104,664 research outputs found
Syrian women's perceptions and experiences of ultrasound screening in pregnancy: Implications for antenatal policy
No full textUltrasound scanning is firmly embedded in antenatal maternity care around the world. This paper reports on a qualitative study carried out in 2003 of 30 Syrian women's perceptions and experiences of routine ultrasound in pregnancy. It was part of a larger study of the experiences of pregnancy and childbirth of 500 women from Damascus and its suburbs who had recently given birth to healthy newborns. The women had had multiple scans during pregnancy and accepted its use uncritically nearly all the time. The scans gave them reassurance that the baby was healthy, the pregnancy was progressing well and allowed them to learn the sex of the baby. The women also reacted positively to the antenatal educational messages that were conveyed using scans. However, we found the excessive use of this technology worrying. We believe private doctors, who attend 80percent of pregnant women, use ultrasound primarily to attract women to their clinics and increase their income. We recommend that maternity care in Syria should be better regulated; that women and their doctors should be made aware of the essential components of antenatal care; that national guidelines for antenatal care should be developed and that Syrian women should be empowered to ask questions about pregnancy and childbirth and the care they receive. © 2005 Reproductive Health Matters. All rights reserved.Bashour H, 2005, BIRTH-ISS PERINAT C, V32, P20, DOI 10.1111-j.0730-7659.2005.00333.x; BASHOUR H, PATTERNS DETERMINANT; BRICKER L, 2003, COCHRANE LIB; Clement S., 1998, PSYCHOL PERSPECTIVES, P7; Efrat Z, 1999, ULTRASOUND OBST GYN, V13, P305, DOI 10.1046-j.1469-0705.1999.13050305.x; *EHO, 2002, WHO ANT CAR RAND TRI; Enkin MW, 2000, GUIDE EFFECTIVE CARE; Garcia J, 2002, BIRTH-ISS PERINAT C, V29, P225, DOI 10.1046-j.1523-536X.2002.00198.x; HAFEZ R, CHILDBIRTH ITS DISCO; HYDE B, 1986, SOC SCI MED, V22, P587, DOI 10.1016-0277-9536(86)90026-2; KAMEL HS, 1999, J OBSTETRIC GYNAECOL, V25, P433; Lee W, 2004, OBSTET GYNECOL, V103, P333, DOI 10.1097-01.AOG.0000109522.51314.5c; Leithner K, 2004, ULTRASOUND OBST GYN, V23, P240, DOI 10.1002-uog.978; NEILSON JP, 2003, COCHRAN LIB; Nzeh DA, 1996, E AFR MED J, V73, P225; *ROY COLL OBST GYN, 2002, ULTR IM MAN GYN COND; *SYR CENTR BUR STA, 2002, PAN AR PROJ FAM SURV; *SYR MIN HLTH, 2000, TRAIN GUID REPR HLTH; *SYR MIN HLTH, 2003, STAT REP REPR HLTH S; *SYR SOC OBST, 2004, STUD UND REPR HLTH S; Tautz S, 2000, SOC SCI MED, V50, P689, DOI 10.1016-S0277-9536(99)00321-4; THORPE K, 1993, SOC SCI MED, V36, P311, DOI 10.1016-0277-9536(93)90015-V; *UNICEF, 2004, STAT WORLDS CHILDR N; VILLAR J, 1999, WHO REPROD HLTH LIB26232
Why alief is not a legitimate psychological category
No full textWe defend the view that belief is a psychological category against a recent attempt to recast it as a normative one. Tamar Gendler has argued that to properly understand how beliefs function in the regulation and production of action, we need to contrast beliefs with a class of psychological states and processes she calls aliefs. We agree with Gendler that affective states as well as habits and instincts deserve more attention than they receive in the contemporary philosophical psychology literature. But we argue that it is a serious error to align beliefs with the norm of rationality, while building a contrasting category whose members are characterized primarily by their failure to measure up to that normative standard, since these latter ones cannot constitute a distinct psychological category. First, we demonstrate that Gendler gets unwarranted conclusions about the existence of aliefs from belief-discordant cases. Next, we argue that the concept of alief is insufficiently clear. Aliefs cannot be distinguished from other types of states, such as beliefs. Also, when grouping many states under the category of aliefs, Gendler overlooks important differences between phenomena that are clearly distinct, such as habits and instincts. Aliefs simply do not constitute a legitimate psychological category.Aristotle, 1998, NICOMACHEAN ETHICS; BenYami H, 1997, PHILOS QUART, V47, P84, DOI 10.1111-1467-9213.00049; Damasio A., 1994, DESCARTES ERROR EMOT; DEIGH J, 1994, ETHICS, V104, P824, DOI 10.1086-293657; DESOUSA R, 1971, REV METAPHYS, V35, P52; Gendler Tamar Szabo, 2007, MIDWEST STUD PHILOS, V31, P68, DOI 10.1111-j.1475-4975.2007.00154.x; GENDLER TS, 2008, J PHILOS, V105, P643; Gendler TS, 2008, MIND LANG, V23, P552, DOI 10.1111-j.1468-0017.2008.00352.x; Gilbert DT, 1999, DUAL-PROCESS THEORIES IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, P3; Greene JD, 2001, SCIENCE, V293, P2105, DOI 10.1126-science.1062872; Hume David, 1978, TREATISE HUMAN NATUR; Koenigs M, 2007, NATURE, V446, P908, DOI 10.1038-nature05631; Pascal B., 1958, PENSEES; Plato, 1992, REPUBLIC; Plato, 1998, PHAEDRUS; Thagard P, 2006, DIALOGUE-CAN PHILOS, V45, P151; Thomson Judith Jarvis, 1985, YALE LAW J, V94, P1396; VELLEMAN J. D., 2000, POSSIBILITY PRACTICA, P24422
