Review
Chemistry, Physical
Dhanya Venkataraman, Elnaz Shabani, Jay H. Park
Summary: This article critically examines the current state of nonwoven PPE fabrics, discussing the manufacturing of fibers and their bonding methods, as well as the integration of each fabric layer into textiles and their use as PPE. It also addresses the challenges of single-use nonwoven PPEs and explores emerging solutions to address sustainability issues with material and processing innovations.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Mojtaba Sookhtanlou, Mohammad Sadegh Allahyari
Summary: The study conducted in Ardabil province, Iran, with a sample of 370 farmers, found that most farmers use three types of PPE when applying pesticides. Farmers' perception of pesticides' health risks influences their use of PPE, with the highest health hazards related to Paraquat and Chlorpyrifos. Farm size, perception of pesticides' health risks, past experiences, training, and ability to afford PPE costs were identified as the most important predictive factors for the composite index.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Anna Grzeczkowicz, Agata Lipko, Angelika Kwiatkowska, Marcin Strawski, Pawel Bacal, Agnieszka Wieckowska, Ludomira H. Granicka
Summary: The study demonstrated that membrane coatings containing metallic nanoparticles can adsorb coronaviruses and support lung cell function. These membrane nanocoatings may serve as biomedical materials for reducing coronavirus transmission.
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Chen Zhang, Peter Nielsen, Li Liu, Emilie Tranegaard Sigmer, Sarah Ghoreishi Mikkelsen, Rasmus Jensen
Summary: This study investigates the impact of personal protective equipment (PPE) and physical barriers on short-range airborne transmission in a ventilated environment. The findings indicate that PPE redirects exhaled airflow to prevent transmission, while physical barriers block the spread of droplet nuclei.
BUILDING AND ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Juan Jesus de la Torre Bayo, Maria Angeles Martin-Lara, Monica Calero Hoces, Pedro Miguel Sanchez Castillo, Hector J. Pula, Montserrat Zamorano
Summary: Using science mapping, we analyzed the increasing number of scientific documents on the negative environmental impacts of PPE waste, particularly face masks, used for reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission. India, China, and Canada emerged as leaders in this research field, focusing on environmental issues and engineering solutions. Our analysis highlighted the significant negative effects of PPE waste on aquatic ecosystems, greenhouse gas emissions, and wildlife. To address these impacts, innovative ecodesign strategies for green production, reuse, and recycling, as well as collaboration with the public to reduce waste at its source, are essential. Implementing a collective, extended producer responsibility system for PPE can ensure sustainable production and consumption, contributing to the achievement of sustainable development goals.
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL
(2023)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Nibras H. Chasib, Muhanad L. Alshami, Sarhang S. Gul, Hayder R. Abdulbaqi, Ali A. Abdulkareem, Salah A. Al-Khdairy
Summary: During the COVID-19 pandemic, dentists generally exhibited satisfactory practices and positive attitudes towards PPE, while complaints and cost implications were moderately affected.
FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(2021)
Review
Immunology
Prateek Bahl, Con Doolan, Charitha de Silva, Abrar Ahmad Chughtai, Lydia Bourouiba, C. Raina MacIntyre
Summary: Cases of COVID-19 have been reported worldwide, with a high number of healthcare workers being infected. There are conflicting guidelines for COVID-19 prevention, and the available evidence does not support droplet precautions and a 1- to 2-meter spatial separation rule.
JOURNAL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Giancarlo Iannizzotto, Lucia Lo Bello, Gaetano Patti
Summary: This paper introduces a PPE detection framework that combines deep neural networks and fuzzy logic filtering, which can run in real-time on embedded devices and achieve good accuracy results with training on a low number of images.
