Impact Factors in a Curriculum Vitae for Scholarship Application

Introduction: Scholarship applicants often receive different advice on what should be included in their Curriculum Vitae (CV). This study aims to investigate what the essential components of a CV being prepared for scholarships are, how to present them, and what their level of impact is. Materials and Methods: The authors sent an online structured questionnaire to 7512 corresponding authors of recent published papers in Scopus; 124 completed questionnaires were returned. Recommended elements for a CV were chosen according to the Delphi consensus technique with a threshold of 50%. Results: This survey revealed that headings, bullet points and careful error checking were essential parts of the layout. For the content of the CV, besides publications, education and training background, research experience and research interest were also necessary. Moreover, almost all respondents ranked publications as the most important qualification of an academic scholarship candidate. Publications also came first as the most impressive factor, followed by awards and honours. The number of publications, quality of journal, impact factor and total citation should be presented in publication section. The importance of publications in getting academic scholarships is significantly emphasized in this recent study. Conclusions: Having research experience and papers in peer review journals, are highly recommended for students seeking academic scholarships.

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Reporting of placebo medication descriptors in randomised controlled trials: A review of three medical journals

Research Methods in Medicine & Health Sciences ◽

10.1177/2632084320932757 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 7-11

Author(s):

Michelle Watson ◽

Catherine Arundel ◽

Laura Clark ◽

Liz Cook ◽

Illary Sbizzera

Keyword(s):

Clinical Trials ◽

New England ◽

Reporting Quality ◽

Placebo Treatment ◽

Future Research ◽

Great Consideration ◽

Number Of Publications ◽

Randomised Controlled ◽

Almost All

Clinical trials involving a placebo enable researchers to determine the effectiveness of a product; however, ensuring a placebo matches an active treatment takes great consideration, time and costs. We aimed to assess the reporting quality of blinding descriptions for placebo medication treatments and consider this in relation to funding support (commercial or non-commercial). The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA); the Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) were searched for randomised clinical trials, and 117 papers involving a placebo medication, published between 1 April 2016 and 31 March 2017, were extracted. The data were analysed for the number of publications reporting characteristics of placebo treatments, frequency of the characteristics and source of funding. Three quarters of the articles reported at least one characteristic of the placebo. The Lancet and JAMA consistently had this information present; however, this was observed less in the NEJM. The most common characteristic was ‘matching placebo’, followed by contents of the placebo, packaging and appearance. Texture, taste and smell were least reported. Within those supported by commercial funding, two-thirds reported at least one characteristic of the placebo treatment, whilst almost all of the articles without commercial funding reported at least one characteristic. Efforts are being made to include descriptions of blinded medication; however, inconsistencies suggest that guidelines are not always being followed, and more can be done to improve reporting. Future research should focus on the reasons for inadequate recording and aim to reduce the inconsistencies observed.

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Use of Antipsychotics in Patients with Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia: Results of a Spanish Delphi Consensus

Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders ◽

10.1159/000510866 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-10

Author(s):

Sagrario Manzano-Palomo ◽

Luis F. Agüera-Ortiz ◽

Alexandre García-Caballero ◽

José Martínez-Raga ◽

Tomás Ojea-Ortega ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Delphi Study ◽

