1,720,962 research outputs found
Semi-automated statistical quantification of initial colonization of bacteria on different materials under standardized conditions
No full textThe formation of biofilms on different materials provokes high costs in industrial processes, as well as in medical applications. Therefore, the interest in development of new materials with improved surfaces to reduce bacterial colonization rises. In order to evaluate the quality and safety of these new materials, it is highly important to ensure world-wide comparable tests that are relying on statistical evidence. The only way to reach this statistical safety is through a high-throughput Screening under standardized test conditions.
We developed a flow through system for cultivation of biofilm-forming bacteria under controlled conditions with a total capacity for testing up to 32 samples in parallel. Quantification of the surface colonization was done by staining the bacterial cells with a fluorescence marker, followed by epifluorescence microscopy. More than 100 images of each sample were automatically taken and the surface coverage was estimated with the free open source software gmic (http://gmic.eu), followed by a precise statistical evaluation. Overview images of all gathered pictures of the whole material coupon were generated to illuminate the colonization characteristics of the selected bacteria on certain materials.
With this method, differences in bacterial colonization on different materials can be quantified in a statistically validated manner. The innovative and solid test procedure will support the design of improved materials for medical and industrial applications such as implants, ship hulls, pipelines, heat exchangers, aquaculture equipments, photovoltaic-panels and fundaments of wind power plants
Exploring drivers of farmland value and growth in Italy and Germany at regional level
No full textThe recent renewed growing attractiveness of investments in farmland for agricultural and non-agricultural reasons have raised new attention by European Union on factors able to influence the farmland value and on the enhancement of agricultural policies for supporting the development of European regions. Despite its importance, there is a very limited number of studies focusing on European context and a little concordance between the drivers affecting the farmland value and growth. Attempting to reduce the gap, this study investigates the determinants of farmland prices from 2000 to 2010 by exploring and comparing Italy and Germany that are interesting because of their similarity with respect to the outlined dichotomy between urbanized and farming counties/provinces. The comparison across models allows to discuss the cross-cutting and country-specific drivers affecting farmland value and the implication of these findings on agricultural policies recommendations
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
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
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe 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
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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