Article implace means journal impact

These days there is a lot of misunderstanding of scientometrics and we often see a confusion of the research with its indicators. Science ministries and university administrators try to push their country's or institution's "research impact" by telling researchers to increase numeric figures that were invented as proxies for later assessment. In obvious juxtaposition to common sense this even leads to direct orders to postdocs "to only publish in high impact journals" and not to engage in other important activities scientists of well-rounded stature will routinely perform, like publication in medium impact journals of their immediate field, in startup journals, in conference proceedings, of book chapters, as grey literature or intended for dissemination to the general public, reviewing, editing, writing blogs etc

Interval-level measurement with visual analogue scales in Internet-based research: VAS Generator

The present article describes VAS Generator (www.vasgenerator.net), a free Web service for creating a wide range of visual analogue scales that can be used as measurement devices in Web surveys and Web experimentation, as well as for local computerized assessment. A step-by-step example for creating and implementing a visual analogue scale with visual feedback is given. VAS Generator and the scales it generates work independently of platforms and use the underlying languages HTML and JavaScript. Results from a validation study with 355 participants are reported and show that the scales generated with VAS Generator approximate an interval-scale level. In light of previous research on visual analogue versus categorical (e.g., radio button) scales in Internet-based research, we conclude that categorical scales only reach ordinal-scale level, and thus visual analogue scales are to be preferred whenever possibl

The Web Experiment List: A web service for the recruitment of participants and archiving of Internet-based experiments

TheWeb Experiment List (http://genpsylab-wexlist.unizh.ch/), a free Web-based service for the recruitment of participants in Internet-based experiments, is presented. The Web Experiment List also serves as a searchable archive for the research community. It lists more than 250 links to and descriptions of current and past Web experiments. Searches can be conducted by area of research, language, type of study, date, and status (active vs. archived). Data from log file analyses reveal an increasing use of the Web Experiment List and provide a picture of the distribution of the use of the Web experiment method across disciplines. On a general theoretical note, Web services are discussed as a viable software alternative to the traditional program forma

Campos vetoriais no plano

TCC (graduação) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Ciências Físicas e Matemáticas, Curso de Matemática.O c alculo vetorial e uma area de grande import^ancia para a matem atica pura e aplicada, relacionada a an alise real de vetores em uma ou mais dimens~oes. O estudo sobre c alculo vetorial abrange campos vetoriais, que s~ao fun c~oes que associam vetores a pontos do espa co. Os vetores, por sua vez, representam grandezas vetoriais que s~ao inerentes a um sentido e a uma dire c~ao. Entre as diversas aplica c~oes eles desempenham o papel de for cas que atuam num corpo, as velocidades no escoamento de um l quido, as intensidades de um campo el etrico vari avel etc, sendo assim, muito utilizados na f sica (principalmente na Mec^anica Cl assica) e engenharias. No primeiro cap tulo estudaremos fun c~oes, campos vetoriais e um pouco sobre curvas param etricas, apresentando de ni c~oes e exemplos. No segundo cap tulo apresentamos os operadores gradiente, rotacional e divergente apresentando como exemplos algumas aplica c~oes. No cap tulo tr^es trabalhamos com linha de uxo, apresentando a equa c~ao da continuidade. J a o cap tulo quatro e formado por integrais de linha e os teoremas integrais, ou seja, de Gauss (1777-1855), Green (1793-1841) e Stokes (1819-1903) . Gauss desenvolveu e provou o Teorema da Diverg^encia enquanto trabalhava na teoria de gravita c~ao, tamb em conhecido como Teorema de Gauss. O Teorema da Diverg^encia e utilizado como uma ferramenta para tornar integrais de volume em integrais de superf cie. O trabalho de George Green tamb em e de grande import^ancia no estudo do c alculo, elaborando o conhecido Teorema de Green. Green estudou sobre os fundamentos matem aticos da gravita c~ao, da eletricidade e do magnetismo. George Stokes aplicou o c alculo de v arias var aveis para estudar hidrodin^amica, elasticidade, luz, gravita c~ao, som, calor, meteorologia e f sica solar. No ultimo cap tulo de nimos e apresentamos exemplos de campos conservativos. En- m, segue o trabalho

Modelo constitutivo para materiais viscoelásticos reforçados por fibras adequado à simulação de tecidos conectivos