Atypical Antipsychotics ◽

Psychological Symptoms ◽

High Rate ◽

Delphi Consensus ◽

Almost All ◽

Behavioral And Psychological Symptoms ◽

Typical Antipsychotics

Background: Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are difficult to manage and associated with poor outcome. Objectives: The aim of this study was to reach consensus on the use of antipsychotics in patients with BPSD in Spain. Methods: A qualitative, multicenter, two-round Delphi study was carried out, with the participation of specialists involved in the care of dementia patients throughout Spain. They completed a 76-item questionnaire related to the identification of BPSD, treatment with antipsychotics, follow-up of patients, barriers for the use of atypical antipsychotics, and effects of antipsychotics on quality of life. Results: A total of 162 specialists in neurology, psychiatry, and geriatrics (61% men) with a mean (SD) age of 45.9 (10) years participated in the study. Almost all participants (96.9%) strongly agreed that atypical antipsychotics are safer and better tolerated than typical antipsychotics. There was agreement on the importance to review the indication and dose of the antipsychotic drug at least every 3 months. There was consistent high rate of agreement on the beneficial impact of atypical antipsychotics on the quality of life of patients with dementia and their caregivers. A consensus was also reached on the need of detecting BPSD in patients with dementia as it decreases the quality of life of both patients and caregivers, and the need to routinely screen for dementia in elderly patients with no previous psychiatric history in the presence of suggestive symptoms of BPSD. Finally, the participants in the study agreed that administrative barriers for the prescription of atypical antipsychotics in Spain hinder the access to this drug group and favor the prescription of typical antipsychotics. Conclusions: The participants in the study agreed that atypical antipsychotics should be preferred to typical antipsychotics in the management of BPSD. Wide consensus was reached about the importance of early identification of BPSD in persons with cognitive impairment, the use and management of atypical antipsychotic drugs and their favorable impact on patients and caregiver’s quality of life.

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Physicochemical and bacteriological characterization of hospital effluents and their impact on the environment

10.31221/osf.io/rbka9 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Chem Int

Keyword(s):

Human Health ◽

Fecal Coliforms ◽

Chemical Pollution ◽

Hospital Effluents ◽

Biological Contaminants ◽

Almost All ◽

Direct Discharge ◽

Significant Chemical

Liquid effluents discharged by hospitals may contain chemical and biological contaminants whose main source is the different substances used for the treatment of patients. This type of rejection can present a sanitary potentially dangerous risk for human health and can provoke a strong degradation of diverse environmental compartments mainly water and soils. The present study focuses on the quality of the liquid effluents of Hassani Abdelkader’s hospital of Sidi Bel-Abbes (West of Algeria). The results reveal a significant chemical pollution (COD: 879 mgO2/L, BOD5: 850 mgO2/L, NH4+ : 47.9 mg/l, NO2- : 4.2 mg/l, NO3- : 56.8 mg/l with respect to WHO standard of 90 mgO2/L, 30 mgO2/L, 0.5 mg/l, 1 mg/l and 1 mg/l respectively). However, these effluents are biodegradable since the ratio COD/BOD5 do not exceeded the value of 2 in almost all samples. The presence of pathogen germs is put into evidence such as pseudomonas, the clostridium, the staphylococcus, the fecal coliforms and fecal streptococcus. These results show that the direct discharge of these effluents constitutes a major threat to human health and the environment.

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QUALITY OF INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP LEVEL INTERVENTIONS FOR FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOSIS AT THE TERTIARY PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL IN UGANDA.

10.31234/osf.io/hrygs ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Emmanuel Kiiza Mwesiga ◽

Noeline Nakasujja ◽

Lawrence Nankaba ◽

Juliet Nakku ◽

Seggane Musisi

Keyword(s):

Psychiatric Hospital ◽

Psychotic Disorders ◽

First Episode Psychosis ◽

First Episode ◽

Group Level ◽

Group Interventions ◽

Episode Psychosis ◽

Essential Components ◽

The Individual

Introduction: Individual and group level interventions have the largest effect on outcomes in patients with the first episode of psychosis. The quality of these individual and group level interventions provided to first-episode psychosis patients in Uganda is unclear.Methods: The study was performed at Butabika National Psychiatric Teaching and referral hospital in Uganda. A retrospective chart review of recently discharged adult in-patients with the first episode of psychosis was first performed to determine the proportion of participants who received the different essential components for individual and group level interventions. From the different proportions, the quality of the services across the individual and group interventions was determined using the first-Episode Psychosis Services Fidelity Scale (FEPS-FS). The FEPS-FS assigns a grade of 1-5 on a Likert scale depending on the proportion of patients received the different components of the intervention. Results: The final sample included 156 first-episode psychosis patients. The median age was 27 years [IOR (24-36)] with 55% of participants of the female gender. 13 essential components across the individual and group interventions were assessed and their quality quantified. All 13 essential components had poor quality with the range of scores on the FEPS-FS of 1-3. Only one essential component assessed (use of single antipsychotics) had moderate quality.Discussion: Among current services at the National psychiatric hospital of Uganda, the essential for individual and group level interventions for psychotic disorders are of low quality. Further studies are required on how the quality of these interventions can be improved.

