Scientific Productivity and Group Size: A Bibliometric Analysis of Norwegian Microbiological Research

To analyse the relationship between research group size and scientific productivity within the highly cooperative research environment characteristic of contemporary biomedical science, an investigation of Norwegian Microbiology was undertaken. By an author-gated retrieval from ISI's database National Science Indicators on Diskette (NSIOD), of journal articles published by Norwegian scientists involved in microbiological research during the period 1992–1996, a total of 976 microbiological and 938 non-microbiological articles, by 3,486 authors, were obtained. Functional research groups were defined bibliometrically on the basis of co-authorship, yielding a total of 180 research groups varying in size from one author/one article to 180 authors/83 articles (all authors associated with a group during the whole five-year period were included, hence the large group size). Most of Norwegian microbiological research (73% of the microbiology articles) appears to be performed by specialist groups (with 70% of their production as microbiology), the remainder being published by groups with a broader biomedical research profile (who were responsible for 95% of the non-microbiological articles). The productivity (articles per capita) showed only moderate (Poisson-distributed) variability between groups, and was remarkably constant across all subfields, at about 0.1 article per author per year. No correlation between group size and productivity was found.     

Applied relaxation: an experimental analogue study of therapist vs. computer administration

This experimental analog component study compared two ways of administrating relaxation, either via a computer or by a therapist. The second phase of applied relaxation was used, which is called “release-only relaxation”. Sixty participants from a student population were randomized to one of three groups: computer-administered relaxation, therapist-administered relaxation, or a control group in which participants surfed on the Internet. Outcome was measures using psychophysiological responses and self-report. Objective psychophysiological data and results on the subjective visual analogue scale suggest that there was no difference between the two forms of administration. Both experimental groups became significantly more relaxed than the control group that surfed on the Internet. Practical applications and future directions are discussed.     

Internet vs. paper and pencil administration of questionnaires commonly used in panic/agoraphobia research

The aim of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of Internet administered questionnaires used in panic research. Included were 494 people who had registered for an Internet-based treatment program for panic disorder (PD). Participants were randomly assigned to fill in the questionnaires either on the Internet or the paper-and-pencil versions, and then to fill in the same questionnaires again the next day using the other format. The questionnaires were the body sensations questionnaire [BSQ; Chambless, D. L., Caputo, G. C., Bright, P., & Gallagher, R. (1984). Assessment of fear of fear in agoraphobics: the body sensations questionnaire and the agoraphobic cognitions questionnaire. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 52, 1090–1097], agoraphobic cognitions questionnaire [ACQ; Chambless, D. L., Caputo, G. C., Bright, P., & Gallagher, R. (1984). Assessment of fear of fear in agoraphobics: the body sensations questionnaire and the agoraphobic cognitions questionnaire. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 52, 1090–1097], mobility inventory [MI; Chambless, D. L., Caputo, G., Jasin, S., Gracely, E. J., & Williams, C. (1985). The mobility inventory for agoraphobia. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 23, 35–44], beck anxiety inventory [BAI; Beck, A. T., Epstein, N., Brown, G., & Steer, R. A. (1988). An inventory for measuring clinical anxiety: psychometric properties. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 893–897], beck depression inventory II [Beck, A. T., & Steer, R. A. (1996). Beck Depression Inventory. Manual, Svensk version (Swedish version). Fagernes, Norway: Psykologiförlaget, AB], quality of life inventory [QOLI; Frisch, M. B., Cornell, J., Villanueva, M., & Retzlaff, P. J. (1992). Clinical validation of the quality of life inventory. A measure of life satisfaction for use in treatment planning and outcome assessment. Psychological Assessment, 4, 92–101], and montgomery Åsberg depression rating scale [MADRS; Svanborg, P., & Åsberg, M. (1994). A new self-rating scale for depression and anxiety states based on the comprehensive psychopathological rating scale. ACTA Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 89, 21–28]. Results showed largely equivalent psychometric properties for the two administration formats (Cronbach’s α between 0.79 and 0.95). The results also showed high and significant correlations between the Internet and the paper-and-pencil versions. Analyses of order effects showed an interaction effect for the BSQ and the MI (subscale Accompanied), a main effect was identified for ACQ, MI-Alone, BAI and BDI II. However, in contrast to previous research, the Internet version did not consistently generate higher scores and effect sizes for the differences were generally low. Given the presence of an interaction effect, we recommend that the administration format should be stable in research across measurement points. Finally, the findings suggest that Internet versions of questionnaires used in PD research can be used with confidence.     

Investigation of mixed convection in a large rectangular enclosure

This experimental research investigates mixed convection and heat transfer augmentation by gaseous forced jets in a large enclosure, at conditions simulating those of passive containment cooling systems for Gen III+ passively safe reactors. The experiment is designed to measure the key parameters governing heat transfer augmentation by forced jets, and to investigate the effects of geometric factors, including the jet diameter, jet injection orientation, interior structures, and enclosure aspect ratio. The tests cover a variety of injection modes leading to flow configurations of interest for mixing and stratification phenomena in containments under accident conditions. Correlations for heat transfer augmentation by forced jets are developed and compared with experimental data. The characteristic recirculation speed inside the enclosure is introduced and analyzed. Steady stratified temperature distributions are compared with model simulations of the BMIX++ code.     

Oil Spill Detection in Radarsat and Envisat SAR Images

We present algorithms for automatic detection of oil spills in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. The algorithms consist of three main parts, namely: 1) detection of dark spots; 2) feature extraction from the dark spot candidates; and 3) classification of dark spots as oil spills or look-alikes. The algorithms have been trained on a large number of Radarsat and Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) images. The performance of the algorithm is compared to manual and semiautomatic approaches in a benchmark study using 59 Radarsat and Envisat images. The algorithms can be considered to be a good alternative to manual inspection when large ocean areas are to be inspected     

REACTIVE TUNING OF TARGET ESTIMATE ACCURACY IN MULTISENSOR DATA FUSION

Dealing with conflicting and target-specific requirements is an important issue in multisensor and multitarget tracking. This paper aims to allocate sensing resources among various targets in reaction to individual information requests. The proposed approach is to introduce agents for every relevant target responsible for its tracking. Such agents are expected to bargain with each other for a division of resources. A bilateral negotiation model is established for resource allocation in two-target tracking. The applications of agent negotiation to target covariance tuning are illustrated together with simulation results presented. Moreover, we suggest a way of organizing simultaneous one-to-one negotiations, making our negotiation model still applicable in scenarios of tracking more than two targets.     

An eigenspace and residual approach to transfer function matrix synthesis

Based on results from eigenspace and residual assignment a closed-form parameterization of all transfer function matrices obtainable by state feedback is given.     

The Joyce language report

This paper defines a programming language for distributed processing called Joyce. Joyce is based on CSP and Pascal. A Joyce program defines concurrent agents which communicate through synchronous channels. The agents may be recursive.