A new parameter for (normalized) evaluation of H-index: countries as a case study

It is known that the H-indexes of individuals, research groups, institutions, scientific journals, and countries strongly depend on the field of study, slowly increase with the number of publications, N, and can be described by empirical power-law functions of the type H?=?C?×?N^a (C and a are constants and depend on the specific field being analyzed). In this paper, we use this function and propose a new index [Montazerian–Zanotto–Eckert (MZE)], which is normalized by the number of publications and typically varies from ??1 to +?1, to characterize the relative standing of a research group, institution, or author to those of his/her peer groups. Due to the rich statistics available, as an example, here we analyzed and tested the new parameter against the citation-related performance (H-index) of countries. We found that the MZE index readily distinguishes between countries that stand above or below the average (for any given number of publications). Generally, publications of countries with a positive MZE index are more interesting or visible than the average. Analyzing publication output in this manner instead of the H-index allows for a less biased comparison between researchers, journals, universities, or countries for any particular combination of H-index and publication output.

     

Textile industry and environment: can the use of bacterial cellulose in the manufacture of biotextiles contribute to the sector?

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - The textile industry is one of the most complex sectors in relation to environmental degradation, both with regard to the materials used from petroleum...     

Analyzing spatial analytics systems based on Hadoop and Spark: A user perspective

Spatial analytics systems (SASs) represent a technology capable of managing huge volumes of spatial data using frameworks such as Apache Hadoop and Apache Spark. An increasing number of SASs have been proposed, requiring a comparison among them. However, existing comparisons in the literature provide a system-centric view based on performance evaluations. Thus, there is a lack of comparisons based on the user-centric view, that is, comparisons that help users to understand how the characteristics of SASs are useful to meet the specific requirements of their spatial applications. In this article, we provide a user-centric comparison of the following SASs based on Hadoop and Spark: Hadoop-GIS, SpatialHadoop, SpatialSpark, GeoSpark, GeoMesa Spark, SIMBA, LocationSpark, STARK, Magellan, SparkGIS, and Elcano. This comparison employs an extensive set of criteria related to the general characteristics of these systems, to the aspects of spatial data handling, and to the aspects inherent to distributed systems. Based on this comparison, we introduce guidelines to help users to choose an appropriate SAS. We also describe two case studies based on real-world applications to illustrate the use of these guidelines. Finally, we discuss chronological tendencies related to SASs and identify limitations that SASs should address to improve user experience.     

Polyblend fibers from polypropylene and mercapto-modified EVA

Polyblend fibers were made from mixtures of polypropylene (PP) and ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers (EVA) or their mercapto-modified products [poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate-co-vinyl mercaptoacetate)] (EVASH). The presence of few EVA or EVASH in the PP fibers results in an increasing of the elastic modulus, indicating a reinforcing action of these functional polymers. The composition surface of the modified PP fibers was analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 66: 2243–2249, 1997     

MCDA: a constructivist approach to the management of human resources at a governmental agency

In the context of a concern with a self sustaining system for the management of Human Resources, those responsible for the Coordination of Human Resources at the Governmental Agency 'Secretaria de Administração do Estado de Santa Catarina' (SEA) have decided to use a Constructivist Multicriteria Decision Aid Approach (MCDA) to help them identify the most convenient courses of action for the achievement of the proposed goals. The present paper shows both the development of an MCDA model and the process used for action generation and assessment.     

Modeling of 1,3‐Butadiene Solution Polymerizations Catalyzed by Neodymium Versatate

The control of polymerization conditions and final properties of polybutadiene produced through solution polymerizations constitute an important industrial challenge, which can be tackled with help of mathematical models. For this reason, the present work focus on the development of a phenomenological mathematical model, and estimation of the respective model parameters, in order to describe the kinetics of 1,3‐butadiene solution polymerizations catalyzed by neodymium versatate. The proposed model can be used to predict some important final properties of polybutadiene resins, including the cis‐content and average molecular weights, and the evolution of operation conditions that are used at plant site to monitor the course of the reaction, including the reaction temperature and pressure. Given the low required computation times, the proposed model can be used for purposes of monitoring and control in actual industrial sites. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 59:2290–2300, 2019. © 2019 Society of Plastics Engineers