Where did that car come from?: Crossing the road when the traffic comes from an unfamiliar direction

Using a virtual road crossing environment, the reported research investigated the road crossing behavior of 12 male pedestrians in familiar and unfamiliar environments. Environment familiarity was manipulated using traffic direction. Seven of the participants were from a country where traffic flows from right to left and five were from countries were traffic flows from left to right. Each participant was asked to cross the road when traffic was coming from both the familiar and the unfamiliar direction for them. Results showed that pedestrians had lower safety ration, or a lower margin of error, in crossing the road when traffic was flowing in an unfamiliar direction, suggesting that pedestrians might be at greater risk of accident in such environments. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

PZT thin films for microsensors and actuators: Where do we stand?

This paper reviews deposition, integration, and device fabrication of PbZr(x)Ti(1-x)O(3) (PZT) films for applications in micro-electromechanical systems. An ultrasonic micromotor is described as an example. A summary of the published data on piezoelectric properties is given. The figures of merit for various applications are discussed. Some considerations and results on operation, reliability, and depolarization of PZT thin films are presented. The state of the art allows some preliminary conclusions.     

What do we perceive from motion pictures? A computational account

Cinema viewed from a location other than a canonical viewing point (CVP) presents distortions to the viewer in both its static and its dynamic aspects. Past works have investigated mainly the static aspect of this problem and attempted to explain why viewers still seem to perceive the scene very well. The dynamic aspect of depth perception, which is known as structure from motion, and its possible distortion, have not been well investigated. We derive the dynamic depth cues perceived by the viewer and use the so-called isodistortion framework to understand its distortion. The result is that viewers seated at a reasonably central position experience a shift in the intrinsic parameters of their visual systems. Despite this shift, the key properties of the perceived depths remain largely the same, being determined in the main by the accuracy to which extrinsic motion parameters can be recovered. For a viewer seated at a noncentral position and watching the movie screen at a slant angle, the view is related to the view at the CVP by a homography, resulting in various aberrations such as noncentral projection.     

Where do Italian universities stand? An in-depth statistical analysis of national and international rankings

In a previous article (Degli Esposti and Geraci. Bulletin of Italian Politics, 2011), we presented an historical survey of the university reform laws that took place in Italy in the last 30 years. On that occasion, we stressed how important is merit evaluation for academics and their institutions, especially in view of the much debated but not yet implemented ‘Gelmini’ reform with its long awaited new regulation for accessing academic positions (concorsi) and for determining individual weight in financial resource allocation among universities. Here, we present and compare several rankings used to evaluate the prestige and merit of Italian universities. We also consider alternative approaches to academic rankings that highlight peculiar aspects of the universities in Italy which cannot be reasonably accounted for by other international rankings. Finally, we propose a new approach that combines both national and international standing of Italian universities. It is hoped that this study will provide practical guidance to policy makers for establishing the criteria upon which merit should be assessed.     

Where do novice and experienced drivers direct their attention on approach to urban rail level crossings?

Crashes at rail level crossings (RLXs) remain a persistent but ill-defined safety issue. In urban areas, RLXs are typically located in areas of high workload and visual clutter, such as busy shopping strips. Despite this, the impact of such environments on driver behaviour and compliance with RLX controls is not well understood. This study sought to examine where drivers direct their attention on approach to urban RLXs located in busy shopping strip areas, and whether this differs between novice and experienced drivers. Participants drove an instrumented vehicle around a pre-defined urban route containing several active (flashing light with boom barriers) RLXs. Drivers’ visual scanning behaviour and cognitive processes were examined on approach to RLXs. The results suggest that RLXs were not a key focus of drivers’ attention. Further, rather than actively scanning, participants were over-reliant on RLX warning signals and the behaviour of surrounding vehicles to alert them to the presence of both trains and RLXs. This study provides important insights into drivers’ visual and cognitive behaviour on approach to urban RLXs located in areas of high visual demand.     

Where are nature's missing structures?

