1,720,983 research outputs found
Assessing the impact of planned linear infrastructure on ecological connectivity: an example from Uganda and South Sudan
No full textIn an increasingly interconnected world, where human activities and infrastructure development continue to reshape landscapes, environmental fragmentation is one of the main threats to biodiversity and ecosystems. Fragmentation and its consequences for biodiversity and ecosystems are increasingly pronounced in developing countries, where the drive for economic growth and rapid infrastructure development is often associated with devastating impacts on habitats and species. This study aims at creating a macro-regional ecological network across South Sudan and Uganda by identifying priority conservation areas and the key corridors connecting them. The macro-ecological network was then used to investigate how the construction of proposed linear infrastructure could affect ecological connectivity at a finer scale. The priority conservation areas were selected through the integration of data derived from global open-access datasets encompassing information on species ranges, protected areas, land cover, topography, human population, and the density of linear infrastructure. Circuitscape approach was used to identify corridors connecting the designated priority conservation areas. Impacts on corridors were assessed by quantifying the reduction in connectivity due to the development of proposed infrastructure. Our study can be a valuable conservation tool for planners, aiding ecological decision-making by promoting the inclusion of landscape-level connectivity alongside environmental impacts
Outcomes of patient education in adult oncologic patients receiving oral anticancer agents: a systematic review protocol
Full text linkBackground: A large variety of oral anticancer agents have become available and while at first glance these therapies appear to provide only benefits, patients have expressed their need for educational interventions and raised safety issues. Although both patients and providers have recognized patient education’s importance, and an interplay with safety has been acknowledged, no systematic reviews of the literature that summarize all of the current evidence related to patient education’s outcomes for patients who receive oral anticancer agents have been performed to date. Accordingly, this systematic review will attempt to fill the gap in the literature as well as to map (1) contents, (2) methodologies, (3) settings, (4) timing/duration, and (5) healthcare professionals involved. Methods: This protocol is being reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. A systematic review will be performed. Studies that targeted eligible adult patients (≥ 18 years old) in hospital, outpatient, and home settings, and reported patient education’s outcomes for those taking oral anticancer agents will be included. Searches will be conducted in PubMed/MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase, and Scopus, and gray literature will be also sought. Two researchers will screen the search results independently and blindly in two phases: (1) title/abstract screening and (2) full-text screening using the Rayyan AI platform. An electronic data extraction form will be implemented and piloted, and then, two trained data extractors will extract the data cooperatively. Thereafter, a quality appraisal will be conducted using the Critical Appraisal Tools from The Joanna Briggs Institute. The results will be analyzed, grouped, clustered into categories, and discussed until a consensus is reached. Emerging evidence will be synthesized narratively and reported in accordance with the synthesis without meta-analysis guidelines. Discussion: The systematic review’s results will be relevant to (1) policymakers and management at an institutional level, and (2) for clinical practice, in an evidence-based paradigm, potentially leading to a quality improvement with respect to safety and patient satisfaction. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD42022341797
Proposal for a cardiology information system model based on DICOM standard and IHE Initiative for a territorial health body
No full textA hair-tube survey of small mammals from Serra di Ivrea (NW Italy)
Full text linkNatura 2000 is the largest coordinated network of protected areas
in the world and the main tool for biodiversity conservation
within the European Union. Monitoring the protected habitats
and species in all network sites by efficient survey methods is
essential to plan effective conservation strategies. Small mammals, although including species of conservation interest and
being major components of the food web, are often understudied.
Through an intensive survey, we investigated the small mammal community of the Special Area of Conservation IT1110057
Serra di Ivrea (Piedmont, NW Italy).
We overimposed a 1×1 km grid to the study area and selected
a random linear transect in each cell. From mid-May to midJune 2016 we collected small mammal presence data along 55
transects, where we set 955 hair-tubes of 60 mm (n=369) and
30 mm (n=586) in diameter, in a number proportional to each
transect length. The largest hair-tubes were positioned on trunks
or horizontal branches of trees (ca. 160 cm above ground level)
about 100 m from each other, whereas the smallest tubes were
tied to shrubs (ca. 80 cm a.g.l.) with 30 m spacing. A bait (hazelnut cream) was used to attract animals and an adhesive strip was
attached at each end of the tube to collect the hairs. We checked
the hair-tubes twice, with an interval of 15 days. We examined
the hairs using a microscope (20× and 40× magnifications) and
species were identified by comparing the characteristics of the
cuticle scale pattern, medulla and cross-section of the hairs.
To collect information on ground-dwelling species, in September 2019 we carried out a four-nights capture session using
Sherman traps (7.5×9×23 cm). We placed 10 traps at a distance
of 10 m from each other along each of three selected transects.
Hazelnut cream was spread at the entrance of each trap, while seeds, a slice of apple and cotton were put at the bottom.
Traps were checked daily and trapped individuals were sexed and
weighted before being released at the site of capture.
In 28650 trap-days we found 185 positive hair-tubes. We detected a total of five to six species: Sciurus vulgaris, Eliomys
quercinus, Moscardinus avellanarius, Glis glis and Apodemus
sylvaticus/flavicollis, mice’s hairs being indistinguishable by
hair morphology. Most occurrences were in the second check
(n=156) when we found 126 Apodemus sp., 15 Sciurus vulgaris,
7 Eliomys quercinus, 6 Moscardinus avellanarius and 2 Glis
glis. In the first check (n=29) only 19 Apodemus sp., 3 Sciurus
vulgaris, 4 Eliomys quercinus and 3 Moscardinus avellanarius
were detected. Overall, 168 presence data were collected: 132
Apodemus sp. (13.82%), 17 Sciurus vulgaris (1.78%), 10 Eliomys quercinus (1.05%), 7 Moscardinus avellanarius (0.73%)
and 2 Glis glis (0.21%).
Sherman trapping allowed detection of 41 small rodents belonging to two species: Apodemus sylvaticus (92.7%) and Myodes
glareolus (7.3%).
Hair-trapping allowed to record a species not included in the
SAC Standard Data Form, namely Moscardinus avellanarius,
included in Annex 4 of the Habitats Directive, and also an elusive
and understudied species such as Eliomys quercinus. Hair-tubes
are a non-invasive and cost-effective method to get information on small mammal distribution. Anyway, considering the
number of hair-tubes deployed, capture success was low, also
for a potentially common species such as Glis glis, suggesting
that a large trapping effort is needed for assessing spatial niche
overlap between ecologically similar species and their habitat
preferences. The simultaneous use of multiple survey methods
may provide a more complete assessment of the small mammal
community and allow to collect more reliable data about the
genus Apodemus and others ground-dwelling species such as
Myodes glareolus
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
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
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