Technological research in the EU is less efficient than the world average. EU research policy risks Europeans' future

We have studied the efficiency of research in the EU by a percentile-based citation approach that analyzes the distribution of country papers among the world papers. Going up in the citation scale, the frequency of papers from efficient countries increases while the frequency from inefficient countries decreases. In the percentile-based approach, this trend, which is permanent at any citation level, is measured by the ep index that equals the Ptop 1%/Ptop 10% ratio. By using the ep index we demonstrate that EU research on fast-evolving technological topics is less efficient than the world average and that the EU is far from being able to compete with the most advanced countries. The ep index also shows that the USA is well ahead of the EU in both fast- and slow-evolving technologies, which suggests that the advantage of the USA over the EU in innovation is due to low research efficiency in the EU. In accord with some previous studies, our results show that the European Commission's ongoing claims about the excellence of EU research are based on a wrong diagnosis. The EU must focus its research policy on the improvement of its inefficient research. Otherwise, the future of Europeans is at risk.Comment: 30 pages, 3 figures, 7 tables, in one single file. Version accepted in Journal of Informetric

Common bibliometric approaches fail to assess correctly the number of important scientific advances for most countries and institutions

Although not explicitly declared, most research rankings of countries and institutions are supposed to reveal their contribution to the advancement of knowledge. However, such advances are based on very highly cited publications with very low frequency, which can only very exceptionally be counted with statistical reliability. Percentile indicators enable calculations of the probability or frequency of such rare publications using counts of much more frequent publications; the general rule is that rankings based on the number of top 10% or 1% cited publications (Ptop 10%, Ptop 1%) will also be valid for the rare publications that push the boundaries of knowledge. Japan and its universities are exceptions, as their frequent Nobel Prizes contradicts their low Ptop 10% and Ptop 1%. We explain that this occurs because, in single research fields, the singularity of percentile indicators holds only for research groups that are homogeneous in their aims and efficiency. Correct calculations for ranking countries and institutions should add the results of their homogeneous groups, instead of considering all publications as a single set. Although based on Japan, our findings have a general character. Common predictions of scientific advances based on Ptop 10% might be severalfold lower than correct calculations.Comment: 30 pages, tables and figures embedded in a single pdf fil

Research assessment by percentile-based double rank analysis

In the double rank analysis of research publications, the local rank position of a country or institution publication is expressed as a function of the world rank position. Excluding some highly or lowly cited publications, the double rank plot fits well with a power law, which can be explained because citations for local and world publications follow lognormal distributions. We report here that the distribution of the number of country or institution publications in world percentiles is a double rank distribution that can be fitted to a power law. Only the data points in high percentiles deviate from it when the local and world $\mu$ parameters of the lognormal distributions are very different. The likelihood of publishing very highly cited papers can be calculated from the power law that can be fitted either to the upper tail of the citation distribution or to the percentile-based double rank distribution. The great advantage of the latter method is that it has universal application, because it is based on all publications and not just on highly cited publications. Furthermore, this method extends the application of the well-established percentile approach to very low percentiles where breakthroughs are reported but paper counts cannot be performed.Comment: A pdf file containing text, 9 figures and 4 tables. Accepted in Journal of Informetric

Rank analysis of most cited publications, a new approach for research assessments

Citation metrics are the best tools for research assessments. However, current metrics are misleading in research systems that pursue simultaneously different goals, such as the advance of science and incremental innovations, because their publications have different citation distributions. We estimate the contribution to the progress of knowledge by studying only a limited number of the most cited papers, which are dominated by publications pursuing this progress. To field-normalize the metrics, we substitute the number of citations by the rank position of papers from one country in the global list of papers. Using synthetic series of lognormally distributed numbers, we developed the Rk-index, which is calculated from the global ranks of the 10 highest numbers in each series, and demonstrate its equivalence to the number of papers in top percentiles, P top 0.1% and P top 0.01% . In real cases, the Rk-index is simple and easy to calculate, and evaluates the contribution to the progress of knowledge much better than commonly used metrics. Although further research is needed, rank analysis of the most cited papers is a promising approach for research evaluation. It is also demonstrated that, for this purpose, domestic and collaborative papers should be studied independently.Comment: One PDF file, including figures and tables (31 pages

An application of statistics to comparative metagenomics

BACKGROUND: Metagenomics, sequence analyses of genomic DNA isolated directly from the environments, can be used to identify organisms and model community dynamics of a particular ecosystem. Metagenomics also has the potential to identify significantly different metabolic potential in different environments. RESULTS: Here we use a statistical method to compare curated subsystems, to predict the physiology, metabolism, and ecology from metagenomes. This approach can be used to identify those subsystems that are significantly different between metagenome sequences. Subsystems that were overrepresented in the Sargasso Sea and Acid Mine Drainage metagenome when compared to non-redundant databases were identified. CONCLUSION: The methodology described herein applies statistics to the comparisons of metabolic potential in metagenomes. This analysis reveals those subsystems that are more, or less, represented in the different environments that are compared. These differences in metabolic potential lead to several testable hypotheses about physiology and metabolism of microbes from these ecosystems

