1,721,022 research outputs found

    Ultraviolet Photoprocessing of Glycine Adsorbed on Various Space-Relevant Minerals

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    The discovery of amino acids such as glycine on meteorites and comets confirms the role of small bodies as transport and delivery vehicles of building blocks of life on Earth and possibly on other planetary bodies of our Solar System. Glycine is quite interesting because it is the simplest of the 20 biogenic amino acids, from which complex organic molecules might have originated in our evolved Solar System. To investigate the possible chemical evolution of this molecule in space, it is important to consider how the interaction with mineral matrices influences its photostability. Indeed, the presence of minerals can mediate the effects of electromagnetic radiation, catalyzing photoreactions, or protecting molecules against degradation. Such interactions are responsible for the preservation/degradation mechanisms of organic molecules in space environments. Laboratory simulations of UV processing may provide key insights into the survival of organic molecules in space environment and rocky surfaces, which is of particular relevance for current missions of sample return from asteroids, such as NASA OSIRIS-REx and JAXA Hayabusa 2, and in particular, upcoming space exploration missions on planetary surfaces, such as ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars 2022 and NASA Mars 2020. In this article, we report a laboratory study of UV irradiation of glycine adsorbed on various space relevant minerals: forsterite, antigorite, spinel, and pyrite. We monitored possible changes of glycine functional groups due to UV irradiation through in situ infrared (IR) spectroscopic analysis. Results show that degradation of glycine occurs with a half-life of 0.5–2 h depending on the mineral substrate. Appearance of new IR bands suggests the occurrence of catalytic reactions mediated by minerals and UV

    Survival of Xanthoria parietina in simulated space conditions: vitality assessment and spectroscopic analysis

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    Xanthoria parietina is a widespread foliose lichen growing on barks and rocks showing a broad spectrum of tolerance to air pollutants such as NOX and heavy metals, and resistance to UV-radiation because of the screening properties provided by the secondary metabolite parietin. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of this lichen species to survive in the following simulated space conditions, UV-radiation in N2 atmosphere and UV-radiation in vacuum. The efficiency of the photosynthetic apparatus was used as an indicator of vitality, and was expressed in terms of chlorophyll a fluorescence (FV/FM) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which were measured within 72 h from the exposure. Additionally, during the irradiation, the IR reflectance spectrum of the lichen was monitored in situ to assess changes in spectral bands. The results showed significant differences in physiological recovery trends between the treatments, highlighting that UV-radiation in vacuum causes stronger effects on FV/FM values. The IR analysis revealed several spectral band changes in the fingerprint region. The most visible variation was the 5200 cm−1 water band that disappeared in the overtone region. Nevertheless, X. parietina was able to survive UV-radiation in N2 atmosphere and in vacuum, and for this reason it may be considered a candidate for further evaluations on its survival capacity in extreme conditions

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    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

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    “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

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    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

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    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

    Author Index

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    koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist

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    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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