An evolving technology-transfer system in an R&D consortium: The EPRI approach

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) is a consortium of utility companies whose existence depends on member perceptions that valuable technologies and information have been developed and transferred. This paper outlines eight issues that EPRI, after 17 years of operation had determined to be critical in transferring technology: [1] establishing a perception of value received, [2] creating a sense of full partnership, [3] balancing the R&D portfolio with projects for different members, [4] packaging results for easy understanding and use, [5] reducing information overload by using targeted media, [6] assuring that members have the needed infrastructure to receive and process transfer, [7] integrating EPRI's R&D program with those of the members, and [8] monitoring impact to be sure that value is being received.     

Private Representation in Washington: Surveying the Structure of Influence

Despite the significance of interest representation to theories of law and politics, the social organization of interest representation has not received systematic empirical analysis. Based on interviews with 776 individuals engaged in the representation of private interests concerning national policies on agriculture, energy, health, and labor, this article reports some findings concerning the social and political characteristics of representatives, the nature of their work and their relationships with client organizations. Three models of the social organization of interest representation are developed and examined: a model based on substantive expertise, an institutional targets model, and a client-based model. The findings indicate that representation is predominately organized around client interests Although lawyers constitute a significant and distinctive group among representatives, they are neither as numerous nor as active in policy making as is commonly assumed. The analysis suggests that representatives are not likely to exercise influence in the policy-making process that is autonomous from client organizations.     

Events data and policy analysis:

In the 1960s and 1970s the creation and analysis of coded international events data became a major tool for the analysis of international relations and crises. Unlike other quantitative projects developed by the academic community, the events data approach was transformed to applied research and used by various national security bureaucracies in the U.S. government. The approach was eventually rejected due to an aversion by bureaucrats to quantitative analysis systems and procedures which did not incorporate their expertise, organizational objectives and need for user-friendly and timely presentation. The lessons learned from this case can be used to inform current efforts by academics to transfer basic research to the foreign policy making community.     

The International Court of Justice and International Law-making: The Judicial Activism/Self-Restraint Antinomy

The antinomy between judicial activism and self-restraint, wellknown to students of the US Supreme Court, has implicationstoday also for international tribunals. The resort to judicialsettlement of international dispute is still predicated upona certain basic homogeneity of legal cultures and values goingwith them. When, however, social and cultural values are infundamental tension or collision with each other, there maybe an inclination towards activism to try to resolve the conflictsor contradictions. Any such activism on the part of the InternationalCourt of Justice, after the way seemed opened by the landmarkadvisory opinion in Nambia in 1971, effectively "overruling"earlier, more static jurisprudence, seems, however, to havebeen tempered by a perceived obligation of judicial respectfor the constitutional role and missions of the other policy-makingUN organs and other main players in the international community.As a result, this tends to lead to a situation in which theCourt may be dealing with no major, high political–legaltension-issues of the day.     

Ability, Effort, and Performance Among First-Year Law Students at Brigham Young University

This study considers the relationships between first-year law students' admission credentials, the amount of time they spend in study, and the grades they receive on examination. Findings include that there is a significant drop in effort during the first year, that while effort invested in study pays off in improved grades this effort is much less significant in explaining grades than is student ability as measured by LSAT and undergraduate grades, that students in the middle and bottom of the class are helped more by substantial study than are those in the top, that class attendance is much more valuable in raising grades than is equivalent time in other study, and that none of the various study techniques examined could be linked with major differences in results.