A Natural Virucidal and Microbicidal Spray Based on Polyphenol-Iron Sols.

Numerous disinfection methods have been developed to reduce the transmission of infectious diseases that threaten human health. However, it still remains elusively challenging to develop eco-friendly and cost-effective methods that deactivate a wide range of pathogens, from viruses to bacteria and fungi, without doing any harm to humans or the environment. Herein we report a natural spraying protocol, based on a water-dispersible supramolecular sol of nature-derived tannic acid (TA) and Fe3+, which is easy-to-use and low-cost. Our formulation effectively deactivates viruses (influenza A viruses, SARS-CoV-2, and human rhinovirus) as well as suppressing the growth and spread of pathogenic bacteria (Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus, and Acinetobacter baumannii) and fungi (Pleurotus ostreatus and Trichophyton rubrum). Its versatile applicability in a real-life setting is also demonstrated against microorganisms present on the surfaces of common household items (e.g., air filter membranes, disposable face masks, kitchen sinks, mobile phones, refrigerators, and toilet seats).

Effectiveness of plexiglass barriers in mitigating spread of aerosolized droplets in a cough

Plexiglass barriers have been prevalently used in the workplace during the Covid-19 pandemic as protective measures against the airborne transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) through interactions between potentially infected and uninfected individuals. Doubts have been raised about their effectiveness and concerns have even been expressed about the implications for room ventilation on their overuse. To aid public awareness of the role of such plexiglass barriers, we use flow visualization, aided by particle count measurements, to examine in a laboratory setting the effectiveness of typical workplace barriers in impeding the spread of aerosol-size airborne droplets. Such droplets are emitted in coughs and other respiratory exhalations and serve as modes of transmission for viruses. The visualizations and the supporting particle count measurements indicate that barriers do impede the forward momentum of the droplet-laden airflow jet that result from a cough, but portions of the expelled aerosols can spread around the barriers. Our study suggests that in comparison with the case in the absence of a barrier, a 2.5 ft or higher barrier can reduce the concentration levels of aerosols of size < 10 μ m on the side of the barrier away from the source by over 90% and those of size < 3 μ m by over 82%. However, an opening at the bottom of a barrier, for example, representing access for transactions between a worker and customers, can significantly reduce the effectiveness of the barrier. Finally, we illustrate how the aerosol dispersion in this case can be dramatically altered by ambient background airflows. [ FROM AUTHOR]

Development of A Low End Arduino Based Automatic Disinfectant Sprayer for New Normal Classroom

- Covid-19 is an infectious disease that attacks the respiratory system caused by the coronavirus found in 2019. It has a deadly infection and rapid spread worldwide without exception in Indonesia. Then since the year, World Health Organization (WHO) has declared it a world pandemic. One way to prevent the spread of Covid-19, especially in the closed public area, is by spraying disinfectant to kill the virus. In this project, a low-end disinfectant sprayer has been built based on an Arduino system. The sprayer has been applied to a 10.3mx7.8m classroom with 30 units of the misting device. Performance test of the system shows that the sprayer can work accurately at the timetable to spray the classroom by consuming 58.31 W in operation and 19.80W in standby mode. The total hardware implementation cost is IDR 904,225 or less than USD 65, making affordability for implementing the system.

The 25 countries that could beat malaria by 2025

Speed read WHO draws list of 25 countries targeting malaria elimination by 2025 Eight countries were certified malaria-free last year despite COVID-19 But disruptions to health services during the pandemic could threaten progress The World Health Organization (WHO) says it has identified 25 countries with the potential to stamp out malaria in the next five years, despite the added burden of COVID-19 and antimalarial drug resistance. “No matter what burden of malaria you have in your country, there’s a path that can be walked and the end stage of that path will be eliminating malaria,” Pedro Alonso, director, WHO Global Malaria Programme Last year alone eight countries reported zero indigenous cases of malaria, “a remarkable achievement in view of the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic,” the report says. About one third of countries around the world reported disruptions in malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment services during the first quarter of 2021, a survey by the organisation found, while lockdowns and restrictions on movement led to delays in the delivery of insecticide-treated mosquito nets and indoor insecticide spraying campaigns.

