Chitosan has attracted increasing attention from researchers in the pharmaceutical and biomedical fields as a potential agent for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. However, identifying the development of emerging technologies related to this biopolymer is difficult, especially for newcomers trying to understand the research streams. In this work, we designed and implemented a research process based on a bibliometric predictive intelligence model. Our aim is to glean detailed scientific and technological trends through an analysis of publications that include certain word phrases and related research areas. Cross correlation, factor mapping, and the calculation of “emergent” scores were also used. A total of 1,612 scientific papers on chitosan technology related to viral disease treatment published between 2010 and 2020 were retrieved from the Web of Science. Results from the keyword modelling quantitatively highlight three major frontier research and development topic groups: drug delivery and adjuvants, vaccines and immune response, and tissue engineering. More specifically, the emergent scores show that much of the chitosan-based treatment for viral diseases is in the in vitro stage of development. Most chitosan applications are in pharmacology/pharmacy and immunology. All results were confirmed by experts in the field, which indicates that the validated process can be applied to other fields of interest.

Link to FULL-TEXT  https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/6612034

Author(s): Worasak Klongthong, Veera Muangsin, Chupun Gowanit, Nongnuj Muangsin
Organization(s): Chulalongkorn University
Source: Journal of Chemistry
Year: 2020

We describe a characterization of the conceptual and emotional changes on environmental issues in a sample of firms certified under the ISO 14001 standard. Business communications regarding the main Spanish industrial firms have been downloaded from the ABI/INFORM database and processed using Vantage Point software, in order to study the evolution of the main concepts and emotions before and after the certification year. Our study concludes that in the years before certification environmental management was fundamentally tied to operative issues, broadly pivoting on the immediate impact of a firm’s productive activities. Environmental management gains strategic traction in the years after certification, positioning itself near corporate decision-making concepts and associated with adjectives that denote relevance and positivity. The sentiment analysis points at an increased positivity of environment-related issues, accompanied by a general decrease in negative emotions and an increased presence of expectation and planning emotions.

https://doi.org/10.2308/JETA-19-10-15-42

Author(s): Gaizka Garechana, Rosa Rio-Belver, Enara Zarrabeitia, Izaskun Alvarez-Meaza
Organization(s): University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU
Source: Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting JETA
Year: 2021

This article aims to map the scientific production concerning the inclusion of people with disabilities in Science Education to promote a reflection on the production of this area. Bibliometric analysis is used to help understand what stage of research a particular subject is at. Publications on the topic indexed at the Web of Science Core Collection (WoS) were evaluated. A total of 119 articles published between 2009 and July 2019 were selected as dealing specifically with the subject. An increase in the number of articles associating Science teaching (ST) and Inclusive Education (IE) was noted. The journals that published the most, the most productive authors in the area and their collaboration networks were identified. A content analysis of the research was also carried out and the main investigated topics were pointed out. Educational levels, types of disabilities, central themes and specific science areas prevailing in the mapped research were also indicated. We conclude that, despite the growing number of articles, scientific production associating SE and IE is still small, concentrated, and not shared with the scientific community through scientific education journals, and that most research is focused on the use of methodologies and resources, and not on their development.

