We address the question how citation-based bibliometric indicators can best be normalized to ensure fair comparisons between publications from different scientific fields and different years. In a systematic large-scale empirical analysis, we compare a traditional normalization approach based on a field classification system with three source normalization approaches. We pay special attention t...

For the optimal recovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from the BACTEC™ Mycobacterium Growth Indicator Tube 960™ system, an incubation period of 42-56 days is recommended by the manufacturer. Due to logistical reasons, it is common practice to follow an incubation period of 42 days. We undertook a retrospective study to document positive Mycobacterium Growth Indicator Tube cultures beyond the 4...

We analyze hospital efficiency and productivity growth using an innovative approach which employs the directional distance function and the Luenberger productivity indicator. The primary advantage of our approach is that both input contractions and output expansions are considered. Our model generates a productivity indicator that is decomposed into the usual constituents of productivity growth...

The poverty mapping methodology for estimating welfare rankings from small areas has proven to be useful in guiding allocation of government funds, regional planning, and general policy formulation. Nevertheless, poverty mapping also suffers from a series of by now well recognized shortcomings. We apply an approach based on first order dominance (FOD) to small area estimation. Five advantages t...

Since children are the key stakeholders supporting and being affected by sustainable development, the framework for the Sustainable Child Development Index (SCDI) was proposed. It addresses social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development by considering seven relevant themes of child development, i.e., health, education, safety, economic status, relationship, environment...

the present paper aims to examine one of the technically-based approaches in the field of urban planning and urban management which started about two decades ago, and has been tested in iran over the past decade with some scientific and executive prudence. in this paper, the clue_s model, one of the models for land use changes process simulation, is used to examine its efficiency in urbanizatio...

regarding the important role of health in economic growth and development, the purpose of the present paper is to investigate the impact of life expectancy, as the most important indicator of health, on economic growth in iran during 1965-2009. the estimated smooth transition regression (str) model supports a nonlinear threshold behavior in the relationship between life expectancy and economic ...

The purposes of the present study were to screen the ability of Aspergillus fumigatus to produce antibacterial compounds using different growth parameters namely, pH, temperature, agitation and time of fermentation and investigate the effect of the yield against bacterial isolates. A. fumigatus was isolated from arable lands in Sudan and identified macroscopically and microscopically. The pure ...

Consensual deprivation indicators represent one influential approach to measuring poverty,. The approach is based on the assumption that there is a broad consensus on what goods/services families should be able to afford, and that we can use enforced non-possession of those items to measure deprivation. Using data from two GB surveys from 1999, this paper argues that (a) the degree of consensus...