Drone based contactless disinfectant spraying system - A safety COVID measures

The recent pneumonia spread brought about by a novel corona virus (COVID-19) in china is representing an incredible risk and proclaimed a worldwide emergency of public health. It has spread to the world and infected people with COVID-19 disease. In addition to the absence of explicit treatment as well as vaccine, COVID-19 are currently known to reveal a noteworthy environmental resistance. The transmission of virus was found to be spread through human -to -human that make it easily diffused. The transmission comes from the droplets of infected when sneezing or coughing. These droplets can survive on the inanimate surface even in air and transmitted the virus to human. The aim of our project is to design and develop an antiseptic disinfection spraying system has ability to disinfect large scale area with less time consuming and minimal human interactions. The range of drone is 100m and speed 8m/s then flight time is 15 min. It additionally proposes detail of the range of antiseptic -disinfectant and denaturation that have been used in this operation. The term contactless has been strongly used post COVID keeping that in mind we develop a model which will carry the disinfectant spraying tank with drone for spraying which will be controlled through an android application. The advantage of the UAV can be fly at any altitude, offer high quality data's, by using sensors, algorithm. © 2022 International Journal of Health Sciences.All rights reserved.

New insights on malaria

Malaria is long known as a deadly vector borne infection, caused by five parasite species of the coccidian genus Plasmodia that are present in as many as 85 countries. Despite significant progresses have been achieved to control the infection by early diagnosis and artemisinin combination treatment, insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying, malaria still represents a major public health issue in many endemic low-income countries. New diagnostic tools of higher sensitivity and specificity are now available for use in endemic countries to better guide diagnosis and treatment. In particular, highly sensitive rapid antigenic tests are now available and the loop-mediated isothermal amplification is a very promising and highly sensitive diagnostic tool. After 2015, decreasing morbidity and mortality trends have been stagnating because of limited funding, emergence of parasite and vector resistance to drugs and insecticides respectively and, recently, by the disrupting effect of COVID-19 pandemic. The incomplete knowledge of the complex immunity of malaria infection has slowed the development of an effective vaccine. However, in 2021, the RTS-S vaccine, however of suboptimal protective efficacy, has been made available for routine use in children above 5 months of age. Population movements has increased the chance of observing imported malaria in non-endemic areas, where malaria competent vectors may still exist.

Hospital environment cleaning and disinfection in times of covid-19. Guidelines and reflections

In this pandemic times, faced with a variant of coronavirus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (sars cov2), we face a conjuncture of dilemmas and hypotheses about the causes of transmission of the microorganism when approved guideline for cleaning and disinfection in the hospital environment are not enough to consider a suitable surface, was in part to the lack of quantitative evidence that allow us to support or detract the effect of a disinfectant due to its misuse or wrong application. objective. to determine the effectiveness of four disinfectants applied with local cleaning and disinfection standards in the hospital environment. material and methods. observational study carried out in four hospitalization areas of two different health care centers. Cleaning and/or disinfection is carried out with three methods: spraying, friction and electromagnetic. Luminescence-based atp was used to quantify living cells results. friction on surfaces with hydrogen peroxide impregnated towels had a decrease up to 88% in relative light units (rlu) compared to spraying with other disinfectants. In rooms with previous cleaning, with spraying, the rlu had a 50% reduction, however, in sink faucets and dispensers, the simple use of nebulization was enough to reduce rlus more than 90%. Anesthesia equipment in three rooms, had the highest amount of organic material (bacteria, viruses, etc.) and the spraying reduced the rlus more than 95%.

Analysis and Dynamic Monitoring of Indoor Air Quality Based on Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy and Machine Learning

The air quality of the living area influences human health to a certain extent. Therefore, it is particularly important to detect the quality of indoor air. However, traditional detection methods mainly depend on chemical analysis, which has long been criticized for its high time cost. In this research, a rapid air detection method for the indoor environment using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and machine learning was proposed. Four common scenes were simulated, including burning carbon, burning incense, spraying perfume and hot shower which often led to indoor air quality changes. Two steps of spectral measurements and algorithm analysis were used in the experiment. Moreover, the proposed method was found to be effective in distinguishing different kinds of aerosols and presenting sensitivity to the air compositions. In this paper, the signal was isolated by the forest, so the singular values were filtered out. Meanwhile, the spectra of different scenarios were analyzed via the principal component analysis (PCA), and the air environment was classified by K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) algorithm with an accuracy of 99.2%. Moreover, based on the establishment of a high-precision quantitative detection model, a back propagation (BP) neural network was introduced to improve the robustness and accuracy of indoor environment. The results show that by taking this method, the dynamic prediction of elements concentration can be realized, and its recognition accuracy is 96.5%.

