Researching ‘bogus’ asylum seekers, ‘illegal’ migrants and ‘crimmigrants’

Both immigration and criminal laws are, at their core, systems of inclusion and exclusion. They are designed to determine whether and how to include individuals as members of society or exclude them from it, thereby, creating insiders and outsiders (Stumpf 2006). Both are designed to create distinct categories of people — innocent versus guilty, admitted versus excluded or, as majority would say, ‘legal’ versus ‘illegal’ (Stumpf 2006). Viewed in that light, perhaps it is not surprising that these two areas of law have become inextrica- bly connected in the official discourses. When politicians and policy makers (and also law enforcement authorities and tabloid press) seek to raise the barriers for non-citizens to attain membership in society, it is unremarkable that they turn their attention to an area of the law that similarly func- tions to exclude the ‘other’ — transforming immigrants into ‘crimmigrants’.1 As a criminological researcher one then has to rise up to the challenges of disentangling these so-called officially constructed (pseudo) realities, and breaking free from a continued dominance of authoritative discourses, and developing an alternative understanding of ‘crimmigration’ by connecting the processes of criminal is ation and ‘other ing’ with poverty, xe no-racism and other forms of social exclusion (see Institute of Race Relations 1987; Richmond 1994; Fekete 2001; Bowling and Phillips 2002; Sivanandan 2002; Weber and Bowling 2004)

The impact of electrode resistance on the biogalvanic characterisation technique

Measurement of a tissue-specific electrical resistance may offer a discriminatory metric for evaluation of tissue health during cancer surgery. With a move toward minimally invasive procedures, applicable contact sensing modalities must be scalable, fast and robust. A passive resistance characterisation method utilising a biogalvanic cell as an intrinsic power source has been proposed as a potentially suitable solution. Previous work has evaluated this system with results showing effective discrimination of tissue type and damage (through electroporation). However, aspects of the biogalvanic cell have been found to influence the characterisation performance, and are not currently accounted for within the system model. In particular, the electrode and salt-bridge resistance are not independently determined, leading to over predictions of tissue resistivity. This paper describes a more comprehensive model and characterisation scheme, with electrode parameters and salt-bridge resistivity being evaluated independently. In a generalised form, the presented model illustrates how the relative resistive contributions from the electrodes and medium relate to the existing characterisation method efficacy. We also describe experiments with physiologically relevant salt solutions (1.71, 17.1, 154 mM), used for validation and comparison. The presented model shows improved performance over the current biogalvanic measurement technique at the median conductivity. Both systems become unable to predict conductivity accurately at high conductivity due to the dominance of the electrode parameters. The characterisation techniques have also been applied to data collected on freshly excised human colon tissue (healthy and cancerous). The findings suggest that the resistance of the cell under the test conditions is electrode dominated, leading to erroneous tissue resistance determination. Measurement optimisation strategies and the surgical applicability of the biogalvanic technique are discussed in light of these findings

Normal subgroups in the Cremona group (long version)

Let k be an algebraically closed field. We show that the Cremona group of all birational transformations of the projective plane P^2 over k is not a simple group. The strategy makes use of hyperbolic geometry, geometric group theory, and algebraic geometry to produce elements in the Cremona group that generate non trivial normal subgroups.Comment: With an appendix by Yves de Cornulier. Numerous but minors corrections were made, regarding proofs, references and terminology. This long version contains detailled proofs of several technical lemmas about hyperbolic space

Rigidity of escaping dynamics for transcendental entire functions

We prove an analog of Boettcher's theorem for transcendental entire functions in the Eremenko-Lyubich class B. More precisely, let f and g be entire functions with bounded sets of singular values and suppose that f and g belong to the same parameter space (i.e., are *quasiconformally equivalent* in the sense of Eremenko and Lyubich). Then f and g are conjugate when restricted to the set of points which remain in some sufficiently small neighborhood of infinity under iteration. Furthermore, this conjugacy extends to a quasiconformal self-map of the plane. We also prove that this conjugacy is essentially unique. In particular, we show that an Eremenko-Lyubich class function f has no invariant line fields on its escaping set. Finally, we show that any two hyperbolic Eremenko-Lyubich class functions f and g which belong to the same parameter space are conjugate on their sets of escaping points.Comment: 28 pages; 2 figures. Final version (October 2008). Various modificiations were made, including the introduction of Proposition 3.6, which was not formally stated previously, and the inclusion of a new figure. No major changes otherwis

Identification, release and olfactory detection of bile salts in the intestinal fluid of the Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis)

Olfactory sensitivity to bile salts is wide-spread in teleosts; however, which bile salts are released in suYcient quantities to be detected is unclear. The current study identiWed bile salts in the intestinal and bile Xuids of Solea senegalensis by mass spectrometry–liquid chromatography and assessed their olfactory potency by the electro-olfactogram

The Hubbard model within the equations of motion approach

The Hubbard model has a special role in Condensed Matter Theory as it is considered as the simplest Hamiltonian model one can write in order to describe anomalous physical properties of some class of real materials. Unfortunately, this model is not exactly solved except for some limits and therefore one should resort to analytical methods, like the Equations of Motion Approach, or to numerical techniques in order to attain a description of its relevant features in the whole range of physical parameters (interaction, filling and temperature). In this manuscript, the Composite Operator Method, which exploits the above mentioned analytical technique, is presented and systematically applied in order to get information about the behavior of all relevant properties of the model (local, thermodynamic, single- and two- particle ones) in comparison with many other analytical techniques, the above cited known limits and numerical simulations. Within this approach, the Hubbard model is shown to be also capable to describe some anomalous behaviors of the cuprate superconductors.Comment: 232 pages, more than 300 figures, more than 500 reference

