Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Zheyi Han, Ethan Pappas, Adrienne Simmons, Jacqueline Fox, Curtis J. Donskey, Abhishek Deshpande
Summary: The survey revealed differences in environmental surface disinfection practices across US hospitals, with hypochlorite and quaternary ammonium compounds being the most commonly used disinfectants. High-touch surfaces in contact isolation rooms were frequently disinfected using bleach, but floors in patient rooms were not disinfected as often.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INFECTION CONTROL
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Richard Shaughnessy, Mark Hernandez, Ulla Haverinen-Shaughnessy
Summary: This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of enhanced classroom cleaning and disinfecting protocol on surface biocontamination and its associations with student absence due to illnesses. The results showed that enhanced cleaning resulted in a significantly lower level of biocontamination on desktops, and there was a significant association between ATP levels on classroom desks and the probability of absence due to gastrointestinal illness.
JOURNAL OF EXPOSURE SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Jennifer L. Cannon, Geun Woo Park, Benjamin Anderson, Cortney Leone, Morgan Chao, Jan Vinje, Angela M. Fraser
Summary: This study found that there is a significant hygiene problem in long-term care facilities, with 90% of surfaces showing contamination by crAssphage or failing ATP scores. These contaminations have the potential to contribute to the transmission of diarrheal diseases. The study suggests quantifying the contamination levels and monitoring them before and after cleaning to enhance infection prevention and control measures.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INFECTION CONTROL
(2022)
Article
Dentistry, Oral Surgery & Medicine
Rawan Abed, Paul Ashley, Brett Duane, John Crotty, Alexandra Lyne
Summary: This study aims to compare the environmental impact of eight inter-dental cleaning aids. The results show that floss picks have the largest environmental footprint, while bamboo inter-dental brushes have the smallest environmental impact.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PERIODONTOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Mohammad Shamsuzzaman, Salah Haridy, Ahmed Maged, Hamdi Bashir, Ahm Shamsuzzoha, Ahad Ali
Summary: One major source of environmental pollution is industrial effluents, especially zinc pollutants in wastewater. Continuous and effective monitoring of zinc in industrial effluents is essential for safeguarding water quality. However, real-life environmental data often do not follow normal distribution, making it challenging to use traditional statistical monitoring techniques. This study proposes an optimal X scheme for monitoring non-normal zinc data in industrial effluents, minimizing costs and ensuring the monitoring scheme's accuracy.
CHEMOMETRICS AND INTELLIGENT LABORATORY SYSTEMS
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Jacquelyn Q. Q. Schmidt, Branko Kerkez
Summary: This study presents a machine learning-assisted methodology for detecting faulty environmental sensor data. By embedding sensor measurements into a dynamical feature space and training a binary classification algorithm, our proposed methodology achieved high accuracy and consistently outperformed existing techniques. The methodology is applied to three novel data sets produced by low-cost environmental sensors deployed across a large area in Michigan, USA.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yun Fat Lam, Chung-Wo Ong, Man -Hon Wong, Wai-Fun Sin, Cheuk-Wai Lo
Summary: The Community Weather Information Network (Co-WIN) was established by HKO and PolyU in 2007 to promote weather and climate education. Co-WIN operates over 100 AWSs in densely populated areas of Hong Kong, providing a large set of potentially useful weather data for urban climate research.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yue Tang, Jie Sun, Derong Dong, Xiushan Zhang, Ruizhong Jia, Yong Wang, Yong Chen, Jinpeng Guo, Lianqun Jin
Summary: This study compared the coliform paper assay and ATP bioluminescence method for evaluating the sanitary condition of kitchenware. The results showed that the ATP bioluminescence assay can provide real-time data and is advantageous for on-site detection in catering unit hygiene supervision.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Ezra Miller, Meg Sedlak, Diana Lin, Carolynn Box, Christopher Holleman, Chelsea M. Rochman, Rebecca Sutton
Summary: Microplastics are pervasive and persistent contaminants in the ocean, posing a threat to marine ecosystems. Despite the infancy of the field, there is a lack of widely accepted standards and practices for accurate measurement and management of microplastic pollution.
JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Manufacturing
Derek Black, Jacob Henderson, Philip Klocke, Landon Shumway, Nathan B. Crane
Summary: Polymer powder bed fusion (PBF/P) is a promising additive manufacturing (AM) category, but its lack of quality assurance prevents many industries from using it for end-use parts. A novel monitoring technique using visible-wavelength imaging is presented in this paper to track melting progression during printing. The technique, based on optical melting states (OMS), strongly correlates with both density and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) for polyamide 12 (PA12) and can reduce density variation in printed parts with different geometries by 68% compared to fixed-exposure time prints. The technique can be used on materials with minimal prior knowledge of their properties and can potentially be implemented with other PBF/P processes.
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
(2023)
Review
Engineering, Environmental
Mark A. Borchardt, Alexandria B. Boehm, Marc Salit, Susan K. Spencer, Krista R. Wigginton, Rachel T. Noble
Summary: Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and digital PCR (dPCR) methods have revolutionized environmental microbiology by providing quantitative organism-specific data. However, many researchers in the field fail to report necessary controls and methods, impacting the reliability of their study results. By implementing systematic controls, efficient workflow, and critical reporting elements, data credibility in environmental microbiology research can be enhanced to support disease prevention efforts.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Health Care Sciences & Services
Chaofan Wang, Weiwei Jiang, Kangning Yang, Difeng Yu, Joshua Newn, Zhanna Sarsenbayeva, Jorge Goncalves, Vassilis Kostakos
Summary: Electronic hand hygiene monitoring systems utilize various observation methods to monitor hand hygiene compliance and assess hand hygiene quality. However, these systems face challenges such as accuracy, data integration, privacy, and the lack of standardized measurement tools. Further research is needed to explore the implementation of sensing technologies and algorithms, aiming to improve system performance and address other hand hygiene-related issues in the future.
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Manufacturing
Pinku Yadav, Olivier Rigo, Corinne Arvieu, Vibhutesh Kumar Singh, Eric Lacoste
Summary: This study proposes a methodology to extract critical characteristics from in-situ monitoring data in Laser-Powder Bed Fusion machines, using statistical, machine learning, and computer vision techniques. A qualitative comparison for Ti6Al4V alloy and a case study linking LCS and MPM data are presented.
JOURNAL OF MANUFACTURING PROCESSES
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Nicolas Abdel Karim Aramouni, Marina Steiner-Browne, Rabah Mouras
Summary: We combined inline process analytical technology and optical imaging to study the cleaning process of Olanzapine. The effect of different Clean-in-Place process parameters, such as cleaning agents, flow rate, and temperature, was investigated. The results showed that the cleaning process is governed by dissolution and mechanical shear phenomena, and is more efficient when solubility is significant. The combination of in-situ process analytical technology and optical imaging analysis allows for the determination of the most efficient and repeatable conditions, reducing solvent usage in pharmaceutical cleaning.
PROCESS SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
(2023)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Alexandra Peters, Pierre Parneix, Martin Kiernan, Juliette A. Severin, Tracey Gauci, Didier Pittet
Summary: Healthcare environmental hygiene (HEH) is increasingly important for patient safety and the prevention of healthcare-associated infections. The 2022 Healthcare Cleaning Forum focused on main areas of interest and highlighted the need for collaboration between academia and the private sector. The conference also emphasized the involvement of governmental bodies and explored new innovations and the need for sustainability in HEH.
ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE AND INFECTION CONTROL
(2023)
