1,721,022 research outputs found
The challenges and potential of small farmers in driving an agroecological food system transition. A study of collective grassroots actions in Gilgil, Kenya
No full textThe recent debate on agricultural development revolves around two main models, whose relevance extends from the theoretical to the political level and which support the industrialization of production or small-scale agriculture as a key to food sovereignty and sustainability. This work contributes to this debate by building on a study conducted in Kenya on grassroots collective action in rural areas conducted by small farmers. After an overview of the relevant literature, the coordinates and main findings of the study are presented and their implications for the interpretation of today's agricultural issue are discussed. Particularly, the three case histories provided confirm the interest of small farmers in an agroecological transition to strengthen their autonomy as producers and improve their ability to cope with environmental and economic risks. These experiences, it is argued, offer a viable alternative to technology-driven top-down development programmes focused on improving the competitiveness and integration of small farmers into global markets
CHEMICAL ARTS AND RELIGION IN ANTIQUITY. AN INTRODUCTION
Full text linkIntroduction to the special issue dedicated to chemical arts and religion in Antiquit
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
Small farmers constraints and potentialities. A survey in Kenya
No full textThis paper identifies the features of Kenyan small-scale farmers and their production systems, highlighting the challenges of sustainability transition. Drawing on the agro-ecology and eco-economy literature, the research hypothesis is that Kenyan farmers can play a role of paramount importance in stimulating place-based sustainability practices, and assure food security outcomes, because farming occurs following indigenous, place-based tradition and knowledge. 100 small farmers in the sub-county of Gilgil in Nakuru County, Kenya have been surveyed and profiled. The survey was sponsored by MIUR (Italian Ministry of University and Research). The research aimed to contribute to the debates on the sustainability of food systems
The Italian National Case Study
No full textPLUS: Participation, Leadership and Urban Sustainability, V Framework Programme, European Commission, City of Tomorrow and Cultural Heritage. Contract no EVK4-CT-2001-0006
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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