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    Methane oxidation and emission in Lake Lugano (Southern Switzerland) : a lipid biomarker and isotopic approach

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    Methane is an important greenhouse gas in Earth's atmosphere. The sources of atmospheric methane are largely biogenic, being produced under anoxic conditions by methanogenic Archaea. Wetlands, which include lakes, are important contributors to the atmospheric methane budget, since they commonly feature anoxic sediments or bottom water. Methane oxidising bacteria at the interface between oxic and anoxic sediments and water limit the efflux of methane. Furthermore, in the oceans, methane is oxidised anaerobically by Archaea, in a process coupled to sulfate reduction. In freshwater environments, where sulfate concentrations are orders of magnitude lower, this process is not thermodynamically favourable, and archaeal anaerobic oxidation of methane is often absent. It has been proposed in certain lake environments, however, that anaerobic oxidation of methane does take place. One lake in which anaerobic oxidation of methane was proposed is the northern basin of Lake Lugano, southern Switzerland. Anaerobic oxidation of methane in this basin is explored in chapter 2 of this PhD thesis. Indeed we found methane concentration and carbon isotopic composition profiles characteristic of methane oxidation in the anoxic hypolimnion, more than 30 m below the interface between the oxic and anoxic waters. In addition, microbial biomass at these depths showed carbon isotope signatures of methane-derived carbon (d13C-values as low as -70‰ in C16:1 fatty acids), indicating that methane is used as a carbon source. However, no methane oxidation took place in incubation experiments under anoxic conditions. Addition of alternative potential electron acceptors did not stimulate methane oxidation, and methane oxidation was only observed in the presence of oxygen. Instead, we propose that episodic introduction of oxygenated water into the anoxic hypolimnion sustains a community of aerobic methanotrophs. Carbon derived from methane oxidation has been shown in several studies to constitute an important carbon input to aquatic ecosystems. In the studies reported in chapters 2 and 3, compound specific stable carbon isotope analysis of lipid biomarkers was used to trace methane-derived carbon through the ecosystems at redox interfaces and in the anoxic hypolimnion of Lake Lugano. In the monomictic southern basin (chapter 3), an anoxic benthic nepheloid layer develops during the period of water column stratification. This layer was found to be derived from microbial production in the hypolimnion. Methane oxidising bacteria constituted up to 30% of total microbial cell numbers in the nepheloid layer, and 77% to 96% of the organic carbon in this layer was methane-derived. High rates of aerobic methane oxidation at the top of the anoxic nepheloid layer led to an oxygen consumption that was greater than the downward diffusion, causing the anoxic nepheloid layer to expand. Bacterial aerobic methanotrophs migrate upwards through the water column with the interface between the oxic hypolimnion and the anoxic nepheloid layer. The extent of emission of methane to the atmosphere depends on the totality of sinks and sources in the lake basin. In both the northern and the southern basin of Lake Lugano, large amounts of methane are emitted from the sediments into the bottom water. However, consumption by aerobic methanotrophs at the oxic-anoxic redoxcline is near complete, and during stratified conditions, no methane escapes to the epilimnion. On the other hand, methane super-saturation in the surface water was observed throughout the year. Chapter 4 describes the results of three mapping campaigns of surface water methane concentrations in the northern basin of Lake Lugano, in spring and autumn. Additionally, methane concentration and carbon isotopic composition were measured on depth profiles down to 40 m depth in transects across the lake basin. Methane fluxes to the atmosphere were calculated from surface water concentration and wind speed. At a standardised wind speed of 1.6 m s-1 (average wind speed during the period from May until October) fluxes to the atmosphere were significantly higher in autumn (44 and 97 micromol m-2 d-1 in October 2011 and October 2012, respectively) than in spring (7 micromol m-2 d-1, May 2012). This difference is in part due to higher concentrations in autumn than in spring, and in part a result of a stronger dependence of the transfer velocity on buoyancy flux when the surface water cools. The source of methane in the surface water could not be determined with certainty. It is possible that internal waves at the thermocline induce friction at the sediment-water interface in the littoral zone, which leads to increased outgassing of sedimentary methane. However, the northern basin of Lake Lugano has steep shores along large parts of the basin, which offer little space for deposition of sediments, and the possibility of in situ production of methane in the water column must be considered

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The 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

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    “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

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    We 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

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    We 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

    Author Index

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    koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist

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    We 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 Under Sail The Imagination of Jack London, 1893-1902

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    In Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Spirit Truth -- 2. From Absorption to Theatricality and Back Again -- 3. "I Will Build a New Present" -- 4. Sons as Authors -- 5. Fathers as Publishers -- 6. The Daughter as Author -- 7. Lovers as Authors -- 8. At Sea with the Family -- 9. Yellow News, Yellow Stories -- 10. The Return Home -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About Jay WilliamsIn Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, YYYY. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries
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