A Study of Technology Innovations and Applications in Transforming Safety and Security in Healthcare Facility Management

The increasing complexity of construction projects has transformed the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry through technology adoption over the last decade. But, Facility Management (FM) as an industry has been slow in technology adoption. Growing market competition, corporate demands and new ways of attracting clients for owners are compelling FM professionals to be more efficient. This requirement is driving technology adoption by FM professionals. This study identifies technologies adopted by Healthcare Facility Management (HFM) professionals for improving safety and security of users that have capabilities and conceived and/or developed applications that can or in some cases are at present used in HFM. Simultaneously, it also looks into potentials and capabilities of a handful of other technologies in further improving safety and security. Using Literature-Based Discovery (LBD), the technology applications and innovations aimed towards safety and security are discovered from the literature that falls within the purview of HFM to form a picture of how these technologies enhance the practice of FM. The study aims at detecting how technologies have contributed towards transforming user experience. Also, this study identifies existing technologies and innovation demands (knowledge and gaps in knowledge), a general understanding of technology, its use and capabilities, and its recognition by users and industry professionals (adoption/rejection). They serve to illustrate how and to what degree the technologies will come to be used in facility management. Technologies, as they mature, will come to be used by facility managers in similar functions and hypothetically, entirely new ones. One should create a better user experience tailored to the functionality demanded. It is important for facility managers to partner with technology companies presenting innovative solutions to create a platform that is tailored to user-specific needs. Acceptance of a unified process, together with input from users, facility managers, and an assessment of current technologies and new advances in practice are productive ways to develop technologies that drive user satisfaction. This paper works to illustrate a future vision of HFM based on these technologies. Healthcare facility managers will have a reference that assembles multiple technological proficiencies that can function in their practice going forward

A Study of Technology Innovations and Applications in Transforming Safety and Security in Healthcare Facility Management

The increasing complexity of construction projects has transformed the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry through technology adoption over the last decade. But, Facility Management (FM) as an industry has been slow in technology adoption. Growing market competition, corporate demands and new ways of attracting clients for owners are compelling FM professionals to be more efficient. This requirement is driving technology adoption by FM professionals. This study identifies technologies adopted by Healthcare Facility Management (HFM) professionals for improving safety and security of users that have capabilities and conceived and/or developed applications that can or in some cases are at present used in HFM. Simultaneously, it also looks into potentials and capabilities of a handful of other technologies in further improving safety and security. Using Literature-Based Discovery (LBD), the technology applications and innovations aimed towards safety and security are discovered from the literature that falls within the purview of HFM to form a picture of how these technologies enhance the practice of FM. The study aims at detecting how technologies have contributed towards transforming user experience. Also, this study identifies existing technologies and innovation demands (knowledge and gaps in knowledge), a general understanding of technology, its use and capabilities, and its recognition by users and industry professionals (adoption/rejection). They serve to illustrate how and to what degree the technologies will come to be used in facility management. Technologies, as they mature, will come to be used by facility managers in similar functions and hypothetically, entirely new ones. One should create a better user experience tailored to the functionality demanded. It is important for facility managers to partner with technology companies presenting innovative solutions to create a platform that is tailored to user-specific needs. Acceptance of a unified process, together with input from users, facility managers, and an assessment of current technologies and new advances in practice are productive ways to develop technologies that drive user satisfaction. This paper works to illustrate a future vision of HFM based on these technologies. Healthcare facility managers will have a reference that assembles multiple technological proficiencies that can function in their practice going forward

Novel Method for Extraction of Lignin Cellulose & Hemicellulose from Pinus roxburghii Needles

Lignocelluloses are becoming a major area of attraction for the researchers for their sustainability and cost effectiveness. The ease of functionalization of these matrices, remarkable physical and chemical properties, and tunable functional sites make them incredible materials for tissue engineering and drug delivery among other applications. The present study focuses on extracting biomaterials lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose from the Pinus roxburghii (PR) needles following a single source procedure. A green chemistry approach ensures minimum wastage with maximum output from the raw material.The Pinus roxburghii (PR) needles were collected from the local area, washed thoroughly, dried in the oven at 45°C for few days and grounded to powder. The PR powder was subjected to treatment with acetic acid: formic acid in the ratio of 1gm/10ml mixture at different concentration to study the yields, for 1hr at low temperature followed by 3hrs treatment at 110°C. The concentrated mother liquor thus obtained was filtered, diluted and left undisturbed for 48h. Lignin precipitates obtained were separated and dried in oven at 30°C. Subsequently, the residue from the extracted lignin was washed to neutralise the pH and dried in oven. By using 5% NaOH reflux treatment at 90-110°C for 3h, hemicellulose was recovered from the pre-treated pine needles mother liquor from which the lignin had been extracted. The mother liquor was treated with ethanol and acetic acid to precipitate hemicellulose in the freezer. The residue obtained after the removable of hemicellulose was washed again to and subsequently bleached to get cellulose. An excellent yield of the desired products was obtained. The extracted products were subjected to characterization studies namely FTIR and HRMS etc to get evidence for successful extraction. The analysis revealed that the PR leaves contained about 1.5wt% to 3.0wt% lignin, 15-30wt% hemicellulose and rest is cellulose.Further, aim is to use the extracted material to prepare the nano-hydrogels for the drug delivery and other applications.</jats:p

Synthesis, Characterisation and Comparative Study of Hydrogel and Nanogels of Psyllium

Natural polysaccharides are being explored as the matrices for attaining speciality materials for pharmaceutical, medicinal and environmental applications via chemical modification such as grafting. Psyllium polysaccharide-based hydrogels and nanogels have potential biomedical and water purification applications due to their advantageous properties such as stimulus responsiveness, biocompatibility, target drug delivery and stability. The present study aims to synthesise hydrogel and nanogels of psyllium and attain comparative data for the two to undermine their potential applications. Psyllium– cl –N,N–MBAm–poly(AAm) hydrogel (Psy-MBAm-AAm – hg) and Psyllium– cl –N,N–MBAm–poly(AAm) nanogel (Psy-MBAm-AAm – ng) were synthesised by grafting acrylamide (AAm) onto psyllium using ammonium persulphate (APS) as a free radical initiator in a redox system where N, N-methylene bisacrylamide acted as a crosslinker. The comparative study of synthesised gels was carried out by studying swelling characteristics at acidic and basic pH (7 and 4) and at varied temperatures for both matrices. The synthesised hydrogel and nanogels were subjected to characterisation by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), and Zeta Potential Analysis to get evidence for successful synthesis and nanogel formation.</jats:p

Structure-Property Relationship in Antimicrobial Polymers Synthesized by Chemo-Enzymatic Route

AbstractAnti-microbial polymers are an important class of materials which are catching attention of the researchers worldwide in view of the fast increase in resistance to antibiotics by the microbes. Factors like molecular weight of the polymer, hydrophobic nature or length of the side chain, and nature of the cation and anion mainly affect their efficacy. Structure-property relationship in polymers also affects their activity, and present work reports synthesis of a series of new class of anti-microbial polymers by chemoenzymatic route initially employing lipase as the biocatalyst. The pendant nitro groups of the monomer were reduced to amino groups and the monomer was subsequently polymerized and the amino groups were quaternized using different alkyl bromides. The bromide counter anions on the polymer were exchanged with OH-, CF3COO-, Cl-or HSCH2COO− to generate a series of new polymers. Properties of the synthesized polymers were characterized by XRD, SEM, FT-IR and NMR spectroscopy. Anti-microbial activity of these new polymers were also investigated against gram (-) bacterium (Citrobacter freundii) and fungi