1,720,954 research outputs found
Market Potential and Value Addition Opportunities for Pinus caribaea Products in Sri Lanka: A Stakeholder Analysis
No full textThe current oversupply of Pinus caribaea (Pine) timber in Sri Lanka presents both a challenge and an opportunity for value addition in the timber industry. This study investigated the potential for developing value-added Pine products, addressing common misconceptions about Pinewood properties while identifying viable market opportunities. A comprehensive qualitative survey was conducted using semi-structured interviews with industry stakeholders. Data analysis employed a hybrid approach combining thematic and content analysis methodologies. The investigation encompassed multiple dimensions: current value-added product portfolios, production methodologies, market dynamics, distribution channels, and economic viability. Environmental sustainability and resource utilization were also evaluated to provide a holistic industry assessment. The findings revealed a potential for Pine value addition with a diverse range of existing value-added Pine products in the Sri Lankan market, primarily in the furniture, construction, joinery, assembly, and accessories sectors. However, the study identified several barriers to market expansion, including inherent material limitations, policy constraints, technical challenges, and research gaps. These constraints, while significant, can be addressed through targeted interventions and strategic industry development. Market analysis revealed emerging opportunities for popularizing Pine value-added products in the Sri Lankan timber market, driven by increasing environmental consciousness among consumers seeking durable, cost-effective local products. The export potential for value-added Pine products shows promise, with identified demand in regional markets including Seychelles, Maldives, Mauritius, and India. These findings suggest a viable pathway for transforming Sri Lanka's Pine timber surplus into an economic advantage through strategic value addition. The study provides evidence-based recommendations for developing Sri Lanka's Pine value-addition industry, emphasizing the need for coordinated efforts among stakeholders to overcome identified challenges and capitalize on market opportunities. This research contributes to the broader discourse on sustainable forestry resource utilization and value-chain development in developing economies.
Keywords: Pinus caribaea, Oversupply, Value addition, Market potential, Stakeholder analysi
Growth Rate Effects on Wood Density and Ring Characteristics of Over-mature Pinus caribaea in Sri Lankan Plantations
No full textThe current oversupply of mature and over-mature Pinus caribaea (Pine) plantations in Sri Lanka necessitates optimal resource utilization, particularly for private furniture manufacturing and export industries. This study investigated the relationship between growth rate and wood quality parameters by examining radial relative density and ring width variations within and between trees, focusing on slow, medium, and fast-grown trees, with particular emphasis on over-mature specimens. Wood quality assessment employed the maximum moisture content method to determine relative density, with measurements standardized at 12% moisture content to facilitate comparative analysis. The experimental design incorporated Boron treatment on selected samples to evaluate its impact on wood quality parameters. Data analysis utilized descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-hoc comparisons using Minitab 16 software. Results revealed that fast-grown trees exhibited significantly higher relative density than slow and medium-grown counterparts, while no significant differences were observed between slow and medium growth rates. This suggests that Pinewood relative density may be largely independent of growth rate within the slow to medium growth range. Ring width analysis demonstrated a consistent pattern across all growth rates, characterized by an initial decrease in juvenile wood and stabilization in mature wood, attributed to cambial ageing or canopy closure. Relative density variations from pith to bark displayed distinct patterns according to growth rates: slow-grown trees exhibited an initial decline followed by a slight increase towards the bark; medium-grown trees maintained a relatively constant density after an initial decline, and fast-grown trees showed an initial decrease followed by irregular slight increases. The transition from juvenile to mature wood formation occurred consistently at approximately ten years, independent of growth rate. The findings suggest that implementing silvicultural practices promoting faster growth rates could yield high-quality mature Pine wood without compromising wood properties. Moreover, Boron treatment showed no statistically significant effect on wood quality, indicating its potential as a preservative treatment option to enhance durability and rot resistance while maintaining wood properties. These results are important for optimizing Pine plantation management and wood utilization strategies in Sri Lanka.
Keywords: Pinus caribaea, Relative density, Ring width, Growth rate, Wood qualit
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
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
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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