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At ambient pressure, bulk rhombohedral bismuth is a semimetal that remains in the normal state down to at least 10 millikelvin. Superconductivity in bulk bismuth is thought to be unlikely because of the extremely low carrier density. We observed bulk superconductivity in pure bismuth single crystals below 0.53 millikelvin at ambient pressure, with an estimated critical magnetic field of 5.2 microteslas at 0 kelvin. Superconductivity in bismuth cannot be explained by the conventional Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory because its adiabatic approximation does not hold true for bismuth. Future theoretical work will be needed to understand superconductivity in the nonadiabatic limit in systems with low carrier densities and unusual band structures, such as bismuth.

Infection, cancer and cardiovascular diseases are the major causes for morbidity and mortality in the United States according to the Center for Disease Control. The underlying etiology that contributes to the severity of these diseases is either hypoxia induced inflammation or inflammation resulting in hypoxia. Therefore, molecular mechanisms that regulate hypoxia-induced adaptive responses in cells are important areas of investigation. Oxygen availability is sensed by molecular switches which regulate synthesis and secretion of growth factors and inflammatory mediators. As a consequence, tissue microenvironment is altered by re-programming metabolic pathways, angiogenesis, vascular permeability, pH homeostasis to facilitate tissue remodeling. Hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) is the central mediator of hypoxic response. HIF regulates several hundred genes and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is one of the primary target genes. Understanding the regulation of HIF and its influence on inflammatory response offers unique opportunities for drug development to modulate inflammation and ischemia in pathological conditions.

Groundwater quality in urban region is increasingly at risk due to the combined effects of urban sprawl, microclimatic conditions, and large sewage generation. Domestic Reverse Osmosis (RO) systems are unable to remove nitrate and sulphate in drinking water, and leads to human health hazards. This study focuses on prediction of nitrate and sulphate levels in groundwater through integrating microclimatic conditions with urban expansion indicators. A hybrid modeling approach has been developed using an Attention-based Convolutional Neural Network (ACNN) and Bayesian Optimized Multiple Linear Regression (BO-MLR). Sentinel satellite image is used for extraction of spectral band features, with attention scores highlights the most relevant indices for groundwater contamination. The above features have been combined with field-based measurements from sprawl-affected areas in the Chengalpattu region. To refine the dataset, the FP-Growth algorithm has been applied to identify strong associations between sprawl indicators and contaminant concentrations. The BO-MLR model has achieved prediction 95% of accuracy in detection of Nitrate and Sulphate levels in drinking water, closely match to the laboratory observations. Results shows that groundwater nitrate and sulphate level increases significantly with increase in urban sprawl, with 50% increase in built-up area linked to approximately 75% higher nitrate and 60% higher sulphate levels in groundwater. The above findings highlight the urgent need for sustainable urban planning and groundwater management strategies, provides awareness and hazardous zones in Chengalpattu area.

Asian Americans are a small percentage of the U.S. population, but their numbers are steadily rising—from less than a million in 1960 to more than 15 million today. They are also a remarkably diverse population—representing several ethnicities, religions, and languages—and they enjoy higher levels of education and income than any other U.S. racial group. Historically, socioeconomic status has been a reliable predictor of political behavior. So why has this fast-growing American population, which is doing so well economically, been so little engaged in the U.S. political system? Asian American Political Participation is the most comprehensive study to date of Asian American political behavior, including such key measures as voting, political donations, community organizing, and political protests. The book examines why some groups participate while others do not, why certain civic activities are deemed preferable to others, and why Asian socioeconomic advantage has so far not led to increased political clout. Asian American Political Participation is based on data from the authors’ groundbreaking 2008 National Asian American Survey of more than 5,000 Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, Korean, Filipino, and Japanese Americans. The book shows that the motivations for and impediments to political participation are as diverse as the Asian American population. For example, native-born Asians have higher rates of political participation than their immigrant counterparts, particularly recent adult arrivals who were socialized outside of the United States. Protest activity is the exception, which tends to be higher among immigrants who maintain connections abroad and who engaged in such activity in their country of origin. Surprisingly, factors such as living in a new immigrant destination or in a city with an Asian American elected official do not seem to motivate political behavior—neither does ethnic group solidarity. Instead, hate crimes and racial victimization are the factors that most motivate Asian Americans to participate politically. Involvement in non-political activities such as civic and religious groups also bolsters political participation. Even among Asian groups, socioeconomic advantage does not necessarily translate into high levels of political participation. Chinese Americans, for example, have significantly higher levels of educational attainment than Japanese Americans, but Japanese Americans are far more likely to vote and make political contributions. And Vietnamese Americans, with the lowest levels of education and income, vote and engage in protest politics more than any other group. Lawmakers tend to favor the interests of groups who actively engage the political system, and groups who do not participate at high levels are likely to suffer political consequences in the future. Asian American Political Participation demonstrates that understanding Asian political behavior today can have significant repercussions for Asian American political influence tomorrow.

This paper throws light on chaotic shift keying-based speech encryption and decryption method. In this method, the input speech signals are sampled and its values are segmented into four levels, namely L 0, L 1, L 2, and L 3. Each level of sampled values is permuted using four chaotic generators such as logistic map, tent map, quadratic map, and Bernoulli's map. A chaotic shift keying mechanism assigns logistic map for L 0, tent map for L 1, quadratic map for L 2, and Bernoulli's map for L 3 for shuffling the speech samples at every level. Further, the sampled values are permuted using Chen map which uncovers the chaotic behavior. Various testing methods are applied to analyze the efficiency of the system. The results prove that the proposed system is highly secured against the attackers and possesses a powerful diffusion and confusion mechanism for better speech communication in the field of telecommunication.

While undocumented immigration is controversial, the general public is largely unfamiliar with the particulars of immigration policy. Given that public opinion on the topic is malleable, to what extent do mass media shape the public debate on immigration? In Framing Immigrants, political scientists Chris Haynes, Jennifer Merolla, and Karthick Ramakrishnan explore how conservative, liberal, and mainstream news outlets frame and discuss undocumented immigrants. Drawing from original voter surveys, they show that how the media frames immigration has significant consequences for public opinion and has implications for the passage of new immigration policies. The authors analyze media coverage of several key immigration policy issues — including mass deportations, comprehensive immigration reform, and measures focused on immigrant children, such as the DREAM Act — to chart how news sources across the ideological spectrum produce specific “frames” for the immigration debate. In the past few years, liberal and mainstream outlets have tended to frame immigrants lacking legal status as “undocumented” (rather than “illegal”) and to approach the topic of legalization through human-interest stories, often mentioning children. Conservative outlets, on the other hand, tend to discuss legalization using impersonal statistics and invoking the rule of law. Yet, regardless of the media’s ideological positions, the authors’ surveys show that “negative” frames more strongly influence public support for different immigration policies than do positive frames. For instance, survey participants who were exposed to language portraying immigrants as law-breakers seeking “amnesty” tended to oppose legalization measures. At the same time, support for legalization was higher when participants were exposed to language referring to immigrants living in the United States for a decade or more. Framing Immigrants shows that despite heated debates on immigration across the political aisle, the general public has yet to form a consistent position on undocumented immigrants. By analyzing how the media influences public opinion, this book provides a valuable resource for immigration advocates, policymakers, and researchers. CHRIS HAYNES is assistant professor of political science at the University of New Haven. JENNIFER MEROLLA is professor of political science at the University of California, Riverside S. KARTHICK RAMAKRISHNAN is professor of public policy and political science at the University of California, Riverside.