EXPERT SYSTEMS WITH APPLICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Carolina Camargo, Andreanne Lupien, Fiona McIntosh, Dick Menzies, Marcel A. Behr, Selena M. Sagan
Summary: This study found that germicidal ultraviolet light (GUV) can effectively inactivate human coronaviruses on personal protective equipment (PPE), making it safe for reuse. The results demonstrated that GUV treatment with commercially available portable devices is an effective method for decontaminating N95 respirators.
INFECTION CONTROL AND HOSPITAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
Ruhong Jiang, Mengmeng Chen, Qiang Liu, Guosheng Fu, Yumei Xue, Hua Fu, Shulin Wu, Changsheng Ma, Deyong Long, Chenyang Jiang
Summary: This study assessed the occupational health hazards related to wearing lead personal protective equipment in interventional cardiologists and revealed their health protection needs. The survey results showed that interventional cardiologists had higher incidences of body pain, bone and joint disease, cataract, and anxiety compared to non-interventional cardiologists. Additionally, only a small percentage of interventional cardiologists were satisfied with their personal protective equipment, and the majority complained of physical toll caused by the heavy equipment.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CARDIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Andres Rojo-Rojo, Maria Jose Pujalte-Jesus, Encarna Hernandez-Sanchez, Rafael Melendreras-Ruiz, Juan Antonio Garcia-Mendez, Gloria Maria Munoz-Rubio, Cesar Leal-Costa, Jose Luis Diaz-Agea
Summary: The study aims to determine the physical impact of personal protective equipment (PPE) used in COVID-19 care on healthcare workers and to demonstrate the suitability of simulated environments for testing experimental designs. The findings indicate that the use of PPE causes excessive sweating, weight loss, increased thirst sensation, and elevated body temperature. Ventilated PPE can reduce body temperature and heat sensation, improving comfort for wearers.
Article
Instruments & Instrumentation
A. Habib, L. Habib, K. Habib
Summary: A fluid mechanics model was established to study the protection of COVID-19 virus through a facial mask, with semiempirical solutions predicting the efficiency of N95 masks under various parameters. The concept of an optimum unitless number Nr was introduced to describe gas flow through porous membranes, aiding in testing mask performance and designing new protective equipment.
REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS
(2021)
Review
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Luciana Cordeiro, Juliana Rizzo Gnatta, Caroline Lopes Ciofi-Silva, Amy Price, Naila Albertina de Oliveira, Rodrigo M. A. Almeida, Giulia M. Mainardi, Shrinidhy Srinivas, Whitney Chan, Anna Sara S. Levin, Maria Clara Padoveze
Summary: PPE implementation in healthcare is complex and influenced by various factors. This scoping review identified barriers to PPE implementation, such as discomfort in clinical work, supply and logistic issues, inadequate facilities infrastructure, weak policies and communication procedures, and health workers' psychological issues. Interventions to address these barriers included ensuring health workers' well-being, reorganizing work, implementing IPC protocols, improving communication and training, and making structural and organizational changes to improve PPE adherence.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INFECTION CONTROL
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Behzad Mosallanezhad, Vivek Kumar Chouhan, Mohammad Mahdi Paydar, Mostafa Hajiaghaei-Keshteli
Summary: This paper develops a multi-objective, multi-product, and multi-period model aiming to optimize total cost and shortage for personal protection equipment demands satisfaction in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Through validation and testing, the study demonstrates the feasibility and value of the model and algorithms for practical application, and statistical analysis concludes on their utility and effectiveness.
APPLIED SOFT COMPUTING
(2021)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Emily C. King, Katherine A. P. Zagrodney, Sandra M. McKay, Linn Holness, Kathryn A. Nichol
Summary: This study aimed to understand the adherence of home care providers to facial protective equipment (FPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey was conducted among home care providers in Ontario during Wave 2 of the pandemic, and it was found that most participants had high adherence to FPE, with individual-level factors being significant predictors of adherence.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INFECTION CONTROL
(2023)
Review
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Vijai Laxmi, Suhas S. Joshi, Amit Agrawal
Summary: Selective isolation of human blood cells has various applications in disease diagnosis, prognostics, drug discovery, and drug delivery. Microfluidics-based methods offer advantages such as low cost, ease of operation, compact size, and requiring a lower sample volume. This review discusses different microfluidic techniques for isolating white blood cells, including their working mechanisms, microdevice designs, and performance parameters, and also provides a brief overview of the advantages, limitations, and future prospects of these microdevices.
