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Abstract Objectives Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly infectious viral pandemic that has claimed the lives of millions. Personal protective equipment (PPE) may reduce the risk of transmission for health care workers (HCWs), especially in the emergency setting. This study aimed to compare the adherence to PPE donning and doffing protocols in the Emergency Department (ED) vs designated COVID-19 wards and score adherence according to the steps in our protocol. Design Prior to managing COVID-19 patients, mandatory PPE training was undertaken for all HCWs. HCWs were observed donning or doffing COVID-19 restricted areas. Setting Donning and doffing was observed in COVID-19 designated Emergency department and compared to COVID-19 positive wards. Participants All HCWs working in the aforementioned wards during the time of observation. Results We observed 107 donning and doffing procedures (30 were observed in the ED). 50% HCWs observed donned PPE correctly and 37% doffed correctly. The ED had a significantly lower mean donning score (ED: 78%, Internal: 95% ICU: 96%, p

There is an increasing demand in the industry for conductive high strength copper alloys. Traditionally, alloy systems capable of precipitation hardening have been the first choice for electromechanical connector materials. Recently, ultrafine-grained materials have gained enormous attention in the materials science community as well as in first industrial applications (see, for instance, proceedings of NANO SPD conferences). In this study the potential of precipitation hardened ultra-fine grained copper alloys is outlined and discussed. For this purpose, swaging or accumulative roll-bonding is applied to typical precipitation hardened high-strength copper alloys such as Corson alloys. A detailed description of the microstructure is given by means of EBSD, Electron Channeling Imaging (ECCI) methods and consequences for mechanical properties (tensile strength as well as fatigue) and electrical conductivity are discussed. Finally the role of precipitates for thermal stability is investigated and promising concepts (e.g. tailoring of stacking fault energy for grain size reduction) and alloy systems for the future are proposed and discussed. The relation between electrical conductivity and strength is reported.

Electrodeposition process of calcium phosphate (CaP) was performed at various temperatures on AZ31 magnesium alloy and the influence on corrosion resistance of the alloy covered by CaP was investigated by electrochemical tests supported by photodocumentation. The electrodeposition treatment was performed by potential controlled method in water solution of Ca(NO3)2.4H2O, NH4H2PO4 and H2O2. The difference in the process of CaP formation at various temperatures was described using diagrams of current density time dependence. Corrosion measurements were performed in 0.9% NaCl solution at 22 ± 2 °C using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. According to corrosion resistance results, the optimal temperature for CaP electrodeposition process was chosen.