1,720,953 research outputs found
Evaluation of occupational exposure to wood dust and noise among sawmill workers in the Gert Sibande district municipality
Full text linkThesis (Master: Health Sciences: Environmental Health)--Central University of TechnologyWood dust is a human carcinogen based on an increased risk of nasal and sinonasal cancer. Occupational exposure to hazardous noise above the 85 decibels, A-weighted (85 dB[A]), eight-hours time-weighted average (8-hour TWA) can cause noise induced hearing loss (NIHL). The aim of the study was to measure and determine the timeweighted average (TWA) occupational exposure level (OEL) to wood dust and noise and compare the results with the OEL for wood dust and the noise rating limit for noise and assess hearing loss and respiratory symptoms and use of personal protective equipment (PPE) among sawmill workers within the Gert Sibande District Municipality. A comparative cross-sectional study comprising of 137 exposed and 20 unexposed workers randomly selected, using simple random sampling was undertaken between January and March 2021. Self-reported hearing loss and respiratory symptoms were evaluated using a self-administered questionnaire. Personal and area wood dust exposure levels were measured using calibrated Giliair-3 personal air sampling pumps, while personal and area noise surveys were conducted using calibrated SV104IS noise dosimeters (SVANTEK, Poland) and a type 1 sound level meter (Soundpro SE/DL, U.S.A.). Data was analysed using the Microsoft Excel 2019 analysis Tool Pak to obtain a summary of descriptive statistics. The geometric mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum values were calculated. Mann-Whitney U test was used to test the significance of the differences between values in sawmill A and B while t-test was used to compare the mean time-weighted averages of occupational exposure levels to noise from sawmills A and B. Discrete data from questionnaire results were presented as percentages and tables. The t-test was used to compare continuous variables, while the chi-square test was used to test categorical responses. Fisher's test was employed when the anticipated number was below 5. A significance level of 0.05 was used. The prevalence of symtoms such as chest pains or shortness of breath was higher among the unexposed group (50%) than the exposed group (44%). Furthermore, the participants in the exposed group suffered from tinnitus (ringing in the ears) (50%) and ear infections (21.43%). Moreover, the unexposed group reported suffering from tinnitus (33%) and ear infections (66.67%). The exposed group (86.86%) reported always wearing the personal protective equipment (PPE) than the unexposed group (75%) who wear it sometimes. Moreover, the exposed group (48.48%) did not wear PPE consistently due to not being available while all participants from the unexposed group reported other reasons for not wearing it. The geometric mean(GSD) for personal respirable wood dust exposure level at sawmill A was 0.9(4.8) mg/m3 while at sawmill B was 0.57(0.75) mg/m3 . The geometric mean(GSD) for personal respirable wood dust exposure level at sawmill A was 0.9(4.8) mg/m3 while at sawmill B was 0.57(0.75) mg/m3 . The geometric mean(GSD) for personal total inhalable wood dust exposure level at sawmill A was 0.37(0.94) mg/m3 while at sawmill B was 1.19(16.91) mg/m3 . Moreover, the geometric mean(GSD) for area respirable wood dust exposure at sawmill A was 0.13(0.09) mg/m3 while at sawmill B was 0.8(0.6) mg/m3 . Likewise, the geometric mean(GSD) for area total inhalable wood dust exposure at sawmill A was 0.13(0.16) mg/m3 while at sawmill B was 0.54(0.55) mg/m3 . The geometric mean(GSD) for area noise exposure level at sawmill A was 90.05(8.02) dB(A) while at sawmill B was 90.14(7.94) dB(A). The geometric mean(GSD) for personal noise exposure level at sawmill A was 92.26(4.35) dB(A) while at sawmill B was 92.24(2.65) dB(A). Occupational exposure to wood dust and noise was associated with respiratory symptoms such as chest pains or shortness of breath and hearing loss conditions or symptoms such as tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and ear infections (Ha accepted and H0 rejected). The majority of the results for wood dust samples were below the South African OEL, while majority of the results for noise exposure levels were above the noise rating limit (Ha accepted and H0 rejected). A non-significant difference on the levels of exposure to noise was observed when comparing the results of sawmill A to sawmill B (H0 accepted and Ha rejected). Similarly, a non-significant difference on the levels of exposure to wood dust was observed when comparing the results of sawmill A to sawmill B (H0 accepted and Ha rejected). The findings suggest that sawmill owners should take steps to lower the levels of exposure to noise and wood dust to help protect workers’ health.Implementation of engineering and administrative controls supplemented by appropriate use of the fit-tested hearing protective devices (HPDs) with the higher noise reduce reduction (NRR) or single number rating (SNR) and the respiratory protection devices (RPDs) with the higher assigned protection factor (APF) is recommended based on the exposure levels recorded. Tobacco or cigarette smoking should be discouraged because when associated with exposure to wood dust and noise may increase risk of respiratory symptoms and development of high frequency hearing loss
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
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
Author Under Sail The Imagination of Jack London, 1893-1902
No full textIn Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Spirit Truth -- 2. From Absorption to Theatricality and Back Again -- 3. "I Will Build a New Present" -- 4. Sons as Authors -- 5. Fathers as Publishers -- 6. The Daughter as Author -- 7. Lovers as Authors -- 8. At Sea with the Family -- 9. Yellow News, Yellow Stories -- 10. The Return Home -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About Jay WilliamsIn Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, YYYY. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries
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