The Costumed Catholic: Catholics, Whiteness, and the Movies, 1928 - 1973

Abstract This dissertation examines the impact movies had on the place of Catholics of European descent in mainstream white America. Most scholars who study the history of Catholic populations in this country assume that they attained whiteness at some point. Whether with the Irish in the late nineteenth century, or more generally when urban parishes began the move to the suburbs post-World War II, the historiography claims that Catholics earned white status. However, an analysis of twentieth century American film complicates the historiography of Catholicism. A set of negative stereotypes, instead, have colored the presentation of the religion in cinema that have called attention to aspects of the Catholic character that separated from other whites. Many of these ideas were the product of the nineteenth century when Protestant America first became exposed to large numbers of Irish Catholics. Film in the next century inherited those ideas from minstrelsy and vaudeville, and applied new stereotypes like urban settings and violence that they thought typified the behavior of all Catholics. Catholics responded by creating the Legion of Decency and paying more attention to film content beginning in the 1930s, though their efforts only further cemented many of the notions that audiences adopted in thinking of Catholicism. As their power in Hollywood waned from the 1950s forward, a time when their religion supposedly entered mainstream whiteness, Catholicism on film took a darker turn that has lasted until today

Mangelnde Datenverfügbarkeit als Hemmnis für passgenaue Optimierung der Proteinversorgung von Monogastriern

Die Beratung zur Optimierung der Proteinversorgung von Schweinen und Geflügel benötigt umfassende betriebliche Daten. In einer Studie mit 56 ökologisch wirtschaftenden Betrieben ergab sich für viele Betriebe Verbesserungspotential hinsichtlich der bedarfsgerechten Fütterung und effizienten Nutzung von Nährstoffen. Die heterogenen Betriebsbedingungen lassen keine verallgemeinerten Empfehlungen zu sondern erfordern betriebsspezifische Strategien auf der Grundlage belastbarer Daten, um mögliche Synergieeffekte und Potentiale einer verbesserten Wertschöpfung erschließen zu können. Folglich sind Mängel in der Dokumentation und Datenaufzeichnung ein erhebliches Hemmnis in der Entwicklung betriebsspezifischer Optimierungsstrategien

Takagi-Taupin Description of X-ray Dynamical Diffraction from Diffractive Optics with Large Numerical Aperture

We present a formalism of x-ray dynamical diffraction from volume diffractive optics with large numerical aperture and high aspect ratio, in an analogy to the Takagi-Taupin equations for strained single crystals. We derive a set of basic equations for dynamical diffraction from volume diffractive optics, which enable us to study the focusing property of these optics with various grating profiles. We study volume diffractive optics that satisfy the Bragg condition to various degrees, namely flat, tilted and wedged geometries, and derive the curved geometries required for ultimate focusing. We show that the curved geometries satisfy the Bragg condition everywhere and phase requirement for point focusing, and effectively focus hard x-rays to a scale close to the wavelength.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figure

Acute aortic dissection type A discloses Corpus alienum

We report an unusual case of an aortic type A dissection with a corpus alienum which compresses the right ventricle. The patient successfully underwent an aortic root replacement in deep hypothermia with re-implantation of the coronary arteries using a modified Bentall procedure and the resection of the corpus alienum. Intraoperative finding reveals 3 greatly adhered gauze compresses, which were most likely forgotten in the operation 34 years ago

Memory is not enough: the neurobiological substrates of dynamic cognitive reserve

