Bibliometric analysis of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) in wastewater treatment: global and Ibero-American research trends

Human-robot interaction: predicting research agenda by long short-term memory

The article addresses the identification and prediction of research topics in human-robot interaction (HRI), fundamental in Industry 4.0 (I4.0) and future Industry 5.0 (I5.0). In the absence of research agendas in the scientific literature, the study proposes a multilayered model to create a precise agenda to guide the scientific community in new developments in collaborative robotics and HRI technologies. The methodology is divided into four stages, which make up the three layers of the model. In the first two stages, scientific articles on HRI for the period 2020-2021 were collected and analyzed using data mining techniques together with VantagePoint and Gephi software to identify keywords and their relationships. These initial stages form layer 1 of the model, where the main scientific themes are recognized. In the third stage, article titles and abstracts are cleaned and processed using natural language processing (NLP) techniques, generating word embeddings models that highlight relevant HRI-related terms, forming layer 2. The fourth and final stage uses Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) with long short-term memory (LSTM) architecture to predict future topics, consolidating the previously identified terms and forming layer 3 of the model. The results show that in layer 1 HRI has intensive application in various sectors through advanced computational algorithms, with trust as a key feature. In layer 2, terms such as vision, sensors, communication, collaboration and anthropomorphic aspects are fundamental, while layer 3 anticipates future topics such as design, performance, method and controllers, essential to improve robot interaction. The study concludes that the methodology is effective in defining a robust and relevant research agenda. By identifying future trends and needs, this work fills a gap in the scientific literature, providing a valuable tool for the research community in the field of HRI.

Web of Science-Based Scientometric Assessment of the Importance of Filtered Water in Dentistry: Spatiotemporal Dynamics, Emerging Patterns, and Collaboration

Objective

The aim of this study was to examine the characteristics of scientific production related to the use of filtered water in the field of dentistry. Material and Methods. A quantitative and descriptive observational study was carried out with a scientometric approach. Data were collected from the Web of Science (WOS) database during the period January 1991 to December 2023. A search strategy incorporating a combination of MeSH terms, including terms and thesauri related to "filtered water" and "dentistry", was used. R Studio version 4.3.2 and CiteSpace 6.2.R7 were used for data analysis.

Results

Over the 32-year study period, 227 scholarly papers from 134 different sources were reviewed. The literature in this field has shown an annual growth rate of 10.44%. During the year 2010, a steady movement in the number of publications and authors was observed, with considerable collaborative interaction. In the year 2020, a large interaction between publications and their citations was found. The "Citation Burst" graph identified three references that have experienced the largest "burst" of citations in an evaluated period. Lotka's law described the productivity of authors, finding that most authors have published only one paper, while a smaller number of authors have published two papers. Most authors contributed a small number of articles, while a few authors contributed a large amount of the existing literature.

Conclusion

A comprehensive overview of the scientific production related to the use of filtered water in dentistry over a span of 32 years is provided. The results highlight the growing interdisciplinarity and international collaboration in this field. Finally, the importance of filtered water in dentistry and its growing relevance in the scientific literature are emphasized.

Microwave pretreatment of wastewater sludge technology-a scientometric-based review

This manuscript presents a scientometric review of recent advances in microwave pretreatment processes for sewage sludge, systematically identifying existing gaps and prospects. For this purpose, 1763 papers on the application of microwave technology to sludge pretreatment were retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) using relevant keywords. These publications were then analyzed using diverse scientometric indices. The results show that research in this field encompasses applications based on the non-thermal effects of microwaves, enhanced effectiveness of anaerobic digestion (AD), and the energy balance of this pretreatment system. Overcoming existing technical challenges, such as the cleavage of extracellular polymers, reducing microwave energy consumption, understanding the non-thermal effects of microwaves, promoting AD of sludge in combination with other chemical and physical methods, and expanding the application of the technology, are the main scientific focuses. Additionally, this paper thoroughly examines both the constraints and potential of microwave pretreatment technology for wastewater treatment.

