Abstract: Coronavirus disease -19 (COVID-19) has gained widespread interest in the field of mathematical epidemiology in order to inform the public on basic statistics surrounding COVID-19. However, the age-standardized mortality rates (ASMRs), which adjust age and population discrepancies between different regions by comparing a subpopulation to a standard population, have not been shown publicly. Usually, COVID-19 ASMRs have not been calculated due to the lengthy process required to calculate them; however, ASMRs for COVID-19 have occasionally been calculated, but their effectiveness have been hindered due to the use of a hand-written formula and graphical manual methods. My study involved the development of a deep learning algorithm to calculate ASMR and to instantly graph the ASMR of a subpopulation versus the crude mortality rate of the standard population. This algorithm was used to compare the ASMRs for COVID-19 in American states to the crude mortality rate of the standard population, America. In this study, the algorithm shows efficiency with a consistent runtime of time≤5seconds, within 95% confidence interval error bars among trials. ASMRs show statistically significant differences in expected COVID-19 deaths among most populations. There is at least 95% confidence (p≤0.05) that differences in ASMR are independent of age and population distributions. These findings suggest that there are more factors than just age discrepancy that affect COVID-19 mortality rates.
Keywords: COVID-19, Age-Standardization, Mortality Rate, Algorithm, Deep Learning
I. Introduction
Age-standardized mortality rates (ASMRs) are calculated and modeled as a way of comparing a mortality rate of a subpopulation to a standard population by adjusting the subpopulation to match the standard population’s population size and age distribution. Coronavirus disease -19 (COVID-19) is a severe acute respiratory syndrome that has spread to over 100 countries in rapid succession, thus classifying COVID-19 as a global pandemic [1-2,10]. Due to its status as a global pandemic, COVID-19 has received widespread attention in the field of mathematical epidemiology in order to inform the public on basic statistics surrounding COVID-19, such as the number of COVID-19 deaths, infected patients, patients treated in a hospital, patients treated in intensive care units, related infections, and related deaths [3-4].
However, public data sets have been scrutinized for not including more detailed statistics, notably the comparison of COVID-19 deaths in different populations after removing age as a confounding variable [4,6]. In the United States, there has been a lack of age-specific data regarding COVID-19 [9]. ASMRs for COVID-19 have previously been calculated for some regions in the United States; however, their effectiveness have been hindered due to the use of indirect standardization, rather than direct standardization, a formula, and a graphical manual method, which takes considerable time to complete [5,8].
Therefore, a fast and fully functional deep learning computer algorithm that is consistent, is easily debuggable, calculates age-standardized mortality rates, instantaneously graphs newly calculated data, and uses direct age standardization is the most effective and efficient method of adjusting age such that it is no longer a confounding variable. Python–an open source programming language that is precise, is fast, can serve as a calculator, and graph data–would allow for the bypassing of the time-consuming and user-dependent nature of manually calculating and graphing for ASMR [8]. Hence, the Python encoded deep learning algorithm has potential for calculating and graphing ASMR at a high speed. This study proposes the deep learning algorithm, coded in Python, as a revolutionary method of removing the confounding variable of age with high speed and minimal user-dependency. This deep learning algorithm will be used to compare the ASMR for COVID-19 of each subpopulation (state) in the United States to the standard population, the United States as a whole. I present a protocol for the development, reiteration, application, and examination of the deep learning algorithm to provide greater statistical insight into COVID-19. Success in the application of this deep learning algorithm presents a novel, vital ASMR calculating and graphing algorithm.
ASMRs are a vital measure to compare the mortality rates between a subpopulation and a standard population because ASMRs adjust age and population discrepancies between different regions, thus allowing other confounders to be identified within the respective populations [7]. This allows for the removal of age and population differences as confounding variables, which allows for greater capacity to identify other variables leading to the mortality rates. Because of its various benefits, ASMR calculations have been of growing interest in the field of computational and mathematical biology. However, the efficiency of calculating and graphing ASMRs has been hindered in recent years because of the lengthy process of the calculations and because of the manual graphing that must be used in order to visualize the results [5,8]. In its present application, ASMRs are a relatively slow, inefficient method of calculating mortality rates when age is standardized. Therefore, a deep learning algorithm with the ability to instantly calculate and graph the ASMR of a subpopulation when compared to a standard population. This significantly increases the speed and efficiency of calculation and graphing of ASMR.
II. Methodology
Run the Program Using Publicly Available Datasets for the United States
Public datasets will be obtained from the CDC’s Provisional COVID-19 Death Counts by Sex, Age, and State [16]. Population data for each state (subpopulation) and America (standard population) from World Population Review [17]. All datasets information used in this study are updated as of October 28, 2020. The newly developed algorithm will be run to find the age-standardized COVID-19 mortality rate for every state in the United States when compared to the crude COVID-19 mortality rate of the United States. During this phase, I gave the algorithm input (Fig.5): COVID-19 death statistics and population statistics, which the algorithm will use in order to calculate and graph the COVID-19 ASMR and crude COVID-19 mortality rate for the subpopulation and the standard population respectively.
Statistical Significance Analysis: Standard Deviation, Standard Error, and Confidence Interval for ASMR Comparison
In order to identify the significance of the results, statistical tests are to be run. The free version of Google Sheets was used to conduct the statistical tests. First, after identifying the crude COVID-19 mortality rate, the standard deviation is found. Using the standard deviation, the (SEM) is calculated with the sample size being the number of age ranges inputted to the algorithm.. Then, adding ±2SEM gives the error bars. The same process of getting the error bars applies for the subpopulations whose Age-standardized mortality rates are being calculated. If the error bars of the subpopulation and the standard population overlap, then it means that the difference in mortality rate between the two populations is not statistically significant. This would suggest there is 95% confidence that age discrepancy between populations is the only variable affecting COVID-19 mortality rates. Meanwhile, if the two error bars do not overlap, it means that there is 95% confidence that the population with a higher mortality rate is caused to have a higher mortality rate due to a variable other than age discrepancy. Therefore, running the statistical analyses are crucial to ensure that the results are statistically significant.
III. Results
ASMR due to COVID-19 per 100,000 people in each Population
In the ASMR comparison bar graph, the expected number of deaths to COVID-19 per 100,000 people are graphed. The United States, being the standard population, must have the same ASMR as its crude COVID-19 mortality rate of 64.0199. If New York’s population was adjusted for the same size and age distribution as the US, then their mortality rate for COVID-19 per 100,000 people is expected to be 932.0452. By contrast, all other states in this study show less than half the ASMR to COVID-19 per 100,000 people of New York. Primarily, Texas has the ASMR per 100,000 people of 447.5445, followed by Florida with 362.742, followed by California with 253.0757, and lastly followed by the United States with 64.0199.
Expected Number of Deaths due to COVID-19 in each Population Number of Deaths if Adjusted to Standard Population
The data table shown (Fig 9) lists the standard population, the US, as well as the subpopulations, New York, Texas, California, and Florida. After the algorithm from the deep learning computer algorithm was able to calculate the expected number of deaths within each age range of each subpopulation, the expected deaths were summed to provide a total number of expected deaths from each population. Then, the error bars, representing 95% confidence intervals, were calculated by finding ±2SEM. As shown (Fig 9), New York has, by far, the highest expected number of deaths if adjusted to the population size of the United States as well as the age distribution of the United States. By contrast, Florida has the lowest expected deaths when adjusted for age and population.
IV. Discussion
Overall, throughout this study, it was found that the newly developed computer program, with a deep learning algorithm, is successful in its consistency, functionality, efficiency, calculations, and graphing capabilities. Efficiency and consistency of the algorithm was a key focus of this study as shown in Figure 6a and Figure 6b. Efficiency was tested by measuring the runtime of the program. In this study, runtime was defined as the amount of time taken for the program to start running. A common threshold for an efficient program’s runtime is where time (t) is t≤5seconds [12]. As shown in Figure 6a, the algorithm is consistently below the 5.0 second tick mark, which suggests that the program is efficient. Consistency was also tested because 10 runs of the program were made in each of the three trials. As shown in Figure 6b, the mean runtime for the program for each trial was near t=3.5seconds. Furthermore, the error bars, indicating 95% confidence interval, all overlap the other trials’ means and error bars, which means that the difference in each trials’ mean runtime occurred by chance, and that there is no causal agent. Because there is no causal agent that increases the runtime of the program, it shows that the program runs efficiently.
V. Conclusion
In this study, it was hypothesized that variables other than age discrepancies do not have a significant impact on the mortality rate due to COVID-19. However, refuting the initial hypothesis, one of the main findings of this study is that at least one factor other than population size and age distribution had a significant impact on COVID-19 mortality rate in various populations. This is illustrated in Figure 10, where multiple populations are showing statistically significant differences in expected number of COVID-19 deaths once adjusted to the standard population, the United States. Another key finding of this study is that each subpopulation had a higher ASMR than crude mortality rate (Fig 7, 8), which shows that each state would have suffered more deaths than the United States if each state was to have the same age distribution as the United States. This supports the idea that statewide deaths are not solely related to age and population, but also preexisting conditions and environment in which the people live [14,15].
Another crucial finding in this study is that the deep learning algorithm, within the computer program, is functioning both consistently and efficiently. The efficiency of the algorithm can be seen by its runtime of t≤5seconds (Fig 6a). Then, each trial was within the error bars of each other which means that the algorithm has a low runtime consistently because there is no statistically significant difference between the runtime of the algorithm each time it is run (Fig 6b). This has strong implications for future use by the public in the form of a publicly available web application.
To refine the conclusions from this study, in regards to studying the impact of age distribution on COVID-19 deaths, more experiments can be done in which more United States states are compared to the standard population of the United States. However, the algorithm is versatile, so the subpopulations and the standard population can be changed entirely to focus on another region. To refine the conclusions about the newly developed computer program, more trials can be conducted to ensure that the runtime found in the first three trials are not outliers, but are representative of the efficiency and consistency of the program.
References
Abstract: Pneumonia, a fatal lung disease, is caused by infection of Streptococcus pneumoniae; it is detected by chest x-rays that reveal inflammation of the alveoli. However, the efficiency by which it is diagnosed can be improved through the use of artificial intelligence. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs), a form of artificial intelligence, have recently demonstrated enhanced accuracy when classifying images. This study used CNNs to analyze chest x-rays and predict the probability the patient has pneumonia. Furthermore, a comprehensive investigation was conducted, examining the function of various components of the CNN, in the context of pneumonia x-rays. This study was able to achieve significantly high performance, making it viable for clinical implementation. Furthermore, the architecture of the proposed model is applicable to various other diseases, and can thus be used to optimize the disease diagnosis industry.
Keywords: artificial intelligence, disease diagnosis, pneumonia, convolutional neural networks, machine learning
I. Introduction
Streptococcus pneumoniae is an infectious bacteria that causes pneumonia, a disease characterized by inflammation of the alveoli in the lungs. Causing over 2500 deaths each year, this disease can be lethal if not treated. Furthermore, the mortality rate grows exponentially as the age of the diseased increases, reaching as high as 2.2 percent. Pneumonia has also been found to be prevalent in many infected with SARS-CoV-2. Nevertheless, pneumonia is easily treated with antibiotics if it is diagnosed at an early stage.
Currently, pneumonia is diagnosed with the help of x-rays. Several images are compiled to construct a two-dimensional cross section of the subject's chest. A modified form of this technique also exists, in which a computed tomography (CT) scan is used to generate a three-dimensional map. In both cases, the resulting image is then manually examined for symptoms of pneumonia. Although this process has proven to be effective, it can take up to 20 minutes to complete. Automation of pneumonia diagnosis would streamline the process and remove the need for specialization in that field.
In this study, a convolutional neural network was designed and trained to analyze pneumonia radiographs and produce an appropriate diagnosis. The proposed model was demonstrated to achieve a high accuracy rate and low time cost.
