Intelligent micro-/nanorobots as drug and cell carrier devices for biomedical therapeutic advancement: Promising development opportunities and translational challenges.

Nanotechnology and microfabrication approaches are playing instrumental roles in the development of innovative technologies to fight human diseases. Because of promising in vitro and preclinical outcomes, micro-/nanorobots (MNRs), are increasingly being considered for personalized and precision therapeutic diagnoses, sensing, drug delivery, and surgery. Today, designing MNR-based devices to improve the safety and efficacy of drugs for targeted cells and tissues represents a novel and promising area of therapeutic development.

A Method for Estimating the Low Frequency Coupling Characteristics of a Ferrite-Cored Rod Antenna to a Long Conductor.

Magnetic proximity detection systems (PDSs) used in underground mines occasionally generate false alarms when the miner-wearable component (MWC) is close to nearby conductors such as power cables. This is because the signals from the generators (antennas) of the PDS wirelessly couple to nearby cables, travel along these cables, and then couple back from the cable to a distant MWC to cause a false alarm. In order to manage such a false alarm, it is necessary to understand the basic near-field coupling characteristics from a generator to a long wire.

The relationship between elemental carbon and diesel particulate matter in underground metal/nonmetal mines in the United States and coal mines in Australia.

In the United States, total carbon (TC) is used as a surrogate for determining diesel particulate matter (DPM) compliance exposures in underground metal/nonmetal mines. Since TC can be affected by interferences and elemental carbon (EC) is not, one method used to estimate the TC concentration is to multiply the EC concentration from the personal sample by a conversion factor to avoid the influence of potential interferences. Since there is no accepted single conversion factor for all metal/nonmetal mines, one is determined every time an exposure sample is taken by collecting an area sample that represents the TC/EC ratio in the miner's breathing zone and is away from potential interferences.

Burnout and self-reported quality of care in community mental health.

Staff burnout is widely believed to be problematic in mental healthcare, but few studies have linked burnout directly with quality of care. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between burnout and a newly developed scale for quality of care in a sample of community mental health workers (N=113). The Self-Reported Quality of Care scale had three distinct factors (Client-Centered Care, General Work Conscientiousness, and Low Errors), with good internal consistency.

Field assessment of enclosed cab filtration system performance using particle counting measurements.

Enclosed cab filtration systems are typically used on mobile mining equipment to reduce miners' exposure to airborne dust generated during mining operations. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Office of Mine Safety and Health Research (OMSHR) has recently worked with a mining equipment manufacturer to examine a new cab filtration system design for underground industrial minerals equipment. This cab filtration system uses a combination of three particulate filters to reduce equipment operators' exposure to dust and diesel particulates present in underground industrial mineral mines.

Real-time diesel particulate monitor for underground mines.

The standard method for determining diesel particulate matter (DPM) exposures in underground metal/ nonmetal mines provides the average exposure concentration for an entire working shift, and several weeks might pass before results are obtained. The main problem with this approach is that it only indicates that an overexposure has occurred rather than providing the ability to prevent an overexposure or detect its cause. Conversely, real-time measurement would provide miners with timely information to allow engineering controls to be deployed immediately and to identify the major factors contributing to any overexposures.

Evaluating portable infrared spectrometers for measuring the silica content of coal dust.

Miners face a variety of respiratory hazards while on the job, including exposure to silica dust which can lead to silicosis, a potentially fatal lung disease. Currently, field-collected filter samples of silica are sent for laboratory analysis and the results take weeks to be reported. Since the mining workplace is constantly moving into new and often different geological strata with changing silica levels, more timely data on silica levels in mining workplaces could help reduce exposures.

Effects of sampling artifacts on occupational samples of diesel particulate matter.

Total carbon (TC) is sometimes used to measure or characterize diesel particulate matter (DPM) in occupational settings such as underground mines. DPM samples are collected on quartz fiber filters. When using quartz fiber filters, adsorption of gas phase organic carbon (OC) has been reported, causing a positive bias in the particulate TC results (adsorption artifact).

Sampling results of the improved SKC diesel particulate matter cassette.

Diesel particulate matter (DPM) samples from underground metal/nonmetal mines are collected on quartz fiber filters and measured for carbon content using National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Method 5040. If size-selective samplers are not used to collect DPM in the presence of carbonaceous ore dust, both the ore dust and DPM will collect on the quartz filters, causing the carbon attributed to DPM to be artificially high. Because the DPM particle size is much smaller than that of mechanically generated mine dust aerosols, it can be separated from the larger mine dust aerosol by a single-stage impactor.

Evaluation of the SKC DPM cassette for monitoring diesel particulate matter in coal mines.

In a previous study, the efficacy of commercial and prototype impactors for sampling diesel particulate matter (DPM) in coal mines was investigated. Laboratory and field samples were collected on quartz-fiber filters and analyzed for organic and elemental carbon. Coal dust contributed a minimal amount of elemental carbon when commercial cascade impactors and prototype impactors, designed by the University of Minnesota (UMN) and the US Bureau of Mines (BOM), were used to collect submicrometer dust fractions.

Submicrometer elemental carbon as a selective measure of diesel particulate matter in coal mines.

A monitoring method for diesel particulate matter was published as Method 5040 by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Organic and elemental carbon are determined by the method, but elemental carbon (EC) is a better exposure measure. The US Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) proposed use of NIOSH 5040 for compliance determinations in metal and nonmetal mines.