On the Teaching of Science, Technology and International Affairs

Despite the ubiquity and critical importance of science and technology in international affairs, their role receives insufficient attention in traditional international relations curricula. There is little literature on how the relations between science, technology, economics, politics, law and culture should be taught in an international context. Since it is impossible even for scientists to master all the branches of natural science and engineering that affect public policy, the learning goals of students whose primary training is in the social sciences should be to get some grounding in the natural sciences or engineering, to master basic policy skills, to understand the basic concepts that link science and technology to their broader context, and to gain a respect for the scientific and technological dimensions of the broader issues they are addressing. They also need to cultivate a fearless determination to master what they need to know in order to address policy issues, an open-minded but skeptical attitude towards the views of dueling experts, regardless of whether they agree with their politics, and (for American students) a world-view that goes beyond a strictly U.S. perspective on international events. The Georgetown University program in Science, Technology and International Affairs (STIA) is a unique, multi-disciplinary undergraduate liberal arts program that embodies this approach and could be an example that other institutions of higher learning might adapt to their own requirements

The role of stereotactic radiosurgery in the multimodal management of growth hormone–secreting pituitary adenomas

Growth hormone (GH)–secreting pituitary adenomas represent a common source of GH excess in patients with acromegaly. Whereas surgical extirpation of the culprit lesion is considered first-line treatment, as many as 19% of patients develop recurrent symptoms due to regrowth of previously resected adenomatous tissue or to continued growth of the surgically inaccessible tumor. Although medical therapies that suppress GH production can be effective in the management of primary and recurrent acromegaly, these therapies are not curative, and lifelong treatment is required for hormonal control. Stereotactic radiosurgery has emerged as an effective adjunctive treatment modality, and is an appealing alternative to conventional fractionated radiation therapy. The authors reviewed the growing body of literature concerning the role of radiosurgical procedures in the treatment armamentarium of acromegaly, and identified more than 1350 patients across 45 case series. In this review, the authors report that radiosurgery offers true hormonal normalization in 17% to 82% of patients and tumor growth control in 37% to 100% of cases across all series, while minimizing adverse complications. As a result, stereotactic radiosurgery represents a safe and effective treatment option in the multimodal management of primary or recurrent acromegaly secondary to GH-secreting pituitary adenomas

The Marketing of Closed-End Fund IPOs

This study investigates a well-documented enigma in the finance literature, the aftermarket behavior of closed-end fund initial public offerings (IPOs). Many models with rational agents attribute the underpricing of industrial IPOs to information asymmetry between the IPO issues and the investing public. Since closed-end funds typically do not have pre-existing assets or proprietary rights, there is little information asymmetry about their asset valuation. Consequently, these models suggest that closed-end funds should exhibit less underpricing than industrial IPOs. However, information asymmetry theories cannot explain why closed-end funds are successfully brought to market overpriced. Specifically, closed-end funds are overpriced at issue relative to their net asset values (NAVs) due to substantial underwriting fees that average approximately 8% of total issue size. The study investigates these anomalies and describes regulatory and institutional mechanisms that contribute to the pattern of aftermarket returns. The authors perform an intraday analysis of aftermarket trades and quotes in the first 100 days of trading. They find that underwriting arrangements, identified during discussions with underwriters, help to explain not only the their primary observations, but also several unusual patterns in the transactions data. The authors show that the vast majority of volume in the first four weeks of trading is seller-initiated. Since short selling is not possible during this time period, the selling imbalance confirms the presence of flippers. However, these imbalances do not immediately translate into price declines. As the number of issues that are stabilized declines over time, the proportion of issues trading at unencumbered, market-determined prices increases. The authors also provide evidence that underwriters manage the cost of stabilizing by creating a net short position in the number of shares issued during the pre-market. Selling imbalance in the first few trading days has predictive power for the timing of subsequent price decline: the faster the short position is covered through stabilizing purchases, the sooner the price drops. Funds that exercise the over-allotment option experience longer stabilization periods. The authors document that seller-initiated trades are both larger and more profitable than buyer-initiated trades in the after market period. Small investors who buy shares in the aftermarket engage in open market transactions that they believe are at unencumbered prices. The authors believe that their findings support a marketing hypothesis for closed-end fund IPOs. To protect their reputation and improve the likelihood of a successful offer, lead underwriters promise to stabilize prices in the aftermarket, essentially granting free put options with a strike price equal to the offer price. The stabilization bid provides the opportunity for some syndicate members to sell large blocks to flippers during the pre-issue period. The number and size of sell orders in the first few days of trading show that a sizable number of these traders exercise this options and flip their shares back to the syndicate. The size of the trades suggest that they are small, retail customers. The legality of this scenario appears to be within the guidelines of current securities regulation The authors speculate that flippers are wiling to participate because of other inducements they receive through their ongoing relationships with underwriters. On the cost side, underwriters may incur significant costs from flipping and protracted stabilization. However, the cost of stabilization may well be offset by the benefits of assuring a successful initial distribution. Small investors face substantial information processing costs and may be highly susceptible to "marketing" tactics. The authors believe their findings raise questions about the adequacy of current disclosure rules for IPOs, and the propriety of securities regulation that permit short term stabilization in closed-end fund IPO aftermarkets. They also suggest that similar patterns of selling pressure, price stabilization, and asymmetric behavior between large and small trades may be found in two other securities - master limited partnerships and real estate investment trusts.

