1,721,229 research outputs found
The agricultural economics profession in Belgium: maturing through deepening and broadening
No full text
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
Belgium: Draft national Report on Apples, Pears and Sugar beets
No full textnot availableEuropean Union (Grant agreement no: 635577); H2020-SFS-2014-2; SUFIS
Het gebruik van sociale psychologie voor het stimuleren van de adoptie van conserveringstechnieken. Bodemconservering in België
No full textThe orientation of agriculture has been moving through a sequence of shifts. In all major shifts such as the Neolithic revolution, the agricultural revolution and the green revolution timely adoption of the relevant technologies, ideas and innovation by the farming population has been was crucial. Nowadays, timely adoption of relevant production practices and system is vital to ensure the transition towards a more sustainable agriculture. Different conceptualizations of sustainability stress the importance of the implementation of relevant sustainable practices and systems. To encourage this timely adoption of new practices and systems, governments, researchers, extension workers and many others seek to create a better understanding of farmers behaviour. This study contributes to this understanding by investigating the use of a new type of methods to understand and monitor farmers individual behaviour. Traditional methods to understand behaviour economic models or econometric adoption models based on innovation/diffusion theory often produce unsatisfactory results. In this study, a meta-analysis is performed over a large number of studies on the factors influencing adoption of soil conservation practices. Since the majority of these studies rely on the innovation/diffusion theory, most variables can be classified as socio-demographic (e.g., age and education), economic (e.g., income), farm structural (e.g., farm size and type) or diffusion-type (e.g., information sources and organizational involvement). In the meta-analysis, it is established that the influence of these variables which are considered classic adoption variables is mostly zero. Furthermore, if an influence occurs, it is mostly inconsistent. These findings inspire the investigation of alternative methods to explain farmers behaviour. This investigation is conducted on a relevant case-study, the adoption of soil conservation practices in Belgium. Soil conservation is an extremely relevant issue worldwide for the sustainability of agriculture. Before moving on to the behavioural research, two scene-setting chapters present the case-study. In these chapters, a three-dimensional classification of all available soil conservation practices and the role of available government policy instruments are presented. This study uses a particular socio-psychological theory, the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Before presenting the empirical applications of this theory, the definitions and methodological implications of socio-psychological models are explained. Socio-psychological theories have since long been used to explain human behaviour. In agriculture, however, they have largely been neglected, in favour of other quantitative approaches such as economic models and qualitative approaches. According to the Theory of Planned Behaviour, human action is guided through three considerations: (i) attitude, the degree to which the action is evaluated positively or negatively; (ii) subjective norm, the perceived social pressure to engage or not in the behaviour and (iii) perceived behavioural control, the perceived own capacity to successfully perform the behaviour. Together, they lead to a positive or negative intention towards the behaviour. Given enough behavioural control, people will carry out their intention. The first empirical application of this theory is designed to investigate the use and methodological implications in the agri-environmental domain. More specifically, the method is applied to investigate the adoption of buffer strips, cover crops and reduced tillage techniques. Socio-psychological theories include mainly latent variables that are not observable and not directly measureable. Hence, measurement instruments, i.e., latent variable measurement scales, have to be developed. The first empirical application develops such measurement scales and investigates their reliability and validity. In the second empirical application, the adoption model is developed further, by combining socio-psychological variables with classic adoption variables. Both applications confirm that attitude towards a specific conservation practice has the largest influence on the probability of adoption. In a last empirical application, the cognitive foundation of the most important socio-psychological variables are examined. A method to elicit the cognitive belief structure of socio-psychological variables is presented and applied to the case-study practices. The outcome suggests that the non-adoption of conservation practices, which is commonly considered irrational behaviour, is in fact the result of very rational considerations. This study contributes to the development of quantitative social psychology as a valid research line in agricultural science. Hence, the societal benefits pertain to four domains. First, the results of socio-psychological studies of farmers behaviour are able to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of extension efforts. Indeed, the study offers an approach to explain socio-psychological traits in terms of very concrete cognitive beliefs. Second, the results can be used to improve the development and dissemination of conservation practices. For instance, this study on soil conservation practices suggests that adoption may involve unexpected but inconvenient side-effects and practical difficulties. Third, the results can enhance policy-making, both the choice of policy instrument and policy level. Fourth, socio-psychological can be used in the future to evaluate policy and monitor changes in farming orientation.status: Publishe
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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