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe 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
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe 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
Effect of postnatal home visits on maternal-infant outcomes in Syria: A randomized controlled trial
No full textObjective: Early postpartum home visiting is universal in many Western countries. Studies from developing countries on the effects of home visits are rare. In Syria, where the postpartum period is rather ignored, this study aimed to assess whether a community-based intervention of postnatal home visits has an effect on maternal postpartum morbidities; infant morbidity; uptake of postpartum care; use of contraceptive methods; and on selected neonatal health practices. Design: A randomized controlled trial was carried out in Damascus. Three groups of new mothers were randomly allocated to receive either 4 postnatal home visits (A), one visit (B), or no visit (C). Sample: A total of 876 women were allocated and followed up. Intervention: Registered midwives with special training made a one or a series of home visits providing information, educating, and supporting women. Results: A significantly higher proportion of mothers in Groups A and B reported exclusively breastfeeding their infants (28.5percent and 30percent, respectively) as compared with Group C (20percent), who received no visits. There were no reported differences between groups in other outcomes. Conclusions: While postpartum home visits significantly increased exclusive breastfeeding, other outcomes did not change. Further studies framed in a nonbiomedical context are needed. Other innovative approaches to improve postnatal care in Syria are needed. © 2008, Blackwell Publishing, Inc.BarnesBoyd C, 1996, PUBLIC HEALTH NURS, V13, P201, DOI 10.1111-j.1525-1446.1996.tb00241.x; BASHOUR H, 2007, IN PRESS E MEDITERRA; Kabakian-Khasholian T, 2005, BJOG-INT J OBSTET GY, V112, P1315, DOI 10.1111-j.1471-0528.2004.00507.x; CARTY EM, 1990, BIRTH-ISS PERINAT C, V17, P199, DOI 10.1111-j.1523-536X.1990.tb00021.x; CASSEL J, 1976, AM J EPIDEMIOL, V104, P107; Eaton AP, 2001, PEDIATRICS, V107, P400, DOI 10.1542-peds.107.2.400; HOUSE JS, 1988, SCIENCE, V241, P540, DOI 10.1126-science.3399889; Hung CH, 2001, J ADV NURS, V36, P676, DOI 10.1046-j.1365-2648.2001.02032.x; JOSEPH S, 1993, ETHOS, V21, P452, DOI 10.1525-eth.1993.21.4.02a00040; Norr KF, 2003, PUBLIC HEALTH NURS, V20, P190, DOI 10.1046-j.0737-1209.2003.20306.x; Quinlivan JA, 2003, LANCET, V361, P893, DOI 10.1016-S0140-6736(03)12770-5; Ransjo-Arvidson AB, 1998, J EPIDEMIOL COMMUN H, V52, P385; *SYR BUR CENTR STA, 2001, REP SYR FAM SURV PAN; Vallely L., 2005, BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, V5, DOI 10.1186-1471-2393-5-1; Waldenström U, 1987, Scand J Caring Sci, V1, P51; *WHO, 2005, MAT NEWB MORT MORB; *WHO, 1998, MAT NEWB HLTH; Wiggins M, 2005, J EPIDEMIOL COMMUN H, V59, P288, DOI 10.1136-jech.2004.02180822303
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe 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
The construction of Karen Karnak: The multi-author-function
No full textThis thesis is situated within the comparatively recent developments of Web 2.0 and the emergence of interactive WikiMedia, and explores the mode of authorship within a Read/Write culture compared to that of a Read/Only tradition. The hypothesis of this study is that the role of the audience has become merged with the author, and as such, represents new functions and attributes, distinct from a more conventional concept of authorship, in which the roles of audience and author are more separate. Read/Write and participatory culture, as defined by this study, is focused on collaboration, and includes the influences of D.I.Y. culture, Open-Source practices and the production of text by multiple authors. Multi-authorship presents a re-thinking of several concepts which support the notion of the individual