bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Characterization of coplanar poled electro optic polymer films for Si-photonic devices with multiphoton microscopy
Authors: Himmelhuber R. , Mehravar S. S. , Herrera O. D. , Demir V. , Kieu K. , Luo J. , Jen A. K.-Y. , Norwood R. A. , Peyghambarian N.
Published: April 2014

We imaged coplanar poled electro optic (EO) polymer films on transparent substrates with a multiple-photon microscope in reflection and correlated the second-harmonic light intensity with the results of Pockels coefficient (r33) measurements. This allowed us to make quantitative measurements of poled polymer films on non-transparent substrates like silicon, which are not accessible with traditional Pockels coefficient measurement techniques. Phase modulators consisting of silicon waveguide devices with EO polymer claddings with a known Pockels coefficient (from Vπ measurements) were used to validate the correlation between the second-harmonic signal and r33. This also allowed us to locally map the r33 coefficient in the poled area.
Defect study in molecular beam epitaxy-grown HgCdTe films with activated and unactivated arsenic
Authors: Izhnin I. I. , Dvoretsky S. A. , Mynbaev K. D. , Fitsych O. I. , Mikhailov N. N. , Varavin V. S. , Pociask-Bialy M. , Voitsekhovskii A. V. , Sheregii E.
Published: April 2014

A defect study was performed on molecular beam epitaxy-grown HgCdTe films in situ doped with arsenic. Doping was performed from either effusion cell or cracker cell, and studied were both as-grown samples and samples subjected to arsenic activation annealing. Electrical properties of the films were investigated with the use of ion milling as a means of “stirring” defects in the material. As a result of the study, it was confirmed that the most efficient incorporation of electrically active arsenic occurs at the cracking zone temperature of 700 °C. Interaction between arsenic and tellurium during the growth was observed and is discussed in the paper.
On the development of nugget growth model for resistance spot welding
Authors: Zhou Kang , Cai Lilong
Published: April 2014

In this paper, we developed a general mathematical model to estimate the nugget growth process based on the heat energy delivered into the welds by the resistance spot welding. According to the principles of thermodynamics and heat transfer, and the effect of electrode force during the welding process, the shape of the nugget can be estimated. Then, a mathematical model between heat energy absorbed and nugget diameter can be obtained theoretically. It is shown in this paper that the nugget diameter can be precisely described by piecewise fractal polynomial functions. Experiments were conducted with different welding operation conditions, such as welding currents, workpiece thickness, and widths, to validate the model and the theoretical analysis. All the experiments confirmed that the proposed model can predict the nugget diameters with high accuracy based on the input heat energy to the welds.
Light induced degradation of amorphous silicon containing nanocrystalline silicon
Authors: Reddy N. Parvathala , Gupta Rajeev , Agarwal S. C.
Published: April 2014

The effect of light soaking (LS) is studied in hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) containing different amounts of nanocrystals, prepared by varying the deposition conditions in a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system. We find that the presence of nanocrystals (nc-Si) stabilizes the a-Si:H against LS. The long range potential fluctuations (LRPF) are measured and we find that they become smaller as the fraction of nanocrystals (χ) in the films increases. Raman spectra show a peak at 490 cm−1, which is taken to be the result of Intermediate Range Order (IRO) in the films. This IRO peak appears just when the hydrogen dilution is sufficiently high for the crystallization to begin, and increases with increasing hydrogen dilution as the crystallization increases. In contrast LRPF have maximum width when χ is zero and it decreases as χ increases. Further, the degradation upon LS is negligible when χ > 25%. We suggest an alternative mechanism for the improved stability, in which the photogenerated carriers moving under the influence of the long range potential fluctuations have a propensity to go to nc-Si, and recombine in that region.
Graphene saturable absorber for high power semiconductor disk laser mode-locking
Authors: Husaini S. , Bedford R. G.
Published: April 2014

Here, we report on the development of an antiresonant graphene-based one-dimensional structure which allows the control of linear and nonlinear device performance through optical confinement. A record average output in excess of 10 W is achieved by integrating this antiresonant graphene saturable absorber mirror into a vertical-external-cavity-surface-emitting-laser at 1030 nm, which leads to strong evidence of mode-locking, generating pulses with energies up to 2.8 nJ and a pulsewidth of 353 fs.
Band gap effects of hexagonal boron nitride using oxygen plasma
Authors: Sevak Singh Ram , Yingjie Tay Roland , Leong Chow Wai , Hon Tsang Siu , Mallick Govind , Tong Teo Edwin Hang
Published: April 2014

Tuning of band gap of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) has been a challenging problem due to its inherent chemical stability and inertness. In this work, we report the changes in band gaps in a few layers of chemical vapor deposition processed as-grown h-BN using a simple oxygen plasma treatment. Optical absorption spectra show a trend of band gap narrowing monotonically from 6 eV of pristine h-BN to 4.31 eV when exposed to oxygen plasma for 12 s. The narrowing of band gap causes the reduction in electrical resistance by ∼100 fold. The x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results of plasma treated hexagonal boron nitride surface show the predominant doping of oxygen for the nitrogen vacancy. Energy sub-band formations inside the band gap of h-BN, due to the incorporation of oxygen dopants, cause a red shift in absorption edge corresponding to the band gap narrowing.
Weak ferromagnetism and nanodimensional ferroelectric domain structure stabilized in the polar phase of Bi1−xNdxFeO3 multiferroics via Ti doping
Authors: Khomchenko V. A. , Pereira L. C. J. , Paixão J. A.
Published: April 2014

