War of the Words: Aliens, Immigrants, Citizens, and the Language of Exclusion

Words communicate more than their ordinary dictionary meaning. Words tell us about individuals\u27 and communities\u27 conscious and subconscious perceptions. The words we use are evidence of how we think, which, in turn, ultimately determines what we do. In this paper, I examine and compare the usage of the words immigrant, alien, and citizen to make observations on the nature of membership and belonging in the United States. While it is perhaps intuitive that these words carry very different connotations, here I use corpus linguistics to explore those connotations. I rely on the Corpus of Contemporary American English, a database of natural spoken and written American English from a variety of sources, including newspapers, television programs, literary magazines, and movie scripts, to examine these terms\u27 usage. By comparing the words most exclusively and closely associated with immigrant, alien, and citizen, I highlight the connotations of these terms in modern American usage. Ultimately, I conclude that current usage of these terms suggests a hierarchical and status-based narrative of membership in which aliens are criminals and outsiders, immigrants are weak and vulnerable, and citizens are noble and contributing. This narrative, I argue, contributes to a stratified notion of membership that engenders discriminatory perceptions of and facilitates the denial of rights to noncitizens

War of the Words: Aliens, Immigrants, Citizens, and the Language of Exclusion

Words communicate more than their ordinary dictionary meaning. Words tell us about individuals\u27 and communities\u27 conscious and subconscious perceptions. The words we use are evidence of how we think, which, in turn, ultimately determines what we do. In this paper, I examine and compare the usage of the words immigrant, alien, and citizen to make observations on the nature of membership and belonging in the United States. While it is perhaps intuitive that these words carry very different connotations, here I use corpus linguistics to explore those connotations. I rely on the Corpus of Contemporary American English, a database of natural spoken and written American English from a variety of sources, including newspapers, television programs, literary magazines, and movie scripts, to examine these terms\u27 usage. By comparing the words most exclusively and closely associated with immigrant, alien, and citizen, I highlight the connotations of these terms in modern American usage. Ultimately, I conclude that current usage of these terms suggests a hierarchical and status-based narrative of membership in which aliens are criminals and outsiders, immigrants are weak and vulnerable, and citizens are noble and contributing. This narrative, I argue, contributes to a stratified notion of membership that engenders discriminatory perceptions of and facilitates the denial of rights to noncitizens

Age and growth of the Amazonian migratory catfish Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii in the Madeira River basin before the construction of dams

The goliath catfish Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii has crucial economical and ecological functions in the Amazon basin. Although its life history characteristics have been studied in the Amazon, there is little information in the Madeira River basin, which holds genetically distinct populations and where dams were recently built. Using fish collected in Bolivia, Brazil and Peru, this study provides a validation of growth rings deposition and details the growth patterns of B. rousseauxii in the Madeira before the dams' construction. Age structure and growth parameters were determined from 497 otolith readings. The species exhibits two growth rings per year and sampled fish were between 0 and 16 years old. In the Brazilian portion of the basin, mainly young individuals below 5 years old were found, whereas older fish (> 5 years) were caught only in the Bolivian and Peruvian stretches, indicating that after migrating upstream to reproduce, adults remain in the headwaters of the Madeira River. Comparing with previous publications, B. rousseauxii had a slower growth and 20 cm lower maximum standard length in the Madeira River than in the Amazon River. This study provides a baseline for future evaluation of changes in population dynamics of the species following dams closure.Santo Antonio Energia (SAE)Universidade Federal de Rondonia (UNIR)Instituto de Estudos e Pesquisas Agroambientais e Organizacoes Sustentaveis (IEPAGRO)CAPES [1402376, 047/2012, 6632/14-9]CNPq [204344/2015-8]Foundation of Support to Research of the Amazon [PAREV/FAPEAM 019/2010]FAPESP (Sao Paulo Research Foundation) [2016/07910-0]Univ Fed Rondonia UNIR, Dept Biol, Lab Ictiol & Pesca, BR 364,Km 9,5, BR-76801059 Porto Velho, RO, BrazilPrograma Posgrad Rede Biodiversidade & Biotechnol, BR 364,Km 9,5, BR-76801059 Porto Velho, RO, BrazilUAGRM, IRD, IIAP, LMI,EDIA, Montpellier, FranceINPA, Av Andre Araujo 2936, BR-69067375 Manaus, AM, BrazilUniv Fed Alagoas UFAL, Av Lourival Melo Mota,S-N Tabuleiro Martins, BR-57072900 Maceio, AL, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Rua Doutor Carvalho Mendonca 144, BR-11070100 Santos, SP, BrazilUniv Fed Amazonas, Av Gen Rodrigo Octavio Jordao Ramos 3000, BR-69077000 Manaus, AM, BrazilIIAP, Vv Jose Quinones Km 2-5,Apartado Postal 784, Iquitos, PeruIRD, UMR BOREA, MNHN, CNRS 7208,SU,UCN,UA,IRD 207, Ave Agropolis 911, F-34394 Montpellier, FranceUMSS, ULRA, FAUNAGUA, ECOSINTEGRALES SRL, Ave Max Fernandez Final S-N, Cochabamba, BoliviaECOSINTEGRALES SRL, Res Act, Carlos Muller St 211, Cochabamba, Cercado, BoliviaInst Amazon Invest Cient SINCHI, Ave Vasquez Cobo Entre Calles 15 & 16, Bogota, ColombiaUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Rua Doutor Carvalho Mendonca 144, BR-11070100 Santos, SP, BrazilCAPES [1402376, 047/2012, 6632/14-9]CNPq [204344/2015-8][PAREV/FAPEAM 019/2010]FAPESP [2016/07910-0]Web of Scienc

