1,720,959 research outputs found

    Assessing the specificity of the relationship between brain alpha oscillations and tonic pain

    Get PDF
    Recent research proposed that the slowing of individual alpha frequency (IAF) could be an objective marker of pain. However, it is unclear whether this research can fully address the requirements of specificity and sensitivity of IAF to the pain experience. Here, we sought to develop a robust methodology for assessing the specificity of the relationship between alpha oscillations and acute tonic pain in healthy individuals. We recorded electroencephalography (EEG) of 36 volunteers during consecutive 5-minute sessions of painful hot water immersion, innocuous warm water immersion and aversive, non-painful auditory stimulus, matched by unpleasantness to the painful condition. Participants rated stimulus unpleasantness throughout each condition. We isolated two regions of the scalp displaying peak alpha activity across participants: centro-parietal (CP) and parieto-occipital (PO) ROI. In line with previous research our findings revealed decreased IAF during hot compared with warm stimulation, however the effect was not specific for pain as we found no difference between hot and sound in the CP ROI (compared to baseline). In contrast, the PO ROI reported the same pattern of differences, but their direction was opposite to the CP in that this ROI revealed faster frequency during hot condition than controls. Finally, we show that IAF in both ROIs did not mediate the relationship between the experimental manipulation and the affective experience. Altogether, these findings emphasize the importance of a robust methodological and analytical design to disclose the functional role of alpha oscillations during affective processing. Likewise, they suggest the absence of a causal role of IAF in the generation of acute pain experience in healthy individuals

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

    Get PDF
    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

    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 PDF
    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

    Emotional disclosure to enhance wellbeing: Developing an intervention for people with terminal illness receiving hospice care at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic

    Get PDF
    Background: People living with terminal illness experience emotional distress. Hospice care aims to alleviate that distress, but provision of psychological support is limited by staff capacity. Psychological interventions with minimal need for input from specialist staff could be a valuable resource for hospices. Emotional disclosure (ED)-based interventions hold potential to meet this need. However, evidence to support their use in hospices is limited, due in part to lack of intervention tailoring. Aim: The primary aim was to develop and evaluate (for feasibility and acceptability) an ED-based intervention tailored for adults with terminal illness receiving hospice care. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic midway through this PhD highlighted the potential for an adapted version of the intervention to reduce distress for the general population. This thesis therefore also addresses the secondary aim of developing and evaluating an ED-based intervention for the general population during the pandemic. Methods: Findings from a scoping review of ED-based interventions for people with terminal illness and a survey of psychological services in UK hospices were used to inform development of a prototype of both interventions. A pilot randomised controlled trial evaluated the intervention for the general population during the pandemic. Findings from this influenced adaptation of the intervention tailored for adults with terminal illness, which was then evaluated by conducting a feasibility study and process evaluation in six hospices. Each intervention development phase was supported by stakeholder consultation. Results: Two ED-based interventions were developed: Let It Out for people living with terminal illness; and Let It Out – COVID 19 for the general population during the pandemic. Both were feasible and acceptable, but required adaptations to minimise risk of recipients experiencing excessive, unsupported distress. Conclusions: Future research should evaluate the safety and efficacy of Let It Out for people with terminal illness receiving hospice care

    Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts

    Get PDF
    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

    No full text
    Nao informado

    koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist

    No full text
    We have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
    corecore