declared in the Strategy and Plan of Action on eHealth of the Pan American Health Organization, and in the Policy for the Computerization of the Society, approved by the Cuban Government. The paper describes the actions of the Cuban strategy elaborated to solve the limitations in the technological infrastructure, to develop the platforms, the tools and the applications required by the health services, and to stimulate the professionals' abilities to use them. The results of eHealth in Cuba are based on the application and evaluation of the strategy implemented in the framework of the improvement of the health sector through projects such as the electronic medical record called Galen Clínicas, the training of human resources and the resources for information and education from the Infomed Health Telematics Network. These models of solidarity and collaborative networking have contributed to universal health and positively impacted on the health system beyond the borders. The challenges of eHealth are the development of initiatives in mobile health --in which there is little experience--; telemedicine --a project that is stopped--; integration and interoperability among applications; the sustainability of the implemented solutions; insufficient technological infrastructure; and strengthening of the legal framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present a new release of the FIESTA program (Feynman Integral Evaluation by a Sector decomposiTion Approach). FIESTA5 is performance-oriented — we implemented improvements of various kinds in order to make Feynman integral evaluation faster. We plugged in two new integrators, the Quasi Monte Carlo and Tensor Train. At the same time the old code of FIESTA4 was upgraded to the C++17 standard and mostly rewritten without self-made structures such as hash tables. There are also several essential improvements which are most relevant for complex integrations — the new release is capable of producing results where previously impossible. Program title: FIESTA5 CPC Library link to program files: https://doi.org/10.17632/kyzw4zkwsd.2 Developer's repository link: https://bitbucket.org/feynmanIntegrals/fiesta Licensing provisions: GPLv3 Programming language: Wolfram Mathematica 8.0 or higher, C++ Supplementary material: The article, usage instructions in the program package, https://bitbucket.org/feynmanIntegrals/fiesta Journal Reference of previous version: A.V. Smirnov, FIESTA4: Optimized Feynman integral calculations with GPU support, Comput. Phys. Commun. 204 (2016) 189–199, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpc.2016.03.013 Does the new version supersede the previous version?: Yes Reasons for the new version: The code was not able to produce results in some cases where the competitive code, pySecDec could; moreover we were not happy with the performance of the algorithm having multiple inefficient parts of the code. Summary of revisions: New integrators, improved sector decomposition strategies, improvement of contour transformation algorithm, code optimization especially in physical regions (might be 100 times faster or more), possibility to work in some situations where previously impossible, update of the code to modern standard. Nature of problem: Sector decomposition is a well-known approach to the numerical evaluation of Feynman integrals. Feynman integrals in 4 space-time dimension are divergent and have to be regulated. Sector decomposition is used to resolve pole singularities and consists of different stages — sector decomposition itself, contour transformation (in case of physical kinematics meaning base functions changing sign therefore leading to integration in complex numbers), pole resolution, epsilon expansion and numerical integration. Solution method: Most stages are performed in Wolfram Mathematica [1] (required version is 8.0 or higher), this part is parallelized by the use of Mathematica subkelnels in shared memory. As a result a database on hard disk is produced with the use of the KyotoCabinet [2] database engine. The integration stage is written in C++ and can be run on personal computers as well as on supercomputers via MPI. It can make use of installed graphical processor units. As default integrator we use Vegas from the Cuba library [3], but also it can be switched to QMC [4] or Tensor Train [5]. The mimalloc memory allocator [6] can be used for improved performance. Additional comments including restrictions and unusual features: The complexity of the problem is mostly restricted by CPU time required to perform the integration and to obtain the desired precision. [1] http://www.wolfram.com/mathematica/ , commercial algebraic software. [2] http://fallabs.com/kyotocabinet/ , open source. [3] http://www.feynarts.de/cuba/ , open source. [4] https://github.com/mppmu/qmc/ , open source. [5] https://bitbucket.org/vysotskylev/c-tt-library , open source. [6] https://github.com/microsoft/mimalloc.git , open source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper introduces a normative and methodological document for implementing security policies and measurements in telecommunications networks. It gives a general view about security problems and their possible solutions within the telecommunication network environment in Cuba. It is based on a set of Recommendations and Norms from the UIT and ISO related to security for telecommunications infrastructure, services and applications, as well as the information protection. Specifically, the document aims at orienting security policies implementation in ETECSA's Telecommunications Network, mainly in those entities that administer, operate and manage telecommunications technologies, systems and networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article features Ediciones Vigía, a small publishing collective in Matanzas, Cuba. The firm was founded in 1985 by poet and writer Alfredo Zaldívar. The group was named for the Watchtower Plaza in the middle of the city of Matanzas. Many of the collective's earliest publications were simple limited-edition, pocket-sized volumes of poetry and banners. It has been producing books for years with materials such as sugarcane paper and mimeographs.

