Aliens and Equal Protection: Why Not the Right To Vote?

A constitutional right of at least some aliens to vote does not seem to me at all unthinkable. Throughout much of the nineteenth century and part of the twentieth, aliens enjoyed the right to vote in a great many states. The states that extended the franchise to aliens plainly did not believe that they were acting under constitutional compulsion. But given our present understanding of the mission of the equal protection clause, much can now be said in defense of such a constitutional right. My purpose here is to outline the case that might be made for the right of aliens to vote. I should make clear at the outset, however, that this is an area where one must proceed with caution, for the Supreme Court, despite its now numerous incursions into the thicket of politics and voting, has barely begun to construct a framework for analyzing questions concerning the nature of political representation and the definition of a political community. Indeed, the inscrutability of these questions and the sense of unease produced by discussion of them may account for the general reluctance to face squarely the issues raised by alien suffrage

Nerve excitability in the rat forelimb: a technique to improve translational utility

Background Nerve excitability testing by threshold-tracking is the only available method to study axonal ion channel function and membrane potential in the clinical setting. The measures are, however, indirect and the interpretation of neuropathic changes remains challenging. The same multiple measures of axonal excitability were adapted to further explore the pathophysiological changes in rodent disease models under pharmacologic and genetic manipulations. These studies are typically limited to the investigation of the “long nerves” such as the tail or the tibial nerves. New method We introduce a novel setup to explore the ulnar nerve excitability in rodents. We provide normative ulnar data in 11 adult female Long Evans rats under anaesthesia by comparison with tibial and caudal nerves. Additionally, these measures were repeated weekly on 3 occasions to determine the repeatability of these tests. Results Nerve excitability assessment of ulnar nerve proved to be a longitudinally repeatable measure of axonal function mature in rats, as were measures in tibial and caudal nerves. Comparison with existing method: Ulnar nerve motor excitability measures were different from the caudal and tibial excitability measures. Most notably, ulnar nerve showed the largest threshold changes during both depolarizing and hyperpolarizing threshold electrotonus. Conclusions Ulnar nerves demonstrate a distinct nerve excitability profile than the caudal and tibial nerves which could have functional and pathological implications

Observation of surface gap solitons

We predict, in the framework of a nonlinear discrete model, and demonstrate experimentally in defocusing waveguide arrays, that self-localization near the edge of a photonic lattice can result in the formation of surface gap solitons

Observation of surface solitons in chirped waveguide arrays

We report the observation of surface solitons in chirped semi-infinite waveguide arrays whose waveguides exhibit exponentially decreasing refractive indices. We show that the power threshold for surface wave formation decreases with an increase of the array chirp and that for sufficiently large chirp values linear surface modes are supported.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Optics Letter

Current trends in the surgical management of Dupuytren’s disease in Europe: an analysis of patient charts

Introduction: Dupuytren's disease (DD) causes progressive digital flexion contracture and is more common in men of European descent. Methods: Orthopaedic and plastic surgeons in 12 European countries (the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the UK) with >3 and <30 years experience reviewed the medical charts of five consecutive patients they had treated surgically for DD in 2008. Descriptive statistics are reported. Results: In total, 3,357 patient charts were reviewed. Mean (standard deviation) patient age was 61.9 (10.2) years; 81% were men. At the time of the procedure, 11% of patients were at Tubiana stage Ia (0-20° total flexion); 30%, stage Ib (21-45°); 34%, stage II (46-90°); 17%, stage III (91-135°); and 5%, stage IV (&135°). Percutaneous needle fasciotomy was performed in 10%, fasciotomy in 13%, fasciectomy in 69% and dermofasciectomy (DF) in 6% of patients. After surgery, fingers improved a mean of 1.9 Tubiana stages, and 54% of patients had no nodules or contracture. The rate of reported complications during the procedure was 4% overall (11% in patients undergoing DF). The most common postoperative complications reported were haematoma (8%), wound healing complications (6%) and pain (6%). No postoperative complications were reported in 77% of patients. Conclusions: In this European study of more than 3,000 patients with DD, most patients were diagnosed at Tubiana stage I or II, the majority received fasciectomy and more than half had no nodules or contracture remaining after surgery

Nonlinearity-induced broadening of resonances in dynamically modulated couplers

We report the observation of nonlinearity-induced broadening of resonances in dynamically modulated directional couplers. When the refractive index of the guiding channels in the coupler is harmonically modulated along the propagation direction and out-of-phase in two channels, coupling can be completely inhibited at resonant modulation frequencies. We observe that nonlinearity broadens such resonances and that localization can be achieved even in detuned systems at power levels well below those required in unmodulated couplers.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Optics Letter

Nonlinear Tamm states in periodic photonic structures

Abstract not availabl