The Extent and Determinants of the Utilization of University Research in Government Agencies

This article addresses three questions: To what extent is university research used in government agencies? Are there differences between the policy domains in regard to the extent of use? What determines the use of university research in government agencies? The data analysis is based on a survey of 833 government officials from Canadian government agencies. Comparisons of the magnitude of uptake of university research show large and significant differences across policy domains. The results of the multivariate regression analyses show that the characteristics of research and the focus on the advancement of scholarly knowledge or on users’ needs do not explain the uptake of research. Users’ adaptation of research, users’ acquisition efforts, links between researchers and users, and users’ organizational contexts are good predictors of the uptake of research by government officials.     

Nuclear proliferation: Is the Middle East next?

The nuclear tests carried out by India and Pakistan in May 1998 have had monumental ramifications for the international community, says Nabil Fahmy, Ambassador of Egypt to Japan. The tests have forced the world to realize that a static nuclear nonproliferation regime cannot survive the test of time, but must be regularly consolidated and built upon by all. In the context of the Middle East, Fahmy emphasizes the need to maintain parity in security issues, and the threat of nuclear proliferation in the region in the wake of the tests. How the international community responds to these tests will be a crucial factor in determining the sequence of events that will follow in the Middle East. If they do not provide impetus for global and regional disarmament, then the risk exists that countries in the region will be tempted, or even compelled, to explore the possibility of going nuclear.     

Seeking or controlling the truth? An examination of courtroom questioning practices by Canadian lawyers*

ABSTRACT

The questioning practices of Canadian lawyers were examined. Courtroom examinations (N?=?91) were coded for the type of utterance, the assumed purpose of the utterance, and the length of utterance. Results showed that approximately one-fifth of all utterances were classified as productive for gathering reliable information (i.e. open-ended, probing); less than one percent of all utterances were open-ended. Direct examinations contained more closed yes/no, probing, and open-ended questions. Cross-examinations contained more leading and clarification questions, and opinions. Moreover, cross- (vs. direct) examinations contained more questions with a ‘challenging the witness’ purpose. The longest utterances were opinions, followed by multiple and forced-choice questions. The longest answers were in response to open-ended questions, followed by multiple and probing questions. Implications for the truth-seeking function of the judiciary are discussed.     

Bureaucratic corruption as a consequence of the Gulf migration: The case of North Yemen

Sizable migration of workers from North Yemen to other Gulf nations, beginning in the 1960s and continuing through the 1980s, produced a large influx of funds into the nation in the form of workers' remittances. This produced a general rise in living standards and improved balance-of-payment statistics, but also greatly increased corruption as poorly-paid officials struggled to make a living in the inflated economy and private parties sought to circumvent economic regulations. Reform efforts met with apathy or even violence, and corruption eventually reached systematic if not systemic levels. Many Yemeni migrants have recently been repatriated in the wake of the Gulf War. Whether or not this will reduce corruption depends upon many factors, such as the activities of the nation's increasingly independent press and the successful exploitation of oil and gas reserves.     

The Subject-Matter Jurisdiction of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) represents a sui generisinternational tribunal on various levels. It is the first timea treaty-based Tribunal has been established through a resolutionof the Security Council adopted under Chapter VII. A furtherunique feature is its sole dependence on domestic substantivecrimes. The attempt to include crimes against humanity in theStatute did not succeed, despite the fact that the elementsof a crime against humanity seem to be discernable in the conductthat falls within the jurisdiction of the STL. References tointernational and regional terrorism instruments, such as theArab Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism, were alsoabandoned. The Tribunal will rely on Lebanese criminal provisionsregarding terrorism, illicit associations, crimes and offencesagainst life and personal integrity. Lebanese law provides anold but concrete definition of terrorism. This raises the questionof whether the Lebanese definition, with its strengths and weaknesses,could assist in the evolution of a well-structured definitionof international terrorism. The possibility of ‘internationalizing’the Lebanese definition will depend on two factors: the judges’approach in adopting the Tribunal's rules of evidence and procedure,and then more importantly their creativity in developing thejurisprudence of the Tribunal.     

Determinants of knowledge transfer: evidence from Canadian university researchers in natural sciences and engineering

This paper addresses three questions: First, what is the extent of research transfer in natural sciences and engineering among Canadian university researchers? Second, are there differences between various disciplines with regard to the extent of this transfer? And third, what are the determinants of research transfer? To answer these questions, the paper begins by differentiating between technology transfer and knowledge transfer. It then identifies the individual researcher as the unit of analysis of this study and introduces a conceptual framework derived from the resource-based approach of firms. The paper then reviews the literature on each of the factors included in the conceptual framework, beginning with the dependent variable, knowledge transfer. The conceptual framework includes four categories of resources and one category of research attributes that are likely to influence knowledge transfer. Based on a survey of 1,554 researchers funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), comparisons of means of research transfer across research fields were conducted. Multivariate regression analyses were used to identify the determinants of research transfer by research field. The results of these analyses indicate that researchers transferred knowledge much more actively when no commercialization was involved than when there was commercialization of protected intellectual property. This paper thus adds to the relatively scarce evidence about knowledge transfer by examining knowledge transfer from a broader perspective than strict commercialization. The findings of this paper are also interesting for other reasons. We obtained statistical evidence indicating that researchers in certain research fields were much more active in knowledge transfer than those in other fields, thereby pointing to differences in levels of knowledge activities across research fields. Furthermore, we obtained evidence showing that only two determinants explained knowledge transfer in all the six research fields considered in this study, namely, focus of research projects on users’ needs, and linkages between researchers and research users. Statistical evidence obtained indicates that the other determinants that influence knowledge transfer vary from one research field to another, thus suggesting that different policies would be required to increase knowledge transfer in different research fields. The last part of the paper outlines the implications of the regression results for theory building, public policy and future research.     

Stature and Body Weight Estimation from Various Footprint Measurements Among Egyptian Population

Abstract: Analysis of footprints can reveal very important clues which can be used as a forensic evidence and help in the estimation of stature and body weight of an individual. In this work, bilateral footprints were obtained from 50 male Egyptian medical students ranging in age between 18 and 25. Nine measurements were taken on each footprint. The result revealed significant bilateral asymmetry (p < 0.001) except foot breadth at ball. The significant and positive highest correlation coefficients with stature were shown by toe‐5 length on right side (R = 0.58) and with body weight by foot breadth at ball on left side (R = ?0.52). Regression equations presented smaller standard errors of estimate (3.52–4.69) in determination of stature than those in estimation of body weight (4.05–5.28). In conclusion, this study has provided equations that help to estimate stature and body weight from footprint measurements among Egyptians.     

Non-random Study Attrition: Assessing Correction Techniques and the Magnitude of Bias in a Longitudinal Study of Reentry from Prison

Journal of Quantitative Criminology - Longitudinal data offer many advantages to criminological research yet suffer from attrition, namely in the form of sample selection bias. Attrition may...