Distribution of academic research funds: a case of Japanese national research grant

Drawing on a database of the competitive research funds in the Japanese academia, this study examines the distribution of research grants at the university and individual levels. The data indicates high inequality at the university level and slightly lower inequality at the individual level. Over the last three decades, the total grant budget has greatly increased and an increasing number of researchers have received the funds. Simultaneously, large-size grants have become more common and multiple awarding (i.e., one researcher receives more than one grant simultaneously) has become more frequent. These changes taken together, the level of inequality has not been changed substantially. The extent of inequality largely differs between scientific fields; especially high in basic natural sciences and relatively low in social sciences. A close examination of inequality over researchers’ career indicates different patterns of transition between fields and cohorts. Finally, both at the university and individual levels, the funding distribution is found more unequal than the distribution of publications as an output indicator.     

Assigning evaluators to research grant applications: the case of Slovak Research and Development Agency

Peer evaluation of research grant applications is a crucial step in the funding decisions of many science funding agencies. Funding bodies take various measures to increase the independence and quality of this process, sometimes leading to difficult combinatorial problems. We propose a novel method based on network flow theory to find assignments of evaluators to grant applications that obey the rules formulated by the Slovak Research and Development Agency.     

Factors influencing the scientific performance of Momentum grant holders: an evaluation of the first 117 research groups

Scientometrics - The Momentum program launched in 2009 provides funding of up to 1 million Euro to establish new, independent research groups at Hungarian academic institutions. Here, our aim was...     

The effects and consequences of very large explosive volcanic eruptions

Every now and again Earth experiences tremendous explosive volcanic eruptions, considerably bigger than the largest witnessed in historic times. Those yielding more than 450km3 of magma have been called super-eruptions. The record of such eruptions is incomplete; the most recent known example occurred 26000 years ago. It is more likely that the Earth will next experience a super-eruption than an impact from a large meteorite greater than 1km in diameter. Depending on where the volcano is located, the effects will be felt globally or at least by a whole hemisphere. Large areas will be devastated by pyroclastic flow deposits, and the more widely dispersed ash falls will be laid down over continent-sized areas. The most widespread effects will be derived from volcanic gases, sulphur gases being particularly important. This gas is converted into sulphuric acid aerosols in the stratosphere and layers of aerosol can cover the global atmosphere within a few weeks to months. These remain for several years and affect atmospheric circulation causing surface temperature to fall in many regions. Effects include temporary reductions in light levels and severe and unseasonable weather (including cool summers and colder-than-normal winters). Some aspects of the understanding and prediction of super-eruptions are problematic because they are well outside modern experience. Our global society is now very different to that affected by past, modest-sized volcanic activity and is highly vulnerable to catastrophic damage of infrastructure by natural disasters. Major disruption of services that society depends upon can be expected for periods of months to, perhaps, years after the next very large explosive eruption and the cost to global financial markets will be high and sustained.     

Choice and allocation characteristics of faculty time in Korea: effects of tenure,research performance,and external shock

Scientometrics - Academics generally should meet both teaching duty and research performance requirements. Since their work time is finite, academics need to allocate time for research, teaching,...     

地震模拟振动台三参量控制技术研究

对地震模拟振动台三参量控制算法进行了深入的研究,详细研究了三参量反馈及前馈环节对振动台系统特性的校正作用,并通过仿真和试验的方法进一步验证三参量控制算法对地震模拟振动台系统频响特性的改善效果：通过引入三参量速度反馈可以有效扩展系统的频宽,引入三参量加速度反馈可以有效提高系统的阻尼,三参量前馈控制能够对消系统闭环传递函数中距离虚轴较近的极点,实现系统频宽的进一步扩展。最后,通过对三参量伺服控制的地震模拟振动台进行地震波形再现试验,证明三参量控制算法能够实现较高精度的地震波形再现试验。     

The determinants of research collaboration modes: exploring the effects of research and researcher characteristics on co-authorship

