Linking technological and educational level diversities to innovation performance

In this study, we explore the extent to which diversity of educational levels among research scientists and engineers (RSEs) in the context of a firm’s level of technological diversity influences innovation performance. We used data from the 2004–2008 National R&D Survey in Singapore. The results from 366 firms across different industries indicate that when a firm’s technological domains are heterogeneous, those firms with an RSE workforce comprising similar educational levels have positive innovation performance, measured as the number of patent applications, while those comprising diverse educational levels have negative innovation performance. Our further exploration of the positive interaction between technological domain heterogeneity and similarity of educational levels suggests that firms that had a high ratio of RSEs with lower educational levels had more positive patent outcomes compared to those that had a high ratio of RSEs with higher educational levels. The results show that there are limits to the strength of technological diversity in a firm’s absorptive capacity as explained by organizational demography.     

The role of national intellectual property laws in promoting innovation,scientific and technological development

This paper examines the role which intellectual property rights can play in stimulating innovation for sustainable development. It provides an overview of the international intellectual property regime and its relevance to innovation, technological and scientific development. It considers the role of national intellectual property laws in the context of innovation by focusing on a number of key areas, including the protection of traditional knowledge and genetic resources, and the diffusion of environmentally sound technologies. The paper highlights areas of intellectual property law and system reform and strengthening that may be a focus for Commonwealth member countries.     

Historical trauma in American Indian/Native Alaska communities: a multilevel framework for exploring impacts on individuals, families, and communities

Over multiple generations, American Indian communities have endured a succession of traumatic events that have enduring consequences for community members. This article presents a multilevel framework for exploring the impact of historically traumatic events on individuals, families, and communities. The critical connection between historically traumatic events and contemporary stressors is also discussed at length.     

Uncertainty and technological innovation: evidence from developed and developing countries

Economic Change and Restructuring - Uncertainty will not only harm the economy but may also provide an opportunity for technological innovation. It is well established from past studies that...     

A hierarchical,objectives-based framework for the digital investigations process

Digital investigations, whether forensic in nature or not, require scientific rigor and are facilitated through the use of standard processes. Such processes can be complex in nature. A more comprehensive, generally accepted digital investigation process framework is therefore sought to enhance scientific rigor and facilitate education, application, and research. Previously proposed frameworks are predominantly single-tier, higher order process models that focus on the abstract, rather than the more concrete principles of the investigation. We contend that these frameworks, although useful in explaining overarching concepts, fail to support the inclusion of additional layers of detail needed by various framework users. We therefore propose a multi-tier, hierarchical framework to guide digital investigations. Our framework includes objectives-based phases and sub-phases that are applicable to various layers of abstraction, and to which additional layers of detail can easily be added as needed. Our framework also includes principles that are applicable in varied ways to all phases. The data analysis function intended to identify and recover digital evidence is used as an example of how the framework might be further populated and used. The framework is then applied using two different case scenarios. At its highest level, the proposed framework provides a simplified view and conceptual understanding of the overall process. At lower levels, the proposed framework provides the granularity needed to achieve practicality and specificity goals set by practitioners and researchers alike.     

Managing technological distance in internal and external collaborations: absorptive capacity routines and social integration for innovation

While high technological distance to project partners outside of the established value chain can positively influence innovation performance, project goals can only be achieved if the social integration of project members is improved in terms of coordination and communication. This paper draws on embeddedness and absorptive capacity literature to explore how social integration mechanisms translate into different learning outcomes in distant collaborations within and across organizational boundaries. Drawing upon expert interviews with project members as our primary source of data, we conducted an in-depth multiple case study analysis of a number of inter-organizational projects. Our findings indicate that the effect of different types of social integration mechanisms on learning outcomes also affect the ability to bridge distances in process and product technology. Moreover, they suggest that it is not just the extent, but also the interplay of social integration mechanisms surrounding internal and external absorptive capacity routines that enable project members to engage in the exploration, transformation and exploitation of distant knowledge. In examining how social integration mechanisms foster learning outcome in distant collaborations, our study contributes to the literature on absorptive capacity.     

Actor, situation, and context: A framework for delinquency theory integration

Survey data are presented and discussed as they relate to juvenile involvement in serious and violent delinquency. Juveniles confined in two detention centers were administered self-report questionnaires (n=127). An integrated model that combines social structural variables (i.e., neighborhood disorganization and strain) with social process variables (i.e., parental control, social bond, and delinquent peer associations) was tested by way of path analysis. The data generally support the integrated model, explaining as much as 44% of the variance. Two variables, delinquent peer associations and an overall social bond indicator, directly and significantly predict serious delinquent behavior. Delinquent peer associations are significantly related to neighborhood disorganization, while the social bond is significantly related to parental control and strain. Thus, the data support a systems approach to explaining delinquent behavior, where social structural variables affect social process variables. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the annul meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Albuquerque, NM, 1998 and at the annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Washington, D.C., 1998.     

A technology-utilization framework for developing countries

The International Development Research Centre, an agency created two decades ago by the Canadian Parliament and operated by an international board of governors, supports and funds research and development activities outside Canada. Initially it concentrated on building research capacity in developing countries and funding research projects. In the mid-1980s a significant part of the centre's attention shifted to technology transfer. In response to this new emphasis, the author developed what he calls a framework—a set of elements to consider in formulating research projects—for the purpose of improving the chances of transferring and implementing the research results. This article describes the utilization framework, using past research projects to illustrate its eight elements, and briefly describes how the centre has applied it. J. Andre Potworowski, until recently a consultant to the International Development Research Centre in the areas of technology transfer and research utilization, now is a principle with the Hickling Corporation in the management of technology. He has a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Toronto and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He also has had various advisory positions with the Science Council of Canada; the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources; the Ministry of State for Science and Technology; and the Secretariat of the Prime Minister's National Advisory Board on Science and Technology.     

