BACKGROUND Cleaning of environmental surfaces in hospitals is important for the control of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and other hospital-acquired infections transmitted by the contact route. Guidance regarding the best approaches for cleaning, however, is limited. METHODS In this study, a mathematical model based on ordinary differential equations was constructed to st...

Selecting suitable cleaning agents and determining justifiable cleaning process parameters are critical prerequisites for cleaning validation. Proper selection of these cleaning agents and parameters could simplify cleaning validation efforts immensely. Process cleaners may range from a single component, such as an organic solvent, to multicomponent formulations that use multiple cleaning mecha...

The waste associated with cleaning of process equipment is probably a significant contr ibutor to the total waste volume generated by industry. This paper addresses the following aspects related to equipment cleaning waste generation: o Review of reasons for cleaning process equipment o Reduction of cleaning frequency o Reduction of quantity and toxicity of cleaning waste o Costs associated wit...

A UHV atomic hydrogen-cracking cell has been constructed to produce atomic hydrogen in order to perform in-situ cleaning of semiconductor samples. The cell was calibrated and tested with the objective of cleaning the III-V semiconductor samples such as GaAs. Mass spectroscopy studies during the atomic hydrogen cleaning of the GaAs samples revealed the chemical process of the hydrogen cleaning. ...

In [12], Toyama proved that the union of two confluent term-rewriting systems that share absolutely no function symbols or constants is likewise confluent, a property called modularity. The proof of this beautiful modularity result, technically based on slicing terms into an homogeneous cap and a so called alien, possibly heterogeneous substitution, was later substantially simplified in [5, 11]...

The detection of terrestrial planets by Darwin/TPF missions will require extremely high quality wave-fronts. Single-mode fibers have proven to be powerful beam cleaning components in the near-infrared, but are currently not available in the mid-infrared where they would be critically needed for Darwin/TPF. In this paper, we present updated measurements on the prototype chalcogenide fibers we ar...

Through the removal of parasites, dead skin and mucus from the bodies of visiting reef fish (clients), cleaner fish have a significant ecosystem function in the ecology of coral reefs. Cleaners gain nutrition from these interactions and through offering a 'service' are afforded protection from predators. Given these benefits, it is unclear why more fish do not engage in cleaning, and why part-t...

Swarm intelligent systems are simple but robust, capable of solving complex problems that no single agent could attempt. While technological advancements have driven development of multi-agent systems across disciplines, emergent behavior inherent to swarms is a desirable yet difficult property to exploit. Solutions utilizing swarm behavior have been proposed for the Cooperative Cleaning Proble...