**Abstract**

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.

**Keywords:** university students, information literacy, scientific literacy, information and communication technology, psychological characteristics, learning


*Edited by Dragoș Cătălin Jianu*

*and Dafin Fior Mureșanu*

Aphasia is an acquired central disorder of language that impairs a person's ability to understand and/or produce spoken or writing language. The study of aphasia is important in different clinical and fundamental areas, including neurology, psychology, linguistics, and speech-language pathology. This book presents comprehensive information on the diagnosis and treatment of aphasias. Chapters cover such topics as linguistics and the study of aphasias, different types of aphasias, treatment approaches, imaging, and much more.

ISBN 978-1-80355-069-5

Aphasia Compendium

Published in London, UK © 2022 IntechOpen © Mohd Rashid / iStock


3.1.2. Linear and Gaussian Regression

When making day-ahead energy demand and supply predictions, we are often faced with a single input variable system, and thus, a simple linear regression model can be used for prediction purposes. Here, the model comprises an input or predictor variable that helps to predict the output variable, and this is represented by a simple linear equation. However, for generalization sake, the idea behind the regression is to estimate from a sample the parameters of the model generally written as [31]

$$\mathcal{Y} = \beta\_0 + \beta\_1 \mathbf{x}\_1 + \dots + \beta\_N \mathbf{x}\_N + \varepsilon \tag{5}$$

where *y*ˆ is the predicted output, *β*1, *β*2, ··· , *βN* are the parameters (i.e., the model coefficients), *x*1, *x*2, ··· , *xN* are the input variables (or features), and  is a random error with  ∼ N (0, *σ*2), where *σ*2 is the variance value. By determining these parameter values (i.e., *β*), a line of best fit can be obtained and used for prediction purposes. The method of ordinary least squares can be used for parameter estimation, and this involves minimizing the squared differences between the target and predicted outcomes (i.e., the residuals) [31]. The sum of squares of the error, termed the residual sum of squares (RSS), is computed as *RSS* = ∑*N i* (*yi* − *y*ˆ*i*)2, which can then be minimized using, for example, the gradient descent algorithm instead of the ordinary least squares approach. The gradient descent algorithm commences with sets of initial parameter values and advances iteratively toward a set of parameter values that minimize the function. The iterative minimization is accomplished via derivatives, which involves taking steps in the negative direction of the function gradient.

However, in using the linear regression approach, it is essential that we make assumptions regarding the structure of the function to be used, for example, by making a choice as to which is a better fit: a linear or a quadratic function. Such a choice can be independently decided upon by certain methods, such as the Gaussian regression (GR) (also called Gaussian process regression) approach [32]. Essentially, the GR generates a number of candidate functions that can model the observed data, and it attempts to find the function that best fits the data. Such a best fit function is then used for predicting future occurrences. The main difference between the GR and LR is that the GR uses a kernel, which typically represents the covariance matrix of the data [33]. Thus, the choice of the kernel function often influences strongly the performance of the GR algorithm. Further theoretical details regarding the GR algorithm can be found in [34]. The hyperparameters of the LR and GR fine tuned in this study include the attribute selection method, kernel and the filter type.


**5. Strains of** *E. granulosus*

Species of *E. granulosus* is divided into several strains such as G1–G10 and these strains have a high degree of adaptation to their hosts, as these strains are named according to the names of their intermediate hosts that play an important role in the continuity of the life cycle of these strains. These strains vary in shape, rate of development, pathogenicity, and geographical extent of their presence: G1 is found in sheep, G2 in Tasmania sheep, and G3 in buffalo. These strains all fall within the *E. granulosus* species, and G4 strain in equine is therefore called *E. equinus*; G5 in cows is called *E. ortleppi*; G6 in camels; G7 in pigs; G9, which is characterized weak, has been isolated from cystic disease in human cases in Poland; G7, G8, and G9 may fall into *E. canadensis*, and some researchers consider the G9 strain a type of G7 strain in pigs [12].


**Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in Personalized Medicine**

Editors

**Andreas Arkudas Raymund E. Horch**

MDPI • Basel • Beijing • Wuhan • Barcelona • Belgrade • Manchester • Tokyo • Cluj • Tianjin

*Editors* Andreas Arkudas Department of Plastic and Hand Surgery Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg FAU Erlangen Germany Raymund E. Horch Department of Plastic and Hand Surgery Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuernberg FAU Erlangen Germany

*Editorial Office* MDPI St. Alban-Anlage 66 4052 Basel, Switzerland

This is a reprint of articles from the Special Issue published online in the open access journal *Journal of Personalized Medicine* (ISSN 2075-4426) (available at: www.mdpi.com/journal/jpm/ special issues/plastic reconstructive).

For citation purposes, cite each article independently as indicated on the article page online and as indicated below:

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*3.9. Antimetabolite Assay on Wheat*

There were three strains in the whole lot, which significantly reduced the dry matter, shoot length, root length, and germination rate of wheat from 23.4 to 34%, 21.0 to 38.5%, 27.2 to 52.8%, and 8.3 to 10.4%, respectively (Figure 5, Table 5). These three strains were ESO-11, W28, and T18. Two strains (T75 and T12) reduced the dry matter (23.4 and 26.6%), root length (24.8 and 50.1%), and shoot length (18.9 and 35.5%) of the crop. However, there were six strains, which significantly increased the dry matter, shoot length, root length, and germination rate of wheat from 24.5 to 47.9%, 14.6 to 29.7%, 19.4 to 37.7%, and 12.5 to 18.8%, respectively. These strains were T23, 7O0, 2O0, L9, T24, and T19. The strains L6, O010, and B11 caused an increment in dry matter of the crop up to 13.8, 12.8, and 27.7% than control, respectively. The strains T38 and T31 caused a significant increase in shoot length of the crop up to 18.9 and 18.7% than control, respectively. The strain T42, however, increased the germination rate of the crop up to 8.3%. The other strains remained ineffective on the growth of the seedlings of wheat.

**Figure 5.** The pictorial view of seedlings of wheat growing on water agar in agar bioassay.

**Table 5.** The effect of presumed allelopathic bacteria on the germination and seedling growth of wheat. Values sharing the same letter(s) in a column do not differ significantly from each other at *p* < 0.05. Values in a column indicate mean ± standard error.


*Article* **Irradiation Hardening Behavior of He-Irradiated V–Cr–Ti Alloys with Low Ti Addition**

**Ken-ichi Fukumoto 1,\* , Yoshiki Kitamura 1 , Shuichiro Miura 1 , Kouji Fujita 1 , Ryoya Ishigami 2 and Takuya Nagasaka 3**

**Abstract:** A set of V–(4–8)Cr–(0–4)Ti alloys was fabricated to survey an optimum composition to reduce the radioactivity of V–Cr–Ti alloys. These alloys were subjected to nano-indenter tests before and after 2-MeV He-ion irradiation at 500 ◦C and 700 ◦C with 0.5 dpa at peak damage to investigate the effect of Cr and Ti addition and gas impurities for irradiation hardening behavior in V–Cr–Ti alloys. Cr and Ti addition to V–Cr–Ti alloys for solid–solution hardening remains small in the unirradiated V–(4–8)Cr–(0–4)Ti alloys. Irradiation hardening occurred for all V–Cr–Ti alloys. The V–4Cr–1Ti alloy shows the highest irradiation hardening among all V–Cr–Ti alloys and the gas impurity was enhanced to increase the irradiation hardening. These results may arise from the formation of Ti(CON) precipitate that was produced by He-ion irradiation. Irradiation hardening of V–Cr–1Ti did not depend significantly on Cr addition. Consequently, for irradiation hardening and void-swelling suppression, the optimum composition of V–Cr–Ti alloys for structural materials of fusion reactor engineering is proposed to be a highly purified V–(6–8)Cr–2Ti alloy.