II. Convolutional Neural Networks
Although feed-forward neural networks perform well on most datasets, as the number of inputs grows, larger networks are needed. As a result, the computation time increases, as well as the chance of overfitting, a condition in which the model memorizes the training data and cannot generalize to new data. In 1994, a new architecture for deep learning, dubbed the convolutional neural network, was proposed. This model specializes in image classification, employing feature extraction and analysis.
Prior to convolutional neural networks, modified forms of neural networks had been proposed to improve performance of image classifiers. Algorithms such as frequency modulation, biorthogonal wavelet transform, and logistic regression have been previously used to reduce the computational load and counteract the large input sizes. However, each of these techniques requires preprocessing to extract and validate features from the image. Convolutional neural networks resolve this issue by implementing feature extraction in its early layers; later layers of the model are then used to analyze the detected attributes, as demonstrated in Figure 2 [11].
III. Pooling
The three types of pooling are applicable to different situations, depending on the task. Average pooling is typically used to prevent overfitting. When a convolutional neural network overfits, its filters look for features unique to each image in the training dataset; when a one of these features is identified, the model pairs it with an output. By stochastically determining the representative elements, the model cannot associate filters with images, as there is a chance an unrepresentative element will be chosen that will cause the model to produce a false prediction.
Average pooling uses the average of each pool when generating the pooled feature map; as a result, this pooling technique is influenced by outliers. This works well in situations, as the features will sway the representative elements, allowing their shape to be retained. However, it is important to note that the contrast between the foreground and the background will decrease, as the background pixels will also pull the average towards themselves. This is illustrated in Figure 7: in both scenarios, the feature is still visible in the pooled feature map, albeit with less contrast [13].
Max pooling differs from average pooling, as it takes the largest element from each subsection. This technique is more appropriate than average pooling in situations where the background is dark, and the foreground is light; since the lighter elements have higher values, they will be selected when pooling. However, when the image's features are dark, background elements are selected during pooling, as their values are larger. As shown in Figure 6, the feature is maintained in image B, but lost in image A [13].
In this study, max pooling was used, as it is the most appropriate technique for the dataset of chest CT scans. As shown in Figure 10, the chest x-rays used in this study consist of a black background, with white features. Since max pooling preserves these types of features better than average pooling, it was used to improve model performance.
IV. Fully Connected Layers
Once all the features from the input image have been extracted, they must be analyzed for the model to produce a prediction. Fully connected layers (FCLs) are employed to perform this task. They function very similar to feed forward neural networks (Figure 1) in that they employ a system of neurons and synapses to analyze a series of inputs. In a convolutional neural network, the fully connected layer is placed after the convolution and pooling layers; it receives a list of pooled maps as input [10].
V. Results and discussion
Using the GPU provided by Google Colaboratory, each model was trained in roughly ten minutes. This is a relatively low time-cost, making the model cheap and easy to train, an important characteristic when being implemented in a clinical environment.
The training periods of the five models are illustrated in Figure 9. Graphs 9a and 9b display a steady upward trend in validation AUROC and AUPR as the model trained. The best performing model achieved a maximum validation AUROC of 0.9856 and a maximum validation AUPR of 0.9832, indicating the model performed very well. Moreover, in Figure 9b, the model AUPR statistics had not yet completely plateaued; this suggests additional training would further increase the accuracy. Figure 9c shows a consistent decrease in validation loss during training. The models exhibited no signs of overfitting, as demonstrated by unidirectional trend in all three graphs; if overfitting had occurred, the graphs would resemble a parabola - after some improvement, the models' performance would begin to worsen.
After training, each model was evaluated on the test images; the results are summarized in Table 3. The five models had an average AUROC of 0.9728, with the best model reaching 0.9754. The AUROC statistic measures the discriminatory behavior\footnote{Discriminatory behavior - the ability of a neural network to produce outputs close to 0 and 1} of a model; the high AUROC value of the proposed model indicates that it performs well in distinguishing between normal and pneumonia. In contrast to AUROC, the AUPR statistics measures the frequency of correct classifications; the proposed model's mean AUPR of 0.9710 indicates it performs well in classifying pneumonia and normal x-rays. The difference between AUROC and AUPR can best be understood as quality vs quantity; AUROC represents the quality of predictions whereas AUPR represents the quantity of correct predictions. The proposed model was successful in achieving high values in both AUROC and AUPR.
VI. Conclusion
In this study, we designed a convolutional neural network to diagnose patients with pneumonia, by analyzing chest x-rays. The architecture of the proposed model was revolutionary in that it only used two convolutional layers with a mere 32 filters each. The model's size was significantly smaller than most conventional neural networks, thus giving it computational superiority and allowing it to be trained in relatively short periods of time. In addition, the model achieved high performance in both the receiver operating characteristic curve and the precision recall curve.
It's success in distinguishing normal from pneumonia diseased patients makes it viable for clinical use. Implementing an artificial intelligence tool in medical facilities can help streamline the process by which pneumonia is detected; the model constructed in this study diagnoses x-rays in less than 3 milliseconds, compared to the 20 minutes required by human analysis. Furthermore, this architecture is extendable to other diseases, including cancer, arthritis, and multiple sclerosis, that use medical imaging for diagnosis. As such, when an x-ray is obtained, it can be fed through several neural networks, each trained to detect a different disease, resulting in a distribution depicting the patient's probability of having each disease.
In the future, modifications of the proposed architecture can be researched. Residual connections can be employed to link the output of the first convolutional layer to the fully connected layers. In addition, different optimization algorithms and activation functions can be tested for their impact on performance. Conducting more experiments before clinical implementation is important in that a false negative error can be fatal; thus, it is necessary to research methods that can further increase accuracy.
References
Abstract: African Americans are often viewed as a monolithic group in the United States because Black people generally have been subjected to the same racism and prejudice throughout American society. While African Americans have had many similar experiences in the United States, their opinions on the current political, social, and economic worldview may differ based on ethnic groups. The author chose to closely examine the extent to which family history and decade of one's arrival (or one's family's arrival) to the United States, and the region from which one (or one's family) originated, might influence the current political, social and economic worldview of adolescent and adult Americans who self-identify as Black. In order to study the effects of these variables, I administered surveys to 146 African American adults in suburban New York City. The online survey consisted of four parts. These parts included views on economic success, law enforcement, current events, specifically the Black Lives Matter Movement, and Black representation in American society. Ultimately the study found statistically significant differences between region/decade of arrival and societal world views. There were also gender gaps.
Keywords: African-American, representation, BLM, Afro-Caribbean, African, economic success
I. Introduction
Although Black Americans, Caribbean Americans and Africans carry similar emotional baggage from years of oppression (Jackson & Cotharn, 2003), Black Americans are more attuned to discrimination than Afro-Caribbeans. Many Caribbean Blacks believe that their ethnic status garners more respect in the United States and that stereotypes directed towards Black Americans do not apply (Head & Thompson, 2017). Additionally, Afro-Caribbeans tend to report higher levels of internalized racism (Molina & James, 2016).
A word about the terminology used in this paper. After conversations with Professor Marsha Gardener, chair of the Black Studies Program at Adelphi University, the following definitions will be used throughout this study: Black American is defined as African Americans whose family history dates back to pre-Emancipation, Afro-Caribbean refers to participants who were born or descendants of those born in the Caribbean, then immigrated to the United States, African describes participants who were born or descendants of those born in Africa, then immigrated to the United States and African American describes those from any part of the African Diaspora who immigrated to the United States.
Despite African Americans reporting significantly lower rates of upward mobility and higher rates of downward mobility compared to whites (Chetty et al., 2019), differences between Black Americans and Afro-Caribbeans continues in the sense that Afro-Caribbeans are often seen as a model minority. Ifatunji (2016) found that Afro-Caribbeans are 12% more likely to have a job than Black Americans. Additionally, Ifatunji’s study mentions that Afro-Caribbeans are less likely to characterize themselves as “lazy” and consider themselves to “work hard”(2016). Not only does subculture play a role in the determination of economic success, but generation and decade of one’s arrival contributes as well. Afro-Caribbeans born in the United States enjoy higher earnings and occupational status relative to Afro-Caribbeans who personally immigrated to the United States. According to one study, American born Afro-Caribbeans are able to better assimilate due to the influence of the Caribbean parents transmitting the concept of hard work and achievement by emphasizing the importance of schooling (Kalmijn,1996). In addition to economic success, there appears to be a generational difference among African Americans regarding law enforcement. It was found that immigrant generations rated law enforcement, specifically the police more positively on measures of effectiveness, misconduct and general satisfaction than did native-born Americans. However, they were less likely to contact the police for assistance. “Immigrants were significantly less likely than non-immigrants to believe that the police stopping people without a good reason, police engagement in racial profiling, and verbal or physical abusive by police officers were problems” (David & Hendricks, 2007). A Canadian, study evaluated the extent to which Black youth viewed law enforcement, finding that young Blacks in Ontario believed that the police were necessary to prevent crime and provide protection, but that they saw the police as extremely homogeneous-lacking diversity, with insufficient cultural training, and prone to abuse of power (Syed et al., 2018). Moreover, a recent study of cultural and gender biases against women and teachers with non-English speaking backgrounds found that those biases tend to decrease with better representation of both women and non-native English speakers (Fan et al., 2019). The goal of the present research is to learn about internal variety in a population (my own population) too often viewed as monolithic.
II. Method / Procedure
After informed consent was obtained from participants, a four-part survey was administered. 146 African American adults participated in the study. The survey was used to determine the participants’ views on economic success, law enforcement, current events (specifically the Black Lives Matter Movement) and Black representation in American society. After completion, all surveys were scored and entered into an Excel database. Unpaired t-tests, linear and multiple regressions, and between-group ANOVAs were run on all variables to determine mean differences between African Americans of different ethnicities, and to determine the extent to which a variety of independent variables accounted for the variation in the dependent variables.
III. Results
Males perceived better economic opportunities in America (p<.05), and reported rarely changing their views on policing over the last year, relative to females (p<.05). Immigrants express greater overall trust for the police (p< .05) vis-a-vis other groups and are less likely to have changed their views since last year (p<.05). First generation Americans are more likely than immigrants or second/third generation Americans to strongly support BLM (p’s >.05). Curiously, immigrants are the group most likely to see themselves represented in American culture (p<.05). As predicted, Black identity influences views on policing, BLM & representation. Afro-Caribbean’s are least critical of police behavior, but most likely to express evolving attitudes (p’s <.05). Africans are the strongest supporters of BLM (p<.05), yet also the group least likely to see themselves represented in American culture (p<.05). Hypotheses 1 and 2 were neither proved/ nor disproved as there was not enough evidence to support the hypothesis. Hypothesis 3 was supported in that Afro- Caribbeans were least critical of the police compared to Black American. Hypothesis 4 was proved in that Afro-Caribbeans had a mean representation index of 2.82 whereas Black Americans had a representation index of 2.54. Furthermore, the main hypothesis, that African Americans’ cultural background matters in predicting political attitudes and worldview, is supported. However, the picture is nuanced, and further study is warranted.
