AN INVESTIGATION OF THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 INFECTION CONTROL ON VISUAL ART INSTALLATIONS IN HOSPITALS WITH PEDIATRIC PATIENTS

This study investigated the impact of COVID-19 infection control on visual artwork in pediatric hospitals and hospitals caring for pediatric patients. The study involved five hospitals in three southern America states and addressed visual artwork and art installations. The researcher administered an internet-based survey to participants in job functions related to hospital administration, environmental services, and project management across the facilities and received participation from 18 respondents. Additionally, telephone interviews were conducted with three participants with the job titles project manager/analyst, child-life specialist, and environmental services director. Survey questions were designed to examine visual art programs in selected children’s hospitals and identify artwork utilized, as well as the cleaning and maintenance practices of the artwork to limit the spread of infection. Data gathered revealed hospital staff participants’ knowledge regarding the artwork design and materials, artwork purpose, cleaning standards, and effective cleaning practices for artwork to help better manage art programs for pediatric patients in a safe and effective manner

Field-cycling NMR realaxation spectroscopy of poly(di-n-alkylsiloxanes in solid, mesomorphic, and isotropic liquid phases

The frequency dependence of the proton spin-lattice relaxation times T1 and T1., in the laboratory and rotating frames, respectively, is reported for solid and liquid phases of poly(diethylsiloxane) (PDES) and in melts of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS). The total frequency range is 5 X 102 -3 X 108 Hz and is mainly covered by field-cycling NMR relaxation spectroscopy. The relaxation behavior of PDES in the liquid but ordered mesophase is compared to that of isotropic melts of PDES and PDMS and also to that of nematic main-chain liquid-crystal polymers. The frequency dependences of PDES and PDMS liquids can be represented at low and high frequencies by power laws, section by section. The relaxation behavior in the isotropic melts is entirely equivalent to that previously reported for other polymer species. In the PDES mesophase, the exponents of the power laws are significantly larger and the crossover frequency between the two regimes is reduced. The dynamics in this phase are discussed with respect to the influence of chain modes and order director fluctuations. The main conclusion is, on the whole, that data of the liquid phases are determined by chain modes rather than by local segment fluctuations. The chain dynamics in the PDES mesophase resemble the chain modes in isotropic melts modified for a microstructure with reduced randomness, whereas the influence of order director fluctuations can neither be confirmed nor ruled out