Commercializing academic research: a social network approach exploring the role of regions and distance

The Journal of Technology Transfer - Relationships between firms and universities have been centre stage for some time. However, empirical studies on firms contracting research to universities...     

Contributions of the dark triad to moral disengagement among incarcerated and community adults

Previous research has revealed a strong association between moral disengagement (MD) and criminal behaviour. However, few studies have attempted to examine the contribution of dark personalities to MD. This study aims to first analyse the differences between forensic and community samples in the use of MD strategies and then replicate the factorial structure of the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen scale in an incarcerated sample as a pre-condition to examine the relationship between dark triad (DT) traits (i.e. Machiavellianism, psychopathy and narcissism) and MD. The sample comprised 160 incarcerated and 160 community adults. Comparisons between these two groups demonstrate that the incarcerated sample scored higher in MD and DT than the community sample. Furthermore, different MD strategies were related to each of the DT traits in the forensic and community samples. The results of exploratory factor analysis for the incarcerated sample indicate adequate fit indices for a bifactorial model of the DT (a latent factor of the shared variance of these constructs named the global DT and three specific latent factors for each component of the DT). The SEM analysis for this bifactorial model and MD disclosed direct and significant relationships between the global DT and MD in the incarcerated adults, while the Machiavellianism factor was directly and significantly related to MD in the community adults. These results highlight the relevance of cognitive (i.e. MD) strategies in forensic contexts, especially in incarcerated adults who present high levels of this DT profile.     

A Quasi-Experimental Analysis of Schoolwide Violence Prevention Programs

Violence prevention programs are commonplace in today’s schools, though reviews of the literature reveal mixed empirical findings on their effectiveness. Often, these programs include a variety of components such as social skills training, student mentoring, and activities designed to build a sense of school community that have not been tested for individual effectiveness. To fill this gap, we wanted to determine the relationships between specific violence prevention program components and aggression and violence outcomes. Using the U.S. Department of Education’s School Survey on Crime and Safety, we estimated the effects of components of violence prevention programs through analyses with proportional odds logistic regression and Poisson regression models. We found significant relationships between three violence prevention program components (individual attention, mentoring, tutoring, and/or coaching; recreational, enrichment, or leisure activities; and involving students in resolving student conduct problems) and aggression and violence outcomes.     

Long Bone (Humerus,Femur, Tibia) Measuring Procedure in Cadavers

In this work, we present a measuring methodology for long bones of the limbs (humerus, femur, and tibia) of human corpses. Measurements of cadaveric height and long bone lengths were conducted on 72 corpses (20 females and 52 males) from the School of Medicine at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Additionally, these measurements were compared with those taken from dry bones of a subsample of individuals. Our results show marginal differences (TEM% = 0.59) between cadaveric and dry bone measurements, resulting from different osteometric technical procedures. This note outlines the measuring methodology, which will be subsequently used to create regression formulas for stature estimation.     

When benefitting a patient increases the risk for harm for third persons — The case of treating pedophilic Parkinsonian patients with deep brain stimulation

This paper investigates the question whether it is ethically justified to treat Parkinsonian patients with known or suspected pedophilia with deep brain stimulation — given increasing evidence that this treatment might cause impulse control disorders, disinhibition, and hypersexuality. This specific question is not as exotic as it looks at a first glance. First, the same issue is raised for all other types of sexual orientation or behavior which imply a high risk for harming other persons, e.g. sexual sadism. Second, there are also several (psychotropic) drugs as well as legal and illegal leisure drugs which bear severe risks for other persons. We show that Beauchamp and Childress' biomedical ethics fails to derive a veto against medical interventions which produce risks for third persons by making the patients dangerous to others. Therefore, our case discussion reveals a blind spot of the ethics of principles. Although the first intuition might be to forbid the application of deep brain stimulation to pedophilic patients, we argue against such a simple way out, since in some patients the reduction of dopaminergic drugs allowed by deep brain stimulation of the nucleus subthalamicus improves impulsive control disorders, including hypersexuality. Therefore, we propose a strategy consisting of three steps: (1) risk assessment, (2) shared decision-making, and (3) risk management and safeguards.     

Adoption of Performance Measurement: Evidence of Mexican Municipalities

In this article we define and estimate empirical models to study the determinants of adoption of performance indicators by Mexican municipalities. Building upon previous studies, we prove whether the adoption decision depends on the locality size, variables related to resources, and the political/cultural differences. We implement the empirical models using the data from 300 municipalities for the year 2000. Unlike related literature that relies on surveys applied to local officials, our data from independent and dependent variables were obtained from different sources in order to avoid common-source bias. The estimated logit and probit models confirm the hypotheses.     

BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS … BOEKAANKONDIGINGS

SUMMARY

• In this article a number of general principles and practical tasks awaiting South African publishers are discussed by Andries Walter Oliphant, editor of Staffrider. Some of the points discussed are:

• the need for all South African publishers to underwrite non-racist democratic values;

• the need for South African publishers to advocate and defend the right of the reading public to have access to all published material and information;

• the need for publishers to counter the history of injustice, ignorance, racial prejudice and oppression by exposing and criticising any manifestation of it in society, the state and the media; and

• to give space to subordinate classes, such as workers and gender groups, to articulate their interests and conceptions of what freedom and social justice might mean to them.

     

Confronting Progressive Retreatism and Minimalism: The Role of a New Left Realist Approach

Left realists continue to offer progressive ways of studying and solving various types of crime in the streets, in the “suites,” and in intimate relationships. This article briefly describes the central themes, assumptions, and concepts of left realism and charts new directions in research, theory, and policy. Special attention is devoted to using new electronic technologies and to responding to the rabid corporatization of institutions of higher learning.