Aerosol and Droplet Generation During Intubation and Normal Breathing: A Simulation Study

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has made important changes to the everyday practice of anaesthetists. Current research has shown that the virus spreads via respiratory droplets and aerosolisation. The aim of this study was to examine the extent of contact contamination, droplet spread and aerosolisation, which may occur with normal breathing and intubation in a mannequin study. In the first experiment, an Ambu bag was attached to the simulation mannequin’s trachea and an atomiser device was placed into the mannequin’s pharynx. This model simulated normal ventilation as 0.5 ml of luminescent fluid was sprayed through the atomiser. In the second experiment, the mannequin was intubated with a videolaryngoscope while spraying 0.5 ml of luminescent fluid through the atomiser, after which the laryngoscope was removed. The spread of the luminescent aerosol cloud after three full breaths, droplet spread and contact contamination were visualised using ultraviolet light. The extent of spread was evaluated using a 4-point Likert scale (0 to 3) by two observers. Each of the experiments was repeated five times. For the first experiment, aerosol formation, droplet spread and contact contamination were 2.5 (2–3), 1 (0–1), 0 (0–1) points. In the second experiment, aerosol formation, droplet spread and contact contamination were 0.5 (0–1), 1 (0–1), 3 (2–3) points, accordingly. Noticeable contact contamination occurs during laryngoscopy and removal of the laryngoscope, whereas droplet contamination with laryngoscopy and normal breathing is minimal. Normal breathing leads to significant aerosol formation.

Greenhouse Robots: Ultimate Solutions to Improve Automation in Protected Cropping Systems—A Review

In recent years, agricultural robotics has received great attention in research studies, being considered a way to address some important issues of the agricultural sector, such as precision agriculture, resources saving, improvement of safety conditions, and shortage of human labor. These issues are particularly relevant in greenhouse production systems, where many highly repetitive and sometimes dangerous operations are still required to be performed by humans. The purpose of the present review is providing an overview of the research conducted in recent years related to robotic automation for greenhouse applications. The currently available literature about robots and automated solutions for greenhouse applications has been reviewed through the consultation of international databases of journals. A total of 38 publications were included after screening and the information related to each retrieved automated solution was classified. The research highlighted great variability among studies, which often describe automation solutions designed for specific crops and define the specific “supporting tasks” necessary for the completion of a “main task”. Specifically, the technologies used for guidance and navigation systems, crop detection and fruit grasping system, spraying system, and other minor supporting tasks have been described. Furthermore, a critical appraisal of the main challenges of the sector and future research directions are provided.

All-terrain mobile robot desinfectant sprayer to decrease the spread of COVID-19 in open area

The application of disinfection is becoming popular in recent months due to the COVID-19. Usually, the disinfection is used by spraying the liquid into an object. However, the disinfection process for humans and objects in the human environment is still done manually and takes time and increases exposure to viruses. Robotic technology can be a solution to handle that problem. Following that problem, robot design is proposed with many abilities and features. The robot can operate in remote conditions and full function for approximately 56 minutes and spray the liquid for more than 1 meter. This research can effectively be applied in COVID-19 handlings.

Automatic Sanitization Robot

This project describes the evolving role of robotics in healthcare and allied are as with special concerns relating to the management and control of the spread of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The prime utilization of such robots is to minimize person-to-person contact and to ensure cleaning, sterilization and support in hospitals and similar facilities such as quarantine. This will result in minimizing the life threat to medical staffs and doctors taking an active role in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic. The intention of the present research is to highlight the importance of medical robotics in general and then to connect its utilization with the perspective of COVID-19 management so that the hospital management can direct themselves to maximize the use of medical robots for various medical procedures. This is despite the popularity of telemedicine, which is also effective in similar situations. In essence, the recent achievement of the Korean and Chinese health sectors in obtaining active control of the COVID-19 pandemic was not possible without the use of state of the art medical technology.To overcome the problem developed automatic portable sanitizing equipment for spraying sanitization solution. The portable sanitizer unit is attached to the top of the mobile robot. The system integrates a sprinkler mechanism and is used to distribute air and disinfectant fluid mixture. The mobile robot main components consist of a DC motor, Bluetooth module, Arduino, Motor driver, Submergible pump, Sprinkler, Battery, DC Converters are used. The system is capable of sanitizing the floors of hospitals.

