Best Selling Books by Peter Heller

Em um mundo devastado pela doença, Hig conseguiu escapar à gripe que matou todo mundo que ele conhecia. Sua esposa e seus amigos estão mortos, e ele sobrevive no hangar de um pequeno aeroporto abandonado com seu cachorro, Jasper, e um único vizinho, que odeia a humanidade, ou o que restou dela. Mas Hig não perde as esperanças. Enquanto sobrevoa a cidade em um avião dos anos 1950, ele sonha com a vida que poderia ter vivido não fosse pela fatalidade que dizimou todos que amava. Hig é um guerreiro sonhador. E tem uma imensa vontade de gente, apesar da desilusão que se abateu sobre ele. Por isso é capaz de arriscar todo seu futuro quando, um dia, o rádio de seu avião capta uma mensagem...

Frith a six ans quand sa mère Hayley, professeure et traductrice de poésie chinoise, décide de plaquer sa carrière universitaire pour venir s’installer dans une cabane rustique au pied des montagnes du Vermont et s’inventer une vie libre et belle. Ce retour à la terre est rude, mais toutes deux subsistent grâce à la pommeraie qui flanque leur terrain et au sirop d’érable qu’elles produisent. Scolarisée à domicile, l’intrépide Frith s’imagine reine de leur paradis sauvage, ignorant tout des peines et des regrets qui ont poussé Hayley à se réfugier ici. Saison après saison, mère et fille vivent en autarcie, affrontant “le monde et ses déceptions main dans la main”, jusqu’au jour où Rose, une artiste locale, frappe à leur porte et bouleverse leur existence. Près de trente ans plus tard, Frith se remémore les jours heureux d’avant les tragédies et revisite sa relation fusionnelle avec Hayley à travers les sublimes poèmes qu’elle lui a légués. L’auteur de "La Rivière" signe un roman tout en pudeur et délicatesse, nimbé d’une mélancolie tchékhovienne, sur les pertes de l’enfance, les amitiés indéfectibles et la force inébranlable de l’amour entre mère et fille.

Statement of Issue/Problem. Manhattan, in its quest to become the economic and cultural center of the world, has achieved a population density paralleled by only a few urban centers. Unlike most American urban landscapes suffering from urban sprawl, Manhattan has grown in density and height. In its 400 year history Manhattan has re-established its ground numerous times. What seems to be ground today is in fact a man-made surface four layers above the natural ground of New Amsterdam. Significance of Issue. The population of Manhattan steadily increases three to five percent each year. This growth will eventually lead to the development of yet another layer of ground demanding new urban infrastructures, programs and architectures in locations where they have never been previously sited. The study and invention of this new layer will be the topic of my thesis. Method of Inquiry. I will start by researching the history of Manhattan''s urban form along with other existing contemporary urban habitats. In addition, I will examine urban design theory in relation to technological expansion and population implosions, as well as the work of architects and designers. Ron Herron, Peter Cooke, Archigram, Rem Koolhaas, Superstudio, and Team 10 have published manifestos and utopian proposals for the future of urbanity which I will study and analyze to help develop my project. A site will then be selected in the city of Manhattan as the subject of a detail study of the new infrastructural and programmatic layer along with the accompanying architectural proposals. Expected Outcome. A manifesto, for future development and growth of Manhattan, in the form of a theoretical and architectural proposal will be formulated. The design proposal will confront all the necessary opportunities of circulation, programming, structure, lighting, fenestration, massing, aesthetics and future expansions.

Recent developments in the global economy, notably the accelerating trade war between the US and China and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemia, have fuelled the debate which model of economic development, the Western or the East Asian one, is more competitive in a long term perspective. The intention of this paper is a brief investigation, based on historical and empirical research, into the role of entrepreneurship as a major factor of competitiveness and key driver of economic development in both models. International reports based on data of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and the World Economic Forum''s Global Competitiveness Index come to diverging conclusions which model might prevail. The paper outlines why the entrepreneurial dynamics in East Asia, particularly in China and Vietnam cannot be adequately captured by standards and rating systems based on the theoretical framework of liberal capitalism, as the historical, cultural and social factors of the East Asian model lie beyond its reach. However, the Western narrative envisages a determined course of history that economic progress will inevitably drag China and Vietnam on a trajectory towards the Western model. There is sound evidence that this will not happen.

The paper assesses the government expenditure effects from changing demographics in the Asian quot;Tigerquot; economies through 2050. With some exceptions, their limited social insurance commitments initially suggest that aging populations may not adversely affect fiscal balances. Yet for all the Tigers, changing illness patterns and medical modernization may combine with demographics to intensify budgetary pressures. The paper notes the implications of the Tigers` reliance on private sector pension and medical insurance systems; the need for an active public role; and the complications for fiscal analysis when private sector instruments are used, in a mandatory way, as public policy instruments.

This paper argues that there are significant risks, limitations, and complications associated with reliance upon mandatory DC, fully funded schemes as the dominant public pension pillar. Policies to limit risks may result in the government being reinjected into playing an important financial role in the provision of social insurance. For many countries, the principal source of old age support should thus derive from a well-formulated, public DB pillar, with a significant amount of prefunding. A DC/FF pillar can play a useful supplemental role in a multi-pillar system for the accumulation of pension savings.