Systematic analysis of the scientific-technological production on the use of the UV, H2O2, and/or Cl2 systems in the elimination of bacteria and associated antibiotic resistance genes

This study presents a systematic review of the scientific and technological production related to the use of systems based on UV, H2O2, and Cl2 for the elimination of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and genes associated with antibiotic resistance (ARGs). Using the Pro Know-C (Knowledge Development Process-Constructivist) methodology, a portfolio was created and analyzed that includes 19 articles and 18 patents published between 2011 and 2022. The results show a greater scientific-technological production in UV irradiation systems (8 articles and 5 patents) and the binary combination UV/H2O2 (9 articles and 4 patents). It was emphasized that UV irradiation alone focuses mainly on the removal of ARB, while the addition of H2O2 or Cl2, either individually or in binary combinations with UV, enhances the removal of ARB and ARG. The need for further research on the UV/H2O2/Cl2 system is emphasized, as gaps in the scientific-technological production of this system (0 articles and 2 patents), especially in its electrochemically assisted implementation, have been identified. Despite the gaps identified, there are promising prospects for the use of combined electrochemically assisted UV/H2O2/Cl2 disinfection systems. This is demonstrated by the effective removal of a wide range of contaminants, including ARB, fungi, and viruses, as well as microorganisms resistant to conventional disinfectants, while reducing the formation of toxic by-products.

A review of research trends on the usage of photocatalysis for wastewater treatment: bibliometric analysis

Photocatalysis is seen as a viable alternative to treating water pollution, due to its flexibility, low cost, and ability to use visible light which is a plentiful and free energy source. Hence, determining the topics of interest and widening collaboration networks will go a long way in improving research in this field. In this study, we aimed to analyze the global research trends on the usage of photocatalysis for wastewater treatment using bibliometric analysis, centered on the outputs of publications, co-authorships, countries of affiliation, and author's keyword co-occurrences. Bibliometric analysis is a review method that is well-known and more conversant to Social Science. Employing it in Physical Science, which is rarely seen, will provide an avenue and yet another method of determining common research topics as well as the potential opportunities and future research in the field. A potential hybrid review paper of great importance to future research in the area will be produced. A total of 1373 articles published within 27 years between 1993 and 2020 were extracted from the Scopus database. In the beginning, less attention was given to the said topic, because after the oldest article was published in 1993, there was no record of other publications until after 5 years (1998). However, from 2002 there was a growing interest in research in that field, with a cumulative increase every year to date, except for a few years with fewer publications. Meanwhile, the number of publications has risen significantly from 2017 to 2020, with an increase of more than 70 publications every year; this is expected to increase rapidly in the coming years. Recently researchers are focusing on developing efficient photocatalysts for contaminants of emerging concern, like pharmaceutical and refinery wastewater, however, the usage of conducting polymers to produce nanocomposite which was found to be very effective is still lagged in wastewater treatment, as such it will be a good area of future research on effective photocatalysts for wastewater treatment.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40899-023-00868-5.

Degradation of diclofenac and 4-chlorobenzoic acid in aqueous solution by cold atmospheric plasma source

In this study, cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) was explored as a novel advanced oxidation process (AOP) for water decontamination. Samples with high concentration aqueous solutions of Diclofenac sodium (DCF) and 4-Chlorobenzoic acid (pCBA) were treated by plasma systems. Atmospheric pressure plasma jets (APPJs) with a 1 pin-electrode and multi-needle electrodes (3 pins) configurations were used. The plasma generated using argon as working gas was touching a stationary liquid surface in the case of pin electrode-APPJ while for multi-needle electrodes-APPJ the liquid sample was flowing during treatment. In both configurations, a commercial RF power supply was used for plasma ignition. Measurement of electrical signals enabled precise determination of power delivered from the plasma to the sample. The optical emission spectroscopy (OES) of plasma confirmed the appearance of excited reactive species in the plasma, such as hydroxyl radicals and atomic oxygen which are considered to be key reactive species in AOPs for the degradation of organic pollutants. Treatments were conducted with two different volumes (5 mL and 250 mL) of contaminated water samples. The data acquired allowed calculation of degradation efficiency and energy yield for both plasma sources. When treated with pin-APPJ, almost complete degradation of 5 mL DCF occurred in 1 min with the initial concentration of 25 mg/L and 50 mg/L, whereas 5 mL pCBA almost degraded in 10 min at the initial concentration of 25 mg/L and 40 mg/L. The treatment results with multi-needle electrodes system confirmed that DCF almost completely degraded in 30 min and pCBA degraded about 24 % in 50 min. The maximum calculated energy yield for 50 % removal was 6465 mg/kWh after treatment of 250 mL of DCF aqueous solution utilizing the plasma recirculation technique. The measurements also provided an insight to the kinetics of DCF and pCBA degradation. Degradation products and pathways for DCF were determined using LC-MS measurements.

