Comprehensive exploration of urban health by bibliometric analysis: 35 years and 11,299 articles

This paper aims to evaluate the health issues related to urbanization and get an overview of urban health with the bibliometric approach, the powerful tool in quantitatively macroscopic analysis across multiple disciplines. A total of 11,299 articles and 5,579 Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms from the year 1978–2012 were retrieved by searching PubMed/MEDLINE using MeSH term “urban health”. The bibliographic information was analyzed to summarize the overall research characteristics. MeSH terms were sorted by their normalized frequency. Top 10 % of the high-frequency MeSH terms were classified into categories (physical environment, health effects, social environment and counter-measures) and analyzed. We investigated the themes and their tendency of the corresponding categories by co-occurrence word (co-word) and regression analysis. We concluded and elaborated nine themes of physical environment, ten themes of health effects, three themes of social environment and four themes of counter-measures in urban health, as well as the main themes in five representative countries (USA, India, China, South Africa and Japan). We present a data-based overview of the issues in urban health, as reference for further researchers.     

The Creative Experience in Engineering Practice: Implications for Engineering Education

This research came about as an outgrowth of mounting concern among industrial leaders about the impact of traditional engineering education on the creative potential of future engineers. As there is little agreement on creativity or how to teach it, we chose to begin the study without assuming a theoretical stance about engineering creativity. Instead, we started with a search for first-hand information about creativity and the creative process experienced by working engineers. This phenomenological research paradigm is a way to describe a complex, dynamic experience without prior assumptions, the results of which can then be used to generate theory or develop a structure directly from the data. This approach has similarities to an expert system development, in which the knowledge and skills of an expert are gathered and processed to develop an understanding of the system or phenomenon. Eight professional engineers from the southeastern United States were selected by peer nomination as examples of (expert) creative engineers. They were trained in different areas of engineering (eg. chemical, mechanical, industrial) and worked in organizations ranging from large international consulting firms to small regional businesses. These subjects were interviewed about their experiences in doing creative work and their thoughts about the creative process, including the impact of relevant educational experiences. These interviews were audio-recorded and subjected to a phenomenological data analytic procedure, which extracted the experiential themes and educational issues. The experiential themes involved in the creative process of working engineers clustered as

• ? Desire and fulfillment (motivation),
• ? Autonomy and support (environment),
• ? Openness and knowledge (tools), and
• ? Engrossment and connection (process).

This paper discusses the implications and application of these themes for curricular innovation in engineering education.     

汽车意象造型设计研究态势的可视化分析

目的可视化分析汽车意象造型设计的研究进展。方法以中国知网(CNKI)收录的152篇论文作为研究对象,运用文献信息可视化方法对发文量、关键词、研究热点、期刊、机构等方面进行研究。结论提出汽车意象造型设计基础理论研究、汽车造型设计特征构成研究、意象信息的量化方法研究、意象测量技术及方法研究是汽车意象造型设计研究的4个研究主题。归纳了现阶段的研究重点是基于感性工学的汽车造型意象研究,得出了研究趋势是结合眼动、脑电等客观技术进行意象研究,并且对后期相关文献的投稿方向给出针对性建议。     

Mapping the research on aquaculture. A bibliometric analysis of aquaculture literature

Research on aquaculture is expanding along with the exceptional growth of the sector and has an important role in supporting even further the future developments of this relatively young food production industry. In this paper we examined the aquaculture literature using bibliometrics and computational semantics methods (latent semantic analysis, topic model and co-citation analysis) to identify the main themes and trends in research. We analysed bibliographic information and abstracts of 14,308 scientific articles on aquaculture recorded in Scopus. Both the latent semantic analysis and the topic model indicate that the broad themes of research on aquaculture are related to genetics and reproduction, growth and physiology, farming systems and environment, nutrition, water quality, and health. The topic model gives an estimate of the relevance of these research themes by single articles, authors, research institutions, species and time. With the co-citation analysis it was possible to identify more specific research fronts, which are attracting high number of co-citations by the scientific community. The largest research fronts are related to probiotics, benthic sediments, genomics, integrated aquaculture and water treatment. In terms of temporal evolution, some research fronts such as probiotics, genomics, sea-lice, and environmental impacts from cage aquaculture, are still expanding while others, such as mangroves and shrimp farming, benthic sediments, are gradually losing weight. While bibliometric methods do not necessarily provide a measure of output or impact of research activities, they proved useful for mapping a research area, identifying the relevance of themes in the scientific literature and understanding how research fronts evolve and interact. By using different methodological approaches the study is taking advantage of the strengths of each method in mapping the research on aquaculture and showing in the meantime possible limitations and some directions for further improvements.     

