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.     

Stewardship of quality of care in health systems: Core functions,common pitfalls,and potential solutions

National Ministries of Health in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs) have a key role to play as stewards of the quality agenda in their health systems. This paper uses a previously developed six‐point framework for stewardship (strategy formulation, intersectoral collaboration, governance and accountability, health system design, policy and regulation, and intelligence generation) and identifies specific examples of activities in LMICs in each of these domains, pitfalls to avoid, and possible solutions to these pitfalls. Many LMICs now have quality strategies with clear vision statements. There are good examples of quality agencies and donor collaboration councils to coordinate activities across different sectors. There are multiple options for accountability, including public reporting, community accountability structures, results‐based payment, accreditation, and inspection. To improve health system design, available tools include decision support tools, task‐shifting models, supply chain management, and programs to train quality improvement staff. Policy options include legislation on disclosure of adverse events, and regulations to ensure skills of health care providers. Lastly, health information tools include patient registries, facility surveys, hospital discharge abstracts, standardized population and patient surveys, and dedicated agencies for reporting on quality. Policy‐makers can use this article to identify options for driving the quality agenda and address anticipated implementation barriers.     

A Norm of Evidence and Research in Decision‐making (NERD): Scale Development,Reliability, and Validity

Evidence‐based management is on the rise as a strategy to promote more rational decision‐making and effectiveness in governance and public service delivery. To understand how widespread the use of evidence is among managers in various settings, and why evidence is emphasized more in some settings than others, it is necessary to have a good measure of the use of research and evidence in management decision‐making. This article reports on the development and testing of a new multi‐item scale, Norm of Evidence and Research in Decision‐making (NERD), that can be used across organizational and functional settings to assess evidence‐based management practices within an agency. The results indicate that the scale is internally consistent (reliable) and that it correlates with criteria of the underlying construct (valid). The article concludes with a discussion of the potential utility of the scale for advancing research and understanding about the use of evidence by public and nonprofit managers.     

Consensus or compulsion?

When a person receives the same message often enough, from intelligentpeople whose opinions are not only valued but are handsomelypaid for, he is apt to believe it. Yet, acceptance within thecanon of generally accepted wisdom does not of itself qualifya widely held belief as being true. In the field of IP as elsewhere, opinions are often accepteduncritically on the trusting assumption that     

Office politics

The main focus of the IP student is on the substantive law:what can you patent, which acts infringe a trade mark, whenwill freedom of speech arguments trump a copyright-based actionfor an injunction, and so on. Once in practice, this focus broadensto take in wider interests, for example how to advise and guidea client without misappropriating its decision-making capacityor how to work within a team     

Adaptation,conflict and cooperation in pastoralist East Africa: a case study from South Turkana,Kenya

The control and management of resources is an implicit focus of many recent studies that trace the role of environmental factors in the onset and duration of conflict. According to the resources scarcity approach, as scarcities of natural resources worsen they become unmanageable leading to violent conflict between groups competing to use the same resource(s). However, the resources scarcity perspective is misleading by de-emphasising the socio-economic and political factors that are crucial to understanding contested uses and control of resources. This paper introduces the concept of adaptation as an entry point into debates surrounding the role of resources in conflict. The notion that resource uses are socially embedded and politically contingent underlines a key argument in the paper that adaptation is a contentious process and is tightly linked to resource struggles that are laden with material and symbolic importance. It is argued that social relations and political forces shape different vulnerabilities, enlarging options for some to adjust to environmental changes while potentially limiting options for others. A case study of conflict and cooperation among interacting groups of livestock herders in Turkana, Kenya lends contextual support to these views.