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Two-Season ACTPol Spectra and Parameters

We present the temperature and polarization angular power spectra measured by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope Polarimeter (ACTPol). We analyze night-time data collected during 2013-14 using two detector arrays at 149 GHz, from 548 deg$^2$ of sky on the celestial equator. We use these spectra, and the spectra measured with the MBAC camera on ACT from 2008-10, in combination with Planck and WMAP data to estimate cosmological parameters from the temperature, polarization, and temperature-polarization cross-correlations. We find the new ACTPol data to be consistent with the LCDM model. The ACTPol temperature-polarization cross-spectrum now provides stronger constraints on multiple parameters than the ACTPol temperature spectrum, including the baryon density, the acoustic peak angular scale, and the derived Hubble constant. Adding the new data to planck temperature data tightens the limits on damping tail parameters, for example reducing the joint uncertainty on the number of neutrino species and the primordial helium fraction by 20%.Comment: 23 pages, 25 figure

Immunodeficiency, auto-inflammation and amylopectinosis in humans with inherited HOIL-1 and LUBAC deficiency

We report the clinical description and molecular dissection of a new fatal human inherited disorder characterized by chronic auto-inflammation, invasive bacterial infections and muscular amylopectinosis. Patients from two kindreds carried biallelic loss-of-expression and loss-of-function mutations in HOIL1, a component the linear ubiquitination chain assembly complex (LUBAC). These mutations resulted in impairment of LUBAC stability. NF-κB activation in response to interleukin-1β (IL-1β) was compromised in the patients’ fibroblasts. By contrast, the patients’ mononuclear leukocytes, particularly monocytes, were hyperresponsive to IL-1β. The consequences of human HOIL-1 and LUBAC deficiencies for IL-1β responses thus differed between cell types, consistent with the unique association of auto-inflammation and immunodeficiency in these patients. These data suggest that LUBAC regulates NF-κB-dependent IL-1β responses differently in different cell types

Active Electric Imaging: Body-Object Interplay and Object's “Electric Texture”

