Technology contracts: An academic perspective

As university-industry ties broaden and strengthen it becomes more important for technology managers on both sides to understand the nature and obligations of the other, and thus its needs, policies, and limitations. This paper discusses some relevant aspects of the nature of universities, the needs of industry, current technologytransfer laws, and in consequence, university policies. It also provides standard language in selected clauses of research and licensing agreements that address these issues. In explicating this fundamental information, the paper might be a useful basis for starting negotiations.     

Have paper,will travel: Participation at A.C.J.S. annual meetings

Graduate criminology and criminal justice faculty participation at the 1979–81 Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences annual meetings are examined. Results show that institution prestige, not faculty productivity, is the but predictor of meeting participation. It is suggested that further attention be devoted to profroessional concerns in order to understand the development of a academic criminology.     

The product-liability-insurance issue in university licensing agreements

As universities become more involved with industry through research and license agreements, and with the change of character of product liability, particularly its becoming a potentially catastrophic event, universities are taking a hard look at product-liability insurance. A brief survey shows universities in three distinct groups in their handling of the issue in their licensing agreements. State schools feel protected and do not generally consider it essential, foundations are more cautious, and private universities are very concerned and require it except in specific cases. Some approaches to the problem are proposed. Previously he was head of the Chemistry Department at Simon Boliver University and director of a university-based industrial research institute. Bertha has also been a research chemist at Dupont Corp. He has a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry form Florida State University.     

Optimal storage conditions for highly dilute DNA samples: a role for trehalose as a preserving agent

DNA extraction from trace samples or noninvasively collected samples often results in the recovery of low concentration solutions of DNA that are prone to DNA degradation or other loss. Because of the difficulty in obtaining such samples, and their potentially high value in wildlife and forensic studies, it is critical that optimal methods are employed for their long-term storage. We assessed the amplification yield of samples kept under different storage conditions with the addition of potential preserving agents. We stored dilutions of known concentration human placental DNA, and gorilla fecal DNA, under four conditions (+4 degrees C, -20 degrees C, -80 degrees C, dry at room temperature), and with three additives (Tris EDTA (TE) buffer, Hind III digested Lambda DNA, trehalose). The effectiveness of the treatment methods was tested at regular intervals using qPCR to assess the quantity of amplifiable DNA, and a PCR assay of a larger 757 bp fragment to evaluate the quality of that remaining DNA. The highest quantity of DNA remained in samples stored at -80 degrees C, regardless of storage additives, and those dried at room temperature in the presence of trehalose. Surprisingly, DNA quality was best preserved in the presence of trehalose, either dried or at -80 degrees C; significant quality loss occurred with -20 degrees C and +4 degrees C storage.     

A Measure of Court Response to Requests for Protection

Are male victims of domestic violence provided the same protections as female victims? With increasing entanglement of custody and domestic violence law, the answer to this question is critical for fathers embroiled in disputes where allegations are sometimes made to secure custody of children. All non-impounded requests for Abuse Prevention Orders initiated in Massachusetts’ Gardner District Court, in the year 1997, involving opposite gender litigants were analyzed to determine if court response to the associated allegations is affected by the gender of those litigants. These orders were previously examined and male and female defendants were found similarly abusive. By studying the characteristics of each case, and overall court response at court hearings, a determination is made concerning any evident gender trends in the aggregate court response to requests for protection. Despite gender-neutral language of abuse prevention law (M.G.L. c. 209A), application of that law favors female plaintiffs.     

Speaking the City: Punishment,Performance and the Perception of London’s Public Space 1780--1840

The paper contends that in order to understand the role of punishment within the Georgian city we must challenge our own perceptions of space. A key difference I suggest between the Georgian and the modern city was that in the former most of the city space had yet to become functionally specialised. The competing demands placed upon it had not yet been, in the main, resolved by municipal authorities; since they were not, as yet, inclined to think in terms of functional efficiency. Consequently, punishment existed as but one activity, embedded within a general culture of public performance. Execution in particular, depended for its efficacy upon the creation of intense nodes of experience within the realm of the ordinary and found its place within a wider system of communication between the orders based upon the notional equality of violence. It was then, owned by the public in a way that was soon to be repudiated. That repudiation was, I suggest, inextricably connected with a reformation of urban space, which was in part motivated by the challenge to public order posed by popular radicalism and which was substantially driven by the application of principles of subjugation and manipulation derived from liturgy and religious practice. It was, I suggest, the subjugation of public space and the suppression of popular performance that in turn necessitated the re-conceptualisation of one of its elements, that is to say, punishment. Punishment was re-conceptualised by disenfranchising those who had formerly owned it in return for the offer of a new, but largely fictitious, form of social ownership of public space.     

Differences in the predictive validity of actuarial risk assessments in relation to sex offender type

This study seeks to expand on the previously reported validity of the Static-99, RRASOR, MnSOST-R, and SORAG in predicting sexual recidivism utilizing a regional sample of offenders. The predictive validity of each test was determined utilizing subgroups of the sample based on each offender's known offense history. The effectiveness of each instrument varied depending on offender type. The Static-99 and SORAG were both significantly predictive of sexual, violent, and any recidivism for extra-familial child molesters, and all four tests were predictive of violent or any recidivism in this subgroup. For incest offenders, all four tests were at least moderately predictive of sexual recidivism, whereas the Static-99 and the SORAG were highly predictive of violent or any recidivism. None of the four tests established consistent predictive validity across recidivism categories in regard to rapists or hands-off offenders, however, the Static-99 and the SORAG were significant in terms of sexual recidivism.