Statement for Social Theory Caucus

In 1959, when C. Wright Mills made the statement quoted above, the dominant pathway to insight about human behavior was psychological. This situation appears to have been as true in art education as in any other discipline. Our primary conception about what art could do for people was creativity and our pedagogy for attaining this bounty was studio production, uninterrupted by other activities. Writers such as MIlls provided us with another dimension for the study of human behavior, and specifically, behavior in art. It is not that the psychological approach was then or is now incorrect, but rather that it is incomplete. It might be said that art education has not even yet completely absorbed the implications of this alternative outlook

Outperforming the S&P 500 Using Top-Down Asset Allocation

This paper investigates whether portfolio managers can outperform the S&P 500 index using top-down asset allocation, using historical returns, standard deviations, and correlations of different asset classes. Efficient diversification between asset classes reduces the idiosyncratic risk by selecting assets from a wide variety of different classes of assets in different parts of the world. The goal is to create an optimization model that makes it possible for a portfolio manager to generate higher expected returns, while taking risk equal to that of the S&P 500, or incur lower risk while generating the same expected return of the S&P 500

World-Wide Shakespeares: Local Appropriations in Film and Performance. [Review]

World-Wide Shakespeares: Local Appropriations in Film and Performance. Edited by Sonia Massai. Abingdon, UK, and New York: Routledge, 2005. Pp. xiv + 199. $110 cloth,$34.95 paper. Reviewed by Douglas M. Lanie

A model for the differentiation of human natural killer cells. Studies on the in vitro activation of Leu-11+ granular lymphocytes with a natural killer-sensitive tumor cell, K562.

A subpopulation of low density granular lymphocytes that express the natural killer (NK) cell-associated Leu-11 antigen (IgG Fc receptor) were stimulated directly by coculture with an NK-sensitive tumor cell, K562. T lymphocytes (Leu-11-) responded only weakly when cocultured with K562. The response of Leu-11+ cells apparently did not require exogeneous factors or accessory cells. The K562-activated cells retained expression of Leu-11 antigen, acquired activation antigens, and were highly cytotoxic against NK-sensitive and -insensitive tumor cells. Anti-IL-2 receptor monoclonal antibody minimally inhibited the activation of Leu-11+ cells by K562, but completely inhibited the phytohemagglutinin-induced activation of the Leu-11- cells from the same individual. Leu-11+ cells can be divided into Leu-7-11+ and Leu-7+11+ subpopulations using anti-Leu-7 antibody. These subsets were separated by two-color fluorescence-activated cell sorting and cocultured with K562. Proliferation by Leu-7-11+ cells was significantly greater than by Leu-11+7+ cells. Leu-7+11- granular lymphocytes and T lymphocytes (Leu-7-11-) typically proliferated only weakly when cocultured with K562. A proportion of the Leu-7-11+ cells acquired Leu-7 antigen after stimulation with K562, whereas the phenotype of Leu-7+11+, Leu-7+11-, and Leu-7-11- subsets was unaffected. These results demonstrate a developmental relationship between the Leu-7-11+ and Leu-7+11+ lymphocytes and suggest that Leu-7 antigen may be expressed late in the differentiation pathway of NK cells. The direct activation of highly purified Leu-11+ cells by coculture with K562 provides an in vitro model with which to study the activation and maturation of human NK cells

Centers of subgroups of big mapping class groups and the Tits alternative

In this note we show that many subgroups of mapping class groups of infinite-type surfaces without boundary have trivial centers, including all normal subgroups. Using similar techniques, we show that every nontrivial normal subgroup of a big mapping class group contains a nonabelian free group. In contrast, we show that no big mapping class group satisfies the strong Tits alternative enjoyed by finite-type mapping class groups. We also give examples of big mapping class groups that fail to satisfy even the classical Tits alternative and give a proof that every countable group appears as a subgroup of some big mapping class group.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figur

Changes in the Cost of Medicare Prescription Drug Plans, 2007-2008

This issue brief analyzes the increase in Medicare Part D premiums over the past year and finds, on average, a 24.5 percent rise. It goes on to look at Medicare Part D statistics on a state-by-state basis to show trends that are not readily apparent based on the national data alone

A Dynamic Analysis of the Market for Wide-Bodied Commercial Aircraft

This paper develops a multi-agent dynamic model of the commercial aircraft industry and then uses that model to analyze industry pricing, industry performance, and optimal industry policy. In the model, firms are differentiated in their products and cost structure, and entry, exit, prices, and quantity sold are endogenously determined in dynamic equilibrium. Re ecting the focus of the paper, demand and supply are modeled structurally, while investment is modeled in reduced form. The model utilizes a cost model of commercial aircraft production developed and estimated in a previous paper (Benkard (2000)), and a discrete choice model of commercial aircraft demand to determine static profits. I find that many unusual aspects of the aircraft data, such as high concentration and pricing below the level of static marginal cost, are explained by this model. The model also replicates the stochastic evolution of the industry well. Many of these properties could not be explained with a static model. These results provide support for the structural dynamic modeling approach in general. I also find that the unconstrained Markov perfect equilibrium is quite efficient from a social perspective, providing only 9% less welfare on average than a social planner would obtain, but that the Markov perfect equilibrium shifts a substantial amount of welfare from consumers to producers. Finally, I provide simulation evidence that an anti-trust policy in the form of a concentration restriction would be welfare reducing with high probability.