113,337 research outputs found
Diffusion of scientific credits and the ranking of scientists
Recently, the abundance of digital data enabled the implementation of graph
based ranking algorithms that provide system level analysis for ranking
publications and authors. Here we take advantage of the entire Physical Review
publication archive (1893-2006) to construct authors' networks where weighted
edges, as measured from opportunely normalized citation counts, define a proxy
for the mechanism of scientific credit transfer. On this network we define a
ranking method based on a diffusion algorithm that mimics the spreading of
scientific credits on the network. We compare the results obtained with our
algorithm with those obtained by local measures such as the citation count and
provide a statistical analysis of the assignment of major career awards in the
area of Physics. A web site where the algorithm is made available to perform
customized rank analysis can be found at the address
http://www.physauthorsrank.orgComment: Revised version. 11 pages, 10 figures, 1 table. The portal to compute
the rankings of scientists is at http://www.physauthorsrank.or
Offsetting Nature? Habitat Banking and Biodiversity Offsets in the English Land Use Planning System
Land use planning is a key arena for the spectacles of localism and marketisation being staged by our self-proclaimed greenest government ever. A new âpresumption in favour of sustainable developmentâ aims to encourage housebuilding and other development by simplifying and decentralising the planning system, while protecting the natural environment. This protection is in
part to be achieved through a new market in off-site mitigation, supplementing existing policies which (can) require onsite mitigation of habitat degradation. The
proposed system allows developers to offset deleterious impacts on biodiversity in one place by paying for improvements somewhere else, at a market rate.
The message is that this âhabitat bankingâ system will not only aggregate small habitats into ecologically significant
reserves, while facilitating the âdevelopmentâ we allegedly need to escape financial crisis, but also open up new income streams for landowners and reserve managers to spend on habitat conservation. By moving mitigation somewhere else, however, it will also reinforce the message that humans and other species live in separate places, that the non-human is not present in everyday life, but inhabits a separate world, which is fragile and in need of protection. This paper argues that displacing and marketising the mitigation of habitat degradation may serve to entrench this
separation, thus retarding rather than facilitating the emergence of ecologically sustainable human settlements. It examines the use of habitat banking and biodiversity offsetting in the English planning system, and situates this in an international context, before offering some brief
reflections on its likely effects and broader implications
Spatial and temporal responses to an emissions trading system covering agriculture and forestry: simulation results from New Zealand
This paper presents the results of simulations using the integrated Land Use in Rural New Zealand model to analyse the effect of various New Zealand emissions trading scheme scenarios on land-use, emissions, and output in a temporally and spatially explicit manner.
It compares the impact of afforestation to the impact of other land-use change on net greenhouse gas emissions, and evaluates the importance of the forestry component of the emissions trading scheme (ETS) relative to the agricultural component. It also examine the effect of land-use change on the time profile of net emissions from the forestry sector. Projections for the mid-2020s suggest that under a comprehensive ETS, sequestration associated with new planting could be significant; it may approach 20 percent of national inventory agricultural emissions in 2008. Most of this is driven by the reward for forestry rather than a liability for agricultural emissions. Finally, it presents projections of future agricultural output under various policy scenarios.
Authored by Suzi Kerr, Simon Anastasiadis, Alex Olssen, William Power, Levente TĂmĂĄr and Wei Zhang
Weighted Indices for Evaluating the Quality of Research with Multiple Authorship
Devising an index to measure the quality of research is a challenging task.
In this paper, we propose a set of indices to evaluate the quality of research
produced by an author. Our indices utilize a policy that assigns the weights to
multiple authors of a paper. We have considered two weight assignment policies:
positionally weighted and equally weighted. We propose two classes of weighted
indices: weighted h-indices and weighted citation h-cuts. Further, we compare
our weighted h-indices with the original h-index for a selected set of authors.
As opposed to h-index, our weighted h-indices take into account the weighted
contributions of individual authors in multi-authored papers, and may serve as
an improvement over h-index. The other class of weighted indices that we call
weighted citation h-cuts take into account the number of citations that are in
excess of those required to compute the index, and may serve as a supplement to
h-index or its variants.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, 4 table
Utilization of Income Tax Credits by Low-Income Individuals
The Internal Revenue Service-a sub-agency that exists to collect revenue-has the task of administering and enforcing a wide array of social policy: from subsidies for college and child care expenses, to creating jobs in depressed areas, and assisting welfare recipients with employment. While these new or expanded credits represent a new paradigm in the delivery of social policy, little is known about who uses these programs and, equally important, who does not use these programs. Understanding utilization is a key to understanding how effective this means of transferring income is and whether we are reaching the targeted populations. This paper provides a framework for thinking about utilization of tax credits among low-income individuals, supported by existing research on credit utilization. With the existing data, it appears that utilization is by far the largest for the EITC, possibly because it is the oldest of these programs, the only refundable program, and the best targeted at low-income individuals. Utilization is low among low-income individuals in some tax credits because low-income individuals are not eligible. A redesign, including reducing complexity and administrative burdens or making these programs refundable, would result in the programs reaching those that they are ostensibly targeted towards. Conditional on being eligible, one common factor associated with increasing participation in many of these programs is a high benefit to cost ratio and sophistication with the tax system, whether that be through the use of a paid preparer, higher education levels, or experience with the tax system. Policymakers should think creatively about reducing filing burdens to increase participation, such as through wider use of electronic filing
Soil carbon sequestration of organic crop and livestock systems and potential for accreditation by carbon markets
During a two-day RTOACC workshop hosted by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), participants discussed the potential for organic agriculture in carbon markets and the need to develop strategies for the role of organic agriculture in climate policy. To move in this direction requires quantifying and raising recognition of the mitigation potential of organic agriculture. Thus the participants also looked at available data and began a process of identifying data gaps. In doing so, they presented the related ongoing work of their organizations and drew conclusions for the further orientation and actions of the RTOACC.
The following synthesizes the discussions, reports and outcomes of the workshop
A review of the literature on citation impact indicators
Citation impact indicators nowadays play an important role in research
evaluation, and consequently these indicators have received a lot of attention
in the bibliometric and scientometric literature. This paper provides an
in-depth review of the literature on citation impact indicators. First, an
overview is given of the literature on bibliographic databases that can be used
to calculate citation impact indicators (Web of Science, Scopus, and Google
Scholar). Next, selected topics in the literature on citation impact indicators
are reviewed in detail. The first topic is the selection of publications and
citations to be included in the calculation of citation impact indicators. The
second topic is the normalization of citation impact indicators, in particular
normalization for field differences. Counting methods for dealing with
co-authored publications are the third topic, and citation impact indicators
for journals are the last topic. The paper concludes by offering some
recommendations for future research
Alternative State Business Tax Systems:A Comparison of State Income and Gross Receipts Taxes
This report provides a five-point comparison between a state corporate income tax and a state gross receipts tax. FRC Report 15
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