1,720,983 research outputs found
Replication Data for: Non-Governmental Monitoring of Local Governments Increases Compliance with Central Mandates: A National-Scale Field Experiment in China
No full textCentral governments face compliance problems when they rely on local governments to implement policy. In authoritarian political systems, these challenges are pronounced because local governments do not face citizens at the polls. In a national-scale, randomized field experiment in China, we test whether a public, non-governmental rating of municipal governments' compliance with central mandates to disclose information about the management of pollution increased compliance. We find significant and positive treatment effects on compliance after only one year that persists with reinforcement into a second post-treatment year. The public rating appears to decrease the costs of monitoring compliance for the central government without increasing public and media attention to pollution, highlighting when this mode of governance is likely to emerge. These results reveal important roles that non-state actors can play in enhancing the accountability of local governments in authoritarian political systems
Ellipticalness index – a simple measure of the complexity of oval leaf shape
No full textPlants have diverse leaf shapes that have evolved to adapt to the environments they have experienced over their evolutionary history. Leaf shape and leaf size can greatly influence the growth rate, competitive ability, and productivity of plants. However, researchers have long struggled to decide how to properly quantify the complexity of leaf shape. Prior studies recommended the leaf roundness index (RI = 4πA/P2) or dissection index (DI = √ ⁄), where P is leaf perimeter and A is leaf area. However, these two indices merely measure the extent of the deviation of leaf shape from a circle, which is usually invalid as leaves are seldom circular. In this study, we proposed a simple measure, named the ellipticalness index (EI), for quantifying the complexity of leaf shape based on the hypothesis that the shape of any oval leaf can be regarded as a variation from a standard ellipse. 2220 leaves from nine species of Magnoliaceae were sampled to check the validity of the EI. We also tested the validity of the Montgomery equation (ME), which assumes a proportional relationship between leaf area and the product of leaf length and width, because the EI actually comes from the proportionality coefficient of the ME. We also compared the ME with five other models of leaf area. The ME was found to be the best model for calculating leaf area based on consideration of the trade-off between model fit vs. complexity, which strongly supported the robustness of the EI for describing oval leaf shape. The new index can account for both leaf shape and size, and we conclude that it is a promising method for quantifying and comparing oval leaf shapes across species in future studies
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
Comparison of the Scaling Relationships of Leaf Biomass versus Surface Area between Spring and Summer for Two Deciduous Tree Species
No full textThe scaling relationship between either leaf dry or fresh mass (M) and surface area (A) can reflect the photosynthetic potential and efficiency of light harvesting in different broad-leaved plants. In growing leaves, lamina area expansion is typically finished before the completion of leaf biomass accumulation, thereby affecting the M vs. A scaling relationship at different developmental stages of leaves (e.g., young vs. adult leaves). In addition, growing plants can have different-sized leaves at different plant ages, potentially also changing M vs. A scaling. Furthermore, leaf shape can also change during the course of ontogeny and modify the M vs. A scaling relationship. Indeed, the effect of seasonal changes in leaf shape on M vs. A scaling has not been examined in any previous studies known to us. The study presented here was conducted using two deciduous tree species: Alangium chinense (saplings forming leaves through the growing season) and Liquidambar formosana (adult trees producing only one leaf flush in spring) that both have complex but nearly bilaterally symmetrical leaf shapes. We determined (i) whether leaf shapes differed in spring versus summer; (ii) whether the M vs. A scaling relationship varied over time; and (iii) whether there is a link between leaf shape and the scaling exponent governing the M vs. A scaling relationship. The data indicated that (i) the leaf dissection index in spring was higher than that in summer for both species (i.e., leaf-shape complexity decreased from young to adult leaves); (ii) there was a significant difference in the numerical value of the scaling exponent of leaf perimeter vs. area between leaves sampled at the two dates; (iii) spring leaves had a higher water content than summer leaves, and the scaling exponents of dry mass vs. area and fresh mass vs. area were all greater than unity; (iv) the scaling relationship between fresh mass and area was statistically more robust than that between leaf dry mass and area; (v) the scaling exponents of leaf dry and fresh mass vs. area of A. chinense leaves in spring were greater than those in summer (i.e., leaves in younger plants tend to be larger than leaves in older plants), whereas, for the adult trees of L. formosana, the scaling exponent in spring was smaller than that in summer, indicating increases in leaf dry mass per unit area with increasing leaf age; and (vi) leaf shape appears not to be related to the scaling relationship between either leaf dry or fresh mass and area, but is correlated with the scaling exponent of leaf perimeter vs. area (which tends to be a ½ power function). These trends indicate that studies of leaf morphometrics and scaling relationships must consider the influence of seasonality and plant age in sampling of leaves and the interpretation of data
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
Easy ID: A Wireless Sensor Package to Measure Human Interaction Features
No full textThis thesis proposes a low-cost and small size customized data acquisition sensor badge, called Easy ID, which is specially designed for the Vision Lab Group in TU Delft for their on body data capture during social events. Easy ID is designed based on an open source platform, which provides enough space for future upgrade and extension.The innovate infrared communication algorithm and the open source software created to drive the circuits in this thesis can be shared with other similar implementations. Instead of using C/C++ language, this work uses python to enhance the code readability for our clients and realize a high-level programming method to drive hardware. To overcome the delays while modulating the transistors, a 555 oscillator is adapted, for a 38kHz carrier frequency. The performance of Easy ID’s identification is evaluated under both static and dynamic scenarios. With the infrared communication modules, the Easy ID can detect any facing another Easy ID with a range of 120 degree opening angle and 3.5 meters distance. The sampling frequency of motion capture is typically 20Hz with 9 DoFs inertial sensors. A highly accurate global time stamp can be stored combined with the data from sensors as data logs.Biomedical Engineerin
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