1,720,973 research outputs found
Anticipating human resilience and vulnerability on the path to 2030: What can we learn from COVID-19?
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic is causing unprecedented damage to our society and economy, globally impacting progress towards the SDGs. The integrated perspective that Agenda 2030 calls for is ever more important for understanding the vulnerability of our eco-socio-economic systems and for designing policies for enhanced resilience. Since the emergence of COVID-19, countries and international institutions have strengthened their monitoring systems to produce timely data on infections, fostering data-driven decision-making often without the support of systemic-based simulation models. Evidence from the initial phases of the pandemic indicates that countries that were able to implement effective policies before the number of cases grew large (e.g. Australia) managed to contain COVID-19 to a much greater extent than others. We argue that prior systemic knowledge of a phenomenon provides the essential information to correctly interpret data, develop a better understanding of the emerging behavioural patterns and potentially develop early qualitative awareness of how to react promptly in the early phases of destructive phenomena, eventually providing the ground for building more effective simulation models capable of better anticipating the effects of policies. This is even more important as, on its path to 2030, humanity will face other challenges of similar dynamic nature. Chief among these is Climate Change. In this paper, we show how a Systems Thinking and System Dynamics modelling approach is useful for developing a better understanding of these and other issues, and how systemic lessons learned from the COVID-19 case can help decision makers anticipate the destructive dynamics of Climate Change by improving perceptions of the potential impacts of reinforcing feedback and delays, ultimately leading to more timely interventions to achieve the SDGs and mitigate Climate Change risks
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
Variational-bound finite-element methods for three-dimensional low-Reynolds-number porous media and sedimentation flows
Full text linkThesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 1995.Includes bibliographical references (p. 113-117).by Matteo Pedercini.M.S
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
Potential Contribution of Existing Computer-Based Models to Comparative Assessment of Development Options
Full text linkModeling Resource-Based Growth for Development Policy Analysis
Full text linkThis dissertation focuses on the design and implementation of simulation models fordevelopment policy analysis, to support a broader understanding of the development processand the identification of effective development strategies. Development is a complextransformation process. Some countries undergo this process rapidly and successfully, whileothers fail to do so. Research in this field indicates that policies that are inefficiently designedand implemented can affect the ability of a country to succeed. We argue that policy-makersrequire appropriate quantitative models to understand the development process in theircountry and to support the design of effective policies, and we propose a comprehensiveanalytical framework for the analysis of development issues.The studies presented in this dissertation illustrate how we develop, test, and implement aresource-based approach to development policy analysis. The resource-based approach,originally developed and broadly applied in the field of firms’ strategic management, has sofar known little application to the development field. We adopt a quantitative and dynamicresource-based approach, in line with current research in strategic management, and wefurther develop it and apply it to the analysis of development policies. We practicallyimplement our approach through the development of System Dynamics (SD) models that weapply to policy analysis. The use of the SD method enables us to properly represent theelements of complexity that characterize the development process. We emphasize in particularhow, by focusing on resources’ dynamics, our approach allows for the recognition of the keydevelopment mechanisms, to identify the relevant constraints, and to design effective policies.A key aspect of computer models for development policy analysis is the way they representthe process of growth underlying development. This first chapter initially describes thecontext and purpose of the work carried out as part of this dissertation. Section two discussessome limits to the applicability of current growth research – theory and empirical work alike –to development policy analysis. Subsequently, in section three we report the results of asurvey recently conducted among government officials from 12 sub-Saharan countries. Thesurvey indicates that growth theory is not consistently applied in practical medium and longterm planning exercises in most of the surveyed countries, also due to some limits of themodeling methods used. In sections four and five we argue that a dynamic, resource-basedapproach can complement current growth research, and can provide a broader perspective ondevelopment policy analysis; and that the SD method is well suited for the implementation ofsuch an approach. In section six, we provide an overview of our studies on the application ofthe resource-based approach and the SD method to various development issues. Finally, thelast section of the chapter summarizes our findings and points to the need for further researchin this area.The results of the analyses presented in this dissertation point to the value of the resourcebasedapproach as a framework for development policy analysis. In each study, the causes ofdevelopment failure or unintended policy outcomes are identified in the characteristics of themechanisms of resources’ accumulation. A variety of alternative scenarios are analyzed, and,based on their results, policy recommendations are provided. Such recommendations,although derived in different contexts, have some similarities: they generally tend to stress theimportance, for effective policy design, of characterizing development beyond the purelyeconomic perspective; and of considering its strong links with the social and humandimensions. Also, our results stress the value for development policy analysis of considering the inherent difficulties, including time lags, involved in the cumulative processes that bringabout development.Most of the studies collected in this thesis have been carried out for – and often incollaboration with – policy-makers, international organizations, and field’s experts fromdeveloping countries. This not only allowed us to design our models around the needs andquestions of the development stake-holders, but also gave us the opportunity to observe how –beyond the mere appreciation of the analytical results produced – the process of applying ourapproach contributed to stimulating the development debate. Designing effective policies is alearning process, in which the learning that occurs during the process is as important as theanalytical outcomes themselves. Our last study investigates ways to enhance such learning,and we believe this to be a fertile area for further research
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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