In a bilingual paper entitled 'Bibliometrics as weapons of mass citation--La bibliométrie comme arme de citation massive', recently translated into English, we have argued that the current fashion of ranking people, papers and journals is anything but harmless. The point was forcefully supported by Richard Ernst in a post-face entitled 'The Follies of Citation Indices and Academic Ranking Lists...

This paper uses a novel set of instruments to identify the effects of a family planning program when there is potentially non-random program placement and only cross-sectional data are available, a situation common in many developing countries. The instruments are based on the idea that areas compete for resources and that the relative ranking of characteristics across areas is not correlated w...

The prediction of sperm fertility is of paramount importance for breeding animals. Multiple laboratory approaches have been developed for this purpose, but they have yielded equivocal results. The objective of this study was to develop and standardize to a method for predicting fertility in vivo in boars using the in vitro penetration assay. To increase the sensitivity and reduce false-negative...

University rankings generally present users with the problem of placing the results given for an institution in context. Only a comparison with the performance of all other institutions makes it possible to say exactly where an institution stands. In order to interpret the results of the SCImago Institutions Ranking (based on Scopus data) and the Leiden Ranking (based on Web of Science data), i...

The male-specific regions of the Y chromosome (MSY) of the human and the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) are fully sequenced. The most striking difference is the dramatic rearrangement of large parts of their respective MSYs. These non-recombining regions include ampliconic gene families that are known to be important for male reproduction,and are consequently under significant selective pressure....

Long-term yield performance and yield stability of common cropping systems needs to be simultaneously assessed at various fertility regimes. Based on a consecutive 19-year field trial, including eight fertilization treatments with different combinations of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and recycled manure (RM), the effects of fertilization and crop rotation on corn (Zea mays L.) y...

In vitro fertility assessment using fluorescent technique is a better predictor of fertility status of bulls as compared to traditional semen quality assessment techniques, therefore, the study was planned to assess in vitro fertility status of bulls based on conventional and fluorescent techniques. Seventy-three ejaculates were collected from 12 Murrah buffalo bulls maintained at Artificial Br...

US renewable fuels policy strongly encourages biomass crop production, which should lead to expansion of biomass heating scenarios. Chemical composition of grass biomass can be extremely variable, depending on species, soil fertility, and harvest management. Biomass quality concerns have hindered the development of grass biomass for residential combustion, with no comprehensive evaluation syste...

The study presents spatial analysis of agricultural land degradation in the Samara Region with an assessment economic losses under influence negative factors. characteristics ecological state lands are made context administrative districts on basis indicators degree and decrease coefficient productivity grain crops. data soil surveys results modeling potential production rate crops were used. A...