Josef Meixner: his life and his orthogonal polynomials

This paper starts with a biographical sketch of the life of Josef Meixner. Then his motivations to work on orthogonal polynomials and special functions are reviewed. Meixner's 1934 paper introducing the Meixner and Meixner-Pollaczek polynomials is discussed in detail. Truksa's forgotten 1931 paper, which already contains the Meixner polynomials, is mentioned. The paper ends with a survey of the reception of Meixner's 1934 paper.Comment: v4: 18 pages, generating function for Krawtchouk polynomials on p.10 correcte

Citation analysis of Canadian psycho-oncology and supportive care researchers

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to conduct a historical review of psycho-oncology and supportive care research in Canada using citation analysis and to review the clinical impact of the research conducted by the most highly cited researchers. Methods: The lifetime journal publication records of 109 psycho-oncology and supportive care researchers in Canada were subject to citation analysis using the Scopus database, based on citations since 1996 of articles deemed relevant to psychosocial oncology and supportive care, excluding selfcitations. Three primary types of analysis were performed for each individual: the number of citations for each journal publication, a summative citation count of all published articles, and the Scopus h-index. Results: The top 20 psycho-oncology/supportive care researchers for each of five citation categories are presented: the number of citations for all publications; the number of citations for first-authored publications; the most highly cited first-authored publications; the Scopus h-index for all publications; and the Scopus h-index for first-authored publications. The three most highly cited Canadian psychooncology researchers are Dr. Kerry Courneya (University of Alberta), Dr. Lesley Degner, (University of Manitoba), and Dr. Harvey Chochinov (University of Manitoba). Conclusions: Citation analysis is useful for examining the research performance of psycho-oncology and supportive care researchers and identifying leaders among the

A systematic review of the influence of taxation on corporate capital structure

Purpose: The aim of this paper is a systematic review of the corporate finance literature on tax and capital structure since the complexity of legislation on taxation. It is a challenge for to researchers to understand the influence of this legislation on corporate financing. Approach/Methodology/Design: A systematic review is a useful and important tool to check what has being studied and what are the gaps on the specific subject. Therefore, the study provides an examination of a sample of 33 most cited articles in the period from 2013 to 2017 that have been published in the main international financial journals. It is assumed that this analysis is sufficiently robust to support and contribute to the knowledge gaps identification. Findings: It presents the most relevant papers about the influence of taxes on corporate capital structure, classifies and codifies the various characteristics of these articles, describes the strengths and the weaknesses of the studies in the available literature, and provides an agenda and a research framework to address the key gaps in the current knowledge on the theme. Practical Implications: The study will contribute positively to the understanding of foreign direct investment for the governments, world organizations, academia, companies and investors. Originality/Value: To the best of the authors´ knowledge, this is the first systematic review identifying what is missing in the literature on taxation and capital structure.peer-reviewe

Systematic differences between Cochrane and non-Cochrane meta-analyses on the same topic: a matched pair analysis

BACKGROUND: Meta-analyses conducted via the Cochrane Collaboration adhere to strict methodological and reporting standards aiming to minimize bias, maximize transparency/reproducibility, and improve the accuracy of summarized data. Whether this results in differences in the results reported by meta-analyses on the same topic conducted outside the Cochrane Collaboration is an open question. METHODS: We conducted a matched-pair analysis with individual meta-analyses as the unit of analysis, comparing Cochrane and non-Cochrane reviews. Using meta-analyses from the cardiovascular literature, we identified pairs that matched on intervention and outcome. The pairs were contrasted in terms of how frequently results disagreed between the Cochrane and non-Cochrane reviews, whether effect sizes and statistical precision differed systematically, and how these differences related to the frequency of secondary citations of those reviews. RESULTS: Our search yielded 40 matched pairs of reviews. The two sets were similar in terms of which was first to publication, how many studies were included, and average sample sizes. The paired reviews included a total of 344 individual clinical trials: 111 (32.3%) studies were included only in a Cochrane review, 104 (30.2%) only in a non-Cochrane review, and 129 (37.5%) in both. Stated another way, 62.5% of studies were only included in one or the other meta-analytic literature. Overall, 37.5% of pairs had discrepant results. The most common involved shifts in the width of 95% confidence intervals that would yield a different statistical interpretation of the significance of results (7 pairs). Additionally, 20% differed in the direction of the summary effect size (5 pairs) or reported greater than a 2-fold difference in its magnitude (3 pairs). Non-Cochrane reviews reported significantly higher effect sizes (P < 0.001) and lower precision (P < 0.001) than matched Cochrane reviews. Reviews reporting an effect size at least 2-fold greater than their matched pair were cited more frequently. CONCLUSIONS: Though results between topic-matched Cochrane and non-Cochrane reviews were quite similar, discrepant results were frequent, and the overlap of included studies was surprisingly low. Non-Cochrane reviews report larger effect sizes with lower precision than Cochrane reviews, indicating systematic differences, likely reflective of methodology, between the two types of reviews that could generate different interpretations of the interventions under question

