‘A jack of all trades’: the role of PIs in the establishment and management of collaborative networks in scientific knowledge commercialisation

The commercialisation of scientific knowledge has become a primary objective for universities worldwide. Collaborative research projects are viewed as the key to achieving this objective, however, the role of Principal Investigators (PIs) within these complex multi-stakeholder research projects remains under researched. This paper explores how networks in the scientific knowledge collaboration process are initiated and maintained from a multi-stakeholder perspective. It is based on case study evidence from 82 stakeholders in 17 research collaboration projects in Irish and German universities, which provides for a holistic view of the process, as opposed to prior research which has tended to report findings based on the analysis of one or two stakeholders. It finds that PIs play a lead role in establishing and managing stakeholder networks. This finding is unanimous for all stakeholders, irrespective of research centre size, type and geographical location. Not unlike the entrepreneur, the PI has to be ‘a jack of all trades’, taking on the roles of project manager, negotiator, resource acquirer as well as, the traditional academic role of Ph.D. supervision and mentoring. The findings suggest that PIs are better placed than Technology Transfer Office managers to act as boundary spanners in bridging the gap between science and industry.     

Testing Toxicity: Proof and Precaution in Canada's Chemicals Management Plan

This article explores questions of proof and precaution in the context of Canada's new Chemicals Management Plan. That plan includes a bold initiative known as the 'Challenge', under which the government has identified 200 high priority chemicals for which it is 'predisposed' to a finding of toxicity. The presumption will operate unless the challenged stakeholders submit 'information' sufficient to rebut it. Through comparison with the European REACH regulation, this article explores exactly what burdens have been shifted, to whom and why. It also evaluates the significance of this move for the governance of chemicals in Canada and for the health of Canadians. It looks specifically at the case of Bisphenol A, which was one of the 200 chemicals included in the Challenge, and was recently declared toxic under that process. The Challenge forces us to confront the 'dilemma of industry data', which complicates the debate over a shifted burden of proof in the context of chemicals management .     

Cybercrimes v. Cyberliberties

The broad topic of 'crime and cyberliberties' encompasses two major subtopics: firstly, the extent to which online expression may be punished under new criminal laws, even if it would be lawful in the traditional print media; and secondly, the extent to which online privacy may be restricted to facilitate enforcement of existing criminal laws. In both contexts, many law enforcement officials argue that we have to make trade-offs between, on the one hand, individual rights and, on the other hand, public safety. In fact, though, the alleged dichotomy is oversimplified and misleading. Claims about the alleged unique dangers of online expression are exaggerated, and the types of criminal laws and law enforcement strategies that have worked effectively in other media are also effective in cyberspace. For example, children should be protected from exploitation in the production of child pornography through the same measures, regardless of whether the material is distributed through postal mail or e-mail. Indeed, individuals and organizations who are devoted to protecting children from exploitation and abuse-whether for the production of child pornography or any other purpose-have expressed frustration that resources that should be used to enforce existing laws are being diverted toward efforts to create new cyberspeech crimes, such as the two US laws criminalizing online material that is 'indecent,' 'patently offensive', or 'harmful to minors'. The many judges who have ruled on these laws-including the entire US Supreme Court-have agreed that they violate free expression rights and are not necessary for their stated purpose of protecting children. The battle to preserve online privacy has not been as successful in the US, where the government restricts strong encryption despite the vigorous objections of not only cyberlibertarians, but also the business community. Moreover, even some law enforcement and other government officials have concluded that, on balance, security concerns are aided, not undermined, by strong encryption, since it protects innocent individuals and legitimate businesses from cybercriminals, and it also protects governments and vital infrastructures from cyberterrorism. Most governments apparently recognize these facts since they have not joined the US in restricting encryption technology.     

