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    Conditional recurring sequences

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    Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The 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

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    “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

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    We 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

    Facilitating innovation : an action-oriented approach and participatory methodology to improve innovative social practice in agriculture

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    This study focuses upon the social organization of innovation. It makes use of insights from knowledge and information systems research, development sociology, management science and applied philosophy and seeks answers to the following questions: What do social actors, individuals and/or organizations, actually do to innovate their practices? How do they organize themselves? Can this be managed or facilitated, and if so, how? The research is exploratory rather than conclusion-oriented and synthesizes the results of over 50 case studies of agricultural innovation in 15 different countries, including the Netherlands. Its main results are a conceptualization of innovation as a social process and a participatory action-research methodology to enhance innovative performance. The methodology is based on soft systems thinking and offers a variety of 'windows' or analytical perspectives to help social actors analyze the way they are organized for innovation in an action-oriented fashion. The methodology has been field-tested in 15 areas in 7 different countries.The author proposes that agricultural innovation can be looked at as resulting from the interplay between social actors representing relevant social practices. Social practices relevant to agricultural innovation include farming, research, extension, education, agroindustrial processing, marketing, mass media communication, policy-making, product quality control and the development, production, certification and distribution of inputs. Innovation then is a diffuse, social process of both individual and collective inquiry into intentions, alternative solutions and enabling and constraining conditions which leads to new or modified problem definitions and practical choices of solutions. The organization and quality of these inquiries eventually determine innovative performance at a certain point in time. What social actors actually do to innovate their practices can be understood as networking: social actors in search of relevant ideas, knowledge, information and experiences, continuously build and manage relationships with others which, by some standard, they consider relevant to innovating their practices. As a result of networking, over time forms of social organization of innovation emerge. These reflect dynamics of their own and are not fully describable or explicable in terms of micro-events.The author proposes four such emergent forms to be relevant to students of complex innovation theatres: Convergences emerge when social actors narrow down the scope of their arguments and the range of issues and alternative scenarios they consider relevant to innovating their practices. Resource coalitions emerge when social actors decide to pool their resources in a joint performance. Communication networks emerge as a direct consequence of social actors' decisions to create joint learning opportunities and to produce and exchange information among themselves. Over time, where the above forms coincide, a pattern of more or less durable relationships between a limited set of social actors, an innovation configuration, may emerge. In such a configuration strategic consensus, a clear definition of tasks and responsibilities and a rational allocation of resources among social actors is possible. It also appears that each of these forms, but particularly the last one, may demonstrate inertia when faced with rapidly changing demands and/or circumstances. As a result, innovative performance may drop.To enable social actors to assess their current way of organizing for innovation, a participatory action-research methodology is proposed: RAAKS, Rapid or Relaxed Appraisal of Agricultural Knowledge Systems. Its design is based upon 'soft knowledge systems thinking', combining the philosophy and guiding principles of soft systems methodology with analytical instruments from knowledge systems research. Through active participation of relevant social actors, RAAKS aims at a threefold objective: to raise awareness and understanding, to probe new alliances and to formulate proposals for action. It guides participants through an accumulative, interactive learning process leading from problem appraisal, via a joint inquiry towards the definition of potentially useful actions and/or interventions. In recognition of the appreciative character of innovation and its social organization, RAAKS offers a choice of perspectives or 'windows' to help stakeholders recognize, organize and debate relevant ideas and events. The conceptual approach mentioned above supports the integration of the findings into a more comprehensive understanding of the social organization of innovation in each particular case.RAAKS has been field-tested over a dozen times in the Netherlands and in six countries in Central America. These experiences confirmed its relevance and applicability as a methodology, as well as its adaptability to particular demands and circumstances. RAAKS proved most useful in situations where, often ill-defined, feelings of unease persist among relevant stakeholders about the course innovation takes or its pace. It has proved useful in training (future) extension and research managers, and helping them to understand the context in which they operate. RAAKS also demonstrated its usefulness to those organizations or individuals who sell or provide 'knowledge/information intensive' products or services, such as research, extension and advisory services. It provides them with an instrument to appreciate the dynamic social context in which their products or services have to be marketed and are to prove themselves. Finally, due to its participatory character and soft systems design, RAAKS seems a promising instrument to help social actors organize themselves to deal with complex societal problems, which require higher levels of effective cooperation among stakeholders, such as natural resource management, regional development, stopping environmental degradation or waste disposal. Several experiences with RAAKS outside agriculture illustrate that its relevance to facilitating complex innovation processes is not limited to agricultural development as such.As a general conclusion, the study points at the need to amplify research on knowledge management. To facilitate knowing between agencies and organizations, interorganizational communication, whether direct or indirect, joint learning, sense making and resource pooling would have to become objects of study and eventually of (knowledge) management. Also, networking would have to be studied, its adequacy, effectiveness and efficiency in specific situations assessed and improvements designed and evaluated. The author argues that the challenge for management sciences with respect to social organization of innovation is to achieve a balance between direction and control on the one hand, and the creation and maintenance of space for serendipitous and epiphenomenal improvements on the other. In addition, he proposes RAAKS may contribute not only to facilitating innovative social practice directly, but to scientific inquiry as well. For such a purpose, its potential and limitations do need to be further evaluated. In general, he suggests, soft (knowledge) systems thinking receives far less attention from the research community than it deserves

    Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts

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    We 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

    Author Index

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    koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist

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    We 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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