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    Callosal transfer of impulses originating from superficial and deep nerves of the cat forelimb.

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    1. Experiments were performed in 18 chloralose-anaesthetized, curarized cats in order to study the callosal transfer of somatic information originated in exteroceptive and proprioceptive receptors. Several cutaneous and deep nerves of the forelimb were prepared and stimulated with graded intensities, so as to activate selectively afferent fibres pertaining to the different groups of Lloyd's classification. Simultaneous records were taken (and averaged on-line by means of a multichannel analyzer) from the distal end of a cut dorsal rootlet (C7-C8), from the cerebral cortex (SI, SII or area 3a, according to the experiment) and from the somesthetic callosal region (SCR). 2. The low-threshold afferent fibres (Group II) of cutaneous origin were found to have a wide projection to the SCR, with the maximal density in its middle portion. Some of the fastest corticocallosal impulses are relayed monosynaptically at cortical level. Plots of the amplitude of cortical and callosal responses as a function of stimulus strength showed that both central responses have the same threshold and exhibit a parallel, sharply-rising amplitude increase, thus suggesting that the cortico-callosal re-transmission system for afferent impulses of cutaneous origin is very powerful in nature. Impulses elicited in afferent fibres of higher threshold (Group III) do not enhance the cortical and callosal positive waves provoked by Group II afferent volleys. 3. Afferent fibres of deep origin were also found to send a wide projection to the SCR, although less substantial than that of cutaneous fibres. Stimulation of the deep radial nerve elicited mass responses in the whole SCR, provided the strength of stimuli was high enough to engage the Group II fibres. Only in the central portion of the SCR were small potentials recorded in response to pure Group I volleys of DRN. Experiments performed with selective stimulation of pure muscular branches of forelimb deep nerves as well as of articular and mixed (muscular and articular) branches gave evidence making it possible to ascertain the origin of deep afferent fibres projecting to the SCR. Stimulation of the forelimb muscular branches with strength provoking full activation of Group I afferent and additional engagement of those of Group II, did not provoke mass responses in the whole extent of the SCR. In order to obtain callosal potentials upon stimulation of pure muscular nerves, it was necessary to increase the stimulus strength at or above the threshold for Group III fibres. On the contrary, the same callosal foci unresponsive to Group I and II muscular afferent volleys exhibited clear-cut responses to stimulation of the lowest-threshold Group I and/or Group II afferents of articular and mixed nerves. From the results it might be inferred that only proprioceptive information originating from articular receptors and from extrafusal muscular afferents has access to the callosal interhemispheric transfer

    Anatomical and functional aspects of the associative projections from somatic area SI to SII

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    Electrophysiological and morphological (retrograde axonal transport of horseradish peroxidase, HRP) experiments have been carried out in the cat in order to study the associative projections from area SI to ipsilateral SII. Microelectrode recordings were performed in the forepaw focus of SII both in normal (64 units) and in SI-undercut (51 units) cats. 29.6% of the neurons recorded in the unoperated and 29.4% of those collected in the operated cats were excited by electric stimulation of the ipsilateral SI (forepaw focus). In both preparations almost all such units were endowed with large (either contra- or bilateral) receptive fields (RF). Cell population recorded in the SI-undercut cats showed no significant impairment to peripheral stimuli and/or changes in the size of the RFs. From the forepaw focus of SI, 150 units have been recorded and tested by stimulation of the homologous focus of the ipsilateral SII. Eight of them were fired antidromically and thus identified as association cells. Their RFs were very small and located only in the digits of the contralateral forepaw. Both single or multiple HRP injections were performed in SII. Retrogradely labeled cells were found in the ipsilateral SI. The great majority of association cells are pyramids and dwell mainly in layer III. In spite of the large diffusion of the exogeneous reaction product in the injected SII and of the presence of retrogradely labeled cells anywhere in the ipsilateral thalamic VB complex, the distribution of association cells is unequal throughout SI since they strongly predominate in the digit zone of the forepaw representation

    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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