Factors influencing bid-winning performance in mixed crowdsourcing: The persuasive effect of credible information sources

Mixed crowdsourcing is increasingly becoming the main organizational model of domestic crowdsourcing platforms. However, research on the interpretation of winning performance fails to focus on the persuasive effect of the credibility of the contractor's information source on the contractee's decision making. Based on source credibility theory (SCT), this study constructs a model of the factors influencing the contractor's bid-winning performance based on three aspects—credibility, professionalism, and attractiveness—and examines the moderating effect of positive contractor evaluations from previous tasks on the bid decision. The results reveal that integrity guarantee and contact authentication (which belong to the credibility dimension), as well as ability level and professional identity (professionalism dimension) positively affect the contractor's bid-winning performance, and that an inverted-U-shaped relationship exists between the number of services displayed by the contractors (attractiveness dimension) and bid-winning performance.     

Highly cited research papers and the evaluation of a research university: A case study: Peking University 1974–2003

The academic level and scientific reputation is the most important merit of a research university. Publication of the scientific achievement in the world leading scientific journals is the key to asses a university's overall performance. Peking University is a leading university among the Chinese research universities, and the number of papers published in Science Citation Index (SCI) indexed journals has been on the top of the national list. In this paper, based on our long-term experience and practice in scientific management, we use scientometrics and informetrics method to analyze the academic performance of the researchers, departments and schools of Peking University, mainly using the citations of publications. Highly cited papers are specially important to the reputation of our university. We compare those data with some selected world well-known universities, hence, some important information can be deduced for the policy decision of the university. The results presented here is not only an academic survey, but also a guideline for the future strategic development of Peking University. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Characterizing a scientific elite: the social characteristics of the most highly cited scientists in environmental science and ecology

In science, a relatively small pool of researchers garners a disproportionally large number of citations. Still, very little is known about the social characteristics of highly cited scientists. This is unfortunate as these researchers wield a disproportional impact on their fields, and the study of highly cited scientists can enhance our understanding of the conditions which foster highly cited work, the systematic social inequalities which exist in science, and scientific careers more generally. This study provides information on this understudied subject by examining the social characteristics and opinions of the 0.1% most cited environmental scientists and ecologists. Overall, the social characteristics of these researchers tend to reflect broader patterns of inequality in the global scientific community. However, while the social characteristics of these researchers mirror those of other scientific elites in important ways, they differ in others, revealing findings which are both novel and surprising, perhaps indicating multiple pathways to becoming highly cited.     

Accuracy of author names in bibliographic data sources: an Italian case study

Scientometrics - We investigate the accuracy of how author names are reported in bibliographic records excerpted from four prominent sources: WoS, Scopus, PubMed, and CrossRef. We take as a case...     

Vibration analysis diagnostics by continuous-time models: A case study

In this paper a forecasting system in condition monitoring is developed based on vibration signals in order to improve the diagnosis of a certain critical equipment at an industrial plant. The system is based on statistical models capable of forecasting the state of the equipment combined with a cost model consisting of defining the time of preventive replacement when the minimum of the expected cost per unit of time is reached in the future. The most relevant features of the system are that (i) it is developed for bivariate signals; (ii) the statistical models are set up in a continuous-time framework, due to the specific nature of the data; and (iii) it has been developed from scratch for a real case study and may be generalised to other pieces of equipment. The system is thoroughly tested on the equipment available, showing its correctness with the data in a statistical sense and its capability of producing sensible results for the condition monitoring programme.     

Factors influencing mechanical and wear performance of dental composite: A review

With environmental concerns, the development of a posterior restorative as a true alternative to dental amalgam is needed. Hence in this regard, the development of dental composites have gained more and more research interest, as they have the advantages of better aesthetic look, better physical, mechanical and tribological properties over the other available dental materials. In this study, the physical, mechanical and wear behavior of dental composite materials have been reviewed. Numerous experimental results, analytical studies and their significance were also discussed for various dental composite materials. The wear performances of dental composite materials depend up on various factors including oral environment, resin chemistry, filler technology and interfacial bonding strength etc. In oral environment, the presence of medium such as water, air, heptane, ethanol, artificial saliva etc. and durations up to which composite is kept such as seven days, one month or three months etc. affect the performance of dental composite. Abrasion and erosion are two major causes for the wear behavior of dental composite / human teeth. The major issue, most significant challenges and effect of each of those factors affecting the performance of dental composite materials were also presented along with some recommendation.     

