1,720,972 research outputs found
Utilisation pattern and economic potential of indigenous fruits and vegetables among rural communities in Akure, Nigeria
Full text linkMIKS, North-West University, Mahikeng CampusPlants including indigenous/naturalised fruits and vegetables (IFVs) have the potential towards meeting the food and nutrition needs of humans. Currently, IFVs are threatened by human activities such as deforestation, environmental degradation and acculturation. As a result, the need for ethnobotanical surveys that focus on the documentation of IFVs remains pertinent. The aim of the study was to explore the diverse uses, knowledge and economic potential of indigenous fruits and vegetables among 40 rural communities in Akure, Nigeria. Ethnobotanical information was collected among 400 participants using semi-structured questionnaires. Thereafter, the frequency of citation (FC) was calculated. An inventory of 46 indigenous and naturalised plant species from 19 families were identified as a source of food, nutritional and therapeutic purposes as well as energy source (fuel) in the study area. The FC ranged from approximately 32-90% and IFVs such as Ageratum conyzoides (L.) L. (89.5%), Citrus aurantiifolia (Christm.) Swingle (89.5%), Talinum fruticosum (L.) Juss. (88.8%), Amaranthus hybridus L. (87.8%), Vernonia adoensis var. adoensis (86.8%) and Vernonia amygdalina Delile (86.8%) were the most cited plants. The dominant plant families were Asteraceae (8 IFVs) and Malvaceae (6 IFVs) while the leaves (35%) and fruit (21%) were the most frequently used plant parts. In terms of use-categories, the IFVs served as food (53%), medicine/health benefits (46%) and fuel/energy source (1%), which is an indication of their diverse potential in the study area. Elaeis guineensis Jacq. was recorded as a highly diverse IFV with applications in the three use-categories. The demographic overview of the study area revealed that male participants (60.5%) are more than female (39%). In addition, the study indicated that most of the participants acquired formal education at the secondary (42.3%), primary (36.8%), and tertiary level (7.3%), while 7.5% of the participants had no formal education. Overall, the current findings contribute to the on-going global research efforts aimed at documentation of indigenous plants. The value of the efficient utilisation of rural lands to cultivate indigenous fruit and vegetables to improve the livelihood of farming households cannot be overemphasized. This study applied probit regression, principal component analysis (PCA) and propensity score matching (PSM) models to investigate the factors that determine the decisions of households to utilize their lands to cultivate indigenous fruit and vegetables. The impact of their cultivation on the participants’ livelihood was assessed and found that they were profitable (₦19,187.8/USD 42.60/Ha). The farmers who cultivated indigenous fruits and vegetables (n= 277) made an additional 29.40% average total farm revenue than those (n=123) who did not. Based on the probit regression analysis, factors such as educational attainment,
access to government subsidies and knowledge of the nutritional benefits of the indigenous fruit and vegetables influenced the farmers’ decisions to cultivate indigenous fruit and vegetables. The PSM model established that indigenous plant’s cultivation increases farm revenue and livelihoods outcomes by 17604.85 and 2.265, respectively. In this context, the cultivation of indigenous fruits and vegetables in the selected rural communities is important for the improving the livelihoods of households and suggests the need to rethink present dominant policy narrative that neglects these indigenous products. Concerted effort needs to focus on increasing their productivity and commercialization as a primary pathway to improved rural livelihood and transformation. The current findings reveal the rich biodiversity and potential of IFV for nutrition and health benefits in the study area. However, the determination of the nutritional and phytochemical content of identified IFVs collected from the study area will be essential for their characterisation which may enhance their acceptance among the local and wider populations.Master
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
South African medicinal plants used for health conditions affecting males: an ethnobotanical review
Full text linkArticle, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (Indigenous Knowledge Systems Centre (IKS)--Mahikeng CampusIntroduction: Health issues affecting males remain a public health challenge due to the limited treatments and male health-seeking behaviour. In South Africa, local communities have relied on plant-based therapies to address health issues including those affecting males. This review explored the ethnobotanical and indigenous knowledge of plants used for managing male urogenital and sexual-reproductive conditions in South Africa, to establish the existing status and identify gaps for further research.
Methods: Following a systematic search, 51 eligible studies were extracted from electronic databases. Results: A total of 337 plants belonging to 83 families were collated across seven provinces in South Africa. Fabaceae (37) and Asteraceae (37) were the most represented plant families. Hypoxis hemerocallidea Fisch., C.A.Mey. & Avé-Lall. (18 citations), and Entada elephantina (Burch.) S.A.O’Donnell & G.P.Lewis (synonym: Elephantorrhiza elephantina (Burch.) Skeels) (12 citations) were the commonly used plants. Roots (33.4%) and leaves (17%) were the most commonly used plant parts. Decoction (44%) and oral-based (53%) were the dominant preparation and administration method, respectively. The two major health conditions had 18 sub-categories as derived from the eligible studies. Particularly, aphrodisiac and erectile dysfunction were the most encountered conditions and were managed with 133 plants. Provinces such as the Northern Cape and North West had limited studies on plants used for male healthcare needs.
Conclusion: We highlighted the importance of plants in meeting the primary healthcare needs of males. This suggests the need to promote additional research into the cultural, therapeutic, and dynamic trends in the use of plants for meeting the healthcare needs of males, especially in rural areas
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
Applications of cytokinins in horticultural fruit crops : trends and future prospects
Full text linkCITATION: Aremu, Adeyemi O. et al. 2020. Applications of cytokinins in horticultural fruit crops : trends and future prospects. Biomolecules, 10(9):1222, doi:10.3390/biom10091222.The original publication is available at: https://mdpi-res.comCytokinins (CKs) are a chemically diverse class of plant growth regulators, exhibiting wide-ranging actions on plant growth and development, hence their exploitation in agriculture for crop improvement and management. Their coordinated regulatory effects and cross-talk interactions with other phytohormones and signaling networks are highly sophisticated, eliciting and controlling varied biological processes at the cellular to organismal levels. In this review, we briefly introduce the mode of action and general molecular biological effects of naturally occurring CKs before highlighting the great variability in the response of fruit crops to CK-based innovations. We present a comprehensive compilation of research linked to the application of CKs in non-model crop species in different phases of fruit production and management. By doing so, it is clear that the effects of CKs on fruit set, development, maturation, and ripening are not necessarily generic, even for cultivars within the same species, illustrating the magnitude of yet unknown intricate biochemical and genetic mechanisms regulating these processes in different fruit crops. Current approaches using genomic-to-metabolomic analysis are providing new insights into the in planta mechanisms of CKs, pinpointing the underlying CK-derived actions that may serve as potential targets for improving crop-specific traits and the development of new solutions for the preharvest and postharvest management of fruit crops. Where information is available, CK molecular biology is discussed in the context of its present and future implications in the applications of CKs to fruits of horticultural significance.Publisher's versio
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