Crystal structure, microstructure, local ferroelectric, and magnetic properties of the Bi0.9Nd0.1Fe1−xTixO3 samples have been investigated at room temperature to reveal the effect of Ti4+ doping on the multiferroic behavior of the lanthanide-modified compound representing a polar (space group R3c) antiferromagnetic phase of the Bi1−xLnxFeO3 perovskites. Ti doping results in a gradual suppression of the rhombohedral distortions, however, symmetry of the crystal structure remains the same in the entire concentration range allowing the single-phase perovskites to be obtained (x ≤ 0.08). The doping tends to reduce existing lone-pair cation-driven polar displacements, thus giving rise to a decrease of the ferroelectric polarization in the Bi0.9Nd0.1Fe1−xTixO3 (x→0.08) series. A drastic (from ∼10 μm for x = 0 to ∼1 μm for 0.02 ≤ x ≤ 0.08) decrease of the average grain size induced by the doping is accompanied by the formation of a ferroelectric domain structure with the average domain width of ∼40 nm. Finally, the doping was shown to induce an antiferromagnetic to weak ferromagnetic transformation. The maximum remanent magnetization observed in the Bi0.9Nd0.1Fe1−xTixO3 series at x ∼ 0.05 coincides with the locked magnetization releasing upon the magnetic field-induced suppression of the magnetic cycloid in pure BiFeO3.
Effect of annealing temperature on the contact properties of Ni/V/4H-SiC structure
Authors: Dai Chong-Chong , Liu Xue-Chao , Zhou Tian-Yu , Zhuo Shi-Yi , Kong Hai-Kuan , Yang Jian-Hua , Shi Er-Wei
Published: April 2014

A sandwich structure of Ni/V/4H-SiC was prepared and annealed at different temperatures from 650 °C to 1050 °C. The electrical properties and microstructures were characterized by transmission line method, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. A low specific contact resistance of 3.3 × 10-5 Ω·cm2 was obtained when the Ni/V contact was annealed at 1050 °C for 2 min. It was found that the silicide changed from Ni3Si to Ni2Si with increasing annealing temperature, while the vanadium compounds appeared at 950 °C and their concentration increased at higher annealing temperature. A schematic diagram was proposed to explain the ohmic contact mechanism of Ni/V/4H-SiC structure.
Giant amplification of tunnel magnetoresistance in a molecular junction: Molecular spin-valve transistor
Authors: Dhungana Kamal B. , Pati Ranjit
Published: April 2014

Amplification of tunnel magnetoresistance by gate field in a molecular junction is the most important requirement for the development of a molecular spin valve transistor. Herein, we predict a giant amplification of tunnel magnetoresistance in a single molecular spin valve junction, which consists of Ru-bis-terpyridine molecule as a spacer between two ferromagnetic nickel contacts. Based on the first-principles quantum transport approach, we show that a modest change in the gate field that is experimentally accessible can lead to a substantial amplification (320%) of tunnel magnetoresistance. The origin of such large amplification is attributed to the spin dependent modification of orbitals at the molecule-lead interface and the resultant Stark effect induced shift in channel position with respect to the Fermi energy.
Neocortical Tet3-mediated accumulation of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine promotes rapid behavioral adaptation
Authors: Li Xiang , Wei Wei , Zhao Qiong-Yi , Widagdo Jocelyn , Baker-Andresen Danay , Flavell Charlotte R. , D’Alessio Ana , Zhang Yi , Bredy Timothy W.
Published: April 2014

Significance

We have discovered a critical role for ten-eleven translocation 3-mediated hydroxylation of 5-methycytosine in the adult prefrontal cortex in mediating rapid behavioral adaptation. 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC) is highly dynamic in response to fear extinction training, and rather than simply reflecting a functional intermediary of active DNA demethylation, the learning-induced intergenic accumulation of 5-hmC creates an epigenetic state that promotes experience-dependent gene expression and behavioral adaptation.
Regulation of DNA methylation turnover at LTR retrotransposons and imprinted loci by the histone methyltransferase Setdb1
Authors: Leung Danny , Du Tingting , Wagner Ulrich , Xie Wei , Lee Ah Young , Goyal Preeti , Li Yujing , Szulwach Keith E. , Jin Peng , Lorincz Matthew C. , Ren Bing
Published: April 2014