JOURNAL OF MICROMECHANICS AND MICROENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Mechanics
Abhishek Mishra, Lyazid Djenidi, Amit Agrawal
Summary: This study investigates the effect of jet pulsations on the development of a wall jet in the uphill region of an inclined water jet. The results show that pulsations have no significant effect on the free jet region, but influence the development and velocity decay rate of the wall jet. The Reynolds number and jet impingement angle also affect the development and velocity decay of the wall jet.
Article
Mechanics
Sandeep Goli, Sandip K. Saha, Amit Agrawal
Summary: This work presents a numerical and experimental study on the flow physics and characterization in hourglass microchannels. The study finds a unique length scale to represent the microchannel and investigate the effects of various geometric and flow parameters on the flow behavior. The results show the relationship between pressure drop and convergence-divergence angle, width ratio, length, and Reynolds number, and highlight the importance of convergence-divergence angle and width ratio as critical parameters. This study provides insights into the flow characteristics of hourglass microchannels, which can be useful for engineering applications.
Article
Mechanics
Yagya Narayan, Sanghamitro Chatterjee, Amit Agrawal, Rajneesh Bhardwaj
Summary: Face masks are essential in mitigating the spread of COVID-19. By introducing an intermediate HEPA filter layer, a two-layer cloth mask can effectively prevent liquid contamination and improve protection.
Article
Engineering, Multidisciplinary
G. S. Biradar, Sumit Bankey, Abhishek Mishra, Ganapati Joshi, Amit Agrawal
Summary: The effect of free stream turbulence on a corrugated airfoil at ultra low Reynolds numbers is investigated using particle image velocimetry in this study. It is observed that vortices in the corrugation valleys lead to the formation of virtual airfoil at lower Reynolds numbers, while the vortices are suppressed at higher Reynolds numbers due to the combined effect of high inertia force and turbulence intensity. The performance of the corrugated airfoil under different Reynolds number regimes is highly sensitive to the turbulence intensity in the flow.
SADHANA-ACADEMY PROCEEDINGS IN ENGINEERING SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Ambuj Amitab Jha, Amit Agrawal
Summary: This study investigates the application of gaseous flow involving axial heat diffusion and identifies deviations in hydrodynamic and thermal aspects when using conventional methods. The results show that considering axial conduction and radial advection leads to discrepancies in the flow field and derived parameters. It is observed that the required pipe length is overestimated when variations in thermophysical properties are not taken into account.
Article
Mechanics
Udaysinh S. Bhapkar, Abhishek Mishra, Harekrishna Yadav, Amit Agrawal
Summary: This experimental study investigated the flow characteristics of synthetic jets emitted from different orifice shapes. The results showed that the wall jet from the elliptical orifice had higher energy-containing vortices and a delayed self-similarity compared to other orifice shapes. The elliptical orifice also had relatively higher normal and shear stresses. In addition, for a larger nozzle to surface spacing, the rectangular orifice shape resulted in a shifting of the self-similarity location.
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Hrisheekesh Krishnan, Amit Agrawal, Atul Sharma
Summary: In this study, the effect of two spectrally simple nonharmonic inline forcing waveforms on the wake response of a square cylinder was investigated. Different wake response characteristics were observed under nonharmonic forcing compared to harmonic forcing. The study also revealed that the wake may act as a low pass filter for inline flow frequency components above the natural vortex shedding frequency.
