1,720,960 research outputs found
Radio catalytic ionization: an innovative approach for indoors disinfection
No full textIs infection of indoors is a crucial problem, particularly in
healthcare settings for preventing healthcare-associated infections.
Recent methods, based on the Radio Catalytic Ionization
(RCI), emerged as a possible approach to disinfect the
environments. The aim is to test the efficacy of a RCI device
to control microbial contamination on a confined setting.
Methods
A pre/post design study was conducted from January to April
2015 in a laboratory of the University of Siena, Italy. RCI
system transforms air moisture in Reactive Oxygen Species,
including H2O2, trough a photo-catalytic process, mediated by
an ultraviolet light which irradiates a titanium dioxide surface.
The device was tested with three levels of humidity: 35–40%,
50–60% and >60%. Efficacy on disinfection was assessed
counting the number of Colony Forming Unit (CFU) on two
shelves trough contact plates incubated at 36C and read at
48 h from sampling. Comparisons were performed during the
activity/inactivity of the device at different levels of humidity.
Moreover, it was studied the effect of the RCI device in time.
Linear regression, ANOVA and Wilcoxon paired sample tests
were performed for evaluating possible differences.
Results
When the humidity was around 35–40% the device tended to
contrast the contamination level (below 30 CFU). Similar
results were achieved when the humidity level was set at 50–
60%; when the level of humidity was higher (>60%), it was
noted a significant decreasing trend of microbial contamination
that ended up with 10–5 CFU. The reduction of CFU
occurred after a latency of 2–3 days of continue exposition
(linear regression showed a coefficient 3.70 with
p < 0.0001).
Conclusion
Reduction of the number of CFU seems to correlate with the
percentage of moisture of the air, particularly when the values
were above 60%; low levels of humidity seem to control the
microbial contamination. Confined environments with controlled
humidity level could benefit of RCI system
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
Rilevamento ed enumerazione di Legionella spp. in matrici ambientali: confronto tra il metodo colturale di riferimento e un metodo basato sull'impiego di sonde molecolari fluorescenti genere- e specie-specifiche.
No full textLe legionellosi sono infezioni occasionalmente acquisite dall’uomo in seguito all’esposizione a una fonte ambientale contaminata dai batteri Legionella (per esempio l’acqua). Un rilevamento rapido e accurato di Legionella nell’ambiente consente di ridurre notevolmente il rischio di contrarre l’infezione. Il metodo colturale è considerato il “gold standard” nell’indagine ambientale per Legionella ma recentemente il metodo ScanVIT-LegionellaTM (Vermicon) è stato proposto come uno strumento diagnostico in grado di coniugare rapidità ed efficacia. Nella ricerca descritta in questa tesi abbiamo testato il metodo ScanVIT-Legionella in campioni di acqua e abbiamo confrontato i valori di rilevamento di Legionella spp. ottenuti ricorrendo a due diverse procedure di “decontaminazione” dei campioni ambientali: trattamento con il calore e con acidi. Abbiamo raccolto un totale di 19 campioni di acqua provenienti dall’impianto idrico dell’ospedale universitario di Siena (Italia). Abbiamo analizzato ciascun campione con il metodo ScanVIT-Legionella associato sia a decontaminazione con il calore che con acidi mentre il metodo colturale associato al trattamento con il calore è stato impiegato come metodo di riferimento. Gli effetti di entrambe le procedure di decontaminazione e delle diverse metodiche diagnostiche sono stati valutati paragonando il numero di campioni positivi e negativi a Legionella e i valori di concentrazione (UFC/L) di Legionella misurati per ciascun campione. Il metodo ScanVIT ha mostrato un’elevata sensibilità nel rilevare Legionella spp. nei campioni d’acqua con entrambi i trattamenti di decontaminazione considerati. Inoltre, questo metodo ha rilevato concentrazioni di Legionella maggiori di quelle rilevate dal metodo di riferimento. Il trattamento con acidi si è rivelato invece quale scelta migliore per rilevare specie L. non-pneumophila con il metodo ScanVIT, sia in termini di sensibilità che di resa batterica.
Legionellosis are human, occasionally-acquired infections due to the exposure to an environmental source contaminated by Legionella bacteria (water, e.g.). A quick and accurate detection of Legionella in the environment allows a significant reduction of the infection risk. The culture method is considered the “gold standard” for the environmental investigation of Legionella but the ScanVIT-Legionella assay has been recently proposed as a rapid and effective diagnostic tool. In this work, we tested the ScanVIT-Legionella assay and compared the results of two different decontamination procedures (i.e. the heating and the acid-treatment) on the detection of Legionella spp.. We collected 19 water samples from the teaching hospital in Siena (Italy). We analyzed each sample by ScanVIT in association to either acid or heat treatment, while the culture method with heat treatment was used as standard. The effects of both decontamination procedures and the different detection methods were evaluated comparing the number of Legionella-positive and -negative samples and the recovery rates (CFU/L) of Legionella. We find that ScanVIT method with both decontamination treatments is highly sensitive in detecting L. pneumophila in water and it yields a higher recovery compared to the standard method. At variance, the acid-treatment represents the best choice to detect L. non-pneumophila by ScanVIT in terms of both sensitivity and recovery
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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