This article deals with the role of fish's body and object's geometry on determining the image spatial shape in pulse Gymnotiforms. This problem was explored by measuring local electric fields along a line on the skin in the presence and absence of objects. We depicted object's electric images at different regions of the electrosensory mosaic, paying particular attention to the perioral region where a fovea has been described. When sensory surface curvature increases relative to the object's curvature, the image details depending on object's shape are blurred and finally disappear. The remaining effect of the object on the stimulus profile depends on the strength of its global polarization. This depends on the length of the object's axis aligned with the field, in turn depending on fish body geometry. Thus, fish's body and self-generated electric field geometries are embodied in this “global effect” of the object. The presence of edges or local changes in impedance at the nearest surface of closely located objects adds peaks to the image profiles (“local effect” or “object's electric texture”). It is concluded that two cues for object recognition may be used by active electroreceptive animals: global effects (informing on object's dimension along the field lines, conductance, and position) and local effects (informing on object's surface). Since the field has fish's centered coordinates, and electrosensory fovea is used for exploration of surfaces, fish fine movements are essential to perform electric perception. We conclude that fish may explore adjacent objects combining active movements and electrogenesis to represent them using electrosensory information

The Changing Landscape for Stroke\ua0Prevention in AF: Findings From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase 2

Background GLORIA-AF (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation) is a prospective, global registry program describing antithrombotic treatment patterns in patients with newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation at risk of stroke. Phase 2 began when dabigatran, the first non\u2013vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), became available. Objectives This study sought to describe phase 2 baseline data and compare these with the pre-NOAC era collected during phase 1. Methods During phase 2, 15,641 consenting patients were enrolled (November 2011 to December 2014); 15,092 were eligible. This pre-specified cross-sectional analysis describes eligible patients\u2019 baseline characteristics. Atrial fibrillation disease characteristics, medical outcomes, and concomitant diseases and medications were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Of the total patients, 45.5% were female; median age was 71 (interquartile range: 64, 78) years. Patients were from Europe (47.1%), North America (22.5%), Asia (20.3%), Latin America (6.0%), and the Middle East/Africa (4.0%). Most had high stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc [Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age  6575 years, Diabetes mellitus, previous Stroke, Vascular disease, Age 65 to 74 years, Sex category] score  652; 86.1%); 13.9% had moderate risk (CHA2DS2-VASc = 1). Overall, 79.9% received oral anticoagulants, of whom 47.6% received NOAC and 32.3% vitamin K antagonists (VKA); 12.1% received antiplatelet agents; 7.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. For comparison, the proportion of phase 1 patients (of N = 1,063 all eligible) prescribed VKA was 32.8%, acetylsalicylic acid 41.7%, and no therapy 20.2%. In Europe in phase 2, treatment with NOAC was more common than VKA (52.3% and 37.8%, respectively); 6.0% of patients received antiplatelet treatment; and 3.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. In North America, 52.1%, 26.2%, and 14.0% of patients received NOAC, VKA, and antiplatelet drugs, respectively; 7.5% received no antithrombotic treatment. NOAC use was less common in Asia (27.7%), where 27.5% of patients received VKA, 25.0% antiplatelet drugs, and 19.8% no antithrombotic treatment. Conclusions The baseline data from GLORIA-AF phase 2 demonstrate that in newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients, NOAC have been highly adopted into practice, becoming more frequently prescribed than VKA in Europe and North America. Worldwide, however, a large proportion of patients remain undertreated, particularly in Asia and North America. (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation [GLORIA-AF]; NCT01468701

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

War of the Words: Aliens, Immigrants, Citizens, and the Language of Exclusion

Words communicate more than their ordinary dictionary meaning. Words tell us about individuals\u27 and communities\u27 conscious and subconscious perceptions. The words we use are evidence of how we think, which, in turn, ultimately determines what we do. In this paper, I examine and compare the usage of the words immigrant, alien, and citizen to make observations on the nature of membership and belonging in the United States. While it is perhaps intuitive that these words carry very different connotations, here I use corpus linguistics to explore those connotations. I rely on the Corpus of Contemporary American English, a database of natural spoken and written American English from a variety of sources, including newspapers, television programs, literary magazines, and movie scripts, to examine these terms\u27 usage. By comparing the words most exclusively and closely associated with immigrant, alien, and citizen, I highlight the connotations of these terms in modern American usage. Ultimately, I conclude that current usage of these terms suggests a hierarchical and status-based narrative of membership in which aliens are criminals and outsiders, immigrants are weak and vulnerable, and citizens are noble and contributing. This narrative, I argue, contributes to a stratified notion of membership that engenders discriminatory perceptions of and facilitates the denial of rights to noncitizens