Problems and proposal of solutions in organic farming

Interest in organic farming is increasing day by day in our country. The fact that people have to keep their immune systems strong, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic process, has directed people to organic products. Due to the increasing demand for organic products, it should be required to gain momentum in its cultivation. However, organic farming growers in our country face various problems at the beginning of their work. These is generally organic seed and organic seedling supply, organic fertilization, organic spraying. This is followed by the marketing of organic products grown under very difficult conditions and informing the consumers in order to eliminate the problems in marketing. The dissemination and sustainability of organic agriculture is not possible only by increasing the production areas and amount. It is important to ensure that consumers also prefer organic products and to be informed for this purpose. Informing producers and consumers will increase the supply and demand of organic products, thus increasing both commercial production and the production of products that are beneficial to the environment, nature and human health. The aim of the study;It is to offer solutions by considering the problems faced by organic agriculture growers from the first time they start to work, until the harvest and sales point.

Coverage path planning for spraying drones.

The pandemic by COVID-19 is causing a devastating effect on the health of the global population. Currently, there are several efforts to prevent the spread of the virus. Among those efforts, cleaning and disinfecting public areas have become important tasks and they should be automated in future smart cities. To contribute in this direction, this paper proposes a coverage path planning method for a spraying drone, an unmanned aerial vehicle that has mounted a sprayer/sprinkler system, that can disinfect areas. State-of-the-art planners consider a camera instead of a sprinkler, in consequence, the expected coverage will differ in running time because the liquid dispersion is different from a camera's projection model. In addition, current planners assume that the vehicles can fly outside the target region; this assumption can not be satisfied in our problem, because disinfections are performed at low altitudes. Our method presents i) a new sprayer/sprinkler model that fits a more realistic coverage volume to the drop dispersion and ii) a planning method that efficiently restricts the flight to the region of interest avoiding potential collisions in bounded scenes. The algorithm has been tested in several simulation scenes, showing that it is effective and covers more areas with respect to two approaches in the literature. Note that the proposal is not limited to disinfection applications, but can be applied to other ones, such as painting or precision agriculture.

Design of Spraying Disinfection Robot Based on Video Teleoperation

Since December 2019, COVID-19 spread around the world and a number of epidemic protection robot products have emerged with outstanding applications. Combining with the rapid development of mobile network communication technology today, a disinfection robot with real-time remote control operation is designed in this paper. The motion chassis of the disinfection robot designed in this project adopts the wheeled chassis based on Ackerman steering. Based on the mobile network communication technology, operating personnel can remotely drive the robot into the contaminated area for operation, without the need to reach the contaminated area. The robot has the characteristics of flexibility, high efficiency and strong mobility. In addition, it has the ability of cross-region remote operation, high real-time, low delay video transmission ability. At the same time, the remote disinfection robot is equipped with a camera, which can observe the site environment remotely, so that the operator can judge the site environment and adopt the best spray disinfection operation method.

Product Development of Mini Chamber with Ergonomic Function Deployment (EFD) Method

Corona Virus Disease-19 (Covid-19) pandemic is still ongoing until now. The spread of this virus is very dangerous because it can spread through droplets or the particles that come out from the nose and mouth. Based on these sentences, the spread of the virus has become risky, one of the activities is shopping online. Virus transmission can occur through delivery and receive stuff activities. The habit that occurs in public, often the stuff arrived at home indirectly sterilized. The purpose of the research is to develop a product that can sterilize the stuff with disinfectant automatically. This research for product development with Ergonomic Function Deployment (EFD) Method. In this method, the product concept is designed based on customer needs (voice of customer). Data of customer needs is obtained from the result of 100 respondents with an age range of 20-40 years who frequently online shopping. The product designed refers to the method used with the ergonomic principle after data is processed. The recommendation of product development from this research is a mini chamber. This product is a development of the chamber but its function is for spraying stuff from the outside of house. The procedure of this product is works automatically so the application of this product for customer can be easier.

