1,720,961 research outputs found

    Do Girls Have an Advantage Compared to Boys When Their Motor Skills Are Tested Using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, 2nd Edition?

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    This study aims to investigate sex-related differences in raw item scores on the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, 2nd Edition (MABC-2) in a large data set collected in different regions across the world, seeking to unravel whether there is an interaction effect between sex and the origin of the sample (European versus African). In this retrospective study, a secondary analysis was performed on anonymized data of 7654 children with a mean age of 8.6 (range 3 to 16; SD: 3.4), 50.0% of whom were boys. Since country-specific norms were not available for all samples, the raw scores per age band (AB) were used for analysis. Our results clearly show that in all age bands sex-related differences are present. In AB1 and AB2, girls score better on most manual dexterity and balance items, but not aiming and catching items, whereas in AB3 the differences seem to diminish. Especially in the European sample, girls outperform boys in manual dexterity and balance items, whereas in the African sample these differences are less marked. In conclusion, separate norms for boys and girls are needed in addition to separate norms for geographical regions.The Czech data collection was supported by the Czech Science Foundation [GACR 21- ˇ 15728X]. The UK, Dutch and Flemish data collection was supported by Pearson. We would like to thank Pearson for providing us with the anonymized data from the norm samplin

    Which items of the movement assessment battery for children are most sensitive for identifying children with probable developmental coordination disorder? Results from a large-scale study

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    Introduction: Despite the widespread use of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, 2nd edition (MABC-2), little is known about the sensitivity or specificity of the individual items to detect probable Developmental Coordination Disorder (p-DCD). This study examined which specific MABC-2 items were most sensitive to identify children with p-DCD and which items would predict p-DCD. Methods: Based on a large dataset including European and African children aged 3-16 years (n = 4916, typically developing (TD, 49.6% boys); n = 822 p-DCD (53.1 % boys), Hedges' g was calculated to establish the standardized mean difference (SMD) between p-DCD/TD. SMDs were considered substantial when absolute values at or above 1.4. Sensitivity and specificity of the raw MABC-2 item scores predicting p-DCD/TD per age band (AB) were established with logistic regression analysis. Results: AB1: Children with p-DCD performed substantially poorer on threading beads (SMD:-1.61) and jumping on mats (SMD: 1.61). By combining all items and the country of origin, the sensitivity was 61.7% and specificity 98.6%. AB2: Walking heel-to-toe forwards (SMD: 1.65) was substantially poorer in p-DCD. By combining all items and the country of origin, the sensitivity was 79.0% and specificity 97.6%. AB3: Catching a ball with the preferred (SMD: 1.8) or non- preferred (SMD: 1.61) hand, and for walking heel-to-toe backwards (SMD: 1.78) were substantially poorer in p-DCD. All items combined resulted in a sensitivity of 94.4% and specificity of 99.6%. Conclusion: Not all MABC-2 items are equally sensitive to distinguish between performances of pDCD and TD. Despite the good specificity, the sensitivity was only moderate in AB1-2, the age at which children learn culturally influenced motor skills.The Czech data collection was supported by the Czech Science Foundation [GACRˇ 21-15728X]. The UK, Dutch and Flemish data collection was supported by Pearson

    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

    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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    koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist

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    We 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
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