Strategies for promoting technology transfer to the private sector

This article discusses alternative promotion strategies that public policy makers can use to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of technology transfer programs. Three transfer strategies are described; the passive, the role-directed, and the organization-directed strategies. Factors influencing the selection of one of these transfer strategies by policy makers are considered in detail.     

When random assignment fails: Some lessons from the Minneapolis Spouse Abuse Experiment

In this paper, we consider what may be done when researchers anticipate that in the implementation of field experiments, random assignment to experimental and control groups is likely to be flawed. We then reanalyze data from the Minneapolis Spouse Abuse Experiment in a manner that explicitly models violations of random assignment. As anticipated, we find far larger treatment effects than previously reported. The techniques developed should be useful in a wide variety of settings when random assignment is implemented imperfectly.     

Is technology transfer more than a “mechanical” process?

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An infant fatality involving ajmaline

An infant fatality following accidental ingestion of ajmaline is described. Ajmaline was determined by thin-layer chromatography and infrared spectrophotometry, and quantitated by high performance liquid chromatography. The ajmaline concentration in blood was 5.5 micrograms/mL. The toxicological data relevant to the interpretation of case findings are presented.     

Barriers to the widespread utilization of residential solar energy: The prospects for solar energy in the U.S. housing industry

Residential solar energy applications can provide a significant fraction of the U.S. energy budget. However, to do so, they must be combined with other energy-conserving strategies and diffused rapidly throughout the housing industry. Discussed are the potential resistances to the diffusion of solar energy within the U.S. housing industry; implications for the application of residential solar energy are treated.Richard Schoen is an architect and faculty member of the University of California at Los Angeles' School of Architecture and Urban Planning. He is also a staff consultant to the Solar Energy Team at Caltech.An earlier version of this paper was prepared and delivered at the International Solar Energy Conference, Le soleil au service de l'homme, Paris, July 2–6, 1973.Alan Hirshberg is an engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a consultant to the City of Pasadena, California, and also a member of the Solar Energy Team of the Environmental Quality Laboratory, Dabney Hall, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91109.