Intimate Partner Violence,Psychological Distress,and Suicidality: A Path Model Using Data from African American Women Seeking Care in an Urban Emergency Department

Intimate partner violence (IPV) and suicidal behavior are major public health problems in the African American community. This study investigated whether or not IPV and suicidal ideation are correlated in urban African American women, and if the IPV–suicidal ideation link is explained by symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). With 323 abused African American females, path analysis revealed that: (1) IPV → depressive symptoms → suicidal ideation, and (2) IPV → PTSD symptoms → depressive symptoms → suicidal ideation. When evaluating abused women, depressive and PTSD symptoms and suicidal thoughts must be assessed. Interventions for reducing suicidal behavior in abused, low income African American women should reduce symptoms of depression and PTSD.     

Sexual Activity,Pregnancy, and Deviance in a Representative Urban Sample of African American Girls

The primary goal of this paper is to investigate the interrelationship between sexual activity, pregnancy, and deviance among a cohort of urban African American adolescent girls and compare the risk factors that predict these behaviors. The data are drawn from the Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS), a multiwave panel study designed to examine the causes and correlates of delinquent behavior and drug use in a representative urban sample. This study relies on data from the 196 African American girls in the panel. Results indicate that girls who engage in early sexual activity and those who become pregnant are more likely to be involved in substance use and status offenses than girls who are not sexually active and who do not become pregnant. Additionally, sexual behavior and pregnancy are both influenced by socioeconomic disadvantage, unlike the other kinds of deviance examined. However, the proximal predictors of early sexual activity and pregnancy differ, with the profile of sexually active girls being more similar to the profile of girls involved in substance use and status offenses.     

Youth Political Engagement in Egypt: From Abstention to Uprising

This study analyses the dynamics of youth political engagement in Egypt in the light of ‘dual motivation’ theory, which defines political engagement in terms of both citizens' interest in changing the outcome of elections and the prevalence of social capital conducive for political engagement. The first part of the article focuses on the dynamics of political mobilisation in general, prior to the uprising of 25 January 2011. The second part examines the political attitudes and levels of political participation of young people prior to the uprising. The study found that the youth believed in democratic values but did not participate politically. This is explained not by a lack of social capital but rather by an understanding of the dynamics of authoritarian rule and corruption, leading to a general abstention from civic and political engagement. Nevertheless, with the changing international circumstances, especially the Jasmine revolution in Tunisia, youth movements in Egypt have proved capable of framing the issue of regime change effectively, leading ultimately to contention on the streets and the toppling of Mubarak. Dual motivation theory, therefore, might not be applicable in authoritarian regimes but in democratising regimes both elements of the theory appear relevant.     

Single-item predictive validity of the Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START) for violent behaviour in outpatient forensic psychiatry

The single-item predictive validity of the Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START) has not been thoroughly investigated, although this has great clinical relevance for the selection of treatment targets. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether the characteristic START additions of scoring strengths next to vulnerabilities and selecting key items, add incremental predictive validity. Finally, predictive validity has primarily been studied in inpatient settings and included mainly patients with a psychotic disorder. We analysed data from a mixed diagnostic sample of 195 forensic psychiatric outpatients with a 3-month and 170 patients with a 6-month follow-up period, using logistic regression analysis. The occurrence of violent or criminal behaviour was established based on the case manager’s recordings in the patient’s file. Only 5 of the 20 START items were found to have predictive validity: Impulse Control, Attitudes, Material Resources, Rule Adherence and Conduct. The last three were the only items for which incremental predictive validity was found with respect to scoring it as a strength and a vulnerability. Selection of key items did not add to the predictive validity. While possibly having therapeutic significance, the scoring of strength next to vulnerability and the selection of key items, may not be beneficial for risk assessment.     

17 STR data (AmpF/STR Identifiler and Powerplex 16 System) from Cabinda (Angola)

Allele frequencies for seventeen STRs included in the AmpF/STR Identifiler (CSF1PO, D2S1338, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D8S1179, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, D19S433, D21S11, FGA, TH01, TPOX, and VWA) and Powerplex 16 System (CSF1PO, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D8S1179, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, D21S11, FGA, Penta D, Penta E, TH01, TPOX, and VWA) were estimated from a sample of 110 unrelated individuals from Cabinda, Angola. Comparative analyses between our population data and other African databases, namely Promega's African-Americans, AB Applied Biosystems African-Americans and five other population samples gathered from the literature are also presented.