Infection in the burn patient is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality and remains one of the most challenging concerns for the burn team. The importance of preventing infection has been recognized in organized burn care since it’s inception and has followed recurring themes through the years. These included strict aseptic technique, use of sterile gloves and dressing materials, wearing ma...

The work presented here demonstrates using a novel, field-responsive nanocomposite based on shear thickening fluids (STFs) as responsive protective materials with superior damping and energy adsorption properties. Peak forces and accelerations measured using an instrumented Instron drop tower demonstrate that STF nanocomposite prototypes and impact foam taken from a commercial football helmet h...

Diffusion of penetrants through polymers often does not follow the standard Fickian model. Such anomalous behavior can cause difficulty when designing polymer networks for specific uses. One type of non-Fickian behavior that results is so-called case I1 diffusion, where Fickian-like fronts initially move like fi with a transition to a non-Fickian concentration profile and front speed for modera...

A recirculation aerosol wind tunnel was designed to maintain a uniform airflow and stable aerosol size distribution for evaluating aerosol sampler performance and determining particle penetration through protective clothing materials. The oval-shaped wind tunnel was designed to be small enough to fit onto a lab bench, have optimized dimensions for uniformity in wind speed and particle size dist...

Penetration of liquid pesticides through textile materials is a criterion for determining the performance of protective clothing used by pesticide handlers. The pipette method is frequently used to apply liquid pesticides onto textile materials to measure penetration. Typically, analytical techniques such as Gas Chromatography (GC) are used to measure percentage penetration. These techniques ar...

Biostimulants are classified as materials that are neither a fertilizer nor a pesticide, but when applied to a plant will enhance their health, growth, and protection. Manufacturers claim biostimulants have underexploited potential in providing protectant properties to plants against pathogen attack. This study evaluated the efficacy of seven commercially available biostimulants against the fol...

The aim of this study was to analyse the transfer of steam through different types of textile layers as a function of sample parameters such as thickness and permeability. In order to simulate the human body, a cylinder releasing defined amounts of moisture was also used. The influence of sweating on heat and mass transfer was assessed. The results show that in general impermeable materials off...

The paper presents the results of studies on selecting a solid sorption material for absorbing liquid crop protection agents which permeate samples of protective clothing fabrics. The sorption materials were investigated and selected with an assumption that they should have a high recovery coefficient for biologically active substances, used as active ingredients in crop protection agents, at a...

Despite prior recommendations for removal, latex gloves remain prevalent in dental clinical practice because of puncture resistance, durability, and user satisfaction.[1] However, latex gloves can impair polymerization of vinyl polysiloxane impression material (VPS) thus, resulting in inaccurate and distorted impressions, which may require the clinician to repeat the impression procedure leadin...