Factors Influencing Information Literacy of University Students

During the COVID-19 pandemic, effective use of information and communication technology (ICT), access to data sources, and critical evaluation of new information were essential for successful distance learning. University students need both information literacy (IL) and scientific literacy (SL) to learn and conduct research. This study examined the level of IL of 561 undergraduate and graduate students. We investigated the impact of scientific literacy (SL), ICT use, psychological/learning characteristics, and demographic parameters on student IL. The effects of a credit-bearing IL course were studied on 151 students, comparing three teaching methods. The average IL test performance of 67.6% did not differ significantly by student gender or natural/social science orientation. Of the IL topics, students were least proficient in legal/ethical issues, followed by information searching. Students’ knowledge of IL and SL was comparable and decreased with cognitive level. While ownership of ICT devices and ICT-rich courses had no effect on the level of IL, confidence in using the Internet correlated significantly with IL. Also, IL correlated positively with students’ self-concepts about learning and problem-solving, as well as their self-efficacy, but motivation played a smaller role. The credit-bearing IL study course was most effective when active learning methods were used

Unconventional experimental technologies used for phase change materials (PCM) characterization: part2 morphological and structural characterization, physico-chemical stability and mechanical properties

Due to the high interest of appropriate characterization of PCM and hybrid PCM composites, different research centres and universities are using several material characterization techniques not commonly used with PCM, to study the structure and morphology of these materials. Likewise, physico-chemical stability is a crucial parameter for the performance of latent storage materials during time and its evaluation has been done by using molecular spectroscopy, chemiluminiscence or calorimetric tests. Atomic force microscopy and nanoindentation are also reported to characterize hybrid PCM composites

Unconventional experimental technologies used for phase change materials (PCM) characterization: part 2 – morphological and structural characterization, physico-chemical stability and mechanical properties

Due to the high interest of appropriate characterization of PCM and hybrid PCM composites, different research centres and universities are using several material characterization techniques not commonly used with PCM, to study the structure and morphology of these materials. Likewise, physico-chemical stability is a crucial parameter for the performance of latent storage materials during time and its evaluation has been done by using molecular spectroscopy, chemiluminiscence or calorimetric tests. Atomic force microscopy and nanoindentation are also reported to characterize hybrid PCM composites. Other chemical aspects studied are related with the compatibility of the PCM and its container and also considered in this compilation of characterization work.The work is partially funded by the European Union (COST Action COST TU0802) and the Spanish government (ENE2011- 28269-C03-01, ENE2011-28269-C03-02 and ENE2011-22722). The authors would like to thank the Catalan Government for the quality accreditation given to their research group GREA (2014 SGR 123) and their research group DIOPMA (2014 SGR 1543). Aran Solé would like to thank the Departament d’Universitats, Recerca i Societat de la Informació de la Generalitat de Catalunya for her research fellowship

Microencapsulation of essential oils and phase change materials for applications in textile products

72-82The paper reports the development and testing of three types of microcapsules for applications in textile products, namely microencapsulation of antimicrobial essential oils of sage, lavender and rosemary for nonwoven textile shoe insoles; smell-based animal repellents for agricultural textiles, designed to protect plants against damage caused by deer and rabbits; and paraffinic phase change materials (PCMs) for active thermal control garments. In situ polymerisation of melamine-formaldehyde prepolymers was used as the microencapsulation technology in all three cases, based on partly methylated trimethylolmelamine and hexamethoxymethylolmelamine resin as wall materials and a styrene-maleic acid anhydride copolymer as a modifying agent. The microencapsulation process was modified to achieve the desired characteristics of microcapsule walls (different permeability and sensitivity/ resistance to pressure).Bibliometric trends in microencapsulation technology with special reference to textile industries have also been discussed with an overview of main application fields and uses of microencapsulated additives in textile products

Bibliometric analysis of visualizations in computer graphics

This study examined the field of visualizations in computer graphics (VCG) using bibliometric methods, including performance and science mapping analysis. A dataset of documents from SCOPUS, 1986 to 2019, was analyzed and visualized using VOSviewer. The results showed an increasing trend of new documents in VCG. The five most cited publications were all related to data visualization software. The most prolific authors, examined by Citation per Paper (CPP) and Relative Citation Impact (RCI), contributed to research advances in computer graphics, information visualization, interactive data analysis, human computer interfaces, and visualization software development. A document source analysis identified the major scientific journals and conference proceedings in VCG research, and showed that researchers in VCG tend to publish extensively in conference proceedings, but that articles in scientific journals have a higher citation impact. A co-citation analysis of cited sources revealed seven clusters of thematically similar sources in computer science, genomics, neuroimaging, physics & chemistry, mathematics, education, and communication. Co-authorship analysis of countries pointed out collaboration networks in scientific research, where the USA, UK, Germany, France, and Italy collaborated most frequently. Collaborations were fostered by the same language group, or the geographical proximity. The co-occurrence of research terms showed six clusters of related concepts, thematically grouped around search queries, graphical processing, education, genetics, scientific numerical data, and medicine. The study contributed to a better understanding of the field and is expected to help researchers and educators identify research areas, developments, quality scientific literature, and appropriate journals for publishing their own findings related to VCG