Significance

DNA methylation is essential for mammalian development. This modification is nearly completely erased and reestablished in early embryos, but specific classes of DNA elements escape such genome-wide changes via unknown mechanisms. In this study, we identified a likely factor responsible for lack of DNA methylation turnover on a large fraction of such sequences. By focusing on mouse embryonic stem cells depleted of de novo DNA methyltransferases, which exhibit widespread hypomethylation with the exception of particular loci, we show that regions retaining DNA methylation are associated with a specific chromatin state. In cells lacking the enzyme catalyzing this chromatin state, such regions begin to lose DNA methylation. Our results therefore advance the understanding of how DNA methylation turnover is regulated during development.
Exploration of sequence space as the basis of viral RNA genome segmentation
Authors: Moreno Elena , Ojosnegros Samuel , García-Arriaza Juan , Escarmís Cristina , Domingo Esteban , Perales Celia
Published: April 2014

Significance

The molecular basis of a drastic evolutionary change, akin to RNA genome segmentation, previously observed with foot-and-mouth disease virus was unknown. Here we report that point mutations that accumulated in the genome during replication permitted the transition toward genome segmentation. This effect of mutations has been shown by placing the deletions in the sequence context of the parental and evolved RNAs and quantifying protein expression and infectious progeny production. The results document that an extensive exploration of sequence space was required prior to this multifactorial evolutionary transition. An unsegmented viral genome can reach a point in sequence space at which a different genomic organization is favored. The observation underlines the value of quasi-species dynamics as a factor in the emergence of viral genomes.
Conceptual metaphors as a tool for the efficient teaching of Dutch and German posture verbs
Authors: De Knop Sabine , Perrez Julien
Published: April 2014

The article deals with the typological differences between the Romance language French and the Germanic languages German and Dutch for the linguistic expressions of posture and location. It describes how these typological differences can be problematic for French-speaking learners of German and Dutch. The main difference between both types of languages is that posture and location tend to be encoded by posture verbs in Germanic languages and by very general verbs in Romance languages (Talmy 2000). After a detailed description of the semantic networks of the German and Dutch posture verbs, the paper takes a critical look at how these expressions are dealt with in teaching manuals. It further presents strategies for the efficient teaching of posture verbs to foreign language learners. These strategies are among others awareness-raising exercises about the compulsory use of posture verbs in Germanic languages and the description of conceptual metaphors in different languages. These pedagogical avenues for the efficient teaching of the Dutch and German posture verbs constitute a first step towards the elaboration of an experimental set-up aiming at verifying them.
Blending and folk theory in an explanation of irony
Authors: Pálinkás István
Published: April 2014

This paper casts a critical glance at the traditional pragmatic view of irony as well as the most definitive theories of the 1980s and 1990s, and shows that most of these conceptions are incomplete: they have a limited sphere of explanatory sway, as attested by the occurrence of instances of ironic speech not conforming to these models. In order to avoid the uncertainties induced by previous approaches, this paper takes a cognitive stance and treats irony as a mode of thought rather than as a figure of speech. As a cognitive-conceptual phenomenon, this study argues, irony cannot be explained in one single definition but rather it should be treated as a matter of folk psychology. The paper also concludes that the ironies discussed in this study are related by the process of conceptual integration. Through a discussion of three ironies, this paper introduces a different way of thinking about irony.
Metaphor and phraseology from the language of bullfighting in Spanish
Authors: White Michael , Villacañas Beatriz
Published: April 2014

Mass-audience events provide languages with fertile sources of metaphor. Such events display pronounced spatial parameters, dynamicity and purposive activity, all of which have been shown to enable metaphor processes. Furthermore, the mass following and the experiential recurrence of such events facilitate conventionalisation and phraseological development. This article examines such a phenomenon, namely, the deployment of metaphorical and phraseological expressions of bullfighting origin in the ordinary use of the Spanish language. Taking evidence from existing inventories plus references to literature and the press, the article categorises the diverse manifestations into coherent patterns in consonance with cognitive linguistics metaphor studies. It shows that the different participants and different aspects of the bullfighting event motivate those patterns. As well as highlighting the cultural specificity of this phraseology, the article also shows its potential in cross-sectional and longitudinal terms – it functions across a variety of contexts as well as in depth in any particular context.
Fuzzy sets and Prototype Theory
Authors: Ávila-Muñoz Antonio M. , Sánchez-Sáez José María
Published: April 2014

Prototype Theory offers one of the most accepted models for semantic memory organization. Lexical availability trials provide investigators with a faster and easier means of observing this cognitive organization, since lists of available lexicon are generated from associations relating some lexical elements with others. The experiments with lexical availability are able to activate one of the best-known lexical production mechanisms within experimental psychology: semantic category fluency. In this work we propose the appropriate means to reconstruct the community cognitive organization. This shared metastructure constitutes the concept of shared field of experience used as the base for availability trials. The key notion is the prototypicality of common vocabulary as the base for the construction of community models. To obtain a representation of these prototypes we use the mathematical framework of fuzzy sets.
Expression of a codon-optimized Aspergillus niger pectin methylesterase gene in the methylotrophic yeast Candida boidinii
Authors: Kawaguchi Kosuke , Yurimoto Hiroya , Sakai Yasuyoshi
Published: April 2014

