Demand Pull Technology Transfer Applied to the Field of Assistive Technology

Technology transfer has generally had little impact on the assistive technology industries serving small, highly fragmented “disability markets.” Persons with disabilities often require specialized, relatively sophisticated technology. Third-party payer reimbursement rates and the low levels of disposable income among disability populations often cap product pricing. Transferring technology to these industry segments therefore poses special challenges. In October 1998, the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology Transfer initiated the “Demand-Pull Project on Wheeled Mobility.” Successful transfers resulting from this project demonstrate that a systematic technology transfer process can be successfully applied to industries serving specialized and underserved niche markets.     

Direct Democracy and Political Trust: Enhancing Trust,Initiating Distrust–or Both?

This study investigates the relationship between direct democracy and political trust. We suggest a solution to the controversy in research centering on positive versus negative effects of direct democracy by analytically differentiating between the availability of direct democratic rights and the actual use of those rights. Theoretically, greater availability of direct democratic rights may enhance political trust by increasing citizens' perception that political authorities can be controlled as well as by incentivizing political authorities to act trustworthily. In contrast, the actual use of the corresponding direct democratic instruments may initiate distrust as it signals to citizens that political authorities do not act in the public's interest. We test both hypotheses for the very first time with sub‐national data of Switzerland. The empirical results seem to support our theoretical arguments.     

Intracranial stab injuries: case report and case study

Non-missile penetrating brain injuries are rare events in western countries. We report a case with lethal stab injury of the brain and identification of the weapon used in the assault by digital superimposition on CT scans taken at admission of the victim to a hospital. Furthermore, all cases with knife stab wounds of the skull between 1971 and 2000 were analyzed and compared with literature reports. Results of this study show that there is no region preference despite of differences in bone thickness, that stab wounds of the brain are almost invariably associated with multiple stab wounds to the trunk and that the wound tract may correspond to the dimensions of the blade allowing the identification of the weapon by digital image analysis.     

Politikbeendigung als policyanalytisches Konzept

The article analyses the policy termination literature that originated during the 1970s in the USA. It discusses the value of the traditional termination concept and the (meagre) empirical results of now three decades of its application. The article argues that policy termination may still be a promising policy analytical tool ’ if appropriately revised and refocused. The final part of the article suggests possible ways of reviving the policy termination concept by concentrating seriously on policy content, ideology and the cohesion of potential losers of termination decisions.     

Fulminant liver failure in a young child following repeated acetaminophen overdosing

Acetaminophen (paracetamol), a widely used analgetic drug, is well tolerated at therapeutic doses, but may cause severe hepatotoxicity when ingested in large overdose. Self-poisoning is still very popular in adults and accidental ingestion of one single overdose occurs occasionally in children. In contrast, lethal intoxication in children after repeated administration of therapeutic doses is a very rare event. This case report describes an iatrogenic acetaminophen overdosing in a 5-year-old child receiving 8.5 g acetaminophen in 48 h. Fulminant liver failure developed within 60 h. Autopsy findings included panlobular liver cell necrosis. Acetaminophen serum levels were rather low compared to cases with ingestion of one single overdose. Postmortem diagnosis of chronic acetaminophen intoxication as cause of death should include the clinical history as well as, if available, the calculated drug serum half-life.     

Regionalisierung und Dezentralisierung in Mittel- und Südosteuropa 1997–2007

The review essay takes stock of the last decade of decentralisation and regionalisation research in Central and South Eastern Europe. Classifying the existing scholarship with regard to its focus of analysis, its explanatory programme, and methodological predilections, we suggest to distinguish three different agendas: system transformation, EU conditionality and subnational governance. We argue that scholarly interest in regionalisation and decentralisation issues from the perspective of state transformation or Europeanisation is vanishing. Instead, we witness the emergence of a subnational governance approach which is rooted in comparative politics and policy analysis. The debate about decentralisation and regionalisation in CEEC is thus in a process of “normalising” and converging with the Western European subnational political discourse.