author, since the focus of multi-authorship is not on attribution and ownership of a finished text, but on the continued malleability of a text. Modes of multi-authorship, demonstrated in the use of the pseudonyms Alan Smithee and Karen Eliot, represent declarative authors whose names signify multiple origins, whilst concurrently indicating a distinct body of work. The function of these names form an important context to this study, since primary research involves the construction of an experimental mode of multi-authorship utilising WikiMedia technology and the interaction of thirty nine participants, who are invited to create a body of work under the collective pseudonym Karen Karnak. The data generated by this experiment is analysed using aspects of Michel Foucault's author-function to identify and determine power structures inherent in the WikiMedia context. The interplay of power structures, including concepts such as identity, ownership and the body of work, affect the resulting mode of authorship and contribute to the construction of Karen Karnak, suggesting further areas of research into the emerging multi-author
Contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Country’S H-Index
No full textThe aim of this study is to examine the effect of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development on country’s scientific ranking as measured by H-index. Moreover, this study applies ICT development sub-indices including ICT Use, ICT Access and ICT skill to find the distinct effect of these sub-indices on country’s H-index. To this purpose, required data for the panel of 14 Middle East countries over the period 1995 to 2009 is collected. Findings of the current study show that ICT development increases the H-index of the sample countries. The results also indicate that ICT Use and ICT Skill sub-indices positively contribute to higher H-index but the effect of ICT access on country’s H-index is not clear
Fully Turbulent Mean Velocity Profile for Purely Viscous non-Newtonian Fluids
No full textThe characteristic near wall behavior of turbulent flow of purely-viscous non-Newtonian fluids is discussed for both power-law (P.-L.) and Herschel-Bulkley (H.-B.) rheological models. A proper scaling is presented for H.-B. fluids to establish an analogy with power-law fluids with same flow index. To provide reference data for turbulent flow of non-Newtonian fluids, DNS simulations of power-law fluids are conducted in a rectangular channel for a large range of power-law indices ( = 0.5, 0.69, 0.75, 0.9, 1, 1.2). The DNS data show that the mean velocity profile in the viscous and logarithmic layers follow expressions of the form and respectively, where shows a logarithmic dependency on the flow index.Comparison with some experimental data shows the above formulation to be valid for Reynolds numbers (based on shear velocity) as high as 1000
H-index and research evaluation: A suggested set of components for developing a comprehensive author-level index
No full textThe H-index has been investigated in various studies; this index has many strengths that have made it popular. However, it also has weaknesses, due to which other indicators have been developed. This study aims to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the H-index and provide the minimum set of necessary components for developing a comprehensive author-level index. In this systematic literature review, Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, Emerald, and ProQuest databases were searched to identify relevant studies. From the number of 14,253 retrieved studies, after two stages of screening, 81 studies were selected according to the eligibility criteria for data extraction. The findings of the study led to the identification of 15 strengths in the three categories of Quality Features, Simplicity, and Suitability, and 13 weaknesses in the six categories of Publications, Citations, Academic Age, Author Credit Allocation, Variety of Fields, and mathematical calculation for H-index. Finally, 28 components were identified as the minimum set of necessary components to develop a comprehensive author-level index to help evaluate researchers more realistically and fairly. The minimum components that need to be considered in developing a comprehensive author-level index can be proposed as follows: Quality Features, Simplicity, Suitability, Publications, Citations, Academic Age, Author Credit Allocation, Variety of Fields, and mathematical calculation
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