A Current Review of Water Pollutants in American Continent: Trends and Perspectives in Detection, Health Risks, and Treatment Technologies

Currently, water pollution represents a serious environmental threat, causing an impact not only to fauna and flora but also to human health. Among these pollutants, inorganic and organic pollutants are predominantly important representing high toxicity and persistence and being difficult to treat using current methodologies. For this reason, several research groups are searching for strategies to detect and remedy contaminated water bodies and effluents. Due to the above, a current review of the state of the situation has been carried out. The results obtained show that in the American continent a high diversity of contaminants is present in the water bodies affecting several aspects, in which in some cases, there exists alternatives to realize the remediation of contaminated water. It is concluded that the actual challenge is to establish sanitation measures at the local level based on the specific needs of the geographical area of interest. Therefore, water treatment plants must be designed according to the contaminants present in the water of the region and tailored to the needs of the population of interest.

Research Trends on Pillared Interlayered Clays (PILCs) Used as Catalysts in Environmental and Chemical Processes: Bibliometric Analysis

Over the last four decades, a large number of studies have been published on pillared interlayered clays (PILCs) used as adsorbent materials and catalysts or supports for transition metals in heterogeneous catalysis. Particularly, PILCs have been used for water treatment through advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) to remove organic pollutants. They have also been studied in various chemical and environmental processes. Because of the growing interest in PILCs, this article is focused on analyzing scientific publications such as research/review articles and book chapters from the last four decades (from 1980 to 2019) through a bibliometric analysis (BA) to visualize and describe research trends on PILCs. By narrowing the bibliographic search to titles, keywords, and abstracts of publications related to PILCs, using Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) (the two scientific databases), a total of 3425 documents have been retrieved. The bibliometric dataset was analyzed by VantagePoint®. The main research trends identified in the last four decades were the use of PILCs in environmental processes (34.4% of total publications) along with chemical processes (petrochemical reactions 17.5%, SCR NOx 10.8%, and decomposition 8.2%). In environmental processes, PILCs have been used in photo-oxidation (32%), CWPO (21.1%), and heterogeneous catalysis (19.4%). Phenols, dyes, and VOCs have been the main pollutants studied using PILCs as catalysts. Fe, Ti, Zr, Cu, and Co are the most supported active phases in PILCs. Other research trends grouped by characterization techniques, countries, research areas, institutes, scientific journals that have published the most on this topic, number of publications per 5-year period, and most frequently used keywords through the last four decades have been identified. It was determined that the number of publications on PILCs has increased since 1980 and the countries with the highest number of publications are China, Spain, and The United States of America.

Key Points of Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) for Wastewater, Organic Pollutants and Pharmaceutical Waste Treatment: A Mini Review

Advanced oxidation procedures (AOPs) refer to a variety of technical procedures that produce OH radicals to sufficiently oxidize wastewater, organic pollutant streams, and toxic effluents from industrial, hospital, pharmaceutical and municipal wastes. Through the implementation of such procedures, the (post) treatment of such waste effluents leads to products that are more susceptible to bioremediation, are less toxic and possess less pollutant load. The basic mechanism produces free OH radicals and other reactive species such as superoxide anions, hydrogen peroxide, etc. A basic classification of AOPs is presented in this short review, analyzing the processes of UV/H2O2, Fenton and photo-Fenton, ozone-based (O3) processes, photocatalysis and sonolysis from chemical and equipment points of view to clarify the nature of the reactive species in each AOP and their advantages. Finally, combined AOP implementations are favored through the literature as an efficient solution in addressing the issue of global environmental waste management.

