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The aim of this study was to determine feasibility of utilizing greige (non-bleached) cotton comber noils in the development of hydroentangled cotton fabrics for certain end-use products and thereby to promote an economically and environmentally efficient utilization of cotton in sustainable textile products. The data from the feasibility study show that greige comber noils can be efficiently processed into nonwoven fabrics using an air-laid system for preparing a fibrous batt to feed a down-stream hydroentangling system. Furthermore, the study has shown that, for certain specific end-use applications where bleaching is required, the hydroentangled greige cotton fabric can be efficiently bleached without the customary costly and time consuming cotton scouring process. The elimination of the scouring process was made possible by the removal of cotton's natural hydrophobic contaminants (waxes) by optimizing the hydraulic pressure/energy metrics of the hydroentanglement process of producing nonwoven fabrics.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.

The paper introduces and annotates periodical articles, monographs, and exhibition catalogues examining library instruction and information literacy.

The paper provides information about each source, discusses the characteristics of current scholarship, and describes sources that contain unique scholarly contributions and quality reproductions.

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the contribution of, and the need for, information literacy and information literacy programmes in the undergraduate education process.

The paper presents the case of a Greek educational institute, via related research, and describes the information literacy programme of the Alexander Technological Education Institute of Thessaloniki (ATEITh). The paper is based on a study at the Institution with the education staff and also the undergraduate students – patrons of the library. In both cases data were gathered using the method of questionnaires.

The results of the study reveal the usefulness of information literacy programmes, and the need for the creation of an online information literacy tutorial in the ATEITh. The majority of the respondents in both studies believe that information literacy programmes could be exploited as a means of instruction and should be integrated in the departments' curricula.

The paper points up the contribution of the online information literacy programme in the teaching of courses dealing partially with information literacy that exist in the curricula of some departments and the motive for the integration of an autonomous credit information literacy course in every curriculum.

The Library of the ATEITh is the first Greek academic library that through a survey has highlighted the need for developing and evaluating information literacy programmes as a means of reinforcing information literacy in the Greek academic community and at the same time it is the first Greek academic library to have developed its own information literacy programme.

This paper explores trends over time in library staffing and staffing expenditures among two- and four-year colleges and universities in the United States.

Researchers merged and analyzed data from 1996 to 2016 from the National Center for Education Statistics for over 3,500 libraries at postsecondary institutions. This study is primarily descriptive in nature and addresses the research questions: How do staffing trends in academic libraries over this period of time relate to Carnegie classification and institution size? How do trends in library staffing expenditures over this period of time correspond to these same variables?

Across all institutions, on average, total library staff decreased from 1998 to 2012. Numbers of librarians declined at master’s and doctoral institutions between 1998 and 2016. Numbers of students per librarian increased over time in each Carnegie and size category. Average inflation-adjusted staffing expenditures have remained steady for master's, baccalaureate and associate's institutions. Salaries as a percent of library budget decreased only among doctoral institutions and institutions with 20,000 or more students.

This is a valuable study of trends over time, which has been difficult without downloading and merging separate data sets from multiple government sources. As a result, few studies have taken such an approach to this data. Consequently, institutions and libraries are making decisions about resource allocation based on only a fraction of the available data. Academic libraries can use this study and the resulting data set to benchmark key staffing characteristics.

This study identifies barriers faced by online e-waste collection platforms in India and proposes a novel approach to manage strategies that contribute towards making such online platforms economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable by mitigating their interacting barriers.

The approach consists of a barrier assessment process and a strategy evaluation and planning process. The barrier assessment process uses multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) based method to evaluate the interactive effects of the barriers to derive their direct and indirect impacts on sustainability. The strategy evaluation and planning process evaluates the overall contribution value of strategies for mitigating interacting barriers and then categorizes them into planning zones based on their contribution and feasibility.

