Criteria for assessing quality in academic research: the views of biomedical scientists, clinical scientists and social scientists

This study empirically addresses the claim made by Gibbons et al (The new production of knowledge: The dynamics of science and research in contemporary societies. Sage, Thousand Oaks, 1994) that a novel form of quality control (associated with Mode 2 knowledge production) is supplementing the “traditional” peer-review process (associated with Mode 1 knowledge production). A qualitative design was used to explore faculty members’ views on the criteria for assessing scientific research. Ninety-four semi-structured interviews were conducted with biomedical scientists, clinical scientists, and social scientists working in Canadian universities. Results show that the vast majority of participants are aligned with the “traditional” Mode 1 peer-reviewed procedures for assessing research and defining scientific excellence. These participants asserted that peer review is the best quality control mechanism for assessing scientific research, and peer recognition the key attribute for legitimacy in the academic arena. In contrast, participants ascribed a low value to non-academics’ judgment of their work. While the study findings do not provide support Gibbons et al.’s claim, they add to a growing body of evidence that supports the continuing importance of peer review in academic career success.     

The DiabetAction Program

Developed for specialists who want to increase the physical activity (PA) level of type 2 diabetic and at-risk individuals, the 10-week DiabetAction program introduced participants to a wide variety of cardiovascular, resistance, balance, and flexibility exercises. Thirty-three of 48 individuals completed the intervention in community-based settings, while 25 of 29 participants completed control group evaluations. A significant time effect (p < .05) was measured for leisure PA level, resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure, estimated aerobic capacity, and dynamic balance (nonsignificant group effect; p > .05). The physical functioning domain of quality of life improved in the experimental group, while the vitality domain improved in the control group (significant interactions; p < .05). Follow-ups of the experimental group revealed that they maintained postintervention parameters (leisure PA level, proportion of participants ≥ 150 min of PA weekly, estimated aerobic capacity) or improved (mental component summary measure of quality of life). Ninety-four percent of the experimental group was “very” or “extremely” satisfied with the program, and participants perceived improvements in PA level, health, and tiredness postintervention. In conclusion, participants in community-based settings improved on many of the measured parameters and maintained PA practice up to 6 months postintervention. However, since control participants also saw improvements, further controlled studies will be needed.     

Groupitizing reflects conceptual developments in math cognition and inequities in math achievement from childhood through adolescence

Understanding the cognitive processes central to mathematical development is crucial to addressing systemic inequities in math achievement. We investigate the “Groupitizing” ability in 1209 third to eighth graders (mean age at first timepoint = 10.48, 586 girls, 39.16% Asian, 28.88% Hispanic/Latino, 18.51% White), a process that captures the ability to use grouping cues to access the exact value of a set. Groupitizing improves each year from late childhood to early adolescence (d = 3.29), is a central predictor of math achievement (beta weight = .30), is linked to conceptual processes in mathematics (minimum d = 0.69), and helps explain the dynamic between the ongoing development of non-symbolic number concepts, systemic educational inequities in school associated with SES, and mathematics achievement (minimum beta weight = .11) in ways that explicit symbolic measures may miss.     

The role of location and social strength for friendship prediction in location-based social networks

Recent advances in data mining and machine learning techniques are focused on exploiting location data. These advances, combined with the increased availability of location-acquisition technology, have encouraged social networking services to offer to their users different ways to share their location information. These social networks, called location-based social networks (LBSNs), have attracted millions of users and the attention of the research community. One fundamental task in the LBSN context is the friendship prediction due to its role in different applications such as recommendation systems. In the literature exists a variety of friendship prediction methods for LBSNs, but most of them give more importance to the location information of users and disregard the strength of relationships existing between these users. The contributions of this article are threefold, we: 1) carried out a comprehensive survey of methods for friendship prediction in LBSNs and proposed a taxonomy to organize the existing methods; 2) put forward a proposal of five new methods addressing gaps identified in our survey while striving to find a balance between optimizing computational resources and improving the predictive power; and 3) used a comprehensive evaluation to quantify the prediction abilities of ten current methods and our five proposals and selected the top-5 friendship prediction methods for LBSNs. We thus present a general panorama of friendship prediction task in the LBSN domain with balanced depth so as to facilitate research and real-world application design regarding this important issue.     

