ABSTRACT
COVID-19, imagine having a temporary lip sticker that offers the protection of an n95 mask without the uncomfortable bulk. Using green electrospun nanofibers the lip sticker filters the virus and can communicate geospatial data to your phone using embedded NFC technology. Available in different designs and skins, some fiber formations can display temperature changes on your face. This paper investigates several prototypes of the described product. © 2022 Owner/Author.
ABSTRACT
The Fifth International Conference on Materials and Environmental Science (ICMES20221), is an interdisciplinary platform to promote a multi-sectoral and collaborative approach in the field of development of new and innovative approaches in materials, their applications in energy and renewable energy, environmental science, sustainable development, health, biotechnology and electrical engineering. The scientific committee of ICMES2022 agreed that the health session was the priority since the Covid19 pandemic still constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. There are many multifunctional materials available by the advent of nanotechnology, ranging from carbon nanotubes, graphene, inorganic nanoparticles, conducting polymers, 2D materials, CO2 material capture, etc… Materials science Conference is an event that brings together leading researchers spanning the field of materials science and engineering to present and discuss cutting edge research with other experts in the field: exchanging ideas to advance current understanding towards the future of materials science. © 2022
ABSTRACT
Smart sensing technology has been playing tremendous roles in digital healthcare management over time with great impacts. Lately, smart sensing has awoken the world by the advent of smart face masks (SFMs) in the global fight against the deadly Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. In turn, a number of research studies on innovative SFM architectures and designs are emerging. However, there is currently no study that has systematically been conducted to identify and comparatively analyze the emerging architectures and designs of SFMs, their contributions, socio-technological implications, and current challenges. In this article, we investigate the emerging SFMs in response to Covid-19 pandemic and provide a concise review of their key features and characteristics, design, smart technologies, and architectures. We also highlight and discuss the socio-technological opportunities posed by the use of SFMs and finally present directions for future research. Our findings reveal four key features that can be used to evaluate SFMs to include reusability, self-power generation ability, energy awareness and aerosol filtration efficiency. We discover that SFM has potential for effective use in human tracking, contact tracing, disease detection and diagnosis or in monitoring asymptotic populations in future pandemics. Some SFMs have also been carefully designed to provide comfort and safety when used by patients with other respiratory diseases or comorbidities. However, some identified challenges include standards and quality control, ethical, security and privacy concerns. © 2001-2012 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Since the outburst of the Covid-19 pandemic it is very common that students widely use videos in higher education. In an introductory material science course for mechanical and automotive engineers lecture videos have successfully been implemented in inverted classroom teaching scenarios at HTW Berlin. Inspired by former students a set of lecture videos is produced during a one term project each semester. This peer-to-peer approach is an important aspect because students' needs and their perspective on teaching material is directly included in the videos. In this study five different lecture film types were investigated with regard to students' performance and micro grading comprising of: swipe technique, stop motion, power point animation, hand drawn and video scribe. In general, students' performance was found to be more successful before the pandemic. However, the type of lecture film types could not directly be related to student grades but are rated successful regarding concentration, responsibility and attentiveness as well as depth of discussions during class. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Smart sensing technology has been playing tremendous roles in digital healthcare management over time with great impacts. Lately, smart sensing has awoken the world by the advent of Smart Face Masks (SFM) in the global fight against the deadly Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. In turn, a number of research studies on innovative SFM architectures and designs are emerging. However, there is currently no study that has systematically been conducted to identify and comparatively analyze the emerging architectures and designs of SFMs, their contributions, socio-technological implications, and current challenges. In this paper, we investigate the emerging SFMs in response to Covid-19 pandemic and provide a concise review of their key features and characteristics, design, smart technologies, and architectures. We also highlight and discuss the socio-technological opportunities posed by the use of SFMs and finally present directions for future research. Our findings reveal four key features that can be used to evaluate SFMs to include reusability, self-power generation ability, energy awareness and aerosol filtration efficiency. We discover that SFM has potential for effective use in human tracking, contact tracing, disease detection and diagnosis or in monitoring asymptotic populations in future pandemics. Some SFMs have also been carefully designed to provide comfort and safety when used by patients with other respiratory diseases or comorbidities. However, some identified challenges include standards and quality control, ethical, security and privacy concerns. IEEE
