Disclosing Conflicts of Interest in Clinical Research: Views of Institutional Review Boards, Conflict of Interest Committees, and Investigators

Strategies for disclosing investigators' financial interests to potential research participants have been adopted by many research institutions. However, little is known about how decisions are made regarding disclosures of financial interests to potential research participants, including what is disclosed and the rationale for making these determinations. We sought to understand the attitudes, beliefs, and practices of institutional review board chairs, conflict of interest committee chairs, and investigators regarding disclosure of financial interests to potential research participants. Several themes emerged, including general attitudes toward conflicts of interest, circumstances in which financial interests should be disclosed, rationales and benefits of disclosure, what should be disclosed, negative effects of and barriers to disclosure, and timing and presentation of disclosure. Respondents cited several rationales for disclosure, including enabling informed decision making, promoting trust in researchers and research institutions, and reducing legal liability. There was general agreement that disclosure should happen early in the consent process. Respondents disagreed about whether to disclose the amounts of particular financial interests. Clarifying the goals of disclosure and understanding how potential research participants use the information will be critical in efforts to ensure the integrity of clinical research and to protect the rights and interests of participants.     

Explaining “Market Authority” and Liberal Stability: Toward a Sociological–Constructivist Synthesis

Irrespective of the occasionally destructive financial consequences for individuals and the global economy, and warnings of its imminent collapse by critics, a globalising regime of capital mobility and neoliberal domestic policies appears in no danger of imminent collapse. This article explores the sources of the erstwhile stability of a liberal global economic order. The social mechanisms whereby people in many of the most capable states give their consent to “market authority” are explored with reference to Max Weber's sociology of legitimacy and Anthony Giddens' sociology of modernity. A constructivist theoretical construct of the changing “structure of intersubjective public belief” is developed as an explanatory heuristic. Liberalism is criticised for its conflation of choice with consent regarding its treatment of market processes, and vulnerabilities resulting from inconsistencies among liberal treatments of these are discussed.     

Community structural predictors of spatially aggregated motor vehicle theft rates: Do they replicate?

Community-level motor vehicle theft (MVT) is not spatially random but is influenced by the structural composition of the community. Work to date did not provide a clear picture of the structural correlates of community-level MVT rates for two reasons. Cross-sectional studies had been limited to a single point in time (one wave design). In addition, studies had not adequately controlled for MVT rates in adjoining communities (spatially autocorrelated rates). The current study addressed these limitations. Drawing on structural correlates highlighted by factorial ecology and past work on motor vehicle theft, it anticipated cross-sectional connections between status, stability, age composition, and racial heterogeneity. It sought to learn if these connections persisted at two points in time spanning a decade. Census block group data from a midwestern city were merged with geocoded vehicle theft data, and a comprehensive spatial lag variable was constructed (Land & Deane, 1992). At both points in time, communities with higher MVT rates had lower socioeconomic status, and were surrounded by other communities with higher MVT rates. Community processes driving the connection between status and vehicle theft were suggested. The strong spatial dependency of MVT rates suggests attributes, events, or longer-term trends located in a section of a city may be affecting the communities located there. Issues for prevention were addressed.     

Exchange Rate Variability and Labor Market Performance in the Visegrád Countries

According to the traditional ‘optimum currency area’ approach, not much will be lost from a very hard peg to a currency union if there has been little reason for variations in the exchange rate. This paper takes a different approach and highlights the fact that high exchange rate volatility may as well signal high costs for labor markets. Based on the paper by Belke (2003), the impact of exchange rate volatility on labor markets in the four Visegrád Economies (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and the Slovak Republic) is analyzed, finding that volatility vis-à-vis the euro significantly increases unemployment. Hence, the elimination of exchange rate volatility could be considered as a substitute for a removal of employment protection legislation.     

US security strategy in Asia and the prospects for an Asian regional security regime

The US–Japan alliance serves as the cornerstone of US security strategy in East Asia. The Bush administration remains supportive of efforts by Japan to become a more “normal” nation and is expected, during its second term, to continue to encourage Tokyo to play a more active role in regional security (while refraining from open pressure or from meddling in the debate over constitutional revision). The Pentagon's ongoing Global Force Review will likely result in some modest adjustments in the US military footprint in Japan, but with no lessening of Washington's overall commitment or ability to respond to regional crises. Meanwhile, Washington will continue to support institutionalized multilateral mechanisms (including sub-regional efforts that do not include the US) as useful means to promote regional security and coordinate counter-terrorism efforts, while relying on ad hoc coalitions (or unilateral actions if necessary) to address specific threats to its own security or to the security of its allies.     

The Philadelphia predictive policing experiment

Journal of Experimental Criminology - This place-based, randomized experiment explored the impact of different patrol strategies on violent and property crime in microscale predicted crime areas....