Technical Journals Research Articles

Impatto bibliometrico delle riviste italiane "peer-reviewed" nel settore forestale

Citation analysis is a commonly used bibliometric method for assessing the scientific activity carried out by researchers and institutions in a specific research field. In this note, the peer-reviewed forestry journals in Italy - Annals of Silvicultural Research, Dendronatura, Forest@, iForest, L’Italia Forestale e Montana, Sherwood - are evaluated and compared using a bibliometric analysis based on quantitative indicators. Annals of Silvicultural Research, edited online by CREA Research Centre for Forestry and Wood, publishes in English original scientific articles, reviews, international project reports and notes on all aspects of silviculture. iForest and Forest@ are two peer-reviewed online journals published by the Italian Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology, the first one in English, while the second one in Italian; iForest and Forest@ encompass a broad range of research aspects concerning forest science; of special interest are studies addressing the biological and ecological bases for the sustainable management of forest ecosystems. L’Italia Forestale e Montana/Italian Journal of Forest and Mountain Environments is a scientific online journal published by the Italian Academy of Forest Sciences that contains scientific articles and reviews, technical notes, letters, opinions, news and book reviews in all the fields of forest sciences and forest policies and economics. Sherwood and Dendronatura, edited respectively by a private publishing company and the Association of Foresters of the Trentino province, are two technical journals mostly devoted to the decision makers, forest owners, professional foresters and forest officials and technicians of public administrations. The bibliometric impact of such forestry journals has been analyzed using the Google Scholar and the Scopus databases for the period 2014-2018

Ichizo Omura, the first Japanese petroleum geologist

Mr. Ichizo Omura is the first and most famous petroleum geologist among geologists working in Japanese oil companies at the Taisho to early Showa era. A part of his contribution to petroleum exploration and the spread of petroleum geology in Japan, and outlines of three technical journals which played the same role as Journal of the Japanese Association for Petroleum Technology before its publication are presented in this paper.

Small systems, big challenges: review of small drinking water system governance

Small drinking water systems (SDWS) are widely identified as presenting particular challenges for drinking water management and governance in industrialised nations because of their small customer base, geographic isolation, and limited human and financial capacity. Consequently, an increasing number and range of scholars have examined SDWS over the last 30 years. Much of this work has been technocentric in nature, focused on SDWS technologies and operations, with limited attention to how these systems are managed, governed, and situated within broader social and political–economic contexts. This review seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of the governance dimensions of SDWS by drawing together existing literature relating to SDWS governance and exploring its key themes, research foci, and emerging directions. This overview is intended to provide guidance to scholars and practitioners interested in specific aspects of SDWS governance and a baseline against which researchers can position future work. The review identified 117 academic articles published in English-language journals between 1990 and 2016 that referred to some aspect of drinking water governance in small, rural, and Indigenous communities in industrialised nations. The articles’ content and bibliographic information were analysed to identify the locations, methods, journals, and themes included in research on SDWS governance. Further analysis of SDWS’ governance dimensions is organised around four questions identified as central to SDWS research: what governance challenges are experienced by SDWS, and what are their causes, solutions, and effects? Overall, the review revealed that the SDWS governance literature is piecemeal and fragmented, with few attempts to theorise SDWS governance or to engage in interdisciplinary, cross-jurisdictional conversations. The majority of articles examine North American SDWS, retain a technocratic orientation to drinking water governance, and are published in technical or industry journals. Such research tends to focus on the governance challenges SDWS face and proposed solutions to systems’ performance, capacity, and regulatory challenges. A small but growing number of studies examine the causal factors underpinning these governance challenges and their socio-spatially differentiated impacts on communities. Looking forward, the review argues for a more holistic, integrative approach to research on SDWS governance, building on a water governance framework.

