1,720,981 research outputs found
Anthropogenic fibers in the Mediterranean sea: Methods and monitoring of an overlooked category of microparticles in the water column
Anthropogenic particles (APs) are widespread in the marine environment, but knowledge gaps remain regarding anthropogenic fibers. This study aimed to evaluate the presence of APs, including natural and synthetic fibers, in the water column. A literature review on fibers in Mediterranean seawater revealed that current sampling methods are underdeveloped. Two sampling methods were compared to determine the best approach for collecting fibers: a new in-situ pump (20 μm mesh filter) and a WP2 plankton net (200 μm). The in-situ pump was the most effective method and was applied in three areas of the Western Mediterranean Sea (Gulf of Asinara, Capraia Island, Capo Carbonara). The predominant APs, characterized by μFTIR, were cellulose and polyester fibers, reflecting the global textile fiber production. The Asinara area was the most impacted area (average of 393.7 items/m3). This study highlights the ubiquitous presence of fibers in the water column and underscores the need for further investigation of potential impacts on marine biota
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
The 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
“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
We 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
Habitat constraints and self-thinning shape Mediterranean red coral deep population structure: implications for conservation practice
The Mediterranean red coral, Corallium rubrum, is one of the most precious corals worldwide. Below 50 m depth, C. rubrum populations are generally characterised by large and sparse colonies, whereas shallow populations (above 50 m depth) show high densities of small colonies. We show here instead that populations dwelling between 80 and 170 m depth exhibited a continuous range of population density (from 2 to 75 colonies per 0.25 m2), with less than 1% of variance explained by water depth. An inverse relationship between maximum population density and mean colony height was found, suggesting that self-thinning processes may shape population structure. Moreover, demographically young populations composed of small and dense colonies dominated along rocky vertical walls, whereas mature populations characterised by large and sparsely distributed colonies were found only in horizontal beds not covered by sediment. We hypothesise that, in the long term, shallow protected populations should resemble to present deep populations, with sparsely distributed large colonies. Since the density of red coral colonies can decay as a result of self-thinning mechanisms, we advise that future protection strategies should be based also on a measure of red coral spatial coverage instead of population densit
Distribution and population structure of deep dwelling red coral in the Northwestern Mediterranean
Commercially harvested since ancient times, the highly valuable red coral
Corallium rubrum (Linnaeus, 1758) is an octocoral endemic to the Mediterranean
Sea and adjacent Eastern Atlantic Ocean, where it occurs on rocky bottoms
over a wide bathymetric range. Current knowledge is restricted to its
shallow populations (15–50 m depth), with comparably little attention given to
the deeper populations (50–200 m) that are nowadays the main target of
exploitation. In this study, red coral distribution and population structure were
assessed in three historically exploited areas (Amalfi, Ischia Island and Elba
Island) in the Tyrrhenian Sea (Western Mediterranean Sea) between 50 and
130 m depth by means of ROV during a cruise carried out in the summer of
2010. Red coral populations showed a maximum patch frequency of
0.20 0.04 SD patchesm
1 and a density ranging between 28 and 204 colonies
m
2, with a fairly continuous bathymetric distribution. The highest red
coral densities in the investigated areas were found on cliffs and boulders
mainly exposed to the east, at the greatest depth, and characterized by medium
percentage sediment cover. The study populations contained a high percentage
(46% on average) of harvestable colonies (>7 mm basal diameter). Moreover,
some colonies with fifth-order branches were also observed, highlighting the
probable older age of some components of these populations. The Ischia population
showed the highest colony occupancy, density and size, suggesting a better
conservation status than the populations at the other study locations. These
results indicate that deep dwelling red coral populations in non-stressed or
less-harvested areas may diverge from the inverse size-density relationship
previously observed in red coral populations with increasing depth
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
We 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
We 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
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