1,721,010 research outputs found
Burned human remains: diachronic analysis of cremation rituals in necropolises of northern Italy
No full textThe funeral ritual of cremation has been practiced since ancient times and is an important source of information for the reconstruction of past mortuary behavior. In this study, 387 cremation tombs from five sites in the Po Valley (northern Italy) belonging to different periods (from the Bronze Age to the Roman Age) were examined to identify possible diachronic differences in cremation rituals. Anthropological analyses consisted of sex and age-at-death determination and estimation of the minimum number of individuals. Factors such as color variations of bones, fragmentation, skeletal completeness, and presence of animal bones were investigated as indicators of the funeral ritual. Different representation of the two sexes and different age-at-death were compared, as were single burials versus multiple ones. The results demonstrated significant differences among periods for almost all variables considered. The Bronze Age sample presented a higher frequency of single graves. The Iron and Roman Age samples showed a higher frequency of subadults than the Bronze Age. The cremations from all periods showed high frequencies of arm and leg bones, but the Roman Age sample showed a higher frequency of vertebrae and pelvic girdle elements. Larger fragments (≥ 20 mm) prevailed in the Roman Age, as did the presence of animal bones and blackened bones. We discuss these results by comparing them with sociocultural data of the human communities settled in the Po Valley during the Bronze, Iron, and Roman Ages. In conclusion, our study revealed different funerary rituals in northern Italy among the three periods
Sex determination in cremated human remains using the lateral angle of the pars petrosa ossis temporalis: is old age a limiting factor?
No full textThe significant role of the petrous bone in sex assessment of skeletal human remains has been highlighted by several studies. In previous work we applied the method of the measurement of the lateral angle of the petrous bone to a sample of cremated human remains of known age and sex from an Italian crematorium; the low accuracy of sex classification obtained was probably due to the high number of elderly individuals in our sample. In this paper we investigate the relationship between age and alterations of the petrous bone, by applying the same methodology we used previously, measuring the lateral angle of the petrous bone, in a new sample group that was subdivided into three different age groups. Results showed a moderate rate of accuracy in sex assessment for the first two age groups, for which a new sex-discriminating sectioning point was found; however, the method was found not to be applicable for individuals over 70 years of age. Measurement of the lateral angle in adults aged between 20 and 70 years is a reliable method for sex assessment of cremated remains in conjunction with classical methods, in both archaeological and forensic contexts
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
Cardiac biomarkers: where are we going?
No full textThe measurement of cardiac troponins (cTn) is recommended by all guidelines as the gold standard for the detection of differential myocardial injury and acute myocardial infarction (AMI). In this article, some key issues regarding both analytical characteristics of the high-sensitivity methods for cTn, which are still considered controversial or unresolved are discussed in details. These issues have been included in the activities of the Joint Working Group on "Cardiac Biomarkers" of the Italian Society of Clinical Biochemistry and the Italian branch of the European Ligand Assay Society. The major clinical concern regarding hs-cTn methods is the difficulty to differentiate the pathophysiological mechanism responsible for biomarker release from cardiomyocytes after reversible or irreversible injury, respectively. High-sensitivity cTnI and cTnT methods (hs-cTn) enable to monitor myocardial renewal and remodelling, and to promptly identify patients at highest risk of heart failure. In addition, several studies demonstrated that the cardiovascular risk progressively increases in the general population even for hs-cTn values well below the 99th percentile, i.e. the recognized cut-off for the detection of myocardial injury and diagnosis of AMI. An early and effective treatment of individuals at higher cardiovascular risk may revert the initial myocardial remodelling and slow down heart failure progression. Finally, recent studies support the working hypothesis that a new generation of hs-cTn methods should be set up based on monoclonal antibodies, specific for circulating peptide forms more characteristics for reversible rather than irreversible myocardial injury. Of course, screening programs of cardiovascular risk stratification and prevention strategies using hs-cTn methods require further investigation to define the optimal target populations, timing of measurement, and preventive interventions
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
Approccio toracoscopico del nodulo polmonare periferico. Esperienza personale.
No full textApproccio toracoscopico al nodulo polmonare
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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