1,720,957 research outputs found
December 2024 BNNB Statement
No full textThe Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) highlights the rising cost of living in Lusaka, as reflected in the December 2024 Basic Needs and Nutrition Basket (BNNB), which increased to ZMW 10,833.47, up by ZMW 440.31 from November. Key contributors include price hikes in essential food items such as vegetables, kapenta, and mealie meal, alongside rising costs for non-food essentials like toilet paper and sanitary towels. These increases, driven by adverse weather conditions and high production costs, disproportionately affect low-income households, exacerbating challenges in accessing adequate nutrition.
JCTR calls for medium-term solutions, including strengthening food security through irrigation projects, reallocating community development funds to agricultural infrastructure, and expanding social protection programmes such as targeted subsidies and cash transfers. These interventions aim to stabilise food prices, address climate-related impacts, and provide relief to vulnerable households, ensuring a sustainable approach to mitigating the rising cost of living.The Norwegian Church Aid and Danish Church Aid alliance - Joint Country Programme (JCP) Zambi
High Costs Highlight Urgent Need for Strategic Policies for Human Dignity
No full textThe Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) presents its July 2025 Basic Needs and Nutrition Basket (BNNB) analysis, which offers a half-year overview of household living costs across Zambia, with a primary focus on Lusaka. The data reveals a continued upward trend in the cost of living, particularly driven by sharp increases in non-food essentials such as charcoal. From January to June 2025, Lusaka's BNNB rose by ZMW 962.81—surpassing the increase recorded over the same period in 2024. Regional disparities were also evident, with urban centres like Lusaka and Solwezi recording significantly higher baskets than rural counterparts such as Mongu. The persistent pressure on household budgets—amid modest national inflation moderation—underscores the urgent need for integrated policy measures that prioritise the poor and uphold human dignity. JCTR calls for strategic interventions in agriculture, energy, social protection, and urban planning to ensure a more just and equitable society for all.Norwegian Church Aid and DanChurchAid alliance (JCP Zambia
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
April 2025 BNNB Statement
No full textThe April 2025 BNNB for Lusaka stood at K11,417.99 for a family of five, reflecting a minor reduction of K128.79 from the previous month. While slight decreases were recorded in both food and non-food components—largely due to seasonal factors—this cost remains significantly above average incomes. The statement highlights persistent socio-economic inequalities and the widening affordability gap. JCTR, drawing on Catholic Social Teaching, recommends PAYE tax relief, expanded social protection, investment in renewable energy, and inclusive economic policies. The Centre urges government action that reflects a preferential option for the poor in the forthcoming 2026 National Budget.Norwegian Church Aid and Danish Church Aid alliance (JCP Zambia
Statement on US Aid Cut to Health Sector Due to Drug Theft
No full textThe Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) has responded with grave concern to the US Government’s decision to cut $50 million (K1.4 billion) in medical aid to Zambia, citing systemic theft of US-donated drugs and inadequate government action. Highlighting the impact on the poor and vulnerable, JCTR calls the crisis a violation of human dignity and Catholic Social Teaching. The Centre outlines key recommendations including publication of the ZAMMSA audit, protection of whistleblowers, fast-tracked prosecutions, digitisation of the drug supply chain, and strengthened community monitoring. JCTR urges the government to act decisively and transparently to rebuild trust and ensure access to life-saving medicines
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
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