The Strength of Strong Ties: University Spin-offs and the Significance of Historical Relations

This article investigates the relationship between universities and academic spin-offs, with special emphasis on the antecedent conditions of, and the nature of the linkages that the spin-offs form, as well as the means for sustaining them. The present research uses an instrumental case study approach, and is also an instance of a collective case study as four companies of various size and activities have been studied together. The preliminary results indicate that the network relations are characterized by a small number of strong ties to universities, with a high degree of trust and informality. Although fruitful for the transfer of complex knowledge, the strength of the ties also make them difficult to substitute, which may lead to problems as the spin-offs are highly dependent on continued basic research support. This may in turn lead to implications for policy at university, as well as higher levels.     

DROMOCRATIC TELETOPY AND STATUS OF MAN

Dromologic research of ＂man＇s status in the world＂ shows that manhis perception, his language as well as his thinking is substantially changed by the speed of information translation. This paper critically analyses the theory of French cultural critic, city planner and philosopher Paul Virilio. Virilio＇s texts which deal with the impact of speed on the contemporary world. The development of means of transport used by people for the purpose of movement-from horse carts, railways and cars to planes, culminated by the arrival of digitalized audio-visual hypertext, the last ＂vehicle＇＂ that replaces its drivers ＂physical movement by total inertia. How does that historical succession starting with metabolic vehicles such as a horse, ships, railways, cars planes to the latest ways of tele-transfer, tele- presence and audio-visual vehicles, influence our present-day concept of the world？ What are the social cultural political and economic consequences resulting from continuous acceleration of social processes, from inertia of absolute speed？ Can increasing the speed of our technologies lead up to the irreversible immobilization of social players？ Does our effort to represent the reality depend on the kind of media and on speed？ The study analyses Virilio ＇s texts and it presents the interpretation of the main propositions of his dromology.     

The effect of odour reinstatement on children's episodic memory

Children's memory reports are often sparse, which increases the need for efficient interview methods. The present study investigated whether odour reinstatement can aid children's memory and increase the amount of information recalled from an experienced event. Children (N = 106, mean age 10 years, 8 months) experienced a magic show where a vanilla odour was present and were interviewed about their memory of the event either one week, or six months, after the magic show. During the interview, half of the children re-experienced the same vanilla odour. In contrast to studies on adult participants, no odour-reinstatement effect was found with the child participants in the present study. On the other hand, odour reinstatement reduced the children's ratings of how strong their emotions were during the event. Thus, odour reinstatement may affect different forensically relevant factors, and this should be considered in future research.     

Between Amity,Enmity and Europeanisation: EU Energy Security Policy and the Example of Bulgaria's Russian Energy Dependence

Considering the development of the Bulgarian energy security strategy this article analyses how the country has adapted to EU membership and to energy security challenges, such as disruptions to Russian gas supplies in 2006 and 2009 and rising gas prices. Utilising a conceptual lens which synthesises Regional Security Complex Theory and Europeanisation, the article offers an explanation of energy policy changes. It concludes that conceptions of Russia as an energy security guarantor have changed since Bulgaria's EU accession and that Bulgarian energy policy has undergone a qualified reorientation away from a positive dependence on Russian energy sources, towards a convergence with EU priorities of diversification and a single energy market.     

Managing visibility and differentiating in recruitment of women as leaders in the armed forces

Recruitment is one of the Swedish Armed Forces’ (SAF) main challenges today. Recruiting more women into the organization is one of the organization’s aims, as well as providing them with more opportunities for career development. The purpose of this article is to gain a deeper understanding of how female military officers perceive barriers and advantages on their way to higher leadership positions. A total of 10 women from a variety of backgrounds and positions in the armed forces were interviewed. Their ranks ranged from Captain to Colonel and they represented army, naval units and air force. The interviews were analysed using a Grounded Theory approach. The qualitative analysis resulted in two main themes: Supporting visibility of women as leaders and differentiation of women as leaders. The former concerns positive strategies on an individual and organizational level that support an increase in the number of female leaders in the SAF, and is a way of responding to political incitements and the SAF’s fundamental values. The second concerns ways how women are portrayed as different and divergent from the male standard. The suggested model may be valuable in recruitment, educational settings and leader development of high-level military officers from a gender perspective.     

THE RELATIONSHIP OF ALCOHOL WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS TO SUGGESTIBILITY AND COMPLIANCE

People who are experiencing alcohol withdrawal are disadvantaged in terms of their ability to cope with leading questions and interrogative pressure (i.e. interrogative suggestibility). What had not been studied previously was the relationship of the severity of alcohol withdrawal symptoms with suggestibility and compliance. Suggestibility and compliance scores, obtained during the first week of hospital admission, were correlated with the severity of alcohol symptoms measured on a daily basis over a 7‐day period in a group of 393 patients attending treatment for alcohol abuse problems. Separate analyses were performed for the male and female patients. Significant gender differences emerged. Among males, alcohol withdrawal symptoms correlated positively with suggestibility and compliance across days. In contrast, among the females alcohol withdrawal symptoms were not significantly correlated with suggestibility and compliance, but were related to confabulations in memory recall. The findings suggest that in relation to psychological vulnerabilities during questioning, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are associated with different psychological factors in males and females. The findings have implications for the potential unreliability of information obtained from people interviewed during alcohol withdrawal.     

Survey Article: Publication Bias in the Literature on Foreign Direct Investment Spillovers

In this article we conduct a large quantitative survey of the literature on horizontal and vertical spillovers from foreign direct investment (FDI). We create a unique database of spillover estimates for each country examined in the literature. Next, we estimate the average effect corrected for publication selection bias (the preferential selection of positive and significant estimates for publication). Our results suggest that an average reported estimate of backward spillovers is statistically significant. Publication selection is evident only among studies published in peer-reviewed journals, and only among the estimates that authors consider most important. Authors with small data sets engage in more publication selection. The intensity of selection in the literature decreases over time, which supports the economics-research-cycle hypothesis.