Given the high priority accorded to research collaboration on the assumption that it yields higher productivity and impact rates than do non-collaborative results, research collaboration modes are assessed for their benefits and costs before being executed. Researchers are accountable for selecting their collaboration modes, a decision made through strategic decision making influenced by their environments and the trade-offs among alternatives. In this context, by using bibliographic information and related internal data from the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM, a representative Korean government institute of mechanical research), this paper examines the suggested yet unproven determinants of research collaboration modes that the SCI data set cannot reveal through a Multinomial Probit Model. The results indicate that informal communication, cultural proximity, academic excellence, external fund inspiration, and technology development levels play significant roles in the determination of specific collaboration modes, such as sole research, internal collaboration, domestic collaboration, and international collaboration. This paper refines collaboration mode studies by describing the actual collaboration phenomenon as it occurs in research institutes and the motivations prompting research collaboration, allowing research mangers to encourage researchers to collaborate in an appropriate decision-making context.     

The rules concerning translations in the European patent grant procedure

This is a synopsis of the provisions of the European Patent Convention (EPC) and national law of the Contracting States regarding the stipulation of written translations in the European patent grant procedure. A distinction is drawn between translations which have to be filed with the European Patent Office itself and those which may be required at certain stages of procedure by the national patent authorities of Contracting States to the EPC.     

Differences in research orientation reflected in the allocation of grants

The scientists in the Social Science Research Councils are, after all, human and their own research orientation will influence their attitude towards applicants and projects. But their attitude will be strengthened or counteracted by other factors. They may be conscious of their bias and try to compensate for it either because they really want to be fair or because they are afraid to appear biassed in the eyes of the other council members. And then other personal factors may affect their decision: friendship with the applicants, their wish to repay a former member of the council for grants they once received from him or their striving for their own personal research empire. Each such factor will influence grant allocation in a special way. The neo-positivistic sociologist in the Swedish Social Science Research Council was in 1973 relieved by a more radical sociologist and we have used this opportunity to see whether it is possible to study the effect of the changed research orientation, although other personal factors will influence grant allocation. We worked out alternative hypothesis systems built on a) research orientation and b) personal research empire building. Our method made sense in this particular case and should be possible to use under similar conditions.     

论人的可靠性研究的两种策略

文章通过考察人的可靠性研究的历史，认为人的可靠性研究实际上存在着两种策略，每种策略都有各自的对人的模型的假设，一种策略被称为“工程学可靠性研究策略”，它把人假设为与机器设备并无二致的普通零部件，故称之为“零部件人模型”，在这种假设下，人们发展了人的可靠性分析技术，与机器可靠性分析同出一辙；另一种策略被称为“行为学可靠性研究策略”，它几乎完整地考虑了人的自然和社会属性，人被看作是与机器完全不同的系统元素，这种人的模型称之为“个性人模型”，在这种人的模型假设下，人们发展了人的可靠性评估技术或称人员子系统可靠性评估技术，文章着重讨论了人的可靠性评估技术的步骤和重点     

Initial allocation compensation algorithm for redundancy allocation: The scanning heuristic

The tiny feature size in current semiconductor integrated circuits naturally requires redundancy strategies to improve manufacturing yield and operating reliability. To find an optimal redundancy architecture that provides maximum yield and reliability is a trade-off problem. In the reliability optimization field, this type of problem is generally called a redundancy allocation problem. In this paper, we propose a new iterative algorithm, the scanning heuristic, to solve the redundancy allocation problem. The solution quality of conventional iterative heuristics is highly dependent on the initial starting point of the algorithm employed. To overcome this weakness, the scanning heuristic systematically divides the original solution space into several small bounded solution spaces. The local optimum in each divided solution space then becomes a candidate for the final solution. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed heuristic, and subsequently some combinations of heuristics, are superior to existing heuristics in terms of solution quality.     

