LIS journals scientific impact and subject categorization: a comparison between Web of Science and Scopus

The study compares the coverage, ranking, impact and subject categorization of Library and Information Science journals, specifically, 79 titles based on data from Web of Science (WoS) and 128 titles from Scopus. Comparisons were made based on prestige factor scores reported in 2010 Journal Citation Reports and SCImago Journal Rank 2010 and noting the change in ranking when the differences are calculated. The rank normalized impact factor and the Library of Congress Classification System were used to compare impact rankings and subject categorization. There was high degree of similarity in rank normalized impact factor of titles in both WoS and Scopus databases. The searches found 162 journals, with 45 journals appearing in both databases. The rankings obtained for normalized impact scores confirm higher impact scores for titles covered in Scopus because of its larger coverage of titles. There was mismatch of subject categorization among 34 journal titles in both databases and 22 of the titles were not classified under Z subject headings in the Library of Congress catalogue. The results revealed the changes in journal title rankings when normalized, and the categorization of some journal titles in these databases might be incorrect.     

Relative measure index: a metric to measure the quality of journals

Journal impact factors (JIF) have been an accepted indicator of ranking journals. However, there has been increasing arguments against the fairness of using the JIF as the sole ranking criteria. This resulted in the creation of many other quality metric indices such as the h-index, g-index, immediacy index, Citation Half-Life, as well as SCIMago journal rank (SJR) to name a few. All these metrics have their merits, but none include any great degree of normalization in their computations. Every citation and every publication is taken as having the same importance and therefore weight. The wealth of available data results in multiple different rankings and indexes existing. This paper proposes the use of statistical standard scores or z-scores. The calculation of the z-scores can be performed to normalize the impact factors given to different journals, the average of z-scores can be used across various criteria to create a unified relative measurement (RM) index score. We use the 2008 JCR provided by Thompson Reuters to demonstrate the differences in rankings that would be affected if the RM-index was adopted discuss the fairness that this index would provide to the journal quality ranking.     

The design of geometric generalized likelihood ratio control chart

This paper develops a control chart, named generalized likelihood ratio (GLR) control chart, based on a GLR statistic to monitor the parameter of geometrically distributed process. The GLR statistic is obtained based on window of the past samples. The performance of the GLR control chart is compared with the cumulative sum (CUSUM) and two combinations of CUSUM charts, in terms of the steady state average time to signal. Simulation results show that the GLR control chart outperforms the CUSUM and two combinations of CUSUM charts in detecting a wide range of parameter shifts in the geometrically distributed process. A real data set is used to demonstrate the performance and effectiveness of the proposed control chart.     

Sulfation: a simple method to enhance the catalytic activity of TS-1 in epoxidation of 1-octene with aqueous hydrogen peroxide

Titanosilicalite (TS-1) has been successfully modified by sulfation to exhibit enhanced catalytic activity in the oxidation of 1-octene with aqueous H₂O₂. A high activity of the sulfated TS-1 was related to modifications of the local environment of Ti active site upon interaction with the .     

Factors affecting e-training adoption: an examination of perceived cost,computer self-efficacy and the technology acceptance model

The objective of this paper is to highlight the role that perceived cost, computer self-efficacy and the technology acceptance model (TAM) constructs have in e-training adoption in the Nigerian civil service. With the use of the SmartPLS 2.0 M3 software, a framework that included perceived cost, computer self-efficacy and TAM constructs (perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU)) was tested on 450 heads of departments. Scales on perceived cost, computer self-efficacy, PU and PEOU developed by previous studies were modified accordingly and used. This paper found perceived cost to have a significant effect on e-training adoption. Computer self-efficacy was statistically insignificant through PEOU. In addition, PEOU had an indirect effect through PU. Therefore, only PU of the TAM constructs indicated strong predictive strength in e-training adoption. This paper showed that with e-training adoption, facilities such as computers can be put in place, which can improve the outlook of the civil service. In addition, the cost that is usually associated with traditional training can be reduced, increasing the opportunity to invest in other aspects of the civil service which can help in adding to the overall performance. Relationships were examined in this paper, which were shown to be favourable to e-training adoption in the Nigerian civil service.     

Synthesis of Zirconia Nanoparticles in Distilled Water Solution by Laser Ablation Technique

Pulsed laser ablation in liquid （PLAL） has become an increasingly important technique for metals production and metal oxides nanoparticles （NPs） and others. This technique has its many advantages compared with other conventional techniques （physical and chemical）. This work was devoted for production of zirconia （ZrO2） nanoparticles via PLAL technique from a solid zirconium target immersed in a wet environment in order to study the effect of this environment on the optical properties and structure of ZrO2 nanoparticles. The solutions which used for this purpose is distilled water （D.W）. The produces NPs were characterized by mean of many tests such as UV-visible （UV-Vis.）, transmission electron microscope （TEM） and Z-Potential. The UV-Vis. A spectrum has atwavelength is 271 nm. The TEM test shows less than 10 nm average particle sizes with spherical and irregular shapes. Z-Potential test shows value about ＋56.1 mV which indicate for NPs stability with extremely low agglomeration solution.     

Facile hydrothermal synthesis of 3D flower‐like La‐MoS2 nanostructure for photocatalytic hydrogen energy production

Three‐dimensional (3D) flower‐like MoS₂ nanostructures were prepared via facile and cost‐effective hydrothermal method by varying hydrothermal temperature (180°C, 200°C, and 220°C) and reaction time (6, 12, 24, and 36 hours). The results demonstrated that the sample prepared at 200°C for 24 hours have 3D flower‐like MoS₂ nanostructure (SEM) with hexagonal phase structure (XRD). Moreover, this novel photocatalyst was also modified by lanthanum element (La³⁺) with varying La³⁺ atomic ratio (0.5%, 1%, 2%, 3%, and 4%). Interestingly, the La³⁺ incorporation into MoS₂ has good effect on the specific surface area and optical properties of MoS₂ photocatalyst. Furthermore, the flower‐like 3%LaMoS₂ nanostructure photocatalyst exhibited 5.2‐times higher efficiency for H₂ evolution via water splitting as compared with pure MoS₂ under the same conditions. This superior efficiency of the photocatalyst for H₂ production arises from the positive synergistic effect between MoS₂ and lanthanum in the composite photocatalyst due to higher surface area, enhanced light absorption, and inhibited electron‐holes pair recombination. This study presents an expensive photocatalyst for energy production via water spitting.     

Steam reforming of shale gas in a packed bed reactor with and without chemical looping using nickel based oxygen carrier

The catalytic steam reforming of shale gas was examined over NiO on Al₂O₃ and NiO on CaO/Al₂O₃ in the double role of catalysts and oxygen carrier (OC) when operating in chemical looping in a packed bed reactor at 1 bar pressure and S:C 3. The effects of gas hourly space velocity GHSV (h^?1), reforming temperatures (600–750 °C) and catalyst type on conventional steam reforming (C-SR) was first evaluated. The feasibility of chemical looping steam reforming (CL-SR) of shale gas at 750 °C with NiO on CaO/Al₂O₃ was then assessed and demonstrated a significant deterioration after about 9 successive reduction-oxidation cycles. But, fuel conversion was high over 80% approximately prior to deterioration of the catalyst/OC, that can be strongly attributed to the high operating temperature in favour of the steam reforming process.