Article
Physics, Fluids & Plasmas
Sarvesh Shukla, Namshad Thekkethil, Atul Sharma, Amit Agrawal, Rajneesh Bhardwaj
Summary: This study numerically investigates the fluid-structure interaction of free-stream flow across a NACA0012 hydrofoil with traveling wave-based surface undulation. The study explores the impact of wave characteristics on near-wake flow and propulsive performance, revealing different vortex patterns and potential applications in autonomous underwater vehicles or energy harvesting devices.
PHYSICAL REVIEW FLUIDS
(2022)
Article
Physics, Fluids & Plasmas
Siddharth Gupta, Amit Agrawal, Kerry Hourigan, Mark C. Thompson, Atul Sharma
Summary: Anguilliform and carangiform fish have different body shapes and propulsion mechanisms. This study investigates the effect of adaptive kinematics on fluid dynamics and propulsive performance using a computational model. The results show that adopting different kinematics leads to changes in thrust coefficient and quasi-propulsive efficiency. Flow characteristics such as pressure distribution, vortex strength, and jet velocity are correlated with propulsive performance.
PHYSICAL REVIEW FLUIDS
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Ratan Ahuja, Anvesh Gaddam, Suhas S. Joshi, Amit Agrawal
Summary: In this study, numerical simulations were conducted to examine the lubricant depletion in a dovetail-shaped cavity microchannel under shear flow. The results show that a less viscous external liquid helps to retain the lubricant better. Different meniscus shapes were observed based on the magnitude of external shear, with three stable and two failure shapes identified. The effect of cavity opening was found to be independent of flow rate as the viscosity ratio decreased. These findings will contribute to the design of robust lubricant-infused surfaces.
INDUSTRIAL & ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Mechanics
Siddharth Gupta, Jisheng Zhao, Atul Sharma, Amit Agrawal, Kerry Hourigan, Mark C. C. Thompson
Summary: The study investigates the 2-D and 3-D wake transitions of a NACA0012 airfoil at different angles of attack and Reynolds numbers. The results show that the transition from 2-D to 3-D flow occurs through a mode C transition. Further instabilities of the 2-D periodic base flow are also observed. The study provides valuable insights into the flow transitions of aerodynamic bodies.
JOURNAL OF FLUID MECHANICS
(2023)
Article
Mechanics
Shivji Prasad Yadav, Atul Sharma, Amit Agrawal
Summary: This paper presents a continuum approach for blood flow simulation inside micro-channels using the finite volume method. The Navier-Stokes equations are solved to obtain velocity and pressure fields, while a particle transport equation is utilized to calculate the hematocrit distribution. The study shows that the proposed approach provides meaningful insights into biophysics with lower computational cost and good agreement with experiments and mesoscale simulations.
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Upendra Yadav, Anirudh Jonnalagadda, Amit Agrawal
Summary: The paper presents a derivation method for analytical equations of non-continuum macroscopic transport phenomena based on approximate descriptions of the particle distribution function. It proposes a compact representation of the second-order correction to the Maxwellian distribution function and 13-moment transport equations. Validation studies show improvements over using Navier-Stokes equations and Grad's 13-moment equations in capturing high Knudsen number flows. The proposed equations accurately capture the Knudsen boundary layer in the force-driven plane Poiseuille flow problem.
Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Vijai Laxmi, Suhas S. Joshi, Amit Agrawal
Summary: Currently, the main method for detecting COVID-19 infection is RT-PCR performed on swabs taken from the nasopharyngeal and pharyngeal regions. Other detection techniques such as nucleic acid amplification and ELISA have also been proposed and used. However, these techniques are limited to central hospitals and pathologies. Point-of-care solutions, such as the proposed microdevice, could be crucial in enabling rapid and convenient detection at home. The microdevice can separate platelet-rich plasma, study platelet properties, and detect infection by separating plasma, offering a comprehensive solution for point-of-care application, especially when integrated with other technologies and machine learning algorithms.
BIOMEDICAL PHYSICS & ENGINEERING EXPRESS
(2023)
