scholarly journals Profiling Research on PFAS in Wildlife: Protocol of a Systematic Evidence Map and Bibliometric Analysis

Author(s):  
Catharina Vendl ◽  
Matthew Taylor1 ◽  
Jennifer Braeunig ◽  
Matthew Gibson ◽  
Daniel Hesselson ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large group of manufactured chemicals. Since the beginning of their commercial manufacturing in the 1950s, PFAS haven’t only found their way into numerous industrial and commercial applications, but also into the bloodstream of the majority of the human population, the natural environment and its wildlife. Exposure to high levels of PFAS can create health risks for humans and animals which may exacerbate the effects of other anthropogenic impacts faced by wildlife species. To gain a comprehensive overview of the abundance and distribution of PFAS in wildlife species, and to better understand the risk of PFAS exposure on threatened species and PFAS transfer into human food chains, we will collate the available literature into a systematic evidence map and bibliometric analysis.Methods: We will conduct a comprehensive systematic literature search on Scopus, Web of Science and the ‘grey literature’. For screening purposes, we will use decision trees, scanning title, abstract and keywords first. The next step includes full-text screening performed by two reviewers. We will only consider publications in English, peer-reviewed articles, pre-prints and theses. We will limit our search to 31 PFAS types (based on a previous study). A pilot search on Scopus resulted in ~250 potentially relevant publications. We will scan all publications included in the systematic map for predetermined indicators of quality and potential study-level biases. In addition, we will extract bibliometric records from Scopus and perform network analysis. We will present the results using a narrative summary, tables (database), bar plots and colour-coded maps. Results will be available on a dedicated freely accessible website. Discussion: This study will provide critical insight into the gaps and clusters of the literature with regards to the PFAS concentration in wildlife. Therefore, our study will inform and direct future research efforts to fill the gaps revealed.Systematic review registration: osf.io osf.io/gnt2y

Author(s):  
Tamara Poje ◽  
Maja Zaman Groff

AbstractThe attention being paid to ethics education in accounting has been increasing, especially after the corporate accounting scandals at the turn of the century. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the existing research in the field of ethics education in accounting. To synthesize past research, a bibliometric analysis that references 134 primary studies is performed and three bibliometric methods are applied. First, we visualize the historical evolution of ethics education in accounting research through historiography. Second, we use bibliographic coupling to identify clusters of ethics education in accounting research before, during, and after major corporate scandals. Third, we perform a co-word analysis to connect the identified patterns into a map of a contextual space. The results reveal, in each decade, not only an increasing academic focus on this field of research, but also an increasing number of different research clusters. While the clusters Factors affecting moral judgement, Perception of ethics, and Lack of ethics topics in the last research period develop further from the respective clusters in the previous periods, Accounting beyond technical skills, Integration of ethics in accounting education, Use of developed ethics frameworks, and Professional values on the contrary develop anew in the last decade, as a consequence of a growing demand for teaching ethics. Overall, the paper presents the development patterns of ethics education in accounting research and sets up a research agenda that encourages future research.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine C. Malpeli ◽  
Sarah R. Weiskopf ◽  
Laura Thompson ◽  
Amanda R. Hardy

Abstract Background Climate is an important driver of ungulate life-histories, population dynamics, and migratory behaviors, and can affect the growth, development, fecundity, dispersal, and demographic trends of populations. Changes in temperature and precipitation, and resulting shifts in plant phenology, winter severity, drought and wildfire conditions, invasive species distribution and abundance, predation, and disease have the potential to directly or indirectly affect ungulates. However, ungulate responses to climate variability and change are not uniform and vary by species and geography. Here, we present a systematic map protocol aiming to describe the abundance and distribution of evidence on the effects of climate variability and change on ungulate life-histories, population dynamics, and migration in North America. This map will help to identify knowledge gaps and clusters of evidence, and can be used to inform future research directions and adaptive management strategies. Methods We will catalogue evidence on how climate variability and change affect the life-histories, population dynamics, and migration patterns of the fifteen ungulate species native to North America. We will search both academic and grey literature, using academic journal databases and specialist websites. Articles will be screened for inclusion at the title/abstract and full-text levels, and data will be extracted from articles that pass the full-text review. These data will be summarized quantitatively, visually, and with a narrative review to describe the distribution and abundance of evidence on the effects of climate variability and change on ungulates in North America.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jared A. Elmore ◽  
Michael F. Curran ◽  
Kristine O. Evans ◽  
Sathishkumar Samiappan ◽  
Meilun Zhou ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) are replacing or supplementing manned aircraft and ground-based surveys in many animal monitoring situations due to better coverage at finer spatial and temporal resolutions, access, cost, bias, impacts, safety, efficiency, and logistical benefits. Various sUAS models and sensors are available with varying features and usefulness depending on survey goals. However, justification for selection of sUAS and sensors are not typically offered in published literature and existing reviews do not adequately cover past and current sUAS applications for animal monitoring nor their associated sUAS model and sensor technologies, taxonomic and geographic scope, flight conditions and considerations, spatial distributions of sUAS applications, and reported technical difficulties. We outline a systematic map protocol to collect and consolidate evidence pertaining to sUAS monitoring of animals. Our systematic map will provide a useful synthesis of current applications of sUAS-animal related studies and identify major knowledge clusters (well-represented subtopics that are amenable to full synthesis by a systematic review) and gaps (unreported or underrepresented topics that warrant additional primary research) that may influence future research directions and sUAS applications. Methods Our systematic map will investigate the current state of knowledge using an accurate, comprehensive, and repeatable search. We will find relevant peer-reviewed and grey literature as well as dissertations and theses using online publication databases, Google Scholar, and by request through a professional network of collaborators and publicly available websites. We will use a tiered approach to article exclusion with eligible studies being those that monitor (i.e., identify, count, estimate, etc.) terrestrial vertebrate animals. Extracted data concerning sUAS, sensors, animals, methodology, and results will be recorded in Microsoft Access. We will query and catalogue evidence in the final database to produce tables, figures, and geographic maps to accompany a full narrative review that answers our primary and secondary questions.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha H Cheng ◽  
Janine E. Robinson ◽  
Siri L.A. Öckerman ◽  
Neil A. Cox ◽  
Annette Olsson ◽  
...  