Our society's environmental and economic progress depends on the development of high-performance materials such as lightweight alloys, high-energy-density battery materials, recyclable motor vehicle and building components, and energy-efficient lighting. Meeting these needs requires us to understand the central role of crystal structure in a material's properties. Despite more than 50 years of progress in first-principles calculations, it is still impossible in most materials to infer ground-state properties purely from a knowledge of their atomic components--a situation described as 'scandalous' in the well-known essay by Maddox. Many methods attempt to predict crystal structures and compound stability, but here I take a different tack--to infer the existence of structures on the basis of combinatorics and geometric simplicity. The method identifies 'least random' structures, for which the energy is an extremum (maximum or minimum). Although the key to the generic nature of the approach is energy minimization, the extrema are found in a chemistry-independent way.     

Where Are We in HTCS?

Address given at the closing of the conference on Major Trends in Superconductivity in the New Millennium, MTSC 2000 and the opening of the Symposium on Itinerant and Localized States in HTCS SILS in HTCS.     

Traditional knowledge and the patent system: Two worlds apart?

Traditional knowledge is a very broad definition which embraces technical concepts about a local environment, wherein said knowledge derives from the long-standing traditions and practices of certain regional, indigenous, or local communities. These technical concepts, which are intrinsically connected with the spiritual meanings and beliefs of the communities which had developed them, are the way indigenous people have in order to survive in the surrounding environment. The increasing awareness of the importance of this kind of knowledge brought about the necessity of the definition, classification and legal protection of traditional knowledge. As a consequence, after giving a brief overview of the main legal basis developed in the attempt at the protection of traditional knowledge, this paper deals with the problems associated with the codification in registers and databases, and gives some remarks about the Indian, Korean and Chinese traditional knowledge databases. Finally, a case study on a chemical patent search approached from a traditional knowledge point of view is presented.     

The prevalence of green and grey open access: Where do physical science researchers archive their publications?

Scientometrics - The Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) implemented an open access policy for its grant recipients in 2008. We used bibliographic data from the Web of Science to find out...     

Where have all the working papers gone? Evidence from four major economics working paper series

Scientometrics - Working papers or preprints have become an important part in the scientific landscape. Such papers present research before (potentially) being published in refereed journals. But...     

How fast do Chinese firms learn and catch up? Evidence from patent citations

There is a wealth of research on technological learning in developing countries, but few scholars have clearly addressed the issue of learning time in an empirical way. This paper aims to fill this void by presenting an empirical investigation of the time needed by Chinese firms to learn from the technologies that they have in-licensed. Furthermore, we analyzed in detail the antecedents leading to an acceleration or deceleration of the learning process among Chinese licensees. The results of an event history analysis indicate that recipient firms take on average 5.8 years to learn from their in-licensed technologies. The absorptive capacity and firm age of the licensees, the technology licensing scale, the age of the licensed technology, and the desorptive capability of the licensor firm all play a role in shortening the learning time.     

Scientometrics — What to do?

Conclusion Turning under the aegis of our (former) classic once again:The World is ruled by spontaneity which escapes rationally oriented science. And we, as properhuman beings, and (former) disciples, may solemnly become itspsychosomatic devices.Or, if indeed,-metrics is actually in a difficult situation, let us try and help. No classics are needed for that, are they? Any task left, for a (former) empirist?Occasionally, it is worth having a choice.Comments on the paper byW. Glänzel, U. Schoepflin,Scientometrics, 30 (1994) 375.     

How do the internet technological developments shift the consumption pattern of paper products? Evidence from China

Using a monthly data between 2008 and 2019, this study investigated how the development of the Internet technologies has shaped the consumer consumption pattern of different types of paper products in China during this period. In detail, this study covers four major types of paper products in the Chinese market: newsprint, printing paper, household paper, and packaging paper. The developments of Internet technologies were decomposed into two aspects: the communication technology (CT) and the software platform technology (PT). Granger causality analysis was employed to determine whether the consumption pattern of paper products was affected by the development of the Internet. Furthermore, impulse-response analyses were utilized to measure how the consumption pattern of each paper product was shaped by the development of each aspect of Internet technologies, i.e., CT or PT. The empirical results suggested that the Internet developments are causing the consumption patterns shifts of all four paper products. Specifically, the consumptions of newsprint and printing paper were driven by both CT and PT. However, the consumptions of packaging paper and household paper were driven by the PT only. Compared to the development of CT, we found that the quick evolution of PT plays a more significant role in shifting people's consumption of paper products in China. The empirical results revealed by this study could provide valuable economics and policy implications to both academia and relevant industries.     