THE ROLE OF CHURCH IN STATE AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS DURING THE KIBAKI ERA, 2002-2013

Purpose: The primary objective of this study was to determine the role of church in state and public affairs during the Kibaki Era, 2002-2013Methodology: The methodology employed in this study was qualitative in nature. The study relied mainly on the analysis of an existing dataset from secondary sources. The data was gathered from technical reports, scholarly journals, reference books, past sermons, church publications, official and unofficial doctrine, theologies and from the Kenya National Archives in Nairobi. Other sources of data collection for the study included official statistics collected by government and the various agencies, bureaus and departments. The target population for this study was the mainland churches in Kenya and the role these churches played in state and public affairs in Kenya between 2002 and 2007.Results: The Kibaki era has been characterized by many an events that have attracted by far and wide the attention of the clergy. In 2005, the most significant development of the 2005 constitutional referendum is not the defeat of the draft, but the emergence of strains and tensions not just between Christians and Muslims, but also between church and state. Another significant development was the fact that the mainline clergy were increasingly viewed as partisan and divided along ethnic lines and serving narrow political interest depending on the ethnic group to which its leaders belonged. The prophetic role and voice of the church to act as the conscience of society was lost, and the church did nothing to evaluate its own role even after the people voted to soundly reject the draft constitution.Unique contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study recommended that the government should put in place laws that would involve the church in government matters. This can be done by introducing motions into parliament that advocate for the direct involvement of the church. This would involve laws which ensure that a portion of all members sitting in any committee represents the church. This can also be done by the introduction of electoral posts for church representatives just as there are positions for women representatives. The study also recommends that amendments be made to the constitution to make a legal requirement that one of the nominated MPs must be from the church.

Improving China’s scientific publishing is imperative

In China, with the steady increase of investment in scientific research, there has been an improvement in research and growing numbers of research papers, which enable the country to establish and publish its first-class scientific, technical, and medical (STM) journals that adhere to international standards. To enhance the publication of STM journals in China, a complete understanding of their social function is primarily required. STM journals are an important tool for promoting a country’s scientific and technological innovation as well as its discursive power in science and technology. They are essential for leading the direction of scientific research; safeguarding a country’s security in science, technology, and culture; nurturing scientific spirit and methods; and winning international respect. Additionally, STM journals are an important component of a nation’s cultural industries, demonstrated by the fact that the highest-level journals are also the most profitable journals worldwide. Being an integral part of science and technology work, STM journals should be understood and managed as per scientific-research laws. First, we should make conscientious efforts to encourage and promote the vigorous development of STM journals alongside the progress of science and technology. Second, we should accurately understand the difficulties we face as well as the conditions that favor STM publications. Third, enhancing the publication of STM journals is a major task for a huge country like China, and hence, we should orient it scientifically, build our discursive power, and emphasize independence as well as international cooperation in the production, communication, and evaluation of research papers. While top-level design is a priority, we should employ a strategy that encourages the creation of first-class STM journals in the disciplines and industries in which China has an advantage, and induce the formation of a cluster effect by developing high-quality journals in our national specialties. Large publishing groups and major STM publishing houses as well should place special emphasis on the development of such journals. Moreover, the government should provide greater policy support and more funding, particularly for developing large and efficient STM communication platforms.

Socio-technical lock-in hinders crop diversification in France

Crop diversification is considered as a major lever to increase the sustainability of arable farming systems, allowing reduced inputs (irrigation water, pesticides, fertilizers), increasing the heterogeneity of habitat mosaics, or reducing yield gap associated with too frequent returns of the same species. To free up paths of collective action, this article highlights obstacles to crop diversification, existing at various levels of the value chains. We used a threefold approach: (i) a cross-cutting analysis of impediments to the development of 11 diversifying crops (5 species of grain legumes, alfalfa, flax, hemp, linseed, mustard, sorghum), based on published documents and on 30 interviews of stakeholders in French value chains; (ii) a detailed study (55 semi-structured surveys, including 39 farmers) of three value chains: pea and linseed for animal feed, hemp for insulation and biomaterials; and (iii) a bibliometric analysis of the technical journals and websites (180 articles) to characterize the nature of information diffused to farmers. We highlight that the development of minor crops is hindered by a socio-technical lock-in in favor of the dominant species (wheat, rapeseed, maize, etc.). We show for the first time that this lock-in is characterized by strongly interconnected impediments, occurring at every link of the value chains, such as lack of availability of improved varieties and methods of plant protection, scarcity of quantified references on crop successions, complexity of the knowledge to be acquired by farmers, logistical constraints to harvest collection, and difficulties of coordination within the emerging value chains. On the basis of this lock-in analysis, that could concern other European countries, the article proposes levers aimed at encouraging actors to incorporate a greater diversity of crops into their productive systems: adaptation of standards and labelling, better coordination between stakeholders to fairly share added value within value chains, and combination of genetic, agronomic, technological, and organizational innovations.

