1,721,054 research outputs found
Establishing expert consensuses on the value of open data in open social innovation ideation
No full textThere is little conclusive evidence as to whether OD provides value to social innovation ideation scenarios. Furthermore, OD as a resource is severely contested as to its openness, availability, quality, importance, and usefulness within innovation ideation. Therefore, understanding how Open Data (OD) can be leveraged for innovation ideation practices has become a topic at the mainstream of management literature. However much of the effort thus far has been focused on ideation and innovation for-profit, specifically when in papers examining Open Innovation (OI), even though OD has been depicted as a resource for providing social, economical and entrepreneurial benefit. Therefore this paper presents an initial study of the perceived value of OD, in research phase Open Social Innovation (OSI), amongst academic and professional experts in OI, Innovation Networking and OD. Consequently, a Modified Delphi Study (MDS) is conducted, aimed at forming a convergence of opinion amongst academic and professional experts. From converging expert opinions from both academic and professional perspectives, optimal managerial practices within this field can be shaped. Furthermore, management processes and practices can be justified in collecting and targeting particular datasets that are opportune for a social innovation context. In addition to the primary objectives, and with respect to the paper’s findings, barriers of utilizing and leveraging OD for this purpose are duly noted with proposed methods of overcoming such challenge
Hidden entrepreneurs: Informal practices within the formal economy.
Get PDFThe focus of this study is ‘hidden entrepreneurs’ who bridge formal and informal economies. While their business activities are legal, the governance and ownership structures of their organizations are illegal. This qualitative study draws upon institutional theory to illuminate the emergence of international hidden entrepreneurs in Oman as an unintended response to institutional configurations, and to examine its perceived effects on the domestic entrepreneurial ecosystem. Hidden practices, shaped by the dynamics of institutional environments, are perceived negatively by policy makers and domestic entrepreneurs, but offer potential contributions for entrepreneurial development. In-depth interviews with entrepreneurs and stakeholders reveal how hidden practices are shaped by the dynamics of regulatory and social institutions. Loopholes, or flawed institutional configurations, and prevailing sociocultural factors drive the emergence of hidden practices. The study contributes to informal entrepreneurship literature and policy making through highlighting the relevance of international entrepreneurs in enabling entrepreneurial ecosystem development
The effects of knee joint angle on neuromuscular activity during electrostimulation in healthy older adults
Get PDFIntroduction
Electrostimulation devices stimulate the common peroneal nerve, producing a calf muscle-pump action to promote venous circulation. Whether knee joint angle influences calf neuromuscular activity remains unclear. Our aim was to determine the effects of knee joint angle on lower limb neuromuscular activity during electrostimulation.
Methods
Fifteen healthy, older adults underwent 60 min of electrostimulation, with the knee joint at three different angles (0°, 45° or 90° flexion; random order; 20 min each). Outcome variables included electromyography of the peroneus longus, tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius medialis and lateralis and discomfort.
Results
Knee angle did not influence tibialis anterior and peroneus longus neuromuscular activity during electrostimulation. Neuromuscular activity was greater in the gastrocnemius medialis (p = 0.002) and lateralis (p = 0.002) at 90°, than 0° knee angle. Electrostimulation intensity was positively related to neuromuscular activity for each muscle, with a knee angle effect for the gastrocnemius medialis (p = 0.05).
Conclusion
Results suggest that during electrostimulation, knee joint angle influenced gastrocnemii neuromuscular activity; increased gastrocnemius medialis activity across all intensities (at 90°), when compared to 0° and 45° flexion; and did not influence peroneus longus and tibialis anterior activity. Greater electrostimulation-evoked gastrocnemii activity has implications for producing a more forceful calf muscle-pump action, potentially further improving venous flow
Functional sit-to-stands evoke greater neuromuscular activation than orthopaedic bed exercises in healthy older adults
Get PDFOBJECTIVE: To compare EMG activity of the hip and thigh muscles during traditional static bed exercises and the sit-to-stand exercise in healthy older adults.
METHODS: Twenty-four healthy, older adults (8 male; age 65±7 yrs) performed four static rehabilitation exercises: isometric contractions of the gluteal, abductor, inner quadriceps and quadriceps (ten, ~5 s submaximal contractions, with 60 rests), and the sit-to-stand test. Electromyographic (EMG) activity was recorded from the rectus femoris, vastus medialis, gluteus medius, biceps femoris and gluteus maximus, and root mean square-processed (RMS) in this observational preliminary study. Handgrip strength, 10 m walking speed and hamstring-quadriceps ratio represented participant characteristics.
RESULTS: Hip and thigh muscles were activated differently between the isometric bed and sit-to-stand exercises. Greatest RMS activity was shown in the chair rising phase of the sit-to-stand exercise. No bed exercise exceeded the muscle RMS activity required to perform a sit-to-stand, and only for sit-to-stands were all muscles activated over 40% of maximal; the level required to stimulate muscle strength adaptation.
CONCLUSIONS: Functional daily activities, such as sit-to-standing, produce greater muscle activity than static bed exercises in healthy older adults. Sit-to-stands should be included in exercise and rehabilitation programs for older adults, to evoke sufficient levels of neuromuscular activation for muscle strength adaptation
The effects of 8 weeks of inspiratory muscle training on the balance of healthy older adults: a randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled study
Get PDFTo examine the effects of 8‐week unsupervised, home‐based inspiratory muscle training (IMT) on the balance and physical performance of healthy older adults.Fifty‐nine participants (74 ± 6 years) were assigned randomly in a double‐blinded fashion to either IMT or sham‐IMT, using a pressure threshold loading device. The IMT group performed 30‐breath twice daily at ~50% of maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP). The sham‐IMT group performed 60‐breaths once daily at ~15% MIP; training was home‐based and unsupervised, with adherence self‐reported through training diaries. Respiratory outcomes were assessed pre‐ and post-intervention, including forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume, peak inspiratory flow rate (PIFR), MIP, and inspiratory peak power. Balance and physical performance outcomes were measured using the shortened version of the Balance Evaluation System test (mini‐BEST), Biodex® postural stability test, timed up and go, five sit‐to‐stand, isometric “sit‐up” and Biering–Sørensen tests. Between‐group effects were examined using two‐way repeated measures ANOVA, with Bonferroni correction.After 8‐week, the IMT group demonstrated greater improvements (P ≤ 0.05) in: PIFR (IMT = 0.9 ± 0.3 L sec−1; sham‐IMT = 0.3 L sec−1); mini‐BEST (IMT = 3.7 ± 1.3; sham‐IMT = 0.5 ± 0.9) and Biering–Sørensen (IMT = 62.9 ± 6.4 sec; sham‐IMT = 24.3 ± 1.4 sec) tests.The authors concluded that twice daily unsupervised, home‐based IMT is feasible and enhances inspiratory muscle function and balance for community‐dwelling older adults
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
Get PDFWe 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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