IV. Discussion
Among 146 African Americans adults, my research unearthed a significant but nuanced relationship between different African American ethnic groups and decade of one’s, or one’s family’s, arrival and their opinions on economics, law enforcement, representation and current events. This study demonstrates that although African Americans are viewed as monolithic, there are significant ethnic differences between Black Americans, Afro-Caribbeans and Africans. The results of this study demonstrate the different outlooks on racism by each ethnic group. Additionally, it addresses factors that must be changed to provide equal economic opportunity between African Americans and their white counterparts. It demonstrates the attitudes that Blacks have towards the police, especially with the current political and social climate and how the law enforcement must dismantle the racist system it was built on. It was expected that Afro-Caribbeans would have a higher representation index than Black Americans (Table 5) mostly because Afro-Caribbeans and Africans come from a country that is predominantly black compared to native born Black Americans who have lived in predominantly white communities for generations and have been subject to their jurisdiction for years as well. However, it was surprising to see that First Generation Americans were more likely than immigrants and second/third generations to support Black Lives Matter because we expected third generation Americans to be more supportive because their family history has suffered generations of the prevalent racism in the United States; this would presumably make them more likely to advocate immediate social change. However, there were some limitations to this experiment. The number of Afro-Caribbeans in the sample doubled the number of Black Americans. Based on the Nassau County Census the participants in this study were not an accurate representation of Black America or Black New York. Moreover, 31% of Nassau County’s African Americans hold a Bachelor’s degree or higher. However, in my sample, 84.5% of the participants had at least a bachelor’s degree. This likely resulted from the “snowball sampling” I employed; those who helped distribute my survey had a graduate degree themselves and sent the link to African American friends, relatives and colleagues. This snowball effect also contributed to the lack of Black Americans because many of my “key informants were of Afro-Caribbean descent themselves. As often happens, female respondents tripled the males in my study. In the future, I plan to increase my number of Black Americans as well as the number of males in my study. I will also seek a more diversely educated sample of African Americans. Further, because my study was entirely quantitative due to the Covid-19 pandemic (i.e. related focus groups were prohibited.) I plan to run a Phase II qualitative study. The consequent mixed-method study will better answer “how” and “why” questions in greater detail.
Works Cited
Abstract: Reconciling international human rights for migrants seeking asylum in the United States against the need for deterring the untenable influx of illegal immigration at the U. S. southern border has been a delicate political and legal issue throughout the years. The Trump administration before and during the COVID-19 pandemic put in place more stringent enforcement policies such as Migrant Protection Protocols, raising criticism for the inhumane treatment of asylum seekers who were prevented from entering the United States. However, with the recent surge of migrants--especially children--since the election of Joe Biden as the new president, growing concerns for long-term stability has reignited demand for harsher measures against illegal crossings while still recognizing the rights of asylum seekers.
I. Introduction
Seeking asylum within the United States is a complex and arduous process which is largely a civil procedural matter, but can also be perceived as a criminal act depending on the particular circumstance of the asylum seeker. The process became increasingly complicated with harsher enforcement under growing anti-immigration sentiment during the Trump administration. The recent election of Joe Biden bodes well for more humane treatment of illegal immigrants seeking asylum, controversy regarding migrants (dating as far back as the Bush administration) is being reassessed. In addition, the attempt to fulfill campaign promises while trying to manage the inevitable surge of migrants at the southern border has become a critical and unavoidable challenge for the new administration.
This paper will attempt to outline the history of the asylum seeking process in the United States. It will begin by looking at both the criminal and civil proceedings and discuss the changes that were made during the Trump administration to deter the flood of migration, especially from the southern border. Moreover, the difficult transition in the migration policy since Joe Biden’s election to the presidency in November 2020 will be assessed.
II. Background
A major aspect of the asylum-seeking controversy in the United States centers around conflicting international and domestic laws and policies. For instance, under international law, an asylum seeker has the right to invoke asylum protection to avoid persecution in one’s home country. Specifically, by signing Article 31 of the 1951 Refugee Convention, the United States, like other contracting nations, cannot impose penalties on refugees seeking asylum despite having entered illegally if coming directly from a territory where their life or freedom was threatened, so long as they show good cause for their illegal entry or presence (Convention, 1951).
In accordance with this right, after passing an initial screening process, the asylum seeker must be given a fair and adequate hearing so long as the claim is asserted within a year of entry, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration. However, in reality, the lengthy, bureaucratic process can hinder asylum seekers from making such claims or delay protection in the United States in many circumstances (Frum, 2019).
In order to fully understand how obstacles can occur, this cumbersome process of making asylum claims in the United States must be explained in greater detail. Under civil proceedings, asylum seekers can pursue one of two approaches. First, an affirmative declaration can be made through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) if the person is in the country legally . The other is essentially a defensive recourse asserted during a removal proceeding or at the initial point of entry.
During an initial screening interview at the border or port of entry, if an asylum officer determines that the credible fear standard has not been met, then the applicant is sent to a removal proceeding. The applicant must present enough evidence of the threat of persecution or torture to the extent that they fear returning to their home country (American Immigration Council, 2020).
Alternatively, one can request asylum through the defensive process once in a removal proceeding called the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) within the Department of Justice. Before deportation, the individual may appeal by pursuing a truncated review process before an immigration judge. If the immigration judge overturns a negative, credible fear finding, the individual is placed in further removal proceedings, thereby potentially improving the prospects of receiving asylum. On the other hand, if the immigration judge upholds the negative finding by the asylum officer, the individual will be deported. In many instances, a defensive application for asylum is submitted to disrupt the removal proceedings and avoid deportation (Frum, 2019). On the other hand, one drawback is that such applicants are not provided legal counsel even if they can afford to get an attorney themselves.
If an individual is not granted asylum, they can still appeal the decision, but the waiting time can drag out for years. Prior to the Trump administration’s drastic changes in enforcement of illegal immigration, particularly at the U.S. southern border, those who were waiting for an appeal could remain in the country temporarily. However, one of the mandates issued by the Trump administration was to deport even asylum seekers along with other illegal immigrants until their day in court (American Immigration Council, 2021). This program was known as Migration Protection Protocols. Even more controversial was the Zero Tolerance Policy under former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, which separated children from their parents at the border. The parents were detained or deported while their children remained inU.S. custody (Schmidt, 2019). Fortunately, this latter program was terminated after much political and legal backlash.
Certainly not all unjust treatment of potential asylum seekers can be blamed on the Trump administration. Operation Streamline, adopted in 2005, embraced mass prosecution of illegal aliens, thereby obstructing individuals from receiving preliminary screening interviews by asylum officers, as well as not providing legal advice by attorneys who could have assisted them in their asylum defense. In addition, detainees waived their rights for appeal by signing plea agreements which may not even have been fully understood, due to language barriers and inadequate legal representation (Schmidt, 2019).
III. Changes under the Biden Administration
The Biden administration must reassess and restructure the immigration policies and procedures confounded by not only Trump but previous U.S. leaders. First and foremost, asylum seekers must be given their lawful protection under both international and domestic laws. The ongoing controversy over how to enforce illegal immigration laws without jeopardizing human rights may be one of the most important topics of discourse for the new U.S. President and the American people.
In alignment with his campaign promises, President Biden has taken some immediate actions to reverse some of the more draconian immigration policies put in place by the Trump administration, including lifting the travel ban from Muslim-dominated nations and terminating the Migration Protection Protocols program (American Immigration Council, 2021). He also issued an executive order to reinstate the pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients.
A more far-reaching and comprehensive proposal was sent to Congress in hopes of enacting a more permanent and enduring immigraiton reform act. Unfortunately, this proposal, referred to as the “United States Citizenship Act of 2021,” will be difficult to garner bipartisan support. Alternatively, additional executive orders may be necessary to reform immigration policies, but the long-term impact of these changes to immigration will be weaker than they would be if Congress passes the new immigration law.
In February, the Biden administration released a fact sheet which outlined the establishment of a task force whose responsibilities would include reunifying families separated by the Trump administration as well as attempting to understand the reasons for the influx of migration and to develop a more just and humane screening process for refugees and asylum seekers (FACT SHEET, 2021). The starting point of the ambitious goals laid before the task force is to not only terminate the migration protection protocol program but to redress the chaos and distressed circumstances migrant families are still grappling with today as a consequence of the hasty and inconsistent treatment they have faced at ports of entry in recent years.
For example, the Migration Protection Protocols (MPP) program was set up by the Trump administration in December of 2018. It is commonly known as the “Remain in Mexico Program for Asylum Seekers” because they were told to stay and wait in Mexico until their hearing dates. In the past they had been permitted to wait for their hearing dates in the United States. Biden ended this program, but some are still in Mexico waiting for proper hearings. The task force must try to figure out how the people in Mexico can come to the U.S. by coordinating efforts among Mexican and local authorities around the Southern border, the U.S. State Department, Department of Homeland Security, and potentially other Central American countries. All of this, of course, will require more money and manpower than is currently allocated.
Despite his campaign promises to his supporters, Biden must delicately weigh the pros and cons of his immigration reform with respect to migrants and the southern border. Currently, the U.S. is attempting to fight the COVID-19 pandemic both from a public health standpoint as well as an economic concern due to the detrimental effect the pandemic has had on businesses and individuals. Biden has hinted at the importance of managing expectations by stating that immigration reform will take at least a few months, if not years, to fully implement. The process will take time and not all immigration reform initiatives may be attained, especially without bipartisan support.
Meanwhile, according to the American Immigration Council, migrants who sought asylum during the COVID-19 pandemic have been in limbo, living in tent camps along the U.S.-Mexico border without any opportunities for employment, as many are not Mexican citizens. Some have, in desperation, attempted to cross the border despite the perils and have lost their lives. Moreover, some did not even have an opportunity to plead for asylum under Trump’s “metering” policy. Instead, these migrants have been told to wait in Mexico because the “quota” for asylum seekers had been met, thereby denying any access to the asylum process and forcing them to wait indefinitely in Mexico. Of course, the metering policy had been used previously by the Obama administration as well during an influx of Haitian refugee migration in 2016. However, that metering ended in a timely fashion once “the bottleneck” had been alleviated (Murray, 2018). In contrast, the current metering policy in Mexico continued until March 2020 when processing asylum seekers at the southern border was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Leutart & Arvey, 2020).
The Biden administration has continued to expel thousands of migrant families to Mexico under the public health law known as Title 42. Nevertheless, the number of families intercepted by US agents at the southwestern border soared to 17,773 in February, up from 6,173 in January (Jordan, 2021). Natural disasters like the hurricanes in Guatemala and Honduras, the harsh economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, and Biden’s commitment to a more compassionate approach to immigration--especially toward migrant children who are excluded from Title 42--have compelled hundreds of thousands of people to attempt crossing the border aided by opportunistic smugglers known as coyotes.
The backlog in processing thousands of migrant children has been raising humanitarian concerns about how long they are sheltered before releasing them to relatives or friends in the U.S. Another daunting issue for the Biden administration is how to address the underlying causes of migration by confronting the instability, violence, and economic insecurity that currently encourages migrants to flee from their home countries. The administration must collaborate with foreign governments and international organizations to resolve these complicated matters (FACT SHEET, 2021).
IV. Conclusion
The asylum seeking process is complicated and arduous due to the conflict of international and domestic laws. While this paper has laid out the procedural hurdles asylum seekers must overcome once they enter the country, the more pressing matter currently seems to be how to deter the growing number of migrants who are seeking asylum from illegally crossing the southern border.
The Trump administration tried to restrict migrants at the southern border, first through its Zero Tolerance Policy which was later terminated, then with the Migration Protection Protocols and the metering policy which were also denounced by immigration rights advocates. Unfortunately, opening the borders even just for migrant children in recent months by the new administration has created an unprecedented surge. Thousands of children are attempting to seek asylum each month. Trying to find shelter for these children and to discourage others from crossing the border has been an ongoing debacle. The situation is dire and will remain unchanged until the newly created task force provides much-needed guidance.
References
I. Introduction
Current estimates reveal that approximately 1.2 billion people reside in areas susceptible to flooding. However, due to human-inflicted changes to the environment, it is predicted that within the next 30 years, this number will increase by at least 400 million. (Campbell et al, 2019; Deria et al, 2020; Rezende et al, 2020) Despite the prevailing belief that the effects of flooding are diminutive, catastrophic destruction is possible, especially when victims belong to vulnerable populations (i.e. the elderly, the sick, the uneducated, immigrants, etc). (Becker et al, 2015) Aside from physical damage, severe flooding often prevents individuals from securing the bare necessities- water, food, shelter, and medical attention- leading to health crises and social segregation. (Flores et al, 2020) Following Hurricane Sandy, these adverse effects devastated communities on the East Coast, namely those in New York City and Long Island. (Martins et al, 2019) To mitigate complications during recuperation, researchers proposed updating strategies and policies (i.e. Flood Risk Management Policy) to take into account factors such as social capital and economic vulnerability. (Chakraborty et al, 2020) Doing so may ensure that all communities have equal access to ample resources and services, regardless of demographic composition. Therefore, this study investigated the role of community support, as opposed to socioeconomic status, in the vulnerability and resiliency of New York residents (NYC and Long Island) to flooding from Hurricane Sandy.
