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Occupational exposure and ambient air contamination by naturally occurring asbestos in Valmalenco (Italy)
No full textBackground and Aims: asbestos fibers naturally present in rocks and soils can be released into the atmosphere by
occupational and other human activities, as well as by meteorological agents. The aim of this work was the evaluation of the
occupational exposure levels and ambient concentrations of airborne fibers of naturally occurring asbestos (NOA) in quarries
and processing facilities of Valmalenco serpentinites, in the neighbourhood of the facilities and in the nearest urban centres.
Methods: occupational exposures to NOA were studied through personal and static monitoring carried out during the more
critical working activities. An analytical protocol composed by coupled TEM-SAED and SEM-EDS was specifically developed in
order to improve specificity thanks to the crystallographic discrimination between chrysotile and other polymorphs. Airborne
asbestos fiber concentrations were measured by SEM-EDS and only WHO fibers were counted according to the WHO criteria
(length > 5 μm, diameter 3).
Results: air contamination from chrysotile fibers (amphiboles were never detected) in the selected occupational and life
environments was site-dependent, as the degree of asbestos contamination of Valmalenco serpentinites is highly variable from
place to place. Working activities associated with the highest exposures and airborne contaminations included cutting of nonfoliated
serpentinites with multiple blades or discs and drilling at quarries located in the area with rocks highly contaminated by
chrysotile veins. On the contrary, working activities conducted on foliated serpentinites were related with airborne chrysotile
concentrations comparable with ambient levels. Environmental chrysotile concentrations were always below 2 ff/l, except for one
sample collected on a dirt road.
Conclusions: the present study would be useful for encouraging the development of an effective and harmonized policy for
proper use of contaminated rocks and protection of public health. This work was supported by Regione Lombardia
Airborne concentrations of chrysotile asbestos in serpentine quarries and stone processing facilities in Valmalenco, Italy
Get PDFAsbestos may be naturally present in rocks and soils. In some cases, there is the possibility of releasing asbestos fibres into the atmosphere from the rock or soil, subsequently exposing workers and the general population, which can lead to an increased risk of developing asbestos-related diseases. In the present study, air contaminated with asbestos fibres released from serpentinites was investigated in occupational settings (quarries and processing factories) and in the environment close to working facilities and at urban sites. The only naturally occurrence of asbestos found in Valmalenco area was chrysotile; amphibole fibres were never detected. An experimental cut-off diameter of 0.25 μm was established for distinguishing between Valmalenco chrysotile and antigorite single fibres using selected area electron diffraction analyses. Air contamination from chrysotile fibres in the examined occupational settings was site-dependent as the degree of asbestos contamination of Valmalenco serpentinites is highly variable from place to place. Block cutting of massive serpentinites with multiple blades or discs and drilling at the quarry sites that had the highest levels of asbestos contamination generated the highest exposures to (i.e. over the occupational exposure limits) asbestos. Conversely, working activities on foliated serpentinites produced airborne chrysotile concentrations comparable with ambient levels. Environmental chrysotile concentrations were always below the Italian limit for life environments (0.002 f ml(-1)), except for one sample collected at a quarry property boundary. The present exposure assessment study should encourage the development of an effective and concordant policy for proper use of asbestos-bearing rocks and soils as well as for the protection of public health
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
Occupational exposure and ambient air contamination by naturally occurring asbestos in Valmalenco (Italy)
No full text- …
