The Value of Diplomatic History: A Case Study in the Historical Thought of Herbert Butterfield

This article, substantially based on archival sources, aims to rehabilitate diplomatic history as a mode of enquiry and education using the insights and reflections of Sir Herbert Butterfield, one of the leading historians of the twentieth century. Integrated with developments in theory, methodology and new areas of inquiry over the past generation, his thoughts, it will be argued, can inform the tenets of a revitalized diplomatic history—one that fulfills the promise of its founding scholars and one that reclaims its place at the forefront of historical scholarship: a corrective to some of our present academic priorities.     

IP: the universal lubricant

Press coverage of IP law is generally pathological: it focuseson things that have gone wrong. Youngsters who have the brightidea of copying and file-sharing their favourite recordingsand movies end up in court, as do sellers of knock-off perfumesin street markets, as do fashion chains whose new ranges ofdresses or accessories bear a striking resemblance to the linespreviously unveiled on Paris catwalks by leading designers. Even when there isn't     

A legitimate trespass

No editor can fail to be conscious of the burden placed uponhis shoulders when he begins to select the words that introducea new publication to an audience of unfamiliar readers. Howshould he justify a further trespass on their limited time andresources? At the launch of a new title such as JIPLP the editor can scarcelypoint to its self-evident     

People in greenhouses

The attention of even the most dedicated IP enthusiasts recentlyappears to have been distracted from the pursuit of the justallocation of profits and responsibilities attaching to intellectualassets to an issue that dwarfs all others: preservation of theplanet. Daily we receive the increasingly strident message thatour physical survival depends on our paying immediate attentionto the ecosystem, providing for our every need. Global warming,chemical pollution,     

A. P. Simester (ed): Appraising Strict Liability

The article is a review of A.P. Simester, ed., Appraising Strict Liability. We strongly recommend the book for the sophistication of the contributors’ analyses, and the contribution the book makes to clarifying the normative issues at stake in strict liability legal regimes. The review focuses on the more philosophical essays in the book. The specific issues from the book identified in the review are: the rights-based character of the prohibition on conviction without moral fault; the importance of the principle of proportionality; due diligence defences; the instrumental worth of strict liability in relation to quasi-criminal regulation; the faultiness of genuinely creating risks.     

Informing State Economic Development Policy in the New Economy: A Theoretical Foundation and Empirical Examination of State Innovation in the United States

This study considers recent evidence of state innovation capacity in order to better understand where new economy–type economic development is likely to occur and, by extrapolation, where strategies geared toward such growth are more likely to succeed. The research focuses on data from the National Science Foundation's State Science and Engineering Profiles, supplemented by data from other sources. Factor analysis was performed on this data set to observe underlying common factors that explain the variability of the original data in fewer dimensions. The resulting factor scores—human capacity and financial capacity—were used to classify states into four categories of new economy resource density: lagging, low, developing, and progressive. The scores for the two resulting factors were then used as independent variables in subsequent regression analyses, demonstrating positive correlations among innovation capacity resources, actual innovations, and overall state economic performance.     

Application of non-contact scanning to forensic podiatry: A feasibility study

Foot impression evidence recovered from crime scenes can be available in the form of barefoot prints, sock-clad footprints, or as impressions within footwear. In some cases, suspects leave their footwear at the scene of the crime, and the insoles from the footwear can be important in linking a person to the footwear. The application of 3D data-collecting technology is becoming more and more popular within forensic science and has been used to recover footwear impression evidence. The present study is a feasibility study to discover if 3D data capturing devices can be applied to insoles; to capture the footprint impression for measurement using the Gunn method (a method used in forensic podiatry casework). Three different methods of data capture were conducted; Adobe Photoshop, MeshLab, and calipers used directly on the insole. Paired t-tests and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) were conducted for all three data capture methods. Seven measurements used in this study were significantly different across all three methods. ICC scores were moderate to excellent for the Photoshop method, poor to good for the 3D method, and moderate to excellent for the Direct method.