Meltwater produced by wind–albedo interaction stored in an East Antarctic ice shelf

Surface melt and subsequent firn air depletion can ultimately lead to disintegration of Antarctic ice shelves1,2 causing grounded glaciers to accelerate3 and sea level to rise. In the Antarctic Peninsula, foehn winds enhance melting near the grounding line4, which in the recent past has led to the disintegration of the most northerly ice shelves5,6. Here, we provide observational and model evidence that this process also occurs over an East Antarctic ice shelf, where meltwaterinduced firn air depletion is found in the grounding zone. Unlike the Antarctic Peninsula, where foehn events originate from episodic interaction of the circumpolar westerlies with the topography, in coastal East Antarctica high temperatures are caused by persistent katabatic winds originating from the ice sheet’s interior. Katabatic winds warm and mix the air as it flows downward and cause widespread snow erosion, explaining >3 K higher near-surface temperatures in summer and surface melt doubling in the grounding zone compared with its surroundings. Additionally, these winds expose blue ice and firn with lower surface albedo, further enhancing melt. The in situ observation of supraglacial flow and englacial storage of meltwater suggests that ice-shelf grounding zones in East Antarctica, like their Antarctic Peninsula counterparts, are vulnerable to hydrofracturing7

How a Diverse Research Ecosystem Has Generated New Rehabilitation Technologies: Review of NIDILRR’s Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers

Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their conception by a panel of the National Academy of Science in 1970, these centers were intended to take a “total approach to rehabilitation”, combining medicine, engineering, and related science, to improve the quality of life of individuals with a disability. Here, we review the scope, achievements, and ongoing projects of an unbiased sample of 19 currently active or recently terminated RERCs. Specifically, for each center, we briefly explain the needs it targets, summarize key historical advances, identify emerging innovations, and consider future directions. Our assessment from this review is that the RERC program indeed involves a multidisciplinary approach, with 36 professional fields involved, although 70% of research and development staff are in engineering fields, 23% in clinical fields, and only 7% in basic science fields; significantly, 11% of the professional staff have a disability related to their research. We observe that the RERC program has substantially diversified the scope of its work since the 1970’s, addressing more types of disabilities using more technologies, and, in particular, often now focusing on information technologies. RERC work also now often views users as integrated into an interdependent society through technologies that both people with and without disabilities co-use (such as the internet, wireless communication, and architecture). In addition, RERC research has evolved to view users as able at improving outcomes through learning, exercise, and plasticity (rather than being static), which can be optimally timed. We provide examples of rehabilitation technology innovation produced by the RERCs that illustrate this increasingly diversifying scope and evolving perspective. We conclude by discussing growth opportunities and possible future directions of the RERC program

Dynamical Mean-Field Theory

The dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) is a widely applicable approximation scheme for the investigation of correlated quantum many-particle systems on a lattice, e.g., electrons in solids and cold atoms in optical lattices. In particular, the combination of the DMFT with conventional methods for the calculation of electronic band structures has led to a powerful numerical approach which allows one to explore the properties of correlated materials. In this introductory article we discuss the foundations of the DMFT, derive the underlying self-consistency equations, and present several applications which have provided important insights into the properties of correlated matter.Comment: Chapter in "Theoretical Methods for Strongly Correlated Systems", edited by A. Avella and F. Mancini, Springer (2011), 31 pages, 5 figure

Effects of thymic selection of the T cell repertoire on HLA-class I associated control of HIV infection

Without therapy, most people infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) ultimately progress to AIDS. Rare individuals (‘elite controllers’) maintain very low levels of HIV RNA without therapy, thereby making disease progression and transmission unlikely. Certain HLA class I alleles are markedly enriched in elite controllers, with the highest association observed for HLA-B57 (ref. 1). Because HLA molecules present viral peptides that activate CD8+ T cells, an immune-mediated mechanism is probably responsible for superior control of HIV. Here we describe how the peptide-binding characteristics of HLA-B57 molecules affect thymic development such that, compared to other HLA-restricted T cells, a larger fraction of the naive repertoire of B57-restricted clones recognizes a viral epitope, and these T cells are more cross-reactive to mutants of targeted epitopes. Our calculations predict that such a T-cell repertoire imposes strong immune pressure on immunodominant HIV epitopes and emergent mutants, thereby promoting efficient control of the virus. Supporting these predictions, in a large cohort of HLA-typed individuals, our experiments show that the relative ability of HLA-B alleles to control HIV correlates with their peptide-binding characteristics that affect thymic development. Our results provide a conceptual framework that unifies diverse empirical observations, and have implications for vaccination strategies.Mark and Lisa Schwartz FoundationNational Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Director’s Pioneer award)Philip T. and Susan M. Ragon FoundationJane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical ResearchBill & Melinda Gates FoundationNational Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (U.S.)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (contract no. HHSN261200800001E)National Institutes of Health (U.S.). Intramural Research ProgramNational Cancer Institute (U.S.)Center for Cancer Research (National Cancer Institute (U.S.)