1,721,007 research outputs found
Analysis of the fatality rate in relation to testing capacity during the first 50 days of the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy
Full text linkItaly has been one of the most severely affected countries by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the case fatality rate (CFR) estimated based on Italian data is one of the highest worldwide. We analyzed public data from the first 50 days of the epidemic in Italy (from February 24 to April 13, 2020) to evaluate whether evolving testing strategies and capacity could account for trends in the CFR. The CFR increased during the study period, and a significant positive correlation was found between theCFRand the percentage of positive tests among performed real-time PCRtests (positive tests%[POS%]) until March 25, suggesting the surveillance system did not detect a growing number of cases in the initial phase of the epidemic. To avoid distortion due to the delay between the identification of cases and deaths, the expectedCFR(expCFR) was calculated, which represents the ratio between the predicted number of cases and deaths at the end of the epidemic based on the best fitting logistic curves of the cumulative numbers of cases and deaths. The expCFR began a downward trend from the 40th day. In the final phase, a decrease in both expCFR and POS% was identified, suggesting an improvement in surveillance. The results of this study suggest data from the first 50 days of the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy were severely affected by ascertainment bias. Insufficient testing and isolation of cases could have facilitated the widespread transmission of COVID-19 in the early stages of the outbreak
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
Surgical Site Infections in Italy, 2009-2015: Incidence, Trends, and Impact of Surveillance Duration on Infection Risk
No full textSevere and moderate seasonal influenza epidemics among Italian healthcare workers: A comparison of the excess of absenteeism
Full text linkBackground: This study aims to quantify the excess of sickness absenteeism among healthcare workers (HCWs), to estimate the impact of a severe versus moderate influenza season and to determine whether the vaccination rates are associated with reduced sickness absence. Methods: We investigated the excess absenteeism that occurred in a large Italian hospital, 5300 HCWs, during the severe influenza season of 2017/2018 and compared it with three moderate flu seasons (2010/2013). Data on influenza vaccinations and absenteeism were obtained from the hospital's databases. The data were split into two periods: the epidemic, from 42 to 17 weeks, and non-epidemic, defined as 18 to 41 weeks, which was used as the baseline. We stratified the absenteeism among HCWs in multiple variables. Results: Our study showed an increased absenteeism among HCWs during the epidemic period of severe season in comparison with non-epidemic periods, the absolute increase correlated with a relative increase of 70% (from 4.05 to 6.68 days/person). Vaccinated HCWs had less excess of absenteeism in comparison with non-vaccinated HCWs (1.74 vs 2.71 days/person). The comparison with the moderate seasons showed a stronger impact on HCW sick absenteeism in the severe season (+0.747days/person, P =.03), especially among nurses and HCWs in contact with patients (+1.53 P <.01; +1.19 P <.01). Conclusions: In conclusion, a severe influenza epidemic has greater impacts on the absenteeism among HCWs than a moderate one. Although at a low rate, a positive effect of vaccination on absenteeism is present, it may support healthcare facilities to recommend vaccinations for their workers
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
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