1,720,987 research outputs found
The Effect of Heating on Properties of Sandy Soils
Full text linkAlthough burning grass and crop residues is prohibited in many countries, farmers perceive
it as a quick and inexpensive way to eliminate unwanted biomass. The aim of this study was to
estimate the impact of heating temperature (simulation of biomass burning) on the studied properties
(soil organic carbon (SOC) content, pH(H2O), water drop penetration time, WDPT, and contact
angle, CA) of acidic sandy soils. Soil samples were taken from the experimental sites S1, S2, and
S3 at Studienka village in the Borská nížina lowland (southwestern Slovakia). Experimental site S1
was arable land, experimental site S2 was arable land abandoned for approximately 10 years, and
experimental site S3 was arable land abandoned for approximately 30 years with scattered Scots pine
(Pinus sylvestris L.) trees. It was found that all the soil properties studied were strongly affected by
heating. A drop in SOC was observed in all the soils for the heating temperature between 20 and
600 °C. Due to the incomplete combustion of SOC, a small (0.1–0.7%) SOC content was recorded
even in soils heated to between 600 and 900 °C. An increase in pH(H2O) was observed in all the
soils for the heating temperature higher than 300 °C. Soil from the experimental site S1 was wettable
(WDPT < 5 s) for all of the heating temperatures. WDPT vs. heating temperature relationships for
the soils from the experimental sites S2 and S3 were more complex. After a decrease in the heating
temperature of 50 °C, an increase in WDPT for the heating temperature between 50 °C and 300 °C
(for S3 soil) and 350 C (for S2 soil) was registered. Finally, the WDPT dramatically dropped to 0 for
the heating temperature of 350 °C (for S3 soil) and 400 °C (for S2 soil). CA started to decrease at
300 °C in all the soils and dropped to 0° for all the soils at 800 °C. CA > 0° measured in soils for the
heating temperature between 400 and 800 °C, as a consequence of the small SOC contents due to
the incomplete combustion of SOC, is a novelty of this study which demonstrates that CA is more
sensitive to the changes in subcritical water repellency than WDPT
Six month follow-up of self-reported loss of smell during the covid-19 pandemic
No full textIntroduction: Loss of smell and taste is now recognised as amongst the most common symptoms of COVID-19 and the best predictor of COVID-19 positivity. Long term outcomes are unknown. This study aims to investigate recovery of loss of smell and the prevalence of parosmia. Methodology: 6-month follow-up of respondents to an online surgery who self-reported loss of smell at the onset of the CO-VID-19 pandemic in the UK. Information of additional symptoms, recovery of loss of smell and the development of parosmia was collected. Results: 44% of respondents reported at least one other ongoing symptom at 6 months, of which fatigue (n=106) was the most prevalent. There was a significant improvement in self-rating of severity of olfactory loss where 177 patients stated they had a normal smell of smell while 12 patients reported complete loss of smell. The prevalence of parosmia is 43.1% with median interval of 2.5 months (range 0-6) from the onset of loss of smell. Conclusions: While many patients recover quickly, some experience long-term deficits with no self-reported improvement at 6 months. Furthermore, there is a high prevalence of parosmia even in those who report at least some recovery of olfactory func-tion. Longer term evaluation of recovery is required
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
Impact of secondary succession in abandoned fields on some properties of acidic sandy soils
Full text linkAbandonment of agricultural lands in recent decades is occurring mainly in Europe, North America and Oceania, and changing the fate of landscapes as the ecosystem recovers during fallow stage. The objective of this study was to find the impact of secondary succession in abandoned fields on some parameters of acidic sandy soils in the Borská níÅina lowland (southwestern Slovakia). We investigated soil chemical (pH and soil organic carbon content), hydrophysical (water sorptivity, and hydraulic conductivity), and water repellency (water drop penetration time, water repellency cessation time, repellency index, and modified repellency index) parameters, as well as the ethanol sorptivity of the studied soils. Both the hydrophysical and chemical parameters decreased significantly during abandonment of the three investigated agricultural fields. On the other hand, the water repellency parameters increased significantly, but the ethanol sorptivity did not change during abandonment. As the ethanol sorptivity depends mainly on soil pore size, the last finding could mean that the pore size of acidic sandy soils did not change during succession
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