1,721,068 research outputs found

    Artificial neural network based identification of environmental bacteria by gas-chromatographic and electrophoretic data

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    Chemotaxonomic identification techniques are powerful tools for environmental micro-organisms, for which poor diagnostic schemes are available. Whole cellular fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) content is a stable bacterial profile, the analysis method is rapid, cheap, simple to perform and highly automated. Whole-cell protein is an even more powerful tool because it yields information at or below the species level. The description of new species and genera and subsequent continuous rearrangement provide large amounts of data, resulting in large databases. In order to set up suitable software tools to work on such large databases artificial neural network (ANN) based programs have been used to classify and identify marine bacteria at genus and species levels, starting from the fatty acid profiles and protein profiles respectively.We analysed 50 certified strains belonging to Halomonas, Marinomonas, Marinospirillum, Oceanospirillum and Pseudoalteromonas genera. Both supervised and unsupervised ANNs provide a correct classification of the marine strains analyzed. Moreover, a set of 73 marine fresh isolates were used as an example of identification using ANNs. We propose supervised and unsupervised ANNs as a reliable tool for classification of bacteria by means of their FAME and of whole-protein analyse and as a sound basis for a comprehensive artificial intelligence based system for polyphasic taxonom

    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

    An advanced approach based on artificial neural networks to identify environmental bacteria

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    Environmental micro-organisms include a large number of taxa and some species that are generally considered nonpathogenic, but can represent a risk in certain conditions, especially for elderly people and immunocompromised individuals. Chemotaxonomic identification techniques are powerful tools for environmental micro-organisms, and cellular fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) content is a powerful fingerprinting identification technique. A system based on an unsupervised artificial neural network (ANN) was set up using the fatty acid profiles of standard bacterial strains, obtained by gas-chromatography, used as learning data. We analysed 45 certified strains belonging to Acinetobacter, Aeromonas, Alcaligenes, Aquaspirillum, Arthrobacter, Bacillus, Brevundimonas, Enterobacter, Flavobacterium, Micrococcus, Pseudomonas, Serratia, Shewanella and Vibrio genera. A set of 79 bacteria isolated from a drinking water line (AMGA, the major water supply system in Genoa) were used as an example for identification compared to standard MIDI method. The resulting ANN output map was found to be a very powerful tool to identify these fresh isolate

    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

    The impact of the introduction of Euro and other legislation changes on EU funded prototype for social and health care: the experience of EPIC in Savona.

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    We present the knowledge organisation of a database which aims to collect information for the optimisation of the social and heath care delivery in a limited territory within the guidelines set up by a EU funded project EPIC. The local implementation reflects the specificity of the social and health care delivery in the validation site: Savona. The paper discusses the features of the new rules which make compulsory an update of the first version of the software
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