Perspective: Covid-19; emerging strategies and material technologies

It will be remembered in history as the event that brought the world together with science and technology; the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed for decades worth of progression in both healthcare policies and technology development. It has been a show of unprecedented global health policies ranging from the legal requirement for public facemask use to the use of tough movement restrictions that has bought the world's economy to its knees. Here, we observe the impact of national lockdowns, facemask usage, and their effect on infection rates. It is clear that healthcare policies alone cannot tackle a pandemic. There is a huge pressure to develop personal protective equipment that not only has the capacity to prevent transmission but also has the ergonomics to be worn for long durations. In this work, we reveal our views and thoughts on the healthcare policies and developing materials and technology strategies that have contributed to reduce the damage of the pandemic, coming from the perspectives of materials scientists and a UK National Health Service consultant doctor

Physio-chemical and antibacterial characteristics of pressure spun nylon nanofibres embedded with functional silver nanoparticles

© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Date of Acceptance: 05/06/2015A novel and facile approach to prepare hybrid nanoparticle embedded polymer nanofibers using pressurised gyration is presented. Silver nanoparticles and nylon polymer were used in this work. The polymer solution's physical properties, rotating speed and the working pressure had a significant influence on the fibre diameter and the morphology. Fibres in the range of 60–500 nm were spun using 10 wt.%, 15 wt.% and 20 wt.% nylon solutions and these bead-free fibres were processed under 0.2 MPa and 0.3 MPa working pressure and a rotational speed of 36,000 rpm. 1–4 wt.% of Ag was added to these nylon solutions and in the case of wt.% fibres in the range 50–150 nm were prepared using the same conditions of pressurised gyration. Successful incorporation of the Ag nanoparticles in nylon nanofibres was confirmed by using a combination of advanced microscopical techniques and Raman spectrometry was used to study the bonding characteristics of nylon and the Ag nanoparticles. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy showed a substantial concentration of Ag ions in the nylon fibre matrix which is essential for producing effective antibacterial properties. Antibacterial activity of the Ag-loaded nanofibres shows higher efficacy than nylon nanofibres for Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa microorganisms, and both Ag nanoparticles and the Ag ions were found to be the reason for enhanced cell death in the bacterial solutionPeer reviewe

Bioinspired electrohydrodynamic ceramic patterning of curved metallic substrates

Template-assisted electrohydrodynamic atomisation (TAEA) has been used for the first time to pattern curved metallic surfaces. Parallel lines of ceramic titania (TiO2) were produced on titanium substrates, convex and concave with diameters of ~25 mm, at the ambient temperature. Optimal results were obtained with 4 wt% TiO2 in ethanol suspension deposited over 300 s during stable cone-jetting at 20 µl/min, 10kV and collection distance 80 mm. A high degree of control over pattern line width, interline spacing and thickness were achieved. Nanoindentation load-displacement curves were continuous for the full loading and unloading cycle, indicating good adhesion between pattern and substrate. At a loading rate of 1 μN/s and a hold time of 1 s, pattern hardness decreased as load increased up to 7 μN and remained at 0·1 GPa up to higher loads. Elastic modulus behaved similarly, and both were not sensitive to loading rate. The effect of heat treatment to further consolidate the patterned deposits was also investigated. Hardness of the patterns was not markedly affected by heating. This work shows that TAEA is highly controllable and compatible on a range of substrate geometries. Extending TAEA capabilities from flat to curved surfaces, enabling the bioactive patterning of different surface geometries, takes this technology closer to orthopaedic engineering applications

Diversity and richness of ant species in a lowland wet forest reserve in Sri Lanka

Sinharaja Forest Reserve (SFR) represents one of the largest remaining stands of mixed dipterocarp forest in southwestern Sri Lanka. It is characterised by high floral and faunal endemicity and is gazetted as a World Heritage Site. Research was undertaken to study the ground-dwelling ants in the SFR using pitfall traps and leaf litter extraction. The collection was carried out in disturbed and undisturbed primary forest, old selectively-logged forest (30 years old) and periphery forest (agricultural buffer zone) along a small elevation gradient (200 m – 700 m). A total of 173 species and morphospecies in 11 subfamilies and 54 genera were caught. Pheidole and Tetramorium were the most speciose genera, with 19 and 18 species respectively; Cerapachys followed with 12 species. These results demonstrate the high diversity of litter dwelling ant species in the SFR. There were no significant differences in species richness between sites within the forest. Future studies should analyse species assemblages in each forest type in relation to forest structure and environmental parameters to further understand the distribution of ant species across this unique and complex forest

THE IMPORTANCE OF GREEN FEATURES IN DETERMINING PROPERTY VALUES

As the growing adoption of green buildings on a global scale has resulted in a surge in awareness of green building features and activities, the literature and research are also expanding to learn more about the economics of green development, in the line that, the valuers should perceive the green aspect as a component that influences the property values. Literature found that, the impact of green features on the market value of a property should be acknowledged by the property valuers. Investors may not be encouraged to include green elements into property development unless and until valuers begin to reflect and account for green characteristics in property valuations. Also it would require different may be more advanced valuation techniques to fully determine the impact of green value on valuation elements and subsequently the overall value of a property. This paper explored the concept of green value and its relation with the property values which is a part of the literature review carried out by the researcher who currently conducts a research on the “Importance of “Valuer’s Perception on Green Features -in Determining Property Values” as a Partial Fulfillment for the of the M.Sc. in Real Estate Management and Valuation Degree in the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Keywords: Green Features, Property Values, Valuers, Green Valu

Recent developments in the use of centrifugal spinning and pressurized gyration for biomedical applications

