Who is the academic entrepreneur? The role of graduate students in the development of university spinoffs

Academic entrepreneurship, the establishment of new companies based on technologies derived from university research, is a well-recognized driver of regional and national economic development. For more than a decade, scholars have conceptualized individual university faculty as the primary agents of academic entrepreneurship. Recent research suggests that graduate students also play a critical role in the establishment and early development of university spinoff companies, but the nature of their involvement through the entrepreneurial process is not yet fully understood. Employing a case study approach, this paper investigates the role of graduate students in early-stage university spinoff companies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We find that graduate students play role similar to that of individual faculty entrepreneurs in university spinoffs, both in terms of making the initial establishment decision and in reconfiguring the organization for marketable technology development. We also find that student entrepreneurs face unique challenges involving conflicts with faculty advisors and other students.     

Causes and circumstances of fatal falls downstairs

Reports of 9156 autopsies performed at the Centre of Legal Medicine of the J.W. Goethe-University Frankfurt over a period of 10 years were reviewed for fatal accidents of falls downstairs, age, gender, drinking behaviour and alcohol influence, the locality and the time of the accident. Among 43 cases (0.47% of all autopsies) were 31 males (72.1%, average age 63.9 years) and 12 women (27.9%, average age 65.8 years). Twenty-nine accidents (67.4%) occurred at home, in six cases (14.0%) in a public building or area. Twenty-three victims (53.5%) were under the influence of alcohol (average blood alcohol concentrations (BAC): 2.56 per thousand), in 19 persons autopsy revealed severe internal disease which may explain the cause of the fall (severe coronary artery disease, myocardial hypertrophy, myocardial infarction, apoplexy, brain tumour). This study indicates that a fatal fall downstairs without an underlying severe disease or alcohol influence is a rare phenomenon.     

Belarus', Ukraine and The Russian Question: A Comment

Before the names of Just and Unjust can have place there must be some coercive force to compel men equally to abide by their covenants by the terrour of a punishment greater than the benefit they expect by the breach of their covenant… So that the nature of Justice consisteth not in keeping of valid covenants: but the Validity of Covenants begins not but with the Constitution of a Civill power sufficient to compel men to keep them.

Thomas Hobbes, 1651     

Hans Georg Ruppe – 65 Jahre

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Gemeindeaufsicht ein Spielball der (Partei-)Politik?

Für die politische Zusammensetzung der NÖ Landesregierung ist das Stärkeverhältnis der Parteien im NÖ Landtag maßgeblich. Ändern sich auf Grund des Ergebnisses einer Landtagswahl die Machtverhältnisse im Landtag, bedingt dies regelmäßig auch eine Änderung der Geschäftsordnung (Geschäftsverteilung) der Landesregierung. So geschehen nach der letzten Landtagswahl 2008. Nachstehend sollen die sich daraus ergebenden Probleme hinsichtlich der Gemeindeaufsicht einer näheren Betrachtung unterzogen werden.     

Measuring Liberal Democratic Performance: an Empirical and Conceptual Critique

Liberal democratic performance is understood as the delivery of liberal democratic values, and not as regime longevity or government efficacy. Measuring it is a matter of how far liberal democratic governments achieve in practice the values they endorse in principle.
It is recognized that the performance of liberal democratic governments varies widely. But extant attempts to measure this variation suffer problems of reliability and validity, and the object of measurement is often unclear.
By defining the range of liberal democratic values we demonstrate that performance is multidimensional and that trade-offs across different values can create distinct performance profiles. The narrow gauge of the extant meaures – usually of just one or two values – is often disguised by single scales that masquerade as summary performance indicators.