1,721,045 research outputs found

    Design and assessment of adjustable telescopic props with innovative shape

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    The design of optimal props (in terms of weight) that conform to the European standard EN 1065 is not a straightforward task. For some classes of props, when the collapse mechanism is the failure of the prop base, large tubes thicknesses or large tubes diameters are required to keep the failure mechanism under control, although the substantial strength of the tubes remains unexploited. This observation motivates the seek for innovative shapes. The present work aims at showing a new proposal of efficient design of props in agreement with the standard EN 1065. Theoretical and numerical analysis are carried out in order to identify the effective gain of weight of this new design configuration

    Rapid Point-Of-Care Serology and Clinical History Assessment Increase Protection Provided by RT-PCR Screening: A Pilot Study Involving Three Nursing Homes in Brescia, a Hotspot of Lombardy

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    Background: COVID-19 outbursts have been registered worldwide within care homes with asymptomatic transmission combined with shortage/inaccuracy of diagnostic tests undermining the efforts at containment of the disease. Nursing facilities in Lombardy (Italy) were left with no, or limited, access to testing for 8 weeks after the outbreak of COVID-19. Methods: This study includes 246 residents and 286 workers of three different nursing homes in Brescia-Lombardy. Clinical questionnaires and rapid serology tests were devised to integrate the data of the first available RT-PCR screening. Follow-up serology after 60-days was performed on 67 of 86 workers with positive serology or clinically suspicious. Findings: Thirty-seven residents and 18 workers had previous positive RT-PCR. Thorough screening disclosed two additional RT-PCR-positive workers. Serology screening revealed antibodies in 59 residents and 48 workers, including 32/37 residents and all workers previously positive at RT-PCR. Follow up serology disclosed antibodies in two additional workers with recent symptoms at the time of screening. The professionals in close contact with residents had more infections (47/226–20.79% vs. 1/60–1.66%; p = 0.00013 Fisher exact-test). A suspicious clinical score was present in 44/64 residents and in 41/50 workers who tested positive with either method with totally asymptomatic disease more frequent among residents 28.1 vs. 10.0% (p = 0.019 Fisher exact-test). Interpretation: Based on the available RT-PCR ± results at the time of symptoms/contacts, our integrated clinical and serological screening demonstrated sensitivity 89% and specificity 87%. This multimodal assessment proved extremely useful in understanding the viral spread in nursing homes, in defining its stage and in implementing protective measures. Rapid serology tests demonstrated efficient and particularly suited for older people less able to move/cooperate

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The 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

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    “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

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    We 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

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    We 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

    Author Index

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    Effetti ecografici e clinici del trattamento combinato con tossina botulinica di tipo A ed onde d’urto focali sulla spasticità in pazienti affetti da paralisi cerebrale infantile: studio pilota.

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    Conclusioni. Il gruppo di studio trattato con tossina botulinica di tipo A combinata ad onde d’urto ha mostrato una riduzione significativamente maggiore della spasticità misurata alla scala di Ashworth rispetto al gruppo di controllo trattato solo con inoculazione di tossina botulinica. È possibile ipotizzare che questo sia stato dovuto all’azione delle onde d’urto focali sulla “componente reologica” della spasticità (che la scala di Ashworth non è in grado di scorporare dalla “componente neurologica”) come mostrato dalla significativa riduzione dell’indice di durezza della muscolatura spastica misurato all’elastosonografia nei soggetti allocati nel gruppo di studi
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