Laying Siege to the Ivory Tower: Resource Allocation in Response to the Heckler\u27s Veto on University Campuses

High in the towers of academia, the lofty ideals of free speech are tossed around with a deceptive ease. However, as legal minds grapple with heady legal doctrines, free speech has concrete consequences down at the foot of those towers. At this ivory base, the property line between the university and the community blur. Students and nonstudents assemble and deliver conflicting speech that, at times, foments violence. Molotov cocktails, gun shots, broken windows, disgruntled students. All attempts to trigger the dreaded heckler’s veto—an attempt the government has an obligation to prevent. In addition to the public relations disasters grown from the wake of a successful heckler’s veto, the violence carries an economic cost as university officials rush to uphold their constitutional obligation to extinguish these fires. The cost should not fall solely on the shoulders of the university. Although the fluidity between universities and their surrounding communities should be encouraged, the flow creates uncertainty over who pays the cost of a heckler’s veto when the community engulfs a campus. University campuses have not met their constitutional obligations to prevent heckler’s vetoes of controversial speech. To meet their duty, universities need to establish transparent guidelines on how to prevent hecklers vetoes. Part of this requires working with the city officials to coordinate resources. However, when the costs exceed the standard university budget for protests, the remaining cost should fall upon the surrounding community

Responsibility Sharing and the Global Compact on Refugees

Strengthening the Refugee Regime calls for enhancing responsibility sharing. Responsibility sharing was a central commitment in the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants. It also is a key commitment in the preamble to the landmark 1951 Refugee Convention. Countries of first refuge are promised that their providing refuge will be met by “international cooperation,” though without specifying its content. Yet, just as the 1951 Refugee Convention failed to define what international cooperation meant; so too the New York Declaration is – as was the Humanitarian Summit before it - long on principles; and short on specific commitments. Today, therefore, responsibility sharing, as Peter Sutherland has so aptly characterized it, amounts to “Responsibility by Proximity.” Neighboring countries such as Syria’s neighbors, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan overwhelmingly serve as the refuge for Syrians who have managed to flee its devastating civil war. This means that globally the developing world, both relatively poor and home to so many of the world’s armed conflicts, also serves as the refuge for 86% of the world’s refugees … and it does so without adequate international funding (only 40% of the UNHCR appeal for the region was met in 2016)

Some gamma-ray shielding measurements made at altitudes greater than 115000 feet using large Ge(Li) detectors

A series of balloon-flight experiments at altitudes greater than 115,000 feet were conducted to gain information relative to the use of composite shields (passive and/or active) for shielding large-volume, lithium-drifted, germanium (Ge(Li)) detectors used in gamma-ray spectrometers. Data showing the pulse-height spectra of the environmental gamma radiation as measured at 5.3 and 3.8 gms sq cm residual atmosphere with an unshielded diode detector are also presented

The Form and Abandonment of the City of Kuik-Mardan, Otrar Oasis, Kazakhstan in the Early Islamic Period

A joint Kazakh-British archaeological initiative undertook a survey and excavation of the city of Kuik-Mardan, one of the largest of the seventy or so known settlements in the Otrar oasis on the Syr-Darya river, Kazakhstan. Several complimentary field techniques were employed including unmanned aerial vehicle photomapping and an extensive programme of radiometric dating. The radiocarbon dates obtained are the first for any city in the oasis and allow more confident interpretations of the experience of the city to be ventured. Also undertaken was a geoarchaeological investigation of the surrounding irrigation and water supply canal system. Key results include its wholesale destruction during the 6th to 7th century and the form of the later occupation of the city

Stimulated emission in the ultraviolet by optical pumping from photoionization-produced inner-shell states in Cd++

Stimulated emission on three UV transitions in Cd$+$ has been observed by transferring population from inner-shell d-electron states, populated by photoionization, to outer-shell p-electron states using the output from a narrow-frequency dye laser. The use of similar techniques in other elements could eventually result in a number of new lasers in the UV and VUV

The s Process: Nuclear Physics, Stellar Models, Observations

Nucleosynthesis in the s process takes place in the He burning layers of low mass AGB stars and during the He and C burning phases of massive stars. The s process contributes about half of the element abundances between Cu and Bi in solar system material. Depending on stellar mass and metallicity the resulting s-abundance patterns exhibit characteristic features, which provide comprehensive information for our understanding of the stellar life cycle and for the chemical evolution of galaxies. The rapidly growing body of detailed abundance observations, in particular for AGB and post-AGB stars, for objects in binary systems, and for the very faint metal-poor population represents exciting challenges and constraints for stellar model calculations. Based on updated and improved nuclear physics data for the s-process reaction network, current models are aiming at ab initio solution for the stellar physics related to convection and mixing processes. Progress in the intimately related areas of observations, nuclear and atomic physics, and stellar modeling is reviewed and the corresponding interplay is illustrated by the general abundance patterns of the elements beyond iron and by the effect of sensitive branching points along the s-process path. The strong variations of the s-process efficiency with metallicity bear also interesting consequences for Galactic chemical evolution.Comment: 53 pages, 20 figures, 3 tables; Reviews of Modern Physics, accepte

Measuring the quantum efficiency of single radiating dipoles using a scanning mirror

Using scanning probe techniques, we show the controlled manipulation of the radiation from single dipoles. In one experiment we study the modification of the fluorescence lifetime of a single molecular dipole in front of a movable silver mirror. A second experiment demonstrates the changing plasmon spectrum of a gold nanoparticle in front of a dielectric mirror. Comparison of our data with theoretical models allows determination of the quantum efficiency of each radiating dipole.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Direct neutron capture of 48Ca at kT = 52 keV

The neutron capture cross section of 48Ca was measured relative to the known gold cross section at kT = 52 keV using the fast cyclic activation technique. The experiment was performed at the Van-de-Graaff accelerator, Universitaet Tuebingen. The new experimental result is in good agreement with a calculation using the direct capture model. The 1/v behaviour of the capture cross section at thermonuclear energies is confirmed, and the adopted reaction rate which is based on several previous experimental investigations remains unchanged.Comment: 9 pages (uses Revtex), 2 postscript figures, accepted for publication as Brief Report in Phys. Rev.

Intradermal Administration of Fractional Doses of Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine: A Dose-Sparing Option for Polio Immunization.

A fractional dose of inactivated poliovirus vaccine (fIPV) administered by the intradermal route delivers one fifth of the full vaccine dose administered by the intramuscular route and offers a potential dose-sparing strategy to stretch the limited global IPV supply while further improving population immunity. Multiple studies have assessed immunogenicity of intradermal fIPV compared with the full intramuscular dose and demonstrated encouraging results. Novel intradermal devices, including intradermal adapters and disposable-syringe jet injectors, have also been developed and evaluated as alternatives to traditional Bacillus Calmette-Guérin needles and syringes for the administration of fIPV. Initial experience in India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka suggests that it is operationally feasible to implement fIPV vaccination on a large scale. Given the available scientific data and operational feasibility shown in early-adopter countries, countries are encouraged to consider introducing a fIPV strategy into their routine immunization and supplementary immunization activities