The impacts of foreignness and cultural distance on commercialization of patents

The Journal of Technology Transfer - Foreign-born academic scientists have been consistently shown to be more productive than the native-born in the United States with regard to research and...     

Network and perceptual determinants of satisfaction among science and engineering faculty in US research universities

This study examines how personal research collaboration and advice networks of academic faculty in six fields of science and engineering affect three kinds of satisfaction: satisfaction with rewards; satisfaction with reputation of department and institution; and satisfaction with professional recognition and visibility of research. The study includes determinants found in the literature such as perceived influence on departmental decisions, departmental provision of resources, and perceptions of time spent on service and other controls. Using data collected from a national survey of academic faculty in six fields of science and engineering in Carnegie designated Research I universities, regression models test literature derived hypotheses. Findings show that the effects of network structure and resources on satisfaction depend on the kind of satisfaction studied. Non-network variables demonstrate associations with satisfaction that are generally expected from the literature. The paper provides evidence of the critical role that personal research collaboration and advice networks play for scientists’ satisfaction. It also raises important questions about the complex relationships between network structures and resources, and satisfaction. Conclusions present implications for university and departmental administrators.     

The implementation of the Nagoya ABS Protocol for the research sector: experience and challenges

Over the years, researchers in public institutions and universities have accessed genetic materials from a variety of sources, freely exchanged them with fellow researchers and institutions and shared their research results with foreign and local collaborators. The 2010 Nagoya Protocol regulating access to genetic resources is set to change this scenario. This treaty requires country parties to put in place enhanced ABS measures regulating access to their genetic resources and to provide for the sharing of benefits arising from their utilization. These measures include minimum access standards, mandatory prior informed consent of indigenous and local communities, compliance with the domestic laws or requirements of the provider country and monitoring the utilization of genetic resources. This is aimed at commercial research. Non-commercial public research which contributes to the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity is encouraged, particularly in developing countries, through simplified measures. There are undoubtedly practical challenges in operationalizing this provision without impeding research in the sector most potentially affected by ABS measures. This article presents the results of a survey of the practices of such researchers in one developing country, namely Malaysia. It examines the potential implications for the national implementation of the Protocol. Given country specificities, this study highlights and shows the importance of increasing knowledge about existing practices for an efficient design and implementation by developing countries of a complex legislation such as the Nagoya ABS Protocol.     

Real Solutions for Fake News? Measuring the Effectiveness of General Warnings and Fact-Check Tags in Reducing Belief in False Stories on Social Media

Political Behavior - Social media has increasingly enabled “fake news” to circulate widely, most notably during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. These intentionally false...     

电子政府能促进责任性吗?——14个国家的网站公开性与政府责任比较分析

在信息技术引发的全球压力下,公共行政领域基于网络技术的采用创造了一个新的"政府-公民"界面.然而,电子政府是否将明确地导致一个更透明、更具互动性、更开放,因而是更有责任的政府一直是一个核心问题.针对14个国家,应用全球压力对官僚政治变化影响的框架,基于网站公开性和责任问题展开经验研究.研究表明,即使全球范围国家的整体责任等级有所提升,但在基于网络的技术典型地保持和加强现存实践的条件下,不同国家官僚机构问的责任差异依然存在.电子政府是否能促进责任性,首先依赖于人们参照什么类型的官僚机构.就当前全球化对公共官僚机构的影响而引发的关于全球趋同(global convergence)与国家异化(nationaldivergence)问题的争论而言,电子政府的广泛实践只是提供一个实践趋同而非结果趋同的案例.     

Protecting human rights in the era of uncertainty: How not to lose the war against ISIS

As the brutal and violent attacks on civilian populations multiply throughout the world perpetrated by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS or ISIL, or the Islamic State, also known as Daesh), the need for an effective response to terrorism has grown in intensity. The ISIS attacks in Paris have in particular introduced a wave of nationalist, securitized alarm, reinforcing a general concern about the influx of immigrants and asylum seekers while underscoring the shift from a regional to international nature of both threat and risk. These issues of security and terrorism have also illustrated the willingness of great powers to support military actions against ISIS in order to stem the atrocities perpetrated by this group, while placing the overthrow of the Assad regime on the backburner for the time being at least. We argue that the defeat of ISIS need not be accomplished by stigmatizing refugees and subjecting them to religious litmus tests. Closing Europe's porous borders and politicizing the attempt to admit refugees at a time when the growing humanitarian crisis poses mounting human rights challenges to the international community is fundamentally wrongheaded. We argue that these approaches, while temporarily satisfying, strengthen the hand of ISIS and other terrorist groups that tend to portray such policies and practices largely in terms of civilizational clashes. Defeating ISIS requires strategic patience and long-term logical and prudent decision making. While doing so, it is important to avoid the enemy's repressive, atavistic, and unsavory methods. The burden is on the international community to fulfill the commitment to international human rights law and international humanitarian law, which continue to be one of the most effective and legitimate tools in our arsenal to confront terrorism.     

National Human Rights Institutions: Domestic implementation of international human rights law

Does adopting a National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) make states’ international commitments to not torture more constraining? Many researchers have explored international human rights treaties’ abilities to constrain leaders from violating human rights, some focusing exclusively on the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT). Thus far, findings are not promising unless certain domestic conditions apply such as sufficient democratic space to air grievances or independent judiciaries. This article continues to explore domestic conditions by focusing on another liberal institution—National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs). Torture is usually a secretive practice, and NHRIs act as information providers to potential mobilizers and domestic legal systems assuring international legal commitments are not empty promises. Using statistical analysis on 153 countries over the years 1981–2007, I find that when a country has ratified the CAT, the presence of an NHRI substantively decreases the chances the state will be an egregious offender.     

Securing the German Domestic Front in the Second World War: Prosecution of Subversion before the People's Court

Article Five of the Special Wartime Penal Code served as the basis for the prosecution of the crime of Wehrkraftzersetzung (“subversion”) in the Third Reich. Using a sample of sixty‐six cases dealing with defeatist statements tried before the People's Court, this article argues that these subversion cases clearly demonstrate the politicisation of the judicial process under the Nazi regime. The application of an extraordinarily broad interpretation of the term “public”— virtually obliterating any notion of a private sphere — as well as a draconian use of the death penalty (two‐thirds of defendants were sentenced to death and executed) both provide evidence that the prosecution of subversion can be understood as one component of a broader effort by the Hitler regime to achieve total control over society in pursuit of total war.