**Keywords:** vanadium alloy; ion irradiation; irradiation hardening; radiation damage


2.3.1. Synthesis of Poly(caprolactone dimethacrylate)

Poly(caprolactone-dimethacrylate) (PCL700-DMA) Mn = 700 gmol−1 was synthesized as described in the literature (Supplementary Scheme S1) [51]. In brief, poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) diol (50 g, 96.22 mmol) was added to an oven-dried round-bottom flask. The reaction flask was sealed with a rubber septum and backfilled with nitrogen (N2). Anhydrous dichloromethane (DCM, 200 mL) and triethylamine (TEA, 222.5 mmol) were added and the flask was placed in an ice bath. A 10% molar excess of methacryloyl chloride (210 mmol) in 100 mL DCM was added dropwise at 0 ◦C over the course of 1 h and the reaction was stirred for 24 h at room temperature (RT). The TEA.HCl salt formed was removed by filtration and the filtrate was diluted 3 times with DCM, washed three times with a NaCl solution and three times with deionized water. The organic layer was collected, dried over magnesium sulfate, and filtered through a fritted funnel. DCM was removed under reduced pressure using a rotatory evaporator.


*2.4. Gadolinium Improves the Lower Limit of Detection and Quantification*

We next sought to determine the lower limit of detection (LOD) and lower limit of quantification (LOQ) for our NUS measurements in the presence of Gd. LOD and LOQ are defined as follows:

$$\text{LOD} = \text{3} \times \text{\textbullet} \tag{1}$$

$$\text{LOQ} = 10 \times \sigma \tag{2}$$

where the variance of the noise (σ) was estimated by the median absolute deviation (*MAD*). *MAD* was calculated from the COLMAR database [35], where the positive values for all non-peak data (*Xi*) were used in the following equations:

$$MAD = median\_i(\|X\_i - median\_i(X\_j)\|)\tag{3}$$

$$
\sigma = 1.4826 \times \text{MAD} \tag{4}
$$

Tables 2 and 3 list the LOD and LOQ for each of the resonances detected in Reference 2. Metabolites with multiple resonances have an LOD/LOQ for each observed peak, and thus metabolites with multiple peaks will have a range of LOD/LOQ values. The average LOD and LOQ in the presence of Gd was 7.8 ± 0.3 μM and 26 ± 1 μM, respectively. This is a dramatic improvement over our previous findings that yielded an average LOD and LOQ of 19.1 μM and 65.6 μM, respectively [15]. These prior NMR experiments lacked the addition of Gd and used a longer d1 of 1.5 s. Thus, it is possible to detect lower abundant metabolites by adding Gd and decreasing d1. We also compared the effects of different NMR probes on LOD/LOQ. For the same d1 of 1.5 s, a TCI helium-cooled probe had a lower LOD/LOQ compared to a TXI nitrogen-cooled probe (Table S3).

#### *2.5. Gadolinium Maintains Reproducibility*

Highly reproducible measurements are required to detect changes in the large number of samples associated with metabolomics studies. We previously demonstrated that intensity measurements from NUS 1H-13C HSQC experiments with a d1 of 1.5 s were highly reproducible as evident by a percent coefficient of variation (%CV) of 14 ± 9% for a model mixture containing 15 metabolites at a concentration of 500 μM [15]. By decreasing the d1 to 0.8 s, we observed a decrease in the %CV to 8 ± 8% (Figure 4) for three replicates of Reference 1. This was expected, given that the increased number of scans would lead to an increase in peak intensities. We only observed a modest decrease in %CV to 7 ± 7% (Figure 4) by adding Gd to the samples while maintaining a d1 of 0.8 s. This suggests that the addition of Gd does not negatively impact the reproducibility of NUS 1H-13C HSQC experiments and may increase the reliability of these measurements.


