10,667 research outputs found
Quality evaluation in logistic services
No full textThe paper highlights some problems relevant to the quality measurements in logistic services. "Traditional" logistic indicators are compared with the service dimensions defined in the Parasuraman-Zeithaml-Berry model. Furthermore, the problem of service indicators aging is analyzed and discussed. In order to enhance readers' ability to contribute to the development in the field, the authors pose open-ended questions in the articl
The Hirsch spectrum: a novel tool for analysing scientific journals
No full textThis paper introduces the Hirsch spectrum (h-spectrum) for analyzing the academic reputation of a scientific journal. h-Spectrum is a novel tool based on the Hirsch (h) index. It is easy to construct: considering a specific journal in a specific interval of time, h-spectrum is defined as the distribution representing the h-indexes associated to the authors of the journal articles. This tool allows defining a reference profile of the typical author of a journal, compare different journals within the same scientific field, and provide a rough indication of prestige/reputation of a journal in the scientific community. h-Spectrum can be associated to every journal. Ten specific journals in the Quality Engineering/Quality Management field are analyzed so as to preliminarily investigate the h-spectrum characteristic
On the analogy between the evolution of thermodynamicand bibliometric systems: a breakthrough or justa bubble?
No full textThis paper presents an in depth study of an interesting analogy, recently proposed by Prathap (Scientometrics 87(3):515-524, 2011a), between the evolution of thermodynamic and bibliometric systems. The goal is to highlight some weaknesses and clarify some ‘‘dark sides'' in the conceptual framework of this analogy, discussing the formal validity and practical meaning of the concepts of Energy, Exergy and Entropy in bibliometrics. Specifically, this analogy highlights the following major criticalities: (1) the definitions of E and X are controversial, (2) the equivalence classes of E and X are questionable, (3) the parallel between the evolution of thermodynamic and bibliometric systems is forced, (4) X is a non-monotonic performance indicator, and (5) in bibliometrics the condition of ‘‘thermodynamic perfection'' is questionable. Argument is supported by many analytical demonstrations and practical example
A Survey of Quality Engineering-ManagementJournals by Bibliometric Indicators
No full textThis paper analyses some of the most popular scientific journals in the Quality field from the point of view of three bibliometric indicators: the Hirsch (h) index for journals, the total number of citations and the h-spectrum. In particular, h-spectrum is a novel tool based on h, making it possible to (i) identify a reference profile of the typical authors of a journal; (ii) compare different journals; and (iii) provide a rough indication of their ‘bibliometric positioning' in the scientific community. Results of this analysis can be helpful for guiding potential authors and members of the scientific community in the Quality Engineering/Management area. A large amount of empirical data are presented and discusse
Proposals for evaluating the regularity of a scientist'sresearch output
No full textEvaluating the career of individual scientists according to their scientific output is a common bibliometric problem. Two aspects are classically taken into account: overall productivity and overall diffusion/impact, which can be measured by a plethora of indicators that consider publications and/or citations separately or synthesise these two quantities into a single number (e.g. h-index). A secondary aspect, which is sometimes mentioned in the rules of competitive examinations for research position/promotion, is time regularity of one researcher's scientific output. Despite the fact that it is sometimes invoked, a clear definition of regularity is still lacking. We define it as the ability of generating an active and stable research output over time, in terms of both publications/ quantity and citations/diffusion. The goal of this paper is introducing three analysis tools to perform qualitative/quantitative evaluations on the regularity of one scientist's output in a simple and organic way. These tools are respectively (1) the PY/CY diagram, (2) the publication/citation Ferrers diagram and (3) a simplified procedure for comparing the research output of several scientists according to their publication and citation temporal distributions (Borda's ranking). Description of these tools is supported by several examples
Interview with Abbondio Franceschini
No full textAudio recording and transcript of Abbondio Franceschini's 1979 interview with Barrie Hardcastle for the Coal Tyee History Project. Franceschini discusses living and working in Cumberland, B.C. He shares his memories of working as a coal miner and of Cumberland's ethnic communities, and he he also reflects on the impact of union recognition.https://library.viu.ca/libinfo/harmfullanguagestatementhttps://viuspace.viu.ca/bitstream/handle/10613/76/CoalTyeeFranchesiniScript1979.pdf?sequence=
Regularity in the research output of individual scientists: An empirical analysis by recent bibliometric tools
No full textThis paper proposes an empirical analysis of several scientists based on their time regularity, defined as the ability of generating an active and stable research output over time, in terms of both quantity/publications and impact/citations. In particular, we empirically analyse three recent bibliometric tools to perform qualitative/quantitative evaluations under the new perspective of regularity. These tools are respectively (1) the PY/CY diagram, (2) the publication/citation Ferrers diagram and triad indicators, and (3) a year-by-year comparison of the scientists' output (Borda's ranking). Results of the regularity analysis are then compared with those obtained under the classical perspective of overall production. The proposed evaluation tools can be applied to competitive examinations for research position/promotion, as complementary instruments to the commonly adopted bibliometric technique
Towards a practical approach to music theory on the reactable
No full textThis paper builds upon the existing Reactable musical platform and aims at extending and improving its approach to music theory 1. Sections 1 and 2.2 explain the motivations that led to the development of this proposal from a musical point of view while also giving a music education perspective. In section 2 we'll see a brief survey on tabletop and tangible multi-user systems for audiovisual performance and we'll also briefly introduce the process of implicit learning, we'll formulate a hypothesis about music as a natural language, and describe how the work hereafter presented can help music education. In section 3 we'll describe the current state of the art about music theory on the Reactable, followed by an original proposal about a way to extend and improve it. Finally we'll see how people who had a chance to test the system found it interesting and playful, while also giving important feedback that can be used to improve many practical aspects of the implementation. © 2010 Andrea Franceschini et al
Further clarifications about the success-index
No full textThe aim of this brief communication is to reply to a letter by Kosmulski (Journal of Informetrics 6(3):368-369, 2012), which criticizes a recent indicator called "success-index". The most interesting features of this indicator, presented in Franceschini et al. (Scientometrics, in press), are: (i) allowing the selection of an "elite" subset from a set of publications and (ii) implementing the field-normalization at the level of an individual publication. We show that the Kosmulski's criticism is unfair and inappropriate, as it is the result of a misinterpretation of the indicato
Analysis of the Hirsch index's operational properties
No full textThe h-index is a relatively recent bibliometric indicator for assessing the research output of scientists, based on the publications and the corresponding citations. Due to the original characteristics of easy calculation and immediate intuitive meaning, this indicator has become very popular in the scientific community. Also, it received some criticism essentially because of its ‘‘low" accuracy. The contribution of this paper is to provide a detailed analysis of the h-index, from the point of view of the indicator operational properties. This work can be helpful to better understand the peculiarities and limits of h and avoid its misuse. Finally, we suggest an additional indicator ðf Þ that complements h with the information related to the publication age, not compromising the original simplicity and immediacy of understandin
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