Application of patch test in meshless analysis of continuously non-homogeneous piezoelectric circular plate

Proposed paper presents application of the patch test for meshless analysis of piezoelectric circular plate with functionally graded material properties. Functionally graded materials (FGM) are the special class of composite materials with continuous variation of volume fraction of constituents in predominant direction. Patch test analysis is an important tool in numerical methods for addressing the convergence. Meshless local Petrov-Galerkin (MLPG) method together with moving least-squares (MLS) approximation scheme is applied in the analysis. No finite elements are required for approximation or integration of unknown quantities. Circular plate is considered as a 3-D axisymmetric piezoelectric solid. Considering the axial symmetry, the problem is reduced to a 2-dimensinal one. Displacement and electric potential fields are prescribed on the outer boundaries in order to reach the state of constant stress field inside the considered plate as required by the patch test and the governing equations. Values of prescribed mechanical and electrical fields must be determined in order to comply with applied FGM gradation rule. Convergence study is performed to assess the considered meshless approach and several conclusions are finally presented

Role of RNAIII in Resistance to Antibiotics and Antimicrobial Agents in <i>Staphylococcus epidermidis</i> Biofilms

Staphylococcus epidermidis is a known opportunistic pathogen and is one of the leading causes of chronic biofilm-associated infections. Biofilm formation is considered as a main strategy to resist antibiotic treatment and help bacteria escape from the human immune system. Understanding the complex mechanisms in biofilm formation can help find new ways to treat resistant strains and lower the prevalence of nosocomial infections. In order to examine the role of RNAIII regulated by the agr quorum sensing system and to what extent it influences biofilm resistance to antimicrobial agents, deletion mutant S. epidermidis RP62a-ΔRNAIII deficient in repressor domains with a re-maining functional hld gene was created. A deletion strain was used to examine the influence of oxacillin in combination with vanillin on biofilm resistance and cell survival was determined. Utilizing real-time qPCR, confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), and crystal violet staining analyses, we found that the RNAIII-independent controlled phenol soluble modulins (PSMs) and RNAIII effector molecule have a significant role in biofilm resistance to antibiotics and phenolic compounds, and it protects the integrity of biofilms. Moreover, a combination of antibiotic and antimicrobial agents can induce methicillin-resistant S. epidermidis biofilm formation and can lead to exceedingly difficult medical treatment

Ferrate (VI), Fenton Reaction and Its Modification: An Effective Method of Removing SARS-CoV-2 RNA from Hospital Wastewater

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) raises questions about the effective inactivation of its causative agent, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in medical wastewater by disinfectants. For this reason, our study of wastewater from a selected hospital evaluated several different advanced oxidation methods (Fenton reaction and Fenton-like reaction and ferrate (VI)) capable of effectively removing SARS-CoV-2 RNA. The obtained results of all investigated oxidation processes, such as ferrates, Fenton reaction and its modifications achieved above 90% efficiency in degradation of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in model water. The efficiency of degradation of real SARS-CoV-2 from hospital wastewater declines in following order ferrate (VI) &gt; Fenton reaction &gt; Fenton-like reaction. Similarly, the decrease of chemical oxygen demand compared to effluent was observed. Therefore, all of these methods can be used as a replacement of chlorination at the wastewater effluent, which appeared to be insufficient in SARS-CoV-2 removal (60%), whereas using of ferrates showed efficiency of up to 99%