Impact of innovation on economic development: Cross nation comparison of Canada, South Korea and Pakistan

The objective of this study is to examine the impact of innovation on three heterogeneous countries, Canada, South Korea, and Pakistan by using the consistent time series data from 1991-2011. The results confirmed the positive association between innovation and country’s economic growth controlling the factors of FDI inflows, R&D expenditures, high technology exports, patent applications residents, and scientific & technical journals. The study conclude that technological innovation have a substantial impact on increasing country’s economic growth, hence it is imperative to device strong policies to attract foreign investors to devote resources in a host country for development.

SEO for an open access scholarly information system to improve user experience

PurposeThis paper aims to introduce a case of search engine optimization (SEO), especially designed for a national scholarly open access information website in the field of STEM.Design/methodology/approachKorea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) collaborated with the Google Scholar team to open and share the research outcomes of STEM in Korea worldwide. KoreaScience is a reference-linking platform for open access scientific and technical journals in Korea, operated by KISTI. KISTI worked with the Google Scholar team to embed machine-readable bibliographic metadata into its journal pages and to create an XML Sitemap to help Google find pages on KoreaScience.FindingsAs a result of implementation of metadata and creation of an XML Sitemap, the KoreaScience Web pages have noticeably increased the relevance of a search results’ list on Google and Google Scholar. In addition to this, the KoreaScience platform has received an increasing amount of its traffic from around the world.Originality/valueNot much research has sought to understand SEO in the aspect of users and how it may be facilitated in “visible” academic Web environments such as search systems and open access information systems. For this project, the motivation for investigating SEO comes from its association with positive outcomes that range from personal benefits to global rewards, e.g. increased satisfaction in search user experience and, further, academic progress and scientific development by sharing and accessing scientific knowledge in the fast-growing field of STEM.

The disciplines of management and IT have indeed merged: new empirical data

Advancement in the intelligence field can only be achieved through new observations and the presentation of new empirical data. This is a continuous process and includes how we as employees engage with software and technical solutions. Just as it is impossible to teach or learn anything in marketing today without a deep understanding of digital marketing, in the same way is it impossible to make advancements in intelligence studies without first-hand experience with business intelligence software and new IT-equipment. Management and IT have indeed merged. This understanding has been an integrated part of JISIB since the journal started some eight years ago. And as always, we are less interested in how new technologies are developed (for that there are excellent technical journals) than about the management practice of these developments. This issue follows very much on this track.

Art/Science Collaborations: New Explorations of Ecological Systems, Values, and their Feedbacks

Collaborations between artists and scientists have a long history. In recent years, artists have joined with ecologists to showcase biodiversity, links between biodiversity and ecosystem function, and the effects of human activities on the broader environment. In many cases, artists also have provided “broader impacts” for ecological research activities, communicating scientific findings in creative and novel ways to audiences much broader than the readership of our technical journals.

STATISTICS OF LOW-FREQUENCY KERNEL (SUBORDINATING) MODELS OF THE VERBAL WORD-GROUPS IN THE TEXT CORPUS “RADIO ELECTRONICS”

The paper deals with one of the most widely used types of verbal word combinations, namely kernel (subordinating) models of the verbal word-groups functioning in the “Radio electronics” text corpus, which refers to the technical and scientific discourse. The text corpus was compiled on the basis of scientific and technical journals “Radio electronics” published in the USA by the method of a continuous sampling. In order to select this kind of models a theoretical approach describing the problems of combinatorics and valance is considered. This permits to take into account both contact and distance elements, which are necessarily connected with the verb by grammatical (subordinating) bond and form a word-group with it. For compilation of the inventory of kernel models of the subordinating verbal word-groups 10698 sentences are subjected to the distributive analysis. The models occurring with the low frequency (below 180) are exclusively chosen. The total amount of low frequency model is 41 units. Except the distributive methods the statistical ones are applied in the research. The quantitative analysis of kernel models used in the text corpus with a low frequency has shown that the number of different models is much bigger as compared to the same units with a high frequency of usage – 77, 4% and 22, 6%, respectively. But the total frequencies comparison goes in the favour of high frequency models – 0, 4% to 99, 6%. Besides quantitative characteristics the simplicity/complexity parameter of the model structures are analysed. In studying the high frequency kernel models the direct dependence of frequency of usage on the model structure was observed – the simpler the structure is the higher the frequency is. But the low frequency kernel models demonstrate more complex and contradictory functioning as regard to this parameter. In most cases the tendency to indirect dependence is seen quite distinctly, i.e. the simpler the structure is the lower the frequency is, and the chaotic distribution of frequencies occurs in the frequently highest among low-frequency models.

