1,720,997 research outputs found
The Secret Science of Superheroes
No full textEver wondered what a superhero eats for breakfast? Do they need a special diet to feed their superpowers? The odd metabolisms of superheroes must mean they have strange dietary needs, from the high calorie diets to fuel flaming bodies and super speeds, to not so obvious requirements for vitamins and minerals.The Secret Science of Superheroes looks at the underpinning chemistry, physics and biology needed for their superpowers. Individual chapters look at synthesising elements on demand, genetic evolution and what superhero suits could be made of. By exploring these topics, the book introduces a wide range of scientific concepts, from protein chemistry to particle physics for a general scientifically interested audience.With contributions from leading science communicators the book hopes to answer some of these important questions rather than debunk or pick holes in the science of superheroes
The Secret Science of Superheroes
No full textEver wondered what a superhero eats for breakfast? Do they need a special diet to feed their superpowers? The odd metabolisms of superheroes must mean they have strange dietary needs, from the high calorie diets to fuel flaming bodies and super speeds, to not so obvious requirements for vitamins and minerals.The Secret Science of Superheroes looks at the underpinning chemistry, physics and biology needed for their superpowers. Individual chapters look at synthesising elements on demand, genetic evolution and what superhero suits could be made of. By exploring these topics, the book introduces a wide range of scientific concepts, from protein chemistry to particle physics for a general scientifically interested audience.With contributions from leading science communicators the book hopes to answer some of these important questions rather than debunk or pick holes in the science of superheroes
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
The impact of BBC Blue Planet II on awareness of and attitude to plastic pollution
Get PDFThis research study addresses the issue of environmental pollution caused by plastic waste, which has had extensive negative impact on the ecological systems and human life worldwide. Recent studies have found microplastics in every single aquatic species in the UK, reflecting the extent of harm caused to the biological species, natural environment and human health.Conservationists should promote pro-environmental behaviour, such as reducing plastic pollution by reducing plastic consumption and disposal. Hence, across the globe, governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the media have been active in preventing and mitigating the impact of plastic pollution. Mass media, including the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), have been playing a major role in informing the public and creating awareness. In 2017, the BBC Natural History Unit broadcast the BBC Blue Planet II Series, which had involved 39 countries and 125 marine expeditions. The Series, in part, explores the impact of plastic pollution on marine life. According to some experts, the BBC natural history documentary, Blue Planet II, was watched by millions across the globe, leading to changes in public attitude & awareness of plastic pollution. This dissertation assesses the impact of the BBC Blue Planet II series on public awareness of plastic pollution in the UK, US, Canada and Australia, and contains a comprehensive review of the open literature.The impact of Blue Planet II on plastic pollution was assessed via analysis of search volumes using Google Trends. Whilst attitudes to plastic pollutions was investigated via textual analysis of online comments within plastics related articles in the to The Guardian and The Times online newspaper. The quantitative and qualitative data are presented in graphical forms in this research study, and show that an increase in public awareness of plastic pollution did corelate with airing of the BBC Blue Planet II series. However, using the mentioned methods the research we were not able to find evidence for a causal link between the BBC Blue Planet II series and an increase in public awareness of plastic pollution
The impact of BBC Blue Planet II on awareness of and attitude to plastic pollution
Get PDFThis research study addresses the issue of environmental pollution caused by plastic waste, which has had extensive negative impact on the ecological systems and human life worldwide. Recent studies have found microplastics in every single aquatic species in the UK, reflecting the extent of harm caused to the biological species, natural environment and human health.Conservationists should promote pro-environmental behaviour, such as reducing plastic pollution by reducing plastic consumption and disposal. Hence, across the globe, governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the media have been active in preventing and mitigating the impact of plastic pollution. Mass media, including the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), have been playing a major role in informing the public and creating awareness. In 2017, the BBC Natural History Unit broadcast the BBC Blue Planet II Series, which had involved 39 countries and 125 marine expeditions. The Series, in part, explores the impact of plastic pollution on marine life. According to some experts, the BBC natural history documentary, Blue Planet II, was watched by millions across the globe, leading to changes in public attitude & awareness of plastic pollution. This dissertation assesses the impact of the BBC Blue Planet II series on public awareness of plastic pollution in the UK, US, Canada and Australia, and contains a comprehensive review of the open literature.The impact of Blue Planet II on plastic pollution was assessed via analysis of search volumes using Google Trends. Whilst attitudes to plastic pollutions was investigated via textual analysis of online comments within plastics related articles in the to The Guardian and The Times online newspaper. The quantitative and qualitative data are presented in graphical forms in this research study, and show that an increase in public awareness of plastic pollution did corelate with airing of the BBC Blue Planet II series. However, using the mentioned methods the research we were not able to find evidence for a causal link between the BBC Blue Planet II series and an increase in public awareness of plastic pollution
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe 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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