A codon-optimized Aspergillus niger pectin methylesterase (PME) gene was expressed in the methylotrophic yeast Canidia boidinii. The PME-producing strains showed better growth on pectin than the wild-type strains, suggesting that the PME-producing strains could efficiently utilize methyl ester moieties of pectin. On the other hand, overproduction of PME negatively affected the proliferation of C. boidinii on leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana.
Extending the conversation: a network analysis of academic associations in workplace spirituality
Authors: Lynn Monty L. , Burns David J.
Published: April 2014

Examining academic networks provides insight into boundaries and boundary crossing as well as knowledge diffusion. We examine four academic networks focused on business, spirituality, and religion to identify network boundaries and boundary crossing. Scholars tend to align with networks
consistent with the nature of their employing institution, both in its relative emphasis on research and its religious affiliation. Network and religious differences contribute to the relative isolation of research communities, despite shared topical interests and reliance on similar scholarly
sources. The use of normative authorities may limit networking, but the relative absence of weak network links across networks may underestimate similarities. Increased boundary crossing may enhance innovation across networks.
Downhill walking to improve lower limb strength in healthy young adults
Authors: Rodio Angelo , Fattorini Luigi
Published: April 2014

Walking is the most natural physical activity to maintain and improve fitness and health. Walking downhill is usefully adopted to plan training programmes to improve the strength, particularly in older adults. The present research was aimed to evaluate the influence of downhill walking on leg strength in young adult. A total of 32 females (age 26 ± 4 years; height 1.64 ± 0.05 m; body mass 57.6 ± 5.6 kg) were divided into four groups and they carried out an exercise intervention consisting of three sessions per week for 6 weeks, each lasting 30 minutes. Groups were defined at several workloads characterised by treadmill inclination (%) and walking speed (m·s−1): Level Walking at treadmill inclination 0% and walking speed 1.0; Uphill Walking at +20%, 0.75; Downhill Walking (DW) at −20%, 1.36; and Mixed Walking at +20%, 0.75 and −20%, 1.36 each lasting 15 minutes. Maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) developed by the Quadriceps Femoris and Endurance Time at 60% MVC were evaluated before and after experimental period. At the end of each session, Borg's scale and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) were adopted in order to evaluate perception of rate exertion and pain. Statistical analysis showed significant only in MVC for DW in both right and left legs. Borg's scale and VAS described light activity free of pain. Present findings showed how an eccentric exercise, short lasting and at a low workload, can be useful in inducing improvements in leg strength.
Method of lines transpose: An implicit solution to the wave equation
Authors: Causley Matthew , Christlieb Andrew , Ong Benjamin , Van Groningen Lee
Published: April 2014

We present a new method for solving the wave equation implicitly in one spatial dimension. Our approach is to discretize the wave equation in time, following the method of lines transpose, sometimes referred to as the transverse method of lines, or Rothe’s method. We then solve the resulting system of partial differential equations using boundary integral methods.

Our algorithm extends to higher spatial dimensions using an alternating direction implicit (ADI) framework. Thus we develop a boundary integral solution that is competitive with explicit finite difference methods, both in terms of accuracy and speed. However, it provides more flexibility in the treatment of source functions and complex boundaries.

We provide the analytical details of our one-dimensional method herein, along with a proof of the convergence of our schemes in free space and on a bounded domain. We find that the method is unconditionally stable and achieves second order accuracy. Upon examining the discretization error, we derive a novel optimal quadrature method, which can be viewed as a Lax-type correction.
On the particle motion in geophysical deep water waves traveling over uniform currents
Authors: Matioc Anca-Voichita
Published: April 2014

We describe a family of exact Gerstner-type solutions for the geophysical equatorial deep water wave problem in the

f
f

-plane approximation. These Gerstner-type waves are two-dimensional and travel with constant speed over a uniform horizontal current. The particle paths in the presence and absence of the Coriolis force are also analyzed in dependence of the current strength.
Occupation and Environment in the Civil War
Authors: Thomas William , Nash Kaci
Published: April 2014

This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History. Please check back later for the full article.

Recent studies of the Civil War have assessed the environmental impact of the war in broad terms and uncovered ways in which the war unfolded outside and apart from the intended directions of generals and politicians. In particular, historians have explored the role of nature as an active force in the Civil War, focusing on how the landscape was transformed as part of the military strategy and how Americans perceived, interacted with, and controlled nature. These historians suggest that the Union army targeted the South’s agricultural and cultural landscape, reduced it to a “wasteland,” and, in so doing, altered or interrupted its relationship with nature. They have depicted the war as a conflict characterized by massive displacement and movement. Scholars have also revised our understanding of the war’s destructiveness and total number of deaths. They have turned our attention away from the bifurcated approach of “home front and battlefield” to a more holistic approach, one that emphasizes the uniform continuum of movement and exchange along the axes between the home front and the battlefield.

