322,812 research outputs found
Study of the geomorphological and archaeological aspects of Sintra area (Portugal) as contribution to its tourist appraisal and promotion
No full textThe Portughese town of Sintra is an UNESCO world heritage site for itscultural and environmental aspects. The town is located 30 km from Lisbon and 15km from the Atlantic Ocean, and is a touristic site in every seasons mainly for itsarchitectural qualities. This work describes the geomorphological and archaeologicalaspects of the town and the surrounding Serra de Sintra in order to give an addedvalue to tourist appraisal and promotion of the area. Serra de Sintra is an ellipticigneous massif 10 km E-W and 5 km N-S, 300-500 m above sea level. The geologicalstructure is complex but it can be simplified as a core of sienites surrounded bygranites intruded in a limestone plateau. The morphogenetic processes, besidecommon landforms such as narrow valleys, scarps and ridges, shaped a variety ofparticular granite morphologies such as round block fields, inselbergs, castle koppies,etc.... The most spectacular ones have been described and classified as geosites in adata-base. The oldest archaeological remains dates to the Mesolithic, but the area hasbeen extensively occupied during the Neolitic/Calcolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages. Inhistorical times Romans, Visigots and Arabs left some interesting architectural andlinguistic marks. All the archaeological sites have been classified according tobibliographic, museal data and field surveys. They are also all included in a data-base.GeoArchaeo-Tourist maps at 1:25,000 and 1.10,000 scales of the Serra de Sintra andSintra town are the information results collected in the geomorphological andcultural data-bases. The maps have been implemented, by means of an ArcGIScomputer programme, integrating geological, geomorphological, archaeological andhistorical aspects with the tourist infrastructures (information points, parking areas,accommodations, panoramic points, etc.) in order to obtain documents readable, simple, clear but scientifically accurate also for non-expert users. This study could besuitably simplified and summarized in a guide book, with enclosed GeoArchaeo-Tourist maps, as a contribution to improve the knowledge and appraisal of the Sintraterritory also for its landscape and archaeological aspects
Study of the geomorphological and archaeological aspects of Sintra area (Portugal) as contribution to its tourist appraisal and promotion
No full textThe Portughese city of Sintra is an UNESCO world heritage site for cultural and environmental aspects. The city is located 30 km from Lisbon and 15 km from Atlantic Ocean, and is a touristic site in every seasons mainly for its architectural qualities.This work describes the geomorphological and archaeological aspects of the city and the surrounding Serra in order to give an added value to tourist appraisal and promotion of the area.Sintra's Serra is an elliptic igneous massif 10 km E-W and 5 km N-S, 300-500 m above sea level. The geological structure is complex but it can be simplified as a core of sienites surrounded by granites in a calcareous rocks plateau.The morphogenetic processes, beside common landforms such as valleys, scarps and ridges, shaped a variety of particular morphologies as round blocks, inselberg, tafoni, etc... The most spectacular ones have been decribed and classified as geosites in a data-base.The oldest archaeological remains dates to Mesolithic, but the area has been extensively occupied during the Neolithic/Calcolithic, Bronze and Iron Age. In historical time Romans, Visigots and Arabs left some interesting architectural and linguistic marks. All the archaeological sites have been classified according bibliographic, museal data and field surveys. They are all included in a data-base.Two GeoArchaeo-Tourist maps (1:25.000 of Sintra Serra and 1:10.000 of Sintra town) are the results of the information collected in the geological and cultural data-bases. The maps have been implemented, by means of ArcGIS computer programme, integrating geological, geomorphological, archaeological and historical aspects with the tourist infrastructure (information point, parking area, accommodations, panoramic points, etc) in order to obtain documents readable, simple, clear but scientifically accurate also for non-expert users. The main purpose of the GeoArchaeo-Tourist maps is to favour the tourists to discover the Sintra’s area also for its landscape and archaeological aspects
Anti-Mullerian hormone plasma levels in spontaneous menstrual cycle and during treatment with FSH to induce ovulation
No full textBackground: Anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) is member of the transforming growth factor-beta superfamily of growth factors. AMH is detected in serum from women of reproductive age and its levels vary slightly with the menstrual cycle, reaching the peak value in the late follicular phase. The present study was undertaken to assess the effect of controlled ovarian stimulation on AMH secretion by the ovary in healthy women in order to obtain more insight into the relationship between this peptide and gonadal steroids. Methods: Twenty-four normally cycling women attending the infertility clinic volunteered for this study and AMH was measured in blood samples obtained during both spontaneous and FSH-treated cycles. Results: AMH plasma levels did not change significantly from day 2 to day 6 in spontaneous cycles. On the contrary, AMH levels decreased progressively from day 2 to day 6 in FSH-treated cycles. A significant positive correlation was found between the decrease in AMH and the increase in estradiol plasma levels in FSH-treated cycles and between basal AMH and the peak estradiol (E-2) during exogenous FSH administration. Conclusions: The present study demonstrated that AMH plasma levels did not change during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle and that exogenous FSH administration is followed by a significant reduction in AMH levels which is probably secondary to the gonadotrophin effect on the process of follicular development
Does plasma insulin level affect ovarian response to exogenous administration of follicle-stimulating hormone in women without polycystic ovary syndrome?