Comments: How JPT Selects Technical Papers

Editor's column JPT publishes summaries of 144 technical papers a year, choosing from among more than 4,000 papers to ensure that it is publishing the “best of the best.” Although this has been standard practice for the magazine for years, many SPE members, as well as nonmembers, are unclear how these papers are selected. It starts with dedicated volunteers. The JPT Editorial Committee comprises 47 oil and gas industry professionals who are experts in their field. Committee members volunteer their time to review technical papers and abstracts that have been presented at SPE conferences as well as the multisociety Offshore Technology Conference, Unconventional Resources Technology Conference, and International Petroleum Technology Conference and identify the most relevant, high-interest, and practical papers for publication. Occasionally, papers that have not been presented at a conference but submitted directly to JPT are reviewed. Reviewers also attempt to ensure that the papers represent the industry’s geographic and corporate diversity. JPT staff then summarize the chosen papers in 2–3 pages with access to the full-length paper available online. SPE members can access the full-length papers for free for 2 months at www.spe.org/jpt. Over the course of the year, JPT will publish summaries of 12–16 papers monthly in a variety of upstream areas such as hydraulic fracturing, formation evaluation, completions, and enhanced oil recovery to name a few. The committee members have diverse positions in the industry as well as backgrounds. They include professionals at operators, service companies, national oil companies, independents, consultancies, and in academia. Qualifications to serve on the committee include SPE membership, be a recognized industry expert on a particular technical topic, have at least 10 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, and have been an author of SPE technical papers. The chair of the committee serves a 3-year term as do the committee members. Current members of the committee and their job affiliations can be found to the right of this column. The goal of publishing these technical paper summaries is to provide readers with short versions of important papers. In years past, JPT published full-length technical papers but that allowed for publication of only a few over the course of the year. Publishing summaries allows readers to be exposed to a variety of ideas and technology applications and an avenue to easily access the full-length paper if interested. This help meets JPT’s, and SPE’s, goal of disseminating and sharing knowledge about recent state-of-the-art developments, best practices, and solutions in E&P technology. Each reviewer also picks additional papers for a recommended reading list, for those interested in more high-quality information on a topic, and prepares an article on the state of the technology in that particular discipline. So far this year, the committee has reviewed 3,795 papers and will have reviewed more than 4,000 by the end of the calendar year. The process is distinct, but sometimes confused, with peer review. SPE’s online technical journals publish peer-reviewed papers, which is a more lengthy process involving industry experts carefully evaluating a paper and working with the author to clarify or validate certain assumptions or statements.

SIST 07「学術雑誌の構成とその要素(案)」の評価 : 学術雑誌および技術ジャーナルの立場から

SIST 07「学術雑誌の構成とその要素(案)」の評価 : 学術雑誌および技術ジャーナルの立場から

Results of research and commercial production of shale oil in Bazhenov formation on Ai-Pimskoe field

A large number of articles devoted to Bazhenov Formation appeared in Russian scientific and technical journals, aimed at specialists in of oil and gas fields development over the last 5 – 10 years. This is due to the fact that traditional hydrocarbon resources are gradually reducing, making oil companies pay attention to shale oil; the largest deposits in the Russian Federation are in Bazhenov Formation. The main purpose of this article is to highlight results obtained during the development of Bazhenov Formation on Ai-Pimskoe field in Western Siberia.

