1,721,185 research outputs found
Musteloid sociality: the grass-roots of society
Full text linkExcluded from the pursuit predator niche by better-adapted early felids and canids, the musteloids exploited other hunting strategies as grasslands proliferated in the Oligocene. Unconstrained by specialised running limbs, lineages evolved to excavate prey (badgers) and enter burrows (polecats). Others took to tree-climbing (martens, procynoids) and even swimming (otters). While some species specialised in rodent hunting (weasels) others became more generalist omnivores. In-turn the dispersion of these food types dictated socio-spatial geometries, allowing insectivorous, piscivorous and frugivorous species to congregate with varying degrees of social cohesion, often unified within subterranean burrows – a basis to group-living distinct from the pack-hunting felids and canids. Induced ovulation and delayed implantation feature in the mating systems of several species, evolved to ensure breeding success amongst low-density, solitary ancestors. Group-living musteloids exhibit degrees of reproductive suppression, allo-parental care and other cooperative behaviours, thus this contrarian superfamily provides unique insights into the basis of carnivore societies
Randomised controlled trial to evaluate a direct referral service for investigation of patients with low risk sympton clusters suggestive of colorectal cancer, as against usual care
No full textEThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo
Beneath the umbrella: conservation out of the limelight
Full text linkThe concluding chapter of this book poses the question: what is special about the musteloids in the context of promoting their conservation. Ranking species on their public appeal, most musteloids score relatively poorly as ambassadors, or flagships, for conservation compared with, for example, big cats. There are individual exceptions (many of the otters, for example, and the endangered ‘celebrity’ species, such as black-footed ferrets or red pandas), and some have potential as umbrella species due to their range overlap with other threatened mammals. The chapter explores if and how musteloids contribute to ecosystem services, and thus their utility value, and assesses the potential for identifying priorities for conservation action (in terms of both priority species and priority countries). The conservation needs of musteloids are varied, and these are not the only important considerations, but they illustrate some of the complexity that is involved
Managing the Resource Revolution: Space Law in the New Space Age
No full textThe twenty-first century has seen a significant expansion in the commercial space sector. Many of these companies have focused on extracting and exploiting mineral deposits that may be found on celestial bodies. A number of US-based companies have promulgated ambitious plans to build the infrastructure to enable the mining of asteroids for precious resources in order to use and sell them on Earth. Motivated not by a desire to explore, but by the promise of vast mineral and energy resources, these companies represent a new paradigm in space exploration. But with promise of a revolution in access to resources also brings with it a number of risks and issues relating to liability. This chapter examines the current legal and policy position on the exploitation of extra-terrestrial minerals. The discussion begins by highlighting the legal issues in respect of regulating space mining and how the risks which are associated with this area are currently managed. The discussion then assesses competing suggestions for reform of this area and evaluates these solutions, both in terms of the legal issues in respect of ownership and the broader policy issues of managing potential future risks to humanity from space mining
Musteloid diseases: implications for conservation and species management
Full text linkThe role of disease in population regulation is often overlooked in ecology and conservation. Due to their diversity, the musteloids host a wide range of pathogens. These include diseases of commercial importance, such Aleutian mink disease virus which impacts mink ranching, or bovine tuberculosis leading to interventions to manage European badgers. Skunks and raccoons are major rabies hosts in North America, and because these small carnivores insinuate themselves into close proximity with people, they can pose substantial zoonotic risks. Musteloids also share diseases between species, such as mustelid herpes virus, canine distemper and infectious hepatitis viruses, along with a range of nematodes and protozoans; presenting a contagion risk when vulnerable musteloids are being conserved or reintroduced. Managing host density, vaccination and host isolation are thus the best tools for managing disease, where we advocate the UN-led ‘One Health approach, aimed at reducing risks of infectious diseases at the Animal-Human-Ecosystem interfac
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
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