Talking about automated vehicles: What do levels of automation do?

Automated vehicles have become a popular topic of conversation. Initially, these conversations were limited to technology developers, innovators and engineers, as they worked to progressed the various technologies and systems that are required to create automated vehicles. Then, over time, these conversations extended to other communities; lawyers, insurers, planners, policymakers, social scientists, and various publics all began hearing, and talking about automated vehicles – also known as ‘driverless’, ‘self-driving’, and ‘autonomous’ vehicles. Levels of automation emerged as a way to depict gradations or categories of autonomy, with tasks divided between those for the machine and those for humans. In this paper, we critically reflect upon the dominance of levels of automation – up to seven sequential ‘steps’ - proposed by a number of industry organisations. Focusing on the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Standard J3016, we signal the intended and unintended performative effects of these levels. We argue that current discourses on automated vehicles have been underpinned by a techno-centric, expert-dominated logic, and point to the benefits of more dispersed, geographically contingent, and socio-technical perspectives in re-framing the dominant discourse and allowing for more nuanced spatial and temporal understandings on future systems of (automated) mobility.     

Why do entrepreneurs refuse venture capital?

Despite the evidence on the positive effect of venture capital (VC) on portfolio firm performance, such evidence badly pulls up alongside the non-negligible number of entrepreneurial firms that choose to refuse VC. This is the first study that investigates the determinants behind the missed realizations of VC investor-investee dyads by focusing on the Italian VC market. We theorize and empirically document that entrepreneurs’ human capital background and venture-specific characteristics influence the decision to accept or refuse VC. Specifically, our findings show that technically literate founders decrease the likelihood to refuse VC while family linkages in the ownership structure increase the likelihood to refuse VC.     

Why do wave packets sometimes contract?

We obtain explicit expressions for the spread of a pulse in a dispersive medium. Using these results we present a simple physical picture as to why pulses sometimes contract before expanding. Explicit formulas are given for the contraction time and the duration of the contraction. We show that a fundamental quantity that enters is the covariance between position and group velocity. Both quantum and classical wave equations are considered.     

Which dreams come true? Endogeneity, industry structure and forecasting accuracy

Forecasts are plentiful. Accurate long-range forecasts are rare.But some forecasts are more accurate than others are and a feware very accurate. In this paper, we first explore the caseof Moore's Law, a forecast that has proven quite accurate foralmost 40 years. We illustrate how expectations that Moore'sLaw will continue to be accurate actually make it accurate.Based on the insights of this case, we hypothesize that twofactors facilitate such self-fulfilling forecasts and so makeaccuracy more possible. We test these hypotheses on a set of3142 forecasts about US manufacturing industries during the1970s. We find that high industry concentration and high controlover the predicted variable tend to increase the accuracy offorecasts.     

What do we expect from robots? Social representations,attitudes and evaluations of robots in daily life

To foresee the potential acceptance, rejection and adaptation of robots in societies, it is necessary to overcome deterministic and linear assumptions and explore the plurality of meanings that shape our relationships with these emerging technologies. With this goal in mind, this study investigates the social representation of robots and its interconnection with attitudes and images, in a convenience sample of young adults in Italy (N = 422). Participants were asked to complete a self-report questionnaire consisting of a free-association task to the word stimulus “robot”, the Robot Attitude Scale, the acceptance of robots in different domains of life and a measure of mind perceptions of robots. The social representation of robots was articulated around three key semantic dimensions opposing: (1) ‘distant/detached’ vs ‘close/integrated’ views; (2) ‘ideal’ vs ‘material’ aspects; (3) assimilation with ‘ICTs’ vs with electric and mechanic ‘devices.’ These three dichotomies defined different positions connected with general attitudes, domain-specific evaluations of robots, and their level of perceived proximity with human beings. In particular, the view of robots as more concrete and integrated objects was related to positive attitudes and acceptance across all considered domains (i.e. Dull/Dirty, Education/Care and Health/Emergency dimensions). In contrast, more distant views were related to negative attitudes. Our study provides insights into how diverse positions could favour or hinder the introduction of robots in different spheres of everyday life.