1,721,002 research outputs found
Porotic Hyperostosis in a Late Upper Palaeolithic Skeleton (Villabruna 1, Italy)
No full textPorotic hyperostosis (PH) is a well-recognised skeletal indicator of physiological stress occurring during the early years of childhood growth. Although frequently found starting from the Neolithic, PH is poorly documented among earlier Palaeolithic hunter gatherers. This study reports a case of PH in a Late Upper Palaeolithic skeleton (Villabruna 1) from northern Italy. Macroscopic and radiographic examinations of the skeleton show symmetric porotic lesions of the cranial vault, hair-on-end appearance, thinning of the cortical bone, diploic expansion and very slight cribra orbitalia (CO). All lesions are highly remodelled and suggest a condition suffered long before death. A differential diagnosis, carried out in order to discriminate between infectious and acquired conditions, points to anaemia as likely aetiology for the changes observed. Absence of postcranial involvement, lesion healing and survival to adulthood suggest a diagnosis of acquired anaemia. Among acquired anaemias, both dietary and infectious models are discussed in light of the individual's skeletal characteristics, as well as geographic location, paleoenvironmental data, subsistence modality and dietary information. The combined analysis of these data suggests that parasitic infestation resulted in megaloblastic anaemia in this individual
Multidimensional patterns of European health, work, and violence over the last two millennia
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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
Investigating the "Blue Death" in the Past Preliminary Results of Multidisciplinary Research on the 1855 Cholera Cemetery at Badia Pozzeveri, Italy
No full textCholera epidemics afflicted the entire globe and reaped millions of lives throughout the 19th century. While mostly unseen in industrialized countries, the “blue death” is still one of the most common infectious diseases in the developing world. The disease, caused by small intestine infections by Vibrio cholerae, is characterized by vomiting, diarrhea, and consequent dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. Unless promptly treated, cholera results in death in just a few days. Genetic analyses of V. cholerae have identified two strains – Classical and El Tor – which differ in their genetic makeup and consequent virulence. In spite of the abundant historical information surrounding cholera and its death toll, until recently no direct examination of ancient cholera epidemics had been attempted. This study presents the preliminary results of archaeological, bioarchaeological, and molecular investigations of burials attributed to the cholera epidemics of 1855 at Badia Pozzeveri, Italy. All skeletons were covered by a thick layer of lime, were lying in unusual positions, and lacked evidence of the conventional ritual practices observed at the time (removal of personal belongings, crossing of hands of the thorax, presence of votive artifacts). A preliminary bioarchaeological analysis indicated the presence of individuals of both sexes and ages ranging from the early 20s to over 60. During excavation, sediment samples were collected from the pelvic area of all skeletons to be submitted to molecular analyses aimed at detecting the presence of V. cholerae in association with the skeletal remains and investigating the relationship between humans and pathogens in the past
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
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