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Simulation and Emulation Tools for Fog Computing

Recent Advances in Computer Science and Communications ◽

10.2174/2666255813999201002152003 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 ◽

Author(s):

Simar Preet Singh ◽

Rajesh Kumar ◽

Anju Sharma ◽

S. Raji Reddy ◽

Priyanka Vashisht

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Service ◽

Programming Languages ◽

Traffic Management ◽

Fog Computing ◽

Research Work ◽

Research Experience ◽

Computing Paradigm ◽

Quality Of Service Parameters ◽

User Friendly

Background: Fog computing paradigm has recently emerged and gained higher attention in present era of Internet of Things. The growth of large number of devices all around, leads to the situation of flow of packets everywhere on the Internet. To overcome this situation and to provide computations at network edge, fog computing is the need of present time that enhances traffic management and avoids critical situations of jam, congestion etc. Methods: For research purposes, there are many methods to implement the scenarios of fog computing i.e. real-time implementation, implementation using emulators, implementation using simulators etc. The present study aims to describe the various simulation and emulation tools for implementing fog computing scenarios. Results: Review shows that iFogSim is the simulator that most of the researchers use in their research work. Among emulators, EmuFog is being used at higher pace than other available emulators. This might be due to ease of implementation and user-friendly nature of these tools and language these tools are based upon. The use of such tools enhance better research experience and leads to improved quality of service parameters (like bandwidth, network, security etc.). Conclusion: There are many fog computing simulators/emulators based on many different platforms that uses different programming languages. The paper concludes that the two main simulation and emulation tools in the area of fog computing are iFogSim and EmuFog. Accessibility of these simulation/emulation tools enhance better research experience and leads to improved quality of service parameters along with the ease of their usage.

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Is There a Motherhood Penalty in Academia? The Gendered Effect of Children on Academic Publications in German Sociology

European Sociological Review ◽

10.1093/esr/jcz063 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 36 (3) ◽

pp. 442-459 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Mark Lutter ◽

Martin Schröder

Keyword(s):

Publication Output ◽

Scientific Career ◽

Double Burden ◽

Academic Achievements ◽

Motherhood Penalty ◽

Academic Publications ◽

Curriculum Vitae ◽

Successful Women ◽

German Sociology ◽

Number Of Publications

Abstract Based on data that tracks curriculum vitae (CV) and publication records as well as survey information from sociologists in German academia, we examine the effects of parenthood on the publication output of male and female academics that were present in German universities or research institutes in the year 2013. Results indicate that having children leads to a significant decline in the number of publications by women on average, while not affecting the number of publications by men. However, the gendered effect of children on productivity hardly mitigates differences in publication output between men and women, as women still publish about 20 per cent less than men after controlling for the adverse effects of children on productivity. The gendered effect of childbearing depends partly on prior levels of women’s academic achievements, suggesting a mechanism of performance-driven self-selection. Lower-performing women tend to suffer a stronger motherhood penalty than better performing women, while the publication output of successful women (who have been granted academic awards) is not reduced through childbirth. The results indicate that women are better at managing the ‘double burden’ of kids and career if external, award-giving committees have bestowed prestige upon them or indicated their potential for a scientific career.

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Transformative Learning in Mastery-Oriented CS0 Course

Higher Education for the Future ◽

10.1177/23476311211007255 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 234763112110072

Author(s):

Srinivasan Lakshminarayanan ◽

N. J. Rao ◽

G. K. Meghana

Keyword(s):

Transformative Learning ◽

First Year ◽

Guided Discovery ◽

Engineering Programs ◽

Transformative Experiences ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Cognitive Levels ◽

Almost All ◽

Core Course

The introductory programming course, commonly known as CS1 and offered as a core course in the first year in all engineering programs in India, is unique because it can address higher cognitive levels, metacognition and some aspects of the affective domain. It can provide much needed transformative experiences to students coming from a system of school education that is dominantly performance-driven. Unfortunately, the CS1 course, as practiced in almost all engineering programs, is also performance-driven because of a variety of compulsions. This paper suggests that the inclusion of a course CS0 can bring about transformative learning that can potentially make a significant difference in the quality of learning in all subsequent engineering courses. The suggested instruction design of this course takes the advantage of the unique features of a course in programming. The proposed CS0 course uses “extreme apprenticeship” and “guided discovery” methods of instruction. The effectiveness of these instruction methods was established through the use of the thematic analysis, a well-known qualitative research method, and the associated coding of transformative learning experiences and instruction components.

