Factors fostering academics to start up new ventures: an assessment of Italian founders’ incentives

Why do university researchers decide to start-up a new venture? How can we distinguish between the different factors influencing such an important decision? To what extent are specific policies activated within universities relevant in the process of new venture creation? In this paper we try to answer these very significant questions, through an empirical analysis performed on a sample of 88 Italian academics involved in the creation of 47 spin-offs between 1999 and 2005. Our findings show that the availability of technologies with a potential for commercial exploitation, the possibility to access university infrastructures and the personal benefits are the most important incentives for academics. More generally, academics’ involvement in creating new ventures is not driven by an entrepreneurial attitude, but rather by the expectation of generating results which will enhance their academic position. Additional investments and efforts made by some universities to create more mechanisms to support spin-offs are not perceived as additional incentives. These results hold after controlling for academic founders’ institutional affiliation, status, and the companies’ growth over their first two years of existence. Implications for public policy and organizational processes are discussed.     

Adolescent Siblings’ Looking Glass Self-Orientations: Patterns of Liabilities and Associations with Parenting

A looking glass self-orientation refers to the tendency to incorporate the opinions of social partners to form a self-representation and approve of one’s self. These orientations were assessed for two adolescent siblings in 438 families with surveys accessed on-line. Younger (M = 11.6 years, SD = 1.8) and older (M = 14.3, SD = 2.1) siblings and their mothers (82.7% European-American) participated. The siblings shared similar orientations in relying on either classmates or the other sibling for approval, prior to self approval. Relying on classmate approval was significantly associated with adjustment and academic performance as reported by both the self and mothers. Siblings were also identified as sources of approval with implications for adjustment, but the magnitude of the associations with adjustment were lower. Comparisons of the older and younger siblings revealed that both groups were equally as liable to poor outcomes when reflecting the opinions of classmates or siblings. The results of SEM analyses implicate parenting characterized as coercive, rejecting, and chaotic in association with the tendency to rely on others for approval. A mediating role for looking glass self-orientations in associations between parenting and depressive symptoms, anxiety or academic performance was also found.

Is the genie out of the bottle? Digital platforms and the future of clinical trials

Is it possible to conduct impartial clinical trials in a world full of digital networking tools that patients can use to coordinate themselves and act against research protocols? This paper builds on an ethnography of PatientsLikeMe, a company running an internet social media network where patients with different conditions share their clinical data with standardized questionnaires. The company faced a serious dilemma in 2011 when some ALS patients, members of the site, started sharing data about a phase II clinical trial of an experimental drug (NP001) in which some of them were participating, to anticipate the experiment’s outcomes and understand each one’s allocation over trial arms. In parallel, some other patients were using the site and other web tools to coordinate and run their own replication of the trial with homebrew mixes of industrial grade chemicals. PatientsLikeMe researchers reflected on their position as networks managers and eventually decided to use the collected data to develop their own analysis of the efficacy of the original compound, and of the homebrewers’ compound. They presented the NP001 events as a case in point for articulating a new social contract for clinical research. This paper analyses these events, first, by understanding the clinical trial as an experiment organization form that can succeed only as long as its protocol can be enforced; second, we observe how web networks make it dramatically easier for the trial protocol to be violated; finally, we point out how a potentially dangerous confluence of interests over web networks could incubate developments that disrupt the status quo without creating a robust and safe alternative for experimentation. We conclude by warning about the interests of the pharmaceutical industry in exploiting patients’ methodological requests to its own advantage.     

The Impact of Political Change on the State of Academia Including Academic Freedom in the Arab World: Libya as a Case Study

ABSTRACT

Furthering Western style academic freedom has been challenging, as Arab countries, especially Libya, have known only autocratic regimes throughout their modern existence. Amidst its current political and social upheaval, Libyan society is drifting towards the unknown. The problem addressed in this study is the impact of political change on the state of academia but, more specifically, academic freedom. Since the intervention in Libya by NATO states, many academics have lost their jobs. Some have become refugees outside of Libya as a direct result of the appropriation of most of the governmental posts in the country by religious and political radicals. The research questions reflect ways in which the new inserted de facto leaders of post-transitional Libya have impacted life on Libyan campuses and academic freedom.     

论加强行政学院的学科体系建设

加强行政学院的学科体系建设 ,目前应注意明确学科体系建设的指导思想和大致思路 ;把公共管理学作为第一学科群放在突出地位 ;要发挥科研对学科的支撑作用 ,注重师资队伍建设 ,调动一切积极因素形成整体合力     

身份理论视域下他者对“中国模式”的学术话语体系建构

中国模式正在成为后冷战时期西方定义中国身份的一个重要话语,以西方对"中国模式"进行研究为代表的"中国模式学术话语"是这一身份建构过程中的关键性环节。西方学术界试图从经济、政治、文化、社会和历史等维度建立中国模式与中国身份之间的关联,以简单而又有明确内涵的"西方中国模式"为中国定义身份。西方"中国模式"学术话语体系的形成及扩散在一定程度上影响了中国的认知图式和身份认同叙事。为此,我们有必要从构建中国的自我身份、解构西方叙事、提升解读中国道路的话语权等方面努力,不断增强中国道路或中国模式的正当性阐释,在更高的层面上实现自我认同、自我批判与自我超越。     

Uruguay’s long transitional decade and a new era of gendered activism

This article examines the nature and type of women’s activism before, during, and after Uruguay’s dictatorship, arguing that advocacy during the latter part of the country’s military rule paved the way for an increased role for women in society after democracy was restored. Focusing on the female-led movement to place the 1986 Ley de Caducidad (Law of Expiry or amnesty law) before a national referendum, it analyzes how women marshaled a gendered identity that had been effective in campaigning against the military. Through examining connections between earlier women’s movements and the 1980s, the article explores how challenging a key piece of legislation in the recently restored democratic environment ultimately forged a new era of activism for women in post-authoritarian Uruguay. The article ultimately rethinks the process of Uruguay’s transition, the continual negotiations over what is included in human rights discourse, and the importance of gendered activism in transitional societies.     

Exploring a New View： Judicial Activism of Justice Attestation Quantitative Analysis fromPerspective of Procedure

随着社会经济的迅速发展，司法实践对法官能力提出了更高的要求。赋予法官司法能动权，改变传统的司法运行模式，不仅需要在刑事诉讼中营造有助于法官能动性发挥的外部环境，还要探寻激励法官能力提升的内在因素。刑事认证程序是法官发挥司法能动性的重要领域，通过对这一阶段法官心证的定量化分析，可以直观掌握不同因素影响法官司法能动性发挥的现状，进而采用合理搭配各学历层次法官比例、优化法院内部考核及选任方式、培养法官整体性思维等方式提升法官能动性的发挥。     

论执行能动

执行能动是新时期最高人民法院针对执行难问题提出的新的执行理念。它包含启动强制执行制度、强制执行运行制度以及强制执行监督制度。司法机关依职权能动地行使民事执行权作为一个理念使得各项制度顺次推进。在执行领域贯彻能动性理念可以降低执行成本,提高执行效率,进一步化解社会矛盾,提高法院的公信力。目前,执行能动理念在我国仍处于探索期,虽然实践中已经取得了一定成效,但就制度构建而言仍不健全,必须致力于建构起科学、完善、能动的执行体系。