Changes in the residual memory variance are considered as a dynamic aspect of cognitive reserve (d-CR). We aimed to investigate for the first time the neural substrate associated with changes in the residual memory variance overtime in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). Thirty-four aMCI patients followed-up for 36 months and 48 healthy elderly individuals (HE) were recruited. All participants underwent 3T MRI, collecting T1-weighted images for voxel-based morphometry (VBM). They underwent an extensive neuropsychological battery, including six episodic memory tests. In patients and controls, factor analyses were used on the episodic memory scores to obtain a composite memory score (C-MS). Partial Least Square analyses were used to decompose the variance of C-MS in latent variables (LT scores), accounting for demographic variables and for the general cognitive efficiency level; linear regressions were applied on LT scores, striping off any contribution of general cognitive abilities, to obtain the residual value of memory variance, considered as an index of d-CR. LT scores and d-CR were used in discriminant analysis, in patients only. Finally, LT scores and d-CR were used as variable of interest in VBM analysis. The d-CR score was not able to correctly classify patients. In both aMCI patients and HE, LT1st and d-CR scores showed correlations with grey matter volumes in common and in specific brain areas. Using CR measures limited to assess memory function is likely less sensitive to detect the cognitive decline and predict the evolution of Alzheimer's disease. In conclusion, d-CR needs a measure of general cognition to identify conversion to Alzheimer's disease efficiently

The concept of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) after poststernotomy mediastinitis – a single center experience with 54 patients

Deep sternal infections, also known as poststernotomy mediastinitis, are a rare but often fatal complication in cardiac surgery. They are a cause of increased morbidity and mortality and have a significant socioeconomic aspect concerning the health system. Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) followed by muscular pectoralis plasty is a quite new technique for the treatment of mediastinitis after sternotomy. Although it could be demonstrated that this technique is at least as safe and reliable as other techniques for the therapy of deep sternal infections, complications are not absent. We report about our experiences and complications using this therapy in a set of 54 patients out of 3668 patients undergoing cardiac surgery in our institution between January 2005 and April 2007

Development of the VOILA LIBS instrument for volatiles scouting in polar regions of the Moon

In this paper, we report on the on-going development of a compact analytical instrument for future missions to the Moon, using the LIBS technique. The instrument, christened VOILA (Volatiles Identification by Laser Ablation), is part of the "LUVMI-X" scenario funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme which envisions the concept of a rover carrying a suite of instruments for detecting and characterizing volatiles as a component of lunar soil ("regolith") at high latitudes on the Moon. Behaviour of the plasma created by LIBS target ablation depends on the prevalent atmospheric pressure. Mars atmospheric pressure is close to ideal for the LIBS technique. On bodies without atmosphere such as the Moon, the lack of confining pressure leads to the plasma dissipating quickly causing weaker signals. India has developed the first, modest LIBS instrument for operation on the Moon with however a number of limitations in its optical design. Moreover, the lander of the corresponding mission Chandrayaan-2 crashed during landing in 2019. Our VOILA is designed to be between the quite capable but large and massive Mars LIBS instruments of NASA (ChemCam on the CURIOSITY ANCE rover), and the very modest Indian LIBS for Chandrayaan-2. The VOILA working range will vary between 0.3 and 0.5 m, with a laser pulse energy of ~15 mJ

Nucleon and hadron structure changes in the nuclear medium and impact on observables

We review the effect of hadron structure changes in a nuclear medium using the quark-meson coupling (QMC) model, which is based on a mean field description of non-overlapping nucleon (or baryon) bags bound by the self-consistent exchange of scalar and vector mesons. This approach leads to simple scaling relations for the changes of hadron masses in a nuclear medium. It can also be extended to describe finite nuclei, as well as the properties of hypernuclei and meson-nucleus deeply bound states. It is of great interest that the model predicts a variation of the nucleon form factors in nuclear matter. We also study the empirically observed, Bloom-Gilman (quark-hadron) duality. Other applications of the model include subthreshold kaon production in heavy ion collisions, D and D-bar meson production in antiproton-nucleus collisions, and J/Psi suppression. In particular, the modification of the D and D-bar meson properties in nuclear medium can lead to a large J/Psi absorption cross section, which explains the observed J/Psi suppression in relativistic heavy ion collisions.Comment: 143 pages, 77 figures, references added, a review article accepted in Prog. Part. Nucl. Phy