Aside from providing support, a strong community is imperative for circulating potentially life-saving information, such as emergency protocol, which is particularly beneficial in low-income areas. (Clay et al, 2016; Martins et al, 2019) Any social connection can be valuable to recovery as people repeatedly reported receiving the majority of their information from peers (more so than new outlets/media), especially in urban areas where news spreads quickest. (Becker et al, 2015; Fujimi & Fujimura, 2020; Hamilton et al, 2020; Morss et al, 2016; Wang et al, 2019) Further, nearly one-third of people surveyed in Sandy-affected areas shared that they primarily relied on “family, friends, and neighbors'' or coworkers for assistance. (Clay et al, 2016) Because human interaction is such a pivotal part of survival, the connectedness of a community may be a feasible option for measuring resiliency.
Similar to community support, an individual’s involvement in politics is indicative of his/her vulnerability and resilience. Those who follow politicians are more likely to be engaged in social media where national agencies and political figures can share the most recent information and warnings. (Pourebrahim et al, 2019) Consequently, these individuals are better informed about proper protocol as well as government-funded programs that could help them recover from any damage. (Bukvic et al, 2018) There is strong evidence to support a positive relationship between individuals’ level of preparedness and political activity. (Martins et al, 2019)
Apart from being better informed about safety precautions, those who are more engaged in politics also tend to be more vigilant about the efforts of their local government. If local politicians are unjustly favoring a certain demographic and neglecting the needs of others, people who pay attention to politics are able to identify the problem and understand how it can be rectified. Furthermore, people who pay attention to the workings of their government are more inclined to address social issues. (Martins et al, 2019) For vulnerable families, this is relevant because an unsupportive, inept government is frequently the root of problems including forced evacuation/homelessness, poverty, inaccessible resources, etc. (Bukvic et al, 2018; Graham et al, 2016; Thistlethwaite et al, 2017) If political attentiveness could be quantified, policymakers and community organizations would be able to ascertain which populations are less educated about flooding preparation/reconstruction and which populations can assist the former.
II. Data and Methodology
Survey Dissemination
The online survey was first disseminated through email and social media (i.e., Facebook). The survey sample consisted of adults (at least 18 years old) living in the five boroughs of New York City and two counties of Long Island, which were highly affected areas on the East Coast. Prior to completing the survey, participants were required to complete an informed consent form. After the initial distribution of surveys, participants were primarily recruited by snowball sampling. That is, participants were encouraged to invite their acquaintances and family to respond to the survey. Between July 17, 2020, and August 7, 2020, 74 responses were collected.
Data Analysis
Of the 74 responses, results from three surveys were excluded from the analysis. This accounted for blank responses (1), as well as responses from outside of the region of interest (2). Data from the remaining 71 surveys were transferred to spreadsheets on Microsoft Excel. Univariate data (composed of answers to primarily demographic questions) was assessed, though the study intended to concentrate on bivariate relationships. While these relationships had limited correlations, the similar means and standard deviation suggested that none were significant. Nonetheless, graphs and tables were developed to present the information from the survey.
III. Results and Discussion
Civic Infrastructure
Civic infrastructure, which describes the strength and unity of a community, is a crucial indicator of an individual’s preparedness and resiliency to natural disasters. Based on the results of this survey, there were no significant results between the amount of social capital and other tested factors. However, several relationships had limited correlations including that between community support and physical damage. The severity of physical damage was assessed by ratings of property destruction and street flooding. Counterintuitively, individuals receiving the most assistance from their community (5 on the Likert scale 1-5) reported more extreme results. (Fig. 2) Over half of respondents who rated their community “very helpful” (5), encountered street flooding while just over a quarter of respondents who rated their community “not helpful” communicated the same problem. Moreover, among those with the worst reported damage (5) to their property, the participants with the weakest civic infrastructure were not represented. (Fig. 2) These results can be attributed to two possibilities. For one, many people are more responsive to tangible damage rather than warnings, regardless of the source of information. Seeing the destruction of property firsthand may prompt members of a community to intervene and help one another, as undergoing a traumatic event can serve as a connection between neighbors. Alternatively, a community may have been supportive both prior to and following the intense flooding. However, many towns, despite extensive preparations and an abundance of services, are susceptible to damage due to being located in an unfavorable area such as on a waterfront.
Financial Influence and Future Improvements
Until recently, socioeconomic status was regarded as the most accepted measure of limitations to preparation and recovery. However, Figure 4 demonstrates that the distribution of preparation methods for Hurricane Sandy is comparable regardless of income. While financial status may not have regulated how participants plan to minimize damage, it did influence which services the participants preferred. Namely, individuals with lower incomes appeared to favor local programs. Furthermore, these same participants had a stronger opinion about the topic than those making more than $275,000, as only 12.9% declined to answer as opposed to 23.1% among the latter group. Wealthier respondents may favor government programs over local alternatives because damage to their property is more significant. (Figure 4) 80% of participants earning greater than $275,000 yearly on average described the flooding as more extreme (total slightly more extreme and significantly more extreme) than they had anticipated. Additionally, zero members of this demographic reported significantly less extreme flooding than expected. Meanwhile, only about 54.8% of individuals with an average salary of less than or equal to $150,000 recounted having more extreme damage. (Figure 5) Therefore, the theory that affluent families experience harsher damage due to the luxurious nature of their property may hold. However, because of a plethora of resources at hand including insurance, larger budgets for reconstruction, and government assistance, recovery from such traumatic events is possible. This may demonstrate that community support and economic strength are related such that the lack of one can be compensated for by the other.
IV. Conclusion and Future Research
The objective of this study was to identify which factors are the best indicators of preparedness, vulnerability, and resiliency. There was no significant distinction between the influence of financial wellbeing versus community support on enhancing preparation, limiting vulnerability, or benefiting resilience to flooding. Therefore, the hypothesis that a stronger civic infrastructure is more conducive to better preparation and an easier recovery was not supported. Rather, it appeared that possessing wealth and community support were equally essential, and the lack of one can be compensated for by the other. Because of this, participants with a higher income often reported weaker civic infrastructure. Likewise, participants with lower incomes held their communities in higher regard. Both wealthier individuals and individuals with more helpful neighbors cited slightly more extensive damage than their peers; however, this relationship was not significant.
Consistently, the participants in the study acknowledged that the damage resulting from flooding during Sandy was worse than anticipated. Despite this, the vast majority refused to modify their preparation methods to accommodate what was learned in their experiences with Sandy. This may be due to the infrequency of flooding and tropical cyclones in the area. Since participants had the same amount of exposure to these extreme weather events, regardless of their background, reactions to the damage were similarly moderate. Further, volunteers were not apt to anticipate a tropical cyclone with the same caliber of severity in the future explaining their lackadaisical, passive responses. These results demonstrated the need for access to better education and resources in areas where personal flooding precautions are not a primary concern.
Given more time, a larger sample size could have been obtained, allowing for a better representation of all demographics in New York City and Long Island. Additionally, to account for initial reactions to flooding, as opposed to reliance on distant memories, the survey could have been redistributed following a tropical cyclone of similar severity in the area. Results can also be compared to the experiences of participants residing in flooding-prone areas, such as Texas or Louisiana, where factors including socioeconomic status have a greater, well-established effect on survival.
As the population continues to increase, engendering changes to the environment, severe flooding is likely to become more frequent in countries throughout the world. Identifying the recurring characteristics of those who constitute vulnerable populations will enable more individuals to receive the education, services, and support necessary to prepare for and recover from flooding. Importantly, the ability to recover from trauma and misfortune is not limited to exclusively natural disasters. Recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and its residual issues, including unemployment and exacerbated mental illness, will require resiliency. Fortunately, further research can inform changes in policies, resource distribution, and communication, allowing for obstacles ranging from flooding to illness to be managed without causing poverty, homelessness, irreparable damage, permanent health issues, and other problems associated with poor resiliency.
References
Abstract: Extreme weather events are becoming more prevalent with increasing global temperatures. In the Northeastern U.S., spring frost events are destroying forest ecosystems by defoliating newly budded trees. In order to grasp a better understanding of community dynamics and carbon fluxes, it is imperative to understand more about species-specific phenological and physiological responses to these events. This study aimed to investigate the legacy effects of a spring frost event in Black Rock Forest on the specific photosynthetic and intrinsic water use efficiency responses within unaffected red maples and sugar maples alongside defoliated red oaks. A LI-6800 machine conducted gas exchange measurements in the north, south, valley, and headquarter sites for each species. The new flush of red oak leaves portrayed
the greatest amount of photosynthetic productivity and efficiency while red maples and sugar maples retained their original characteristics with increased sensitivities. Hence, the defoliated tree species had a competitive advantage with shifted phenological patterns. Future research can be conducted several growing seasons after the frost event to determine the extent to which these events impact species dynamics, including DBH tree growth. New predicative carbon models can also be formed to create new management for tree implantation’s that maximize sequestration rates.
Keywords: spring frost event, defoliation, photosynthetic productivity, water use efficiency, sequestration
I. Introduction
Due to changing climate conditions, extreme weather events including prolonged droughts, tropical storms, damaging spring frost events and heat waves are expected to become more common in forests of the northeastern United States (Richardson et al 2006, Diffenbaugh et al. 2018). In the northeastern United States, freezing events after bud break in the spring have had detrimental effects to deciduous forests by defoliating trees and consequently decreasing net carbon uptake (Vitasse et al. 2014, Nolè et al. 2018, Hufkens et al. 2012). Furthermore, research has suggested that a spring frost may have significant implications on the community composition of higher elevation hardwood forests in the northeast region (Hufkens et al. 2012). More specifically, they can tilt range margins and tree competition dynamics from sugar maples to other species (Hufkens et al. 2012). While the occurrence of this event is expected to increase, the understanding of the effects of a spring frost event on ecosystem-based carbon fluxes and the physiological sensitivities of co-existing tree species remains uncertain.
On May 8/9 of 2020, a late spring frost event occurred at higher elevations across the Hudson Highlands Region in southeastern New York, leading to temperatures declining from 25°C to just above -5°C. This region is cloaked with temperate broadleaf forests dominated by oak trees (Quercus sp.) and the hard freeze caused widespread defoliation of the newly emerged oak leaves. However, co-occurring red maple and sugar maple trees (Acer) leafed out after the frost event and were unaffected. The genus-specific influence of this spring frost event presents a unique opportunity to investigate species-specific physiological responses among red oaks (Q. rubra), red maples (A. rubrum) and sugar maples (A. saccharum). Doing so will increase knowledge of plant community dynamics and their effect on global biogeochemistry in the northeast, as these are three of the most common tree species in the region (Richardson et al. 2009) and there is evidence of an increase in the relative abundance of red maples across the eastern US (Abrams, 1998). Furthermore, although stochastic extreme climate events such as the spring frost have important carbon cycling implications (Príncipe et al. 2017), they are difficult to predict. Thus, through photosynthetic measurements, this research can help directly study the influence of these events on canopy carbon exchange.
Previous research has depicted the damaging effects that spring frost events can have on a forest ecosystem (Vitesse et al. 2014) and how variations in phenology and physiology could impart species-specific responses to such conditions (Hanninen & Tanino 2011, Kim et al. 2014). This study aimed to quantify the differential effects of this late spring frost event on the trends regarding photosynthetic capacity and water-use efficiency of red oaks, red maples and sugar maple trees in the Hudson Highlands Region of New York across the growing season. It was expected that at the start of the growing season, red oaks would have a significantly smaller photosynthetic capacity and efficiency as compared to red maples and sugar maples. Thus, the maples were predicted to increase in competitiveness.
