1,720,976 research outputs found
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
Cryptosporidium and Blastocystis sp infections in wild primates from urban and peri-urban centres in Kenya
No full textEvidence of pathogen cross transmission between humans and primates has raised concerns about the potential impact of zoonotic pathogen transmission on primate and human health, and primate conservation. Cryptosporidium infection has been recorded in many primate species, indicating that they are likely to serve as potential reservoirs for human infections. We conducted molecular characterization of Cryptosporidium species infecting wild primates for insights into the little-known zoonotic transmission cycles in urban and peri-urban centres in Kenya. Rectal swabs were collected from a total of 65 primates, DNA extracted and screened by nested polymerase chain reaction. Overall, 43.08% of all the primates sampled were found positive for Cryptosporidium species with most infections occurring in adults. Positive cases of Cryptosporidium sp infection were distributed across all the study sites. Three of four sampled primate species (Papio anubis, Chlorocebus aethiops, Cercopithecus mitis) were positive for Cryptosporidium infections; one (Cercopithecus ascanius schmidts) was not. Sequencing results further revealed the presence of Blastocystis species. Strong bootstrap support showed a clear clustering of both Cryptosporidium and Blastocystis species obtained from this study with human isolates. In conclusion, both parasites have zoonotic potential and our findings highlight the importance of periodic surveillance of wild primate populations for zoonoses.Funding provided by: Duke UniversityCrossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100006510Award Number: Duke Office of Global affairs, Global enhancement grantFunding provided by: Consortium for National Health Research, Kenya *Crossref Funder Registry ID: Award Number:We trapped free-raging nonhuman primates (NHPs) in 2018 and 2019 from natural urban wildlife populations within five urban and peri-urban centres of selected towns in Kenya: in the western part of the country Kisumu, Kakamega, central Murang'a and on along the coast Mombasa and Kilifi. Sampling was carried out as previously described (Maamun et al., 2011, Jeneby et al.,, 2011). To avoid re-trapping of study subjects, we applied a non-toxic dye to the fur to identify sampled individuals, An authorised wildlife veterinarian physically examined the animals under anaesthesia and recorded their general health, sex and age group as described Nyamota et al., (2020) and Mbuthia et al., (2021). Sampled primates included Papio anubis (olive baboon), Chlorocebus aethiops (African green monkey), Cercopithecus mitis (Sykes monkeys) and Cercopithecus ascanius schmidts (red-tailed monkey). Faecal samples were collected from the rectum via swabbing and stored in 70% ethanol for molecular assays
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
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
Grooming and its Effect on the Prevalence of Tick Borne Diseases: A Case Study of Wild Yellow Baboons (Papio cynocephalus cynocephalus)
No full textBehavioral studies on grooming in nonhuman primates have been carried out by several primatologists over the years. Nonhuman primates spend a lot of time grooming for various reasons which include health and social functions. These nonhuman primates are exposed to ectoparasites in the wild which include ticks that act as vectors in the transmission of several diseases including haemoparasitic infections in animals. This study aimed at determining whether there is a relationship between the frequency of grooming received by a baboon and its ectoparasite load. It also aimed to find out whether reduced ectoparasite load results in lower prevalence of haemoparasitic infections transmitted by ticks. The study focused on a population of wild yellow baboons (papio cynopcephalus cynocephalus), and examined the relationship, in
each study subject, between grooming behavior, tick load, and haemoprotozoan infection status. The methodology included ad libitum and focal sampling methods of measuring grooming
behavior; it also included darting and physical examination of animals for disease indicators, haematological laboratory examination of samples such as blood smears, packed cell volume (PCV) determination, and molecular diagnosis of haemoparasites using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Data management and analysis was carried out using STAr A 10 statistical software. The results showed that the frequency of grooming received was influenced by the age, rank, sex and the social group to which an individual animal belonged. The ectoparasite load was influenced mainly by the age of the animal such that older animals were more hkely to have a higher tick load compared to the younger ones (p = 0.025, Odds Ratio = 1.118, n = 59), and to a lesser extent it was also influenced by the frequency of grooming received (p = 0.083, Odds Ratio = 0.968, n = 59) and dominance rank (p = 0.056, Odds Ratio = 0.870, n = 59). The results also showed a low prevalence of Babesia species in this population of animals. The physical examination did not reveal any signs of acute infection by this parasite. Other physiological