ABSTRACT
Flipping the classroom is a method to let students study on their own and then take time to discuss their questions and do extended hands-on lectures or exercises in class - or in the case of the covid-19 pandemic during plenary online sessions. First year mechanical engineering students use different teaching materials (mainly lecture videos, lightboard videos and micromodule lectures) to study from a distance and comprehend the principle underlying science in theory. Then the online plenary lectures offer the opportunity to apply their knowledge and transfer different scientific aspects of the course to get the bigger picture. Exercises, worked solutions, self-assessed tests and peer-instruction during present time help students to check on their learning progress. However, the self-study periods and (online) plenary sessions need to be guided carefully. To meet the course learning outcome and overcome the diversity of a first year class various practical leads have to be fulfilled to turn flipped classroom teaching into success.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted educators all over the world and a major area of disruption has been the ability for higher education institutions to provide meaningful STEM education activities to the broader community. In this work, methods to adapt materials science outreach activities to meet the needs of students, teachers, and the community at large during the pandemic are explored and outcomes and recommendations are provided. This is accomplished through a focus on three efforts: fully-virtual classroom visits, remote visitation for in-person classrooms, and an innovative hybrid museum tour that showcases materials science in art for general community outreach. Results show that methods developed with restrictions on in-person interaction in place can have benefits in terms of the ability to reach broader audiences while also fostering more consistent interaction between those broader audiences and those conducting outreach. These methods also have the potential to remain effective even following a return to "normal" conditions and thus supplement and positively augment pre-pandemic methods. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022.
ABSTRACT
Contamination of high-touch surfaces with infected droplets of bodily secretions is a known route of virus transmission. Copper surfaces have been reported to inactivate human coronaviruses after several minutes, via the release of Cu cations. Utilization of copper alloys for high-touch surfaces can be a pivotal preemptive strategy for preventing the next pandemic. Understanding the true efficacy by which copper, and copper alloys, inactivate the virus under realistic conditions is essential for tuning intrinsic alloy features such as composition, grain orientation, and surface attributes, to optimize for antiviral function. However, virus inactivation measurements depend on the presence of an assay media (AM) solution as a carrier for the virus, and its effects on the surface properties of pure copper that regulate oxidative copper release are previously unknown. Herein, these properties and the influence of AM on the efficacy of virus inactivation occurring on the surface of pure copper are investigated. The process is uncovered by which a five-fold decrease in virus half-life is observed in simulated real-life conditions, relative to exposure to traditional AM. The investigation highlights the notion that virus inactivation on copper surfaces may be significantly more effective than previously thought. © 2022 The Authors. Advanced Materials Interfaces published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.
ABSTRACT
Since its outbreak, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has strongly influenced the life of the general public around the world. Based on its fast spread and high mortality, there is a need for novel therapeutic treatments to overcome this global health crisis. While medicinal chemistry is focused on the development of highly selective and affine inhibitors toward a specific target enzyme, material science is focused on the development of nanomaterials for selective drug delivery. Based on the individual strengths, these disciplines could synergistically act together and help overcome the limitations of the respective approach. Herein, the combination of medicinal chemistry with material science to overcome health problems with the example of SARS-CoV-2 is critically discussed.
ABSTRACT
Pangaia is an apparel brand and materials science company headquartered in London, UK, which is best known for its portfolio of loungewear made using innovative biomaterials. The company was founded as recently as 2019, and in its 2020 financial year it achieved revenues totalling US$75 mn. However, the company is also focused on research and development (R&D) in the field of natural and renewable materials which have negligible impact on the environment and provide comparable performance, if not superior performance, to that of petroleum-based materials. The company gained some notoriety following the widespread outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020 when demand for loungewear soared. Also, the outbreak of COVID-19 put environmental issues under the spotlight and, in many cases, it inspired consumers to reflect on the environmental damage caused by the goods which they purchase. Indeed, throughout the duration of the pandemic, online searches for sustainable fashion have increased year-on-year. Major strides can be expected from the company in the coming years in the development of innovative biomaterials, particularly biodegradable “alternative leather” materials, environmentally friendly dyes, and sustainable alternatives to virgin cotton fibre and virgin animal fibre. Indeed, the company looks set to make a significant impression on the global apparel market and beyond on the basis of these developments alone. © Textiles Intelligence Limited 2022.