II. Materials and Methodology
From late May through June 2020, leaf-level measurements were made every two weeks and monthly thereafter through September. Morning shotgun sampling was used to obtain branches <1.5 cm diameter from the upper canopy of each tree on each date. To maintain transpiration stream, the lower part of each branch was immediately snipped and submerged into a container of water that rested in the sunlight, allowing the leaves to acclimate to conditions prior to being measured. Gas exchange measurements were conducted within 45 minutes of initial leaf detachment from the tree to allow the leaves on excised branches to maintain constant gas exchange rates for at least one hour.
Leaf level gas exchange measurements, including carbon assimilation (i.e. photosynthesis; A) and stomatal conductance (gsw), were made using the LI-6800 (LI-COR Inc., Lincoln, Nebraska, USA) with the chamber set to saturating light conditions (i.e. 1400 µmoles/m2/s), a temperature of 24-26 °C and 60% relative humidity. This machine uses a mass balance approach and can find the photosynthetic rate, also known as the ‘A’ value, by calculating the net CO2 assimilation of a leaf placed in its chamber. Similarly, it also calculates the stomatal conductance, also known as ‘gsw’ of a leaf, which measures the amount of water vapor exiting through the stomata of a leaf. A and gsw were used to calculate the intrinsic WUE, the WUE of a tree at the leaf level, using the following equation: A/gsw (Medrano et al. 2015).
III. Results
Photosynthesis Rates
The defoliated red oaks had a mean rate of photosynthesis for the growing season that was significantly greater than that of the red maples and sugar maples by 3.8 µmol m-2 s-1 (Fig. 1). The defoliated red oaks and non defoliated red oaks alongside the red maples and sugar maples cannot be statistically compared to each other, as their error bars overlap each other and each other means (Fig. 1). Red maple and sugar maples had nearly the same mean photosynthetic rates (Fig. 1).
Intrinsic Water Use Efficiency Rates
The non defoliated red oaks, otherwise known as the control group, had the highest mean intrinsic water use efficiency of 120.1 µmol CO2/mol H20 across the growing season (Fig. 2). Due to the error bars of the defoliated red oaks, red maples and sugar maples overlapping each other and each other's means, they cannot be statistically compared to one another (Fig. 2). However, the defoliated red oaks did have the lowest, but comparatively moderate, mean water use efficiency of 78.84 µmol CO2/mol H20 (Fig. 2). Similar to their photosynthetic rates, the sugar maples and red maples had nearly identical mean intrinsic water use efficiencies (Fig. 2).
IV. Discussion
Photosynthesis
While the red maples and sugar maples initially had a competitive advantage by breaking bud after the hard freeze event, their photosynthetic rates were eventually overcome by that of the red oaks. Both species behaved nearly identically in the early and late growing season by being initially photosynthetically productive and exhibiting declining productivity by mid growing season.
Intrinsic Water Use Efficiency
Sugar maples and red maples tended to decrease their intrinsic water use efficiency later into the growing season. More specifically, within sites with more arid conditions, including the north site for red maples and headquarters for sugar maples, WUE was declining significantly, portraying the species inability to counteract their sensitivities to ecostress. This decline contradicts the basis that a plant would attempt to increase its water use efficiency when there was limited water availability for photosynthesis (Hatfield & Dold, 2019).
Reasons
The lack of competitiveness and productivity for red maples may have been due to the dry conditions they faced during the latter part of the growing season. Red maples typically decrease productivity when there are drought-like conditions and vapor pressure deficits (Anderson & Ryser, 2015). Hence, it is possible that the red maples shut down their photosynthetic processes by closing their stomata during arid conditions. For the sugar maples, their general inability to deal with the hotter temperatures in the growing season contradicts their typical conservative nature and self-developed resistant mechanisms which allow them to have a long life span (Goldblum & Kennett, 2010). This poses a question regarding the specific temperature sensitivity of photosynthesis within sugar maples, as they may have been focusing more heavily on cooling off then being productive. Overall, the maples chose to hinder photosynthetic processes during hotter temperatures and instead use their energy and water availability to cool down with transpiration.
V. Conclusion
This research demonstrates the wide effects that a spring frost event can have on certain species and overarching community dynamics. The second flush of leaves from the defoliated tree species, which in this case is the red oaks, have enhanced resistance mechanisms in regards to changing environmental conditions and thus are more photosynthetically productive. On the other hand, the species that are unaffected by the freeze event were not able to take proper advantage of their foliated conditions. They retained their original characteristics but were also more susceptible to arid conditions. In the case of this study, the idea that red maples are harmed by drought-like conditions is reinforced, while the idea of sugar maples maintaining relatively consistent physiological habits is variable. Naturally, species with more productivity maintain enhanced intrinsic WUE mechanisms.
There are certain legacy effects for this late spring frost event and others like it in the northeastern US. These events will likely change competition dynamics in an ecosystem, as the second flush of leaves from the defoliated tree species will be younger and stronger. Furthermore, these events will most likely have a complex change on the carbon sequestration of the affected region. There will be an initial significant decrease in net carbon intake due to the negative photosynthetic rates of the defoliated tree species. This may be counteracted, however, by the high rates of photosynthesis provided by the same defoliated tree species later on into the growing season.
References
Abstract: Though sharp-wave ripples have been recorded in the EEG data of the hippocampus of mammals for years, it remains unclear how ripples can contribute to memory for different behaviors.. Sharp wave ripples are one of the most synchronous patterns in the mammalian brain. These waves are most common during non-REM sleep, although they can also be associated with consummatory behaviors. In EEG recordings, these occurrences can be seen as large amplitude negative polarity deflections (40–100 ms) in CA1 stratum radiatum that are associated with a short-lived fast oscillatory pattern of the LFP in the CA1 pyramidal layer, known as “ripples.” The purpose of this study was to investigate the distinction between sleep and awake ripples along with the connection between sharp-wave ripples and specific mammalian behaviors during memory tasks. The hypothesis tested was that SPW-Rs occur when the animal has an experience that will help guide subsequent successful task completion that results in obtaining a desired reward. To conduct the experiment electrophysiological signals were collected from a rat’s hippocampus during various tasks. The data were then analyzed using Neuroscope and compared to a visual recording of the rat’s actions. The data suggest that sharp wave ripples are more likely to occur close to a reward, most often before the reward, and do not have a higher tendency to occur early or late in learning. Future research can further clarify these results and investigate the process by which these ripples occur.
I. Introduction
The thoroughly investigated hippocampus, a region of the brain, is shown to have a pivotal role in learning and consolidation of memory (Bartsch and Wulff, 2015). This complex, elongated structure is embedded deep in the medial temporal lobe, forming part of the limbic system, and known to regulate emotional responses (Anand and Dhikav, 2012; Knierim, 2015). The hippocampus is a plastic structure that may be damaged by several stimuli (Anand and Dhikav, 2012). It can be distinguished externally with a layer of densely packed neurons that curl into a S-shaped structure on the edge of the temporal lobe (Anand and Dhikav, 2012). The hippocampus consists of two parts: Cornu ammonis, or hippocampus proper, and dentate gyrus (DG) (Anand and Dhikav, 2012). These two parts are separated by the hippocampus proper and curve into one another (Anand and Dhikav, 2012). The Cornu ammonis or hippocampus proper is divided into CA1, CA2, CA3, and CA4 (Anand and Dhikav, 2012). The hippocampus is part of the allocortex, or archicortex, and is separated from the neocortex (Anand and Dhikav, 2012). In rodents, the hippocampus is a relatively large, cashew-shaped structure that lies beneath the neocortex (Knierim, 2015). The cross-section of its long axis reveals the hippocampal anatomical connectivity, or the trisynaptic loop (Knierim, 2015). This loop can be described as follows: the entorhinal cortex, composed of two distinct brain regions in rats, provides major cortical input to the hippocampus with strong projections from the performant path to the DG region; the DG region projects to the CA3 region via the mossy fiber pathway; CA3 projects to the CA1 region via the Schaffer Collateral pathway; CA1 projects back to the previously described entorhinal cortex (Knierim, 2015). It should be noted that the connectivity within the transverse axis of the hippocampus is complex, with multiple parallel processing and feedback circuits: the entorhinal complex also directly projects to the CA3 and CA1 regions; CA3 provides a feedback projection to the DG through excitatory mossy cells of the dentate hilus, proving that the hippocampal processing is not exclusively unidirectional (Knierim, 2015). The CA2 unit has its own functions and is regarded as a distinct computational unit similar to the CA3 and CA1 (Knierim, 2015). A copious amount of information is known about the neurophysiology of the hippocampus. The most studied cell of hippocampal neural activity is the place cell (Knierim, 2015). The pyramidal cells, a type of multipolar neuron, of the CA1, CA2, CA3 regions, and the granule cells in the DG, are selectively fired when rats inhabit more than one specific location in an environment, which is the ‘firing field’ or ‘place field’ (Knierim, 2015). Discovering these cells prompted the theory that the hippocampus forms a cognitive map of the environment (Knierim, 2015).
Sharp-wave ripples have been observed in the hippocampus of every species investigated so far including humans (Bragin et al., 1999; Le Van Quyen et al., 2010). These waves are most common during non-REM sleep, although they are also associated with consummatory behaviors during wakefulness. Furthermore, they are the most synchronous events in the mammalian brain and are thus associated with short, impermanent excitability in the hippocampus. The synchronous population events from SPW-Rs are especially significant because they can lead to interictal epileptic discharges if altered erroneously (Suzuki and Smith, 1988; Buzsaki et al., 1989) and the fast ripples are often used as markers for epileptic propensity (Bragin et al., 1999). Additionally, the spike content of SPW-Rs represents sequentially organized neurons similar to those in the walking animal.
While extensive research has covered SPW-Rs in the past, the timing of these events during different stages of learning and in different behavioral tasks remains poorly understood. Therefore, the goal of this project is to evaluate the role of sharp wave ripples in learning and discover the relationship between these ripples and actions of mammals in behavioral tasks. To do this, EEG recordings were collected and analyzed from rats during various behavioral tasks. The hypothesis tested in this study is that SPW-Rs occur when the animal has an experience that will help guide subsequent successful task completion that results in obtaining a desired reward. This research can help fill in the gaps of knowledge regarding mechanisms of learning and memory in diverse mammalian behaviors.
II. Materials and Methods
The data collected from each training session were stored and opened in Neuroscope to be analyzed. NeuroScope is a viewer for displaying various physiological and behavioral data and it allows comparison of analyzed data with the original recordings. NeuroScope allowed the researcher to mark specific occurrences of the sharp wave ripple and then compare those occurrences to the video file to determine the relationship between the actions of the animals and the sharp wave ripple occurrences. To open the files in Neuroscope correctly, input the correct number of channels, sampling rate, and amplification (the amplification can be modified later).
Once the physiological recordings are imported into Neuroscope the first step to analyzing the SPW-Rs is isolating specific channels. Look for channels with ripples and waves to easily see the artifacts. Extraneous channels can be hidden from the “Units” section and important channels can be moved into separate groups to better organize the channels. Next, with the duration set to about 1000 milliseconds, the researcher can begin scanning the data for SPW-Rs. The measure tool can be used to calculate the period between the peaks of the ripples and the duration of the ripples. After creating or loading an event file, new events can be marked for each artifact.
III. Results
After collecting the recordings from a sleeping rat, the data were imported into Neuroscope to be analyzed. The specific channels to be viewed were moved to a separate group and the channels were organized so that the ripples could be seen vertically above or below the sharp waves. In the sleep state, SPW-Rs are much clearer to observe in the channels and more common to find, especially during non-REM sleep. These ripples can be measured with a period of five to seven milliseconds from peak to peak (using the measuring tool), last between 20-100 milliseconds, and are seen adjacent to sharp waves in the lower channels. There were 110 minutes of data collection for the sleep state and the various SPW-Rs throughout the were marked in the event file. During a period of ten minutes during non-REM sleep, thirty SPW-R occurrences were marked. This resulted in a calculated rate of events value of 3.0 SPW-Rs per minute by dividing the number of occurrences over the number of minutes that the ripples spanned over.
