1,720,980 research outputs found

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Nanoscale mechanical characterization of polymers by atomic force microscopy (AFM) nanoindentations: Viscoelastic characterization on a model material

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    The Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), apart form its conventional use as a microscope, is also used for the characterization of the local mechanical properties of polymers. In fact, the elastic characterization of purely elastic materials using this instrument can be considered as a well assessed technique while the challenge remains the characterization of the viscoelastic mechanical properties. In particular, one finds the mechanical behavior changing when performing indentations at different loading rates, i.e., on different time scales. Moreover, this apparent viscoelastic behavior can also be due to complex contact mechanics phenomena, with the onset of plasticity and long-term viscoelastic features which cannot be identified by the force curve alone. For this reason, a viscoelastic characterization, and thus the study of the effects of indentation rate and temperature, were done on model materials where such additional phenomena are not observed. Another time-dependence originating from the instrument itself has also been identified and decoupled. In fact, the viscoelastic behavior has been found to be reproducible even if one changes the experimental set-up as far as the preliminary determinations concerning AFM nanoindentations are well performed. The effects of temperature and time scales on the mechanical behavior have also been undertaken. A check on time-temperature superposition is also attempted through the WLF equation and the apparent activation energies for the elementary motions in the rubbery and in the glass transition regions are in good agreement with the expected values

    Viscoelastic behavior of semicrystalline thermoplastic polymers during the early stages of crystallization

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    Using rheological techniques, we investigate the evolution of the microstructure evolution during the early stages of crystallization of poly(1-Butene). In performing the measurements, use is made of an innovative experimental protocol, called “inverse quenching”, which allows stopping the crystallization process and producing a stable biphasic (crystalline/amorphous) system. In this way, very low frequency measurements at fixed degrees of crystallization are made possible. We find that crystallization, evidenced as a Liquid-to-Solid Transition (LST) under isothermal conditions, with characteristics of critical gel behavior, takes place at surprisingly low degrees of crystallinity (below 1.5%). The critical gel properties, which are found to depend on both crystallization temperature and molecular weight, can be reduced to a single master curve when the gel strength is plotted as a function of the relaxation exponent.. More importantly, the LST it is preceded by the development of a long, but finite relaxation process. This latter process, although not fully understood, brings analogies to the slow dynamics observed in hybrid colloid-polymer systems (block copolymer micelles or multiarm star polymers) as well as the recently suggested presence of dormant nuclei. It is clear, however, that the connectivity among crystallites, apparently via the amorphous segments, plays a key role in this new proces

    Compressive and thermal properties of recycled EPS foams

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    Optimization of moulding process in order to maximize the recycled fraction in EPS products is a key industrial goal. To this end effects of quality and quantity of recycled EPS upon physical properties of products are studied. Results show, on the one hand, that the introduction of a recycled fraction brings to products with a reduced density. On the other hand, small modifications of the process parameters allow for a reduction in this density decrease. Furthermore, results show that mechanical and thermal behaviour of EPS depend only on the materials density apart from the possible presence of a recycled fraction

    Thermal conductivity and dielectric properties of polypropylene-based hybrid compounds containing multiwalled carbon nanotubes

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    In this article, we explore the possibility to develop composites with improved thermal conductivity and electrically insulating properties. The strategy adopted is to combine a thermal and electrical conductive filler (multiwalled carbon nanotubes) with secondary dielectric (but thermally conductive) fillers. To this end, particles with different compositions, sizes, and shape were used as secondary fillers and the composites, prepared by melt compounding, are characterized in terms of thermal and dielectric properties. Results show that, in ternary formulations, an increase of thermal conductivity is always verified for all kind of secondary particles. Analogously, increments in electrical conductivity are observed for ternary compounds containing larger size secondary fillers, while a significant reduction is achieved with the addition of smaller ones. This behavior is explained in terms of mutual distribution of the fillers and is consistent with direct (scanning electron microscopy) and indirect (rheological) observations

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship

    Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis

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    We provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis

    Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts

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    We conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more sophisticated methods

    Author Index

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