Breast cancer radiation therapy: A bibliometric analysis of the scientific literature

Background and purpose: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women and radiation therapy (RT) is crucial in its multimodality management. Since bibliometrics is a powerful tool to reveal the scientific literature, we decided to perform a bibliometric analysis of the literature on breast cancer radiotherapy. We explored emerging trends and common patterns in research, tracking collaboration and networks, and foreseeing future directions in this clinical setting. Material and methods: The electronic Scopus database was searched using the keywords "breast cancer" and "radiotherapy" to include manuscripts published in English, between 2000 and 2021. Data analysis was performed using R-Studio 0.98.1091 software with a machine-learning bibliometric method, based on the bibliometrix R package. The most relevant authors were quantified per number and fractionalized number of authored documents. Author productivity was analysed through Lotka's law. Bradford's law was applied to identify the nucleus of journals focused on the addressed topic. Mainstream themes area included isolated topics (niche themes), new topics (emerging themes), hot topics (motor themes) and essential topics (basic themes). Results: A total of 27 184 documents was found, mainly original articles (76 %). The annual growth rate was 6.98 %, with an increase in scientific production from 485 to 2000 documents between 2000 and 2021. Overall, 2 544 journals published ≥ 1 documents. The most relevant authors were affiliated in the United States. Surgical procedures, cancer type and treatment strategies represented basic themes, while primary systemic therapy and sentinel lymph node biopsy were emerging themes. Health-related quality of life was a niche theme, while RT techniques had high centrality. Conclusion: The primary interests of breast cancer radiation oncologists have evolved over time, adding safety, health related quality of life, sustainability of treatments and combination to systemic therapies to radiotherapy efficacy and effectiveness and treatment outcomes

Historical Criminology and the Explanatory Power of the Past

To what extent can the past ‘explain’ the present? This deceptively simple question lies at the heart of historical criminology (research which incorporates historical primary sources while addressing present-day debates and practices in the criminal justice field). This article seeks first to categorise the ways in which criminologists have used historical data thus far, arguing that it is most commonly deployed to ‘problematize’ the contemporary rather than to ‘explain’ it. The article then interrogates the reticence of criminologists to attribute explicative power in relation to the present to historical data. Finally, it proposes the adoption of long time-frame historical research methods, outlining three advantages which would accrue from this: the identification and analysis of historical continuities; a more nuanced, shared understanding of micro/macro change over time in relation to criminal justice; and a method for identifying and analysing instances of historical recurrence, particularly in perceptions and discourses around crime and justice

Software tools for conducting bibliometric analysis in science: An up-to-date review

Bibliometrics has become an essential tool for assessing and analyzing the output of scientists, cooperation between universities, the effect of state-owned science funding on national research and development performance and educational efficiency, among other applications. Therefore, professionals and scientists need a range of theoretical and practical tools to measure experimental data. This review aims to provide an up-to-date review of the various tools available for conducting bibliometric and scientometric analyses, including the sources of data acquisition, performance analysis and visualization tools. The included tools were divided into three categories: general bibliometric and performance analysis, science mapping analysis, and libraries; a description of all of them is provided. A comparative analysis of the database sources support, pre-processing capabilities, analysis and visualization options were also provided in order to facilitate its understanding. Although there are numerous bibliometric databases to obtain data for bibliometric and scientometric analysis, they have been developed for a different purpose. The number of exportable records is between 500 and 50,000 and the coverage of the different science fields is unequal in each database. Concerning the analyzed tools, Bibliometrix contains the more extensive set of techniques and suitable for practitioners through Biblioshiny. VOSviewer has a fantastic visualization and is capable of loading and exporting information from many sources. SciMAT is the tool with a powerful pre-processing and export capability. In views of the variability of features, the users need to decide the desired analysis output and chose the option that better fits into their aims