1,720,965 research outputs found
How is agony breeding perceived by Veterinary Medicine students? A preliminary study
Full text linkAgony breeding has been defined as “breeding dogs and cats in a way that fosters/tolerates characteristics that may cause the animals pain, discomfort, and behavioural disorders”. We investigated the awareness of Veterinary Medicine students to agony breeding and how progression throughout veterinary school may modify students’ knowledge and perception. A questionnaire was administered to students enrolled in the first year (1Y), fifth year (5Y), and students who did not graduate within the prescribed time (OPT, Outside Prescribed Time). Descriptive analyses were carried out, pending a second administration of the questionnaire in future academic years. Respondents (119, including 39 1Y, 41 5Y, 38 OTP) were mostly females (88.2%) and prevalently interested in small animal practice (51%). Only 41% of students (26 1Y, 21 5Y, 21 OPT) knew the correct definition of “breed standard”. The large majority was aware of the relationships between breed characteristics and disease prevalence (95%), and of the responsibility of veterinarians in informing owners and breeders about possible health risks associated with certain breeding practices (80%). Most students correctly indicated an inherited component (genetic disease or breed predisposition) in brachycephalic syndrome (29 1Y, 39 5Y, 35 OPT), hip dysplasia (20 1Y, 38 5Y, 34 OPT), polycystic kidney disease (16 1Y, 36 5Y, 34 OPT), progressive retinal atrophy (22 1Y, 28 5Y, 32 OPT), and intervertebral disk herniation (8 1Y, 13 5Y, 14 OPT). The data show that 5Y students have more knowledge about these issues than 1Y students. Most of the mentioned diseases were acknowledged as having a moderate-to-high impact on animal welfare (average score above 3 on a 1-to-5 scale). Knowledge on breed standards and breed-specific diseases may be further improved by providing more detailed courses in veterinary school. Overall, students showed a very positive attitude towards plans to eradicate these diseases and breeding practices
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
The relationship between welfare of dairy cows and drug use: a preliminary study
No full textAlthough it is widely acknowledged that the excessive use of specific drugs within a farm indicate the presence of management or health issues, it can also be hypothesized that the use of certain drugs (e.g., local antibiotics, anti-inflammatories) may mask the presence of other health problems (e.g. mastitis, lameness) that impair animal welfare. The aim of this preliminary study was to investigate the potential relationship between the welfare of dairy cows and the use of drugs. Inspections were carried out in 6 free-stall dairy farms located in Northern Italy (average size: 292 heads, 115 lactating cows). In each farm, the welfare of the lactating cows was assessed using the Welfare Quality protocol, and data on drug use during the year before the visit was collected from the farm register. Descriptive analysis showed that antibiotics were by far the most commonly used drugs (ranging between 30 and 100% of treatments in the different farms). Pearson correlation coefficients highlighted the presence of positive relationships between the number of animals and 1) treatments/head/year (r=0.8496, P=0.032), 2) antibiotics/head/year (r=0.8325, P=0.038), and 3) systemically administered antibiotics (r=0.8427, P=0.035). These results suggest an increased challenge in preserving the animals’ health in larger farms, probably due to a relative farmhand shortage (numerically higher animals:stockpeople ratio) observed in these farms. In one farm, which showed the lowest number of intramammary antibiotic treatments, a high somatic cell count was reported, likely indicating that the use of these drugs might mask the presence of mammary infections thus leading to an overestimation of the cows’ welfare level. Further research on a wider number of farms is needed, but these preliminary results indicate that drug use should be included in the assessment for a more holistic approach to animal welfare evaluation
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
Can raw thighs classified as E be suitable for the production of PDO hams?
No full textThe aim of the present work was to collect information at the slaughterhouse on the relationship
between carcass composition (lean meat content assessed according to the EUROP classification
grid) and the quality of the raw thighs. Quality was assessed based on indicators included in the
product specifications for Parma ham: trimmed weight, thickness of the fat layer (measured
vertically at the head of the femur -best end-), presence of fat at the “coronet” (visually assessed),
iodine number, linoleic acid content (C18:2).
The research included 11 slaughter plants. In each plant, 10 slaughtering batches and about 20 raw
thighs per batch were selected. All pigs assessed had a carcass weighing more than 110 kg, in
agreement with the definition of heavy pig. Overall, 2126 raw thighs were evaluated. At least 25%
of the selected raw thighs in each batch derived from a carcass classified as E in the EUROP grid
(F-o-M classification). Out of them 32.6% were classified as E, 35.5% as U, 24.7% as R and 7.1%
as O. In 6 slaughtering plants, from each slaughtering batch we collected 10 samples of
subcutaneous fat (including both inner and outer fat layer), of which 5 from raw thighs belonging to
the E class and 5 from raw thighs belonging to the other classes (U, R, O). In order to assess if the
fat from the raw thighs classified as E is more frequently non-compliant (iodine number > 70;
C18:2 > 15%) with Parma ham production rules than U-R-O thighs, iodine number analysis was
carried out on the subcutaneous fat samples, while the gas chromatography analysis of fatty acid
composition is presently in progress. Trimmed weight, fat thickness and iodine value were analyzed
with one-way ANOVA using the EUROP grid (E vs URO) as the main effect
As expected, despite the similar (P>0.48) weight of the trimmed thighs (14.525 kg for E vs. 14,486
kg for URO thighs) the thickness of the fat layer was lower (P<0.001) in thighs from E class than in
thighs from URO classes (24.29 vs. 32.67 mm). Iodine value was significantly lower in thighs from
URO than in thighs form E classes (65.62 vs 67.48; P< 0.001).
Our preliminary results also show that the majority of the raw hams classified as E are compliant
with Parma ham production rules for fat thickness (83.1%), fat at the “coronet” (97.6%) and iodine
value (for this parameter only 73.9%).
If the compliance observed will be confirmed also by the gas chromatographic analysis (C18:2
content), it would be interesting to follow class E thighs also during the dry-curing process, to
assess the final quality of the hams. It is reasonable to expect that, if the animals’ diet is formulated
to keep the iodine number and the linoleic acid content within the range prescribed by the
production rules, the majority of thighs classified as E could be suitable for the long curing process
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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