1,720,961 research outputs found
The experience of southern Apulia (Italy) coastal karst aquifer: Indications for the management
Full text linkPrediction of the salt water intrusion in coastal karst aquifers is a key issue in several regions of the world. Southern Apulia (Italy) hosts a huge aquifer of karstified lime-stones, that provides 90% of the water demand of this sub-region. The exploitation of the aquifer currently exceeds its natural recharge capacity. The groundwater in wide coastal areas of the sub-region underwent an increase of the salt content. Salinization of the groundwater in such an aquifer cannot be predicted by means of conventional models. An effective model for a quantitative prediction of the fluid flow and transport of solute in the aquifer, aimed at a better understanding of the phenomenon, is therefore needed. This model should account for the discrete nature of the aquifer. In this paper, several situations are reported in order to describe the importance of the inhomogeneities (fracture systems, fault zones, karst conduit, preferential flow levels) in the salinization process of the southern Apulia karst aquifer
Multi-drug resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae strains circulating in hospital setting: wholegenome sequencing and Bayesian phylogenetic analysis for outbreak investigations
No full textCarbapenems resistant Enterobacteriaceae infections are increasing worldwide representing an emerging public health problem. The application of phylogenetic and phylodynamic analyses to bacterial whole genome sequencing (WGS) data have become essential in the epidemiological surveillance of multi-drug resistant nosocomial pathogens. In this study, K. pneumoniae KPC strains circulating within different wards of the University Hospital Campus Bio-Medico were collected and WGS applied.
These applications could help in the epidemiological surveillance of MDR pathogens to discern outbreak from non-outbreak strains in both community and hospital settings. The aim was to infer the origin and the spread of K. pneumoniae nosocomial strains and to clarify the epidemiological transmission as so as the eventual reservoir in the hospital setting supporting the epidemiological surveillance and infections control strategies.
Among patients undergoing endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), patients have investigated infections by KPC K. pneumoniae and endoscope were sampled to check the correct duedonoscope reprocessing.
A microbiological surveillance on duedonoscope was performed.
Between January 2012 and February 2013, twenty-one multi-drug resistant K. pneumoniae strains, were collected from patients hospitalized among different wards of the University Hospital Campus Bio-Medico. Epidemiological contact tracing of patients and Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of bacterial WGS data were used to investigate the evolution and spatial dispersion of K. pneumoniae in support of hospital infection control. The epidemic curve of incident K. pneumoniae cases showed a bimodal distribution of cases with two peaks separated by 46 days between November 2012 and January 2013. The time-scaled phylogeny suggested that K. pneumoniae strains isolated during the study period may have been introduced into the hospital setting as early as 2007. Moreover, the phylogeny showed two different epidemic introductions in 2008 and 2009.
The results of the sampling performed highlighted a first multi-microbial contamination supported by MDR organism (K. pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa and A. baumanii) eliminated from the introduction of the new reprocessing protocols.
Due to the complex design of duodenoscopes, it is difficult an adequate disinfection of the channels. Duodenoscopes can be difficult to dry and a potential risk of cross contamination is higher using this type of endoscope. New duodenoscope designs should facilitate more efficient disinfection, FDA has identified design features that facilitate cleaning, disinfection and sterilization and reduce the likelihood of retaining debris. Bayesian genomic epidemiology is a powerful tool that promises to improve the surveillance and control of multi-drug resistant pathogens in an effort to develop effective infection prevention in healthcare settings or constant strains reintroduction
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
Prediction of time to slope failure: a general framework
No full textThe prediction of time to slope failure (TSF) is a goal of major importance for both landslide researchers and practitioners. A reasonably accurate prediction of TSF allows human losses to be avoided, damages to property to be reduced and adequate countermeasures to be designed. A pure "phenomenological" approach based on the observation and interpretation of the monitored data is generally employed in TSF prediction. Such an approach infers TSF mainly from the ground surface displacements using regression techniques based on empirical functions. These functions neglect the rheological soil parameters in order to reduce the prediction uncertainties. This paper presents an overlook of the methods associated with this approach and proposes a unique expression encompassing most of the previously proposed equations for TSF prediction, thus offering a general framework useful for comparisons between different methods. The methods discussed in this paper provide an effective tool, and sometimes the only tool, for TSF prediction. The fundamental problem is always one of data quality. A full confidence in all assumptions and parameters used in the prediction model is rarely, if ever, achieved. Therefore, TSF prediction models should be applied with care and the results interpreted with caution. Documented case studies represent the most useful source of information to calibrate the TSF prediction models
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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