1,721,234 research outputs found
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
Get PDFWe 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
Development, implementation and evaluation of community-based surveillance system in rural Cambodia
Get PDFA community-based surveillance system was developed and implemented in rural areas in Cambodia. The system aimed to provide timely and representative information on major health problems and life events that would permit rapid and effective control of outbreaks and communicable diseases in general in rural communities. In the system, lay people were trained as Village Health Volunteers to report suspected outbreaks, important infectious diseases, and vital events occurring in their communities to local health staff who analysed the data and gave feedback to the volunteers during their monthly meetings. An evaluation conducted one year after implementation of the community-based surveillance system began found that the system was able to detect outbreaks early, regularly monitor communicable disease trends, and to continuously provide updated information on pregnancies, births and deaths in the rural areas. The sensitivity and specificity of case reporting by Village Health Volunteers were found to be quite high. In addition, the community-based surveillance system triggered effective responses from both health staff and Village Health Volunteers in outbreak and disease control and prevention. The results suggest that a community-based surveillance system can successfully fill the gaps of the current health facility-based disease surveillance system in the rapid detection of outbreaks, in the effective monitoring of communicable diseases, and in the notification of vital events in rural Cambodia. Empowered local people and health staff can accurately report, analyse and act upon significant health problems in their community within a surveillance system they develop, own and operate. The community-based surveillance system could easily be integrated with the current disease surveillance system. Its replication or adaptation for use in other rural areas in Cambodia and in other developing countries would be likely feasible and beneficial, as well as cost-effective
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
An evaluation of the performance and usage of ICT Pf malaria rapid diagnostic test, in the Limopo South Africa
Get PDFAim: This thesis aimed to evaluate the performance and usage of ICT Pf Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Test (MRDT), in an operational setting in the Limpopo Province, South Africa.
Methods: Four studies were conducted to: assess factors affecting MRDT use (exploratory study- conducted as part of formative work); determine ICT Pf accuracy (cross-sectional study amongst 405 patients with prospective observational cohort component for follow-up); determine the performance of MRDT end-users (crosssectional observational study) and assess the suitability of using positive control antigen wells (PCWs) for routine quality control.
Results: Key informants reported that MRDT accuracy, end-user proficiency and MRDT quality affect MRDT use and impact. The accuracy study found that sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of ICT Pf test were 99.48% (99% Cl; 96.17-100.00%), 96.26% (99% Cl; 94.7-100%) 98.48 (99% Cl 98.41 -100.00%) and 96.26% (99% Cl 91.53-98.79%) respectively. Febrile patients with 'sweating' were 5 times more likely to be ICT Pf positive than those without sweating. Among the 68 patients who returned for day-seven follow up 23 (33%) were ICT Pf positive; however all were microscopy-negative. End-user proficiency: of the 15 recommended steps for MRDT use, 50% of end-users performed 11 or more steps correctly; 50% of end-users interpreted 90% of pre-prepared tests correctly. The false negative interpretation rate was 15%. The quality control study revealed that diluting PCWs with MRDT-negative blood gave better signals than diluting with citrate buffer. PCWs maintain signal strength when stored up to 30 days at 25°C at rural health clinics.
Conclusions: Although ICT Pf MRDT can be used for malaria diagnosis in Limpopo, test sensitivity at low level parasitaemias in field settings need to be established. The ICT Pf test should not be used for assessing cure post-treatment. End-user proficiency needs improvement. PCWs can be used to monitor MRDT quality at PHC level
Assigning HIV/AIDS as a cause of adult death using verbal autopsy: performance of three methods and their effects on estimates of HIV/AIDS-related mortality.
Get PDFBackground: In sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere, many people frequently still do not
have access to health services that allow medical certification of the cause
of their death. Health systems need estimates of cause-specific mortality
for planning, and the only way to realistically obtain these in sub-Saharan
Africa in the medium term will be through verbal autopsy (VA).
Methods: This thesis investigates three methods for assigning HIV/AIDS as a cause of
death – physician review, InterVA-4 and the Lopman algorithm – using VA
data on 15–59 year-olds from two demographic surveillance systems in
Tanzania (Kisesa) and Zimbabwe (Manicaland). The performance of the
methods is assessed against the reference standard of known HIV status,
allowing the calculation of performance metrics including specificity.
Results The estimated proportion of adult deaths due to HIV/AIDS varied between
methods, from 30–53% in Kisesa, and 58–73% in Manicaland. It was not
possible to conclude with certainty which estimate was most accurate, nor
was there any relationship between the estimated proportions and the
performance measured by validity metrics. The methods had variable
performance, with physician review having the highest specificity, followed
by InterVA-4 and the Lopman algorithm. Findings were broadly consistent
with the published literature. Analysis of the Lopman algorithm provided a
clear illustration of the problems of using data-derived methods, even
where reference-standard data are available to train them.
Conclusion: Using validity to assess the quality of real-world VA findings is flawed.
Cause-specific mortality estimation should move from seeking single best
estimates based on assessment of validity to seeking plausible estimates
using synthesis of multiple sources of data – including VA
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