A critical perspective on the design and development of metal oxide catalysts for selective propylene ammoxidation and oxidation

The objective of this article is to use the example of the development of metal oxide catalysts for the selective ammoxidation and oxidation of propylene to illustrate successful catalyst design strategies for achieving enhanced yields of acrylonitrile and acrolein, respectively. The processes of catalytic selective ammoxidation and oxidation of propylene are not the only, albeit they are among the most industrially significant, examples of the commercial application of metal oxide selective oxidation catalysts. Other important commercial catalytic processes that use highly developed metal oxide catalysts systems include butane oxidation to maleic anhydride and alkyl aromatic ammoxidation of toluene, xylenes, and picolines (alkyl pyridines) to produce valuable aromatic nitriles including nicotinonitrile which is the precursor for nicotinic acid (niacin) an important B-complex vitamin. Using the example of industrial propylene selective (amm)oxidation, this article surveys the available patents, scientific and technical journals to chronical and analyze the development and advancement of the complex metal oxides from discovery to current state-of-the-art. Recognizing that commercial practices are proprietary, this analysis uses no known company sensitive or confidential information is included in these descriptions. From this analysis a comprehensive catalyst design strategy unfolds that is based on the enabling science of solid state chemistry and the results of the characterization tools it provides. This provides a viable platform to unlock the next level of metal oxide catalyst development with ultra-high selectivity for hydrocarbon oxidation.

INNOVATIVENESS OF DIFFERENT AGRICULTURAL TYPES OF FARMS IN FARMERS’ OPINION FROM REGIONS OF MAZOWSZE AND PODLASIE

The objective of the study was to survey the opinion of the operators of different types agricultural of farms (cattle, pig, mixed, and crop farms) situated in the regions of Mazowsze and Podlasie regarding the issue of innovations in agriculture. The aim of the study was to learn about the sources of information on innovations in agriculture and about the demand for agricultural counseling. Purposeful selection of the sample was used and farmers’ opinions were surveyed by the query method. Pro-innovative attitudes were shown by the majority of the owners of cattle and crop farms. The owners of all types of farms usually drew upon the following sources of information: ODR (Agricultural Advisory Centres) extension officers, technical journals, training courses, internet and television. Livestock farms (cattle and pig farms) showed a greater demand for extension services that did mixed production farms. Of the extension services present, consulting by ODR’s workers and by agricultural agencies were in the greatest demand.

Authorship Trends of Research Articles Published in Seven Scientific, Technical, Engineering, and Medical (STEM) Library Journals: Analysis of STEM Library Research from 2011–2015

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study is to examine the authorship patterns of research articles published in seven Scientific, Technical, Engineering, and Medical (STEM) library science journals. The following journals—Science & Technology Libraries, Issues in Science & Technology Librarianship, Journal of eScience Librarianship, Journal of Hospital Librarianship, Journal of the Medical Library Association, Medical Reference Services Quarterly, and Health Information and Libraries Journal—were studied by using bibliometric techniques for the five years from 2011 through 2015. Some of the variables we have examined include (1) authorship, (2) affiliation, (3) country of origin, and (4) topic of the research articles. The findings presented a unique opportunity to determine the current state of art in STEM librarianship research by using the data gathered from seven prominent STEM library science journals.

学習早期(初級修了後)からの工学系学術論文読解支援のための基礎調査

学習早期(初級修了後)からの工学系学術論文読解支援のための基礎調査

Data mining on technical trends and international collaborations in the refractory ceramic area

The refractory field is a complex network in which long-term trends are determined based on the interaction between different players such as raw material producers, refractory manufacturers, end users, research centres and universities. As it is a complex system, it is very difficult to know who the leading participants are in the scientific development and what the future technologies and trends will be in the area. In order to retrieve this information, data mining and the graph theory were used to analyse publications from the major technical journals in the refractory area over the last 21 years. Based on this study, a complete map of the international collaboration of the different leading countries in the refractory field was attained. A common factor of these countries is the active working interaction, which helps them to tackle challenging problems with a high degree of complexity. In depth, technological trends were obtained from the analysis of selected keyword over the period considered showing a lack of technological breakthrough in the past 10 years. Furthermore, a strong increasing trend using different types of computer simulations to support the technological development of the refractories was observed.

Guest Editorial

Guest Editorial