Influencia del talento humano en el desarrollo organizacional de las II. EE. Integradas rurales del distrito de Carhuaz -2016

La presente investigación titulada influencia del talento humano en el desarrollo Se trató de un estudio de corte cuantitativo, de diseño correlacional transversal, realizado en una muestra de 32 sujetos integrantes de las instituciones rurales integradas del distrito de Carhuaz. La recolección de los datos se realizó utilizando dos cuestionarios para medir cada una de las variables de estudio. Se obtuvo como resultado una correlación moderada de 0.675 y 0.597 de índice de organizacional de las instituciones educativas integradas rurales del distrito de Carhuaz – 2016, tuvo como objetivo principal determinar la influencia que genera el talento humano sobre el desarrollo organizacional de las instituciones rurales del distrito de Carhuaz. Pearson de las I.E. “Señor de los Afligidos” y Santa Úrsula” respectivamente, con un nivel de significancia del 0,05, logrando validar la hipótesis de investigación y rechazada la hipótesis nula. Con estos resultados concluye afirmando que el talento humano influye en el desarrollo organizacional de las II.EE. y, por tanto, para mejorar el servicio educativo es necesario fortalecer el talento humano

Análisis del comportamiento mecánico de mezclas asfálticas usandopolímeros SBR y polipropileno en la Av. Defensores del Morro,Chorrillos 2020

La presente investigación planteó como objetivo general analizar el comportamiento mecánico de mezclas asfálticas haciendo uso de polímeros SBR y polipropileno para mejorar sus propiedades, estos ensayos se realizaron modificando la mezcla asfáltica adicionando polímeros SBR y polipropileno en proporciones de 0.5%, 1.0% y 1.5%. La investigación tuvo un enfoque cuantitativo, tipo aplicada, nivel correlacional – explicativo y diseño experimental. Se realizó ensayos de Marshall (MTC E 504) donde se evidencio que la estabilidad y flujo incremento sus propiedades. Para medir la resistencia a la tracción indirecta se realizó el ensayo de resistencia a la comprensión diametral mediante la norma NLT- 346/90, los resultados de las muestras ensayadas mostraron que mayor adición de SBR y polipropileno la resistencia a la tracción indirecta se incrementaba. Por último, se realizó el ensayo Cántabro (MTC E 515), donde los resultados mostraron un incremento al desgaste por cada porcentaje de adición en la mezcla asfáltica. La conclusión que se llegó en la presente investigación es que las mezclas asfálticas aplicando polímero SBR y polipropileno mejoro las propiedades de la estabilidad y flujo, incremento las propiedades de resistencia a la tracción indirecta; sin embargo, respecto a las propiedades de resistencia al desgaste la influencia fue negativa

Factors Associated With Within-Herd Transmission of Serotype A Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus in Cattle, During the 2001 Outbreak in Argentina: A Protective Effect of Vaccination

Argentina suffered an extensive foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) epidemic between July 2000 and January 2002, 3months after obtaining the official FMD-free without vaccination status conferred by the World Organization for Animal Health. This is one of the largest FMD epidemics controlled by implementation of a systematic mass vaccination campaign in an FMD-free country. In 2000, 124 herds were reported as FMD positive, 2394 herds in 2001 and one in January 2002; the total number of cattle herds in the country at that time was approximately 230000. Estimates of FMD transmission are important to understand the dynamics of disease spread and for estimating the value for the parameterization of disease transmission models, with the ultimate goals of predicting its spread, assessing and designing control strategies, conducting economic analyses and supporting the decision-making process. In this study, the within-herd coefficient of transmission, β, was computed for herds affected in the 2001 FMD epidemic and categorized as low or high based on the median value of β. A logistic regression model was fitted to identify factors significantly associated with high values of β. Results suggested that the odds of having a high within-herd transmission were significantly associated with time from initial herd infection to disease detection, date of report, vaccination, and time from initial herd infection to herd vaccination. Results presented in this study demonstrate, in quantifiable terms, the protective impact of vaccination in reducing FMD transmission in infected herds. These results will be useful for the parameterization of epidemiological models aimed at quantifying the impact of vaccination and for the design and implementation of FMD emergency vaccination strategies in face of an epidemic.Fil: Brito, B. P.. University of California at Davis; Estados Unidos. Universidad Nacional de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Perez, Andres Maximiliano. University of California at Davis; Estados Unidos. Universidad Nacional de Rosario; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Cosentino, B.. Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería, Pesca y Alimento. Servicio Nacional de Sanidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria; ArgentinaFil: Rodriguez, L. L.. No especifíca;Fil: König, Guido Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Biotecnología; Argentin