Centrifugal spinning is a technology used to generate small diameter fibers and has been extensively studied for its vast applications in biomedical engineering. Centrifugal spinning is known for its rapid production rate and has inspired the creation of other technologies which leverage the high-speed rotation, namely Pressurized Gyration. Pressurized gyration incorporates a unique applied gas pressure which serves to provide additional control over the fiber production process. The resulting fibers are uniquely suitable for a range of healthcare-related applications that are thoroughly discussed in this work, which involve scaffolds for tissue engineering, solid dispersions for drug delivery, antimicrobial meshes for filtration and bandage-like fibrous coverings for wound healing. In this review, the notable recent developments in centrifugal spinning and pressurized gyration are presented and how these technologies are being used to further the range of uses of biomaterials engineering, for example the development of core-sheath fabrication techniques for multi-layered fibers and the combination with electrospinning to produce advanced fiber mats. The enormous potential of these technologies and their future advancements highlights how important they are in the biomedical discipline

COVID‐19: Facemasks, healthcare policies and risk factors in the crucial initial months of a global pandemic

Previous pandemics have shown that facemask use becomes highly popular in public settings due to fear of the disease spreading. There is, however, a lack of strong scientific evidence that facemasks can significantly reduce the spread of respiratory diseases and as such, most governing policies do not mandate these coverings. There is a stark contrast between the policies and acceptance of facemasks across different geographies. In this work, several data sources have been thoroughly analysed to elucidate how viral diseases are transmitted and spread with particular emphasis on the novel SARS‐CoV‐2 virus which is causing an outbreak of COVID‐19. The different types of facemasks and respirators are also explained, the nature of their design and their efficacy is also examined. Several key factors which have been hypothesised to contribute to the spread of viral infections are elaborated in detail including the effect of temperature and humidity, public transportation systems, population density, socio‐economics and sociology. In this work, data are analysed to explain how the disease is spread, how facemasks function and the differences in the number of initial cases based on several contributing factors to the spread of disease. There are also some dangers in automatically recommending community facemask wearing, such as a reduction in the immune system functionality from the reduced exposure to microbes and the disposal issues which result from the large‐scale use of such materials. The questions of whether facemasks are useful in a community setting or if they divert valuable material away from critical healthcare providers are discussed

Pressurized Gyration: Fundamentals, Advancements, and Future

As a facile, efficient, and low-cost fiber manufacturing strategy, pressurized gyration/rotation (PG) is attracting tremendous attention. This review provides a comprehensive introduction to the working setups, fundamental principles, processing parameters, and material feed properties of this technology. The characterizations of products prepared by this technology and their wide application fields are summarized. The development potentials and broader application prospects of PG are discussed. PG holds significant promise for the scale-up of ultrafine fiber manufacturing

HERITAGE MANAGAMENT AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES AND OPPERTUNITIES

The Built Heritage belongs to a particular country or nation whether it could be an ancient city,building or statute, is unique in location and creation. The value associated with it isincomparable due to this character. The built heritage is the link to past, although their originalpurpose has now gone. The historical bu". form of a city is an inheritance of the legacy ofhistory. It records a wealth of information on the development process as well as the wisdom andcreativity of mankind. The cultural, aesthetic and spiritual values embodied in the built heritageare quite different from many other environmental resources.The built heritage in urban areas is at a risk due to various disastrous problems, both natural andman-made. The so-called development both economic and physical has significant impact onheritage properties and may even be threaten with destruction, It is important to take appropriatemeasures to conserve the built heritage in urban areas and face up to challenges from variousdirections. The crucial issue is to find ways and means to balance the development andconservation efforts. Though there is a consensus on the value of built heritage and rational forconservation, the dilemma is found on the clash between the objectives of development plansand conservation efforts. Urban development efforts in developing countries are faced withseveral challenges compared to the developed countries. Poverty, high rate of unemployment,urban informal sector, poor housing and infrastructure are some of them. Under thesecircumstances the value of built heritage has been weighed only in the shadow of the financialbenefits. It is noted that in some instances the economic interests placed in urban developmentplans carry more value than the value of built heritag. Besides these economic impacts, thecomplete negligence of conservation or absence of heritage management plans integrated withthe urban development plans are the most common phenomena seen in developing countries.The ideal situation which guarantee both the security of cultural properties and economicproperty is the formulation of heritage management plans and urban development plans on thebasis of mutually sustainable manner. This paper analyses the issues faced in conservation andmanagement of urban built heritage in the process of urban development in developingcountries. Similarly the potentials for integration (If built heritage in the urban developmentprocess have been discussed. The necessary examples have been drawn from Sri Lanka toestablish the facts.

Looking and learning: using participatory video to improve health and safety in the construction industry

Construction health and safety (H&S)is usually managed using a top-down approach of regulating workers' behaviour through the implementation and enforcement of prescriptive rules and procedures. This management approach privileges technical knowledge over knowledge based on workers' tacit and informal ways of knowing about H&S. The aim is to investigate the potential for participatory video to: (1) identify areas in which formal policies and procedures do not reflect as practised by workers; (2) encourage creative thinking and elicit workers' ideas for H&S improvements; and (3) provide an effective mechanism for capturing and sharing tacit H&S knowledge in construction organizations. Interviews were conducted in two case study organizations (CSOs) in the Australian construction industry. The results suggest reflexive participatory video enabled workers and managers to view their work practices from a different perspective. Workers identified new hazards, reflected about the practical difficulties in performing work in accordance with documented procedures and reframed their work practices and developed safer ways of working. Workers described how the participatory video capturing the way they work enabled them to have more meaningful input into H&S decision-making than they had previously experienced. Workers also expressed a strong preference for receiving H&S information in a visual format and commented that video was better suited to communicating H&S 'know how' than written documents. The research is significant in providing initial evidence that participatory video has the potential to improve H&S in construction