Scientometric Overview of Coffee By-Products and Their Applications

As coffee consumption is on the rise, and the global coffee production creates an excess of 23 million tons of waste per year, a revolutionary transition towards a circular economy via the transformation and valorization of the main by-products from its cultivation and preparation (Coffee Husk (CH), Coffee Pulp (CP), Coffee Silverskin (CS), and Spent Coffee Grounds (SCG)) is inspiring researchers around the world. The recent growth of scholarly publications in the field and the emerging applications of coffee by-products published in these scientific papers encourages a systematic review to identify the knowledge structure, research hotspots, and to discuss the challenges and future directions. This paper displays a comprehensive scientometric analysis based on 108 articles with a high level of influence in the field of coffee by-products and their applications. According to our analysis, the research in this field shows an explosive growth since 2017, clustered in five core applications: bioactive compounds, microbial transformation, environmental applications, biofuels from thermochemical processes, and construction materials.

A world panorama of bruxism in children and adolescents with emphasis on associated sleep features: A bibliometric analysis

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

To present a world panorama of the published papers on bruxism in children and adolescents, emphasising the characteristics of studies related to the sleep features of these patients.

METHODS

Literature searches were conducted in six databases without language or date restrictions. Data on the titles, types of study, main subjects, countries of origin, keywords, years of publication, authors and their network collaborations, journals and sleep studies were extracted and analysed using VantagePoint™ software.

RESULTS

A total of 725 studies met the eligibility criteria. Most included only children (75.31%), with observational design (66.34%), and risk or aetiology (53.93%) as the main subject. Brazil (18.06%) and Brazilian authors (54.84%) had the largest number of studies, with a low amount of network collaboration. The Journal of Oral Rehabilitation published most of the studies (6.2%); publications in this field have grown considerably from 2000 to 2020. Of the studies, 123 (16.96%) included sleep studies; night sweating, restless sleep, sleep talking, mouth breathing, snoring, obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome, sleep-disordered breathing, nightmares, poor sleep quality and duration, and daytime naps were significantly associated with bruxism in most.

CONCLUSION

Studies on bruxism in children and adolescents have increased in the past 20 years, with most being observational, and risk or aetiology as the main subject. Brazil and the Journal of Oral Rehabilitation have published most in the field. Sleep studies have shown some features associated with bruxism, such as night sweating, restless sleep, somniloquy, snoring, breathing problems, nightmares, daytime naps, and poor sleep quality and duration.

Simultaneous removal of emerging contaminants and disinfection for municipal wastewater treatment plant effluent quality improvement: a systemic analysis of the literature

This work presents a bibliographic review of the literature regarding the simultaneous removal of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and disinfection in domestic wastewater matrices. These two responses are usually evaluated independently, as most attention has been centered on the discussion over the removal of CECs in the last 10 years. However, the simultaneous removal of CECs and pathogens from wastewater has been recently brought to the spotlight, especially considering the removal of antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Aiming at a reproducible and nonbiased methodology, a combination of the construction of a bibliometric portfolio with systemic analysis was performed with peer-reviewed manuscripts published between 2008 and 2019 in five distinct databases. Several keyword combinations were necessary to achieve a relevant portfolio according to strict criteria. As a result, five highly cited papers and authors were selected. Among the advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) explored for simultaneous removal of CECs and disinfection in these papers, detailed results have been elucidated mainly for ozonation. Thus, revealing the broad range of questions that have yet to be investigated in depth for new technologies such as irradiated solar processes. In addition, there is a lack of information associated with simultaneous assessment of CEC removal and disinfection in real samples and in wastewater matrices originated from different secondary treatment technologies in diverse locations.