Background: The international trade of wildlife (animals and plants) provides critical resources for human communities worldwide and contributes to local, national, and international economies. However, increasing demand presents a significant threat to both species and ecosystems as well as wildlife-centered livelihoods. Concerns regarding illicit trade of wildlife and unsustainable harvest has propelled international wildlife trade regulation to the top of political and conservation agendas. Consequently, a broad range of interventions have been established to regulate the trade and address biodiversity decline. To gain a more comprehensive understanding of the impacts of international wildlife trade interventions, this protocol sets out the parameters for a systematic map which will comprehensively collate and describe the extent and distribution of the evidence base. The resulting map aims to provide insight to guide future research and inform practice. Methods: This systematic map will identify, map, and characterize the available evidence on the impacts of established policies and programs to address international wildlife trade. Specifically, the systematic map will describe: (1) the volume and distribution of studies that have examined impacts of various interventions on conservation, biological, and socioeconomic outcomes; (2) research methodologies that have been used to evaluate impacts; (3) distribution of studies on particular taxa and geographical areas; and (4) identify evidence gaps in need of more research. We will search two publication databases and several organizational and topical websites for relevant published articles and grey literature. In addition, a call for literature will be issued among relevant research networks. The titles, abstracts, and full texts of captured studies will be assessed against inclusion criteria. Double screening will be carried out on a subset of studies to ensure consistency. Relevant information from studies will be extracted using an a priori codebook. The resulting map will consist of descriptive statistics, a heat map in the form of a matrix, and a narrative synthesis describing characteristics of included studies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
Gencay Tepe ◽  
Umut Burak Geyikci ◽  
Fatih Mehmet Sancak

The financial-technology industry has recently attracted the attention of many sectors. The financial-technology industry designs new and unusual technological financial services in many areas. It combines technology with finance and provides an alternative to the traditional financial system. In the scope of this study, 636 publications were obtained from Scopus. Various tools, such as Microsoft Excel for frequency analysis, and VOSviewer for data visualization, were used. The open-source codes used for bibliometric analysis through the R Studio program were developed by the authors and used for citation-metrics analysis. The main aim of this study was to find out the most influential studies and authors and to reveal the distributions and impacts of publications in the FinTech area between 2015 and 2021 from the Scopus database. The results indicate that the most influential journal is Sustainability Switzerland, and the most cited author is Gomber et al. Additionally, Rabbani has the most publications, while China has emerged as the most productive country. On the other hand, this study found that FinTech research clustered in four areas. These areas are computer science, business management, economics, and social sciences. This FinTech study examines financial services, financial access, and financial technology, where FinTech is at the center. It also focuses on cryptocurrency, bitcoin, and smart contracts where the blockchain is at the center. The results reveal a systematic map of existing studies. Further, the study plays a guiding role in future research.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Giovinazzi ◽  
Andrea Tamborrino ◽  
Michele Marelli ◽  
Leonardo Pellicciari ◽  
Tiziano Innocenti