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DASH-type cryptochromes – solved and open questions

Biological Chemistry ◽

10.1515/hsz-2020-0182 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 401 (12) ◽

pp. 1487-1493

Author(s):

Stephan Kiontke ◽

Tanja Göbel ◽

Annika Brych ◽

Alfred Batschauer

Keyword(s):

Dna Repair ◽

Circadian Clock ◽

Blue Light ◽

Dna Repair Enzymes ◽

Repair Enzymes ◽

Open Questions ◽

Essential Components ◽

Repair Activity ◽

Almost All ◽

Uv Lesions

AbstractDrosophila, Arabidopsis, Synechocystis, human (DASH)-type cryptochromes (cry-DASHs) form one subclade of the cryptochrome/photolyase family (CPF). CPF members are flavoproteins that act as DNA-repair enzymes (DNA-photolyases), or as ultraviolet(UV)-A/blue light photoreceptors (cryptochromes). In mammals, cryptochromes are essential components of the circadian clock feed-back loop. Cry-DASHs are present in almost all major taxa and were initially considered as photoreceptors. Later studies demonstrated DNA-repair activity that was, however, restricted to UV-lesions in single-stranded DNA. Very recent studies, particularly on microbial organisms, substantiated photoreceptor functions of cry-DASHs suggesting that they could be transitions between photolyases and cryptochromes.

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Noise at the time of COVID 19: The impact in some areas in Rome and Milan, Italy

Noise Mapping ◽

10.1515/noise-2020-0021 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 248-264

Author(s):

Rosa Maria Alsina Pagès ◽

Francesc Alías ◽

Patrizia Bellucci ◽

Pier Paolo Cartolano ◽

Ilaria Coppa ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sound Pressure ◽

Traffic Noise ◽

Motor Vehicles ◽

Acoustic Environment ◽

Commercial Activities ◽

Real Time Traffic ◽

Italian Regions ◽

Almost All ◽

The Impact

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed in Italy at the end of January 2020, when the first positive cases for the virus were identified. At the beginning of March, the virus had spread to all Italian regions and on 10 March 2020 the lockdown phase began, limiting the movement of people and prohibiting almost all commercial activities, businesses and non-essential industries. As a result, millions of people were forced to stay at home, causing a drastic drop in traffic volume, which significantly changed the acoustic environment and air quality of cities. On 4 May 2020, the lockdown was partially lifted and activities were progressively reopened. Therefore, traffic gradually started to increase and, consequently, the noise emitted by motor vehicles. This behaviour was confirmed by the data collected by the DYNAMAP system, an automatic platform developed within the LIFE DYNAMAP project, providing real time traffic noise maps in terms of sound pressure levels and impacts at receivers (people and dwellings exposed to noise level bands). In this paper traffic and non-traffic-related noise events in the cities of Rome and Milan from March to May 2020 are analysed and compared to the corresponding values in 2019 to evaluate the effects of the lockdown period.

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Research Regarding the Quality of Lambs Carcass Resulted from Tsigaia Purebred Compared with Hybrids of Tsigaia Ewes Crossed with Blanc du Massif Central Rams

Bulletin of University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca Veterinary Medicine ◽

10.15835/buasvmcn-vm:12431 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 74 (1) ◽

pp. 7

Author(s):

Mihai Marian BORZAN ◽

Dana PUSTA ◽

Liviu BOGDAN ◽

Alexandra TABARAN ◽

Attila MATE ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Body Weight ◽

Chemical Composition ◽

Massif Central ◽

Live Body Weight ◽

Almost All ◽

Qualitative Characteristics

Abstract: The research aims to compare some qualitative characteristics of purebred Tsigaia lambs and Tsigaia crossed with Blanc du Massif Central lambs. The criteria assessed were: chemical composition of purebred and Tsigaia crossed meat, the live body weight, the slaughtering performance, the weight of different carcass cut. For almost all criteria chosen the crossed individuals registered better results.

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