1,721,060 research outputs found
Regression to the mean
No full textThe regression to the mean effect has been described in several contexts but still it continues to emerge. It is a kind of selection bias and it is the consequence of measurement error. It was described in clinical studies and epidemiological investigations whenever a selection of high/low responders is part of the study design; second it is present when baseline measurement is considered as confounder of covariate of interests. The general setting of the problem can be formalized via a latent variable and more than one imperfect measurements. Generalized linear mixed models are proposed. We present a comprehensive formulation of the problem and a simple explorative analysis using the correlation coefficients (Pearson’s, Lin’s and Bland-Altman’s mean-difference correlation)
Employment Uncertainty and Fertility: A Network Meta-Analysis of European Research Findings
No full textThe relationship between employment uncertainty and fertility is a major topic in demographic research. Since, particularly, the Great Recession, increasing numbers of papers on this matter have been published. Uncertainty is usually deemed to have a negative effect on fertility, but different fertility reactions are hypothesized by sociological theories, and micro-level evidence is fragmentary and contradictory. In this article, we use network meta-analysis to synthesize European research findings and to offer general conclusions about the effects of employment uncertainty on fertility (in terms of direction and size) and to rank different sources of uncertainty. Our results suggest that employment uncertainty is detrimental for fertility. For men, being unemployed is more detrimental for fertility than having time-limited employment; for women, time-limited employment is the worst condition for fertility, while unemployment is often used as an opportunity window for having children. Next, the negative effect of time-limited employment on fertility has become stronger over time, and is more severe in Southern European countries, where social protection for families and the unemployed is least generous. Finally, we demonstrate that failing to account for income and partner’s characteristics leads to an overestimation of the negative effect of employment uncertainty on fertility. We advance the role of these two factors as potential mechanisms by which employment uncertainty affects fertility
Approcci statistici ed epidemiologici alla comunicazione del rischio in aree ad alto rischio ambientale
No full textHealth Impact Assessment (HIA) and health risk communication are key elements within the complex process of informing communities with regard to environmental and health issues. The European Se-veso Directive emphasizes the importance of communication, stating that population must be appro-priately informed about the risk related to environmental and industrial hazards. In this context, an im-portant issue is how we should communicate to the citizens the results of the epidemiological studies. In fact, these results can be expressed in several ways, which can be more or less understandable and have different impact in term of risk perception. The aim of our study was to compare the relative ef-fectiveness of alternative risk and uncertainty indicators in transferring the scientific knowledge to the community. This objective was carried out in the context of an exemplary case study: the Livorno high risk area. Here, we conducted a randomized controlled study on a random sample of residents strati-fied by sex, age and district. The survey was preceded by in-depth interviews on individuals from the target population. Here we explain the methodological approach and we discuss the first results. The qualitative analysis points out that individual risk perception depends on the statistical indicators used to communicate knowledge, they are not objective and neutral. Furthermore, believes, meanings, be-haviors and personal experience play a key role in the risk perception
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
- …