**Figure 1.**

*Comprehensive elements of sustainable development theory in real estate.*

real estate developers sustain economic growth by incorporating economic viability into decision-making. Social equality is another TBL tenet. Real estate projects affect local communities; thus, they must improve social well-being [17]. Social equity in decision-making fosters inclusion, diversity, and equitable resource and benefit distribution in the TBL theory. TBL developers meet with stakeholders, perform social impact analyses, and create solutions that improve quality of life. This includes affordable housing, community involvement, essential amenities, and social cohesiveness. Environmentalism is TBL's third dimension. Sustainable real estate development must address climate change and environmental damage. The TBL theory recommends combining environmental factors into site selection, design, construction, and operation. This strategy requires sustainable site planning, energy-efficient designs, water conservation, trash reduction, and eco-friendly materials. Sustainable real estate projects reduce their carbon footprint, protect natural resources, and improve the earth. The TBL theory integrates economic viability, social equality, and environmental sustainability into real estate development, going beyond financial profitability. These factors synergistically build sustainable constructed environments [18]. Developers must collaborate with architects, urban planners, economists, sociologists, and environmental scientists to implement the TBL theory. TBL partnerships encourage creative real estate development that balances economic, social, and ecological goals. The triple bottom line approach helps evaluate real estate developments for economic viability, social equality, and environmental sustainability. By addressing these three factors, developers may build sustainable environments that promote long-term financial, social, and ecological stability. The TBL theory helps developers prioritize the triple bottom line for a more egalitarian and sustainable future as global demand for sustainable real estate grows (**Table 1**).

#### **2.3 Sustainable built environments: urban planning and design theories**

Urban planning and design ideas help create sustainable built environments by guiding real estate development [19]. New Urbanism, Smart Growth, and Transit-Oriented Development emphasize walkable communities, mixed land uses, and efficient transit networks. These ideas may minimize automobile dependence and improve community livability in urban planning and design. New Urbanism promotes mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly districts that encourage community. This philosophy encourages walking and biking to adjacent facilities by integrating residential, commercial, and recreational areas. New Urbanism and Smart Growth are two growing paradigms in urban design that attempt to solve environmental problems, housing difficulties, and community welfare. Both concepts are regarded as emerging urban design paradigms [20]. These methods emphasize sustainability by reducing the detrimental effects of long-distance travel, congestion, carbon emissions, and overall energy usage. These ideas seek to protect open space by encouraging "smart development" measures such as concentrating population expansion in metropolitan regions and limiting "urban sprawl." However, the unique context and location have a role in determining whether these planning concepts are applicable and significant. This is because the degree to which these ideas are feasible and successful varies from one place to another [21]. Compact development is an urban planning technique to optimize land use while minimizing the demand for extra infrastructure and public services. It is often recommended in many urban planning endeavors because it can give various housing alternatives, from low-cost to high-end. By implementing compact development principles, real estate developers may contribute to

#### **Table 1.**

*Comprehensive synthesis of sustainable real estate concepts: Reference-based analysis and thematic interpretation.*

environmental sustainability, social equality, and community livability by assuring the availability of houses for people of all economic levels and fostering social justice. According to Bukowski and Kreissl, addressing issues of inequality as a pervasive principle throughout the sustainable development goals (SDGs) framework, particularly through the lens of power relations and exemplified by housing-related social concerns, represents a comprehensive approach to effectively address challenges and solutions within the SDG framework while being sensitive to the impact of inequality [22]. This viewpoint highlights the need to incorporate social justice principles into urban planning procedures, resulting in a fairer and more responsive environment to varied societal requirements.

It also protects natural resources and vulnerable locations. TOD theory creates lively mixed-use districts around public transit hubs. TOD emphasizes public transportation by placing residential, commercial, and recreational activities within walking distance of transit stops [23]. This decreases traffic, air pollution, and community accessibility, affordability, and social connectedness. These urban planning and design ideas help real estate developers incorporate sustainability concepts. New Urbanism allows developers to create walkable, connected, and friendly communities. Smart Growth techniques maximize land use, protect natural resources, and

build inclusive communities. Transit-oriented development improves air quality and greenhouse gas emissions by creating efficient transit networks and decreasing car usage. These ideas need stakeholder engagement to be implemented. Sustainable design must be incorporated into real estate project planning and execution by architects, urban planners, politicians, community leaders, and developers [24]. This interdisciplinary approach evaluates economic viability, social equality, and environmental sustainability for more comprehensive and effective initiatives. In conclusion, New Urbanism, Smart Growth, and Transit-Oriented Development may help build sustainable cities. By adopting these beliefs, real estate developers may promote environmental sustainability, social equality, and community livability. These approaches make urban planning more inclusive and sustainable [25].