133,752 research outputs found
Orelha de Elefante Mexicans (Opuntia stricta [Haw.] Haw.) spineless cactus as an option in crossbred dairy cattle diet.
No full textAbstract A new genotype of spineless cactus is being used in the diets of dairy cattle that are raised in semiarid regions. However, little is known about its nutritional value. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of replacing Miúda (Nopalea cochenillifera Salm Dyck) with Orelha de Elefante Mexicana (Opuntia stricta [Haw.] Haw.) spineless cactus, on nutrient intake and digestibility, milk yield and composition, feeding behaviour, microbial protein synthesis, nitrogen balance, and ruminal and blood parameters of dairy cows. Ten Girolando cows, 500 ± 51.6 kg bodyweight, were distributed in a double Latin square design 5 x 5. The treatments consisted of replacement levels of Miúda (MIU) by Orelha de Elefante Mexicana (OEM) at 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100%. The intake and digestibility of dry matter (DM) (14.38?12.95 kg d-1, 716.3?658.9 g d-1), organic matter (OM) (13.01?11.43 kg d-1, 747.8?704.8 g d-1), crude protein (CP) (2.02?1.61 kg d-1, 863.8?845.2 g d-1) and total digestible nutrients (TDN) (9.38?7.92 kg d-1) decreased linearly with the increase in replacement. Despite the decrease in intake and digestibility, the supply of nutrients was sufficient to maintain a milk yield of 12.5 kg d-1. The average daily weight gain decreased linearly with the increase in replacement, while protein microbial efficiency (g microbial CP kg-1 TDN intake; 91.24 to 127.44 g kg-1) increased linearly. Thus, OEM could replace 100% MIU in diets with 48% of spineless cactus, for crossbred lactating cows with 12.5 kg d-1 milk yield. Therefore, OEM is a viable new option for producing milk in smallholder livestock systems in semi-arid regions
MeSH term explosion and author rank improve expert recommendations
No full textInformation overload is an often-cited phenomenon that reduces the productivity, efficiency and efficacy of scientists. One challenge for scientists is to find appropriate collaborators in their research. The literature describes various solutions to the problem of expertise location, but most current approaches do not appear to be very suitable for expert recommendations in biomedical research. In this study, we present the development and initial evaluation of a vector space model-based algorithm to calculate researcher similarity using four inputs: 1) MeSH terms of publications; 2) MeSH terms and author rank; 3) exploded MeSH terms; and 4) exploded MeSH terms and author rank. We developed and evaluated the algorithm using a data set of 17,525 authors and their 22,542 papers. On average, our algorithms correctly predicted 2.5 of the top 5/10 coauthors of individual scientists. Exploded MeSH and author rank outperformed all other algorithms in accuracy, followed closely by MeSH and author rank. Our results show that the accuracy of MeSH term-based matching can be enhanced with other metadata such as author rank
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe 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
"Closing the R&D Gap, Evaluating the Sources of R&D Spending"
No full textBoth spending and tax policies have been implemented in the United States with the goal of stimulating private sector research and development (R&D). Karier questions whether current R&D policy, especially the research and experimentation tax credit, can contribute to closing the gap between nondefense expenditures on R&D in the United States and such expenditures in other countries, such as Japan and Germany. He also explores possible changes to our current R&D policy to make it more effective.
