1,720,962 research outputs found
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
An approach to studying urban sustainability from within an ecological world view
No full textThis dissertation engages with the proposition that one of the reasons current efforts atimproving sustainability are failing is because solutions are sought from within the sameparadigm of thought that threatens sustainability in the first place, and that what isneeded is a new 'ecological' worldview or paradigm. Using a transdisciplinaryphilosophy, and building on the idea of partial validities of knowledge, the dissertationexplores the roots and attributes of the emerging new worldview and its relationshipwith the sustainability discourse through a series of narratives.Historical narratives of the concepts of sustainable development and urbansustainability highlight the flaws in current approaches to studying sustainability, andillustrate that the understanding of sustainability is not based on a fixed set of laws, butcontinuously evolves in response to larger system drivers, including individual andsocial worldviews. It would therefore be reasonable to assume that an ecologicalworldview would spawn its own version of sustainability. However, this worldview hasnot yet been coherently defined or structured.Differentiating between 'worldview' as the descriptive narrative of the world andbehaviour within this world, and 'paradigm' as the practices for organizing and studyingthe world, the study attempts to map the ecological worldview onto a pre-existingworldview framework developed by the Centre Leo Apostel. This worldview wasdeveloped from common patterns found in new developments in the different branchesof science, wisdom traditions ranging from indigenous knowledge sources to the greatreligious traditions, and ancient schools of philosophy. The result presents a coherentand internally consistent conceptual narrative of the ecological worldview, includingtheories of value, action and knowledge, which is then used to describe the associatedsocial and scientific paradigms. The resultant worldview complex is then used to framean exploration of the changes this worldview would bring to the practices of studyingurban sustainability and future research agendas
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
A knowledge based structure for implementing Value Management in the design of office buildings
Get PDFValue Management (VM) is an organised effort directed at analyzing the functionsof systems, supplies, equipments and facilities, for the purpose of achieving therequired functions at lowest overall cost, consistent with requirements for performance,including reliability, delivery, maintainability and human factors. Thisstructured method can also be successfully used to define the scope of a project. Inthe UK, the awareness of the tremendous potential and benefits of applying VM toconstruction projects has made some clients eager to apply this technique to theirprojects. There are, however, a number of problems which inhibit the use of thisadvanced technique in the construction industry. Qualified VM specialists, forinstance, are very scarce within the industry, it is often difficult to find them toundertake proper VM studies. This research therefore aimed at exploring thefeasibility of building a Knowledge-Based System (KBS) to facilitate VM implementationsin the design stages of a construction project. A demonstration system has beensuccessfully developed to illustrate the facilities which would be available to potentialusers in a fully developed system. A method of allocating project cost againstfunctions of the project specified by the clients has been developed, which couldexpedite the processes of clarifying clients' brief and ensuring good value for moneyby cutting unnecessary costs and enhancing required functions. The research has alsoexplored how KBSs can be effectively applied to "open-ended" decision-makingproblems in which new options may be generated during each session with thesystem, i.e. the study considered the possibility of letting users extend and customisethe knowledge base. The system has been described as a "satisfactory and verypromising system" by the UK industrial specialists
A Dooyeweerdian approach to time in sustainable development
No full textTime is at the core of Sustainable planning. How to involve time in the planning processes is acrucial question for which very few exhaustive answers have been provided. This research attemptsto provide a definition of the important role played by time in sustainable development and the wayin which it can be incorporated in planning decisions. This thesis is aimed at building a strategicframework, which can assist decision makers and be applied in the planning process of urbandevelopment to improve the approach to sustainable planning.The proposed framework will be grounded in the Philosophy of the cosmos developed by the Dutchphilosopher Herman Dooyeweerd at the beginning of the twentieth century. PhilosophicalDooyeweerdian concepts such as modality, analogical relations, subjective experience, law, entity,temporal coherence, cosmic time, subject object relation, sphere sovereignty, Archimedean point, Ithourelation, soul body at structure are analysed at a theoretical level to provide a theoretical basisfor the practical application. This philosophical approach provides a grounding throughDooyeweerds aspects and meanings creating the structure upon which the framework is built. Thestudy defines the temporal issues and temporal dimensions, which could make the philosophicalapproach a practical tool for implementing the philosophical concepts allowing them to assume amore concrete character. The proposed temporal analysis of urban systems is developed into aframework which has three main phases. The first phase is the historical temporal analysis, thesecond phase is the subjective analysis and the third addresses the planning phase. These threeinterrelated phases of analysis define a framework which is then tested through a practical casestudy in Santo Stefano al Mare in Italy engaging four different public areas with differentcharacteristics. Each area is analyzed by the application of the temporal table, which is a frameworkstructured on the fifteen Dooyeweerdian modalities. The temporal table helps in locating the gardenin front of the primary school, the garden in Marco Polo road, the play garden next to the parishchurch, and Baden Powell square within the formative urban evolution of Santo Stefano al Mare.The application of the temporal table - backward and forward directions to the green areasprovides the definition both of their spatiotemporal identity and of their response to future change.Conclusions are drawn as to the applicability of the Dooyeweerdian approach to the subject and thefuture research needed to make it a robust tool is suggested. The framework has the potential to beapplied across the whole spectrum of sustainable development and address an aspect of evaluationwhich has been underplayed for many years
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe 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
Methodology for assessment of cognitive skills in virtual environments
Get PDFThe client briefing of the proposed building design is usually in the form of drawingsand artistic impressions being presented to the client. However, very few clients areable to read a technical drawing and the artist impressions are limited and do not aidthe client to visualise all aspects of the proposed building. During the client briefingprocess the client needs to have the experiential quality described, to be able to fullyunderstand the design of the proposed building. Generally, humans perceive anddirectly experience architectural space by building qualities like texture, form, colour,light, scale, movement. A full-scale model of the proposed building would fullyafford the experimental qualities. In reality it would be impractical and not costeffective. However, VR technology allows the creation of an inclusion of space inuser's mind, through a minimum of means, but achieves a maximum impact, andaffords all the experiential qualities offered by a physical model.A virtual model with a high degree of detail which can be explored by the designerand his clients will therefore be of significant help. However, to give clients the bestpossible impression of the proposed design it is important to understand howdimensions of those designed spaces are perceived. Therefore, a study was carried outfocusing on fundamental investigations into the perception of basic architecturaldimensions in order to assess the potential usefulness of VR technology inarchitecture and the client briefing process. In two experiments, subjects were required to estimate egocentric and exocentricdimensions in Virtual Environments and Real World Setting (RWS). The influence ofstimuli orientation was also investigated. In estimating all dimensions a magnitudeestimation procedure was employed using a modified free-modulus technique. Allparticipants were pre-tested. Psychometric and visual tests were used for choosing anexperimental group with a fair degree of homogenity. Two independent subject groupswere used. In addition to dimension estimations recall of simple layout and feeling ofspace were investigated when evaluating the virtual interface.The general null hypothesis assumed that people perceive space in VE as well as inthe real world. It has been shown that the results are statistically significant andtherefore one was able to reject the general hypothesis. Overall participantsunderestimated the dimensions in both experiments by approximately 20%. Resultsand limitations of the study are discussed. The results of the experiments wouldindicate that VR technology can be used for simulations of architectural spacesbecause despite underestimations of dimensions it still performed relatively well ifone compares it with results of experiments in the Real World Settings
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