1,720,959 research outputs found
Dall’uncino ai container : i lavoratori portuali a Genova e Venezia (1945-1989)
No full textFrom the hook to containerization. The dock workers in Genoa and Venice (1945-1969)
The goal of my research is to answer the following question: What were the occupational and social consequences of the containerization, in terms of the way dock labour forces were governed in Genoa and Venice?
The container revolution started in the United States and spread throughout the world. In the first part of my doctoral thesis, I show how I adopt the theoretical approach of the Global labour history and the international literature on the dock workers history.
In the second and third parts, I narrate the history of longshoremen in Genoa and Venice. From IIW the dock workers cooperative had been and very interesting institutions on cultural and political plane. I analyzed the technological innovation promoted by North American ship owners and I show the links between Italian harbors and North American ship owners or Asian waterfronts. The local-global dialectic is useful to avoid the placement of Genoa and Venetian ports in a purely historical nationalist framework, or in provincial narration
Comparison of reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the Mini- BESTest and berg balance scale in patients with balance disorders
No full textBACKGROUND: Recently, a new tool for assessing dynamic balance impairments has been presented: the 14-item Mini-BESTest.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare the psychometric performance of the Mini-BESTest and the Berg Balance Scale (BBS).
DESIGN: A prospective, single-group, observational design was used in the study.
METHODS: Ninety-three participants (mean age=66.2 years, SD=13.2; 53 women, 40 men) with balance deficits were recruited. Interrater (3 raters) and test-retest (1-3 days) reliability were calculated using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). Responsiveness and minimal important change were assessed (after 10 sessions of physical therapy) using both distribution-based and anchor-based methods (external criterion: the 15-point Global Rating of Change [GRC] scale).
RESULTS: At baseline, neither floor effects nor ceiling effects were found in either the Mini-BESTest or the BBS. After treatment, the maximum score was found in 12 participants (12.9%) with BBS and in 2 participants (2.1%) with Mini-BESTest. Test-retest reliability for total scores was significantly higher for the Mini-BESTest (ICC=.96) than for the BBS (ICC=.92), whereas interrater reliability was similar (ICC=.98 versus .97, respectively). The standard error of measurement (SEM) was 1.26 and the minimum detectable change at the 95% confidence level (MDC(95)) was 3.5 points for Mini-BESTest, whereas the SEM was 2.18 and the MDC(95) was 6.2 points for the BBS. In receiver operating characteristic curves, the area under the curve was 0.92 for the Mini-BESTest and 0.91 for the BBS. The best minimal important change (MIC) was 4 points for the Mini-BESTest and 7 points for the BBS. After treatment, 38 participants evaluated with the Mini-BESTest and only 23 participants evaluated with the BBS (out of the 40 participants who had a GRC score of ≥ 3.5) showed a score change equal to or greater than the MIC values.
LIMITATIONS: The consecutive sampling method drawn from a single rehabilitation facility and the intrinsic weakness of the GRC for calculating MIC values were limitations of the study.
CONCLUSIONS: The 2 scales behave similarly, but the Mini-BESTest appears to have a lower ceiling effect, slightly higher reliability levels, and greater accuracy in classifying individual patients who show significant improvement in balance function
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
Eye tracking communication devices in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: Impact on disability and quality of life
No full textPeople with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (PwALS) show progressive loss of voluntary muscle strength. In advanced disease, motor and phonatory impairments seriously hinder the patient's interpersonal communication. High-tech devices such as eye tracking communication devices (ETCDs) are used to aid communication in the later stages of ALS. We sought to evaluate the effect of ETCDs on patient disability, quality of life (QoL), and user satisfaction, in a group of 35 regular ETCD users in late-stage ALS with tetraplegia and anarthria. The following scales were administered: 1) the Individually Prioritized Problem Assessment (IPPA) scale, in three conditions: without device, with ETCD and, when applicable, with an Eye Transfer (ETRAN) board; 2) the Psychosocial Impact of Assistive Devices Scale (PIADS); and 3) the Quebec User Evaluation of Satisfaction with Assistive Technology (QUEST 2.0). With ETRAN, IPPA showed an increase in communicative abilities with respect to the condition without device, but ETCD produced a further significant increase. PIADS evidenced a large increase of QoL, and QUEST 2.0 showed high user satisfaction with ETCD use. In conclusion, ETCDs should be considered in late-stage ALS with tetraplegia and anarthria, since in these patients they can reduce communication disability and improve QoL
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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