https://doi.org/10.1080/03057267.2021.1897930

Author(s): Michele Waltz Comarú, Renato Matos Lopes,Luiza Amara Maciel Braga, Fabio Batista Mota, Cecília Galvão
Organization(s):Federal Institute of Rio de Janeiro, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, University of Lisbon
Source: Studies in Science Education
Year: 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic presents a great public health challenge worldwide, especially given the urgent need to identify effective drugs and develop a vaccine in a short period of time. Globally, several drugs and vaccine candidates are in clinical trials. However, because these drugs and vaccines are still being tested, there is still no definition of which ones will succeed.This study aimed to assess the opinions of over 1000 virus researchers with knowledge on the prevention and treatment of coronavirus-related human diseases to determine the most promising drug and vaccine candidates to address COVID-19. We mapped the clinical trials related to COVID-19 registered at ClinicalTrials.gov. These data were used to prepare a survey questionnaire about treatments and vaccine candidates for COVID-19. In May 2020, a global survey was conducted with authors of recent scientific publications indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection related to viruses, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, coronaviruses, and COVID-19. Remdesivir, immunoglobulin from cured patients, and plasma were considered to be the most promising treatments in May 2020, while ChAdOx1 and mRNA-1273 were considered to be the most promising vaccine candidates. Almost two-thirds of the respondents (766/1219, 62.8%) believed that vaccines for COVID-19 were likely to be available in the next 18 months. Slightly fewer than 25% (289/1219, 23.7%) believed that a vaccine was feasible, but probably not within 18 months. The issues addressed in this study are constantly evolving; therefore, the current state of knowledge has changed since the survey was conducted. However, for several months after the survey, the respondents’ expectations were in line with recent results related to treatments and vaccine candidates for COVID-19.

Author(s): Bernardo Pereira Cabral, Luiza Braga, Fabio Mota
Organization(s): Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Federal University of Bahia, Fluminense Federal University
Source:JMIR PUBLIC HEALTH AND SURVEILLANCE
Year: 2021

Over the years, has been growing policies aiming to reduce the greenhouses gases emissions – GHG, which lead for the searching of sustainable alternative solutions. One way mitigates the GHG emissions is the use of renewable energy sources. Nevertheless, for the use of such resources there are a series of processes inherent to the energy production and consumption, being the supply chain one of the principals. Based on this, the main objective of present article is to map the role of renewable energies inside the context of sustainable supply chain, observing how the studies have been developed, looking for the main researchers, organizations and collaboration networks, being at final a mapping of the 15 most cited studies in area. The research was carried out with the papers published at Web of Science database, using VantagePoint software to quantify the information’s, including the evolution of studies over time until 2019. It was possible to perceive that the research has been growing since 2010, moreover, subjects related to biomass, biofuels and photovoltaic energy were the most recurrent at the most cited. However, within this framework, the theme presented itself as new and that there are still great potentials to be explored.

Author(s): Eduardo do Carmo Marques, Maxwel de Azevedo-Ferreira, Luis Hernández-Callejo, Ronney Mancebo Boloy, Vanessa de Almeida Guimarães
Organization: Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica Celso Suckow da Fonseca,Instituto Federal de Educação e Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio de Janeiro, Universidad de Valladolid
Source: Proceedings of the III Ibero-American Conference on Smart Cities (ICSC-2020)
Year: 2021

Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) constitute a developing area of particular interest for researchers in different fields due to their broad range of applications. However, there are few studies dedicated to the bibliometric analysis of AOPs. Hence, a systematic literature review of research publications (research articles, review articles, and book chapters) from 1980 to 2018 was carried out to visualize and evaluate research trends on AOPs around the world and, especially in Ibero-America (IA), on the field of wastewater treatment. Using the most extensive databases in literature search, Scopus and Web of Science (WoS), which encompass 95% of the publications in the world, a total of 18,751 records were retrieved by limiting the search results to words associated with AOPs in the titles, keyword, and abstracts. Raw data were manually organized and filtered, standardizing authors and institution names, publication titles, and keywords for the purpose of eliminating double-counted entries. Similarly, homonymous authors and institutions were identified for all records retrieved. The bibliometric dataset was processed using the VantagePoint software. The research trends visualized about AOPs were as follows: number of publications per triennium, publications by country, participation by continent, most important journals and authors, most referenced institutions, global network of co-authors, and keywords network visualization, highlighting the Ibero-American contribution to global research.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11333-7

Author(s): Iván F. Macías-Quiroga, Paula A. Henao-Aguirre, Alexander Marín-Flórez, Sandra M. Arredondo-López & Nancy R. Sanabria-González
Organization(s): Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Source: Environmental Science and Pollution Research
Year: 2020