1,720,983 research outputs found

    Wildfire smoke knows no borders: Differential vulnerability to smoke effects on cardio-respiratory health in the San Diego-Tijuana region.

    Full text link
    Exposure to fine particles in wildfire smoke is deleterious for human health and can increase cases of cardio-respiratory illnesses and related hospitalizations. Neighborhood-level risk factors can increase susceptibility to environmental hazards, such as air pollution from smoke, and the same exposure can lead to different health effects across populations. While the San Diego-Tijuana border can be exposed to the same wildfire smoke event, socio-demographic differences may drive differential effects on population health. We used the October 2007 wildfires, one the most devastating wildfire events in Southern California that brought smoke to the entire region, as a natural experiment to understand the differential effect of wildfire smoke on both sides of the border. We applied synthetic control methods to evaluate the effects of wildfire smoke on cardio-respiratory hospitalizations in the Municipality of Tijuana and San Diego County separately. During the study period (October 11th- October 26th, 2007), 2009 hospital admissions for cardio-respiratory diseases occurred in San Diego County while 37 hospital admissions were reported in the Municipality of Tijuana. The number of cases in Tijuana was much lower than San Diego, and a precise effect of wildfire smoke was detected in San Diego but not in Tijuana. However, social drivers can increase susceptibility to environmental hazards; the poverty rate in Tijuana is more than three times that of San Diego. Socio-demographics are important in modulating the effects of wildfire smoke and can be potentially useful in developing a concerted regional effort to protect populations on both sides of the border from the adverse health effects of wildfire smoke

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

    Full text link
    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

    Harmful postures and musculoskeletal symptoms among fish trimmers of a fish processing factory in Ghana : a preliminary investigation

    No full text
    This study investigated musculoskeletal symptoms among fish trimmers (skinners and polishers) in a fish processing factory in Ghana. The methods used included administration of questionnaire, walk through observation, interview, task analysis and future workshop. All 50 female participants answered and submitted their questionnaires. Of the 11 operations performed by skinners only 1 was rated as low risk. Also of the 12 operations performed by polishers only 2 were rated as low risk. Neck side bending, neck flexion, prolonged standing, shoulder elevation, abducted arms, repetitious reaching forward and wrist deviation were observed in most operations. This corresponds with questionnaire results in which musculoskeletal symptoms were mostly prevalent in the neck, the shoulder, the low back, the wrist/hand and the knee regions. There was no significant correlation (p &lt; .05) between musculoskeletal symptoms and age, working hours and length of service. Task redesign, workplace changes and worker training were suggested to improve the work.Validerad; 2005; 20080630 (andbra)</p

    Harmful postures and musculoskeletal symptoms among sanitation workers of a fish processing factory in Ghana : a preliminary investigation

    No full text
    This study investigated musculoskeletal symptoms among sanitation workers of a fish-processing factory. The methods used included administration of a questionnaire, walk through observation, interview, task analysis and future workshop. All 27 male participants answered and submitted their questionnaires. Of the 11 operations identified, all except one was considered safe. Bent back, bent legs, and heavy manual handling were observed to impose intolerable health risk on participants. This corresponds with questionnaire results in which musculoskeletal symptoms were mostly prevalent in the neck, the shoulder, the low back, the wrists/hands and the upper back regions. Poor psychosocial complaints were also made on the job. There was no significant correlation (p &lt; .05) between musculoskeletal symptoms and age, working hours and length of service. Neither was any significant correlation observed (p &lt; .05) between psychosocial work factors and musculoskeletal symptoms. Recommendations such as task redesign to eliminate high-risk elements in operations, workplace changes and worker training were suggestedValiderad; 2005; 20080630 (andbra)</p

    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 link
    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

    Occupational determinants of adverse pregnancy outcomes: work in healthcare and exposure to welding fumes and metal dust

    No full text
    The goal of this thesis is to (i) systematically review all epidemiologic studies reporting on the relationship between occupational exposures and adverse pregnancy outcomes among nurses and physicians, (ii) compare the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes between singleton newborns of nurses, midwives, and physicians and those of women in other occupations (reference groups) and (iii) investigate the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes among parents exposed to welding fumes or metal dust. Data were obtained from all epidemiologic studies reporting on the relation between occupational exposures and adverse pregnancy outcomes among nurses and physicians, the 1990–2006 Finnish Medical Birth Register, and the Finnish Prenatal Environment and Health Study (FPEHS). Occupational exposure to anaesthetic gases was associated with spontaneous abortion and congenital malformation among nurses and physicians. Chemotherapy agents were associated with spontaneous abortion among nurses. There was moderate to substantial heterogeneity in the studied relations. In the FHCPS, singleton newborns of nurses have increased risk of low birth weight, post-term delivery, and small-for-gestational-age compared to those of teachers (reference group). Maternal employment as a midwife was not related to adverse pregnancy outcomes. The risk of high birth weight and post-term delivery were lower among singleton newborns of the physicians compared to those of other upper-level employees (reference group), but the risk of SGA and LGA did not differ between the newborns of physicians and those of the reference group. In the FPEHS, paternal exposure to welding fumes only was related to small-for-gestational-age. Maternal exposure to metal dust only was related to low birth weight and pre-term delivery and the joint effect of welding fumes and metal dust was related to small-for-gestational age. In conclusion, maternal employment as a nurses and parental occupational exposure to welding fumes or metal dust may increase the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes

    Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts

    Full text link
    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
    corecore