1,720,972 research outputs found

    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

    Mucoadhesive thiolated chitosans as platforms for oral controlled drug delivery: synthesis and in vitro evaluation

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    The aim of the present study was to evaluate the influence of the degree of modification and the polymer chain length on the mucoadhesive properties and the swelling behavior of thiolated chitosan derivatives obtained via a simple one-step reaction between the polymer and 2-iminothiolane. The conjugates differing in molecular mass of the polymer backbone and in the amount of immobilized thiol groups were compressed into tablets. They were investigated for their mucoadhesive properties on freshly excised porcine mucosa via tensile studies and the rotating cylinder method. Moreover, the swelling behavior of these tablets in aqueous solutions was studied by a simple gravimetric method. The obtained results demonstrated that the total work of adhesion of chitosan-TBA (=4-thio-butyl-amidine) conjugates can be improved by an increasing number of covalently attached thiol groups; a 100-fold increase compared to unmodified chitosan was observed for a medium molecular mass chitosan-TBA conjugate exhibiting 264 microM thiol groups per gram polymer. Also, the polymer chain length had an influence on the mucoadhesive properties of the polymer. The medium molecular mass polymer displayed a fourfold improved adhesion on the rotating cylinder compared to the derivative of low molecular mass. These results contribute to the development of new delivery systems exhibiting improved mucoadhesive properties

    AvidinPEGylation by active site protection

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    Aimed at investigating new approaches for protein PEGylation with low chemical modification of the active recognition site, avidin was PEGylated emploing a soluble macromolecular active site protecting agent prepared by biotinilation of branched PEG 20 kDa

    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

    Composite chitosan/alginate hydrogel for controlled release of deferoxamine: a system to potentially treat iron dysregulation diseases

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    Recently, the potential application of deferoxamine (DFO) in several iron dysregulation diseases has been highlighted. However, DFO presents significant limitations in clinical use due to its poor absorption in the gut and very short plasma half-life. To overcome these problems, the feasibility of chitosan/alginate hydrogels as prolonged delivery systems of DFO was investigated. Hydrogel alone or co-formulated with poly(d,l-lactide-co-glycolide) microspheres were prepared and studied in vitro. The influence of the preparation methods on the performance of composite hydrogels on controlled DFO release was explored. Spray-dried microspheres based on poly(d,l-lactide-co-glycolide) were able to encapsulate DFO, a highly water soluble drug. Nevertheless, only the composite hydrogels managed to provide sustained drug release. The inclusion of microspheres into pre-formed chitosan/alginate hydrogel provided the most efficient delivery system; the drug released from microspheres is strongly entrapped in the hydrogel network and slowly released by diffusion

    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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