IV. Discussion
The first result of this study found that SPW-Rs are more common to find during non-REM sleep states than the awake state in rats. According to the results, there were about 3 occurrences per minute for the sleep state while the rate was only 1.2 for the awake state, suggesting that SPW-Rs occur more often during sleep. Only one trial was analyzed for the sleep state rate, however, this finding conforms to previously believed ideas about the ripples in non-REM sleep.
The next part of this study analyzed the SPW-Rs in relation to a reward during the cheeseboard task. Data was collected from four files and the SPW-Rs were detected and compared to the video of the rat. The data suggest that SPW-Rs are slightly more likely to occur close to a reward (immediately before or after they found and ate the food in the cheese board task) than at other times during the task. Calculating the proportion of ripples in each condition found that ripples occurred close to the reward 56% of the time, just slightly more than ripples not close to the reward. Further research is necessary to draw definitive conclusions from this result however, since many of the events that were considered not close to a reward occurred at moments the rat was not on the cheeseboard and out of view from the camera angle. Thus, further research should be conducted taking into consideration the actions of the rats between the learning tasks when the rats were off the board.
Finally, this study looked at the difference between the number of SPW-Rs in the first training session compared to the second training session to see whether SPW-Rs occurred more in the early or late stages of learning. The data collected show that they are more likely to occur in the first training session, with 57% of ripples occurring in the first session. However, a closer look at the data shows that one file seemed to be an outlier, with 34 occurrences, thus, it is more likely that SPW-Rs occur at the same tendency in the first session as the second session. By eliminating the first trial, the proportion of ripples in the first session averages out to just 52% which is much closer to an equal number of ripples for both sessions. Thus, the null hypothesis fails to be rejected and there is no statistically significant evidence to suggest that SPW-Rs occur more often earlier in learning than later.
V. Conclusion
The purpose of this research was to study the role of sharp wave ripples in learning and discover the relationship between these ripples and the actions of mammals in behavioral tasks. After collecting data from rats during various training sessions, the study was able to support four important findings: (1) SPW-Rs are more common to find during non-REM sleep states than the awake state in rats. (2) SPW-Rs are slightly more likely to occur close to a reward than at other times during the task. (3) SPW-Rs are marginally more likely to occur before a reward is found rather than after the reward. (4) SPW-Rs do not occur more often earlier in learning than later.
Although this study was deliberately planned, every experiment faces some inevitable limitations. Some of these limitations from this experiment include the small sample size, noise from around the silicon probe affecting the data recordings, and the human error involved in analyzing hours of data collection. Inevitably, some events may have been missed. While these limitations are important to address, it is important to note that they are unlikely to have a significant effect on the results of this study.
Future research will be important to confirm the results of this study and further analyze the role of SPW-Rs in memory consolidation. Further research could include learning about the specific biological mechanisms by which SPW-Rs form, the reasoning behind the visual difference between sleep and awake state ripples, and the process by which SPW-Rs spread across the brain from the hippocampus.
References
I. Introduction
Even though Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is the leading cause of disability worldwide impacting over 300 million individuals, early detection and intervention is hindered by the limited knowledge of its underlying mechanisms [1]. One association found to be significant within MDD is the presence of early life stress (ELS), such as sexual abuse [2], emotional abuse [3] and family conflict [4]. However, the biological mechanism linking ELS and MDD are unknown.
Though the volumetric findings appear consistent, an important open question is the functional consequences of these structural differences. In addition to structure, ELS may affect function by influencing glucocorticoid levels. Glucocorticoids are steroid hormones which play a significant role in the onset of stress response mechanisms and regulate brain development, such as neurogenesis, differentiation, and migration [10, 16, 30]. In a healthy person, the HPA stress response results in the secretion of glucocorticoids to promote energy redistribution for recovery of the system and stress adaptation [31, 32]. In this sense, glucocorticoid signaling controls stress reactivity through the inhibition of the HPA axis [33] and alterations in this signaling due to ELS may lead to dysregulation of HPA axis function [34]. Rodent studies measuring mRNA levels of glucocorticoid receptors in the brain have reported a persistent decrease in mRNA expression in areas such as the HIP and AMY[34, 35]. In humans with a history of ELS decreased glucocorticoid DNA extracted from was reported [33]. These reduced glucocorticoid levels due to ELS may impair brain functioning in adults, affecting metabolic activity.
FDG-PET studies can assess cerebral metabolic rate of glucose uptake [36, 37]. An FDG-PET study involving rhesus monkeys with ELS (maternal separation after birth) reported lower HIP brain activity in the monkeys exposed to ELS compared to controls [6]. In humans, a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study also indicated that HPA axis hypo-reactivity after the ELS occurs in adults in a similar manner as seen in animal models [38]. Other human fMRI studies demonstrate that neuronal activity is decreased in the prefrontal‐limbic‐thalamic‐cerebellar circuitry including the AMY in response to stress in adults [5, 39] and in kids [22]. It is thought that activity may be blunted due to ELS because patients adapt to the stressors. However, not all studies have been consistent. For example, hyperreactivity in the AMY following ELS has been shown in other human fMRI studies in adults [15, 16, 40, 41]. Prior studies have found a relationship between ELS and MDD. Figure 4 demonstrates ways in which structural changes and depression are possibly caused due the presence of ELS.
To properly assess the function consequences of ELS within MDD and address these open questions, we propose an analysis of the metabolism of AMY, ACC, HIP, and DLPFC through FDG PET in addition to a structural MRI in MDD patients with and without ELS. We hypothesize that in MDD patients with prior history of ELS, compared to those without ELS, will have a smaller volume/cortical thickness as measured by MRI and decreased metabolism as measured by PET scans in the bilateral DLPFC, ACC, HIP, and AMY. This study would for the first time, assess both structure and function of critical regions of the HPA axis in MDD, while accounting for the common confounder of ELS.
II. Methods and Materials
Clinical Measures
Eligibility: Participants were first screened over the phone by a study team member to determine interest in the study and eligibility. Participants were then asked to visit the laboratory and assessed by a clinician (psychiatric nurse or psychiatrist) and a rater (psychologist or trained staff). The rater completed the clinical interview for current and lifetime psychiatric diagnosis (SCID-IV) substance use disorders, eating disorders, psychotic disorders, anxiety disorders, covering mood disorders, and somatoform disorders [58] and MADRS.
Eligible participants were scheduled for a simultaneous positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance (PET/MR) scan with the fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) tracer (see below for methods) on a Siemens Biograph mMR. As FDG is an analogue of sugar, it gets taken up to a greater extent in regions of the brain with higher metabolic activity. This study examined T1 weighted MRO (for thickness/volume) and FDG-PET (for metabolism) imaging only.
Within 7 days of imaging, participants completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) [59]. The presence of ELS was established by have a subscale score of ‘none’ (0), ‘low’ (1), ‘moderate’ (2) or ‘severe’ (3) in one or more groups of emotional abuse, emotional neglect, physical abuse, physical neglect, and sexual abuse as seen in Table 1. Total CTQ was divided into 2 groups: ‘none to low’ and ‘moderate to severe’.
Statistical Analysis
Covariates: A chi-squared test with exact p-values based on Monte Carlo simulation was used to examine the marginal association between the categorical variable (sex) and ELS (4 levels). Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to compare unadjusted marginal differences for any continuous covariates (age, age2 [to account for a potential non-linear relationship between variables and age], total childhood trauma severity) as well as continuous outcome variables (thickness in ACC/DLPFC, volume in HIP/AMY/ACC/DLPFC, metabolism in HIP/AMY/ACC/DLPFC) among three or more groups (4 levels of ELS (0 vs. 1 vs. 2 vs. 3)). A Wilcoxon rank sum test was used to compare unadjusted marginal differences for the continuous variable (total childhood trauma severity) across the categorical variable (sex). Spearman rank correlation coefficient was used to measure the linear relationship between the continuous outcome variables and total childhood trauma severity.
Models: Multiple linear regression models were utilized to examine (1) the differences between discrete levels of childhood trauma for each outcome variable (thickness in bilateral ACC/DLPFC, volume in bilateral HIP/AMY/ACC/DLPFC, metabolism in bilateral HIP/AMY/ACC/DLPFC) (2) the relationships between each outcome variable and continuous total childhood trauma severity, after controlling for age, age2 and sex. A two-way interaction between ELS level (discrete) and brain region or total childhood trauma severity (continuous) and brain region were examined first. If no significant results were found, then individual variables were considered in the linear mixed models. Age, age2 and sex were adjusted for in the model, and a Compound Symmetric variance-covariance structure for the longitudinal measurements was selected based on Akaike Information Criteria (AIC). Other variance-covariance structures considered included Unstructured and Autoregressive. Pairwise comparisons between levels of early life stress were reported. Statistical analysis was performed using SAS 9.4 and significance level was set at 0.05 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC). To examine the relationship between structure and function, the Spearman Correlation coefficient was calculated between metabolic rate of glucose uptake and either thickness or metabolism of each region.
III. Results
Categorical Analysis
Of the variables shown in Figure 5, three showed significant differences across ELS levels (Table 3). DLPFC thickness differences were driven by significant differences between low and moderate childhood trauma levels as well as between low and severe levels. Metabolism in the ACC was only significantly different between none and low levels, while metabolism in the DLPFC was significantly different between none and low as well as between none and moderate.
Structure vs Function
We additionally wanted to determine whether there was a correlation between the structural and functional components of each of the four areas. Figure 7 presents a direct significant correlation between metabolism and thickness in the DLPFC (p=.006). Volume in this area was not significant with metabolism, nor was thickness or volume in any of the other regions.
IV. Discussion
Cortical Thickness vs Cortical Volume
In this work, both cortical thickness and volume of the ACC and DLPFC were examined. Both point to different properties. Cortical thickness and surface area measurements are independent globally and regionally. These two measurements are also genetically and phenotypically uncorrelated. Grey matter volume contains aspects of both traits but is more genetically and environmentally correlated to surface area. As a result, volume is likely to be influenced by some combination of these genetic factor, indicating that area or thickness measurements would be advantageous to volume for gene discovery [66].
However, volume measurements are generally more reliable than thickness measurements as they are highly correlated with head size, whereas thickness is not [67]. Volume-based techniques may also be advantageous for multivariate analysis that include voxel-based functional imaging such as PET and fMRI.
Cortical Regions: Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex
Following AMY activation, stress is regulated by the prefrontal cortex [10] which not only maintains homeostasis, but also assists in the detection of threats [11]. The ACC is a region that connects the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system and holds a crucial role in emotional regulation. In this study, ACC and DLPFC volume were not associated with CT, either in the categorical or the continuous analysis. However, DLPFC thickness and metabolism were significantly different across some of the categories of childhood trauma. The lack of linear association with childhood trauma may suggest that DLPFC is more susceptible to any level of trauma, regardless of severity.
Relatedly, DLPFC thickness (but not volume) and metabolism showed a significant correlation. The prefrontal cortex is heavily involved in executive function, attention, and memory. Additionally, the DLPFC is one of the last cortical regions to mature functionally and structurally.
It is important, however, to note that statistical significance does not imply clinical significance. The significant differences in DLPFC thickness ranged from 0.08 to 0.10 mm. For metabolism, differences ranged from 0.72 to 0.87. As such, the functional consequences may be more relevant to therapy targets.
The magnitude of significant difference in ACC metabolism is like that of the DLPFC (0.70); however, is only evident between those with no childhood trauma a low levels of childhood trauma. Interestingly, average ACC metabolism the low childhood trauma group appears significantly lower than that the other groups (Figure 5). However, examining the plot in comparison to metabolism in the other regions reveals the same general trend in which metabolism of the cohort without childhood trauma is highest on average, and the other cohorts appear to have similar ranges. In this context, ACC metabolism, like DLPFC metabolism may be sensitive to any level of childhood trauma.