The interaction among the barriers is a significant component of the overall impact of the barriers on sustainability. The most impactful barriers are the lack of dissemination of information, lack of government support, insufficient infrastructure, and awareness and attitude of consumers. Lack of government support is the most influential causal barrier. Lack of information dissemination is a significant causal barrier with the highest overall impact on sustainability. Priority strategies that must be implemented to ensure sustainability include government support, offering higher prices or discounts for giving up e-waste, and increasing information dissemination.

Different from existing approaches for evaluating sustainability strategies, the strategies in this study are identified and evaluated based on their overall contribution towards mitigating interacting barriers to sustainability. The approach is applied in the Indian context to reveal the most influential barriers to the sustainability of online e-waste collection platforms and the most effective strategies for mitigating these barriers. The outcomes of this study contribute to strategy planning for sustainable online e-waste collection platforms in India.

To research involvement of healthcare staff in the UK and identify practical organisational and policy solutions to improve and boost capacity of the existing workforce to conduct research.

A mixed-method study presenting three work packages here: secondary analysis of levels of staff research activity, funding, academic outputs and workforce among healthcare organisations in the United Kingdom; 39 Research and Development lead and funder interviews; an online survey of 11 healthcare organisations across the UK, with 1,016 responses from healthcare staff included for analysis; and 51 interviews of healthcare staff in different roles from six UK healthcare organisations.

Interest in research involvement is strong and widespread but hampered by a lack of systematic organisational support despite national policies and strategies to increase staff engagement in research. While useful, these external strategies have limited universal success due to lack of organisational support. Healthcare organisations should embed research within organisational and human resources policies and increase the visibility of research through strategic organisational goals and governance processes. A systems-based approach is needed.

The research gathered data from a limited number of NHS trusts but these were purposively sampled to provide a range of different acute/community health service organisations in different areas. But data was therefore more detailed and nuanced due to a more in-depth approach.

The findings are relevant for developing policies and practice within healthcare organisations to support research engagement. The findings also set out key policy and strategic recommendations that will support greater research engagement.

Increased research activity and engagement in healthcare providers improves healthcare outcomes for patients.

This is a large scale (UK-wide) study involving a broad range of healthcare staff, with good engagement of nurses, midwives and Allied Healthcare Professionals who have not been previously achieved. This allowed valuable analysis of under-researched groups and comparisons by professional groups. The findings highlight the need for tailored action to embed research reporting, skills, professional development and infrastructure into organisational policies, strategies and systems, along with broader system-wide development.

This paper examined the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on people, place, product and services in Jamaican academic libraries. It also compares the Jamaican academic library’s COVID-19 experience with US academic library’s COVID-19 preliminary experience.

The local academic libraries in higher education in Jamaica (also referred to in this paper as university libraries) were surveyed.

Government mandates, university mandates and the absence of a vaccine influenced academic library response. The measures implemented, though unplanned and developed on-the-go, constituted a behavioural change model (BCM). COVID-19 has had a positive-negative impact on library people, place, product and services and has created a new normal for Jamaican academic libraries.

This paper captures the preliminary response of Jamaican academic libraries to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on library people, place, product and services. As such, a follow-up survey on changes, challenges, strengths, impact, lessons and plans would be a useful complement to this paper. As COVID-19 information is rapidly evolving, this preliminary response of Jamaica is neither the final nor complete response to the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed a gap in the literature on disaster management generally and pandemic management in particular, and on the management of health disasters in academic libraries; this paper seeks to fill this gap, albeit incrementally, through Jamaica's preliminary response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper gives voice to the Caribbean academic library’s COVID-19 experience, through the voice of Jamaica. It is the first scholarly paper on the impact of COVID-19 on university libraries in the Jamaican / English-speaking Caribbean, and so presents the elements of the BCM implemented by Jamaica, which provides an important guide to Caribbean academic library leaders. The findings can also inform the Latin American and Caribbean section of international library papers on COVID-19 impact on academic libraries globally.

This study aims to facilitate access to vascular disease screening for low-income individuals living in remote and conflict areas based on the results of a pilot trial in Colombia. Also, to increase the amount of diagnosis training of vascular surgery (VS) in civilians.