Orelha de Elefante Mexicana (Opuntia stricta [Haw.] Haw.) spineless cactus as an option in crossbred dairy cattle diet
No full textnew genotype of spineless cactus is being used in the diets of dairy cattle that are raised in semi-arid regions. However, little is known about its nutritional value. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of replacing Miúda (Nopalea cochenillifera Salm Dyck) with Orelha de Elefante Mexicana (Opuntia stricta [Haw.] Haw.) spineless cactus, on nutrient intake and digestibility, milk yield and composition, feeding behaviour, microbial protein synthesis, nitrogen balance, and ruminal and blood parameters of dairy cows. Ten Girolando cows, 500 ± 51.6 kg bodyweight, were distributed in a double Latin square design 5 x 5. The treatments consisted of replacement levels of Miúda (MIU) by Orelha de Elefante Mexicana (OEM) at 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100%. The intake and digestibility of dry matter (DM) (14.38–12.95 kg d-1, 716.3–658.9 g d-1), organic matter (OM) (13.01–11.43 kg d-1, 747.8–704.8 g d-1), crude protein (CP) (2.02–1.61 kg d-1, 863.8–845.2 g d-1) and total digestible nutrients (TDN) (9.38–7.92 kg d-1) decreased linearly with the increase in replacement. Despite the decrease in intake and digestibility, the supply of nutrients was sufficient to maintain a milk yield of 12.5 kg d-1. The average daily weight gain decreased linearly with the increase in replacement, while protein microbial efficiency (g microbial CP kg-1 TDN intake; 91.24 to 127.44 g kg-1) increased linearly. Thus, OEM could replace 100% MIU in diets with 48% of spineless cactus, for crossbred lactating cows with 12.5 kg d-1 milk yield. Therefore, OEM is a viable new option for producing milk in smallholder livestock systems in semi-arid regions.Keywords: Alternative forage, milk yield, ruminal parameter, semi-arid, smallholder livestock syste
An assessment of the live course component of the International Antiviral Society -- USA's continuing medical education program: a summative program evaluation
No full textPublic health relevance: There is a necessity for the evaluation of methods used to disseminate pertinent information gleaned from clinical research to clinical practitioners in order to aid in the improvement and evolution of clinical practice; thus, improving medical care. Introduction: The International Antiviral Society—USA (IAS—USA) is a non-profit organization that aims to bridge the gap between research and clinical practice for HIV practitioners by effectively disseminating information from researchers to physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and other health workers who treat HIV positive individuals via various continuing medical education (CME) activities. As an organization funded though external resources, evaluations are necessary to assess the program’s progress and impact; results from evaluations will be used to report back to financial contributors. This evaluation seeks to assess the effectiveness and relevance of the IAS—USA’s live course CME program. Methods: Several indicators were chosen in order to answer the following questions: (1) is the program reaching the desired target audience? (2) is the content of the courses relevant to that audience? (3) do the live courses contain quality content; (4) are the courses effective at disseminating said content? (5) are the participants retaining the information? and finally, (6) is the information sparking change in clinical practice? Data were gathered via knowledge assessments given on-site and online in addition to evaluations and outcomes surveys distributed via SurveyMonkey, an online survey tool. Results: This study found that 95.5% of participants consist of medical doctors and other medical practitioners. Next, over 94% of the audience rated the overall quality of the courses and the relevance/value of the courses to clinical practice as either “excellent” or “good”. The courses proved to be effective at teaching relevant information with a statistically significant improvement in knowledge assessment scores. Additionally, all participants reported some level of information retention after 30 days with about 55% of individuals reporting a retention level of “very well”. Finally, 25% of the audience who responded to the outcomes survey indicated that they changed their clinical practice; this percentage could be an underestimate considering that only 152 participants responded to the outcomes survey while 923 responded to the evaluation. Conclusion: Through analysis of the knowledge assessments, evaluations, and outcomes surveys it can be concluded that the live course component of the IAS—USA CME program is effective and helps the organization to achieve its goals to improve clinical care for individuals living with HIV
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe 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
Using natural experiments to evaluate population health interventions
No full textCraig P, Cooper C, Gunnell D, Haw S, Lawson K, Macintyre S, Ogilvie D, Petticrew M, Reeves B, Sutton M, Thompson
Impact of Scottish smoke-free legislation on smoking quit attempts and prevalence
No full text<p><b>Objectives:</b> In Scotland, legislation was implemented in March 2006 prohibiting smoking in all wholly or partially enclosed public spaces. We investigated the impact on attempts to quit smoking and smoking prevalence.</p>
<p><b>Methods:</b> We performed time series models using Box-Jenkins autoregressive integrated moving averages (ARIMA) on monthly data on the gross ingredient cost of all nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) prescribed in Scotland in 2003–2009, and quarterly data on self-reported smoking prevalence between January 1999 and September 2010 from the Scottish Household Survey.</p>
<p><b>Results:</b> NRT prescription costs were significantly higher than expected over the three months prior to implementation of the legislation. Prescription costs peaked at £1.3 million in March 2006; £292,005.9 (95% CI £260,402.3, £323,609, p<0.001) higher than the monthly norm. Following implementation of the legislation, costs fell exponentially by around 26% per month (95% CI 17%, 35%, p<0.001). Twelve months following implementation, the costs were not significantly different to monthly norms. Smoking prevalence fell by 8.0% overall, from 31.3% in January 1999 to 23.7% in July–September 2010. In the quarter prior to implementation of the legislation, smoking prevalence fell by 1.7% (95% CI 2.4%, 1.0%, p<0.001) more than expected from the underlying trend.</p>
<p><b>Conclusions:</b> Quit attempts increased in the three months leading up to Scotland's smoke-free legislation, resulting in a fall in smoking prevalence. However, neither has been sustained suggesting the need for additional tobacco control measures and ongoing support.</p>
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