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The relationship between patents and the pharmaceutical industry is both complex and important. While many believe that patents are manipulated by the pharmaceutical industry for its own economic ends, a historical approach to the utilization of patents combined with an analysis of current patent issues places this relationship in its proper context. Though patents were created long before the pharmaceutical industry reached its current status as a major industry in the United States, a historical, analytic approach shows that the pharmaceutical industry has adjusted to constantly evolving legislation enacted to provide the most effective and efficient system by which to research, invent, regulate and patent new medicines.

History-based trade books are an essential classroom option for social studies and English teachers. Professional organizations in history, social studies, English, reading and literature promote these engaging, age-appropriate secondary sources. Research suggests that misrepresentations appear often within history-based curricula, yet the majority of empirical studies have been completed on textbooks. The purpose of this paper is to examine the historical representation of Thomas Jefferson within trade books.

The data sample included trade books targeting various ages to make comparisons within and between grade ranges; the authors selected books published in distinctly different years to examine how Jefferson’s historical representation changed over time. The mixed methods content analysis used both open coding and axial coding.

Findings included sanitized versions of slavery at Monticello and omissions of his relationship with Sally Hemings. Date of publication, particularly those published after 1999 as new scientific evidence emerged linking Hemings and Jefferson, and intended audience shaped patterns of representation about Jefferson’s privileged social position, authorship of the Declaration of Independence, political philosophy and involvement in the American Revolution, to mention a few. Heroification, a common historical misrepresentation, did not appear.

Limitations included: uneven portions of the data pool as children’s and young adult trade books were not common in early and mid-twentieth century; organization of books by grade range is problematic due to inexact nature of ranking narratives’ complexity; and definitive conclusions cannot emerge from a single study. Future research should consider how trade books represent other historical figures, particularly slave-owning American presidents.

Practical suggestions, such as how to address misrepresentations using primary sources, are offered.

Thomas Jefferson, undoubtedly an impactful American, is frequently included in elementary, middle level and high school curriculum. The authors examined Jefferson’s historical representation within trade books.

Where is the Life we have lost in living?Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? Thomas Stearns Eliot.This book is a collection of multi-author contributed research devoted to exploring the synergy of new science-based health-risks approaches, innovative information technologies, and innovation in outcomes research. Time and again we find evidence that logistics of health care delivery calls for innovative approaches in every aspect of intervention, prevention, discovery, and insurance. Without transparency and real-time availability of adequate, multipurpose, reliable, health-risks and outcomes data, the needs of consumer safety, disease management, regulatory research, and targeted discovery will remain poorly equipped for either individual health system quality assurance or nation-wide decision-making. Each chapter in this collection strives to create knowledge by creating adequate data and advancing, at least, one step forward in the relevant field.

This paper aims to explain the weaknesses and inconsistencies inherent in the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 (USA).

The approach is entirely theoretical and multi-disciplinary (and relies on some third-party empirical research), and it consists of a literature review, critique and the development of theories which are applicable across countries.

The Dodd-Frank Act is inefficient and inadequate as a response to the global financial crisis. The Dodd-Frank Act has not resulted in significant economic growth and has increased transaction costs and compliance costs for both government agencies and financial services companies.

The author developed the theories introduced in the paper.

Emerging states confront staggering shortages in adequate housing stock. In response, governments have sought various supply-based solutions to mitigate growing housing deficits. While many of these mass housing efforts have not produced the desired outcome, the Republic of Korea’s Two Million Housing Drive (TMHD) was a comparatively successful intervention with its implementation from 1988 to 1992. The five-year initiative exceeded its objective with the construction of over 2.1 million units – of which two-thirds were built by the private sector. The purpose of this study is to analyse Korea’s relatively effective supply-based affordable housing approach and then extrapolate best practices and lessons learned with applications for real estate markets in the developing world. Comparative understanding of the TMHD can help promote greater access to adequate housing in the developing world, especially for the many who continue to live in impoverished conditions.

The research uses content-based and quantitative methods to analyze the case of the TMHD in Korea toward informing improvements in corresponding supply-based housing policies and programs in developing states.