V. Conclusions
It is critically important to examine the effects of CT within MDD, because of the high prevalence of CT within MDD. Without understanding this relationship, MDD-control comparisons will be confounded by effects of CT. This may explain equivocal results on structural differences examined in MDD to date. This study demonstrated functional and structural changes associated with CT and MDD. Among the regions, exhibited both differences in thickness and metabolism with CT, as well as a strong structure/function relationship, suggesting it might be an important treatment target for prevention of MDD following CT.
References:
Abstract: Gender, labor and race historians have made a strong case for space as a social construct. A Foucauldian framework of analysis of space has allowed historians to reveal histories of the subaltern, which are otherwise often ignored. Interactions in space are social relations, as individuals relate to the space around them in response to other individuals and societal norms. Even so, the materiality of space cannot be understated, as the built space impacts how those interactions are produced and unfold. The consideration of the materiality of space as an additional layer to social space, make spatial history a more effective and illuminating methodological approach.
Keywords: space theory, societal construct, social space, gender, labor, and history
Although historian Leif Jerram has criticized historians for overusing imagined space, stating that space is the material physicality of location, gender, labor, and race, historians have used space as a social construct to successfully unearth otherwise hidden transcripts of power relations and resistance [1]. Rather than looking at ‘imagined space’ as in competition with ‘built space,’ a layered definition of space must be adopted. As Sewell has argued, space is imagined, experienced, and built [2]. Discursive imagined space can be defined as the ways in which individuals understand their environment, while experienced space is the ‘material interactions between people and their environment’ [2]. Finally, the built environment can be defined as the physical structures that occupy spaces [2]. These overlapping layers must be examined through a social constructivist Foucauldian lens, as space is fundamentally interlinked with the production and reproduction of ‘economic, political, and cultural power,’ and the reaction of those in power and of the subaltern to that power [3]. This relationship of space with power means that ‘spatial relations are social relations’ [4]. The extent to which spatial theory has effectively been applied by labour, gender, and race relations historians must be examined to establish its use in the discipline of history.
Capitalism and Class Division
When space is considered through the socially constructivist lens, individuals who would otherwise be seen as passive become agents, since the ways in which they relate to space impacts that space. This is especially evident when labors’ relations to space are considered. Lefebvre argued that space is produced socially by the hegemonic class, asserting their dominance in society [4]. Thus capital becomes the ‘primary maker of the geography of capitalism.’ [5] Lefebvre’s theory was influenced by his Marxist approach, which became popular in economic geography in the 1970s in questioning the relationship between capital and space [5]. Lefebvre’s focus on economic geography does not give enough agency to subaltern people existing and resisting within such elite-dominated spaces. In contrast, Herod has argued that in response to capitalist space, workers construct landscapes in a way which increases their social power and diminishes the power of capital [5]. Judith Butler similarly argued that public protests not only take place in the built space, but they also “reconfigure the materiality of space.” By occupying spaces controlled by capital and those in power, the subaltern ‘performatively lay claim’ to the space and assert their right to it.
The reclaiming and coopting of space by workers in times of strikes has been explored by Percy. By comparing strikes in early twentieth century Chicago and London, Percy found that workers asserted their existence and attracted attention to their cause by claiming public space [3]. Their alternative use of public space strengthened collective action as it impacted how they related to one another, strengthening working-class consciousness and solidarity. People understand space in relation to other people, even as the physicality of the space also impacts their relationship to space. For example, there were some crucial differences in how the strikes played out in London and Chicago due to the different physical configurations of these urban spaces. In Chicago, the grid street layout allowed strikes to spread faster and made maintaining picket lines easier. In contrast, the web of streets in London meant that workers used parades and mass meetings for more effective resistance [3]. In this case study, space was produced socially as strikers constructed an alternative public sphere in which they asserted their right to be in middle-class neighborhoods and to dominate the streets. Percy demonstrates how the materiality of space impacted that production. This demonstrates the effectiveness of thinking about space predominantly as socially constructed, but also considering built space.
Gender and Conceptualization of Women
Historians of gender have also made effective arguments for space as a social construct. Traditionally, public space has been constructed as belonging to men, with women being confined to the private sphere. Women breaking this barrier by entering public spaces was often thus seen as a trespass, both by those who sought to police them, and by women themselves. For example, in Chicago in the late nineteenth century, public drinking was seen as a masculine act, with only ‘disreputable’ women drinking in public [6]. Only the rise of commercial gender segregated spaces, gave upper and middle-class women the ability the ability to drink and push the boundaries of the private sphere. Such spaces still belonged predominantly to white, middle-class women, as African American women were often barred from entering them, as were working-class women [6]. This demonstrates the extent to which capital does play in a role in space formation, as Lefebvre has argued. The rise of consumerism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries led to the creation of spaces which expanded the private sphere into the public one for women, demonstrate the power capital plays in determining spatial relations, even though such relations remain socially constructed.
Due to the conceptualization of women as belonging to the private sphere, women striking in public spaces has traditionally been treated both more severely and seriously. During the Polish Solidarity resistance strikes in Lodz in 1980, women marched with strollers and babies. These women not only claimed the physical public space, but also impacted how that space was imagined (both by them and others) by bringing objects of motherhood and the traditional private sphere into the public. As a result, the march in which they participated in was one of the most successful actions of the Solidarity Movement. The success of this march was predicated on a societal understanding of the streets as a public space in which mothers did not belong. By examining women in the Solidarity movement and their interactions with space, Kenney unearthed how women used popular understanding of public space to their advantage, reconfiguring the streets into sites of protest which shocked authorities and led to positive action.
Although Rosa Parks has been the traditional image of the American Civil Rights Movement, Kelley used space as a social construct in order to reveal an otherwise hidden transcript of resistance [7]. Kelley’s examination of space has broadened the understanding of historians about the Civil Rights Movement, leading Hall to conclude that there was a ‘Long Civil Rights Movement’ which spanned decades rather than beginning and ending in the 1960s. Kelley used police reports to analyze how public transportation in Birmingham, Alabama in the 1940s became a theatre of daily resistance [7]. Driven by white drivers and policed by them and by white passengers, the bus was a white space in which race relations were rigidly maintained. Drivers controlled who entered the supposedly public space, often passing by black passengers at stops [7]. Further, the space was hierarchical, as black passengers were forced to sit at the back of the bus or to stand. Kelley found that in response, black passengers would often speak loudly and cause a ruckus, aiming to make the white passengers, who were trapped in that space for the duration of the ride, uncomfortable [7]. Police records showed that black passengers could be arrested for any action that asserted their right to being in the space – from making noise, to sitting in the white-only seating area, to arguing with fellow white passengers or the bus driver [7]. Such resistance aligns with Butler’s theories about ‘performatively laying claim’ to space in the struggle for freedom [9]. Kelley’s analysis of the bus as a socially constructed space which reflected and reproduced the race relations present in American society deepens our understanding of those race relations, reconfiguring the struggle for Civil Rights from landmark moments like the March on Washington to the everyday spaces of black working-class resistance, like the bus.
Further, the eventual seeming acceptance of segregation in the United States by white middle-class people is also deepened by a spatial analysis predicated on social construction. Kruse found that white middle-class Americans in Atlanta in 1950s and 1960s responded to the desegregation of ‘public’ spaces by deciding they no longer wanted to participate in such spaces [8]. As a result, cities like Atlanta seemingly accepted desegregation – as a result of the reconfiguration of how public spaces were imagined. White middle-class Americans retreated to the private sphere and moved out of urban centers to the suburbs, essentially re-segregating cities. There was also an economic dimension to this conception of space, as white Americans refused to pay their tax dollars to spaces which African Americans could also use [8]. In contrast, the white working-class virulently remained opposed to desegregation because they used public spaces and did not have the economic power to leave them [8]. Desegregation thus exacerbated the divide between middle and working-class whites. Kruse’s analysis upends the narrative of the successful Civil Rights Movement leading to the sudden end of segregation and change in opinions of white Americans, demonstrating that just as the African American struggle for freedom was a constant for decades, so was the white resistance to that struggle.
Conclusion
Ultimately, gender, labor and race historians have made a strong case for space as a social construct. A Foucauldian framework of analysis of space has allowed historians to reveal histories of the subaltern, which are otherwise often ignored. Interactions in space are social relations, as individuals relate to the space around them in response to other individuals and societal norms. Even so, the materiality of space cannot be understated, as the built space impacts how those interactions are produced and unfold. The consideration of the materiality of space as an additional layer to social space, make spatial history a more effective and illuminating methodological approach.
References
Abstract: The political sensitivity of the region in turn propagates the popularity of political interpretations for literature from Xinjiang. When reading Uyghur poetry from the likes of Tahir Hamut, Perhat Tursun, or Ghojimuhemmed Muhemmed, it is difficult to divorce ones thinking from the political reality that defines everything in Xinjiang. Literature gives a lens to culture and reality, and concerning Uyghur Misty/ Gungga/ Menglong poets there are interesting viewpoints on the political value and implications of their works. This paper will seek to outline how the political intentions of these gungga poets are interpreted. An ethno-religious reading of these authors will be called into question while an argument for a political community consciousness of issues will be put forth. This will be mostly done through an analysis of various gungga works in this paper.
Keywords: Uyghur, poetry, Gungga movement, Elegy, and linguistics
I. Introduction
The political instability of the Uyghur situation within the People’s Republic of China is something that is front page news across the globe. The resource rich and vast territory of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is one that is crucial not only for the territorial integrity of the Chinese nation but a keystone for Chinese aspirations in the international field–especially with the New Silk Road initiative put forth by Xi Jinping in recent years. The wealth of this region is unevenly shared with dissatisfaction high among the Uyghurs of the region. The nationwide issues that spring forth from economic growth, modernization, and the control of the Communist Party are intensified in Xinjiang because of the volatile situation present. This results in the unwavering iron grip that the Chinese Communist Party exerts on the native populations of the province [1]. In the crusade to rid the region of “dangerous” elements, the Chinese Communist Party has recently sought to rid the province of “dangerous” people–the destruction of a people seems to be simply a means to an end for the pacification of Xinjiang under the Chinese Communist Party.
II. Thoughts on Poetic Interpretations
This paper will try to evaluate different interpretations of Uyghur poems, and Uyghur modern poetry in general, and the political lenses used to do so. Therefore, it is important to define “poetic interpretation” and “political significance.”
When it comes to poetic interpretation there is conflict on what is considered a “valid” assessment of aesthetics and message. While American literary critic E.D. Hirsch sees “the author's intention….is the ultimate determiner of meaning,” [2] there are viewpoints that are more pluralistic and relativistic. 20th Century German philosopher Martin Heidegger saw “the direct subjective experience of a work of art as essential to an individual's aesthetic interpretation” [2]. There is only one correct interpretation of a work and it coincides with the creator’s vision to the idea that everyone’s approach to art is different and each of those approaches are valid. These different schools of thought are important as the political nature of these misty Uyghur poems are very much up to the reader’s discretion.
This focus on the fluid nature of poetic interpretation is really emphasized here because of the fact that depending on where one lies on the spectrum, one’s take away from Modernist Uyghur poetry through a political lens really shifts. Also, this is mentioned as a disclaimer because who is right and who is wrong in their readings of poetry are really more or less up to interpretation.
Similar vagueness arises when the idea of what is “political” is considered. There is a language of vague analogies concerning the definition of political as the term seems to be all encompassing yet ever so specific and defined. Aristotle advanced the thesis that human beings are by nature political animals [3]. Going off this tangent, this paper therefore considers “political significance” to include the way people interact in the social realm. Aristotle’s viewpoint shows the tendency to fold the social into the political. Using this in modern contexts, the social spaces and community consciousness that literature creates will be considered political.
