1,720,971 research outputs found
Comparison of Uncertainty Between Traditional and Alternative Methods for Food Microbiological Analysis.
No full textThe objectives highlighted in the present study were to determine the estimates of measurement uncertainty associated with microbiological analysis in food samples performing a gage repeatability and reproducibility study on three different microbiological methods of analysis for the detection and quantification oftotal coliforms; Plate count method, 3M PetrifilmTM count plates method and the MBS method. For all three methods the contribution the total gage R and R is less than 1 0%, demonstrating the ability to accurately evaluate the concentration of total coliforms in food samples. Flowever, the repeatability and reproducibility follows the tendency; Plate count method<3M PetrifilmTM count plates method<MBS method. The study also highlights that a significant variation is due to the interaction between the operators and the analyzed samples for plate count and 3M PetrifilmTM count plates methods while for the MBS method it does not significantly affect the measure. Together these results demonstrate that greater repeatability and reproducibility are
connected to a more simple analytical procedure demonstrating that uncertainty is certainly related to the amount of manual work and the individual interpretation ofresults. Results confirm thatit is importantto diminish these sources oferror reducing laborand simplifying procedures and increasing automation
A new device for the prompt diagnosis of urinary tract infections.
No full textBackground: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the
most common infectious diseases. Results obtained from
conventional microbiological analysis of urine and anti-biotic susceptibility testing are available only after a few
days, delaying precise diagnosis and appropriate therapy.
Micro Biological Survey (MBS) srl (a spin-off of Roma Tre
University, Rome, Italy) has developed and patented an
automated colorimetric test for rapid bacterial counting.
In a preliminary validation study it was demonstrated that
the results obtained with the MBS method are equivalent
to the results obtained with conventional culture-based
microbiological analysis.
Methods: In this study, sterile urine samples were artifi-cially contaminated with bacterial species that are most
frequently responsible for UTIs. The MBS method was
used to evaluate the presence of bacteria and their sen-sitivity to some of the most commonly used antibiotics in
UTIs.
Results: The MBS method was able to detect in a few hours
the presence or absence of bacteria at clinically significant
concentrations ( > 105 CFU/mL), and to provide their sus-ceptibility pattern to a limited panel of antibiotics.
Discussion: The results obtained demonstrate that the
MBS point-of-care testing (POCT) device could be devel-oped into a valuable aid for the management of UTIs, pos-sibly addressing more precise diagnosis and appropriate
therapy
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
Qualitative and Quantitative Validation of the Micro Biological Survey Method for Listeria spp., Salmonella spp., Enterobacteriaceae and Staphylococcus aureus in Food Sample
No full textVariations 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
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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