130,722 research outputs found
Leaders' experience and the transition from populism to dictatorship
No full textA growing body of research shows that although populists draw on mass support to weaken executive constraints, they rarely transition to personalist autocracy. This raises the question of how and why only a few populist leaders have been able to leverage mass support to establish personal authoritarian rule? Whereas previous studies have addressed this in terms of deep social and economic crises or the durability of formal and informal democratic institutions, we focus on the agency of populist leaders themselves. Specifically, we theorize that more experienced leaders are better able to capture state institutions and ultimately establish authoritarian rule, particularly if they inherit more malleable institutions at entry into office. We present a newly enlarged dataset of populist rule, which confirms that the transition to full dictatorship is rare. We find that political experience has a robust positive association with full democratic reversals, while controlling for other factors. Moreover, this relationship is pronounced in contexts where institutional regulations are less rigid. However, we find little evidence of an independent effect of a priori institutional weakness on democratic survival. Our findings have implications for the literatures on populism, democratic backsliding, and political leadership.Australian National University, Department of Political Social ChangePublisher versio
MeSH term explosion and author rank improve expert recommendations
No full textInformation overload is an often-cited phenomenon that reduces the productivity, efficiency and efficacy of scientists. One challenge for scientists is to find appropriate collaborators in their research. The literature describes various solutions to the problem of expertise location, but most current approaches do not appear to be very suitable for expert recommendations in biomedical research. In this study, we present the development and initial evaluation of a vector space model-based algorithm to calculate researcher similarity using four inputs: 1) MeSH terms of publications; 2) MeSH terms and author rank; 3) exploded MeSH terms; and 4) exploded MeSH terms and author rank. We developed and evaluated the algorithm using a data set of 17,525 authors and their 22,542 papers. On average, our algorithms correctly predicted 2.5 of the top 5/10 coauthors of individual scientists. Exploded MeSH and author rank outperformed all other algorithms in accuracy, followed closely by MeSH and author rank. Our results show that the accuracy of MeSH term-based matching can be enhanced with other metadata such as author rank
Dynamic numerical modelling of co-seismic landslides using the 3D distinct element method: Insights from the Balta rockslide (Romania)
No full textAncient landslides of unknown origin can be found in large numbers in mountainous regions; some represent valid markers of (pre-)historic natural regimes referring to either long-term evolution or short-term peak events of climatic and seismotectonic nature. An example is represented by the Balta rockslide in the Romanian Carpathian Mountains. Its location in the seismically active Vrancea-Buzau region, as well as its morphological features, deep-seated rupture surface and large debris volume, raise the question of its failure history with regard to a possible co-seismic triggering. A 3D volume based reconstruction of the slope morphology together with field measurements of elasto-plastic in-situ rock properties allow to estimate pre-failure conditions of the slope, with special regards to the geological, i.e. flysch bedrock of poor to fair rock quality, and structural settings, i.e. anti-dip slope bedding crossed by the main joint family. The reconstructed slope behaviour was tested under static and dynamic forces with the 3D distinct element code 3DEC, subsequently used to simulate a failure scenario with a 120 s long real earthquake record that leads to the realistic post-failure morphology of Balta. For the latter, we observe a principally joint-controlled failure combined with internal fracturing of the undamaged rock mass. After 230 s of simulated time, the landslide debris reaches the valley bottom with maximum displacements of 1350 m and is marked by a lateral expansion to a broader extent than the source zone width, as observed in the field. Extension of this work to other pre-historic slope failures in the valleys of Vrancea-Buzau yield valuable new information for future seismic hazard estimations of the region
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe 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
"Closing the R&D Gap, Evaluating the Sources of R&D Spending"
No full textBoth spending and tax policies have been implemented in the United States with the goal of stimulating private sector research and development (R&D). Karier questions whether current R&D policy, especially the research and experimentation tax credit, can contribute to closing the gap between nondefense expenditures on R&D in the United States and such expenditures in other countries, such as Japan and Germany. He also explores possible changes to our current R&D policy to make it more effective.
The chipped stone assemblage from the Early Chalcolithic settlement at Isaiia – Balta Popii
No full textThe paper presents, in detail, the investigations on the chipped stone assemblage discovered, during archaeological excavations, in the early Chalcolithic settlement at Isaiia - Balta Popii. The technological and typological analysis of the entire collection was accomplished taking into account the various raw materials that are its constituents. In the case of the raw material with the greatest frequency – the flint from the Moldavian Platform –, artefacts coming from all phases of the debitage are certified. The results obtained for Isaiia were then compared with those from other Precucuteni II - Tripolje A sites, highlighting the existence of technological and typological elements common for the lithic industries of the early Chalcolithic in Eastern Europe (North-East of Romania, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine).Lucrarea prezintă, pe larg, investigațiile asupra utilajului litic cioplit descoperit în timpul săpăturilor arheologice din așezarea eneoliticului timpuriu de la Isaiia – Balta Popii. Analiza tehnologică și tipologică a întregii colecții de piatră cioplită a fost realizată ținând cont de diversele materii prime care o alcătuiesc. În cazul materiei prime cu cea mai mare frecvență – silexul din Platforma Moldovenească -, sunt atestate artefacte provenind din toate etapele debitajului. Compararea rezultatelor obținute pentru Isaiia cu cele din alte situri Precucuteni II- Tripolie A, evidențiază existența unor elemente de tehnologie și tipologie comune industriilor litice de la începutul eneoliticului în spațiul est european (regiunea de nord-est a României, Republica Moldova și Ucraina).Vornicu Diana-Măriuca. The chipped stone assemblage from the Early Chalcolithic settlement at Isaiia – Balta Popii. In: Materiale şi cercetãri arheologice (Serie nouã), N°13 2017. pp. 191-211
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe 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
Scholarly Communication and Publishing Lunch and Learn Talk #11: The ULS Open Access Author Fee Fund
No full textAt the May 2014 talk, you will learn about the ULS Open Access Author Fee Fund--what it is, why we do it, how it works, and how the program is going so far
The R&D Tax Incentives
No full textThis article sets out some background information and reflections of the author on the R&D tax incentive schemes included in the Common Corporate Tax Base (CCTB) Proposal. In particular the author analyzes the stimulus to private R&D through ad hoc tax incentives included in the CCTB Proposal and dives into the actual provisions included in the Proposal highlighting the most relevant issues connected with their design and interpretation. Moreover, the author explores the interaction between the CCTB Proposal and the granting by Member States of domestic R&D tax incentives
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