Because the environmental and biological disruption of the war occurred at different scales in different places, the flow of human, animal, biological, and material exchanges varied widely. In many zones of the Union army’s occupation, however, the mobility and scale of the war combined with the environmental conditions to produce especially significant effects, indeed, ones that persisted well beyond the end of the war. The spatial arrangement of the Union army’s occupation depended in part on the available transportation network and, as a result, several central places acted as funnels into and through the war. In these places, such as Alexandria, Virginia, a series of large-scale processes unfolded separate from but connected to the battlefields and the home front. The confluence of the movements of soldiers, civilians, refugees, and animals and the unleashing of microbes around them meant that the war took place in and with human bodies, in and with the natural features of the environment.
Asian Americans and the 1992 Los Angeles Riots/Uprising
Authors: Lee Shelley Sang-Hee
Published: April 2014

Although the 1992 Los Angeles riots have been described as a “race riot” sparked by the acquittals of a group of mostly white police officers charged with excessively beating black motorist Rodney King, the widespread targeting and destruction of Asian-owned (mainly Korean) property in and around South Central Los Angeles stands out as one of the most striking aspects of the uprising. For all the commentary generated about the state of black-white relations, African American youths, and the decline of America’s inner cities, the riots also gave many Americans their first awareness of the presence of a Korean immigrant population in Southern California, a large number of Korean shop owners, and the existence of what was commonly framed as the “black-Korean conflict.” For Korean Americans, and Asian Americans more generally, the Los Angeles riots represented a shattered “American dream” and brought focus to their tenuous hold on economic mobility and social inclusion in a society fraught by racial and ethnic tension. The riots furthermore marked a turning point that placed Asian immigrants and Asian Americans at the center of new conversations about social relations in a multiracial America, the place of new immigrants, and the responsibilities of relatively privileged minorities toward the less privileged.
The Woman Suffrage Movement in the United States
Authors: Mead Rebecca J.
Published: April 2014

Woman suffragists in the United States engaged in a sustained, difficult, and multigenerational struggle: seventy-two years elapsed between the Seneca Falls convention (1848) and the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment (1920). During these years, activists gained confidence, developed skills, mobilized resources, learned to maneuver through the political process, and built a social movement. This essay describes key turning points and addresses internal tensions as well as external obstacles in the U.S. woman suffrage movement. It identifies important strategic, tactical, and rhetorical approaches that supported women’s claims for the vote and influenced public opinion, and shows how the movement was deeply connected to contemporaneous social, economic, and political contexts.
The Asian American Movement
Authors: Maeda Daryl Joji
Published: April 2014

The Asian American Movement was a social movement for racial justice, most active during the late 1960s through the mid-1970s, which brought together people of various Asian ancestries in the United States who protested against racism and U.S. neo-imperialism, demanded changes in institutions such as colleges and universities, organized workers, and sought to provide social services such as housing, food, and healthcare to poor people. As one of its signal achievements, the Movement created the category “Asian American,” (coined by historian and activist Yuji Ichioka), which encompasses the multiple Asian ethnic groups who have migrated to the United States. Its founding principle of coalitional politics emphasizes solidarity among Asians of all ethnicities, multiracial solidarity among Asian Americans as well as with African, Latino, and Native Americans in the United States, and transnational solidarity with peoples around the globe impacted by U.S. militarism.

The movement participated in solidarity work with other Third World peoples in the United States, including the Third World Liberation Front strikes at San Francisco State College and University of California, Berkeley. The Movement fought for housing rights for poor people in the urban cores of San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, Seattle, and Philadelphia; it created arts collectives, published newspapers and magazines, and protested vigorously against the Vietnam War. It also extended to Honolulu, where activists sought to preserve land rights in rural Hawai’i. It contributed to the larger radical movement for power and justice that critiqued capitalism and neo-imperialism, which flourished during the 1960s and 1970s.
The American Antinuclear Movement
Authors: Rubinson Paul
Published: April 2014

Spanning countries across the globe, the antinuclear movement was the combined effort of millions of people to challenge the superpowers’ reliance on nuclear weapons during the Cold War. Encompassing an array of tactics, from radical dissent to public protest to opposition within the government, this movement succeeded in constraining the arms race and helping to make the use of nuclear weapons politically unacceptable. Antinuclear activists were critical to the establishment of arms control treaties, although they failed to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons, as anticommunists, national security officials, and proponents of nuclear deterrence within the United States and Soviet Union actively opposed the movement. Opposition to nuclear weapons evolved in tandem with the Cold War and the arms race, leading to a rapid decline in antinuclear activism after the Cold War ended.
Latino Catholicism
Authors: Matovina Timothy
Published: April 2014

The Latino/Latina or Hispanic Catholic presence spans the colonial era, the period of U.S. expansion during the 19th century, and the waves of new immigrants in the 20th and 21st centuries. A long-standing element of Latino Catholic history, the struggle for justice both in church and society, became even more prominent during the 20th century.

While Catholics in the thirteen British colonies were a minority in a Protestant land, in Hispanic settlements from Florida to California, Catholicism was the established religion under Spain and, in the Southwest, under Mexico after it won independence in 1821. Spanish subjects founded numerous missions intended to Christianize and Hispanicize native populations. They also established parishes, military chaplaincies, and private chapels to serve the religious needs of Hispanic settlers. From the standpoints of original settlement, societal influence, and institutional presence, the origins of Catholicism in what is now the United States were decidedly Hispanic.

