1,720,967 research outputs found

    Performance of a far-field historical church during the 2016-2017 Central Italy earthquakes

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    Churches are an essential part of the historical and architectural heritage of several countries, and various earthquakes have highlighted the significant seismic vulnerability of ancient religious buildings. On August 24, 2016, a seismic sequence started in Central Italy with a magnitude 6.0 event. Nine events with magnitude ≥ 5.0 occurred between that date and January 18, 2017. Heritage churches were tremendously affected by the sequence, suffering relevant structural and nonstructural damage even far from the epicenters, as in the case of the fourteenth century church of San Francesco in the city of Amandola. The church was inspected several times during the sequence, and a survey was performed using an innovative structure-from-motion digital photogrammetric technique. Ambient vibration tests were carried out on the bell tower before and after the main event of the sequence, and the tower elastic behavior was reproduced by means of a three-dimensional finite-element model. Observed structural performance was interpreted in light of estimated ground motion and literature-obtained models for local mechanisms, with special emphasis on belfry and façade response, and a formula was proposed to account for frictional interlocking between orthogonal walls. Finally, recommendations were developed for troublesome nonstructural deficiencies

    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

    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

    Pharyngo-oesophageal perforation following anterior cervical discectomy and fusion: management and results

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    OBJECTIVES: Pharyngo-oesophageal perforation is a rare, life-threatening complication of anterior cervical discectomy and fusion surgery; its management remains poorly defined. We reviewed our experience to understand the treatment of this dreadful complication.METHODS: Data regarding the demographics, clinical course, diagnosis, management and outcomes of 15 cases of pharyngo-oesophageal perforations in 14 patients were collected during the period from 2003 to 2016.RESULTS: Pharyngo-oesophageal perforation occurred at a median of 32 days (range 1âday-102 months) after anterior cervical discectomy and fusion surgery. Clinical manifestations included neck abscesses and cutaneous fistulas (10 cases), cervical swelling (two cases), salivary leakage from cervicotomy (two cases), dysphagia, halitosis and regurgitation (one case). In all cases, conservative management was utilized. Two patients affected by minor external fistulas were successfully managed conservatively. In 13 cases, the following surgery was performed: (i) radical bone debridement, total or partial removal of spine fixation devices, autologous bone graft insertion or plate/cage replacement in one case each; (ii) anatomical suture of the fistula; or (iii) suture line reinforcement with myoplasty (in 11/13 cases). Perforation recurred in three cases. One patient underwent reoperation. The other two patients were treated conservatively At a median follow-up of 82 months (range 1-157 months), all patients exhibited permanent resolution of the perforation.CONCLUSIONS: Patients with minimal leaks in the absence of systemic infection can be managed conservatively. For cases of large fistulas with systemic infection, we recommend partial or total removal of the fixation devices, direct suture of the oesophageal defect and coverage with tissue flaps

    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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