III. Usage of Sufi Allusions for the Creation of a New Identity
When it comes to the crossroads of what is “political” and the Uyghur gungga poets, Darren Byler of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Washington posits a fascinating view of a kind of pro-active modernist self-determination pursued by these avant-garde authors. Drawing from the Sufi-branch Islamic allusions and styles used by the authors Tahir Hamut and Perhat Tursun in some of their poems, Byler brings up how these poets are trying to redefine and give cultural capital to a novel modern image of Uyghur Identity [4].
Sufiism is the mystical cousin of more orthodox forms of Islam and was a school of religious thought that produced some of the most well-known minds of the Islamic World. Traditional Uyghur literature is highly intertwined with both Sufiism and the Persian language Sufiism was often communicated through [4]. The mystical nature of Sufiism allowed for more space for syncretic practices from other religions and therefore is also highly connected to folk culture in the Uyghur context, where Sufi saints form a core pillar of Uyghur folklore. Because Sufiism was centered on the individual and god, the Sufi literati across the Persianate world were relaxed concerning religious dogma and prescription–especially concerning alcohol.
Because of the moderate nature of the Sufi ideology and the high prestige it carries in Uyghur society, Byler argues that Perhat Tursun and Tahir Hamut reference the Sufi cultural legacy of Uyghur literature through appeals to Sufi figures and symbols as well as the Persian ghazal poetic form [4]. This is done in order to incorporate and render palatable poetry on the modern urban and rural Uyghur experience within the social context of Uyghur society [4].
All these modernist Sufi elements are very much present in the poem Elegy by Perhat Tursun. The repetition of the phrase “Do you know I am with you” as well as the referring back to the author in the last line are stylistic choices influenced from Persian ghazal meter [4], while the reference to the Chagatai poet Elishir Nawa’i is direct reference to an important Sufi figure and his viewpoint.
“Your soul is the entire world.’ Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
Among the corpses that froze in exodus over the icy
mountain pass, can you recognize me?
The brothers we asked to shelter us took our clothes.
Go by there even now and you will find our naked corpses.
When they force me to accept the massacre as love
Do you know that I am with you.
In those times when drinking wine was a graver sin than
drinking blood, do you know the taste of the flour
ground in the blood-turned mill?
The wine that Elishir Nawa’i deliriously dreamed up was
modeled on the flavor of my blood.
In that infinitely mysterious drunkenness’s deepest levels
Do you know that I am with you” [10].
The Poem opens with a reference to Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha, openly evoking the Buddhist past of the Uyghurs before their conversion, while also highlighting the openness of the Sufi mindset. The intoxication of life is highlighted, and framed as something natural and native through the usage classical references [4]. Byler sees these messages as prescriptive pushes to promote a cosmopolitan Uyghur identity that marries the past and promotes spirituality but not necessarily religious dogma.
Modern Uyghur society had been under the influence of the Chinese Socialist Realist school of nationality for the past half century, and this had a significant impact on the literature and the ethnic mythology of the Uyghur people. The economic liberalization of the Deng years, along with the global rise of political Islam away from the Arab core of the Islamic world, has also offered another highly influential vision of Uyghur identity. This instability on what is a “Uyghur”, whether centered on ethno-nationalism within the Chinese family or reformist religiosity, is something that Byler claims the gungga poets are trying to solve by promoting a middle way with traditional a traditional Uyghur Sufi world view, between state mandated atheistic nationalism and foreign religious orthodoxy [4].
Byler puts forth the political nature of Uyghur poetry as something coherent, rooted, and yet not conservative. There is a strong argument that the gungga poets appeal to the Sufi past in order to justify the creation of a space where the Uyghurs are autonomous in their self-definition.
IV. Diversity of Uyghur Poetry and Politics
While all these poets are united in certain factors–they are more comfortable in Uyghur than Mandarin in nearly all fields, they draw heavily from the western tradition, they came of age during the years when Deng Xiaoping’s reforms were gaining momentum–all these factors are a result of the fact that they all hail from more or less the same generation. This fact brings up a reality that beyond the style of Gungga poetry, the inclusion of very contemporary subject matter, it is very hard to assign a political archetype that unites all the modernist Uyghur poets [6]. The unity of goals and motivations are assumed by Byler in his modernist Sufi readings of gungga poetry, which calls into question the wider applicability or even accuracy of his conclusions. The aligning of a literary style with politics or a worldview, might be a stretch.
In response to ideas published by Byler, Uyghur language specialist and translator Joshua Freeman of Harvard University is not convinced of the explicit political implications of Sufi allegory in gungga rhetoric–or any universal political message as a matter of fact.
Sufi imagery comes up occasionally in gungga poetry (e.g., in Perhat Tursun's Elegy), but it's not really a central theme in the genre. Some gungga poets do claim the Sufi poet Mashrab as a spiritual or poetic ancestor in a similar manner to the way Nawa’i was appealed to in Elegy, but by the same token these gungga poets would also claim poets “like Baudelaire or Pound as a poetic ancestor” [6]. There is a strong case for Freeman’s claim that “…Sufism is honestly a bit overemphasized in a lot of what has been written on Uyghur modernist poetry” [6]. It is arguable that when it comes to form, avant gardeness, and perspective, these modernist poets are as much students of Herman Hesse–who is quoted in the opening line of Elegy– or Franz Kafka as they are of Mashrab or Nawa’i–who is beckoned for in the closing line of Elegy.
While Byler reasons that there is a specific political motivation for the Sufi influences that are present in gungga poetry–the rendering of modern concepts into a form more familiar to the audience– Freeman again does not see the poets as having that focused of an agenda. Uyghur or not, it is hard to think of a catch-all answer to the question of why modernist poets sometimes use traditional forms:
“After all, "traditional" poetry is almost always among the influences of any modernist poet, and there's nothing preventing a modernist from drawing on those influences. In the case of Uyghur gungga poets in the 1980s and '90s, there was also sometimes an attempt to prove one's Uyghur bona fides by writing in traditional forms” [6].
Freeman pushes forth the idea that a Uyghur poet drawing on his roots, is not necessarily inherently a politically significant in the way Byler want it to be.
It should be of note that Byler draws his conclusions not out of thin air but from ground work in Xinjiang as an anthropologist. The political leanings that Byler highlights are very much present in Uyghur society. Freeman is not exactly negating the political message but the idea that it is gungga poetry that carries it. This becomes clearer when Freeman’s view point that there really is not any particular world view or political motivation that onw could generalize to gungga poets. A literary style does not overlap neatly with politics and worldviews:
“Much the same way that Auden was a liberal humanist, Eliot a conservative, and Pound a fascist sympathizer—yet all three were prominent anglophone modernists in the early to mid-twentieth century. Some (I'd say most) gungga poets are liberals, as that is defined in a Uyghur context, while others are religious conservatives. I'm not persuaded that gungga poets as a group are trying to put forward a new identity for Uyghurs, though of course individual poets and even groups of poets have their own ideas on identity, society, etc” [6].
While the modern Sufi vision of misty/gungga Uyghur poetry is possibly valid and fascinating, the defining of the political significance of these authors based on a supposed proactive prescriptivist world view is unsatisfactory.
V. Reality and Merit of Political Voice
The shaky territory on which the Sufi self-determinist lens of Uyghur poetry stands is obvious and this hesitancy extends to the idea of a unified drive for the creation of a new Uyghur identity. This, however, does not mean that Elegy by Tahir Hamut, or any of the other Uyghur gungga works, are not political. Going back to the socially intertwined idea of what constitutes the “political” derived from Aristotle mentioned earlier in this paper, the political lens of Uyghur poetry is still relevant and applicable–it just might not be Sufi modernist.
The political does not require poetry to be a tool for social activism–as it would be according to Byler’s Sufi analysis– but includes the creation of dialogue and a community consciousness of issues relevant to the community in question. This lens of a community consciousness of issues was used by reaserchers Rebecca A. Clotheya, Emmanuel F. Kokub, Erfan Erkina, and Husenjan Emata in an expansive survey of Uyghur language blog posts and literature published online. While this lens of analysis of Uyghur language works has not been used beyond the online world, the value of using this lens in the analysis and evaluation of political voice in Uyghur gungga literature is elucidating.
In Tahir Hamut’s Return to Kashgar the modernization and social change of his hometown is portrayed through a distinctly Uyghur point of view–a point of view tied to his memories of and membership in the community of old Kashgar. Because many of the misty poems communicate the daily lives and struggles of ordinary Uyghurs in the current landscape of Xinjiang, these poems are creating a social space of political consciousness and unity that is defined and adapted to the modern world. Even when poems are not fully explicitly set in the modern world, as in Ghojimuhemmed Muhemmed’s Chronicle of an Excecution, they provide an active critique of the society:
“The past that advances shouting Charge!
The odes sung by souls entering and leaving
to doors opening and doors closing
Distant graves approaching
Girls never seen twice and beds seen many times
Water in the blood, bread in the flesh, vows in the bone
A sword striking a head, a noose lain round a neck, bullets into the chest
And what comes before his eyes in the final breath
is a chain called homeland, an enemy called his people
And the beautiful life for which he longed
is the flower garden he has laid waste”
The distinctly Uyghur point of view is not social activism or identity construction, but the communication of the reality of living in Uyghur society. The distance between the religious conservatism and mysticism of Uyghur society and the authors own life in this case is a vocalization of how the clash of old and new effects the normal Uyghur.
The gunnga modernist Uyghur poetry style expresses the idea of the authors and of society in general, it seems that the goal is not social activism or the overthrow of authority but the creation of a consciousness within the community of issues relevant to them [1]. Many of the gunnga poems address issues such as the Uyghur society and modernization, gentrification, urban isolation, and social shift. While these poems might not be trying to a new political Uyghur identity, they are inherently political because they are calling attention to relevant issues.
VI. Conclusion
In order for Uyghur poetry to have a political voice it is not necessary for it to have a coherent message or a political goal. The shifting of the analysis of political voice, in terms of poetry, from one focused on the supposed aimed goals to one that is focused on the sake of the voicing of experience is one that can be applied to the mists of gunnga poetry.
Misty poetry by its very nature is vague but not necessarily removed from the political. Considering the lengths the Chinese Communist Party has gone to rid the region of problematic individuals, the voicing of societal problems in poetry is a distinctly political action in Xinjiang among the Uyghurs. Misty poetry is a style that does not line up with world views and politics, and the diversity of the group makes it hard to point towards a coherent political narrative. Yet, the lack of political coherence of the style does not mean the works lack merit in political interpretation. Gunnga poetry should not be viewed as a coherent movement of social activism, but as helping in the creation of community consciousness for relevant issues–an activity that is has become ever more dangerous over time.
References
[1] Clothey, Rebecca A., Emmanuel F. Koku, Erfan Erkin, and Husenjan Emat. "A Voice for the Voiceless: Online Social Activism in Uyghur Language Blogs and State Control of the Internet in China." Information, Communication & Society19, no. 6 (2015): 858-74. doi:10.1080/1369118x.2015.1061577.
[2] Thomson, Iain. "Heidegger's Aesthetics." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. February 04, 2010. Accessed December 9, 2018. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/heidegger-aesthetics/#SymSub.
[3] Etzioni, Amitai. "What Is Political?" George Washington University.
[4] Byler, Darren. "Claiming the Mystical Self in New Modernist Uyghur Poetry." Contemporary Islam12, no. 2 (2018): 173-92. doi:10.1007/s11562-018-0413-2.
[5] Freeman, Joshua L. "Two Poems by Perhat Tursun: "Morning Feeling," "Elegy"." Academia.edu - Share Research. Accessed December 22, 2018. https://www.academia.edu/6984747/Two_Poems_by_Perhat_Tursun_Morning_Feeling_Elegy_
[6] "Freeman01@g.harvard.edu." E-mail message to author.
[7] Muhemmed, Ghojimuhemmed. "Magazine." Words Without Borders. Accessed December 22, 2018. https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/article/march-2016-new-uyghur-poetry-chronicle-of-execution-ghojimuhemmed-muhemmed.
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