Using noun phrases extraction for the improvement of hybrid clustering with text- and citation-based components. The example of “Information Systems Research”

The hybrid clustering approach combining lexical and link-based similarities suffered for a long time from the different properties of the underlying networks. We propose a method based on noun phrase extraction using natural language processing to improve the measurement of the lexical component. Term shingles of different length are created form each of the extracted noun phrases. Hybrid networks are built based on weighted combination of the two types of similarities with seven different weights. We conclude that removing all single term shingles provides the best results at the level of computational feasibility, comparability with bibliographic coupling and also in a community detection application

Absolute Pitch—Functional Evidence of Speech-Relevant Auditory Acuity

Absolute pitch (AP) has been shown to be associated with morphological changes and neurophysiological adaptations in the planum temporale, a cortical area involved in higher-order auditory and speech perception processes. The direct link between speech processing and AP has hitherto not been addressed. We provide first evidence that AP compared with relative pitch (RP) ability is associated with significantly different hemodynamic responses to complex speech sounds. By systematically varying the lexical and/or prosodic information of speech stimuli, we demonstrated consistent activation differences in AP musicians compared with RP musicians and nonmusicians. These differences relate to stronger activations in the posterior part of the middle temporal gyrus and weaker activations in the anterior mid-part of the superior temporal gyrus. Furthermore, this pattern is considerably modulated by the auditory acuity of AP. Our results suggest that the neural underpinnings of pitch processing expertise exercise a strong influence on propositional speech perception (sentence meaning

Heavy Meson Production in NN Collisions with Polarized Beam and Target -- A new facility for COSY

The study of near--threshold meson production in pp and pd collisions involving polarized beams and polarized targets offers the rare opportunity to gain insight into short--range features of the nucleon--nucleon interaction. The Cooler Synchrotron COSY at FZ--J\"ulich is a unique environment to perform such studies. Measurements of polarization observables require a cylindrically symmetrical detector, capable to measure the momenta and the directions of outgoing charged hadrons. The wide energy range of COSY leads to momenta of outgoing protons to be detected in a single meson production reaction between 300 and 2500 MeV/c. Scattering angles of protons to be covered extend to about $45^{\circ}$ in the laboratory system. An azimuthal angular coverage of the device around 98% seems technically achievable. The required magnetic spectrometer could consist of a superconducting toroid, providing fields around 3 T.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Czechoslovak Journal of Physic

Improved lexical similarities for hybrid clustering through the use of noun phrases extraction

Clustering of hybrid document networks combining citation based links with lexical similarities suffered for a long time from the different properties of these underlying networks. In this paper we evaluate different processing options of noun phrases extracted from abstracts using natural language processing to improve the measurement of the lexical component. Term shingles of different length are created from each of the extracted noun phrases. We discuss twenty different extraction-shingling scenarios and compare their results. Some scenarios show no improvement compared with the previously used single term lexical approach used so far. But when all single term shingles are removed from the dataset the lexical network has properties which are comparable with those from a bibliographic coupling based network. Next, hybrid networks are built based on weighted combination of the two types of similarities with seven different weights. We demonstrate that removing all single term shingles provides the best results at the level of computational feasibility, comparability with bibliographic coupling and also in a community detection application

The ensemble of random Markov matrices

The ensemble of random Markov matrices is introduced as a set of Markov or stochastic matrices with the maximal Shannon entropy. The statistical properties of the stationary distribution pi, the average entropy growth rate $h$ and the second largest eigenvalue nu across the ensemble are studied. It is shown and heuristically proven that the entropy growth-rate and second largest eigenvalue of Markov matrices scale in average with dimension of matrices d as h ~ log(O(d)) and nu ~ d^(-1/2), respectively, yielding the asymptotic relation h tau_c ~ 1/2 between entropy h and correlation decay time tau_c = -1/log|nu| . Additionally, the correlation between h and and tau_c is analysed and is decreasing with increasing dimension d.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figur

Men in the Remaking: Conversion Narratives and Born-Again Masculinity in Zambia

The born-again discourse is a central characteristic of Pentecostal Christianity in Africa. In the study of African Christianities, this discourse and the way it (re)shapes people’s moral, religious, and social identities has received much attention. However, hardly any attention has been paid to its effects on men as gendered beings. In the study of men and masculinities in Africa, on the other hand, neither religion in general nor born-again Christianity in particular are taken into account as relevant factors in the construction of masculinities. On the basis of a detailed analysis of interviews with men who are members of a Pentecostal church in Lusaka, Zambia, this article investigates how men’s gender identities are reshaped by becoming and being born-again and how born-again conversion produces new forms of masculinity. The observed Pentecostal transformation of masculinity is interpreted in relation to men’s social vulnerability, particularly in the context of the HIV epidemic in Zambia

A Research Note on Multinationality and Firm Performance: Nonparametric Frontier Analysis

This study provides a fresh insight into the examination of the comparison between multinationality and firm performance, measured through technical efficiency levels by overcoming methodological constraints and misunderstandings presented in earlier research. We estimate firms’ efficiency levels in a production function-type framework through technical efficiency levels using nonparametric data envelopment analysis (DEA). We include firms from both developed and developing economies, from different national origins and with different sectoral characteristics, with a particular focus on knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) and capital-intensive business services (CIBS). The study confirms for the case of KIBS the existence of the three-stage sigmoid (S-shaped) hypothesis between multinationality and firm performance measured through technical efficiency levels. Finally, the empirical findings reveal that CIBS exhibit only the first two stages, thus forming a ‘U’-shape relationship. We propose the application of different firms’ performance measurements, providing us with the ability to unpack a firms’ managerial decision processes with regards to determining the optimised investment(s) in technology and research and development and with a particular focus on knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) and capital-intensive business services (CIBS)

Interfacial dynamics in transport-limited dissolution

Various model problems of ``transport-limited dissolution'' in two dimensions are analyzed using time-dependent conformal maps. For diffusion-limited dissolution (reverse Laplacian growth), several exact solutions are discussed for the smoothing of corrugated surfaces, including the continuous analogs of ``internal diffusion-limited aggregation'' and ``diffusion-limited erosion''. A class of non-Laplacian, transport-limited dissolution processes are also considered, which raise the general question of when and where a finite solid will disappear. In a case of dissolution by advection-diffusion, a tilted ellipse maintains its shape during collapse, as its center of mass drifts obliquely away from the background fluid flow, but other initial shapes have more complicated dynamics.Comment: 5 pages, 4 fig