Cross-disciplinary collaboration versus coexistence in LIS serials: analysis of authorship affiliations in four European countries

The interdisciplinary nature of library and information science (LIS) research has been highlighted for some time now. The term 'interdisciplinary' is used primarily in the LIS literature as a general concept with different meanings that refer either to the coexistence of researchers from different scientific fields or to cross-disciplinary collaboration expressed in the form of coauthorship. This study analyses the disciplinary profile of LIS researchers with a view to ascertaining the actual level of cross-disciplinary collaboration and identifying all fields involved. Because of the complexity of identifying accurate affiliations at knowledge area level, the study was limited to authors from France, Germany, Spain and the UK. This analysis of authorship affiliation was performed based on research published in LIS serial titles indexed in Scopus during the 2010-2017 period. A rigorous and laborious process of identifying author affiliations was carried out. This involved checking the authorship of each paper and complementing this with information from websites, scientific social networks and other research endeavours whenever ambiguous situations arose. We observed that LIS departments produce barely a third of the research published in serial titles in the LIS subject category. Cross-disciplinary collaboration among all of the scientific fields involved is low, and even lower in LIS than in other fields. The low level of cross-disciplinary collaboration in LIS contradicts the interdisciplinary nature of LIS highlighted in the literature

Noves estratègies d'aprenentatge en la llicenciatura de geografia (virtual i presencial) mitjançant l'ús del wiki : el cas de l'assignatura de biogeografia

En aquesta comunicació es mostra l'aplicació d'un Wiki (entorn web col·laboratiu) per a l'ensenyament de la Biogeografia en la llicenciatura de Geografia de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, tant en la llicenciatura virtual com en la presencial, durant el període 2005-2008. Es presenta el Wiki (http://wiki.uab.cat/) com a eina per a impulsar estratègies d'aprenentatge basades en el treball col·laboratiu en entorns virtuals, fins ara, deficitaris en el desenvolupament de competències basades en el treball en grup. La següent metodologia es fonamenta en l'elaboració de diferents evidències pràctiques dissenyades per a desenvolupar les competències pròpies dels estudiants de Biogeografia (capacitat d'autoaprenentatge, elaborar i sintetitzar informació, generar sensibilitat i interès pels temes territorials i ambientals, treball de camp i coneixement directe del mitjà, etc). Els resultats mostren una millora significativa en les qualificacions finals dels alumnes i, per tant, una millora en l'adquisició de competències, i en el decrement del percentatge d'alumnes no presentats (tan en la llicenciatura virtual com en la presencial) a partir de la introducció d'aquesta iniciativa al curs 2005-2006 respecte al curs 2004-2005, on encara no s'havia implementat l'eina. Finalment, per tal de valorar el WIKI s'ha dut a terme una enquesta al finalitzar el curs. Els resultats d'aquesta mostren que en general aquesta eina ha estat ben valorada pels alumnes, encara que el treball continuat i el canvi provocat pel procés de la EEES no ha estat ben rebut per tots els alumnes que han assimilat el WIKI a més treball.In this work we present the implementation of a Wiki (collaborative web site environment) to improve the Biogeography subject teaching included in the degree of Geography of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, so in the virtual degree as in the class attendance one, from 2005 to 2008. The Wiki (http://wiki.uab.es/), as a tool, is presented to promote strategies of learning based on the collaborative work in virtual deficit environments, until now, in the development of competences based on the group work. The following methodology is based in the elaboration of different practical evidences designed to develop the typical competences of the Biogeography students (capacity of self-instruction, to elaborate and to synthesize information, to generate sensitivity and interest in the territorial and environmental subjects, fieldwork and direct knowledge of the territorial reality, etc). Results show a significant improvement in the final students qualification and, therefore, an improvement in the acquisition of competences, as well as in the decrease of the percentage of not presented students (so in the virtual degree as in the class attendance one) as a result of the introduction of this initiative to the course 2005-2006 with respect to the course 2004-2005, where the tool had not been implemented yet. Finally, in order to evaluate the WIKI, a survey to the students at the end of the course has been carried out. The results of this survey show that in general this tool has been well valued by the students, although the continued work and the change provoked by the process of the EEES has not been well received by all students, who have assimilated the WIKI as an increase on the amount of work