Sociobiology and the Law: The Biology of Altruism in the Courtroom of the Future

A Review of Sociobiology and the Law: The Biology of Altruism in the Courtroom of the Future by John H. Beckstro

Available to All, Produced By Few: The Economic and Cultural Impact of Europe’s Digital Single Market Strategy Within The Audiovisual Industry

Currently, Europeans traveling abroad confront frustrations when trying to access their subscriptions to Internet streaming services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime. Often, their attempts to access a movie or show are met with a message stating something along the lines of: “We are sorry. This content is not available in your country or territory.” In the vernacular of the audiovisual industry, their content is “geo-blocked” in that nation. This is due to the fact that, under the European Union’s current regulatory framework, producers of audiovisual content finance and distribute their shows in a system based on territorial exclusivity. Territorial exclusivity entails selling exclusive broadcast rights for audiovisual content to specific broadcasters and online platforms on a territory-by-territory or country-by-country basis. However, this may all be changing soon for the European Union. In May 2015, the European Commission announced its plan for a Digital Single Market, a multifaceted proposal aiming to tear down regulatory and geo-blocking walls between the European Union’s Member States and to create a single, pan-European online market. This Note explores the potential financial and cultural implications of this DSM strategy for the film and television industries in the European Union and the United States. The benefits of a pan-European territory for audiovisual content distribution rights will be immediately clear to consumers.Cross-border portability and availability of subscriptions, movies, and shows will likely be applauded. However, this Note suggests the potential costs of such a unification effort, although less immediately evident, may be substantial. In particular, cultural diversity within the European Union and the ability of smaller nations’ audiovisual industry players to compete may suffer if the costs of production and distribution increase to a pan-European scale. Throughout the growth and development of the European Union, there has been a struggle between concerns for harmonization and unification among the Member States and concerns for the preservation of unique cultural identities and diversity. The debate over the DSM is a microcosm of this balancing act, the latest chapter of an ongoing tension to define to what lengths the EU should go in unifying its Members. The European Commission’s ultimate determination of how to enact the DSM will signal how they currently prioritize these competing considerations

Dissipation in Compressible MHD Turbulence

We report results of a three dimensional, high resolution (up to 512^3) numerical investigation of supersonic compressible magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. We consider both forced and decaying turbulence. The model parameters are appropriate to conditions found in Galactic molecular clouds. We find that the dissipation time of turbulence is of order the flow crossing time or smaller, even in the presence of strong magnetic fields. About half the dissipation occurs in shocks. Weak magnetic fields are amplified and tangled by the turbulence, while strong fields remain well ordered.Comment: 5 pages, 3 Postscript figures, LaTeX, accepted by Ap.J.Let

Fresh Starts: School Form and Student Outcomes

Seemingly endless tinkering and adjustment of the structure of education in the United States over the past century has led to the adoption of different school forms at different times. Currently the middle school is the dominant form of schooling for the middle years of education; however, the middle school is a relatively new form that replaced the junior high school, which itself replaced previous schooling forms. Despite the rhetoric of policymakers and practitioners, little research has considered what school forms work for what kinds of adolescents across what dimensions. In this article, we show that for both academic and non-academic outcomes, how school systems structure the transition from 8th to 9th grade makes almost no difference. Where differences appear, they are small and point to the benefits of school transitions for providing fresh starts to adolescents in socially difficult situations. The policy implications are correspondingly clear: the optimal school structure for any school district is the one that maximizes building space, reduces crowding, and achieves administrative rationality

The Impact of Parental Marital Disruption on Children's Performance in School

Although it is well-documented that children from divorced or single-parent families have lower performance in school, little is known about whether the timing of divorce is linked to a decline in school performance. In this paper, we examine whether and how the timing of change in parents' marital status influences the odds that a child is held back a grade in school using the Baltimore Parenthood Study, a thirty-year longitudinal study that has tracked the lives of inner-city families. Using logistic regression and hazard analysis, we show that the odds that a child is held back in school increase dramatically around the period of marital dissolution

Annotated bibliography of 2-(2-hydroxy-3,6-disulfo-1-naphthylazo)-benzenearsonic acid

In the following annotated bibliography on 2-(2-hydroxy- 3,6-disulfo-1-naphthylazo)-benzenearsonic acid, the references are listed in chronological order, and are numbered consecutively