indices of the presence of infection such as packed cell volume were affected by the ectoparasite load, age and sex. The data strongly suggested a relationship between grooming and tick load,
such that animals that were groomed more had fewer ticks. The effect was significant in a nonparametric bivariate test of total tick count versus grooming (p = 0.0036), and showed a strong trend in a multivariate analysis using a categorical variable (ticks present vs ticks absent; p = 0.086). However, the results did not reveal any significant relationship between haemoprotozoan infections verses grooming
Disease Risk in Wild Primate Populations: Host and Environmental Predictors, Immune Responses and Costs of Infection
No full textDisease risk in wild animal populations is driven by multiple factors, including host, parasite, and environmental traits, that facilitate the transmission of parasites and infection of hosts. Parasites inflict costs on their hosts that affect host fitness with downstream consequences on population structures and disease emergence patterns. Most disease risk-related studies are conducted in captive animals, while few have focused on free-ranging populations because of the logistical challenges associated with long-term monitoring of the hosts and sample collection. Hence, data regarding disease dynamics in natural populations are scarce, which limits our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary context of disease dynamics. In this thesis, we investigate the forces driving disease risk in wild primates and the possible consequences of infection on these hosts.We used longitudinal and cross-sectional data sets from wild primate populations in Kenya, Eastern Africa, to examine the following aims: 1) the effect of host behavior on hormones associated with disease risk, 2) environmental and host factors that predispose individuals to helminth infections, and 3) the immune responses and fitness costs associated with helminth infections. First, we investigated how two maturational milestones in wild male baboons—natal dispersal and rank attainment—were associated with variation in fecal hormone metabolites (glucocorticoids and testosterone). These two hormones are generally considered to be immunosuppressive and are often associated with high parasite loads. Within this analysis, we also investigated whether changes in the frequencies of behaviors (mating and agonistic encounters) were associated with adult dominance rank attainment. Second, we investigated multiple sources of variance in helminth burdens in a well-studied population of wild female baboons, including factors that contribute to both exposure and susceptibility (group size, social status, rainfall, temperature, age, and reproductive status). Third, we investigated how hematological indices and body mass index were associated with helminth burden. In the first study, our results revealed that rank attainment is associated with an increase in fecal glucocorticoids (fGC) levels but not fecal testosterone (fT) levels: males that have achieved an adult rank have higher fGC than males that have not yet attained an adult rank. We also found that males win more agonistic encounters and acquire more reproductive opportunities after they have attained adult rank than before they have done so. The second study revealed that female baboons in Amboseli were infected with diverse helminth taxa, including both directly transmitted and indirectly transmitted helminths. In general, high parasite risk was linked to large group sizes, low rainfall conditions, old age, and pregnancy, although these predictors varied somewhat across helminth species. Fecal GC levels were not associated with any measures of helminth burden. The third study found that helminth burdens were positively associated with circulating lymphocyte counts and negatively associated with neutrophil-lymphocyte ratios (NLR). We did not find any associations between helminth burdens and total WBC or eosinophil counts. Red blood cell indices were not predicted by our measures of helminth burden but instead varied with age class and sex. Helminth burdens were also negatively correlated with body mass index (BMI).Overall, the findings of this thesis are consistent with the hypothesis that host and environmental traits are important predictors of disease risk and infection in wild primate populations. In addition, our results suggest that wild primates mount immune responses to helminth burden and that helminth infections may have detrimental consequences on host body condition. Our work enhances the limited data on sources of disease variation and associated costs in wild populations. It also emphasizes the continued need for disease surveillance and health monitoring in wild populations.</p
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