ABSTRACT
The global COVID-19 pandemic promoted the world community to use face masks to reduce viral transmission. This practice has again raised interest in the effectiveness of masks in preventing the spread of virus particles. This theme provided a unique, timely subject to enhance learning in the field of air pollution control, while enabling distinct connections to the fields of material science as well as human health and air quality. A collaborative “Mask Effectiveness” class project was developed with the objectives of enabling students (a) to identify the types, sizes, and movement of particles that are found in air, particularly those that are expelled during normal human activity, and (b) to characterize the material properties that influence the control of these different particles. A specific focus was placed on the use of face masks made from common textile materials. The “Mask Effectiveness” project required the development of Excel-based animations and tools that encourage students to explore relationships between air pollutants and materials science. The tool was developed such that it provides a solution to the limitations of a student design project for online and hybrid courses. By engaging with the computer-based Excel tool, students are able to evaluate alternative scenarios that include the collection efficiency of particles that arise from different sources (talking, coughing, and sneezing), and the relationships between mask “breathability”, porosity, and collection efficiency of a mask. The project was designed to be implemented initially with undergraduate engineering students across two universities- Arizona State University and the University of New Mexico. One specific goal at Arizona State University was to reinforce concepts consistent with entrepreneurial mindset learning approaches. An additional goal was to provide a learning experience which allowed students to connect environmental engineering and material science topics to a design challenge that addressed a global community need. This paper describes the specific activities that were undertaken, and connects these activities to ways in which teaching methods may be altered by using an Excel-based module. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021
ABSTRACT
After an eight year hiatus, I was asked suddenly to teach eight sections, each consisting of twelve students, of the Materials Science Lab course (306) in fall 2020 following the COVID-19 pandemic. During the past eight years, my instructional materials for 306 had been adopted by other instructors who left online quizzes and online surveys unchanged, and made modest changes to my presentation slides, and lab report templates and formats. In fall 2020, faculty at my university chose their own modality of instruction - in-person, online or a hybrid mode. I chose asynchronous instead of synchronous because of issues related to the large number of lab sections, and the unpredictability of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In spring 2021, I am teaching ten sections of this lab course. I have made significant improvements to my instructional materials from the fall semester that are included in this paper. I wanted to give my students a lab experience that would be equal to or better than the traditional in-person experience prior to the pandemic. In most traditional in-person experiments, students measure physical dimensions such as thickness, width and diameter at various length scales using instruments such as an ordinary ruler, a Vernier caliper, or a micrometer. To implement similar measurements online, I decided to integrate image analysis using FijI based on ImageJ software, and use it as a video caliper tool to measure features in ordinary and high resolution images. Traditionally, 306 and courses similar to it at other universities focus almost exclusively on experimental techniques to measure properties and characterize materials. In restructuring the course, I decided to add comparable emphasis on structure and processing of materials as it relates to testing and characterization of metallic materials. This paper describes the first three of the seven experiments that were developed focusing on: (1) Introductory Image Analysis and Brinell hardness testing, (2) Strengthening mechanisms and tensile testing, and (3) Cold working and Rockwell hardness testing. In each experiment, students are instructed in theory, principles, and methods using a YouTube video of narrated slides and board work, and laboratory demonstration. They are given images and data from the experiment, and data and report templates. Students make their own measurements using FijI, perform data analysis using Excel, and submit a concise lab report with critical evaluation of results and summary conclusions. The paper includes the course schedule listing the topics for each lab, grading policy, objectives for the first lab, and supporting instructional elements including the lab report grading rubric, and sample quiz questions. It also includes the survey collected after each lab, and response statistics from the first lab. Actions taken in response to the student feedback are also included. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021
ABSTRACT
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapidly swept around the globe since its emergence near 2020. However, people have failed to fully understand its origin or mutation. Defined as an international biosafety incident, COVID-19 has again encouraged worldwide attention to reconsider the importance of biosafety due to the adverse impact on personal well-being and social stability. Most countries have already taken measures to advocate progress in biosafety-relevant research, aiming to prevent and solve biosafety problems with more advanced techniques and products. Herein, we propose a new concept of biosafety chemistry and reiterate the notion of biosafety materials, which refer to the interdisciplinary integration of biosafety and chemistry or materials. We attempt to illustrate the exquisite association that chemistry and materials science possess with biosafety -science, and we hope to provide a pragmatic perspective on approaches to utilize the knowledge of these two subjects to handle specific biosafety issues, such as detection and disinfection of pathogenic microorganisms, personal protective equipment, vaccine adjuvants and specific drugs, etc.. In addition, we hope to promote multidisciplinary cooperation to strengthen biosafety research and facilitate the development of biosafety products to defend national security in the future.