Study on themes and authors’ influence of open access in China

Using Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure as the data resource, this paper searched some papers about open access (OA). Some Visual Basic for Applications programs were developed to generate the co-word matrix, compute the E-index value of keywords as well as the density and centrality of thematic clusters. Callon’s clustering method was also used to generate keywords clusters. Then, co-word analysis method and strategic diagrams were utilized to detect the main research themes as well as explore the development situation and status of these research themes. Furthermore, author-themes coupling network was mapped with the help of Netdraw in order to detect the relationship between core authors and research themes of OA as well as the core authors’ influence on these themes. Based on this, some conclusions were got in the end.     

A new approach for automatizing the analysis of research topics dynamics: application to optoelectronics research

The objective of this paper is to propose a new unsupervised incremental approach in order to follow the evolution of research themes for a given scientific discipline in terms of emergence or decline. Such behaviors are detectable by various methods of filtering. However, our choice is made on the exploitation of neural clustering methods in a multi-view context. This new approach makes it possible to take into account the incremental and chronological aspects of information by opening the way to the detection of convergences and divergences of research themes at a large scale.     

International research collaboration in Africa: a bibliometric and thematic analysis

It is widely recognised that science in Africa will benefit from international research collaboration (IRC), and therefore studies have been done on IRC in Africa (hereafter: Africa-related IRC research). However, there is no information on the development of Africa-related IRC research, the geographical location of the scientists interested in the topic, the visibility of the literature and the themes researched. This information makes it possible to understand relevant aspects in the context of IRC in Africa, which are useful for identifying IRC strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. It also allows paving the way for future research on this topic. Using discipline–specific terms, bibliometric, and thematic analysis, I collected the literature on Africa-related IRC research indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection (WoS). The results showed that the number of publications on the topic has increased, few African countries have researched the topic, a third of the publications were written exclusively by African scientists, and the topic has high visibility. The panoply of publications revealed that patterns, driving factors, effects, networks, asymmetries, and policies concerning IRC were the main themes researched.

     

中国共产党百年重大题材展示设计研究

立足历史交汇点,总结党的百年奋斗重大题材展示艺术设计的表现方法,在实现第二个百年奋斗目标的新征程上发挥更大作用。对过去百年发生的重大题材进行梳理,选取有代表性的展馆、纪念地进行考察,运用历史学、叙事学、设计学等方法对考察数据进行分析,总结其中展示艺术设计的特点和规律。通过分析研究获得重大历史题材内容设计方面选题策划、文本撰写、文物和展品征集等原则;在形式设计方面整理出叙事性陈列设计的基本要点、关键要素,探索面向信息时代博物馆数字化、智慧化发展趋势的新举措。百年党史重大题材展陈内容设计方面的各项原则,能够在今后爱国主义教育题材的展馆建设、展览策划中起到一定的指导作用;重大题材展示设计系列理论、博物馆陈列叙事性设计方法、重大题材展示视觉艺术语言、数字化融合与创新等研究成果,在未来百年重大题材的展示设计中具有示范性意义。     

What modelling research on supply chain collaboration informs us? Identifying key themes and future directions through a literature review

Although research regarding supply chain collaboration has been increasing, studies reviewing supply chain collaboration remains limited. This review paper categorises supply chain collaboration and identifies different themes in this research field. Articles were collected based on a designed keywords list and specific subject restrictions in citation databases. Text-mining technology and conceptual criteria were used to categorise and screen articles into different categories. Finally, cluster analysis was used to group articles and identify emerging themes. From the year 1999 to 2017, a total of 678 articles regarding supply chain collaboration were found. These were sorted into six categories: levels of collaboration, industries, supply chain stages, company scales, forms/methods of collaboration and typology of article, and into corresponding sub-categories. 380 articles employing modelling approach where collaboration forms the core of analysis were screened for hierarchical cluster analysis, resulting in four clusters: information sharing paradigm, joint decision-making paradigm, resource sharing paradigm and coordinating contract paradigm. Eleven themes were finally identified based on the four clusters. The number of articles in the field of supply chain collaboration shows an increasing trend by year. However, most of the collaborations discussed were still at a low level. It is expected to explore a higher level of collaborations and related themes in future research.     

An empirically derived agenda of critical research issues for managing supply-chain disruptions

While the literature related to supply-chain disruptions is informative, it has primarily focused on supply-chain disruptions from a general or high-level view of the phenomenon (e.g. supply-chain uncertainty, risk perceptions). Additionally, although most would agree that disruptions are present in all supply chains, there is a limited amount of information on how to deal with them from a practical perspective in both the short term and long term. Because of the importance of and research needs within this area, we launched a major multi-industry, multi-methodology empirical study on supply-chain disruptions. The study is multi-faceted in that it seeks insights into many issues within the broad area of global sourcing and supply-chain disruptions. Throughout our various interactions with industry, we found that several common themes and issues surfaced as being critical to successful disruption analysis and mitigation as well as resilient supply-chain design. Within this paper, we report on these key issues and discuss the needs within the supply-chain research to contribute to them.     