变浓度热泵系统的理论模型与实验研究

提出一种新型变浓度容量调节热泵系统,对该系统进行了理论建模与实验研究,两者的对比研究得到相同的趋势,制热量和COP、功率均随着高压组分的增加而增加。结果表明,变浓度容量调节热泵装置可以随外界环境温度的变化而改变循环工质的组分浓度,进而实现对系统容量的调节。     

Materials and strategies for successful innovation and competition in the metal packaging industry

Recent discussions about technological development and innovation have omitted some important issues: innovation development in so-called low-technology industries; the important role played by material technology not only in high-technology industries, but in the adaptation processes in most industries. These discussions often lack a historical perspective. Many contemporary issues, such as integrated product development and networking, have been central to industrial production for more than one hundred years. Each of these is discussed in this study of the emergence and development of the metal packaging industry over the last two hundred years. An important research question is the influence of material development on the development of strategies, dominant designs, and the overall adaptability of the industry. Against this background we cannot speak of one single successful strategy. In Denmark's can manufacturing industry a non-innovative strategy, characterized by volume and rationalization and based on licensing from the U.S., was developed. In tube production, however, a strategy of incremental innovation for solving problems related to the use of existing materials emerged based on the industry's own innovation resources, financed by world-wide licensing. Thus licensing played an important role for the technological adaptability of the industry.     

Economic consequences of injury and resulting family coping strategies in Ghana

The toll of human suffering from illness and injury is usually measured by mortality and disability rates. Economic consequences, such as treatment costs and lost productivity, are often considered as well. Lately, increasing attention has been paid to the economic effects of illness on a household level. In this study, we sought to assess the economic consequences of injuries in Ghana by looking at the effects on households and the coping mechanisms these households employed. Using cluster sampling and household interviews, we surveyed 21,105 persons living in 431 urban and rural sites. We sought information on any injury that occurred to a household member during the prior year and that resulted in one or more days of disability time.A total of 1609 injuries were reported for the prior year. Treatment costs and disability days were higher in the urban area than in the rural. Coping strategies were different between the two areas. Rural households were more likely to utilize intra-family labor reallocation (90%) than were urban households (75%). Rural households were also more likely to borrow money (24%) than were urban (19%). Households in both areas were equally likely to sell belongings, although the nature of the belongings sold were different. Although injuries in the urban area had more severe primary effects (treatment cost and disability time), the ultimate effect on rural households appeared more severe. A greater percentage of rural households (28%) reported a decline in food consumption than did urban households (19%). These findings result in several policy implications, including measures that could be used to assist family coping strategies and measures directed toward injuries themselves.     

Innovation,competition and change in international business: Emergent research trajectories

Abstract and Key Results

Measuring interdisciplinary collaboration within a university: The effects of the multidisciplinary research programme

A Multidisciplinary Research Programme (MRP) is being developed since 1989 in the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), Spain, to support cross-disciplinary research projects. This paper analyses the incidence of interdisciplinarity in the UCM scientific publications over the period 1990–96 and tries to determine the success of the Programme at fostering cross-disciplinary research. Interdisciplinary in the UCM is measured through the collaboration of authors from different institutional addresses within the UCM, both in scientific publications and in research projects. Publications jointly signed by the different teams that collaborate in the projects were identified as an indicator of the success of the Programme in integrating disciplines. Interdisciplinary collaboration within the UCM showed an upward trend over time. Publications of MRP groups showed a higher interdisciplinary collaboration rate than the rest of the UCM (17% vs. 9%). Dramatic repercussions of the Programme were not expected due to its limited magnitude, but it worked as a catalyst, enhancing interdisciplinary relations within the UCM. The interest of such a programme is supported by its effects, both direct effects on granted teams and indirect on the whole UCM community.     

Evaluating strategies for spatial allocation of vaccines based on risk and centrality

When vaccinating a large population in response to an invading pathogen, it is often necessary to prioritize some individuals to be vaccinated first. One way to do this is to choose individuals to vaccinate based on their location. Methods for this prioritization include strategies that target those regions most at risk of importing the pathogen, and strategies that target regions with high centrality on the travel network. We use a simple infectious disease epidemic model to compare a risk-targeting strategy to two different centrality-targeting strategies based on betweenness centrality and random walk percolation centrality, respectively. We find that the relative effectiveness of these strategies in reducing the total number of infections varies with the basic reproduction number of the pathogen, travel rates, structure of the travel network and vaccine availability. We conclude that when a pathogen has high spreading capacity, or when vaccine availability is limited, centrality-targeting strategies should be considered as an alternative to the more commonly used risk-targeting strategies.