AbstractBackgroundPain Neuroscience Education (PNE) is an effective widely used strategy in the field of chronic pain management. The objective of this scoping review is to summarize the literature to identify how PNE is performed in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain.MethodsThis scoping review will be performed in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology. Studies will be included if they meet the following population, concept, and context criteria: any patient with chronic musculoskeletal pain aged over 18 years old, any PNE delivery method, any context. No study design, publication type, and data restrictions will be applied. MEDLINE, Cochrane Central, Scopus, PsycInfo and PEDro databases will be searched up to March 2021. Additional records will be identified through searching in grey literature and reference lists of all relevant and included studies. Two reviewers will independently screen all title, abstracts and full-text studies for inclusion. A data collection form will be developed by the research team to extract the characteristics of the studies included. A tabular and accompanying narrative summary of the information will be provided.ConclusionsThis will be the first scoping review to provide a comprehensive overview of the topic. The results will add meaningful information for future research and clinical practice. Furthermore, any knowledge gaps on the topic will be identified. The results of this research will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and will be presented at relevant (inter)national scientific events.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Karipidis ◽  
Chris Brzozek ◽  
Chhavi Raj Bhatt ◽  
Sarah Loughran ◽  
Andrew Wood

Abstract Background Exposure to radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields (EMF), particularly from telecommunications sources, is one of the most common and fastest growing anthropogenic factors on the environment. In many countries, humans are protected from excessive RF EMF exposure by safety standards that are based on guidelines by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). The ICNIRP guidelines are based on knowledge of how RF EMF affects the human body, however, there are currently no recognised international guidelines to specifically protect animals and plants. Whether the ICNIRP guidelines for humans is adequate to provide protection to the environment is a subject of active debate. This systematic map will collate all the available evidence on whether anthropogenic RF EMF has a negative effect on plants and animals in the environment. The map will also identify gaps in knowledge, recommend future research and inform environmental and radiation protection authorities. Methods The proposed systematic map will include peer-reviewed and grey literature published in English. The EMF—Portal, PubMed and Web of Science databases will be searched using a search string prepared by the review team and tested for comprehensiveness against a list of known relevant reviews. Once duplicates are removed, retrieved articles will be screened in three stages: title, abstract, and full text. Studies will be selected with a subject population of all plants and animals, with exposures to anthropogenic RF EMF (frequency range 100 kHz–300 GHz) compared to no or lower-level exposure, and for all outcomes related to the studied populations. Kappa statistic tests will be conducted at each stage to ensure consistency of decision-making regarding the predefined inclusion/exclusion criteria. Eligible studies will then proceed to the data extraction phase, which will extract meta-data such as bibliographic information, taxonomic information, RF EMF exposure data, outcome(s), sample size, etc. The extracted data will then be organised into a systematic map and the findings summarised by cross-tabulating key meta-data variables in heat maps, charts or other data visualization methods. The systematic map will identify gaps in knowledge, priorities for future research and potential subtopics for further analysis and/or systematic review.


Author(s):  
Jaime Madrigano ◽  
Thomas W. Concannon ◽  
Sean Mann ◽  
Sameer M. Siddiqi ◽  
Ramya Chari ◽  
...  

The World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP) has a research mission to identify physical and mental health conditions that may be related to the 9/11 terrorist attacks as well as effective diagnostic procedures and treatments for WTC-related health conditions. The ability of the WTCHP to serve its members and realize positive impacts on all of its stakeholders depends on effective translation of research findings. As part of an ongoing assessment of the translational impact of World Trade Center (WTC)-related research, we applied the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) translational framework to two case studies: WTC-related research on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and cancer. We conducted a review of 9/11 health-related research in the peer-reviewed literature through October 2017, grey literature, and WTCHP program documentation. We mapped peer-reviewed studies in the literature to the NIEHS framework and used WTCHP program documentation and grey literature to find evidence of translation of research into clinical practice and policy. Using the NIEHS framework, we identified numerous translational milestones and bridges, as well as areas of opportunity, within each case study. This application demonstrates the utility of the NIEHS framework for documenting progress toward public health impact and for setting future research goals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amal Benkarim ◽  
Daniel Imbeau

The vast majority of works published on Lean focus on the evaluation of tools and/or the strategies needed for its implementation. Although many authors highlight the degree of employee commitment as one of the key aspects of Lean, what has gone largely unnoticed in the literature, is that few studies have examined in-depth the concept of organizational commitment in connection with Lean. With this narrative literature review article, our main objective is (1) to identify and analyze an extensive body of literature that addresses the Lean Manufacturing approach and how it relates to employee commitment, emphasizing affective commitment as the main type of organizational commitment positively associated with Lean, and (2) to highlight the management practices required to encourage this kind of commitment and promote the success and sustainability of Lean. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview that can help researchers and practitioners interested in Lean better understand the importance of employee commitment in this type of approach, and as well, to identify related research questions.


2021 ◽  
pp. 004208592110179
Author(s):  
Audrey Addi-Raccah ◽  
Paola Dusi ◽  
Noa Seeberger Tamir

We present an empirical overview of current research in the area of parental involvement (PI) based on a bibliometric analysis of 544 articles published between 2014 and 2018, and a thematic review of 39 of the Q1-journal articles in the sample, which contributed to a more detailed illustration of the knowledge base of PI research. The findings reveal an ongoing increase in the intensity of research in five distinct foci. The research is shown to be largely urban- and US-centric and dominated by diverse psychological and sociological perspectives. Implications and avenues for future research have been suggested.


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