Trading-Off Reproductive Technology and Adoption: Does Subsidizing in Vitro Fertilization Decrease Adoption Rates and Should It Matter?

For those facing infertility, using assisted reproductive technology to have genetically related children is a very expensive proposition. In particular, to produce a live birth through in vitro fertilization (IVF) will cost an individual (on average) between $66,667 and$114,286 in the U.S. If forced to pay these prices out of pocket, many would be unable to afford this technology. Given this reality, a number of states have attempted to improve access to reproductive technology through state-level insurance mandates that cover IVF. Several scholars, however, have worried that increasing access in this way will cause a diminution in adoptions and have argued against enactment of state mandates for that reason. In this paper, which was selected for presentation at the 2010 Stanford-Yale Junior Faculty Forum, we push against that conclusion on two fronts. First, we interrogate the normative premises of the argument and expose its contestable implicit assumptions about how the state should balance the interests of existing children waiting for adoption and those seeking access to reproductive technology in order to have genetically related children. Second, we investigate the unexamined empirical question behind the conclusion: does state subsidization of reproductive technologies through insurance mandates actually reduce adoption; that is, is there a trade-off between helping individuals conceive and helping children waiting to be adopted? We call the claim that there is such an effect the “substitution theory.” Using the differential timing of introduction of state-level insurance mandates relating to IVF in some states and differences in the forms these mandates take, we employ several different econometric techniques (differences-in-differences, ordinary least squares, two-stage least squares) to examine the effect of these mandates on IVF utilization and adoption. Contrary to the assumption of the substitution theory, we find no strong evidence that state support of IVF through these mandates crowds out either domestic or international adoption. Appendix A re-analyses our results using the insurance mandate categorization of other studies in the literature

Special Problems for Prosecutors in Public Corruption Prosecutions

The focus of this panel is not so much on the academic part of McDonnell, the case law. Of course, you’ll hear the name McDonnell and we’ll talk about that. But we’re trying to talk a little more broadly about public corruption prosecutions in general. Some of these are unique issues. You heard a little bit about them from the former people who have done them, what special unique problems are involved in them and challenges the prosecutors face and what effect, if any

Ultra-high-frequency piecewise-linear chaos using delayed feedback loops

We report on an ultra-high-frequency (> 1 GHz), piecewise-linear chaotic system designed from low-cost, commercially available electronic components. The system is composed of two electronic time-delayed feedback loops: A primary analog loop with a variable gain that produces multi-mode oscillations centered around 2 GHz and a secondary loop that switches the variable gain between two different values by means of a digital-like signal. We demonstrate experimentally and numerically that such an approach allows for the simultaneous generation of analog and digital chaos, where the digital chaos can be used to partition the system's attractor, forming the foundation for a symbolic dynamics with potential applications in noise-resilient communications and radar

Subwavelength position sensing using nonlinear feedback and wave chaos

We demonstrate a position-sensing technique that relies on the inherent sensitivity of chaos, where we illuminate a subwavelength object with a complex structured radio-frequency field generated using wave chaos and a nonlinear feedback loop. We operate the system in a quasi-periodic state and analyze changes in the frequency content of the scalar voltage signal in the feedback loop. This allows us to extract the object's position with a one-dimensional resolution of ~\lambda/10,000 and a two-dimensional resolution of ~\lambda/300, where \lambda\ is the shortest wavelength of the illuminating source.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Baryons in QCD_{AS} at Large N_c: A Roundabout Approach

QCD_{AS}, a variant of large N_c QCD in which quarks transform under the color two-index antisymmetric representation, reduces to standard QCD at N_c = 3 and provides an alternative to the usual large N_c extrapolation that uses fundamental representation quarks. Previous strong plausibility arguments assert that the QCD_{AS} baryon mass scales as N_c^2; however, the complicated combinatoric problem associated with quarks carrying two color indices impeded a complete demonstration. We develop a diagrammatic technique to solve this problem. The key ingredient is the introduction of an effective multi-gluon vertex: a "traffic circle" or "roundabout" diagram. We show that arbitrarily complicated diagrams can be reduced to simple ones with the same leading N_c scaling using this device, and that the leading contribution to baryon mass does, in fact, scale as N_c^2.Comment: 9 pages, 9 pdf figures, ReVTeX with pdflate

Congressional Reviews of Agency Regulations

On March 29, 1996, President Clinton signed Public Law 104-121, the Contract with America Advancement Act of 1996. Title II, the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 ( Act ), among other things, added a new chapter 8 to Title 5 of the United States Code. Chapter 8 requires congressional review of agency regulations. Beginning March 29, 1996, all federal agencies, including independent agencies, are required to submit each final and interim final rule for review by Congress and to the General Accounting Office (GAO) before the final or interim final rule can take effect (hereinafter final and interim final rules will be collectively referred to as rule ). In addition to a copy of the rule, agencies are required to submit a concise general statement relating to the rule and its proposed effective date (hereinafter referred to as a report ). Further, when an agency submits a report, the agency is also to provide GAO and to make available upon request to each house of Congress (1) a complete copy of the cost-benefit analysis of the rule, if any; (2) information concerning the agency\u27s actions under the Regulatory Flexibility Act; (3) information concerning the agency\u27s actions under the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act; and (4) any other relevant information or requirements under any other law and any other Executive Order (hereinafter referred to as required information )

Ionized Gas Motions and the Structure of Feedback Near a Forming Globular Cluster in NGC 5253

We observed Brackett $\alpha$ 4.05$\mu$m emission towards the supernebula in NGC 5253 with NIRSPEC on Keck II in adaptive optics mode, NIRSPAO, to probe feedback from its exciting embedded super star cluster (SSC). NIRSPEC's Slit-Viewing Camera was simultaneously used to image the K-band continuum at $\sim$$0.1''$ resolution. We register the IR continuum with HST imaging, and find that the visible clusters are offset from the K-band peak, which coincides with the Br $\alpha$ peak of the supernebula and its associated molecular cloud. The spectra of the supernebula exhibit Br $\alpha$ emission with a strong, narrow core. The linewidths are 65-76 km s$^{-1}$, FWHM, comparable to those around individual ultra-compact HII regions within our Galaxy. A weak, broad (FWHM$\simeq$150-175 km s$^{-1}$) component is detected on the base of the line, which could trace a population of sources with high-velocity winds. The core velocity of Br $\alpha$ emission shifts by +13 km s$^{-1}$ from NE to SW across the supernebula, possibly indicating a bipolar outflow from an embedded object, or linked to a foreground redshifted gas filament. The results can be explained if the supernebula comprises thousands of ionized wind regions around individual massive stars, stalled in their expansion due to critical radiative cooling and unable to merge to drive a coherent cluster wind. Based on the absence of an outflow with large mass loss, we conclude that feedback is currently ineffective at dispersing gas, and the SSC retains enriched material out of which it may continue to form stars.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figure