Use of the A&HCI to evaluate research in minority language literatures: the case of Catalan and Danish literature

Purpose. The tools for measuring the research impact are of little use in disciplines such as history and literature, which have a strong cultural, linguistic and regional component and often use channels of academic communication in languages other than English. The aim of this article is to provide a methodological contribution to the use of WoS data bases showing that it is nevertheless possible to obtain quantitative information on these disciplines through the A&HCI if a suitable strategy is used. We also wish to stress the need to improve the coverage of citation databases in humanities and the information retrieval tools that they include. The cases of Catalan and Danish literature are used as examples. Methodology. To carry out this research we have created a protocol that could be employed as a general way for the study of any other literature from citations databases. This method consists of complementing the search for subject categories of Catalan and Danish literature as topics in the A&HCI with a list of outstanding authors in each of the two languages. Findings. We identify international trends in Catalan and Danish literature research. We also determine the international visibility of the studies in comparison with those of other literatures. Research into literature in Catalan and Danish literature does not seem to be gaining ground internationally. The results are in agreement with those of previous studies, which proves the efficacy of the proposed method

Externalising moods and psychological states in a cloud based system to enhance a pet-robot and child’s interaction

Background:This PATRICIA research project is about using pet robots to reduce pain and anxiety in hospitalized children. The study began 2 years ago and it is believed that the advances made in this project are significant. Patients, parents, nurses, psycholo- gists, and engineers have adopted the Pleo robot, a baby dinosaur robotic pet, which works in different ways to assist children during hospitalization. Methods: Focus is spent on creating a wireless communication system with the Pleo in order to help the coordinator, who conducts therapy with the child, monitor, under- stand, and control Pleo’s behavior at any moment. This article reports how this techno- logical function is being developed and tested. Results: Wireless communication between the Pleo and an Android device is achieved. The developed Android app allows the user to obtain any state of the robot without stopping its interaction with the patient. Moreover, information is sent to a cloud, so that robot moods, states and interactions can be shared among different robots. Conclusions: Pleo attachment was successful for more than 1 month, working with children in therapy, which makes the investment capable of positive therapeutic possibilities. This technical improvement in the Pleo addresses two key issues in social robotics: needing an enhanced response to maintain the attention and engagement of the child, and using the system as a platform to collect the states of the child’s progress for clinical purposes.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Comparison between Eulerian diagnostics and finite-size Lyapunov exponents computed from altimetry in the Algerian basin

Transport and mixing properties of surface currents can be detected from altimetric data by both Eulerian and Lagrangian diagnostics. In contrast with Eulerian diagnostics, Lagrangian tools like the local Lyapunov exponents have the advantage of exploiting both spatial and temporal variability of the velocity field and are in principle able to unveil subgrid filaments generated by chaotic stirring. However, one may wonder whether this theoretical advantage is of practical interest in real-data, mesoscale and submesoscale analysis, because of the uncertainties and resolution of altimetric products, and the non-passive nature of biogeochemical tracers. Here we compare the ability of standard Eulerian diagnostics and the finite-size Lyapunov exponent in detecting instantaneaous and climatological transport and mixing properties. By comparing with sea-surface temperature patterns, we find that the two diagnostics provide similar results for slowly evolving eddies like the first Alboran gyre. However, the Lyapunov exponent is also able to predict the (sub-)mesoscale filamentary process occuring along the Algerian current and above the Balearic Abyssal Plain. Such filaments are also observed, with some mismatch, in sea-surface temperature patterns. Climatologies of Lyapunov exponents do not show any compact relation with other Eulerian diagnostics, unveiling a different structure even at the basin scale. We conclude that filamentation dynamics can be detected by reprocessing available altimetric data with Lagrangian tools, giving insight into (sub-)mesoscale stirring processes relevant to tracer observations and complementing traditional Eulerian diagnostics

Curs 20200221. Unitat de Formació de PAS de la Universitat de Barcelona

Apunts del curs online "20200221-Indicadors bibliomètrics" organitzat per l'Unitat de Formació de PAS de la Universitat de Barcelon

