1,720,999 research outputs found

    Effective interactions between oppositely charged polyelectrolytes in the presence of salt

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    We generalize the familiar effective DLVO (Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek) pair potential between charged, hard core colloidal particles to the case of solutions of oppositely charged, penetrable polyelectrolyte coils in the presence of microions, within the framework of classical Density Functional Theory. The limiting behaviour of the effective potentials is derived in the limits of weak and strong microion screening; in the latter regime the effective potentials are shown to go over to a universal Gaussian form, multiplied by the square of the microion Debye screening length. The physical implications of screening on polyelectrolyte aggregation are discussed and illustrated by preliminary Monte Carlo simulations and the results of fluid integral equations for the polyelectrolyte pair structure

    Ultrasoft primitive model of polyionic solutions: Structure, aggregation, and dynamics

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    We introduce an ultrasoft core model of interpenetrating polycations and polyanions, with continuous Gaussian charge distributions, to investigate polyelectrolyte aggregation in dilute and semi-dilute salt-free solutions. The model is studied by a combination of approximate theories (random phase approximation and hypernetted chain theory) and numerical simulations. The calculated pair structure, thermodynamics, phase diagram, and polyion dynamics of the symmetric version of the model (the "ultrasoft restricted primitive model" or UPRM) differ from the corresponding properties of the widely studied "restricted primitive model" (RPM) where ions have hard cores. At sufficiently low temperatures and densities, oppositely charged polyions form weakly interacting, polarizable neutral pairs. The clustering probabilities, dielectric behavior, and electrical conductivity point to a line of sharp conductor-insulator transitions in the density-temperature plane. At very low temperatures, the conductor-insulator transition line terminates near the top of a first order coexistence curve separating a high-density liquid phase from a low-density vapor phase. The simulation data hint at a tricritical behavior, reminiscent of that observed for the two-dimensional Coulomb gas, which contrasts with the Ising criticality of its three-dimensional counterpart, the RPM. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3602469

    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

    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
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