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia MecânicaO estudo do comportamento mec#anico de diferentes sistemas e componentes biol´ogicos submetidos a esfor¸cos termomec#anicos ´e uma ´area de conhecimento abordada pela biomec #anica. Diversos modelos mec#anicos matem´aticos apropriados para sistemas biol´ogicos podem ser resolvidos utilizando ferramentas num´ericas, possibilitando a simula¸c#ao de problemas complexos, com conseq¨uente aplica¸c#ao em diversas situa¸c#oes, como por exemplo, no planejamento de procedimentos cir´urgicos. A descri¸c#ao do comportamento dos diversos materiais frente a a¸c#ao de esfor¸cos mec#anicos ´e realizado mediante os denominados modelos constitutivos. Este trabalho tem como objetivo o desenvolvimento de modelos constitutivos apropriados para tecidos biol´ogicos, em particular, ligamentos e tend#oes. Os ligamentos e tend#oes fazem parte do grupo de tecidos biol´ogicos conectivos moles formados por fibras de col´ageno envolvidas numa matriz intercelular. S#ao estruturas fortemente solicitadas mecanicamente, tendo como caracter´ýsticas principais o comportamento viscoel ´astico anisotr´opico quando submetidos a esfor¸cos mec#anicos. Prop#oe-se, assim, uma formula¸c#ao constitutiva apropriada para a simula¸c#ao desses tecidos biol´ogicos. Tal formula¸c#ao baseia-se na exist#encia de uma energia livre de deforma ¸c#ao, ., e no uso de vari´aveis internas, capaz de prever o comportamento desses materiais quando submetidos a deforma¸c#oes finitas. Considera-se uma lei viscoel´astica anisotr´opica, orientada devido `a incorpora¸c#ao das fibras de col´ageno no modelo. A proposta insere-se numa abordagem variacional, fornecendo estrutura matem´atica adequada para an´alise e estimativa de erro. Diferentes modelos de comportamento de material podem ser representados dependendo da escolha de fun¸c#oes potenciais adequadas. S#ao apresentados, ainda, testes num´ericos via Elementos Finitos como forma de valida¸c#ao do modelo proposto. The study of the mechanical behavior by different systems and biological components submitted to termodynamical efforts is an area of knowledge approached by biomechanics. Several appropriated mathematical mechanical models to biological systems can be solved using numerical tools, enabling the simulation of complex problems, with application in several situations, for example, planning cirurgical procedures. The description of the behavior of the materials against the action of mechanical efforts is realized by means of the denomined constitutive models. This work has as an objective the development of appropriated constitutive models to biological tissue, in particular, ligaments and tendons. The ligaments and tendons play a hole of the group of soft connective biological tissues made of colagen fibers involved in a intercellular matrix. They are structures strongly mechanically solicited, having the mains features the anisotropic viscoelastic behavior when submitted to mechanical efforts. Then, one can propose an appropriated constitutive formulation to the simulation of theses biological tissues. Such formulation is based in the existence of a free energy of deformation, Ø, and in the use of internal variables, capable of provide the behavior of theses materials when submitted to finite deformations. We consider an anisotropic viscoelastic law, oriented by an incorporation of collagen fibers in the model. The proposal is inserted in a variational approach, providing a proper mathematic structure to the analysis and error estimate. Different models of material behavior can be represented depending of the choice of suitable potential functions. We also present numerical tests via Finite Elements with validation form of the proposal model

Scraping sounds and disgusting noises

Thirty-four horrible sounds have been examined in an Internet-based psychoacoustic experiment. This paper presents the results for the scraping and disgusting noises used. It is not understood why some humans find certain scraping noises, such as the sound of fingernails being scraped down a blackboard, so terrible. In this experiment, the variations in ratings with age, gender and location are examined. The results for one of the scraping sounds is consistent with the hypothesis suggested by others, that the response comes from a vestigial reflex related to the warning cries of monkeys. But this was not true for the actual recording of the fingernails scraping down a blackboard. An alternative hypothesis that the response is related to an audio–haptic interaction was tested and results indicated that this idea warrants further investigation. Other possible causes of the response, drawing on work concerning dissonance, are tentatively suggested. The disgusting sounds examined included the worst sound found in the experiment, the sound of someone vomiting. However, none of the disgusting sounds tested promoted responses consistent with a ‘disgust reaction’ based purely on survival instincts. Cultural factors might be important in our response to the disgusting sounds, with the influence of manners and etiquette being suggested as a possible factor