Do research collaborations age like wine? Absolute and relative measures of CANZUK research partnerships' strength since the 1950s.

Although previous studies of today's globalised and competitive research landscape have mentioned the research collaborations of CANZUK countries (i.e., Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom), none have yet studied them in detail. Further, such studies have used different measures of international research collaboration (IRC), resulting in disparate findings. This paper, therefore, analyses the strengths of CANZUK research collaborations, how those collaborations have changed over time, and assesses the effect of three ways of measures on the results (absolute strength, bilateral similarity, and multilateral similarity). We provide a detailed characterisation of the CANZUK research network and its relationships with partner countries, which reveals that the most collaborative CANZUK countries are the UK and Australia, among other findings. We also confirm that many findings differ depending on which measures are used. We offer an explanation of this difference with reference to the nature of the measures (i.e., what they really measure) and make suggestions for suitable measures in future studies depending on their purpose. Finally, we discuss how this study's findings can be used by research policy makers (in CANZUK and elsewhere) in deciding on research strategy and by researchers in appropriately measuring IRC.

Closed Shop or Collaborative Hub? An Analysis of the Partners' Importance in CANZUK Countries' Research Collaborations.

Collaborative partners are important in international research collaboration. The research collaborations between four CANZUK countries (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom) are examined to see whether their research connections are different from the research relationships with other countries. This paper measures the affinity index values and analyses the development of research collaborations among CANZUK countries with those between the CANZUK and other countries. The whole counting method and the fractional counting method are applied in this study to compare the differences in the results. The findings show that although the affinity index values of CANZUK countries were decreasing over time, the importance of CANZUK partners to CANZUK countries has likely increased over time at the expense of the other partners' importance. The study also shows the minor differences in results obtained by applying two different counting methods. These differences can be explained by the nature of the counting methods, and the choice to use either one of these two counting methods should be considered in other international research collaboration studies.

Opportunities and Challenges of Extracting Values in Autobiographical Narratives.

We report three studies in which we applied a value dictionary to narratives. Our objective was to test a theory-driven value dictionary for extracting valuable information from autobiographical and narrative texts. In Studies 1 (N = 106) and 2 (N = 152), participants wrote short autobiographical narratives and in Study 3 (N = 150), participants wrote narratives based on ambiguous stimuli. Participants in all three studies also completed the Portrait Value Questionnaire as a self-report measure of values. Overall, our results demonstrate that it is possible to extract value-relevant information from these narratives. Extracted values from autobiographical narratives showed average correlations of 0.07 (Study 1) and 0.12 (Study 2) with self-reports compared to an average correlation of 0.01 for the extracted values from implicit motive tasks (Study 3). The correlations with self-reports were in line with previous validation studies. The most salient values in narratives diverged somewhat, with a stronger emphasis on achievement values compared to self-reports, probably due to the nature of salient episodes within one's life that require demonstrating success according to social standards. Benevolence values were consistently most important in both self-ratings and text-based scoring. The value structure emerging from narratives diverged from the theoretically predicted structure, yet broad personally vs. socially focused value dimensions were qualitatively discernible. We highlight opportunities and challenges for future value research using autobiographical stories.

Subclinical mastitis in dairy cows in Swiss organic and conventional production systems.

The objective was to compare the prevalence of subclinical mastitis (SM) and of udder pathogens in 60 Swiss organic (OP) and 60 conventional production systems (CP). Cows (n=970) were studied for SM prevalence and udder pathogens at median 31 d and 102 d post partum. Cows showing a >or=1+ positive California Mastitis Test (CMT) in at least one quarter were considered to have SM. Cow-level prevalences of SM for visits at 31 d and 102 d post partum (39% and 40% in OP and 34% and 35% in CP) were similar, but quarter-level prevalences of SM were higher (P<0.02) in OP than CP (15% and 18% in OP and 12% and 15% in CP). Median somatic cell counts in milk at 31 d post partum were higher (P<0.05) in OP than CP cows (43000 and 28000 cells/ml, respectively), but were similar at 102 d post partum in OP and CP cows (45000 and 38000 cells/ml, respectively). In milk samples from quarters showing a CMT reaction >or=2+ the prevalences of coagulase negative staphylococci were lower (P<0.05) at 102 d post partum, whereas prevalences of non-agalactiae streptococci were higher (P<0.05) in OP than in CP cows at 31 d and 102 d post partum. In conclusion, under Swiss conditions, subclinical mastitis is a greater problem in organic than in conventional production systems, but differences are not marked.

Prevalence and risk-factor analysis of Shiga toxigenic Escherichia coli in faecal samples of organically and conventionally farmed dairy cattle.

Cattle are a natural reservoir for Shiga toxigenic Escherichia coli (STEC), however, no data are available on the prevalence and their possible association with organic or conventional farming practices. We have therefore studied the prevalence of STEC and specifically O157:H7 in Swiss dairy cattle by collecting faeces from approximately 500 cows from 60 farms with organic production (OP) and 60 farms with integrated (conventional) production (IP). IP farms were matched to OP farms and were comparable in terms of community, agricultural zone, and number of cows per farm. E. coli were grown overnight in an enrichment medium, followed by DNA isolation and PCR analysis using specific TaqMan assays. STEC were detected in all farms and O157:H7 were present in 25% of OP farms and 17% of IP farms. STEC were detected in 58% and O157:H7 were evidenced in 4.6% of individual faeces. Multivariate statistical analyses of over 250 parameters revealed several risk-factors for the presence of STEC and O157:H7. Risk-factors were mainly related to the potential of cross-contamination of feeds and cross-infection of cows, and age of the animals. In general, no significant differences between the two farm types concerning prevalence or risk for carrying STEC or O157:H7 were observed. Because the incidence of human disease caused by STEC in Switzerland is low, the risk that people to get infected appears to be small despite a relatively high prevalence in cattle. Nevertheless, control and prevention practices are indicated to avoid contamination of animal products.