130,367 research outputs found
MeSH term explosion and author rank improve expert recommendations
No full textInformation overload is an often-cited phenomenon that reduces the productivity, efficiency and efficacy of scientists. One challenge for scientists is to find appropriate collaborators in their research. The literature describes various solutions to the problem of expertise location, but most current approaches do not appear to be very suitable for expert recommendations in biomedical research. In this study, we present the development and initial evaluation of a vector space model-based algorithm to calculate researcher similarity using four inputs: 1) MeSH terms of publications; 2) MeSH terms and author rank; 3) exploded MeSH terms; and 4) exploded MeSH terms and author rank. We developed and evaluated the algorithm using a data set of 17,525 authors and their 22,542 papers. On average, our algorithms correctly predicted 2.5 of the top 5/10 coauthors of individual scientists. Exploded MeSH and author rank outperformed all other algorithms in accuracy, followed closely by MeSH and author rank. Our results show that the accuracy of MeSH term-based matching can be enhanced with other metadata such as author rank
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe 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
"Closing the R&D Gap, Evaluating the Sources of R&D Spending"
No full textBoth spending and tax policies have been implemented in the United States with the goal of stimulating private sector research and development (R&D). Karier questions whether current R&D policy, especially the research and experimentation tax credit, can contribute to closing the gap between nondefense expenditures on R&D in the United States and such expenditures in other countries, such as Japan and Germany. He also explores possible changes to our current R&D policy to make it more effective.
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe 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
Scholarly Communication and Publishing Lunch and Learn Talk #11: The ULS Open Access Author Fee Fund
No full textAt the May 2014 talk, you will learn about the ULS Open Access Author Fee Fund--what it is, why we do it, how it works, and how the program is going so far
The R&D Tax Incentives
No full textThis article sets out some background information and reflections of the author on the R&D tax incentive schemes included in the Common Corporate Tax Base (CCTB) Proposal. In particular the author analyzes the stimulus to private R&D through ad hoc tax incentives included in the CCTB Proposal and dives into the actual provisions included in the Proposal highlighting the most relevant issues connected with their design and interpretation. Moreover, the author explores the interaction between the CCTB Proposal and the granting by Member States of domestic R&D tax incentives
An assessment of the role of participatory planning in the attainment of community owned CDF projects
No full textZambia, after independence adopted a top down planning approach which saw the government of Zambia implementing a number of development programmes. However, it was observed that a number of infrastructural programmes using this approach, were not sustainable as they were vandalized after implementation. This situation made the government of Zambia to shift to a bottom up planning approach in the 1990s and used the approach to implement a number of community projects. In the same line, the government introduced funds called Constituency Development Funds (CDF), to assist in funding community projects emerging from the community themselves in order to ensure ‘community ownership’ of these projects. These funds were sought to meet the immediate social needs of local communities by allowing them to participate in the planning process by identifying the infrastructural projects to be implemented in their own communities. However, despite the CDF community projects using this approach, they have still received a number of criticisms pertaining to the number of problems associated with them, of which their failure to attain community ownership (lack of sustainability) is one of them. CDF projects in Mufulira district have not been exceptional to such criticisms, a scenario that led to the author undertaking this exploratory case study research. The main objective of this research was to explore the strategies aimed at improving the participatory planning process in the CDF decision making process in order to attain community owned projects (sustainable projects). To execute this case study research, the author based the research on the theories of participatory planning and documented concepts such as concepts of self organization, project sustainability, community initiatives, and her acquired knowledge in CDF projects. In depth interviews were conducted with the community, local government officials, the various committees established under the local authority, the local contractor and Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO) to assess the manner in which they participated in the planning process, how the planning process itself allowed for changes in project’s goals and lastly the outcomes of the planning process.
The research established that, though the CDF community projects (e.g. Butondo street lighting) supposedly adopted a participatory planning approach during its planning and implementation process, it has been unable to attain community owned projects, as the planning process has been more of ‘rational planning’ in nature than ‘participatory planning’ as purported by the Zambian government. Most interesting still, the research identified a unique pattern of stakeholder’s participation during the CDF projects’ planning process; the community was just involved during the first stage (project identification) of the planning process and later on was totally excluded from the planning process leaving only the local authority in the process. This type of a planning process (rational planning) resulted into the stakeholders not building strong relationships that would have necessitated for the formation of project steering committees (to spearhead project’s activities) and collective actions/decision making. This scenario ultimately resulted into the lack of ‘community ownership’ of the implemented CDF project which was evidenced by the desertetion or non participation of the community in the operation and maintenance of the project thus, leaving the entire responsibility to the local authority. The project recorded a high number of vandalism and thefts rates, just six months after its implementation, making it not sustainable. In additional, exogenous factors such as CDF guidelines (rules), resources, time and centralized power vested only in the full council committee, also adversely affected the full participation of stakeholders in the process, thus, making the participatory planning process in the form of ‘rational planning’. Arising from these findings, the author recommends a number of actions among which includes, an immediate need for revision of the CDF guidelines to ensure a CDF participatory planning process which is more adaptive and inclusive in nature, so as to ensure the participation of a cross section of people from the community in the planning process
Morphologic and functional correlates of synaptic pathology in the cathepsin D knockout mouse model of congenital neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis
No full textMutations in the cathepsin D (CTSD) gene cause an aggressive neurodegenerative disease (congenital neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis) that leads to early death. Recent evidence suggests that presynaptic abnormalities play a major role in the pathogenesis of CTSD deficiencies. To identify the early events that lead to synaptic alterations, we investigated synaptic ultrastructure and function in presymptomatic CTSD knockout (Ctsd) mice. Electron microscopy revealed that there were significantly greater numbers of readily releasable synaptic vesicles present in Ctsd mice than in wild-type control mice as early as postnatal day 16. The size of this synaptic vesicle pool continued to increase with disease progression in the hippocampus and thalamus of the Ctsd mice. Electrophysiology revealed a markedly decreased frequency of miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (mEPSCs) with no effect on paired-pulse modulation of the evoked excitatory post synaptic potentials in the hippocampus of Ctsd mice. The reduced mEPSCs frequency was observed before the appearance of epilepsy or any morphologic sign of synaptic degeneration. Taken together, these data indicate that CTSD is required for normal synaptic function and that a failure in synaptic trafficking or recycling may bean early and important pathologic mechanism in Ctsd mice; these presynaptic abnormalities may initiate synaptic degeneration in advance of subsequent neuronal loss
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