1,721,090 research outputs found
The role of Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) in the spread of avian influenza: genomics, population genetics, and flyways
Get PDF Birds, in particular poultry and ducks, are a source of many infectious diseases, such as those caused by influenza viruses. These viruses are a threat not only to the birds themselves but also to poultry farming and human health, as forms that can infect humans are known to have evolved. It is believed that migratory birds in general play an important role in the global spread of avian influenza (AI). However, it is still debated how large this role precisely is and whether other modes of spread may be more important. The mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) is the world’s most abundant and well-studied waterfowl species. Besides being an important game and agricultural species, it is also a flagship species in wetland conservation and restoration. Waterfowl (Anseriformes: Anatidae) and especially ducks currently are the focal bird group in long distance dispersal of Avian Influenza in the wild, and the mallard has been identified as the most likely species to transport this virus. In my thesis I report aspects of the biology of this important host species of AI by molecular ecological means. As molecular marker system I established a genome-wide set of more than 100,000 SNPs of which I developed a subset of 384 SNPs into an assay to genotype about 1,000 ducks. This subset was employed to study the evolutionary history and speciation processes in the Anas genus. Further investigations into the world-wide mallard population structure on a species level were based not only on this set of 384 SNPs but also on mitochondrial DNA sequences. Last but not last, I investigated an option of AI sampling and detection from duck faeces by technology that is safe from a biohazard perspective, and solves transportation issues related to cold chains. The main results of my thesis include the development of a generally applicable improved analysis pipeline to develop genome-wide SNP sets for non-model organisms. Further, my results show that, from a migration system perspective, mallard flyways/populations can hardly be delineated from a biological point of view. Detailed phylogenetic, population genetic and coalescent analyses of a data set of samples spanning the whole northern hemisphere leads me to conclude that the only firm population boundaries that I can draw are between Eurasia and North America, within which panmixia is almost achieved. Mallards’ and other Anas-ducks’ whole continental to global distribution brings them together in sympatry. I can show that a combination of sympatric distribution, conflicting genetically determined and learned mate recognition mechanisms, and genomic compatibility between species helps to explain the long-standing puzzle of waterfowl hybridisation and introgression of genes from one duck species into another. Besides obvious management implications I propose that this fact can be part of the explanation why ducks are so well adaptable and successful, as well as why they show extraordinary abilities to withstand AI infections, or its consequences for health status. </p
Population genetics and disease ecology of European wild boar
No full textWelke factoren beïnvloeden de frequentie van de ziekten in wilde populaties? Het promotieonderzoek van Daniel Goedbloed beoordeelde de invloed van demografische, genetische en omgevingsfactoren op de frequentie van twee infectieziekten in Noordwest-Europese wilde zwijnen populaties
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
Get PDFWe 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
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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