1,721,628 research outputs found
Plant-Derived Antimicrobials and Their Crucial Role in Combating Antimicrobial Resistance
No full textAntibiotic resistance emerged shortly after the discovery of the first antibiotic and has remained a critical public health issue ever since. Managing antibiotic resistance in clinical settings continues to be challenging, particularly with the rise of superbugs, or bacteria resistant to multiple antibiotics, known as multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria. This rapid development of resistance has compelled researchers to continuously seek new antimicrobial agents to curb resistance, despite a shrinking pipeline of new drugs. Recently, the focus of antimicrobial discovery has shifted to plants, fungi, lichens, endophytes, and various marine sources, such as seaweeds, corals, and other microorganisms, due to their promising properties. For this review, an extensive search was conducted across multiple scientific databases, including PubMed, Elsevier, ResearchGate, Scopus, and Google Scholar, encompassing publications from 1929 to 2024. This review provides a concise overview of the mechanisms employed by bacteria to develop antibiotic resistance, followed by an in-depth exploration of plant secondary metabolites as a potential solution to MDR pathogens. In recent years, the interest in plant-based medicines has surged, driven by their advantageous properties. However, additional research is essential to fully understand the mechanisms of action and verify the safety of antimicrobial phytochemicals. Future prospects for enhancing the use of plant secondary metabolites in combating antibiotic-resistant pathogens will also be discussed
Pixel vs. Font. Facebook and Young People’s Self-Presentation
Full text linkThis paper explores various strategies for self-presentation used on Facebook, among a sample of 1330 Italian students aged 14-19 years. Based on two social network site practices, the production of text material and the publication of personal photos, we have constructed a model embracing four types of categories and behaviors. We examined the categories according to structural variables, variables regarding self-narration, and two psychological scales. The results show the validity of the four categories in distinguishing different styles of Facebook use and allowing us to define those styles in greater depth. In particular, the publication of photos by those who do not contribute written text seems to indicate the need to maintain one’s real-life social network; the production of text alone seems to reflect the need to deepen one’s most passionate interests; while the combination of the two communicative modes tends to reveal a greater capacity in planning for the future
Non-parametric probability distributions embedded inside of a linear space provided with a quadratic metric
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SEFE = C-planarity?
No full textIn this article, we deepen the understanding of the connection between two long-standing graph drawing open problems, Simultaneous Embedding with Fixed Edges (SEFE-2) and Clustered Planarity (C-Planarity). Given two planar graphs on the same set of vertices, the SEFE-2 problem asks to find planar drawings of the two graphs such that each vertex lies on the same point and each common edge is represented by the same curve in both drawings. Given a planar graph together with a recursive clustering of its vertices, the C-Planarity problem asks to find a planar drawing of the graph and a representation of each cluster as a simple region enclosing all and only the vertices of the cluster such that no unnecessary intersection involving clusters and edges is created. In a recent article at GD'12, Marcus Schaefer presented a reduction from C-Planarity to SEFE-2. We prove that a reduction exists also in the opposite direction, if we restrict to instances of SEFE-2 in which the graph induced by the common edges is connected. We pose as an intriguing open question whether the two problems are polynomial-time equivalent
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
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