The operation method includes five stages: strategy development and adjustment; translation of the strategy into a real-world setting; operation logistics planning; strategy analysis and adoption. The operation plan worked efficiently in this study’s sample. It demonstrated high sensibility, efficiency and safety in a real-world setting.

The authors developed and implemented a flow model operating plan for screening vascular pathologies in low-income patients pro bono without proper access to vascular health care. A total of 140 patients from rural areas in Colombia were recruited to a controlled screening session where they underwent serial noninvasive ultrasound assessments conducted by health professionals of different training stages in VS.

The plan was designed to be implemented in remote, conflict areas with limited access to VS care. Vascular injuries are critically important and common among civilians and military forces in regions with active armed conflicts. As this strategy can be modified and adapted to different medical specialties and geographic areas, the authors recommend checking the related legislation and legal aspects of the intended areas where we will implement this tool.

Different sub-specialties can implement the described method to be translated into significant areas of medicine, as the authors can adjust the deployment and execution for the assessment in peripheral areas, conflict zones and other public health crises that require a faster response. This is necessary, as the amount of training to which VS trainees are exposed is low. A simulated exercise offers a novel opportunity to enhance their current diagnostic skills using ultrasound in a controlled environment.

Evaluating and assessing patients with limited access to vascular medicine and other specialties can decrease the burden of vascular disease and related complications and increase the number of treatments available for remote communities.

It is essential to assess the most significant number of patients and treat them according to their triage designation. This management is similar to assessment in remote areas without access to a proper VS consult. The authors were able to determine, classify and redirect to therapeutic interventions the patients with positive findings in remote areas with a fast deployment methodology in VS.

Access to health care is limited due to multiple barriers and the assessment and response, especially in peripheral areas that require a highly skilled team of medical professionals and related equipment. The authors tested a novel mobile assessment tool for remote and conflict areas in a rural zone of Colombia.

The purpose of this study is to investigate surface treatments and fiber types on adhesion properties polylactic acid (PLA) three-dimensional (3D) parts printed on woven fabrics.

The cotton, flax and jute fabrics were exposed to alkali, hydrogen peroxide, stearic acid and ionic liquid treatments to modify surface characteristics before PLA 3D printing. The modification efficiency was assessed with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) analyses. Then, fused deposition modeling (FDM) printer and PLA filament were used for 3D printing onto the untreated and treated fabrics. The adhesion strength between the fabrics and PLA 3D parts were tested according to DIN 53530 via universal tensile tester.

The fabric structure is effective on adhesion force and greater values were observed for plain weave fabrics. Maximum separation forces were obtained for alkali pretreated fabrics among jute and cotton. Hydrogen peroxide treatment also increased adhesion forces for jute and cotton fabrics while decreasing for flax fabrics. Stearic acid and ionic liquid treatments reduced adhesion forces compared to untreated fabrics. Treatments are effective to alter adhesion via changing surface chemistry, surface morphology and fabric physical properties but display different effects related to fabric material.

This study provides experimental information about effects of different fiber types and surface treatments on adhesion strength of PLA 3D parts. There is limited research about comprehensive observation on 3D printing on cellulosic-woven fabrics.

In this study, an eco-friendly cotton fabric (CF) treatment method was proposed to induce anti-ultraviolet and flame retardant properties, and a new application of tannic acid (TA) and phytic acid (PA) in ultraviolet protection and flame retardant fabric was put forward.

By combining diethylenetriamine, PA and TA on CF, a chemical reaction intumescent flame retardant CF with anti-ultraviolet and anti-flame retardance was developed.

The flame retardant and ultraviolet resistance of CF were characterized by LOI, vertical combustion, cone calorimetry and ultraviolet resistance testing. SEM, XPS, FTIR and other tests were used to analyze the chemical composition, surface morphology and residual carbon after combustion of the CF, and it was confirmed that the modified CF has good ultraviolet resistance and flame retardant performance.

In this study, an eco-friendly CF treatment method was proposed to induce anti-ultraviolet and flame retardant properties, and a new application of TA and PA in ultraviolet protection and flame retardant fabric was put forward.