1,720,991 research outputs found
Algorithms and diagnostics for the analysis of ranking data with the Extended Plackett-Luce model
No full textThe Plackett-Luce distribution (PL) is one of the most successful parametric options within the class of multistage ranking models to learn preferences on a given set of items from a sample of ranked sequences. It postulates that the ranking process is carried out by sequentially assigning the positions according to the forward order, that is, from the top (most-liked) to the bottom (least-liked) alternative. This assumption has been recently relaxed with the Extended Plackett-Luce model (EPL) with the introduction of the discrete reference order parameter, describing the rank attribution path. By starting from the formal proof of a special property of the EPL, related to the inverse ordering of the item probabilities at the first and last stage of the ranking process, we derive a diagnostic tool for the EPL distribution whose inferential utility is motivated from a double perspective. First, the novel statistic is proposed to test the appropriateness of the EPL assumption. In this regard, the new diagnostic contributes to fill the deficiency of goodness-of-fit methods for the family of multistage models. Besides model adequacy evaluation, we also show how the statistic can be exploited to construct a heuristic method that surrogates the likelihood approach for inferring the underlying reference order parameter. The usefulness of the proposals is illustrated with a simulation study and applications to real ranking data
An IRT model for evaluating university students’ satisfaction about the on-line activities during the COVID-19 pandemic
No full textThe transition from the second to the third decade of the new century was sanctioned by the serious health crisis caused by COrona VIrus Disease
(COVID-19). In order to contain the spiral of infections and thus avoid the collapse of the health structures, governments imposed a series of
restrictive measures which, during the 2020 springtime, culminated in a period of lockdown. As a consequence, the traditional academic institutions
reformulated their training activities and administrative services remotely, through the massive use of digital communication technologies.
Motivated by an international project promoted by the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, aimed at studying the COVID-19 effects on the life of
higher education students, the performance evaluation of the Italian academic education institutions in coping the COVID-19 pandemic is considered,
based on the satisfaction experienced during the lockdown by a sample of university students enrolled in a degree or doctorate courses. We
propose a Bayesian item response model, a mixed-effects graded response model, accounting for the different nature of the possible answers. The
latent trait, e.g. the satisfaction of each student, is hierarchically modelled as a function of specific characteristics of the corresponding university.
Universities are then ranked using stochastic dominance criteria
Computer skills for e-learning activities of university students: A posetic approach
No full textThe motivation comes from an international research project promoted by the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), that conducted a large-scale
survey on the COVID-19 effects on higher education students. The survey contains different ordinal variables and other categorical variables
describing the academic environment. This data structure configures a partially ordered set (poset); therefore, the Fuzzy First Order Dominance
(FFOD) method is particularly indicated to analyze it. By focussing on the Italian academic context, the FFOD is employed to explore the responses
provided by a sample of students enrolled in degree or doctorate courses of Italian universities. During the lockdown, these students were asked to
score their computer skills related to the e-learning activities. The considered ordered variables concern students’ expertise in both managing digital
communication/information channels and using more specific platforms for online lectures and academic support to their studies. The ratings are
analyzed with the FFOD method to accomplish a comparative evaluation of different study courses and assess possible relationships of the resulting
orderings with other academic variables typically impacting on university performance
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe 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
Variations on the Author
Full text link“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
Full text linkWe 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
Full text linkWe 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
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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