Preface

The 2nd International Conference on Energetics, Civil and Agricultural Engineering is an international event that has been successfully held in a hybrid mode (online and onsite) organized by the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers (TIIAME), Tashkent, Uzbekistan. ICECAE is a privileged space to discuss current issues related to Energetics, Civil and Agricultural Engineering. This international event aims to explore emerging technologies and concepts in a collaborative way, bringing together scientists, researchers, engineers, students and professionals from different areas. ICECAE 2021 proceedings collected the latest research and results in the field of energetics, civil and agricultural engineering. All manuscripts published in the proceeding have been through rigorous review and process to meet the requirements of international publication standard. In the honorable and keynote speeches sessions, honorable speakers were each allocated 40 minutes and keynote speakers were each allocated 20-25 minutes to hold their speeches. We were honored to invite 3 honorable speakers (Professor Josep M. Guerrero, Professor Saifur Rahman, and Professor Mohammad Shahidehpour) and 10 distinguished experts as keynote speakers to present their insightful speeches. As honorable speakers, Professor Josep M. Guerrero (from Aalborg University – Denmark) talked about Space Microgrids – NanoSats, Lunar Bases and Closed Ecosystems, Professor Saifur Rahman (from Virginia Tech Advanced Research Institute - USA) delivered a speech on Global Electric Power Sector: Engaging with Environmental Issues, and Professor Mohammad Shahidehpour (from Illinois Institute of Technology - USA) held a speech on Blockchain for Transactive Energy Management in Renewable Energy Systems. As keynote speakers, Prof. Dr. Jan Wincenty Dobrowolski (AGH University of Science and Technology - Poland) shared his experiences related to his 50 years contribution to global cooperation on Sustainable Development 1971-2021 and innovative proposals for adaptation to climate change, COVID-19 and outer-space missions;Professor emeritus Dr. Davidas Belsare (from Bhopal University - India) made a speech about the effect of laser diode on oranges to other fruit crops like guava and papaya;Professor Justyna Kobylarczyk and Professor Michal Krupa (from Cracow University of Technology – Poland) held a speech on the topic of high quality of residential environment;Professor Jose Osvaldo B. Carioca (from Federal University of Ceara - Brazil) expressed his keynote address about synthesis of chitosan membranes to be used in dual system of dark fermentation and MEC-electrolyzers to produce high quality hydrogen;Professor Dominika Kusnierz-Krupa and Dr. Malgorzata Hryniewicz (from Cracow University of Technology -Poland) made their talk about a new functions in a historic buildings;Professor Alirza Mamedov (from Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture - Ukraine) delivered his talk about historical city analysis;Professor Manoj Stephen Paul and Dr. Ritu Chaturvedi (from St. Johns College - India) made their speech on human health risk assessment associated with consumption of food containing heavy metals;Associate professor Pavel Navitski (from Oral Roberts University – USA) delivered his talk about drift control during field spraying;and Dr. Ulrich Berk (president of the German Association of Homatherapy - Germany) made his keynote speech about agnihotra and homa farming -tools for a sustainable development on planet Earth. List of ICECAE 2021 Committee are available in this pdf.

Assessing the potential of unmanned aerial vehicle spraying of aqueous ozone as an outdoor disinfectant for SARS-CoV-2.

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed gaps in our understanding of safe, effective and efficient means of disinfecting high use public spaces. Whilst this creates an opportunity for development and application of innovative approaches such as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based disinfection, unregulated outdoor disinfection using chlorine has led to environmental and public health risks. This study has quantified the efficiency, safety and efficacy of UAV-based spraying of aqueous ozone. Optimised UAV flight characteristics of 4.7 km/h at 1.7 m elevation spraying 2.4 L/min were able to provide >97% and >92% coverage of a 1 m and 2 m wide swath respectively. During spraying operations using 1 mg/L aqueous ozone, atmospheric concentrations of ozone remained within background levels (<0.04 ppm). Highly efficient inactivation of two different isolates of SARS-CoV-2 virus was achieved at aqueous ozone concentrations of 0.75 mg/L after an incubation period of only 5 min, with 0.375 mg/L achieving 82-91.5% inactivation in this time. Exposure of diamondback moth larvae and parasitic wasps to 1 mg/L aqueous ozone did not significantly affect their survivorship. These results indicate for the first time that aqueous ozone may provide the required balance between human and environmental safety and viral inactivation efficacy for targeted application in high risk outdoor settings.