The first large group of Hispanic Catholics incorporated into U.S. territories was Mexicans in the Southwest, who, as a common adage puts it, did not cross the border but had the border cross them during U.S. territorial expansion. When military defeat led Mexico’s president to cede nearly half his nation’s territory to the United States in 1848, Mexicans underwent the disestablishment of their Catholic religion along with widespread loss of their lands, economic well-being, political clout, and cultural hegemony. Many continued their traditional expressions of faith, which enabled them to defend their sense of dignity, to collectively respond to the effects of conquest, and to express their own ethnic legitimation.

Nascent 19th-century Latino immigration to the United States quickened over the course of the 20th century, expanding the diversification of national-origin groups among Latinos in the United States. Mexican immigration increased substantially after the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution in 1910 and has continued into the 21st century. Significant numbers of Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominicans, and Central Americans have also come, along with some South Americans. Each group of Latino newcomers has fostered ministries and church structures that served the needs of their compatriots.

Latino Catholic activist efforts range from local initiatives such as establishing Spanish-language masses and prayer groups to broader endeavors such as the recent National Hispanic Pastoral Encuentros of the 1970s and 1980s, major events that enabled Hispanic leaders to articulate their ministerial needs and demands to Catholic bishops and the wider church. Latino Catholics have also been active in social causes such as the plight of farmworkers, immigration, and faith-based community organizing.
Indian Slavery
Authors: Snyder Christina
Published: April 2014

The history of American slavery began long before the first Africans arrived at Jamestown in 1619. Evidence from archaeology and oral tradition indicates that for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years prior, Native Americans had developed their own forms of bondage. This fact should not be surprising, for most societies throughout history have practiced slavery. In her cross-cultural and historical research on comparative captivity, Catherine Cameron found that bondspeople composed 10 percent to 70 percent of the population of most societies, lending credence to Seymour Drescher’s assertion that “freedom, not slavery, was the peculiar institution.” If slavery is ubiquitous, however, it is also highly variable. Indigenous American slavery, rooted in warfare and diplomacy, was flexible, often offering its victims escape through adoption or intermarriage, and it was divorced from racial ideology, deeming all foreigners—men, women, and children, of whatever color or nation—potential slaves. Thus, Europeans did not introduce slavery to North America. Rather, colonialism brought distinct and evolving notions of bondage into contact with one another. At times, these slaveries clashed, but they also reinforced and influenced one another. Colonists, who had a voracious demand for labor and export commodities, exploited indigenous networks of captive exchange, producing a massive global commerce in Indian slaves. This began with the second voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1495 and extended in some parts of the Americas through the twentieth century. During this period, between 2 and 4 million Indians were enslaved. Elsewhere in the Americas, Indigenous people adapted Euro-American forms of bondage. In the Southeast, an elite class of Indians began to hold African Americans in transgenerational slavery and, by 1800, developed plantations that rivaled those of their white neighbors. The story of Native Americans and slavery is complicated: millions were victims, some were masters, and the nature of slavery changed over time and varied from one place to another. A significant and long overlooked aspect of American history, Indian slavery shaped colonialism, exacerbated Native population losses, figured prominently in warfare and politics, and influenced Native and colonial ideas about race and identity.
North America’s Commerce in a Revolutionary Era
Authors: Matson Cathy
Published: April 2014

This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History. Please check back later for the full article.

A long revolutionary era beginning in the 1770s and continuing into the 1820s profoundly altered North American commerce. The North American movement for independence from the British empire disrupted channels of trade in people and goods as embargoes and blockades shut down major transition points between continents or islands and the Atlantic Ocean, privateering crews of different empires seized vessels, wartime activities challenged the slave trade, and the economic fortunes of many international traders forced them to migrate, find new avenues of commerce, or retire altogether. Only a handful of well-placed merchants prospered during the North American Revolution by securing military supply contracts or engaging in illicit commerce, especially in the French and Spanish Caribbean.

Despite many North Americans’ expectations for a rapid recovery after the Peace of Paris, recovery and new prosperity emerged slowly. Old connections to England, despite the revolutionary separation, recovered most quickly; but these connections were available to a small percentage of well-placed merchants, and often they were built on new foundations with new immigrants to North America. Moreover, England’s policy makers were intent upon limiting North American trade to parts of the world—especially the Caribbean—where the British empire hoped to control markets. A spike in vessel and crew seizures ensued during the 1780s. Within the Western Hemisphere, the French and Haitian revolutions also deeply unsettled many essential ties to British, French, and Spanish Caribbean markets, so that by the end of the 1790s North American merchants who wished to stay in commerce had been compelled to diversify their ports of call and seek new markets in South America, the Gulf Coast, and northern Europe. Meanwhile, the slave trade revived. When North American commerce began to flourish after the 1790s, revolutions in South America had a far less deleterious effect on the movement of goods and people. By then, the demand for provisions during the global spread of the Napoleonic wars, the opening of markets in the Far East, the expanding exporting potential of North Americans (especially flour and cotton), and their re-export commerce (especially sugar) rose above some of the constraints of earlier years.
The Northern Homefront
Authors: Etcheson Nicole , Cantrell Cortney
Published: April 2014

