1,721,224 research outputs found
Performance evaluation of public services with nonparametric frontiers
No full textThis doctoral thesis addresses the topic of performance evaluation of public services. The main research enquiry addressed in this thesis is: "How can we use the results of nonparametric frontier analysis of public services to help policy makers make data-driven decisions?". This question will be addressed by analysing three public services: university research and educational services, waste collection service and electricity and natural gas supply services. To answer this question, innovative state-of-the-art nonparametric frontier techniques will be applied, original databases created by integrating different sources will be used and decision support frameworks will be proposed and used in a policy data-driven perspective
Writing Sign languages: analysis of the evolution of the SignWriting system from 1995 to 2010, and proposals for future developments
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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
Dalbavancin for the treatment of paediatric infectious diseases
No full textTo review the topics of interest related to the use of dalbavancin in paediatric patients. PubMed was used to search for all of the studies published over the last 15 years using the key word “dalbavancin”. A total of 36 manuscripts were selected, and due to the limited pediatric experience a further research was performed in order to identify clinical trials ongoing. Three studies that concerned children were found in clinicaltrials.gov. This review considers also the manuscripts published on the adult population in order to highlight the gaps requiring further research at pediatric age. Dalbavancin has emerged as a promising agent against resistant Gram-positive invasive infections. It is approved in the United States and Europe for the treatment of adult patients with acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (SSTIs). Compared to other available antibiotics that are active against multi-resistant bacteria, the advantages of dalbavancin include a lower potential for drug interactions and the possibility of fewer required doses due to a longer half-life. Pharmacokinetic characteristics of dalbavacin are attractive for its clinical impact, especially for children who may avoid prolonged hospitalization and central venous access. However, further studies are needed to establish its appropriate paediatric dosage before it can be licensed for use in newborns and children. For younger patients, at a time when infections due to multidrug-resistant Gram-positive pathogens are increasing, dosage, efficacy and safety data for dalbavancin are needed to ensure the highest antimicrobial efficacy while also minimizing the risk of adverse events
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
On the extremality, uniqueness and optimality of transference plans
Full text linkWe consider the following standard problems appearing in optimal mass transportation theory:
‧ when a transference plan is extremal,
‧ when a transference plan is the unique transference plan concentrated on a set A,
‧ when a transference plan is optimal.
We study these three problems with a general approach:
(1) choose some necessary conditions, depending on the problem we are considering;
(2) find a partition into sets Bα where these necessary conditions become also sufficient;
(3) show that all the transference plans are concentrated on ∪αBα
Explicit procedures are provided in the three cases above, the principal one being that the problem has an hidden structure of linear preorder with universally measurable graph.
As by sides results, we study the disintegration theorem w.r.t. a family of equivalence relations, the construction of optimal potentials, a natural relation obtained from c-cyclical monotonicity
L’appropriation et les modifications du SignWriting (SW) par des locuteurs de la Langue des Signes Italienne (LIS)
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