Learning Engineering: Design,Languages, and Experiences*

This paper reviews current concerns about engineering education. Paying special attention to the role of design, constructs and themes are offered as enabling perceptions of how students can learn engineering. The constructs view the curriculum as a sum of skills to be mastered and experiences in which to be involved. The themes capture three attitudinal paradigm shifts: changing the balance between design and analysis; more explicitly recognizing that many languages are used in engineering; and considering whether the BS degree in engineering might be uncoupled from its role as the entry-level certification for the profession.     

基于布堆画艺术理念的铜川中医药文化信息可视化设计研究

目的 探索基于布堆画艺术理念的铜川中医药文化信息可视化设计,以促进布堆画艺术与中医药文化的结合及发扬光大。方法 采用文献综述、调查分析、实证研究等方法,将传统中医药文化与布堆画艺术表现手法相结合,并融入铜川地区的特色中医药文化可视化设计中。结果 将铜川中医药文化划分为药之源、药之宴、药之器、药之技四大主题,通过布堆画艺术与中医药文化相结合的方式,创作出具有铜川区域化内涵的信息可视化设计,展示出传统布堆画艺术与铜川中医药文化的魅力。结论 布堆画艺术与铜川中医药文化的融合为信息可视化设计提供了创新途径,并有望起到对铜川地区及国内中医药文化产业的宣传作用。     

A comparison of the views of experts and the public on automated vehicles technologies and societal implications

Automated vehicles (AVs) are seen as a gateway to safer and more accessible mobility, while others see AVs as unrealistic and dangerous. Public perception of AVs is not always in line with experts' views on issues relating to technology and public safety. To explore how the views of the public and experts compare, two qualitative studies were conducted with the aim of understanding attitudes, opinions, and expertise on a variety of matters relating to emerging AV technology and its societal impacts. Interviews were conducted with 11 AV experts from a variety of fields of expertise including optometry, engineering, computer science and psychology. Additionally, eight focus groups were held with 34 members of the public to discuss their opinions about AV technologies. Views from the public and experts were divided into 12 themes, with three categories (positive, mixed, and negative feelings towards AVs). The five themes under the positive category included topics of the danger of conventional vehicles, inclusive mobility, the use of time and space, familiarisation with AVs, and safety benefits. The two themes under the mixed feelings categories were, concerns about trust and the legal challenges. The five themes under the negative category were, the technological challenges, the complexity of monitoring, mixed-fleet danger, skills atrophy, and cybersecurity. The results showed that both the experts and public participants were enthusiastic about AVs, with a minority from both groups sceptical about this emerging technology. Insights from this research can be used to help inform 1) how the law can be adapted to AVs and 2) areas that can be focused on to alleviate the public's concerns around AVs.     

Policy and the mapping of scientific change: A co-word analysis of research into environmental acidification

This paper describes recent developments in the co-word method and illustrates, for the case of acid rain research, the way in which the method can be used to detect (a) the themes of research to be found in a given area of science, (b) the relationships between those themes, (c) the extent to which they are central to the area in question and (d) the degree to which they are internally structured. It is also suggested that the method may be used to draw comparative research profiles for different countries. Though the data used are only preliminiary, it is argued that the method has now been developed to the point where its results are both quite robust and easily assimilable. It is, accordingly, now an appropriate tool for policy analysis.     

The interdisciplinary structure of research on intercultural relations: a co-citation network analysis study

This study aims to map the content and structure of the knowledge base of research on intercultural relations as revealed in co-citation networks of 30 years of scholarly publications. Source records for extracting co-citation information are retrieved from Web of Science (1980–2010) through comprehensive keyword search and filtered by manual semantic coding. Exploratory network and content analysis is conducted (1) to discover the development of major research themes and the relations between them over time; (2) to locate representative core publications (the stars) that are highly co-cited with others and those (the bridges) connecting more between rather than within subfields or disciplines. Structural analysis of the co-citation networks identifies a core cluster that contains foundational knowledge of this domain. It is well connected to almost all the other clusters and covers a wide range of subject categories. The evolutionary path of research themes shows trends moving towards (e.g. psychology and business and economics) and away from (e.g. language education and communication) the core cluster over time. Based on the results, a structural framework of the knowledge domain of intercultural relations research is proposed to represent thematic relatedness between topical groups and their relations.     

