1,721,042 research outputs found
Laterality and lateralization processes in developmental age: Assessment and results in the post-pandemic era
No full textThe introduction of new technologies and their misuse during the COVID-19 pandemic have led to increased sedentary behavior and reduced participation in sports and physical activities. This trend has been associated, as demonstrated by various studies (Orgilés M. et al., 2020), not only with social issues but also with considerable challenges in individuals' psychomotor development. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the motor skills and lateralization processes in 8–10-year-old children, one year after the conclusion of the COVID-19 health emergency. A valid and effective instrument was selected for evaluation, namely the MOVIT tests (Cottini, 2003), which allow for both qualitative and quantitative investigation of movement. These tests were administered to a sample of 85 children in the Campania region, recruited through convenience sampling, over a period of approximately three months. This approach enabled the identification of the children's abilities, deficits, and levels of potential development. The evaluation was performed both ex ante and ex post, with activities designed to enhance the sample's psychomotor level between the two assessments. At the end of the ex post evaluation, the data were analyzed, demonstrating that effective instruction on movement and the timely introduction of playful motor activities can lead to a good psychomotor level in children and consolidate the processes of laterality and lateralization. During the pandemic, children's daily routines changed considerably, with increased screen time and reduced physical interaction leading to reduced motor skill development. This study seeks to address these gaps by implementing a structured physical activity program post-pandemic, assessing its impact on lateralization—a critical aspect of psychomotor development. The MOVIT tests provided comprehensive insights into the children's motor capabilities and areas needing improvement. The study's findings underscore the importance of reinstating physical education in daily routines to foster balanced psychomotor development, emphasizing the role of interactive and engaging physical activities in enhancing children's overall growth
Strength and ductility of RC jacketed columns: a simplified analytical method
No full textReinforced concrete (RC) jacketing is a common method for retrofitting existing columns with poor structural performance. It can be applied in two different ways: if the continuity of the jacket is ensured, the axial load of the column can be transferred to the jacket, which will be directly loaded; conversely, if no continuity is provided, the jacket will induce only confinement action. In both cases the strength and ductility evaluation is rather complex, due to the different physical phenomena included, such as confinement, core-jacket composite action, preload and buckling of longitudinal bars.Although different theoretical studies have been carried out to calculate the confinement effects, a practical approach to evaluate the flexural capacity and ductility is still missing. The calculation of these quantities is often related to the use of commercial software, taking advantage of numerical methods such as fibre method or finite element method.This paper presents a simplified approach to calculate the flexural strength and ductility of square RC jacketed sections subjected to axial load and bending moment. In particular the proposed approach is based on the calibration of the stress-block parameters including the confinement effect. Equilibrium equations are determined and buckling of longitudinal bars is modelled with a suitable stress-strain law. Moment-curvature curves are derived with simple calculations. Finally, comparisons are made with numerical analyses carried out with the code OpenSees and with experimental data available in the literature, showing good agreement.<br/
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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