No full textBackground. Raised insulin levels have been shown to contribute to ovarian overproduction of androgens. Hyperinsulinemia, usually associated with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), brings about greater ovarian endocrine and morphological responses to ovulation induced by follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). This indicates that elevated levels of insulin play a role in the endocrine and paracrine control of the ovaries. Objective. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether basal insulin levels influence ovarian response to FSH in healthy women (non-PCOS) undergoing assisted reproduction by in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET). Methods. The study included 36 consecutive women, 27-45 years old, undergoing IVF-ET for tubal-factor or male-factor infertility. Serum insulin levels were determined on the day of administration of gonaclotropin-releasing hormone analog (GnRHa) and on the first day of FSH administration. Results. Mean insulin levels were 6 +/- 3 and 7 +/- 3 mu U/ml on the day of GnRHa and FSH administration, respectively. No correlations were found between basal insulin level, days of treatment, total FSH dose, estradiol level and the number of oocytes retrieved. Conclusions. The results of the present study show that normal levels of insulin do not seem to influence ovarian response to FSH in non-PCOS women. In all patients included in our study, serum insulin levels did not correlate with IVF stimulation data (days of stimulation, total FSH dose) nor with IVF-ET outcome. Thus the study demonstrates that, in patients who are not insulin-resistant, insulin does not correlate with ovarian response to FSH administration
Diffusive author(s), cohesive author: Analysis of S/N (1994)
No full textThis study indicates the ways in which various aspects of the author(s) are brought forth in Dumb type’s performance art, the S/N production. Previous research has suggested a non-hierarchical organization of Dumb type and the absence of a “privileged author” in Dumb type’s collaborative work, S/N. However, the results that I have investigated from member’s interviews on the creative process of S/N along with my analysis of the recorded images of S/N, indicate a different aspect of the author(s). First, S/N was created through, so to speak, the collective ideas of the members of Dumb type. Further, S/N has at least nine quotations from previous performances, installations, and printed writings, besides the work-in-progress technique. Explicating one of the “author functions” as given by Michel Foucault, each text has plural subjects of the author. However, it has been revealed from members’ interviews that Teiji Furuhashi had a decision-making role in selecting the members’ ideas within the performance. Since then, S/N has had plural subjects of creation; however, Furuhashi is one of the subjects of creation along with the “privileged author.” S/N has plural authors (diffusive authors) yet at the same time, it has a “privileged author,” Teiji Furuhashi (cohesive author)
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
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
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No full textCan archives of audiovisual TV interviews be used to make authors more visible to students, and thereby reduce the learning gap between native and non-native language speakers in college classes? We examined students in a college course who learned about one scholar's ideas through watching an audiovisual TV interview (i.e., visible author format) and about another scholar's ideas through reading a formal text description (i.e., invisible author format). For the invisible author, native language speakers scored significantly higher than the non-native language speakers on a corresponding exam question (i.e., a cognitive measure), generated more words on the exam question (i.e., a motivational measure), and mentioned the author's name more often in answering the exam question (i.e., an affective measure). For the visible author, the groups did not differ on any of these measures. These findings provide evidence for the idea that making the author visible through audiovisual TV interviews can eliminate the learning gap between native and non-native language speakers. 3 Universities around the world serve students who are non-native speakers of th
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