Evidence on how academics manage their portfolio of knowledge transfer activities

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether six broad categories of knowledge transfer activities undertaken by academics: the creation and diffusion of knowledge through publications, transmission of knowledge through teaching, informal knowledge transfer, patenting, spin-off formation and consulting activities, are complementary, substitute, or independent, as well as the conditions under which complementarities, substitution and independence among these activities are likely to emerge. This investigation relied on data regarding 1554 researchers funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Contrary to prior studies which have examined complementarities and the determinants of knowledge transfer activities in separate models, this study relied on a multivariate path model to reflect the fact that in practice, academics consider simultaneously whether or not to undertake multiple knowledge transfer activities. Overall, the results point to the existence of three very different types of knowledge transfer portfolios of activities: a first portfolio made up of complementary activities which are interdependent and reinforce each other. This portfolio includes publications, patenting, spin-off creation, consulting and informal knowledge transfer. A second portfolio includes teaching activities and publication outputs which are substitute for each other. A third portfolio comprises teaching activities and other activities independent from teaching, namely, patenting, spin-off creation, consulting and informal knowledge transfer. Each of these three portfolios of knowledge transfer activities emerged under different conditions. Implications are derived for managerial practice and future research.     

Influence of saddle setback on knee joint forces in cycling

Abstract

Knee functional disorders are one of the most common lower extremity non-traumatic injuries reported by cyclists. Incorrect bicycle configuration may predispose cyclist to injury but the evidence of an effect of saddle setback on knee pain remains inconclusive. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of saddle setback on knee joint forces during pedalling using a musculoskeletal modelling approach. Ten cyclists were assessed under three saddle setback conditions (range of changes in saddle position ~6 cm) while pedalling at a steady power output of 200 W and cadence of 90 rpm. A cycling musculoskeletal model was developed and knee joint forces were estimated using an inverse dynamics method associated with a static optimisation procedure. Our results indicate that moving the saddle forwards was not associated with an increase of patellofemoral joint forces. On the contrary, the tibiofemoral mean and peak compression force were 14 and 15% higher in the Backward than in the Forward condition, respectively. The peak compression force was related to neither pedal force nor quadriceps muscle force but coincided with the eccentric contraction of knee flexor muscles. These findings should benefit bike fitting practitioners and coaches in the design of specific training/rehabilitation protocols.     

Electrical and mechanical response of skeletal muscle to electrical stimulation after acute passive stretching in humans: A combined electromyographic and mechanomyographic approach

Abstract

Flexural and torsional rigidity are important properties of skis. However, the flexural and torsional rigidity that lead to optimal performance remain to be established. In the present study, four pairs of slalom skis that differed in flexural and torsional rigidity were tested by advanced and expert skiers. Using a 10-item questionnaire, different aspects of the skis' performance were rated on a 9-point scale. For each pair of skis, physical measurements were compared with the ratings of the two groups of skiers. Correlations (Spearman) were then determined between (i) different mechanical properties of the skis (static and dynamic), (ii) subjective assessments of the participants, and (iii) properties of the skis and the participants' assessments. The latter showed that expert skiers rate the aspects of the skis more accurately than advanced skiers. Most importantly, expert skiers are particularly sensitive to torsion of the skis. These results suggest that such highly rated elements should be addressed in future ski designs.     

Development of an automatic and mobile X-ray robot: An innovative approach to medical imaging through mechatronics

The objective of this work is the development of an automatic and mobile X-ray robot that is becoming necessary in a changing environment (aging society, growth of the developing countries, etc.). Specifically, there are three sides to such a project. First, there is the mechanical side, i.e. the design and implementation of motors on every mobile part of an X-ray unit allowing it to move around a standing patient. Then, comes the electronic side, i.e. the use of potentiometers and limit switches as feedback combined with microcontrollers. And last, the algorithm that computes three-dimensional models from two-dimensional X-rays.