1,720,955 research outputs found
Survey of plastic and general waste collectors serving off-grid neighbourhoods of Greater Accra, Ghana, 2022
No full textThis data set aims to assess how far informal collectors facilitate waste separation and recycling in Greater Accra, how waste value varies along waste collection chains, and the challenges facing plastic and general waste collectors. It comprises the results of a questionnaire survey with 182 general waste collectors, plastic waste main collectors, and plastic waste sub-collectors in Greater Accra, Ghana. The waste collector questionnaire survey data set is part of a convergent parallel mixed methods study of plastic and general waste collectors and sub-collectors within Greater Accra, Ghana. In a separate qualitative component, focus group discussions (FGDs) were held with these groups, with a questionnaire survey of waste collectors and sub-collectors administered almost simultaneously. This data set was therefore generated by the cross-sectional questionnaire survey, which covers respondent demographics, business histories, volume and types of waste collected, waste processing, onward fate of waste collected, business finances and challenges faced.</span
Effect of household socio-economic status on disposable diaper use and disposal in Greater Accra, Ghana and Kisumu, Kenya: a cross-sectional study
No full textMismanaged disposable diaper [DD] waste is widespread in many African cities. Proposed policy responses range from free DD provision to outright bans. However, African studies examining urban DD consumption, disposal, and benefits are scarce. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess socio-economic variation in DD consumption, inappropriate DD disposal, and perceived benefits for children’s carers. A survey interviewing 440 carers of children aged 0-36 months attending health facilities in Greater Accra, Ghana and Kisumu, Kenya found that 95.0% and 94.2% used DD respectively. Median DD consumption in a child’s first 36 months of life was significantly higher in the wealthiest versus poorest households in both cities (4,099 versus 2,800 DD and 2,876 versus 1,714 DD, p=0.015 and <0.001 in Greater Accra and Kisumu respectively). In Greater Accra, 10.2% of households reported burning, burying, or dumping used DD in latrines or elsewhere, compared to 30.5% in Kisumu. Carers in all wealth quintiles consistently cited DD’s convenience and hygiene benefits. This confirms widespread DD consumption among rich and poor households. Although poor households use fewer DD, many still face DD disposal challenges because they lack waste collection services. Given DD’s likely time-saving and reported convenience benefits for children’s carers, we recommend waste management programmes that separate DDs for safe disposal instead of outright bans
A low-cost method for identifying plastic polymers used for food and beverage packaging
No full textMismanaged plastic waste is a global concern, the problems of which are amplified in low- and middle-income countries where resources to support management measures may be limited. Whilst information regarding the composition of plastic waste is valuable for its management, existing methods to identify plastic polymers typically rely on specialist equipment and expertise. In the absence of polymer-specific information, decisions concerning management and policy lack underpinning evidence relating to the nature of plastic waste, its fate(s), and potential for its mitigation. This study presents a novel polymer identification method that is intended for use in settings where resources are limited and that can be used by observers without specialist skills. A framework was developed to identify five commonly used synthetic polymers based on a sequence of simple tests to determine their physical properties. Performance of this identification framework was evaluated by nine observers who conducted 261 tests on plastic food and beverage packaging samples. The sensitivity of identification differed between polymers and formats (rigid or flexible) but was highest for rigid polyethylene terephthalate (97.5%) and flexible low density polyethylene (98.6%); for these polymers, identification sensitivity was similar to laboratory analytical methods. For rigid and flexible polypropylene packaging, identification sensitivity was lower (50%); for rigid high density polyethylene, identification sensitivity was intermediate (72.5%). It is recommended this novel method is not applied as a replacement for analytical determination of polymers when and where the necessary resources are available, but can be applied to positive effect where resources for specialist analysis are not available. By providing insight to the composition of mismanaged plastic waste, the method presented in this study can provide evidence to support measures for its remediation; polymer identification can be achieved using only readily available and inexpensive equipment, and without recourse to specialist expertise
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
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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