1,721,385 research outputs found
Trial of a desktop virtual reality application as a method of exposure for test anxiety: a qualitative study
No full textTest anxiety involves feelings of discomfort, fear and worry, impacting students’ wellbeing and academic performance. Virtual reality exposure (VRE) shows promise in mitigating test anxiety, but existing applications concern only written exams. Few VRE applications simulate one-on-one interviews with examiners, and applications for public speaking focus on formal presentations before an audience. This paper concerns a trial of a VRE application that deals with oral exams, presenting a qualitative study of a sample of undergraduate students who autonomously used the VRE application in their homes over three weeks. The application exposes students to scenarios in which a virtual examiner displays friendly, partially friendly, or unfriendly behaviour while asking questions selected from a pool defined by the student. Participants were interviewed to investigate their perceptions of and experience with the application. Thematic analysis of participants’ interviews indicates that they perceived the VRE application as valuable not only for studying and practicing oral exams but also for handling emotional aspects associated with the exam. Moreover, the application helped to increase confidence and awareness of preparation level among some participants. Finally, the paper describes participants’ suggestions emerged from the study that can be used to inform the design of this type of applications
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
Corrigendum: Metabolic Food Waste and Ecological Impact of Obesity in FAO World's Region (Frontiers in Nutrition, (2019), 6, 10.3389/fnut.2019.00126)
No full textIn the original article, there was a mistake in the legend for Figure 2 as published. It was not written as millions of kg in MFW(kgCO2eq). The correct legend appears below. Figure 2. Metabolic Food Waste corresponding to Excess Body Fat from FBS commodities in overweight and obese population expressed as (A) GHG emission, MFW(millions kgCO2eq); (B) water consumed, MFW(millions m3); and (C) land used, MFW(millions m2). EU, Europe; NAO, North America and Oceania; LA, Latin America; IA, Industrialized Asia; NAWCA, North Africa, West and Central Asia; SSEA, South and Southeast Asia; SSA, Sub-Saharan Africa. In the original article, there was an error in Table 1 as published. It was written MFW(tons of food) instead of MFW(kg of food). The correct title appears below. Table 1. Metabolic Food Waste [MFW(kg of food)] corresponding to Excess Body Fat by BMI categories (OW, Overweight; OB, Obesity). In the original article, there was an error. The values of MFW(tons of food) were expressed in gigatons instead of millions of tons. Corrections have been made to the Abstract: The overall impact of MFW(tons of food) in the world corresponds to 140.7 million tons associated to overweight and obesity. Between the different regions, EUis responsible of the greatest amount of MFW(tons of food) volume (39.2 million tons), followed by NAO (32.5 million tons)
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
A cancer-registry-assisted evaluation of the accuracy of digital epiluminescence microscopy associated with clinical examination of pigmented skin lesions
No full textBackground: The accuracy of digital epiluminescence microscopy (D-ELM) as an adjunct to clinical examination for the diagnosis of pigmented skin lesions (PSLs) has seldom been evaluated. Objective: To compare the accuracy of the combined clinical/D-ELM (C/D-ELM) examination with that of the clinical examination alone. Methods: A total of 3372 PSLs from 1556 consecutive patients referred to a skin cancer clinic underwent clinical examination and a combined C/D-ELM examination. The reference diagnosis was established using the histology report of known surgical excisions plus a cancer-registry-based follow-up (duration 18 months) of benign C/D-ELM diagnoses. The two diagnostic approaches were compared for sensitivity, predictive value and false-positive rate. Results: The series included 55 melanomas and 43 basal cell carcinomas. About 50% of malignant misdiagnosed cases were identified solely through the cancer registry. The C/D-ELM diagnosis showed a greater sensitivity for melanoma < 0.76 mm thick (83 vs. 46% for clinical examination alone; ratio, 1.82) and basal cell carcinoma (79 vs. 49%; ratio, 1.62), a greater predictive value for melanoma (81 vs. 53%; ratio, 1.53) and a reduced total false-positive rate (0.3 vs. 0.9%; ratio, 0.31). Conclusion: D-ELM showed a potential to improve the clinical diagnosis of PSL. Copyright ® 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel
Dietary Modulation of Oxidative Stress From Edible Insects: A Mini-Review
Full text linkEdible insects are proposed as a nutritious and environmentally sustainable alternative source to animal proteins, due to their numerous advantages in terms of reduced ecological impact and high nutritional value. However, the novelty for edible insects relies on the content of bioactive ingredients potentially able to induce a functional effect in the body. The present review summarizes the main findings on the antioxidant properties of edible insects available in the literature. A total of 30 studies involving animals, cell cultures, or in vitro experimental studies evaluating the antioxidant effect of edible insects are presented in this work. When the antioxidant activity was investigated, using a wide variety of in vitro tests and in cellular models, positive results were shown. Dietary supplementation with edible insects was also able to counteract dietary oxidative stress in animal models, restoring the balance of antioxidant enzymes and reducing the formation of oxidation damage markers. On the basis of the reviewed evidences, edible insects might represent a source of novel redox ingredients at low ecological impact able to modulate oxidative stress. However, due to the fact that majority of these evidences have been obtained in vitro and in cellular and animal models, dietary intervention trials are needed to assess the efficacy of edible insect consumption to modulate redox status in humans
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
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