The effects of industry characteristics on the sources of technological product and process innovation

In order to explore the effects of industry characteristics on the sources of technological product and process (TPP) innovation, this paper considers various sources in a united framework, and identifies their cross-industry similarities and differences. It sheds light on three Chinese high technology industries, and empirically confirms that in-house R&D, technology transfer, technology spillover and back-propagation of user innovations are all effective sources of TPP innovation. However, each source creates different productivity in different industries, which may be explained by the following industry characteristics: the dependence on foreign technology, the importance attached to inventive in-house R&D, the level of domestic technology, the relative proportions of foreign and domestic users.     

A framework for the analysis of corruption

The article sets out a framework within which the problem of corruption may be analysed in any specific country. It does not seek to establish the importance of such activity in a general sense, or seek to propose particular economic policy or institutional programmes that should be pursued in order to reduce the impact on the development process. Rather, the objective is to provide a structure for two distinct areas of analysis. Firstly, it considers the investigation of the determinants of corruption, emphasising the environment in which corruption evolves — whether shaped by international, national or specific institutional factors — and the manner in which the different parties to corruption interact and organise themselves in conducting these activities. Secondly, the article focusses on the importance of corruption for economic development by considering the different forms of corruption and the characteristics of these forms that are most critical for economic activity. Here, the distortions that are introduced into on-going economic activity are identified, together with the manner in which these distortions redirect activity in sub-optimal directions. In addition, the nature of the uncertainty attaching to these differing forms of corruption is considered, and especially the degree to which a form may be considered anarchic or structured in character: the former reflecting a system of intense uncertainty, and the latter one of less uncertainty — perhaps, only minimal uncertainty — as a predictable and stable set of relationships between parties is established. Finally, the article reviews the empirical work that has been undertaken in this field. This article, therefore, seeks to identify how detailed case study analysis, focussed on individual countries — and, indeed, on specific institutions or sectors within those countries — could valuably complement these existing studies, and provide a framework for those seeking to design policy that is appropriate to any individual circumstance. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A new conceptual framework for revenge firesetting

Revenge has frequently been acknowledged to account for a relatively large proportion of motives in deliberate firesetting. However, very little is actually known about the aetiology of revenge firesetting. Theoretical approaches to revenge-seeking behaviour are discussed. A brief review of how revenge is accounted for in existing theoretical explanations of deliberate firesetting and the known characteristics of revenge firesetters are provided. On this basis, the authors suggest, as a motive, revenge firesetting has to date been mis-conceptualised. A new conceptual framework is thus proposed, paying particular attention to the contextual, affective, cognitive, volitional and behavioural factors which may influence and generate a single episode of revenge firesetting. Treatment implications and suggestions for future research are also provided.     

A multilevel analysis of school-based weapon possession

In this study we present and estimate a multilevel model of weapon possession by students. Our approach extends existing research through an emphasis on the simultaneous effects of individual-level factors including fear, victimization, criminal lifestyle, pro-gun socialization, and social engagement, as well as school-level contextual factors including various indicators of school structure, school capital, and school deficits. We estimate multilevel main effects using hierarchical logistic regression methods and data from more than 6,000 students in 21 schools in Louisville, Kentucky. Results indicate that the likelihood of carrying a weapon to school varies not only across individuals but across schools. School-level structural characteristics—especially SES—were significant in accounting for some of this cross-school variation. Further, the effects of SES on weapon carrying were mediated by school capital and school deficits.     

A comparative evaluation of competition law, policy, and innovation

‘A book may be good for nothing; or there may be onlyone thing in it worth knowing; are we to read it all through?’(Samuel Johnson) This section is dedicated to the review of ideas, articles,books, films and other media. It will include replies (and rejoinders)to articles, the evaluation of new ideas or proposals, and reviewsof books and articles both directly and indirectly related tointellectual property law. Keeping apace with technological development, while simultaneouslyproviding a sound legal framework that ensures both legal     

A conceptual framework for police functions and services

Police functions and services are currently based on three implicit basic conceptual units: the person, the process, and the product. Each one of these was the fundamental assumption for one of the three historical models of police science: the Personal Qualities Model, the Community Relations Model, and the Scientific Management Model. Although none of these models has ever been implemented in a pure form, modern police science is implicitly based on their three basic conceptual units which are applied to different but specific areas of police functions and services. However, these conceptual units have never been explicitly reconciled with each other, thus at times resulting in contradictory proposals. A comprehensive theory of police functions and services requires a conceptual framework for explicitly relating the person, the process, and the product. A two-dimensional framework is proposed based on a psychological and a sociological level of analysis.     

A multilevel comparison of child abusers with nonabusers

An integrative, ecological model developed by Belsky (1980) implies that to understand child abuse researchers must examine factors at four levels: the individual, the family, the environment, and the culture. This study compared abusive and nonabusive parents at three of these four levels. At the individual level, abusers were found to have lower self-esteem than controls. Also, male abusers were likely to be relatively impulsive and hostile. At the level of the family, abusers described their children as more troublesome than control parents, but they did not perceive them as developmentally delayed. At the level of the environment, abusers identified more intense life stressors than nonabusers. Results of this investigation supported Belsky's argument that child abuse involved multiple factors and levels.