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    Serendipity versus proactive search of elusive species - the Encounter Predictability Scorecard (EPS), a new customizable tool for field researchers

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    Since field research requires a lot of effort, time, economic and resource investment, it necessitates fact-based tools for a sound preliminary evaluation of the actual possibility to achieve its objective. Such a tool, the Encounter Predictability Scorecard (EPS), is here described for the first time. The rediscovery of the endemic Orthopteran Uromenus annae proved that field research is performed under strong biases including blind faith in previous scientific literature, and expectations about the biology and ecology of the target species. U. annae escaped field researches in the documented localities, and was rediscovered serendipitously in two new unrelated locations. This casts doubt on the capacity of field researchers to assess, even in general terms, the possibility of success of field expeditions. We conceived a method inspired by the performance management tools from the world of corporate strategy: scorecards. The most famous among closed-choice, qualitative-quantitative checklists, is the Balanced Scorecard, based on original work from the late 1980’s. We adapted those methods to the constraints of field research, and field-tested in a retrospective way for the search of U. annae. The EPS is freely available as a digital spreadsheet, and can be tested and customised at any time. Although in its infancy, the EPS looks like a promising operational tool to help saving time and money, and to identify which objectives and organizational setups are more promising. Besides providing a clearer, more rational basis for operational decisions, the straightforward compilation of an EPS may also mitigate the impact of cognitive biases

    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

    The Buprestidae (Coleoptera, Buprestoidea) of the Tuscan Archipelago (Italy)

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    Background Buprestidae is a group of beetles of important conservation and phytosanitary value that is poorly studied in the Tuscan Archipelago and the limited faunistic knowledge available refers to a few scant historical records. New information The present contribution increments the species documented in the Archipelago from 27 to 51, providing more than 300 georeferenced occurrence records, derived from both direct field research and citizen science via iNaturalist. Of particular importance is the discovery of Eurythyrea quercus on Isola d'Elba, an uncommon and localised species currently critically endangered
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