The article reports on the difficulties that journalists have had reporting on Fidel Castro during his sickness and transfer of power. Cuba has strict restrictions for the press. Several anecdotes are given from journalists who attempted to report on Castro. Many were turned back at the nation's international airport for not having the appropriate papers. Some slipped in. Others who were stationed in the country, such as Gary Marx, also relate their struggles in trying to gather information. The "Miami Herald" sent in reporters illegally. All journalists who were admitted into the country complained of being censored.

When establishing coverage zones for systems like mobile radio communication, television, FM radio broadcasting and other ultrashort-waves emissions, it is necessary to predict the level of electric field intensity. Associated literature suggests a variety of methods aiming at solving this extremely complex task. This paper analyzes these methods and introduces a hybrid method which compares the accuracy of predictions to the results of measures done in Havana City. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing a VLD2 subnetwork architecture has enabled aeronautical radio telecommunications systems to come to a higher level distinguished by an outstanding security improvement, an appropriate control of the aerial space and a better air traffic management. This paper submits the possibilities for using the equipment installed by exploiting their technical capacities which have been undervalued to the date. The proposal is based on a study of the standards for digital radio link in VHF and the equipment available in the country for this purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 10 years, the American Region has witnessed the reintroduction and dissemination of dengue virus serotype 3. In this paper we describe the main clinical and epidemiologic features of the dengue 3 epidemic that broke out in Cuba between June 2001 and March 2002, as well as the measures that were undertaken to eliminate it. A total of 14 524 confirmed cases were reported, 12 889 (88,7%) of them in the City of Havana. Eighty-one cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever were confirmed, three of which died. Secondary infection, white skin color, sickle cell anemia, and bronchial asthma were risk factors for dengue hemorrhagic fever. Active clinical and epidemiologic surveillance and laboratory support were critical to the early detection of transmission and to the monitoring of the epidemic. Widespread involvement of the community and its different sectors, participation of the mass media with a single leadership in command, and strong political will were the key factors that made it possible to eliminate transmission. This epidemic was one more example of the risk of dengue epidemics faced by countries in the area, including those that have strong surveillance and control programs. It also served to show that by applying the principles established by the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization for dengue control, transmission can be stopped. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the letters, documents, photographs and books of Ernest Hemingway that the Cuban government agreed to give U.S. scholars access to. Discovery of the papers in the basement of Hemingway's home outside of Havana, Cuba; Personality traits that the documents reveal; Copies that will reside in the J.F.K. Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts.

The present paper conducts a preliminary analysis for the staggered application of broadband technologies in a hypothetical Cuban access network, which could guarantee the evolution process of Information Society in its supplying territory. The paper outlines some broadband technologies for existing access networks in the market area and it proposes possible solutions for a staggered deployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses several concerns on a rule unveiled by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department in December 2004 that allows American publishers and editors to participate in publishing activities of authors from Cuba, Iran and Sudan. The new rules establish a general license that requires no application for permission to collaborate with individual authors. But the rules seem to assert government authority to categorically approve editing and publishing activities. The new regulations establish general licenses to authorize transactions not already exempt from regulation that directly support the publishing and marketing of manuscripts, books, journals and newspapers, in paper or electronic format. While the new rule seems to permit editors to translate and edit submissions from Cuban, Iranian and Sudanese writers, the prohibition on interacting with the governments of those nations could bar republication of articles from government run newspapers. Another concern is the restrictions of the new rules on informational materials including allowances for items such as paper, ink and computers.

