1,721,014 research outputs found
Simple, fast, and low-contamination microwave-assisted digestion procedures for the determination of chemical elements in biological and environmental matrices by sector field ICP-MS
No full textA simple and convenient method for the digestion of animal tissues, lichens, and plants for 33 metals measured by sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SF-ICP-MS) was described. Microwave-assisted acid digestions were performed at atmospheric pressure by means of a multi-samples rotor designed for processing a large number of samples at once in screw-capped disposable polystyrene liners. The digested samples were filled up to final volume directly in the polystyrene liners ready for elemental quantification. Seven certified reference materials, namely BCR 184 (bovine muscle), BCR 186 (pig kidney), DORM-2 (dogfish muscle), BCR 422 (cod muscle), BCR 62 (olive leaves), BCR 100 ( beech leaves), and BCR 482 (lichen) were analysed to verify the accuracy of the method. The linearity range, limit of quantification, precision, and recovery by addition of non-certified elements were also assessed. All elements, with the exception of Hg in BCR 184 and As in BCR 186, were above the quantification limit and blank concentrations, and good agreement existed between found and target values in bovine muscle, pig kidney, and cod muscle. Significant deviations were observed for Al, Co, Cr, Mn, and Ni in dogfish muscle and for Ca, Cr, Fe, and Hg in lichens and plants. The proposed digestion procedure offers a low contamination risk, simplicity, speed, low cost, and applicability in routine analysis, and the SF-ICP-MS method allowed metals from a fraction of ng g(-1) to hundreds of mu g g(-1) to be quantified in one analytical run
Atmospheric background trace elements deposition in Tierra del Fuego region (Patagonia, Argentina), using transplanted Usnea barbata lichens
No full textLichen, Usnea barbata, transplants taken from Tierra del Fuego (south Patagonia, Argentina) were tested as potential biomonitors of atmospheric airborne deposition in an apparently pristine environment. In 2005, lichens were sampled in a reference site (n = 31) and transplanted in the northern Region of Tierra del Fuego. After, respectively, 1 month and 1 year of exposure, we collected them. The aim of the study was to determine the bioaccumulation of 26 elements in order to evaluate the background levels in the selected area. Samples were analyzed by the sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Discriminant analysis on principal component analysis factors was applied in order to explore the relationship among the different elements as far as time and spatial variation in transplants regards. The analysis was tested by Monte Carlo test based on 999 replicates. The most important contamination source resulted to be the atmospheric soil particle deposition. Furthermore, the results were compared with those obtained from the lichens collected in central and southern Tierra del Fuego. This study confirms the ability of U. barbata to reflect the background levels of the 26 elements in that environment. Compared with other background sites in the world, we did confirm that Tierra del Fuego lichens have a low content of the studied elements. Tierra del Fuego turned out not to be a pristine environment as supposed, but it can be considered as a reference basal ecosystem for useful comparisons among different geographical areas. These findings can be very relevant and useful for environmental conservation programs
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
Composition of essential and non-essential elements in tissues and body fluids of healthy subjects and patients with colorectal polyps
No full textThis study was devoted to the quantification of 21 metals (Al, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cs, Cu, Fe, Hg, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Se, Sn, Sr, V and Zn) in the colorectal tissue of 52 healthy subjects, 31 patients with polyps and 21 post-operated patients, and in blood, serum and urine of all subjects. Tissues of healthy subjects had a content of metals similar to those of post-operated patients and to normal tissues adjacent to the polyp. The polyps had concentrations of Al, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mo, Ni, Sr and V significantly lower and of Fe and Se significantly higher respect to normal tissues. Polypotic patients had higher serum Cr, Cu and Pb and lower urinary Mo levels than healthy subjects, whereas blood showed no difference. Results highlighted metal-specific differences both at tissue and systemic level probably caused by the early stage of colorectal cancer. Copyright © 2009, Inderscience Publishers
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
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
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