1,721,117 research outputs found
Alien Registration- Jones, Ruth N. (Mars Hill, Aroostook County)
Full text linkhttps://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/34006/thumbnail.jp
Dynamic evaluation of female pelvic floor muscle function using 2D ultrasound and image processing methods
No full textThe aim of this study was to define new quantitative parameters of dynamic Pelvic Floor Muscle (PFM) function using 2D transperineal (TP) ultrasound imaging combined with image processing methods (IPM).Ultrasound and digital vaginal data were obtained from a volunteer convenience sample of 23 continent and 9 Stress Urinary Incontinent (SUI) women recruited from the San Francisco Bay Area community, California, U.S.A. Two methods of IPM were used; speckle tracking for measuring displacement of the ano-rectal angle (ARA) and symphysis pubis (SP); and segmentation IPM for measuring displacement of the urethra. Good to excellent inter and intra observer reliability was established for processing the ultrasound images on stored audio-visual imaging files (AVI). Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) values: 0.61 to 0.99; 95% confidence intervals (CI) 0.08?0.84 to 0.97?0.99; standard error of measurement (SEM) 0.01to 0.25 cm. There was good agreement between measures on Bland and Altman analysis: mean difference 0.06 to -0.21 cm; 95% CI 0.02?0.45cm to -0.01?0.20cm. Validity of the IPM was confirmed with digital palpation, and furthermore indicated good sensitivity and specificity. Technical and methodological limitations of the IPM, and suggestions for future studies were discussed.Several research questions were addressed using TP ultrasound combined with IPM that enabled the dynamic evaluation of pelvic floor (PF) displacement throughout an entire manoeuvre, rather than limiting the quantification from static images at rest to the end of the manoeuvre. In this way, IPM determined unique quantitative data regarding the automatic displacement, velocity and acceleration of the ARA and urethra during a cough, Valsalva, voluntary PFM contraction, The Knack and a Transversus Abdominis contraction. During automatic events that raised intra-abdominal pressure (IAP), normal PFM function produced timely compression of the PF and additional external support to the urethra, reducing the displacement, velocity, and acceleration. In women with SUI, who have weaker urethral attachments, this shortening contraction did not occur; consequently, the urethra of women with SUI moved further and faster for a longer duration.Caution regarding the generalisability of this study is warranted due to the small number of women in the SUI group and the significant difference in parity between groups. However this non-invasive physiological measurement tool demonstrated a new way of assessing the PFM. It is envisaged that this study will provide the foundation for future studies with larger parity matched populations and eventually improve the rehabilitation of women with SUI and other PF disorders
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
The role of guidance specialists at the elementary school level: a content analysis, 1966
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