1,720,960 research outputs found
Early correlates of behavioural and emotional problems in children and adolescents with severe learning disabilities
Research and theory on behaviour problems in children with intellectual disabilities (IDs) have tended to focus on maintaining variables and present correlates of disorder. The present study focused on potential early correlates of behavioural problems. The parents of 188 children attending schools for those with 'severe learning difficulties' completed the Developmental Behaviour Checklist (DBC), and a questionnaire asking for demographic details and information about present and early correlates (i.e. epilepsy and physical ability, and early developmental progress, early feeding problems and obstetric complications). Hierarchical regression analyses were performed to explore whether potential early correlates from infancy could add to the prediction of behaviour problems from established correlates and diagnostic variables. Potential early correlates across all of the DBC domains did not add significantly to the prediction of behaviour problems. However, there were effects of sex, physical ability and diagnostic categories. A number of methodological factors (i.e. poor response rate, focus only on severe ID and retrospective data collection) are discussed in terms of how they impact on the results. However, analyses of large samples such as that reported in the present study may still provide a useful addition to research on the early development of behaviour problems. Such data may help in the identification of children at risk who may benefit from early intervention
The Rett Syndrome Behaviour Questionnaire (RSBQ): Refining the behavioural phenotype of Rett syndrome
Although physical features, including loss of hand skills, deceleration of head growth, spasticity and scoliosis, are cardinal features of Rett syndrome (RS), a number of behavioural features are also associated with the disorder, including hand stereotypies, hyperventilation and breath holding. No study has tested the specificity of these behavioural features to individuals with RS, compared to individuals with severe to profound mental retardation (SMR). Method: A novel checklist of characteristic RS behavioural and emotional features, the Rett Syndrome Behaviour Questionnaire (RSBQ), was developed to test the type and specificity of behavioural features of RS against those found in girls with SMR. Results: After controlling for the effects of RS-related physical disabilities, the RSBQ discriminated between the groups. Some aspects of the behaviours found to be specific to RS are included in the necessary or supportive RS diagnostic criteria, notably hand behaviours and breathing problems. Additional behavioural features were also more frequently reported in the RS than the SMR group, including mood fluctuations and signs of fear/anxiety, inconsolable crying and screaming at night, and repetitive mouth and tongue movements and grimacing. Conclusions: Full validation of the scale requires confirmation of its discriminatory power and reliability with independent samples of individuals with RS and SMR. Further delineation of the specific profile of behaviours seen in RS may help in identification of the function of the MECP2 gene and in improved differential diagnosis and management of individuals with RS
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
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
“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
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
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
Behavior problems in adult women with Rett syndrome
Despite considerable interest in the genetic, physical and neurological aspects of Rett syndrome (RS), there have been few studies of associated behavioural and emotional features. Furthermore, few case studiesor surveys have included adult women with RS. The main aim of the present study was to compare behaviour problems in a sample of women with RS against data from normative samples. Methods The primary carers of 50 women with RS completed the community version of the Aberrant Behavior Checklist. Results Women with RS were rated as having lower levels of irritability, hyperactivity and inappropriate speech behaviours than normative samples of adults with intellectual disability. Conclusions A number of factors may affect the presentation of behaviour problems in women with RS (e.g. cognitive impairments or physical disabilities). Therefore, more research is needed in order to generate information about the behavioural phenotype of RS. The implications of the present data for future research are also discussed
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
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
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