An Italian perspective of European scientific collaboration in Library and Information Science (2010-2014)

Podeu consultar la versió "draft" en anglès del document original en castellà en un fitxer independent.[eng] This article provides the preliminary results of an ongoing study on scientific collaboration in the European Union in the field of Library and Information Science. The analysis is based on output for the period 2010-2014, as indexed by Scopus. As it was considered essential to have a longitudinal view of the situation, we also analysed the output between 1990 and 2014 in 15 journals on the core of the discipline. No single area of knowledge dominated the output, and traditional LIS departments were not strongly represented. Only a small percentage of Italian authors of papers were affiliated with departments related to the world of libraries and non-IT aspects of the processing of documents and information. In the group of EU countries, the degree of cooperation was low, and was mostly national or even non-EU. Intra-community collaboration represented a mere 6.1% of the total. However, the percentages of both general and intra-community collaboration were slightly higher for Italy than for other countries.[ita] L’articolo fornisce alcuni risultati preliminari di una ricerca in corso sulla collaborazione scientifica, nell’area dell’Unione europea, nel campo della biblioteconomia e della scienza dell’informazione. L’analisi riguarda la produzione scientifica del periodo 2010-2014, indicizzata in Scopus. È stato necessario mantenere una visione longitudinale e, per tale motivo, ci si è serviti della produzione degli anni 1990-2014 riconducibile alle 15 riviste principali delle discipline considerate. I risultati mostrano che non c’è una netta prevalenza di uno specifico campo del sapere, né una presenza particolarmente rilevante di dipartimenti esclusivamente biblioteconomici. Nel caso italiano si osserva che solamente una piccola percentuale degli autori appartiene a dipartimenti orientati al mondo delle biblioteche e agli aspetti non strettamente informatici del trattamento della documentazione e dell’informazione. Riguardo gli altri paesi dell’Unione, il tasso di collaborazione è basso, in gran parte nazionale o extra-comunitario, mentre il tasso di collaborazione all’interno dello spazio comunitario è solamente del 6,1% del totale. Tuttavia, la percentuale di collaborazione – tanto quella complessiva, quanto quella comunitaria – cresce se si considera anche il caso italiano

An automated and improved methodology to retrieve long-time series of evapotranspiration based on remote sensing and reanalysis data

The large-scale quantification of accurate evapotranspiration (ET) time series has substantially been developed in recent decades using automated approaches based on remote sensing data. However, there are still several model-related uncertainties that require precise assessment. In this study, the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) and meteorological data from the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) were used to estimate long-term daily actual ET based on three endmember selection procedures: two land cover-based models, one with (WF) and the other without (WOF) morphological functions, and the Allen method (with the default percentiles) for 2270 Landsat images. Models were evaluated for 23 flux tower sites with four main vegetation cover types as well as different climate types. Results showed that endmember selection with morphological functions (WF_ET) generally performed better than the other endmember approaches. Climate-based classification assessment provided the clearest discrimination between the performance of the different endmember selection approaches for the humid category. For humid zones, the land cover-based methods, especially WF, appropriately outperformed Allen. However, the performance of the three approaches was similar for sub-humid, semi-arid and arid climates together; the Allen approach was therefore recommended to avoid the need for dependency on land cover maps. Tower-by-tower validation also showed that the WF approach performed best at 12 flux tower sites, the WOF approach best at 5 and the Allen approach best at 6, suggesting that the use of land cover maps alone does not explain the differences between the performance of the land cover-based models and the Allen approach. Additionally, the satisfactory error metrics results when comparing the EC estimations with EC measurements, with root mean square error (RMSE) ≈ 0.91 and 1.59 mm·day−1, coefficient of determination (R2) ≈ 0.71 and 0.41, and bias percentage (PBias) ≈ 2% and 60% for crop and non-crop flux tower sites, respectively, supports the use of GLDAS meteorological forcing datasets with the different automated ET estimation approaches. Overall, given that the thorough evaluation of different endmember selection approaches at large scale confirmed the validity of the WF approach for different climate and land cover types, this study can be considered an important contribution to the global retrieval of long time series of ETinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio