Research evaluation

This research evaluated the prevalence of general symptoms of psychological distress, the degree to which these symptoms related to alcohol use and alcohol-related negative consequences, and genderspecific relationships among alcohol use, alcohol consequences, and symptoms of psychological distress. The sample included 1705 students drawn from a random sample of three West Coast universities who completed the survey. Results revealed higher levels of consumption and more negative drinking consequences for men, more psychological distress symptoms reported by women, and stronger relationships between psychological symptoms and drinking consequences than use per se. The association between psychological distress and negative drinking consequences was stronger among men than women. The present findings suggest that a focus on negative consequences of alcohol use in addition to the use itself may have greater utility in identifying students at risk for comorbid psychological distress to provide intervention. D

Background: Urban containment policies attempt to manage the location, character, and timing of growth to support a variety of goals such as compact development, preservation of greenspace, and efficient use of infrastructure. Despite prior research evaluating the effects of urban containment policies on land use, housing, and transportation outcomes, the public health implications of these policies remain unexplored. This ecologic study examines relationships among urban containment policies, state adoption of growthmanagement legislation, and population levels of leisure and transportation-related physical activity in 63 large metropolitan statistical areas from 1990 to 2002.

This paper describes an evaluation study of a home-based, family-focussed counselling scheme providing support for English-speaking and Bangladeshi families of children with intellectual or multiple disabilities. Mothers and children in the intervention groups showed significant and positive changes compared to randomly allocated controls. The greatest benefits were derived by the more deprived and initially less well-supported Bangladeshi families. Mothers changed positively in ratings of perceived support and family functioning, and in their constructions of their child, themselves, husbands and family relationships. Although systematic teaching was not included, their children also showed improvements in developmental progress and behaviour problems.

Objective: The availability of alternative therapies for abnormal gynecologic bleeding has prompted a reexamination of the impact of total hysterectomy on a woman's quality of life. This paper examines the evidence about the impact of hysterectomy on one aspect of quality of life, sexuality.

Babini, D. (2013) “Voices from the Global South on Open Access in Social Sciences”. In: Open Access Perspectives in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Open Access Conference Booklet, London School of Economics Public Policy Group & SAGE
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This Impact Report identifies and summarises the diverse impacts, resulting from the £500m of UK funding of Science and Technology in 2013, using numerous quantitative metrics and short case study extracts.  It shows how the varied impacts of a national science and technology organization and its many funded programmes can be annually identified, captured, tracked, and summarised in a public document.

The report was produced for, and by, the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) -  the UK Research Council responsible for funding: (1) all UK astronomy, particle and nuclear physics research, (2) related UK science and technology facilities (e.g. as Harwell and Daresbury), (3) the UK contribution to international science (e.g. CERN, international telescopes and space missions), (4) innovation and business spin-off programmes, and (5) UK public engagement activities.

The Report was co-researched and co-authored by the STFC Impact Team, including myself while Impact Evaluation Manager in 2013, with Dr. Claire Dougan-McCallie (lead author/Head of Impact) and Jenny Beard, with additional input from senior managers, and many data and case study contributions from other key managers across STFC.

Varied key impacts are identified and reported including:

• Research amongst the best (by citation impact) in astronomy, nuclear and particle physics.
• Supported research of 226 Principal Investigators in 70 universities, led to 1,100 peer-reviewed papers in 2012.
• Facilities (the Diamond Light Source, ISIS and CLF) were used in 2012/13 by over 4,200 unique users , in over 2,400 experiments, producing over 1,000 papers in peer-reviewed journals.

• Technology from CERN benefited the UK economy by over £100 billion every year.
• Funding the development of the UK’s space, internet and computer animation industries, returned over £500 billion to the UK economy per annum.
• Funded Innovation Campuses hosted over 230 enterprises and supported over 5,000 jobs.
• UK industry won £43 million in contracts from the international subscriptions funded, and had accumulated a total of £150 million since 2005.

• Funded research inspired future generations to study STEM subjects, attracting 90% of UK undergraduates to study physics, funded 782 PhD students  and 16,800 student training days.
• Between 2009 to 2012 public engagement programmes engaged people on 58 million occasions, with 2 million people engaged in face-to-face activities in 2013 alone.

Cotton trash is known to affect textile -processing efficiency. Removal of cotton trash is a means to improve textile spinning. To combat trash and efficiency problems, textile mills frequently specify that cotton bales, which they acquire, should be no higher than a 3 leaf for processing on Murata Airjet Spinner (MJS) or Murata Vortex Spinner (MVS) equipment. This leaf grade cut-off point is based on past spinning experiences, which point toward processing problems during weaving and excessive loom stops. This research evaluates how High Volume Instrument (HVI™) Trashmeter software analyzes cotton trash and its particle size distribution in a 40-bale textile mill laydown. This study compared the distribution of particles within all bales and how similar these bales were to one another and HVI™ properties throughout the bales. Bales of known and constant leaf grade appear to have different trash particle size distributions. Further work is needed to determine if trash particle distr...

References 19 ACREU Working Paper 2001-02. Patterns of primary and specialist care for arthritis and related conditions in ontario, 1996/97: an analysis of the OHIP dataset -i-EXECUTIVE SUMMARY + This is one of two reports prepared by the Arthritis Community Research and Evaluation Unit which begins to address the recommendation of the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care Arthritis Strategy Working Group related to the importance of identifying geographic, gender, age, and socioeconomic barriers to arthritis services and professionals across Ontario. Arthritis is a major cause of morbidity, disability and health care utilization in Ontario. With the aging of the baby boomer population, current estimates suggest that the number of people with arthritis swill more than double by the year 2020. ACREU Working Paper 2001-02. Patterns of primary and specialist care for arthritis and related conditions in ontario, 1996/97: an analysis of the OHIP dataset

Purpose -Measurement of the performance of entire supply chains is an important issue because it allows for "tracking and tracing" of efficacy and efficiency failures and leads to more informed decision making with regard to chain design. However, the choice of appropriate supply chain performance indicators is rather complicated due to the presence of multiple inputs and multiple outputs in the system. Therefore, this paper aims to evaluate the usefulness of a novel conceptual model for supply chain performance measurement in an agri-food supply chain. Design/methodology/approach -A conceptual model for integrated supply chain performance measurement is evaluated in a Dutch-German tomato supply chain by means of a case study approach. Findings -The proposed conceptual framework is found to be useful for measuring performance of the tomato supply chain. From the case study it is concluded that four main categories of performance measures (i.e. efficiency, flexibility, responsiveness, and food quality) are identified as key performance components of the tomato supply chain performance measurement system. Originality/value -This research evaluates a novel concept for measuring the performance of agri-food supply chains. This concept is the first step in developing an integrated performance measurement system that contains financial as well as non-financial indicators combined with the specific characteristics of agri-food supply chains. Based on a case study in the tomato supply chain, this concept is found to have potential.

Purpose -Measurement of the performance of entire supply chains is an important issue because it allows for "tracking and tracing" of efficacy and efficiency failures and leads to more informed decision making with regard to chain design. However, the choice of appropriate supply chain performance indicators is rather complicated due to the presence of multiple inputs and multiple outputs in the system. Therefore, this paper aims to evaluate the usefulness of a novel conceptual model for supply chain performance measurement in an agri-food supply chain. Design/methodology/approach -A conceptual model for integrated supply chain performance measurement is evaluated in a Dutch-German tomato supply chain by means of a case study approach. Findings -The proposed conceptual framework is found to be useful for measuring performance of the tomato supply chain. From the case study it is concluded that four main categories of performance measures (i.e. efficiency, flexibility, responsiveness, and food quality) are identified as key performance components of the tomato supply chain performance measurement system. Originality/value -This research evaluates a novel concept for measuring the performance of agri-food supply chains. This concept is the first step in developing an integrated performance measurement system that contains financial as well as non-financial indicators combined with the specific characteristics of agri-food supply chains. Based on a case study in the tomato supply chain, this concept is found to have potential.

Researchers evaluated 195 rural Zairian children between 5 and 12 years of age with the Tactual Performance Test (TPT) used in the Reitan-Indiana Battery. For all of the TPT performance and memory measures, Zairian children with poorer anthropometric indicators of nutritional wellbeing were significantly below the age-matched groups of American and Canadian children. The Zairian children also did not demonstrate the typical improvements between the dominant and nondominant hand trials. Older Zairian children with such decrements tended to do more poorly on the Simultaneous Processing and Nonverbal ability portions of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children. Although probably not appropriate for direct intercultural comparisons, the authors concluded that neuropsychological measures derived from tasks such as the TPT may still be useful in monitoring the longitudinal brain-behavior impact of various health interventions for enhancing intellectual development for African children.

... Customer relationship management applications facili-tate organizational learning about customers by enabling firms to ... purchase behavior across transactions through different channels and customer touchpoints. ... examples of how FedEx and Ameri-can Airlines used their ...

This research evaluates the effects of entry by supercenters and warehouse clubs on retail grocery sales and the exit of small supermarkets. Drawing on literature from trade area analysis, agglomeration, and location theory, spatial econometric models are estimated.

This paper examines how transnational gold mining operations are transforming rural household livelihoods in the Cajamarca region of Peru. In particular, this paper evaluates how Newmont Mining Corporation's Minera Yanacocha (MYSA) mining operations are altering access to the produced, human, natural and social capital resources that households utilize to produce their livelihoods. The paper argues that while access to produced and human capital resources has increased in the past decade, albeit unevenly, access to natural and social capital resources has declined. The paper begins with a discussion of new frameworks for evaluating local livelihood change and household access to resources. Subsequently, the paper describes Peru's new transnational mining sector, livelihoods and livelihood change in the Cajamarca region. The paper then presents the results of case study field research evaluating the impacts of MYSA on household access to resources in three communities. Finally, the paper concludes with a critical discussion of livelihoods frameworks and how they can contribute to geographic studies.

The present research evaluated the psychometric properties of the credibility/expectancy questionnaire, a quick and easy-to-administer scale for measuring treatment expectancy and rationale credibility for use in clinical outcome studies. The results suggested that this questionnaire derives the two predicted factors (cognitively based credibility and relatively more a!ectively based expectancy) and that these factors are stable across di!erent populations. Furthermore, the questionnaire demonstrated high internal consistency within each factor and good test}retest reliability. The expectancy factor predicted outcome on some measures, whereas the credibility factor was unrelated to outcome. The questionnaire is appended to the paper, yet the authors stress care when utilizing the scale. During the administration of the questionnaire, the participant sees two sections * one related to thinking and one related to feeling. However, the researcher needs to be aware that the 2 factors derived are not grouped into those questions. Instead credibility was found to be derived from the "rst three think questions and expectancy was derived from the fourth think question and the two feel questions.

Comparative education relies on experiences, expertise, data, and criticism derived from multiple contexts and diverse levels to generate insights, facilitate understanding, and explain change. Marked by connectivity, our contemporary era vastly increases the (potential) diffusion of ideas essential for scientific advance. Three interlocking trends emphasise the growing relevance of comparative educational research. Firstly, competition has become more potent – among scholars, their organisations, and within as across countries. Secondly, educational studies, as science more generally, are increasingly conducted in collaboration – across disciplinary, cultural, linguistic, and organisational boundaries – enhancing the potential for discovery while producing influential scholarship. Thirdly, while educational research and policymaking are increasingly comparative, comparative knowledge stores are often only selectively used. To counter such reductionism, in-depth comparative institutional analysis across divides of academy, politics, and practice remain crucial. The multidisciplinary field must claim its relevance more persuasively, even as scholarly exchange, mobilities, and cultural knowledge endure as vital foundations.

This paper concerns the teaching and iteration of Grounded Theory, taking published accounts referring to Grounded Theory as instructional materials on the workings of Grounded Theory. The paper identifies problems associated with later versions of Grounded Theory that are anticipated and avoided in The Discovery of Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). It alerts practitioners and students to theoretical options in doing research. Based on a critical incident analysis of literatures as ’fieldwork sites’, looking at information science and dentistry research, this paper discusses iterations of qualitative research – particularly, what we call the versioning of Grounded Theory – in clinical settings and interdisciplinary studies. Reading accounts of qualitative studies revealed misapprehensions regarding the use of qualitative methods. Critical reading facilitates the examination of analytic claims, to alert researchers in interdisciplinary fields to adverse consequences of using inferior accounts.

The use of poultry by-product meal-pet food grade (PBM-PFG, 66% crude protein) as a substitute for a fish meal blend (FM, a 50/50 mix of American menhaden meal and Mexican sardine meal, 65% average crude protein), in a control diet containing 35% crude protein, was evaluated in Pacific white shrimp. The replacement levels (w/w) were: 35, 50, 65 and 80%, with 13.7, 19.6, 25.5 and 31.4% PBM-PFG inclusion in the test diets, respectively. Two commercial feeds from Mexico, containing 30 and 35% protein, were used as additional controls. The diets were fed to shrimp (450 mg initial weight) in a 4 week feeding trial in order to evaluate growth, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio (FCR), total biomass, survival, protein efficiency ratio (PER) and nitrogen retention efficiency (NRE). In addition, apparent protein, dry matter and energy digestibility coefficients (PDC, DMDC, EDC) of all diets, as well as those of the ingredients, FM and PBM, were determined using the in vivo chromic oxide method and shrimp of 1.6 to 2 g initial weight. Digestibility coefficients were similar and greater than 80% for all diets. PDC, DMDC and EDC were high and similar for FM and PBM-PFG. Survival along the growth trial, FCR, PER and NRE were not affected by any of the test diets, but there was a slight linear negative effect of replacement level on consumption and growth, which seemed related to energy over formulation rather than a palatability problem. The commercial control diets, which did not contain PBM-PFG, gave results for growth that were equal to or lower than those of the test diets. Results of this experiment showed that PBM-PFG can adequately replace w/w up to 80% of FM in commercial diets for the white shrimp L. vannamei.

The authors describe a three-phase sequential integrative model for the psychotherapy of complex posttraumatic self-dysregulation: Phase 1 (alliance formation and stabilization), Phase 2 (trauma processing), and Phase 3 (functional reintegration). The technical precautions designed to maximize safety, trauma processing, and reintegration regardless of the specific treatment approach are discussed. Existing and emerging treatment models that address posttraumatic dysregulation of consciousness, bodily functioning, emotion, and interpersonal attachments are also described. The authors conclude with suggestions for further clinical innovation and research evaluation of therapeutic models that can enhance the treatment of PTSD by addressing complex posttraumatic self-dysregulation.

This research, conducted by the author when a Senior Researcher at Newcastle University, UK, was funded by a UK governance organisation to help them assess, integrate and improve their understanding of the governed population.

ABSTRACT: Governance organisations have been urged to develop more holistic evidence-based approaches with partners to better deal with issues affecting the governed population. This presupposes an understanding of the population, yet there has been little research work addressing how governance organisations come to understand their governed population, nor how this understanding can be improved upon within such organisations.

This case study examined in-depth how understanding of a governed population was developed within one UK local governance organisation and it explored how such understanding might be developed and improved through more holistic and evidence-based organisational learning within the organisation and its governance partnerships.

The research methodology involved placement within the governance organisation, participant observations on several projects and innovative initiatives, observations within, across, and outside the organisation, and also interviews with varied key stakeholders.

The study examined:

- stakeholder engagement and networks
- current and varied understandings of the population
- mechanisms actually used for developing understandings
- the influence of context on organisational learning

and analysed these to arrive at a recommendations to improve organisational understanding of the governed population.

In the case studied, significant strengths were found: including innovative past learning trials for development, extensive ongoing networking activities, and many varied and accumulating quantitative datasets available across partnerships.

However, entrenched organisational approaches and practices constrained the development of holistic evidence-based understanding, for instance: the absence of systematic maintained collective learning processes; weak recording and forgetting of understandings; methodological exclusion of stakeholders from the development of understanding; the relative neglect of qualitative data, explanations, investigations, interpretations, and reflexivity; and also implicit organisational acceptance of such limitations and low aspirations.

Nonetheless, untapped opportunities existed to enable change including: latent practitioner knowledge and innovative management champions, the desire for improvement and raised aspirations within learning networks, and the development potential of alterative learning approaches.

It was concluded that more holistic evidence-based understanding was possible, but required new learning approaches beyond those then in use in both local government or academia.   

Recommendations are made to utilise and develop improved organisational learning approaches trialed and reported in the case study.

It is argued that the case study findings, conclusions, and recommendations may be applicable to other similar local governance organisations and partnerships that seek to better understand local populations, services and interventions.

The work was also submitted for, and awarded, an MPhil (at Newcastle University, supervised by Prof. Patsy Healy)

Un premier apport de notre travail consiste à proposer un cadre théorique, analytique et conceptuel original, permettant d'approcher la notion de qualité des publications en SHS (sciences humaines et sociales) et en sciences de la communication de façon à la fois holistique et dynamique, en tant qu'elle fait l'objet de descriptions et de jugements multiples, émis par une diversité de parties prenantes, au sein et en dehors des milieux académiques. Pour ce faire, il s'agira de considérer la qualité dans ses différentes dimensions constitutives (approche holistique) tout en l'inscrivant dans le cadre d'évolutions tendancielles en matière de publication scientifique (approche dynamique) et en tenant compte de la qualité telle qu'elle est prescrite, souhaitée et mise en œuvre par les différentes parties prenantes (chercheurs et entités prescriptrices, aux niveaux politique et managérial). En croisant de façon systématique ces trois approches - approche multidimensionnelle, rapport aux prescrits et aux souhaits, et étude des évolutions tendancielles -, il s’avérera possible d'évaluer l'incidence des différentes tendances en matière de publication scientifique – i.e. : tendances à la massification, à l'internationalisation, à l' « exotérisation » (i.e. : à l'ouverture vers le monde extérieur, audelà des pairs), à la « gestionnarisation » (i.e. : à l'usage des publications dans la gestion de la recherche et des chercheurs, en particulier en situation d'évaluation), à la commercialisation et à l' « enlignement » (i.e. : à la mise en ligne, sur Internet) – ainsi que des prescriptions managériales et politiques qui les initient, les stimulent ou les prolongent à des degrés divers, sur la qualité de l'activité même de publier, et sur celle des différents types génériques et spécifiques d'objets publiés. En appliquant cette triple approche aux SHS et, plus particulièrement, au cas des sciences de la communication, nous montrerons comment la plupart des évolutions tendancielles qui sont discutées ici ainsi que des prescrits politiques et managériaux qui y affèrent aboutissent à valoriser principalement, en situation d'évaluation de la recherche et des chercheurs, la publication d'un grand nombre d'articles dans des revues savantes internationales de premier plan, destinés avant tout aux pairs, et à dévaloriser les publications, ouvertes à des publics plus locaux, rédigées en langue vernaculaire, ou qui se consacreraient à la résolution de problèmes de société. En particulier, à la faveur de la tendance à la « gestionnarisation » des publications, l'article de revue savante internationale de premier plan, ainsi que les citations qui lui sont faites par les seuls pairs, sont posés en indicateurs de performance de tout premier plan, « fixant » ainsi les pratiques de recherche et de publication des chercheurs. Cette « fixion » sera d'autant plus marquée que les indicateurs bibliométriques, à l'échelon national, seront intégrés à des processus de financement public de la recherche fondés sur les performances, et que, à l'échelon international, les indicateurs joueront un rôle prépondérant dans l'établissement des rankings des universités ainsi que des benchmarks des systèmes nationaux et régionaux de recherche. Pour autant, des prescriptions politiques sont également édictées, principalement au niveau européen, dans l'optique de la mise en œuvre, au sein de l'Espace européen de la recherche et, dans une moindre mesure, de l'Espace européen de l'enseignement supérieur, d'une économie de la connaissance compétitive à l'échelon global et, plus particulièrement, d'un « mode 2 » de production des connaissances, qui insistent sur l'importance de davantage valoriser les résultats de la recherche, interdisciplinaire et coopérative, auprès de parties prenantes extra-académiques. En résulte une relation paradoxale entre la tendance à 4 l'exotérisation de la recherche et des publications, et les prescrits de gestionnarisation des publications, ainsi qu'entre les prescriptions qui les sous-tendent respectivement. Or l'enquête que nous avons menée auprès des membres de trois sociétés savantes internationales en sciences de la communication montre combien les chercheurs de cette discipline ont désormais bien intégré les critères de qualité promus par les prescrits politiques et managériaux soutenant l'instauration d'une nouvelle « culture de la publication », à la croisée des tendances à la massification, à l'internationalisation et à la gestionnarisation des publications. Pour autant, des entretiens approfondis menés auprès de chercheurs en sciences de la communication actifs en Belgique francophone et néerlandophone n'en révèlent pas moins que ces derniers développent une attitude foncièrement ambivalente envers la culture du « publish or perish » et à l'égard de prescriptions qui sur-valorisent les revues savantes internationales de premier plan, en situation d'évaluation de la recherche et des chercheurs. D'une part, en effet, les chercheurs avec qui nous nous sommes entretenus estiment que la nouvelle culture de la publication joue un rôle bénéfique dans la professionnalisation et dans le développement d'une culture véritablement scientifique dans les sciences de la communication. Partant, la plupart d'entre eux développent des stratégies visant à aligner leurs pratiques de publication sur les prescrits. D'autre part, plusieurs répondants n'en regrettent pas moins le caractère réducteur de la survalorisation des revues savantes internationales de premier plan dans l'évaluation, et souhaitent qu'une plus grande diversité de types de publication soit prise en compte par les évaluateurs. Afin de concilier « qualité prescrite » et « qualité souhaitée » dans la qualité de leur activité effective de publication et dans celle des objets effectivement publiés (« qualité réelle »), il arrive dès lors à ces chercheurs de « bricoler » avec les prescriptions. Par ailleurs, la plupart des répondants, davantage cependant en Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles qu'en Flandre, où le financement public de la recherche est d'ores et déjà fondé en partie sur des indicateurs bibliométriques et revue-métriques, regrettent le manque d'explicite dans la formulation des prescriptions – ces dernières prenant régulièrement la forme de « scripts » plus indirects et/ou implicites, plutôt que de normes et de règles stricto sensu –, ainsi que l'absence de seuil quantitatif minimal à atteindre. Il nous semble par conséquent, dans une optique plus normative, que le dépôt systématique des différents types de publication produits par les chercheurs en SHS et en sciences de la communication sur des répertoires numériques institutionnels (Open Access Green) serait de nature à (contribuer à) résoudre le paradoxe des prescriptions en matière de « qualité prescrite », ainsi que l'ambivalence des perceptions des chercheurs en matière de « qualité souhaitée ». En effet, le dépôt des publications sur des répertoires institutionnels ouvre des opportunités inédites de renouveler la conversation savante qui se structure autour des objets publiés, au sein de la communauté argumentative (Kommunikationsgemeinschaft) des pairs, par le biais notamment de la revue par les pairs ouverte et grâce à la possibilité de commenter ad libitum les publications disséminées en Open Access. mais également en rendant les résultats de la recherche aisément accessibles et ré-utilisables par des parties prenantes extra-académiques. Les opportunités liées au dépôt des publications sur des répertoires Open Access (Green), en termes de qualité tant épistémique que pragmatique de ces dernières, seront d'autant plus fécondes que le dépôt des travaux sur les répertoires institutionnels s'articulera à l'usage, par le chercheur, des instruments idoines, génériques ou dédiés, du Web participatif (Wikis, blogues, micro-blogues, réseaux sociaux, outils de partage de signets et de listes bibliographiques). Par ailleurs, les dépôts numériques fonctionnent désormais en tant qu'« outils de transparence », susceptibles de donner davantage de visibilité à des productions de 5 recherche et des types de publication diversifiés. En situation d'évaluation de la recherche et des chercheurs, le recours aux dépôts institutionnels - pour autant qu'un mandat prescrive le dépôt de tous les travaux produits par les chercheurs de l'institution – permettrait aux évaluateurs de fonder leur jugement sur une gamme plus large et plus représentative de types de publication et de formes de communication en SHS et en sciences de la communication. De plus, grâce à la dissémination en Open Access, en conjonction avec l'usage d'une diversité d'outils du Web participatif, il devient mieux possible de soumettre les différents types de publication archivés et publiés en libre accès à des indicateurs de performance eux-mêmes diversifiés – bibliométriques, mais également « webométriques » et « altmétriques » -, fondés sur les articles plutôt que sur les revues et mieux adaptés à la diversité de leurs impacts, tant au sein qu'en dehors du cercle des pairs. Partant, l'Open Access (Green) nous apparaît in fine comme étant doté d'un potentiel important, en matière d'intégration de la recherche et des chercheurs en SHS et en sciences de la communication à la mise en place – au-delà d'une économie de la connaissance - d'une véritable société de la connaissance, ainsi qu'aux processus d'innovation techno-industrielle, sociale et intellectuelle qui la sous-tendent.

The applicability of attachment theory to the practice of performing child custody evaluations has been a topic of interest in the literature, yet there remains a chasm between research and practice. Evaluating the quality of parent-child relationships is a central task of custody evaluators, however the field has not been well informed by the vast scientific knowledge base forged by attachment theory. Current practice among custody evaluators involves the use of terminology and conclusions that often distort the findings from attachment research. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief overview of the key concepts in attachment, to describe select attachment assessment tools and their potential applicability to the custody evaluation context, and to provide models for potential integration of attachment research in evaluations. Given the limited research pertaining to the use of such instruments within a forensic setting, the need for research evaluating key attachment assessment tools among child custody litigants is highlighted.

This e-learning/ self-directional learning Module includes four Units, namely Unit 1: Introduction to Research Evaluation Metrics and Related Indicators; Unit 2: Innovations in Measuring Science and Scholarship; Unit 3: Article and Author Level Measurements; Unit 4: Online Citation and Reference Management Tools. This Module was produced under the UNESCO-CEMCA Project Development of Curriculum and Self-Directed Learning Tools for Open Access, 2013-2015.
[Das, Anup Kumar (2015). Open Access for Researchers, Module 4: Research Evaluation Metrics. Paris: UNESCO. ISBN 9789231000829. Editors: Sanjaya Mishra; B.K. Sen]

Because the conditions for agricultural development vary considerably across space, we need to develop methods that allow us to take such variability into account when evaluating development strategies for particular crops or farming systems. This paper addresses spatially varying characteristics in an evaluation of the potential economic benefits of three cotton development strategies for Uganda: area expansion, productivity improvement, and domestic consumption increase. We begin with a historical review of cotton production in Uganda. We then described the major challenges and opportunities for Ugandan cotton production, including farm-level production constraints. Household-level production data from the 2000 Uganda National Household Survey (UNHS) are used to estimate the current spatial distribution of cotton production (called the cotton production area, or CPA), based on the association of household cotton production with ranges in mapped variables (altitude, length of growing period, and population density), district cotton production statistics and expert knowledge of local production patterns. Cotton development domains (CDDs) are then defined by agroclimatic suitability, market/ginnery access, and inclusion in the CPA. We use the UNHS data to evaluate the importance of cotton as a livelihood enterprise and its role in rural livelihood strategies. Key ecosystems and protected areas are considered in conjunction with the CDDs in defining feasible areas for expansion of production. Finally, the Dynamic Research Evaluation for Management (DREAM) model is used to estimate benefits that accrue from the three development strategies considered.

This research evaluates the use of precast, prestressed bridge deck panels on new and existing precast, prestressed concrete girders. The evaluation focuses on the ease of construction and the ability of the system to develop composite action with the concrete girders. A system developed by the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CDOT) and Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute New England Region (PCINER) was

The European Research Area (ERA) acts as an important provider of policy prescriptions in the field of research and innovation, now fully integrating the social sciences and humanities (SSH) (Birnbau et al. 2017) and inspiring policy making at national and institutional levels with regard to a diversity of thematic priorities (Commission 2012). European prescriptions are of a political as well as a managerial nature, setting objectives to be achieved and prescribing managing tools to monitor the progresses made towards the completion of these objectives. Since the EU has until now never used the legislative power on which it could rely, European prescriptions are mostly articulated through soft laws -, policy documents and statements as well as, more indirectly, through the management tools of the ERA and the rules that govern the research and innovation funding programs. On the basis of a qualitative analysis of these political and managerial prescriptions and a first-hand quasi-participant observation of the European research policy making, we will show how European prescriptions have contradictory implications for the evaluation of the diversity of research outputs that characterize SSH research and, more particularly, with regard to the types of SSH publications which have a particular potential to impact society. On the one hand, ERA has been strongly influenced in its prescriptive activities since the 1990s by programmatic ideas such as the “mode 2 of knowledge production” (Nowotny et al. 2003) and is increasingly supporting the “exoterization” of research beyond the traditional “esoteric” circles of the peers. Hence ERA prescribes that research activities will target – and even include in a “co-creation” perspective - a broader audience of innovators and citizens, through the use of concepts such as “societal challenges” – which constitute the best funded of the three pillars of the current Horizon 2020 framework programme -, RRI (“Responsible Research and Innovation”), “Science With and For Society” or “Citizen Science”. For SSH researchers, an important way to be in line with this prescribed tendency towards exoterization is to deliver research outputs and types of publication that may reach an audience beyond Academia, such as: publications in vernacular languages, monographs, policy briefs, policy reports, results from locally anchored (action) research, textbooks, translations, exhibition catalogues, popularization works or book-length scholarly essays (Hicks 2005). On the other hand, European prescriptions concurrently support tendencies towards a NPM-driven “managerialization” of research that uses publications as regular indicators of performance, and bibliometric international databases (Web of Science and Scopus) as important management tools (Vinkour 2014). Together with the more general trends towards massification and internationalization of research, this last tendency has contributed to foster an evaluation context in which research quality is increasingly assessed in light of the number of articles in International Top Journals, often published by Majors (Larivière et al. 2016), targeted towards academics – thus mostly inaccessible to exoteric audiences -, and in which a large share of the aforementioned SSH research outputs is not adequately taken into account (Archambault et al. 2006). Recent EU policies promoted under the banner of “Open Science” are to be deemed as ambivalent in regards with this contradiction between exoterization and managerialization of research in the fields of SSH, presenting opportunities for its resolution, but also some risks of further extending it. Open Science is indeed framed in European policy documents and statements – such as in the discourses of the current Commissioner for research, science and innovation Carlos Moedas - as the epitome of the participative approach to research, with explicit support to the development of alternative metrics and the assessment of research impact beyond Academia. Though the stress is concurrently put at EU level on achieving a total flipping to an Open Access (OA) dissemination model before 2020 (Council 2016) – with a focus on articles of peer reviewed journals and embargo periods as short as possible –, while giving an implicit support for the negotiation of “big deals 2.0” with Major publishers (Chartron 2016). In our experience, this particular approach towards OA, while pragmatic and promising in the short term, is at risk of reinforcing the imbalances inherent to the use of international bibliometric databases in the evaluation of SSH research. It is not in favour either of a better archiving, visibility, accessibility and assessability of those aforementioned SSH research outputs that, while not being published in International Top Journals, are best placed to get an impact on society. Hence we believe that a more systematic, inclusive and complementary use of OA repositories, through which the whole scope of SSH research production could be made public and accountable – i.a. through a diversity of metrics and altmetrics -, together with the recognition of a broader definition of what the very notion of publication means in the SSH, may contribute to overcome the aforementioned contradiction in European science and Open Science policy making. In this perspective archiving all types of publication in OA repositories will allow SSH researchers to be better rewarded, in evaluation situations, for the whole scope of the contributions they make, as scholarly citizens, for the benefit of our society.
References
Archambault, E., Vignola-Gagne, E., Côté, G., Larivière, V., Gingras, Y. (2006). Benchmarking scientific output in the social sciences and humanities: The limits of existing databases. Scientometrics, 68(3), 329-342.
Birnbaum, B.I., Keraudren, P., Strom T., & Vavikis, T. (2017). Integration of social sciences and humanities in Horizon 2020: participants, budget and disciplines, 2nd monitoring report on SSH-flagged projects funded in 2015 under the Societal Challenges and Industrial Leadership priorities. Brussels: DG RTD.
Chartron, G. (2016). Stratégie, politique et reformulation de l’open access. Revue française des sciences de l’information et de la communication [En ligne], (8). Retrieved January 10, 2017 from http://rfsic.revues.org/1836

Summary—In the wake of the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, more than 9,000 counselors went to New York City to offer aid to rescue workers, families, and direct victims of the violence of September 11, 2001. These mental health professionals assumed that many New Yorkers were at high risk for developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and they hoped

El sistema nacional de ciencia y tecnología de la República Dominicana se encuentra en una fase incipiente de desarrollo. Hasta la fecha no se ha diseñado o implementado un sistema de indicadores que permita medir la producción científica nacional como un primer paso para estimar los resultados del proceso científico y tecnológico que ha sido impulsado a partir de las iniciativas del Gobierno y de las instituciones dominicanas en los últimos quince años. Hay una considerable ausencia de datos de la República Dominicana en estudios regionales o internacionales dirigidos a valorar el estado de la ciencia de los países debido a que se carece de la información necesaria para el cálculo de indicadores básicos. No existen estudios previos basados en técnicas bibliométricas sobre los resultados de la producción científica de la República Dominicana que puedan complementar los estudios socioeconómicos relacionados con el esfuerzo del país en investigación y desarrollo. Tomando en cuenta lo anterior, la cuestión central que justifica este trabajo es la necesidad de construir indicadores con objetivos evaluativos para abordar al reto de impulsar el incremento y la mejora de la calidad de la producción científica de la República Dominicana. El principal aspecto tratado en este trabajo es la identificación, descripción y análisis de la producción científica de este país y su evolución en el periodo de tiempo más amplio posible mediante la utilización de indicadores bibliométricos. En adición al análisis de nivel macro, también se aporta información sobre la producción científica del sector universitario dominicano y una valoración del papel que están desempeñando estas instituciones en el desarrollo científico nacional. Partiendo de que no existen bases de datos nacionales que contengan información bibliográfica sobre las publicaciones científicas dominicanas, en este estudio se emplea un amplio conjunto de fuentes para obtener una aproximación al volumen total de la producción científica dominicana y la mayor información posible sobre sus características. Con los datos obtenidos se realiza un análisis bibliométrico con múltiples niveles de agregación y se calculan indicadores de producción, colaboración, dispersión e impacto de la investigación dominicana considerando todas las instituciones sin excluir ningún sector, todos los tipos de documentos e idiomas de publicación y todos los campos científicos. Los indicadores obtenidos ofrecen un perfil detallado y consistente de la producción científica de la República Dominicana y una visión complementaria del desarrollo del país en este ámbito. Teniendo en cuenta los resultados cuantitativos y los análisis cualitativos realizados, se identifican pautas, déficits y debilidades poniendo a la disposición de los gestores de la política científica un conjunto de criterios que posibilitan la toma decisiones de una manera informada. Finalmente, se proponen soluciones orientadas al diseño de políticas científicas y a un mejor desempeño de la investigación dominicana.

The study of the Derveni Papyrus offered by Valeria Piano, Il Papiro di Derveni tra religione e filosofia, Florence, Olschki, 2016, presents considerable weaknesses in the reconstruction of cols. 0-IV and of specific lines of the following columns not only in terms of constitutio textus but also in terms of grammatical, theoretical and stylistic analysis. The author of the paper is in strong disagreement with previous reviews of Piano's volume.

Babini, D.; Archuby, G.; Carrizo, V.; García, D.A.; Higa, S.; Spano, D.(2014). Indicadores de acceso abierto en repositorios temáticos. El caso del repositorio digital de ciencias sociales de América Latina y el Caribe de CLACSO.  En: Alperin, J.P.; Babini, D.; Fischman, G.(eds.) 2014. Indicadores de Acceso Abierto y Comunicaciones Académicas en América Latina. Buenos Aires, CLACSO, noviembre 2014. Pag.153-169.  ISBN 978-987-722-042-1
http://biblioteca.clacso.edu.ar/clacso/se/20141217052547/Indicadores_de_acceso_abierto.pdf

Le tsunami du 26 décembre 2004 et le nombre considérable des victimes qu'il a causé a été à l'origine d'une prise en conscience générale des scientifiques et des politiciens sur ce type de risques en raison de la forte concentration de la population mondiale et des infrastructures le long des côtes. Le Maroc a été déjà dévasté par des tsunamis dont celui qui a suivi le tremblement de terre dit de Lisbonne (M = 9) survenu le 1er novembre 1755, dont les vagues ont envahi l'ensemble des villes situées le long de la côte atlantique. Les effets de ce cataclysme, comme l'ont décrit plusieurs historiens et navigateurs, et de ceux qui ont eu lieu auparavant, sont toujours visibles dans le paysage sous la forme de blocs épars, et dans les sédiments estuariens sous la forme de minces lits marins incrustés dans les sédiments vaseux. Bien que le risque de tsunami par décollement d'un panneau du volcan de La Palma aux Canaries reste réel, le Maroc est surtout exposé aux tsunamis liés aux séismes atlantiques, qui ont lieu régulièrement le long de la Zone de Failles Azores-Gibraltar. Concernant la région atlantique, les études océanographiques de détail menées récemment ont permis de déterminer quatre failles pouvant engendrer des tsunamis : les failles bordant le Banc de Gorringe et la plaine du Fer à Cheval, la faille du Banc de Guadalquivir et la faille de Marquês de Pombal. Différents scénarios ont récemment été envisagés par plusieurs équipes scientifiques du Portugal, d'Espagne et du Maroc pour simuler les conséquences possibles provoquées par un tsunami lié au jeu de ces failles, et pour proposer un système d'alerte régional similaire à ceux mis en place ailleurs. En parallèle, de nombreuses études récentes se sont penchées sur les effets potentiels de l'inondation de plusieurs villes au Maroc telles que Casablanca, Rabat-Salé et El Jadida, en prenant comme référence le tsunami de 1755. Les principaux résultats concernent la distribution géographique des quartiers à risque et la vulnérabilité des bâtiments. Comme 200 Actes de la session plénière solennelle, Rabat, 24-26 février 2015 la plupart de ces études se fait dans un cadre académique dispersé et que les gestionnaires des villes ont rarement accès à ces informations, il serait judicieux de créer un organe inter ministériel permanent des risques regroupant tous les acteurs et pouvant agir efficacement en cas de menace.

E XPERIMENTAL METHODS have been used extensively for many years to conduct research in education and psychology. However, applications of experiments to investigate technology and other instructional innovations in higher education settings have been relatively limited. The present paper examines ways in which experiments can be used productively by higher education researchers to increase the quality and rigor of studies. Specific topics include types of experiments, common validity threats, advantages and disadvantages of experiments, operational procedures for designing and conducting experiments, and reporting and disseminating results. Emphasis is given to helping prospective researchers evaluate the circumstances that favor or disfavor usage of experimental designs relative to other methods. (