Informing public policy on science and innovation: the Advanced Technology Program’s experience

The Advanced Technology Program (ATP) collected a unique source of data from highly innovative firms beginning in 1993. These data follow the OECD’s guidelines for collecting innovation data and provide important insights for understanding the innovation process within firms. Although the data are not representative of the population of firms, there is sufficient number of firms in the dataset to test hypotheses and to provide a starting point for calls for innovation metrics. Because of the confidential nature of the data, ATP worked with the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) to create a Data Enclave so that researchers could remotely access the ATP data in a secure environment. To initiate the use of ATP data in the Data Enclave, the ATP program funded researchers to undertake research projects that use ATP data. Other organizations have joined the Data Enclave, including the Department of Agriculture and the Kauffman Foundation.

Assisting the Factually Innocent: The Contradictions and Compatibility of Innocence Projects and the Criminal Cases Review Commission

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) was the first publiclyfunded body created to investigate claims of wrongful conviction,with the power to refer cases to the Court of Appeal. In othercountries, such as Australia, Canada and the United States,many regard the CCRC as the optimal solution to wrongful convictionand, for years, Innocence Projects in these countries have calledfor the establishment of a CCRC-style body in their own jurisdictions.However, it is now Innocence Projects which are being introducedin England and Wales to try to assist applicants who are innocentbut convicted. This article reviews why the CCRC was created,discusses the role of factual innocence within this body andwithin the criminal justice system generally and explores whyInnocence Projects are being created in England and Wales, despitethe presence of the CCRC. It explains how these different organizationsmay work together to assist factually innocent people who havebeen wrongly convicted, and the role Innocence Projects mayplay generally in criminal justice reform and legal education.     

The Dissociative Subtype of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Forensic Considerations and Recent Controversies

Psychological Injury and Law - This article provides an overview of the evidence concerning the dissociative subtype of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its relevance in forensic contexts....     

“The world would just fall apart if there’s no respect at all”: children’s understandings of respect for diversity in a post-conflict society

The term ‘respect for diversity’ has gained prominence in many policy and curricular developments aimed at promoting reconciliation and pluralism. To explore the understandings of ‘respect for diversity’ held by children in a society that has both emerged from conflict and is increasingly multicultural, 15 group interviews were conducted with 7–11-year-old children in Northern Ireland. The behavioural aspects of respect for diversity articulated by the children were identified as: attention; offering time; equality of treatment; and acts of solidarity. Affective motivations for these actions were empathy and the pursuit of friendship; cognitive motivations were: a moral norm of inclusion; curiosity; internalised human rights principles; and egalitarianism (a belief that all persons are equal in fundamental worth or value). Findings are discussed in relation to theories of children’s prejudice development and moral development, and implications for the teaching and promotion of respect for diversity as part of peace education programmes are considered.     

The Combined Effects of Self-Referent Information Processing and Ruminative Responses on Adolescent Depression

Adolescents who develop depression have worse interpersonal and affective experiences and are more likely to develop substance problems and/or suicidal ideation compared to adolescents who do not develop depression. This study examined the combined effects of negative self-referent information processing and rumination (i.e., brooding and reflection) on adolescent depressive symptoms. It was hypothesized that the interaction of negative self-referent information processing and brooding would significantly predict depressive symptoms, while the interaction of negative self-referent information processing and reflection would not predict depressive symptoms. Adolescents (n = 92; 13–15 years; 34.7 % female) participated in a 6-month longitudinal study. Self-report instruments measured depressive symptoms and rumination; a cognitive task measured information processing. Path modelling in Amos 19.0 analyzed the data. The interaction of negative information processing and brooding significantly predicted an increase in depressive symptoms 6 months later. The interaction of negative information processing and reflection did not significantly predict depression, however, the model not meet a priori standards to accept the null hypothesis. Results suggest clinicians working with adolescents at-risk for depression should consider focusing on the reduction of brooding and negative information processing to reduce long-term depressive symptoms.     

Online Network Influences on Emerging Adults’ Alcohol and Drug Use

Researchers have reported that network characteristics are associated with substance use behavior. Considering that social interactions within online networks are increasingly common, we examined the relationship between online network characteristics and substance use in a sample of emerging adults (ages 18–24) from across the United States (N = 2,153; M = 21 years old; 47 % female; 70 % White). We used regression analyses to examine the relationship between online ego network characteristics (i.e., characteristics of individuals directly related to the focal participant plus the relationships shared among individuals within the online network) and alcohol use and substance use, respectively. Alcohol use was associated with network density (i.e., interconnectedness between individuals in a network), total number of peer ties, and a greater proportion of emotionally close ties. In sex-stratified models, density was related to alcohol use for males but not females. Drug use was associated with an increased number of peer ties, and the increased proportion of network members’ discussion and acceptance of drug use, respectively. We also found that online network density and total numbers of ties were associated with more personal drug use for males but not females. Conversely, we noted that social norms were related to increased drug use and this relationship was stronger for females than males. We discuss the implications of our findings for substance use and online network research.