The now-ousted Spanish government immediately blamed the March 11, 2004 explosions in Madrid, Spain, which killed at least 200 people and injured many more, on the Basque separatist group ETA. However, the European press, as well as many ordinary people, questioned whether they instead were al-Qaeda's response to Spain's support for the United States in Iraq. Five British terrorist suspects held by U.S. authorities in Cuba's Guantanamo Bay for two years arrived back in Great Britain March 9, 2004 after having been released without charge. Their detention, wrote Great Britain's newspaper "Guardian" the following day, had been long, shameful and lawless, and they were never given either prisoner of war or criminal suspect status. Home Secretary David Blunkett, the paper continued, quoted the Lord chief justice Lord Woolf's call that in "defending democracy, we must not forget the need to observe the values which make democracy worth defending." The paper concluded: "It is good to have heard these calls. It would have been even better if they had been heard and acted on much earlier in the Guantanamo Bay debacle."

The article reports on the release of several papers related to author Ernest Hemingway in Cuba. Included in the papers are Hemingway's letters and original manuscripts of some of his novels. The papers will be sent to the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts. The release of the papers is part of an agreement to restore and digitize 11,000 documents relating to the Nobel Prize-winning author.

The Telecommunications Company of Cuba, Ltd. (ETECSA) undertakes the development of a Personal Telecommunications Identifier (TIP), which allows invoking telecommunication and social services through a single number. The development group has selected the ENUM protocol among the different international organizations proposals for the standardization of telecommunications. This paper describes the results obtained during the TIP implementation phase in mobile terminals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on health issues affecting women in Cuba. Shortage of sanitary pads; Factors affecting women's nutrition; Actions taken by the Cuban government and organizations to cope up with health issues.

Every old house has its share of stories, but few can compete with Finca Vig& iacute.a, Ernest Hemingway's hilltop retreat in San Francisco de Paula, Cuba where the writer lived with two of his wives, at least one mistress and more than 50 cats over 21 years. Now more of those tales--and a lot of literary history--can be told, thanks to an act of cooperation between the U.S. and Cuba that has opened the house and its cache of letters and artifacts to preservationists. One relative in particular hopes access to the papers will erase misconceptions about the macho author, who fatally shot himself in 1961.

Cuba is currently involved in the transition from analog to digital television broadcasting. This paper provides a way of implementing the channel encoding stage of the Chinese Digital Terrestrial Television standard DTMB via FPGA technology. On this basis, a deep analysis on the theory of BCH and LDPC codes was carried out, resulting in the proposal of a set of logic algorithms to their design in an intellectual property module. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about several papers discussed at the international conference sponsored by the progressive inter-hemispheric bar associations in Cuba and U.S. on the role of labor lawyers and trade unions is presented. Topics include the obligation of the state to protect social security and employment benefits to migrant workers and the role of collective bargaining. the conference featured about 100 labor lawyers from countries including Ecuador, Brazil, and Canada.

Information about several papers discussed during the conference coordinated between Oxford chemistry chairperson Graham Richards and the Cuban Chemical Society which was held in January 2006 at Havana, Cuba is presented. British chemists and biochemists delegation were interested in determining the impact of carbohydrates on biological chemistry. The meeting that was attended by 18 lecturers was designed to constitute new collaborations and heighten existing ones.

The article focuses on the difficulties faced by the Hemingway Preservation Foundation and the National Trust for Historic Preservation in restoring the villa and the fishing boat of author Ernest Hemingway in Cuba. The longstanding U.S. embargo against Cuba has affected the restoration efforts launched for the Hemingway villa. The U.S. team may not contribute funds to the restoration project as part of the license awarded by the Treasury Department. The preservation of Hemingway papers and books has also been hampered by the embargo.

Looks at how William Randolph Hearst made a mistake when he condemned the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana, Cuba in his papers as an act of Spanish sabotage. Use of a slogan by Hearst that urged readers to support a war; Declaration of a war by U.S. President William McKinley to liberate Cuba from the Spaniards; Assertion of most experts that the ship sank as a result of an accidental fuel explosion.

Presents an excerpt from the Cuban daily paper `Granma' which focuses on four citizens accused, tried, and sentenced for inciting sedition. Sentences of Vladimiro Roca, Rene Gomez, Felix Bonne and Marta Roque; The so-called counter-revolutionary actions of the four in close contact with the government of the United States.

States that Haitian gangsters have received preferential treatment at the United States naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba, according to `Haiti Progres,' Port-au-Prince. How, according to the paper, US forces have pressed most Haitian refugees to leave to make room for Cuban refugees; Exceptions that have been made for Macoutes (gangsters aligned with the former military regime).