While there were challenges with the TMHD, the program repositioned Korea’s urban housing market with greater access to affordable housing in cities for the lower-income and vulnerable. The TMHD enabled the subsequent effectiveness of demand-based housing policies.

There are research limitations in fully understanding the complex relationships between mass housing programs, economic growth and government policies. The abductive reasoning used in this case study enables in-depth analysis of the TMHD with generalizable inferences for middle-range theories with applications for emerging markets.

The experience of the TMHD can promote policy harmonization by helping optimize corresponding mass housing efforts in the developing world with the potential to similarly close quantitative housing deficits and expand access to adequate housing for lower-income and vulnerable households.

Deeper understanding of the TMHD can lead to reforms of other mass housing initiatives in emerging markets to make adequate housing more accessible and economical for the benefit of underserved segments of society.

The Korean experience with the TMHD can inform the optimization of other similar large-scale policies and programs seeking to sustainably overcome shortfalls in adequate housing that have become all too common in the developing world.

Due to the unknown location, size and timing of disasters, the rapid response required by humanitarian operations (HO) faces high uncertainty and limited time to raise funds. These harsh realities make HO challenging. This study aims to systematically capture the complex dynamic relationships between operations in humanitarian settings.

To achieve this goal, the authors undertook a systematic review of the extant academic literature linking HO to system dynamics (SD) simulation.

The research reviews 88 papers to propose a taxonomy of different topics covered in the literature; a framework represented through a causal loop diagram (CLD) to summarise the taxonomy, offering a view of operational activities and their linkages before and after disasters; and a research agenda for future research avenues.

As the authors provide an adequate representation of reality, the findings can help decision makers understand the problems faced in HO and make more effective decisions.

While other reviews on the application of SD in HO have focused on specific subjects, the current research presents a broad view, summarising the main results of a comprehensive CLD.

The relationship between interlocking directorates and firm performance has been increasingly debated, with a focus on whether firm's centrality in interlock networks is associated with performance. The purpose of this study is to examine not only how a firm's position in this network is associated with performance but also how the performance of network partners can impact a firm's performance. This study examines how firms effectively utilise the interlock network to achieve the goal of higher market capitalisation – termed market capitalisation rank (MCR).

The premise of the study is the UK FTSE 350 firms from 2014 to 2018. The paper makes use of a temporal network autocorrelation model to examine how firm characteristics, the structural position in the interlock network and the performance of network partners affect MCR over time.

The analysis indicates that firms with ties (via the interlock network) to firms with high market capitalisation are more likely to enhance their own MCR, highlighting network partners have the opportunity to play a critical role in a firm's dominance strategy to optimise firm value.

The value of this research is that it does not only look at the impact of a firm's position in the network on performance, but the impact of the performance of network partners on a firm's market performance as well.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between board of directors’ characteristics and performance in family businesses. It offers evidence to the question of whether a family firm (FF) differs from a non-family firm and looks at the possibility of asymmetrical effects between periods of stability and economic adversity.

A panel data approach was applied to a sample of Portuguese firms listed the on Euronext Lisbon exchange between 2002 and 2013.

The results show that FFs are likely to have a lower proportion of independent members and higher gender diversity on their boards than non-family firms. FF performance is positively related to ownership concentration and gender diversity. There are performance premiums for family businesses, which have more gender diversity than their counterparts. These effects also depend on whether the economy is in recession. The evidence suggests that the presence of women on the board and the leverage and size of the FFs have a more significant impact on the performance in periods of economic adversity.

One limitation of this study is the small size of the sample as it was drawn from the Euronext Lisbon exchange, a small stock exchange market.

This study provides input into the academic discussion on corporate governance and FF, an area which is in need of research. In addition, the authors examine this issue in conjunction with generalised economic adversity, focusing on the possible asymmetrical effects that the nature of the board of directors may have on performance in periods of stability and those of economic adversity. The role of board of directors is crucial to the understanding of corporate behaviour and the setting of the policy that regulates corporate activities.