During the Civil War, the entire North constituted the homefront, an area largely removed from the din and horror of combat. With a few exceptions of raids and battles such as Gettysburg, civilians in the North experienced the war indirectly. The people on the homefront mobilized for war, sent their menfolk off to fight, supplied the soldiers and the army, coped without their breadwinners, and suffered the loss or maiming of men they loved. All the while, however, the homefront was crucially important to the course of the war. The mobilization of northern resources—not just men, but the manufacture of the arms and supplies needed to fight a war—enabled the North to conduct what some have called a total war, one on which the Union expended money and manpower at unprecedented levels. Confederate strategists hoped to break the will of the northern homefront to secure southern independence. Despite the hardships endured in the North, this strategy failed.

On the homefront, women struggled to provide for their families as well as to serve soldiers and the army by sending care packages and doing war work. Family letters reveal the impact of the war on children who lost their fathers either temporarily or permanently. Communities rallied to aid soldiers’ families but were riven by dissension over issues such as conscription and emancipation. Immigrants and African Americans sought a new place in U.S. society by exploiting the opportunities the war offered to prove their worth. Service in the Union army certainly advanced the status of some groups, but was not the only means to that end. Nuns who nursed the wounded improved the reputation of the Catholic Church and northern African Americans used the increasingly emancipationist war goals to improve their legal status in the North. The Civil War altered race relations most radically, but change came to everyone on the northern homefront.
GNAS Gene Variants Affect β-blocker–related Survival after Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting
Authors: Frey Ulrich H. , Muehlschlegel Jochen D. , Ochterbeck Christoph , Fox Amanda A. , Shernan Stanton K. , Collard Charles D. , Lichtner Peter , Peters Jürgen , Body Simon
Published: April 2014

Background:

Cardiac overexpression of the β-adrenoreceptor (βAR)–coupled stimulatory G-protein subunit Gαs enhances inotropic responses to adrenergic stimulation and improves survival in mice under βAR blockade. The authors recently identified three common haplotypes in the GNAS gene encoding Gαs, with the greatest Gαs protein expression and signal transduction in haplotype *3 carriers and less in haplotype *2 and *1 carriers. The authors tested the hypothesis that these GNAS variants result in altered mortality in patients after coronary artery bypass graft surgery, particularly in those receiving βAR blockade.

Methods:

This prospective analysis included 1,627 European ancestry patients undergoing primary coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Patients were genotyped for two GNAS haplotype tagging single-nucleotide polymorphisms defining three major haplotypes. Up to 5-yr all-cause mortality was estimated using a Cox proportional hazard model; hazard ratios and 95% CIs were calculated while adjusting for demographics, clinical covariates, and the new EuroSCORE II.

Results:

Univariate analysis revealed haplotype-dependent 5-yr mortality rates (*1/*1: 18.9%, *2/*1: 13.7%, *2/*2: 9.3%, *3/*1: 10.6%, *3/*2: 9.1%, and *3/*3: 9.6%; P = 0.0006). After adjustment for other predictors of death, homozygote haplotype *1 carriers showed a doubled risk for death (hazard ratio, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.2 to 3.8; P = 0.006). Considering only patients receiving βAR blockers (n = 1,267), the adjusted risk of death even tripled (hazard ratio, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.5 to 6.1; P = 0.002).

Conclusions:

GNAS haplotypes independently associate with an increased risk of death after primary coronary artery bypass graft surgery. These results are most pronounced in patients receiving βAR blockers, strengthening the rationale for personalized treatment, to decrease medication side effects and improve outcomes.
Predicting Risk of Postoperative Lung Injury in High-risk Surgical Patients
Authors: Kor Daryl J. , Lingineni Ravi K. , Gajic Ognjen , Park Pauline K. , Blum James M. , Hou Peter C. , Hoth J. Jason , Anderson Harry L. , Bajwa Ednan K. , Bartz Raquel R. , Adesanya Adebola , Festic Emir , Gong Michelle N. , Carter Rickey E. , Talmor Daniel S.
Published: April 2014

Background:

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) remains a serious postoperative complication. Although ARDS prevention is a priority, the inability to identify patients at risk for ARDS remains a barrier to progress. The authors tested and refined the previously reported surgical lung injury prediction (SLIP) model in a multicenter cohort of at-risk surgical patients.

Methods:

This is a secondary analysis of a multicenter, prospective cohort investigation evaluating high-risk patients undergoing surgery. Preoperative ARDS risk factors and risk modifiers were evaluated for inclusion in a parsimonious risk-prediction model. Multiple imputation and domain analysis were used to facilitate development of a refined model, designated SLIP-2. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and the Hosmer–Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test were used to assess model performance.

