1,720,957 research outputs found
Qualitative comparative analysis as a method for project studies: The case of energy infrastructure
Full text linkEmpirical research involving projects is an important and common way to advance knowledge in the energy sector, and there are well-established approaches for qualitative analysis of single or few cases (1–10 cases) as well as quantitative analysis of large databases (from 50+ cases). However, the “middle-ground” of analysing 10–50 cases is an unknown territory, and very few approaches exist to deal with numbers of cases that lie in the range of 10–50. This paper shows how this “middle-ground” can be explored through Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). This is a method that can be applied to energy infrastructure projects (such as construction, operations, and decommissioning of power plants) in order to study causal inference (e.g. factors associated with outcomes). This paper demonstrates the potential of QCA by showing its application on an energy infrastructure phenomenon with an intermediate number of cases, that of nuclear decommissioning projects. These projects are becoming increasingly important to society and have multibillion US dollar budgets. Moreover, their characteristics need to urgently be matched with their project performance in order to avoid even further cost overruns. The application of QCA to 24 European nuclear decommissioning projects shows that a combination of characteristics (such as a streamlined governance structure and the presence of a storage facility for radioactive material on site) might be contributing to lower cost overruns. This paper concludes by showing how QCA can be applied to other energy infrastructure phenomena with a similar intermediate number of cases
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
What about the people? Micro-foundations of open innovation in megaprojects
Full text linkMegaprojects require substantial R&D activities involving many different organisations. Megaprojects are therefore an ideal setting for Open Innovation (OI), which favours risk-sharing, enables trustful collaboration, and facilitates the development of breakthrough innovations. OI has been widely studied at the organisational level, however far less attention has been paid at the individual level, including the motivations, costs and benefits perceived by the people involved in the innovation process. This paper aims to address this gap by studying the micro-foundations of OI in megaprojects and focusing on the experiences of people involved in university-industry co-supervised Ph.D. projects. The paper provides two original contributions. Firstly, it contributes to the micro-foundations literature, by analysing the experience of university and industrial supervisors and Ph.D. students involved in megaprojects. Secondly, it expands the OI literature by describing how the interpersonal interactions and the intentional knowledge spillovers promote innovation outside the original boundaries of the Ph.D. project
Developing policies for the end-of-life of energy infrastructure: Coming to terms with the challenges of decommissioning
Full text linkEnergy sector policies have focused historically on the planning, design and construction of energy infrastructures, while typically overlooking the processes required for the management of their end-of-life, and particularly their decommissioning. However, decommissioning of existing and future energy infrastructures is constrained by a plethora of technical, economic, social and environmental challenges that must be understood and addressed if such infrastructures are to make a net-positive contribution over their whole life. Here, we introduce the magnitude and variety of these challenges to raise awareness and stimulate debate on the development of reasonable policies for current and future decommissioning projects. Focusing on power plants, the paper provides the foundations for the interdisciplinary thinking required to deliver an integrated decommissioning policy that incorporates circular economy principles to maximise value throughout the lifecycle of energy infrastructures. We conclude by suggesting new research paths that will promote more sustainable management of energy infrastructures at the end of their life
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
The Cost Drivers of Infrastructure Projects: Definition, Classification, and Conceptualization
Full text linkReducing cost is a critical objective for project teams. However, unlike the research on topics such as cost overruns, cost reduction literature is limited. Previous studies have primarily examined cost estimation and reduction models or high-level cost reduction strategies. Therefore, it is necessary to identify specific actions that project teams can take to reduce cost. By focusing on the “cost drivers” of infrastructure projects, researchers have a practically relevant lens through which cost reduction can be promoted and studied. Thus, this integrative literature review establishes a foundation for infrastructure project cost drivers knowledge, addressing three research questions revolving around deriving a definition, classification scheme, and conceptual framework of cost drivers. This paper first produces a definition of cost drivers by critically analyzing cost driver concepts and perspectives and existing definitions. Second, cost drivers were drawn from relevant articles and classified to produce a taxonomy of 14 key cost drivers. Third, a conceptual framework (two-by-two matrix) of cost driver types was developed to acknowledge the influence project teams can have. Finally, a research agenda proposes further investigation in cost drivers and reduction research regarding each cost driver, apt research methods, and necessary project contexts. This paper’s theoretical contribution is a deepening of infrastructure project cost drivers knowledge using a definition, taxonomy, and conceptual framework. The practical contribution is a deepened awareness of the key opportunities for—and threats to—cost reduction for project teams, as well as knowledge of those cost drivers that they actually have an influence over, that is, to reduce their project’s cost
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
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