Integrated DNC: A case study

With the development of CNC, communication and CIM technology, the connotation and functions of DNC have been greatly enlarged. In order to describe the features and development of contemporary DNC, a new concept, integrated DNC, is presented in this paper. The connotation of integrated DNC and other relative concepts are discussed. Four control architectures of integrated DNC are proposed, including bi-hierarchies, tri-hierarchies, quadri-hierarchies and acrossshops architectures. A case study of integrated DNC is introduced.     

Factors influencing the removal of divalent cations by hydroxyapatite

The effect of pH, contact time, initial metal concentration and presence of common competing cations, on hydroxyapatite (HAP) sorption properties towards Pb(2+), Cd(2+), Zn(2+), and Sr(2+) ions was studied and compared using a batch technique. The results strongly indicated the difference between the sorption mechanism of Pb(2+) and other investigated cations: the removal of Pb(2+) was pH-independent and almost complete in the entire pH range (3-12), while the sorption of Cd(2+), Zn(2+) and Sr(2+) generally increased with an increase of pH; the contact time required for attaining equilibrium was 30 min for Pb(2+) versus 24h needed for other cations; maximum sorption capacity of HAP sample was found to be an order of magnitude higher for Pb(2+) (3.263 mmol/g), than for Cd(2+) (0.601 mmol/g), Zn(2+) (0.574 mmol/g) and Sr(2+) (0.257 mmol/g); the selectivity of HAP was found to decrease in the order Pb(2+)>Cd(2+)>Zn(2+)>Sr(2+) while a decrease of pH(PZC), in respect to the value obtained in inert electrolyte, followed the order Cd(2+)>Zn(2+)>Pb(2+)>Sr(2+); neither of investigated competing cations (Ca(2+), Mg(2+), Na(+) and K(+)) influenced Pb(2+) immobilization whereas the sorption of other cations was reduced in the presence of Ca(2+), in the order Sr(2+)>Cd(2+)>or=Zn(2+). The pseudo-second order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm have been proposed for modeling kinetic and equilibrium data, respectively. The sorption of all examined metals was followed by Ca(2+) release from the HAP crystal lattice and pH decrease. The ion exchange and specific cation sorption mechanisms were anticipated for Cd(2+), Zn(2+) and Sr(2+), while dissolution of HAP followed by precipitation of hydroxypyromorphite (Pb(10)(PO(4))(6)(OH)(2)) was found to be the main operating mechanism for Pb(2+) immobilization by HAP, with the contribution of specific cation sorption.     

Characterizing a scientific elite (B): publication and citation patterns of the most highly cited scientists in environmental science and ecology

Science is principally driven by the efforts of a vanishingly small fraction of researchers publishing the majority of scientific research and garnering the majority of citations. Despite this well-established trend, knowledge of exactly how many articles these researchers publish, how highly they are cited, and how they achieved their distinctive accomplishments is meager. This article examines the publication and citation patterns of the world’s most highly cited environmental scientists and ecologists, inquiring into their levels of scientific productivity and visibility, examining relationships between scientific productivity and quality within their research programs, and considering how different publication strategies contribute to these distinctive successes. Generally speaking, highly cited researchers are also highly productive, publishing on average well over 100 articles each. Furthermore, articles published by this group are more highly cited on average than articles published in premier generalist journal like Nature and Science, and their citation to publication ratios are more equitably distributed than is typical. Research specialization and primacy of authorship are important determinants of citation frequency, while geographic differences and collaborative propensity matter less. The article closes with a set of suggestions for those wishing to increase the use of their research by the scientific community.     

