Necropolitics vs. immigration : (in)justice at the border

Using concepts and theories proposed by Achile Mbembe, Sayak Valencia, and John D. Marquez, I explore two different cases in which undocumented immigrants have died at the hands of legitimate and illegitimate necropower. I explore Mbembe’s concept of legitimate necropower and apply it to the death of Chuy, an undocumented immigrant who died in a detention center in Eloy, Arizona in 2015. For this, I visit the podcast “What Happened to Jose de Jesus,” presented by Daniel Alarcon. I then explore Valencia’s concept of illegitimate necropower and apply it to the deaths of a group of undocumented immigrants in the movie Desierto (2015). I examine particular movie components, scenes, and observations and explain how, even though it’s a fictitious story, real life elements can be found. Upon establishing how legitimate and illegitimate necropower work, I use the work of Marquez to tie them together and show how the end goal of necropower, whether it’s legitimate or illegitimate, is to protect and maintain the sovereignty of the United States. Finally, to show some of the societal responses and consequences of American necropower, I explore the work and help that has been offered by activist individuals and groups such as Ricardo Dominguez with the Transborder Immigrant Tool and Enrique Morones with the Border Angels.Spanish and Portugues

Compatriots or Competitors? Job Competition between Foreign- and U.S.-born Angelenos

The debate concerning job competition between immigrant and nonimmigrant groups has intensified owing to the large increase in the 1970s and 1980s in immigration and the simultaneous growth in urban poverty rates for African-American and other minority groups. It focuses on the possible wage and displacement effects an increase in immigration would cause for the U.S.-born population. Using 1970 and 1980 industrial and occupational census data and shift-share methodology for Los Angeles, the author shows that immigrants do not simply function as either competitive or complementary sources of labor. Instead, he argues, job competition between groups of workers depends in part on whether U.S.-born workers belong to protected or unprotected labor markets. Overall, the data in this study reveal that immigrants are not displacing native-born labor in disproportionate numbers, especially in industries. However, there are isolated instances of job displacement between immigrants and native-born whites and Mexicans in some occupations. In addition, complementarity (e.g., job growth) is more frequent than displacement in industries and occupations, and decreases in white employment are not the net result of immigrant employment growth in Los Angeles

Some experiences using wind-tunnel models in active control studies

A status report and review of wind tunnel model experimental techniques that have been developed to study and validate the use of active control technology for the minimization of aeroelastic response are presented. Modeling techniques, test procedures, and data analysis methods used in three model studies are described. The studies include flutter mode suppression on a delta-wing model, flutter mode suppression and ride quality control on a 1/30-size model of the B-52 CCV airplane, and an active lift distribution control system on a 1/22 size C-5A model

Racial Discrimination of Gay Men In Online Dating

In hopes of promoting understanding of the supposedly welcoming gay community, the racial gap for power within the community must be brought to light. By understanding sexual racism, fetishization, and the dynamics within a gay relationship, a major problem arises that shows a trend in the dominance of white mine within the society. The online gay dating scene is an area that is underrepresented in the field of research, as is any study of sexuality and sexual orientation. In this research, racism is analyzed by comparing the experience gay men of color have in the dating scene with the added effects of sexual racism. Experiences from gay men of color are documented through a series of interviews done in an extensive literature review. To understand the role that online dating applications such as Grindr were used to document any forms of blatant discrimination on users’ profiles around the Kean University area

Active controls: A look at analytical methods and associated tools

A review of analytical methods and associated tools for active controls analysis and design problems is presented. Approaches employed to develop mathematical models suitable for control system analysis and/or design are discussed. Significant efforts have been expended to develop tools to generate the models from the standpoint of control system designers' needs and develop the tools necessary to analyze and design active control systems. Representative examples of these tools are discussed. Examples where results from the methods and tools have been compared with experimental data are also presented. Finally, a perspective on future trends in analysis and design methods is presented

Genetic analysis of CRISPR/cas9 basigin knockout T98 glioblastoma clones

The focus of the research in our laboratory is the transmembrane glycoprotein basigin. This interesting, multifunctional protein is involved in multiple cell processes, including embryonic development, embryo implantation into the uterus and metabolic regulation. Early studies demonstrated that basigin expression is elevated in rapidly growing cells such as cancer cells. This work suggested that releasing soluble basigin might stimulate the surrounding normal tissues to express a group of enzymes called extracellular matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). MMPs play a central role in proliferation by breaking down the extracellular matrix surrounding layers of cells. We hypothesize that basigin expressed by cancer cells can induce MMP expression in normal tissues. To test this hypothesis, we sought to generate cell lines lacking a functional Basigin gene. Our lab used CRISPR/cas9 technology to attempt to disrupt the basigin gene (BSG) in T98 glioblastoma cells with the aim of eliminating basigin expression in these cells. For this, a Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) DNA sequence was targeted for insertion into BSG. The work described herein shows the genetic analysis of the potential CRISPR/cas9 Basigin knockout clones using high-fidelity Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Custom-designed oligonucleotide primers were used to amplify GFP DNA sequences from the T98 genomic DNA. The results of this study show that multiple independent T98 glioblastoma clones contain GFP DNA sequence in the genome. Future analysis of these clones will be performed to determine whether basigin protein expression was eliminated as a result of the CRISPR/cas9 targeting of the basigin gene

Geographical and occupational concentration of Puerto Rican migration to the United States, 1982-1986

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1988.Title as it appeared in MIT Graduate List, June 1988: Labor market consequences of immigration : a study of recent Puerto Rican migrants in select occupations and cities in the U.S.Includes bibliographical references.by Abel Valenzuela, Jr.M.C.P

Holographic metastability

We show how supersymmetric QCD in a slice of AdS can naturally acquire metastable vacua. The formulation closely follows that of Intriligator, Seiberg and Shih (ISS), with an "electric" sector on the UV brane and a "magnetic" sector on the IR brane. However the 't Hooft anomaly matching that constrains the Seiberg duality central to ISS is replaced by anomaly inflow and cancellation, and the source of strong coupling is the CFT to which the theory couples rather than the gauge groups. The theory contains an anomaly free R-symmetry that, when broken by UV effects, leads to an O'Raifeartaigh model on the IR brane. In contrast to ISS, the R-symmetry breaking in the UV can be maximal, and yet the R-symmetry breaking in the IR theory remains under strict control: there is no need for retrofitting of small parameters.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figure