Results:

Among 1,562 at-risk patients, ARDS developed in 117 (7.5%). Nine independent predictors of ARDS were identified: sepsis, high-risk aortic vascular surgery, high-risk cardiac surgery, emergency surgery, cirrhosis, admission location other than home, increased respiratory rate (20 to 29 and ≥30 breaths/min), Fio
2 greater than 35%, and Spo
2 less than 95%. The original SLIP score performed poorly in this heterogeneous cohort with baseline risk factors for ARDS (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [95% CI], 0.56 [0.50 to 0.62]). In contrast, SLIP-2 score performed well (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [95% CI], 0.84 [0.81 to 0.88]). Internal validation indicated similar discrimination, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.84.

Conclusions:

In this multicenter cohort of patients at risk for ARDS, the SLIP-2 score outperformed the original SLIP score. If validated in an independent sample, this tool may help identify surgical patients at high risk for ARDS.
Comparison of Three Techniques for Ultrasound-guided Femoral Nerve Catheter Insertion
Authors: Farag Ehab , Atim Abdulkadir , Ghosh Raktim , Bauer Maria , Sreenivasalu Thilak , Kot Michael , Kurz Andrea , Dalton Jarrod E. , Mascha Edward J. , Mounir-Soliman Loran , Zaky Sherif , Ali Sakr Esa Wael , Udeh Belinda L. , Barsoum Wael , Sessler Daniel I.
Published: April 2014

Background:

Ultrasound guidance for continuous femoral perineural catheters may be supplemented by electrical stimulation through a needle or through a stimulating catheter. The authors tested the primary hypothesis that ultrasound guidance alone is noninferior on both postoperative pain scores and opioid requirement and superior on at least one of the two. Second, the authors compared all interventions on insertion time and incremental cost.

Methods:

Patients having knee arthroplasty with femoral nerve catheters were randomly assigned to catheter insertion guided by: (1) ultrasound alone (n = 147); (2) ultrasound and electrical stimulation through the needle (n = 152); or (3) ultrasound and electrical stimulation through both the needle and catheter (n = 138). Noninferiority between any two interventions was defined for pain as not more than 0.5 points worse on a 0 to 10 verbal response scale and for opioid consumption as not more than 25% greater than the mean.

Results:

The stimulating needle group was significantly noninferior to the stimulating catheter group (difference [95% CI] in mean verbal response scale pain score [stimulating needle vs. stimulating catheter] of −0.16 [−0.61 to 0.29], P < 0.001; percentage difference in mean IV morphine equivalent dose of −5% [−25 to 21%], P = 0.002) and to ultrasound-only group (difference in mean verbal response scale pain score of −0.28 [−0.72 to 0.16], P < 0.001; percentage difference in mean IV morphine equivalent dose of −2% [−22 to 25%], P = 0.006). In addition, the use of ultrasound alone for femoral nerve catheter insertion was faster and cheaper than the other two methods.

Conclusion:

Ultrasound guidance alone without adding either stimulating needle or needle/catheter combination thus seems to be the best approach to femoral perineural catheters.
Isoflurane Impairs Learning and Hippocampal Long-term Potentiation via the Saturation of Synaptic Plasticity
Authors: Uchimoto Kazuhiro , Miyazaki Tomoyuki , Kamiya Yoshinori , Mihara Takahiro , Koyama Yukihide , Taguri Masataka , Inagawa Gaku , Takahashi Takuya , Goto Takahisa
Published: April 2014

Background:

General anesthesia induces long-lasting cognitive and learning deficits. However, the underlying mechanism remains unknown. The GluA1 subunit of AMPAR is a key molecule for learning and synaptic plasticity, which requires trafficking of GluA1-containing AMPARs into the synapse.

Methods:

Adult male rats were exposed to 1.8% isoflurane for 2 h and subjected to an inhibitory avoidance task, which is a hippocampus-dependent contextual fear learning paradigm (n = 16 to 39). The in vitro extracellular field potential of hippocampal synapses between the Schaffer collateral and the CA1 was evaluated using a multielectrode recorder (n = 6 per group). GluA1 expression in the synaptoneurosome was assessed using Western blotting (n = 5 to 8). The ubiquitination level of GluA1 was evaluated using immunoprecipitation and Western blotting (n = 7 per group).

Results:

Seven days after exposure to 1.8% isoflurane for 2 h (Iso1.8), the inhibitory avoidance learning (control vs. Iso1.8; 294 ± 34 vs. 138 ± 28, the mean ± SEM [%]; P = 0.002) and long-term potentiation (125.7 ± 6.1 vs. 105.7 ± 3.3; P < 0.001) were impaired. Iso1.8 also temporarily increased GluA1 in the synaptoneurosomes (100 ± 9.7 vs. 138.9 ± 8.9; P = 0.012) and reduced the GluA1 ubiquitination, a main degradation pathway of GluA1 (100 ± 8.7 vs. 71.1 ± 6.1; P = 0.014).

Conclusions:

Isoflurane impairs hippocampal learning and modulates synaptic plasticity in the postanesthetic period. Increased GluA1 may reduce synaptic capacity for additional GluA1-containing AMPARs trafficking.