A worthwhile investment: research-council scientists speak out

This article looks at the work of two of the UK's research councils and the way their funding contributes to science at large, and to the scientists themselves. Nina Morgan talks to three scientists from the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council and three from the Natural Environment Research Council about their interests and enthusiasms.     

How video articles are cited,the case of JoVE: Journal of Visualized Experiments

Scientometrics - Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE) is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes video articles. In order to find out about the impact of video articles and how they are used in...     

Predicting lifetime by degradation tests: A case study of ISO 10995

ISO 10995 is the international standard for the reliability testing and archival lifetime prediction of optical media. The standard specifies the testing conditions in terms of the combinations of stress variables—temperature and relative humidity. The periodically collected data from tests are the error rate of the device, and failure is defined as the error rate exceeding a predetermined level. The standard assumes that the projected failure time is the actual failure time, and these projected failure times are then analyzed by using an Eyring or Arrhenius model. Since true failure times are often not directly observed, the uncertainties in the failure time must be taken into account. In this paper, we present a hierarchical model for degradation that can directly infer failure time at the use condition and compare this model with the International Standard Organization (ISO) standard through a simulation study. Not accounting for the uncertainty in the projected failure times leads to unjustified confidence in the estimation for the median lifetime at both the stress conditions used in the experiments and at the use condition.     

Highly cited Soviet journals in the physical and life sciences: A study of the function of journals

The research developed from the identification of the most highly cited Soviet journals in the physical and life sciences. Several measures of growth and citedness were taken at the beginning and end of a recent five-year period, 1982–87, in order to generally assess the functions of these journals. The research involved making comparisons among these groupings of journals and control groupings of journals with similar content, but not published in the Soviet Union. Differences in citedness could be related, in the physical sciences, to the scale of Russophone science within world sciences, but not in the life sciences. In the physical sciences, there are increases in the citedness across Soviet and Western journals; but in the Soviet journals the increase is several times greater than in the control grouping. In sharp contrast, the largest, most cited, Western life sciences' journals have increased in citedness and other groupings, including Soviet journals, have declined. The measures on control groups show that the extreme levels of improvement in citedness on the part of Soviet physical sciences' journals reflect local, i.e. Soviet, developments. The decrease in citedness of Soviet life sciences' journals seems, instead, tied broadly to events in the world life sciences' literature. There has been, apparently a centralizing of attention within those discipline on those few journals publishing major findings while leaving the rest of the world literature behind. In addition, the research developed several findings on the formal properties of the measures used.     

A decision support system for factory automation: a case study

Economic justification for factory automation (FA) and development of a decision support system (DSS) have recently been two independent ‘hot’ research topics. This paper integrates the two issues by developing the Decision Support System for Factory Automation (DSSFA) which follows generally accepted DSS framework and considers critical factors in justifying FA. Then, the DSSFA is applied to a real plant which is considering factory automation.     

Patents cited in the scientific literature: An exploratory study of 'reverse' citation relations

This paper reports on a new approach to study the linkage between science and technology. Unlike most contributions to this area we do not trace citations of scientific literature in patents but explore citations of patents in scientific literature. Our analysis is based on papers recorded in the 1996-2000 annual volumes of the CD-Edition of Science Citation Index (SCI) of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) and patent data provided by the US Patent and Trademark Office. Almost 30,000 US patents were cited by scientific research papers. We analysed the citation links by scientific fields and technological sectors. Chemistry-related subfields tended to cite patents more than other scientific area. Among technological sectors, chemical clearly dominates followed by drugs and medical patents as the most frequently cited categories. Further analyses included a country-ranking based on inventor-addresses of the cited patents, a more detailed inspection of the ten most cited patents, and an analysis of class-field transfers. The paper concludes with the suggestions for future research. One of them is to compare our 'reverse' citation data with 'regular' patent citation data within the same classification system to see whether citations occur, irrespectively of their directionality, in the same fields of science and technology. Another question is as to how one should interpret reverse citation linkages.