Performance obstacles for direct and indirect labour in high technology manufacturing

Performance obstacles are factors in the work environment that restrict productivity by inhibiting employees in the execution of task responsibilities. In spite of their apparent importance, little research has been done to describe, categorize, or assess these obstacles. A research project carried out in 12 United States electronics firms demonstrates that employees in two groups (circuit board assemblers and manufacturing engineers) view performance obstacles as having a significant influence on their performance. Materials and information obstacles emerged as being the most important to the circuit board assemblers. For the engineers, information and control/authority were the most important obstacle categories. Managers tended to agree with circuit board assemblers about the importance of obstacles for that employee group. However, managers tended to disagree with the engineers, giving lower ratings of importance than the engineers did in several categories. The research provides a step toward a typology of performance obstacles, demonstrating similarities and differences between employee groups and it suggests that at least in some areas managers may not be as accurate as they could be in assessing the influence of performance obstacles on their employees. The findings indicate that the themes that have prevailed in the research on operations management (i.e. materials, quality, scheduling) are viewed by employees as being predominant factors in the productivity equation.     

Indicators for the identification of strategic themes within a research programme

The co-word method (Leximappe programme) is used to illustrate the essential themes of intermational research based on the computer analysis of databases of scientific articles and patents. Further, we illustrate that these themes often follow characteristic cycles. Research projects submitted to a research funding organisation were subjected to a similar analysis. It was then possible in one sense to evaluate the relevance of funding support, particularly in terms of the degree of maturity of international research.     

Integration of three visualization methods based on co-word analysis

Visualization of subject structure based on co-word analysis is used to explore the concept network and developmental tendency in certain field. There are many visualization methods for co-word analysis. However, integration of results by different methods is rarely reported. This article addresses the knowledge gap in this field of study. We compare three visualization methods: Cluster tree, strategy diagram and social network maps, and integrate different results together to one result through co-word analysis of medical informatics. The three visualization methods have their own character: cluster trees show the subject structure, strategic diagrams reveal the importance of topic themes in the structure, and social network maps interpret the internal relationship among themes. Integration of different visualization results to one more readable map complements each other. And it is helpful for researchers to get the concept network and developmental tendency in a certain field.     

Visualization of a pharmaceutical unit operation: wet granulation

Recent developments in the field of process engineering and manufacturing sciences enable a new level of process understanding. However, extracting this understanding from increasing amounts of information is challenging. The aim of this study was to create a process vector from a model process describing all relevant information and, by that means, create a tool for combining and visualizing this information. Physical (impeller torque and temperature) and chemical (near-infrared spectroscopy) information from a small-scale high-shear granulation was used in the process vector. The vectors created were visualized by two different methods: principal component analysis (PCA) and the self-organizing map (SOM). None of the individual measurement techniques were able to describe the state of the process alone, although they provided important information about the process. By combining the data and visualizing it, an overview could be achieved. The SOM approach had two advantages over the PCA: it presented the results in terms of the original variables and enabled the analysis of nonlinear responses. However, both visualization methods could be used to describe the progress of the process and to increase the level of process understanding.     

Database tomography for technical intelligence: Comparative roadmaps of the research impact assessment literature and the journal of the American Chemical Society

This paper shows how Database Tomgraphy can be used to derive technical intelligence from the published literature. Database Tomography is a patented system for analyzing large amounts of textual computerized material. It includes algorithms for extracting multi-word phrase frequencies and performing phrase proximity analyses. Phrase frequency analysis provides the pervasive themes of a database, and the phrase proximity analysis provides the relationships among the pervasive themes, and between the pervasive themes and sub-themes. One potential application of Database Tomography is to obtain the thrusts and interrelationships of a technical field from papers published in the literature within that field. This paper provides applications of Database Tomography to analyses of both the non-technical field of Research Impact Assessment (RIA) and the technical field of Chemistry. A database of relevant RIA articles was analyzed to produce characteristics and key features of the RIA field. The recent prolific RIA authors, the journals prolific in RIA papers, the prolific institutions in RIA, the prolific keywords specified by the authors, and the authors whose works are cited most prolifically as well as the particular papers/journals/institutions cited most prolifically, are identified. The pervasive themes of RIA are identified through multi-word phrase of the database. A phrase proximity analysis of the database shows the relationships among the pervasive themes, and the relationships between the pervasive themes and subthemes. A similar process was applied to Chemistry, with the exception that the database was limited to one year's issues of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Wherever possible, the RIA and Chemistry results were compared. Finally, the conceptual use of Database Tomography to help identify promising research directions was discussed.